I'm Feeling Progress

Innovating Our Worship
I think I decided that I want to throw out worship that I've been playing for 2-3 years or longer. There might be a selected few that will make the cut but for the most part songs like 'Be Glorified'...'Every Move I Make'...'Draw Me Close'...'You Are My King' will be out of the mix. I really think it's time for a fresh approach. I see myself, with the help of Woody, starting to write new songs for worship and constantly learning new songs. And when we write new songs, I don't even think we need to look to the Psalms. When David wrote Psalms he didn't copy words from a book, he took his life experiences and the things the Lord had taught him through that as an inspiration. Maybe some people would be offended that I wouldn't want to play hymns or classic, well written worship songs. But I think if I felt like I was bound by an obligation to perform those songs just because of their greatness, I would be worshipping the shadow instead of worshipping God for who He really is. I really believe we always have to be innovating and always be moving forward and I truly believe we can't always be reaching for the past.

Ecclesiastes 7:10 says:
Say not, "Why were the former days better than these?" For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

We have to escape the 'good 'ol day' syndrome. Like Dal said today, God is calling us to move forward into the future. He's not going to get behind us and try to push us into new ideas and thinking outside the box. He'll let us live in the past if we want but I don't think that's his plan for our lives. Maybe you think, "Dang, how many songs you planning to learn or write? A thousand? You'll surely wear out the new songs just as quick as the classic ones". Maybe therein lies the problem...why do songs get wore out so quickly?

Big Heart
Saturday morning, a group of us went downtown to be a part of Big Heart Ministries. As far as I know a guy by the name of David Cote heads up this ministry. I was very impressed by what a tight ship he runs. You can just tell that his heart is in it and he longs to reach out and be with these people. I've been working with the homeless lately and it seems like everytime I go, i'm the one who gets blessed. While David was leading worship, it just felt so perfect worshipping together with all the homeless people. I couldn't help but clap, sing my heart out and smile as big as I possibly could. These people had nothing and yet they were worshipping God for who He was. I saw more joy on Saturday morning than I see some Sunday mornings leading worship and supposedly we are the blessed.

What's Next?
It's going to be a while until I carry out another trip downtown independently to feed the homeless. Right now my schedule dates for reaching out to the homeless are:

October 27
November 3
November 20-24
December 1

As the weather gets colder I might put out a request to the members of our church to donate blankets. I cringe when I think I have up to 3 different blankets on or around my bed during the winter and some people on the streets have none.

I'm also planning an outreach event on November 4. That date was on the calendar for the Whatathon but since we were denied that opportunity by their Director of Marketing i've been forced to think up a new idea. The community that surrounds our church is the second target of the outreach ministry. If all goes as planned, we'll buy 75-100 of the $5 coupon booklets for McDonalds and on the morning of Nov 4 be a blessing to the community by handing these out to people as the walk into the restaurant. It's the simplest way we can buy unsuspecting members of our community breakfast.

Also this week i'm going to propose that we begin setting aside a time in the service to welcome visitors and encourage them to fill out a visitor card and visit the information desk after the service. It's feels weird to even have to say that. I tried to get some buzz going about that issue/subject about 3-4 weeks ago but apparently the issue has to be forced. Lord, give me patience.