Let me preface this with the fact that our church has about 65 – 75 people coming on sunday morning so that you know that this is not a large church.

My dad, who is the pastor, and I were discussing doing a makeover on our drum kit. We were talking about getting new cymbals and heads and maybe throwing a shield on it and mic’ing it. We will be moving into a new building soon and want to get the best sound possible. Currently our drummer is also our pastor and while he is a professional drummer it isn’t always an ideal situation.

As we were discussing it one of the guys in our small group pipes up and says.

“I can probably get you some zildjian cymbals for really cheap.”

My dad and I whipped around. WHAT!

It was now time to drill this guy. How does he even know about drums at all? Why had he never told us that?

He proceeded to tell us that he would be happy to setup the kit for us and that he used to be a drum tech.

He worked with bands like alice & chains, Tool, and the black crowes among others.

Of course our jaws hit the floor.

Are you kidding. Why have you not..? huh?

He told us ways of making drums sound better that even we had never heard before. He told us you can put cotton balls in the bass drum instead of using a pillow so you can add and subtract to get the best sound and more.

We then went to get some coffee where this man also told us he played drums. I don’t know if he is good or not, but he just may be.

When we asked him why in the 4-5 months of being in the church, connecting with people, and coming to a mens meeting of about 7-8 guys had he not brought this up he answered.

“I was waiting for God to bring it up and for Him to open the door”

Wow.

I have to tell you I ride the fence with that reply. I love the faith aspect of it, but I also think there are people who have so much to offer and instead of laying everything out on the table they are waiting for God to present a situation.

Praise God this man opened up and he will have the opportunity to be used in the kingdom, but he is just one our people.

Remember we are a church of about 70 or so people and were in desperate need of a drummer. This man, who I really have grown to enjoy in our mens meetings, was completely untapped.

I can’t imagine how much more prevalent this situation is with the larger churches.

So how do we get people who are commited to the church to lay everything on the table, and let us know thier hidden talents?

How do we best utilize people if we don’t even know what they are skilled to do?

We have done the questionnaires and they have yielded little to know fruit.

This man was praying God would present the situation for him to open up about it. I think that is very admirable.

My question though is…maybe we are the situation. Maybe God is waiting for us leaders to get people to lay it on the table.

So how do we do it? Any thoughts? tried and true methods?

I ordered my book and it says can take up to 2 weeks to get..uh oh…maybe they have a PDF of the book I can use till they ship it. Anybody?

REMINDER – Join worshipers from all over the world in the “Pure Praise” devotional study, starting next week!  Bloggers – please consider copy/pasting this and announcing it on your blog.  Let’s get as many people involved in this group discussion as possible!

Hey everybody, I blogged about this a couple of weeks ago, but will be reminding you all over the next week.  Join us over at  TheWorshipCommunity.Com for a meaningful, in-depth study of God’s Word through “Pure Praise”, a heart-focused Bible study on worship by Worship Leader and Author, Dwayne Moore.

This is a 9-week study that we will begin the week of January 12, 2009. Each day we will share our thoughts on the daily devotional and then participate in the Group Discussions each week – as a group of united worshipers on TheWorshipCommunity.Com in the forums.
(daily and weekly discussion will take place in this thread of the TWC Forums)

“The goal of this study is not to help us fall more in love with worship. Rather, these daily, intimate encounters with God can help us fall more in love with our Father – which is the very essence of biblical worship”. (Darlene Zscheck, Hillsong Church, Australia)

“Dwayne Moore has a desire to see the body of Christ truly understand what it means to honor God with our worship and let our lifesongs sing to God in spirit and in truth”. (Mark Hall, Casting Crowns)

“Dwayne Moore’s ‘Pure Praise’ gets at the heart of true biblical worship. If you’re looking to grow your worship ministry team in it’s understanding and desire to worship our Creator in spirit and truth, this book is for you. The weekly studies are practical, insightful, and full of biblical wisdom aimed at getting the reader to grasp how our Creator designed us to worship. This book is a must-read for any worship ministry team, and I’m glad to recommend it”. (Rick Muchow, Pastor of Worship, Saddleback Church)

“Dwayne Moore has a writing style that makes you feel like he’s right there with you, walking you through each devotional. ‘Pure Praise’ is highly relational and delivered in a way that will minister to you in your personal worship journey as well as find its way into your worship training resource library. This book will help you understand not only the meaning of worship, but also provide you with real tools for leading and ministering in your role as the worship leader.” (Julie Reid, former Executive Editor of Worship Leader Magazine)

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to study with your fellow worshipers.

Purchase your copy of “Pure Praise” at Next Level Worship’s website here:
http://blog.nextlevelworship.com/pure-praise-worship-study/

Cost is $14.99

Once you get your book ordered, post a response in the “Pure Praise” discussion area of the forums so that we know you’re with us! Be sure to check the box to subscribe to the thread!

Looking forward to our study together starting January 12, 2009.

For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon, Founder

I decided to cheat by looking at other people reviews of this book. Many had some little comments and some just copy and pasted some sections of text. No help there.

I went back to the book trying to figure out why I was having such a mental block.

The book is a testimony of a mans life and how God changed it.

I have read those books before and i usually walk away from it going… “wow…thats good stuff..” and then move on in life.

This book however did something a little different for me.

Let me preface this with the fact that I know the writers son. He is a great blog friend of mine, a wonderful father, husband, and fellow worship leader. Why is that part significant. Very simple.

God does amazing things and sometimes we get to see a small glimpse of it. Other times we get to see God change somebody and then that change has a domino effect on everybody and everything around this person. This testimony is just that.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about the mans life and what you can expect. That would ruin it.

The testimony in this book is a testimony much like that of the great men in the Bible.

A testimony of God taking wretched things and making them holy.

A testimony of the overwhelming grace of God.

A testimony that while old still is being worked to this day.

A testimony that forces a person to recognize there MUST BE A GOD.

This is a testimony that confounds the wise.

This is a testimony that is makes the devil shake because people have been changed by this mans life and are continually being changed through the domino effect of Christs amazing grace.

So why was it so difficult to review this. Simple..

Because this is more than just a book. It is proof that God is real and proof that God’s love is greater than we can imagine.

GO BUY THIS BOOK!

I while back I wanted to see what all of the talk about it was so I bought the book, devoured it, and then reviewed it on the blog. I loved it.

Then I started to see all of the negative attention on the net. Mark Driscoll, who I love, describes the book as heretical and that it promotes modalism. Of course there are tons more online who preach against the book as well calling it evil and a non biblical representation of the trinity.

This past weekend my church did a mens retreat with another church form maine. We gave everybody in the groups a copy of the book, let them know it was fiction, it was not theology and more like a parable. They were told to read it and we would discuss it on the retreat.

I bet from the guys who claim it’s evil they would be screaming right now

“Noooooo. you are going to be teaching your men wrong doctrine….”

Well most read it and tore through the book and then God tore through them.

In our discussions we instructed our men to not get hung up on the theology because it is more an allegory and not a theological book. They were to see if they felt like some of the story was their own.

I was floored with what happened.

Did our guys change their minds theologically?

Did our men think  God was a big black woman?

Did they hink the Holy spirit was an asian woman?

No…No….and No….

So what did happen?

Freedom from anger

Freedom from past

freedom from Father issues

bigger view of God

An understanding that God cares.

Our men came face to face with a God that loves them and every one of them, one way or another, walked away understanding that God is bigger than they thought.

Is the Shack Evil? I don’t really care actually, but I am really glad that a simple story made God more real to some hurting and angry men.

“…If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise.”

I love that verse. Jesus is basically saying the entire universe will shout it’s praises if we don’t. Worship is everywhere.

I was thinking about it the other day though. Man wouldn’t it be cool if for one day we all stopped praising and then we could see the rocks actually sing. That would be sweet!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zlfj6mNHg4[/youtube]

here are the lyrics:

Breathe on me O Breath of Heaven
Let Your spirit fall on me
Let my life be filled with Your truth
Lord renew my heart for You

Breathe on me O Breath of Heaven
Fill me with the light of You
Holy Spirit I surrender
Take my heart and make it new

I will soar on wings like eagles
I will walk and not faint
It’s by your strength that I am able
And by your spirit I am free

Last night america decided on a new guy for the job as President. He isn’t exactly who I was hoping for, but even with that said I pray that he does a great job.

While I am stoked we Finally have a black president, I am not too keen on his stand on marraige and abortion. I pray For God’s hand on him and that the church doesn’t sit on it’s hands if laws and such don’t match with what God wants.

I have heard many say he is the antichrist and he is going to usher in the end times. Well I have heard that before of others. I don’t have a clue what the future holds, but I won’t hang that sign around his neck.

I have seen a ton of division in the church from this election. Pray the church learns the power of unity because our country needs God.

Read what some of my friends have to say about this historic day.

Mike
John
Tyler
Mark