I Hate It When My Worship Leader...

There's a great discussion going on at Ragamuffin Soul about things worship leaders do that get on our nerves. As a recovering worship leader, it's pretty interesting.

Waves of Culture

Sunday night, I had a great discussion with Danny and Doug from Logos. I have attended a couple of gatherings with Logos over the past few months and wanted to learn more about the journey to start Logos. I won't go into all the details, but I will tell you that this is not your typical church.
Logos is a church based in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta. They have no building, no full-time staff, and no slate of programs to speak of. In a lot of ways, they resemble a house church, meeting in homes, restaurants, and coffee houses. Oh yeah, they are sponsored by the local SBC association. No, I haven't drifted away or fallen off the deep end. Yet.
In the gatherings I attended, the small group was made up of people working in the Atlanta arts community, college students, a young college professor, someone raised on the foreign mission field, others from a wide variety of backgrounds, almost all 20-something's. Almost all were single. Most fit right into the culture of L5P, and I felt right at home. Some of these folks would stick out like a sore thumb at most of the churches I've attended in my life, but here they are not out of place.
Sunday night, we talked about how culture shifts around the world. From the major metro centers to other major cities, then to the smaller cities and suburbs. While we understand this with things like music, fashion, and entertainment, I had never fully thought about how it applies to church. To simplify it, you can travel to places like London (or even New York) to see what is going to be happening in Atlanta in a few years. These waves of changing culture flow from these major centers to the small towns of America. The waves slow down as they move out of densely populated areas, but technology is bringing the waves faster and farther.
Logos may be a bit ahead of the wave here in Atlanta, but not by much.
I'll write more about Logos as I get to know this church better, but I thought I'd go ahead and share this first glimpse now.

The Anti-Building Project

I came across this from the Catalyst website. Here's the short version: a big church is California is packed out. Instead of building a bigger (expensive) building, they are building a park and amphitheater for worship services. This is based on an overall change in how they are 'doing' church. Take a look at the project and the video that shares their heart for doing church biblically.
Cornerstone Church-Tierra Rejada Building Project

Planting Churches in the Real World

I just started reading this book today. So far, it's on point. If you want a full review, visit my friend Micah's blog.

Sweet Melissa

No, this isn't a blog post about an old girlfriend...

Last Friday night, we had dinner with some friends at one of our favorite local places, Twisted Oak. We were upstairs with the singer/guitar player. After freaking me out with his vocal harmonies (he was the only singer), I realized that he was using a voice box to add harmonies and effects. But that's not the point of this post.

He was playing the expected mix of folk, country, rock ballads, etc. when he started singing the worship song "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever". Initially, I appreciated him including a worship song in his set list, even if it is an ambiguous one like this one. Then the ambiguity reared it's ugly head. He made it into a medley with the Allman Brothers Band classic "Melissa"! At first, I thought it was just a transition that I missed, but then he recapped into "I Could Sing..." making the medley complete. It was horrible.

As I thought about it, it brought to mind a question that I have asked before: why do we worship women and sing sappy love songs to Jesus?

Church Planters can be wrong, too

Things They Tell Church Planters That Are Simply Wrong

I've read and listened too a lot of stuff related to church planting. I have also been a part of a couple of church plants. I thought it was weird that I really disagreed with some of what was stated or implied about the church planting process. It's nice to hear from an experienced planter that I might not have been too far off.

Consuming Church

Consuming Church by Margaret Manning

"If Jesus himself were here today preaching the gospel, how might we evaluate the packaging?"

In a personality profile I did about a year ago, the administrator said I should avoid retail. I'm not a salesman, I know that. I don't even like most salesmen I meet. My skin scrawls. Maybe that is why I find it hard to fit in to that thing we call 'ministry'. If my job as a minister is to 'sell Jesus', no wonder I'm no good at it. I hate selling things, even stuff I like.

Jesus didn't sell Himself, so why should I? Jesus gave Himself... I can do that.