Bob Kauflin of Covenant Life Church discovered his 2-year-old grandson had leukemia prior to Sunday services.

Here’s some of what he says from the experience:

I guess I could have struggled with the apparent dichotomy between my circumstances and the songs we were singing. Or ignored what my family was going through altogether and pretended that nothing was wrong. Or complained  about how hard life is sometimes.

By God’s grace, I actually drew great comfort from God through the truths we sang. So after the first song, which is based on Psalm 150, I shared a few thoughts not only for the church, but for my own soul.

The conclusion:

We don’t lead others out of a vacuum or a sanitized form of Christianity that bears no resemblance to normal life. It’s important that we take time to grieve, acknowledge pain, and confess our struggles. But when, not if,  you find yourself leading out of weakness, challenges, and trials, don’t minimize what’s going on or succumb in despair to your burdens. Lift your eyes, even as you lift the eyes of others, to the Father whose compassions never fail and to the Savior whose mercies are new every morning.

Whether God changes our trials, or more importantly, changes usthrough our trials, we praise him now in joyful anticipation of the day he will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Rev. 21:4).

The whole post here.

…is all you need, according to Kevin Kelley:

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce.

They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

The hard part:

The key challenge is that you have to maintain direct contact with your 1,000 True Fans. They are giving you their support directly. Maybe they come to your house concerts, or they are buying your DVDs from your website, or they order your prints from Pictopia. As much as possible you retain the full amount of their support. You also benefit from the direct feedback and love.

Author/marketer Seth Godwin calls 1000 fans “a breakthrough opportunity” for artists and songwriters.

Consider:

1. What would it take for you to acquire 1000 ‘true fans’?
2. What are you doing now to make that happen?

A humorous post by Jimi Williams at the WorshipTogether blog says that your worship team structure probably falls into one of five catagories:

1. The Crowder
2. The Tomlin
3. The United
4. The Walker
5. The Kitchen Sink

Which is yours?

Any to add?

Christopher Hopper talks about collaboration and has five tips @ CatalystSpace on how to affect it:

1. Designate a point person
2. Develop consensus (not unanimity)
3. Compromise promotes ownership
4. Sharing canvases carte blanche
5. Open air policy

These strike me as healthy and achievable, but not easy.

How does your team collaborate?

Christianity Today has posted a good piece on social awareness and activism among evangelical Christian musicians.

It briefly chronicles the movement and also draws an important distinction:

…something more than endorsement is happening in contemporary Christian music.

Artists are directly immersing themselves and their audiences in missions to hurting people, whether they are six blocks or 6,000 miles away.

They are stepping to the forefront to address poverty, human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other fatal diseases, taking personal responsibility to invest in grassroots work.

The piece talks about the Bono factor, how most are avoiding “the minefield of short-term missions,” and how the upheaval in the music industry aids musicians invested in missions.

Definitely worth your read.  Also see:

• Jars of Clay: Clean Water, Clean Blood
• Sara Groves: Less Charity, More Justice
• Steven Curtis Chapman: Beauty Will Rise
• Derek Webb: A Different Kind of Neighbor
• Third Day: Diversification Is the Key

To get your church involved in what God is doing to awaken mercy missions through music, click here.

Paul Baloche has a good piece contrasting concerts vs. worship leading in the October issue of Worship Leader (see widget below):

At the end of the day, God is not calling us to perform on Sunday mornings but rather calling us to be more authentic and more transparent in our times of worship.

More Dylan, and less Elvis.

The early sixties folk movement invited the everyday person to join in and sing along.  It wasn’t slick and perfect.  It started a cultural revolution.

Full piece here or click below.

	October 2009
The Un-Concert by Paul Baloche

Given at Catalyst 2009 in Atlanta, where he received an award for 50 years in ministry:

1. 1. Whatever you do, do more with others and less alone
   2. Whenever you do it, emphasize quality not quantity.
   3. Wherever you go, do it the same as if you were among those who know you best.
   4. Whoever may respond, keep a level head.
   5. However long you lead, keep on dripping with gratitude and grace.

HT: Out of Ur

When have you heard Moses, the Apostle John, and John Calvin quoted favorably on a national news broadcast?

Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle does so on ABC’s Nightline, during a remarkable story on idolatry.

Click here to watch.

Could it be that Terry Moran is not far from the kingdom?

The poor have the gospel preached unto them (Matthew 11:5, KJV)

…it is one delightful mark of Christ’s dispensation, that he aims first at the poor.  It was wise in him to do so.

If we would fire a building, it is best to light it at the basement; so our Saviour, when he would save a world, and convert men of all classes, and all ranks, begins at the lowest rank, that the fire may burn upwards, knowing right well that what was received by the poor, will ultimately by his grace be received by the rich also.

Nevertheless, he chose this to be given to his disciples, and to be the mark of his gospel—”The poor have the gospel preached to them.”

• Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Preaching for the Poor, delivered on Sabbath Morning, January 25, 1857 at the Music Hall, Royal Surray Gardens, London, England (courtesy of the Spurgeon Archive)

In too many churches, I think, worship is just the prelude to the sermon…the implication being that we’ll get past all the preliminaries and we’ll get to the meat of the service, which is the sermon.

What I want people to understand is this:  That opening stuff?  That’s just as important.  In fact, it’s communicating the Gospel just as the sermon does.

When we rightly understand that, we’ll have priorities that are Biblical as well as our own personal preferences to guide us in terms of what Biblical worship should be.

• Bryan Chappell, President of Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis.

The promo video for his book, Christ-Centered Worship (Baker) is below.

View on YouTube here.

HT: ReformWorship.com