The Art of Invisible Leadership

This year, Paducah's youth ministry network hosted Dave Hunt as worship leader for the area-wide DiscipleNow weekend.  Dave has been leading worship for over a decade.  Based in Nashville, Dave has enjoyed the support of exceptional musicians to back him up over the years.  His band for Paducah's DiscipleNow weekend was no exception.  The four-piece band led effectively Friday and Saturday night, encouraging powerful moments of worship from the 400+ students and adults in attendance.  Several popular modern and traditional hymns were chosen for the services.  One of the most poignant song selections was "Search Me, O God", a confessional reflection of Psalm 139 written by Dave and Julie Hunt.

What has always struck me about Dave is his humility and the way he gets out of the way in corporate worship.  In an age where much of the Christan music scene is indulgent and self-promoting, one should appreciate Dave's demeanor and approach to worship leadership.  He doesn't over-sing, opting to stay true to the melody for the sake of the congregation who follows him.  You won't typically hear Dave show off on his acoustic, although he's an exceptional guitarist.  Dave consistently strikes an unusual balance of invisible, but effective leadership while on stage.  It's a clear gift, and one of his greatest assets as a worship leader.

Dave's newest cd release, LOVE ABOUNDS includes several original songs that were written with corporate worship as the goal.  Check out Dave's music on itunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/love-abounds/id322554737.

Stale Bread

The people of First Baptist Paducah celebrate the Lord's Supper regularly... every six weeks, to be exact.  The last couple of times we've joined in Communion, I've been distracted by a small detail: stale bread.  I've been told it's not actually stale, but made to feel chewy between your teeth.  Well, I'll just admit I don't like it.  I've already begun establishing assumptions about how the Lord's Supper "should be".  And I say, the little unleavened crackers should be crunchy...

The bread and the wine/welch's grape juice are only symbols, and should be appreciated as such.  I'm grateful to lead a people who cherish opportunity to worship our Savior, who is the Table of Mercy.  I often lead a chorus written by Chad and Jess Cates as the elements are passed among the congregation.  I'm sharing the lyrics here.  Taste and see that the Lord is good! (Psalm 34:8)

Table of Mercy by Chad and Jess Cates
Recorded on "The Worship Room" album by Chad Cates and also "Crying Out" by Dave Hunt

(VERSE 1)
You were broken. You bled from Your hands and feet.
Gracious Savior, You died for me.
I’m forgiven, sweet salvation,
Thank you Jesus, my invitation!

(CHORUS)
You are the Table of Mercy
You are the feast of forgiveness
Let us sit down, and taste that You are good
You are good, You are good.

(VERSE 2)
I am broken. I don’t deserve You.
I am nothing. You are King of kings.
Lord, please help me. Lord, please help me hear You.
You are faithful, I hear You calling!

Heart of Worship

Last night, FBC Paducah gathered for our midweek worship service.  Our pastor started a new sermon series titled "Heart of the Matter".  One of the more pointed moments in the service was our singing of Matt Redman's "Heart of Worship".  I was thinking on how that song was birthed, and thought I'd share it here, in case you haven't heard the story. 

The song dates back to the late 1990s, born from a period of apathy within Matt’s home church, Soul Survivor, in Watford, England. Despite the country’s overall contribution to the current worship revival, Redman’s congregation was struggling to find meaning in its musical outpouring at the time.

“There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing,” he recalls. “He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices. His point was that we’d lost our way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.”

Reminding his church family to be producers in worship, not just consumers, the pastor, Mike Pilavachi, asked, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?”

Matt says the question initially led to some embarrassing silence, but eventually people broke into a cappella songs and heartfelt prayers, encountering God in a fresh way.

“Before long, we reintroduced the musicians and sound system, as we’d gained a new perspective that worship is all about Jesus, and He commands a response in the depths of our souls no matter what the circumstance and setting. ‘The Heart of Worship’ simply describes what occurred.”

May our worship be God-honoring and Christ-centered in every way.  Soli Deo Gloria.

Melodies of the New Jerusalem

We should do well if we added to our godly service more singing.  The world sings: the million have their song...

Now why should we, with the grand psalms of David, with the noble hymns of Cowper, of Milton, of Watts- why should not we sing as well as they?  Let us sing the songs of Zion: they are cheerful as the songs of Sodom any day.  Let us drown the howling nonsense of Gomorrah with the melodies of the New Jerusalem!

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon

A Basic Definition of Worship

Worship is an honest response to what we treasure most. With both our words and actions, we honor what we most delight in by turning our focus and adoration towards that source of joy. Christian worship is a believer's response to who God is and what He has done.

A Christian response to the person and work of Jesus begins with adoration. If one believes Jesus of Nazareth truly is the second Adam, sent by the Father to reconcile humanity (cursed in nature by the Fall of Adam), the most appropriate response is grateful adoration of Jesus, the Christ. The second response of Christian worship is confession. Recognizing the holiness of God, we confess our sinful nature, and adore God for giving us unwaivering hope in the finished work of the Cross. We come boldy to the throne of God, for we have a great High Priest in Jesus who presents His righteousness as our own (Hebrews 9:11-28). For a Christian, worship then ought to be a broad response of both sorrow and unhindered joy as the salvation of man is remembered and celebrated.

Theology Thursday

Below is a helpful quote from Richard Foster's book, The Celebration of Discipline:

"Just as worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not beeen worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change."

To Be Known By God

This is a GREAT section from Packer's classic, "Knowing God". I hope it's an encouragement to you, as you think on God's faithful watch over us.



What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it--the fact that HE KNOWS ME. I am graven on the palms of his hands. I am never out of his mind. All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when his eye is off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when his care falters.

This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort--the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates--in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me.

There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that he sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see (and am I glad!), and that he sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose. We cannot work these thoughts out here, but merely to mention them is enough to show how much it means to know not merely that we know God, but that he knows us.

— J. I. Packer, KNOWING GOD. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.