Year End Prayer | reyarP s’raeY weN

Taken from my journal (mid-November) this prayer expresses my sentiments well as one year concludes and the next begins.

Giver of all good and perfect gifts, (James 1.17)

I humbly ask
that you would bless me indeed
and enlarge my border, and
that Your hand might be with me, and
that You would keep me from harm
that it may not pain me. (I Chronicles 4.10)

You are my vine.
I am your branch.
I am in You.
There is nothing wanting but my ongoing consent
to be what You have made me,
to remain where You have placed me.
I am in Christ.
He is and will be to me all that a vine can be to its branch
—holding me fast
—nourishing me
—making Himself every moment responsible for my growth and my fruit.
(Derived from Andrew Murray’s Abide in Christ on John 15)

So the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith (by trusting)
in the Son of God
Who loves me (did – and does)
and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2.20)

Your joy is in me as I keep Your commandments (obey)
and abide in Your love.

My joy is full. (John 15.10-11)

—PLR—

[ if you're curious about today's title, imagine looking through the page -sort of- knowing what it will say when you turn the leaf ]

B.C. Christmas Day

Even the cave man got it right.

(Click the thumbnail to see it full-size, then your browser’s back-arrow to return.)

 

Thank you, Johnny Hart, for this cartoon think-piece on Christmas day.

—PLR—

I Admire Joseph

I admire Joseph. You know, the silent one in the Christmas pageants. Just “there” in so many re-enactments.

But he was a man. A strong but gentle one, I think. An artisan. He didn’t have top-40 hits blaring in his carpenter’s shop (radio came much later) so probably either whistled or hummed to himself as he worked, reviewed the things he learned in the synagogue, and dreamed of the day he’d have enough saved up to bring his betrothed home – to his home.

But then came that horrific moment. “You’re what?!”

From what Matthew says, it was because Joseph was a righteous man and didn’t want to disgrace Mary publicly that he determined to divorce her privately -discretely, in spite of the shattered dreams, the seeming betrayal, the emotional carnage. Sounds like “because he truly loved her” to me!

What class. What quiet determination.

And then the angel came to him in a dream and told him what was really going on. Joseph believed him. Nothing like this had ever happened before, yet he belived him. Only a righteous (God-fearing) man could believe that God would do something He’d never done before. This crisis didn’t make Joseph, it revealled who he already was.

When he awoke he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him. He obeyed. That’s faith! That’s character! That – is strength!

I’m wondering this time through the story (it’s in the last half of Matthew 1) if perhaps Joseph didn’t actually move their wedding date UP. It’s possible they stayed on shedule with the date he had in mind, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he said to her in a quiet moment, “Mary, my Love, this isn’t going to be easy. But the Lord God is in it. You and I know the truth but there will be times when it feels like no one else does. Come; be my wife. We’ll hold off on ‘you-know’ until after the baby is born, but I want us to be together through this. And when he’s born it’ll be God with us. Immanuel. Like the angel said. And just think – we don’t have to quibble over his name.”

How could she not throw her arms around his neck and say “Yes, Joseph! YESS” !?!

I admire Joseph. Sometimes the deep, quiet guys are the heroes.

Selah —

—PLR—

Christmas Program Oops!

There are dozens of stories of things that have gone wrong in Christmas programs; I’ve been teased for a long time about the night I was reading my own narration of the story of George Albright and said “snowing throwballs” instead of “throwing snowballs”.

My favorite of all time, though, was reading (maybe in Reader’s Digest) about a Sunday School class dressed up and lined up in the hallway ready to go in onto the church platform for their portion of the Sunday School program. Assigned members of the class held construction paper cut-out stars with bright letters in glitter spelling B-E-T-H-L-E-H-E-M S-T-A-R. The teacher cordially made sure everyone was lined up properly and when they received their cue said with a smile “Okay, class, let’s do our best.” The children with their letters turned and followed each other onto the platform in an orderly manner. “How nice!” But when she looked up, having taken her place in the front row to lead them, her heart sank. There in front of her, with a church full of people snickering and chuckling behind her, she saw

B-E-T-H-L-E-H-E-M R-A-T-S

Already Accepted!

 Do you remember how important it was in grade school days to be accepted?  And not just in general, I mean accepted by THAT group!   I do.   Maybe one of your children is coping with that right now.  I want to be accepted by somebody.  If it’s somebody at home that’s a good start, but not enough.

Realizing I speak but for myself, let me carry this out a little further.  I’m going somewhere with this. Trust me?  Accept me?     The need for acceptance was an acute one for me.  It followed me into Jr. High and held the door open for me my first day of high school.  What’s he good at?  How funny is he?  Is he a good friend?  

Discovering what I was good at provided opportunity to serve God, that’s true, but as I look back on things I can see too that the Enemy was regularly watering that acceptance thing with Miracle-Gro. What  a sneak.  

In time my need for acceptance, always a robust desire, outgrew some more important character traits.  My drive, my zeal, my creativity, leadership skill —just about everything at some point or another— found itself tethered to  (you guessed it)  acceptance.  Eventually I reached the point I was willing to break some rules when people I expected to accept me – didn’t. 

________ 

The apostle Paul wrote to his friend Timothy’s church: …the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace…

________  

How sweet!!  Oh I wish I’d have gotten my hands around that already-accepted-in-Christ concept back in fifth grade!  “It’s OK, Jesus loves me and when God looks over here He sees I’m with Jesus and I’m fine.”

In high school Courtesy King runner-up, class president, award-winning musician and valedictorian could have been enjoyed without any of that “See? They have to accept me now, I excelled at something.” that lurked in the corners of my mind.

Innovation, creativity and excellence (I say excellence cuz we frown on perfectionists. More likely to be accepted that way) could have been enjoyable outlets of God-given skills without that little pop-up asking now and then “How well-accepted are you today?” 

The next week or two as we enjoy family, friends, activity (and hopefully some INactivity),  I’m going to keep “I’m already accepted” in the corner of my mind’s eye.   He’s already accepted.  She’s already accepted.   I mean, the shepherds were the first to hear of Jesus’ birth, and theirs was about as low an acceptance-quotient as you could get in those days!!

I’m going to make sure I see the words every day at the beginning of the coming year:  Already Accepted In Christ.  Not to feed a sense of arrogance –heaven forbid– but to nurture the sense of peace everybody wants and some of us sing about.

When I see a long-lost friend again and hear that predictable “So what are you doing now?”  I may just say “Nothing.  Well one thing.  I’m sitting on Jesus’ lap.  He’s humming to me while we wait for what’s next.”  (Dare me?) 

It’s true!  He loved me enough to take on human form and become sin for me.  I’ve placed my faith in Him for my salvation and I’m intentionally living each day by faith in Him because He died for me and rose again.   See?  It really is true!   I’m not doing anything anymore, Christ is doing it.  He’s living through me.  God sees me in Him when He looks this direction and I’m already accepted.   How cool is that?!  The only thing I need I already have!

Say again?…

Sure! God would love to look at you the same way! 

Christ Jesus made it available to one and all! 

—PLR—

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; 8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us . . .

Three Christmas Eve Tools for Church Video Technicians

We’re only a few days from Christmas services now. Perhaps Christmas concerts and productions are behind you at your church and you’re wondering how to make Christmas Eve feel special – especially if you went all-out earlier this month.

Here are three ideas, three tools to keep the video images vibrant without putting yourself over the edge again this year.

• Dim the images behind projected lyrics. If your software allows you to, dim the background image you use behind lyrics & Scriptures by 20 – 25% and return them to 100% between songs. It’s a subtle way to focus attention where you want it – and it’s easy to do in most programs.

• Take digital close-ups of this years church decorations and bring them to the video screen as backgrounds for lyrics and Scripture, perhaps even as stand-alone images. Any digital camera with good resolution will give you good images to choose from. Shoot four images of each close-up. 1) Auto exposure, 2) with fill-flash 3) with no flash 4) and manual – experiment a little. Be creative in the composition. Start with outside the church if you can, and work your way indoors. Garland and wreaths. Candles (maybe in the corner of the picture, not the middle). Poinsettas. The middle of the tree. The Nativity Scene. These scenes are unique to your congregation. They’re like First- Church family photos almost, and if you already have the camera, they’re free.

• Try a minimalistic approach here and there. Sometimes less to look at on the screen frees worshippers to focus where you’d like them to – on the Word. Lyrics. A soloist or ensemble. For example, one year we ended our Christmas Eve service with the traditional Silent Night. I asked our video tech (actually a video artist!) to find and use a picture of a starry sky for that song. No close-ups, no bright colors, just a field of bright stars on a clear night. When the lights dimmed and we stood there singing by candlelight, it was as though we had a picture window looking out into the night sky. All is calm, all is bright. Sometimes less is more.

God bless you volunteers – You give so generously through these special seasons – we couldn’t do it without you!

Thank You!!

—PLR—

Vibrance Ministries – Introduction

After months of thought and prayer, conceptualizing and structuring, capturing notes and imagining scenarios, I’m happy to say the time has come for this ministry idea to hatch. If you’ve seen Happy Feet, you know the image playing in my mind as I write this.

_____________________________________

Many small to mid-sized churches take music and worship ministry seriously but don’t have the resources to add a worship pastor to their pastoral staff. These ministries are led by people who love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. Theirs are good hearts and clear consciences. They’re active ministries led by volunteers or part-time paid lay-ministers who would appreciate clear, concise principles to use in long-term ministry. And if they could be affordable —or free— even better!In the near future I’ll begin posting articles intended to help church musicians and creatives. For the sake of discussions here, the word “creatives” will include everyone in your church utilizing music, the arts and technology to enhance meaningful worship in your fellowship. It can be a long list if you think about it a little while.

If you’ll check the blog tag Vibrance in Ministry on occasion you’ll discover articles to help you

• disciple the musicians and other “artsy” servants God has given to your church
• focus your efforts,
• encourage prayer-powered ministry,
• eliminate distractions,
• by providing insightful questions for your ministry team to discuss,
• keep the main thing the main thing,
• build your ministry into the generation coming-up behind you,
• bring honor to God through faithful living all day every day.

The Vibrance in Ministry category (tag) is already in place. Just click on that category once in a while to see what’s new. I promise you this at the outset: I will do my best to bring you useful, purposeful, ideas and methods to consider, point you to Scriptures to meditate on, and thought-provoking items you can print and bring to rehearsal to discuss with the people you’re ministering with. I’ve a ministry device taking shape as well, a means to work with your church specifically over several months helping you define the scope of your worship ministry, aligning who you are as a congregation with principles taken from the Word of God.

I’m excited about this (does it show?). Please pray with me that God uses this to encourage many.

Serving with excellence,

Phil—

Vibrance – The Rationale

Many small to medium-sized churches wish they had a better grasp on this whole worship thing. By small I mean rural, suburban and start-up churches, and churches that find themselves in decline for one reason or another. But they don’t have the wherewithal to call a worship pastor or program director to join their leadership team. Often it’s challenge enough to adequately provide for one pastor and his family.

Some churches tackle their worship challenges themselves but find that while seminars and conferences are useful, there’s always quite a bit you just can’t bring home. How many times have you heard or said:

• “It’s nice, but it doesn’t fit our congregation.”
• “It would be great but we’re missing a few key ingredients – like people with those skills.”
• “We want to do our best, serve God with our talents, but we’re not even sure what questions to ask first, what to ask next and what to leave for later.”
• “We’ll muddle through again. We always do.”

The Lord has placed a keen desire within me to help if I can. Maybe those days will soon be behind you as a church. Wouldn’t that be nice? Over the last several months a means has come to mind of a way I might be able to help three or four churches at a time, putting this technology to work along with phone conversations with periodic visits to teach, coach and follow up. (More on that in later posts)

In the interim, though, I’ve captured a few few things that may help answer those frequently-asked “who are you?” questions – and they’re important, no doubt about it.

I’m the product of the small church. My parents specialized in small church ministry for over forty years, some rural churches, some suburban. I was ordained by a small-town church in 1979 and have over twenty-five years of experience in worship ministry (Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona, Illinois and Wisconsin). I know the limitations and challenges of being small. I know its advantages too — a strong sense of community, long-term ministry, sense of family (sometimes TRUE family) for starters. I also know the challenges and rewards of larger churches having served a church of 750+ for several years.

I bring to the table a solid conservative theological upbringing. I grew up in Bible churches through high school then attended the only school I could find where I could major in music while taking all the Bible analysis courses the school offered. That school is now Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I earned my M.A. in Ministry at Moody Graduate School where my Master’s project was on discipleship in the worship venue.

Brenda, my wife and partner in ministry, is an excellent student of the Word and a skilled communicator in her own rite. She’s a loving, yet critical thinker and she plays an important ongoing role in the refining and expression of the concepts we will consider should you invite you to help you as a church.

I’ve a wide range of musical interest, eclectic, you might say, including a deep appreciation of time-proven hymns, gospel hymnody along with an appreciation for many of today’s praise and worship expressions.

Because I take 2 Timothy 2.2 seriously, nothing excites me quite like seeing people I’m working with put concepts to use, enjoy the results, then teach them to still others! Everything I do in ministry is to encourage those with whom I serve. Encouragement (the KJV word for it is exhortation) is the gift that drives my teaching and administration gifts.

These posts are also pages (to the right, under “VIBRANCE MINISTRIES” if you’re interested in drilling down a bit more. But at the outset  perhaps these posts will provide a bit of something to pray about — or for. If you’ve already BEEN praying and this feels like an answer, or if you’re more than a little interested, keep checking Vibrance in Ministry as a tag, or drop me a note. We’ll see what the Lord has in mind.

Serving with Excellence,

Phil—

Vibrance – Ministry Facets

When it comes to churches, Vibrance is the opposite of lack-luster. 

But it’s not glitz for the sake of an impression or the least bit flippant.  Worship is not a holy party-time.  It is often joyful without apology, but it goes far beyond exuberance.  Worship in the local church presents ongoing opportunity to become deeply rooted, fully alive, prayerful, thankful, generous, serving, spiritually reproductive.

“Very much alive.”  

That’s what vibrance is.  And there’s no way in the world you can limit it to an hour on Sunday morning. God would appreciate our living this way all week every week; so would your family and friends!

To that end, here are four facets of ministry we would enjoy exploring with you if it seems we can help.

Vibrance in worship ministry

• We show local churches how to grow indigenous, lasting, vibrant worship ministries designed to nurture and disciple musicians and artists both now and into the future.

Vibrancy restored

• We help couples who find themselves in crisis yet resolved to recover and rebuild.  Vibrancy restored is a divinely wonderful thing. It requires resolve, re-thinking and re-wiring, the establishment of new norms, but it’s a wonderful thing, and well worth whatever it takes!

Vibrant voices

• We enoy encouraging the family of God through
  • seminars and workshops on worship and discipleship, practical Bible instruction, coaching to the end of 1 Timothy 1.5  (love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith)
  • speaking and /or music for church retreats and banquets
  • voice-overs for church multimedia presentations
  • narrations written and /or read for concerts, musicals, cantatas, etc.

 Vibrant ink

• We encourage, teach and challenge churches and families in print (this blog for example, Brenda has a touching article scheduled for publication in the May ‘07 issue of a national magazine for ministry wives)
• Copywriting and editing services

Answered Prayer

Maybe I should see if there’s a way to incorporate John 15 into my mailing address.  I’ve certainly been camped out there long enough to maybe consider it my residence.  I mean,  “abide” means “dwell”  right?  

In the first half of John 15 in my Bible I’ve underlined “remain in ______” each time Jesus said it, and circled the word “remain”.  These gentle, direct words of His have been simmering on low for a while now, their aroma filling my entire prayer life. 

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”  (John 15.7-8)

If you could see my prayer journal, the half-inch three-ring binder where I note the things I’m asking for and the ways God has answered, including ”no” and “not now”, you’d have to admit it. God answers prayer.  

I’m reminded each time I read Jesus words in John 15 that obedient living, my remaining in Him knowing He remains in me, makes a huge difference as well.   The pages in that binder point to jobs supplied, emergencies averted, long-term habits erased, personal growth, wisdom for decisions, financial concerns cared for, safety granted, insurance provided, opportunities presented (shall I go on? or are you getting the picture?).  Some He’s answered in minutes. (Honest!)  A friend we’ve been praying with saw God answer prayer in bringing estranged family closer together Friday evening.  We’d been praying just a few days. Others I’ve been praying for for a long time.

Yesterday He answered another.  No tears, no earthquakes, no blinding lights on the road to Damascus or anything,  just a definite answer to prayer.  I’d like to tell you about it, maybe encourage you in the process.

I’ve been asking for wisdom about something for several weeks.  I knew God would grant it in His time, but continually thinking through things had become unsettling and I didn’t like the back and forth going on in my mind.  It reminded me of the instability James wrote about when praying for wisdom (see James 1.4-8).   I needed the wisdom of verse 5 but not the indecisiveness of verse 6. 

So yesterday, in my Morning-Watch Extended Session, I reaffirmed that I was consiously, intentionally drawing my everything from Him.  I told the Lord how I was feeling  (like He didn’t already know) then borrowed St. Peter’s words (1 Pt. 5.6-10) to ask,

“Lord, would you strengthen and establish me?  You are the God of all grace, I ask you quietly, humbly,  Would You bring this to conclusion today?  Lock something down.  I’ll accept Your decision.  Please.”

He did!  Half way through church I sensed His specific direction.  By the time we reached the benediction I knew for sure. Established.  What a relief! Over lunch I described to Brenda what the Lord had impressed on me  (she and I have been thinking and talking this through a lot lately).  She agreed.  We’re of one mind.  Thank you, Father.

Friend, God hears.  God answers.  The quiet confidence that comes with  knowing you asked with clean hands and a pure heart has a way of fortifying the gratitude when His answer comes.  Today it was but a few hours from my request to His answer.  Knowing God is able, knowing He does, knowing He will,  helps me trust Him while I wait for the other things I’m asking Him for.

Lord, I want to say “Thank you” once more.  You are indeed an awesome God, reigning in wisdom, power and love. I want to always be quietly confident when I come to You, to ask, to seek, to knock as You said.    (Matt. 7.7)

—PLR—