I’m late in writing this post but just had to share about an experience that Kim and I had on Sunday, July 27, 2008. This was a really special day for the traveling piece of our ministry, Tabor Ministries. We had been invited to share 2 morning worship concerts at Madison Park Church of God in Anderson, IN. This is really a leading church in that denomination with a tremendous pastor (Jim Lyon) and a Worship Pastor (Steve Williamson) who has been very gracious to our ministry over the years. Steve has also been a mentor to me and we were very excited to head to Anderson to share with their congregation.
One of our dreams has been to travel with a live band. We have been praying about that and decided that this would be a great day to give it a shot. So, we called on some very special guys to go with us. Let me tell you that these guys absolutely rocked the house! It was amazing to work with them. They added such excellence to our worship and we hope the Lord will provide the resources to take them with us all the time! The boys in the band are: Terry Hayes (guitar), Don Zlaty (Hammond B3 & Keys), Tom Janke (bass) and Tim Gee (drums).
As we continued to pray about this day, we also felt led to extend the invitation to our choir to join us for the morning. So, more than 40 of them traveled to Anderson on their own to help us lead in worship. It was an awesome team building experience and they knocked it out of the park.
I am so grateful that my team gets that our ministry has 2 facets. I am grateful that they don’t simply tolerate this part of our ministry but that have wholeheartedly embraced it. I will never take that for granted!
We shared a song in Anderson that has become very special to Kim and me and also to our church family. It’s a song of declaration that reminds us of God’s providence, love and care. I’ll close with some of the lyrics to Miriam Webster’s amazing song, “Made Me Glad”:
You have made me glad, and I’ll say of the Lord, You are my Shield, my Strength, my Portion, Deliverer, my Shelter, Strong Tower, my very present Help in time of need!”
I really value our team. We have come so far together over these last couple of years. I am grateful that they have embraced this new vision for worship at FCN. It has required some different things of them and they have jumped in with both feet. I am seeing them grow as artists and it blesses my heart. I am grateful for them and proud to serve with them. Plus, they rock!!!!!
I am always trying to give our team recordings of those teams that are a few steps further down the path than we are. It has been really helpful and productive so far. It gives us something to shoot for and to be challenged by. I really believe it’s important to always measure yourself against someone who is further along than you are. Kim always says, “If you want to be a faster runner, then spend time running with someone who is faster than you. In my arena, it’s important for me to sing with those people who are further along than I am. It challenges and inspires me to work harder and reach further with my craft.”
I think that as a worship team we need to do the same thing. Right around the corner from us is a great church with a tremendous worship team. Calvary Temple is an Assembly of God church with a tremendous team and worship leader, my friend Pastor Vernon Piercey.
Every time I have the chance to worship at Calvary I am simply amazed by their passion and sound. They do an amazing job of ushering people into the presence of God and at the same time they offer an excellent gift to the Lord. It encourages me, it refreshes me and it challenges me as a worship leader.
If you are a member of the team and are reading this, my hope is that we will never stop learning, growing and reaching for more. We have only scratched the surface of what God can do here and I hope that we continue to become better artists and leaders.
I really admire that Calvary’s team is made up of volunteers, as is ours. I think that there is something especially rewarding to seeing God do something incredible in and through the same group of people who regularly serve together.
Here is the audio of the Calvary team leading “You Are Good.” I hope that you enjoy it and I hope that it also encourages and challenges each of you! Be Blessed!
I took a couple of days off last week as Kim and I made a trip to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play. I was saddened that they lost 11-1 to the Mets but being at the ballpark was a great and relaxing time for us.
Yesterday was another great day in worship at FCN. I am so proud of the way our team has rallied over these last several months. Our church is in a time of tremendous uncertainty and yet the team has been so faithful to come with open hearts week after week.
I am amazed by the way our choir has rallied during the summer. Typically worship departments gear down in the summer and plan towards the fall but at FCN our numbers have jumped significantly. It’s crazy but we are so blessed.
Our band has been playing equally as well. We really are learning how to listen and play with one another. It gives me great joy to see them huddled after rehearsal working out solo lines and chord changes. That really fires me up!
This isn’t a pic of our team in action, but is a couple of our friends who serve on the team pretending to sing for this picture. I’ve been looking for a place to use it because it absolutely cracks me up! Pictured are Steve Adams and Misty Javorka. Partially pictured is Tony Javorka and his expression was equally as funny! Too bad it got cut out of the picture. Dude can pose with the best of them!
Back to worship matters…. We used a song in worship yesterday called “Calling Out To You” by Tommy Walker. Thanks to my life long friend, Sam Lynn, for sharing this song with me several years ago. It’s a great song for those days that correspond with the patriotic calendar. Those are tough days to plan worship for and this song does a great job of keeping the focus squarely on the Lord. These tremendous lyrics taken straight from 2 Chronicles 7:14 are set to awesome music. Great places for some power chords from the electric guitars!
Lord You have told us, Lord You have promised that if Your people would pray; You would hear from heaven and You would send Your mercy and touch us with Your strong healing hand.
So we’re calling out to You; we’re crying out to You, forgive us of our sin, heal our land. As we seek Your holy face, we turn from all our wicked ways, hear from Heaven even now as we pray.
I love the heart of this song and that it puts our focus and dependence completely on God. It is literally a heart-cry kind of song and I love the way that God uses it to remind us that in HIM and HIM alone is where we will find the answers that we are searching for. He promised to hear us and that He would answer us!
To all members of our team who are reading this, thank you for your hearts and faithful ministry. It is a joy to serve with each of you week after week! Be Blessed!
We had a fabulous day in worship yesterday! In 16 years of public ministry I have not been more proud of my team than I was after yesterday’s worship services. Our church is in the midst of tons of transition and yet, they step up week after week and knock it out of the park! Yesterday was no exception and it was such a blessing for me to step back and watch them work.
For me, it was one of those days that found me absolutely spent after worship. I know 2 kinds of spent: (1) spent from the fact that things didn’t go well and working to hold everything together wipes me out; and, (2) spent because of how tremendously things went and the spiritual, emotional and physical investment that it takes for me to lead those kinds of worship experiences.
Yesterday was definitely the 2nd kind of spent. After those days I find myself replaying moments and transitions….feeling like we absolutely offered an excellent gift back to the Lord. I also believe that when things go this way we can’t help but notice a definitive difference in the way that the congregation enters into worship. They really take an active role in the service. They transition from observers to full participants. On those days they seem to understand that worship isn’t something that WE do (those of us on the platform) and they (the congregation) observe. It is something that we all take part in and that God Almighty is the object of our worship and affection. Days like this prove to me that genuine worship must cost us something. It requires an investment on our part and to enter into this casually is to miss the mark entirely.
I remember many moments from yesterday. We introduced “You Are Good” to the congregation and I was blown away by the response. I should qualify that by saying not everyone in the congregation was on board; but, the vast majority were really into it. We also used “Our God Saves” which is a song that our church sings with real abandon. We brought back “Mighty To Save” which is just a killer worship song. The icing seemed to be the choir singing “How Great Thou Art,” which was amazing. The loft was filled almost to capacity and they absolutely knocked it out of the park! It just seemed that our congregation needed a day like this and I am grateful that the Lord used us to provide what they needed in worship.
I really sense that the spiritual temperature of our church is being turned up. You can sense that as we worship. I don’t know why or exactly what that means; but, God is clearly at work and the enemy is not happy about it. My prayer is that as a team we will continue to press in to all that God has for us week after week. We have no way of knowing what this pastoral transition will bring. There is a chance that the new pastor will bring a worship person with him or elect to make a change in worship personnel.
For now, we know that we have Sunday July 6th coming and my goal is for us to step up to the plate and knock it out again this week. Let’s do it!
Every now and then a worship songs comes along that the Lord uses in a very unusual way. It’s impossible to predict it. After leading worship for more than 20 years all I can say is, you will know it when it happens!
One of those songs that has just captured my heart recently is “Mighty To Save.”Pastor Troy gave me a copy of this song more than a year ago. As I listened the song just grew and grew on me.
On June 8 we introduced this song to our congregation. All I can say is WOW! The reaction was really more of a lightning bolt of a worship experience! It was amazing. Read these amazing lyrics….
“Everyone needs compassion, love that’s never failing, let mercy fall on me. Everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of a Saviour, the hope of nations.
Saviour, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save. Forever, Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.
So take me as You find me, all my fears and failures. Fill my life again. I give my life to follow everything I believe in. Now I surrender.
Saviour, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save. Forever, Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.
Shine Your light and let the whole world see. We’re singing for the glory of the risen King!
Those amazing lyrics combined with the power of the music make for an amazing combination!
Here is the audio of us doing “Mighty To Save” on June 8 with our team at FCN. Enjoy!
In worship ministry or any facet of music for that matter, preparation is HUGE. As a musician I am an artist and I always want to be at my best. In the context of worship the issue of preparation is taken to new levels all together.
As worship leaders we have to be prepared. This includes every single member of the team. I really am working on this with my team and giving them every resource that is available to me so that they can be prepared every time we step in front of the congregation. Of course, me giving them those resources and them using the resources are 2 completely different things. Some on our team spend days and weeks preparing for Sunday….others spend no time at all. I wish I could find the magic potion that would communicate how deeply important this is on a spiritual level, let alone a musical level.
The Bible gives us many examples of this from David tending sheep in the fields while God prepared his heart to Esther who spent an entire year of preparation to simply be in the presence of the king.
That speaks volumes to me about how we should prepare for worship….especially those of us who lead others in worship. We pray for extraordinary things to take place but would we be ready?
the time! The boys in the band are: Terry Hayes (guitar), Don Zlaty (Hammond B3 & Keys), Tom Janke (bass) and Tim Gee (drums). 
