PASSION

Are you passionate?

Are you passionate about leading worship? Are you sincerely fanatic about having the Holy Spirit turn up and move in your worship service? 

I have written and spoken many times about the passion of Worship Leading; it is something I'm passionate about. Those of you who listen to our weekly podcast: "the worshipleaders podcast"  will have heard me talk many times about the importance of preparation, prayer, a great well prepared songlist, etc.   But the one ingredient that leads to great worship is Passion. 

Passion is the Glue

Passion is the glue that holds everything together. In life, love, work and play, we see time and again that those who are passionate about what they do succeed well. My eldest daughter is passionate about anything to do with art, craft, or creativity. The result is she's a great cook, photographer, knitter, sewer, jewellery maker and general craft person. Her blog  will testify to that. 

My son is a brilliant musician. We gave him drum lessons when he was younger, but then later when he wanted to take up the bass guitar, I told him he was on his own. Well, with the help of some friends, some chord charts and a whole lot of YouTube, he became a brilliant Bass guitar player. He did the same with rhythm guitar, and is currently doing a music degree at University.  

What makes these two so good? They are passionate about their interests, and will put serious time into getting it right. When they get it wrong, they don't simply give up and say:"well that's too hard", they keep practicing until they get it right. 

The reward of Passion

Part of my profession is as a furniture designer. There is a lot that goes into getting the final design right. It has to be practical, useful, workable, and safe. When I design a chair, it needs to be comfortable, it has to tick all the boxes that require it to be a saleable item. A single design can take over 12 months to come together to finally reach production. And the cost is often many hundreds of thousands of dollars. But when I get it right, many people benefit from the design. 

I am passionate about good furniture design, and the result is people buy my product.

The light globe you switch on when it gets dark is the result of someone's passion to create light without the use of a naked flame. It was not an instant success, but many failures went into getting it right. The car you drive is the result of decades of passion poured into getting a better, more comfortable, more efficient mode of transport. 

Great Passion equals Great Worship.

Great music is the result of Passion. Great preaching, the result of Passion; great worship-leading, the result of Passion. 

Today you can overcome mediocrity by firing up your passion. 

2 Timothy 2:15

Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Jude 20 Says: Beloved, Build yourself up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

There are many scriptures exhorting us to draw near to Him (James 4:8).

When we allow God to envelop us with His presence daily, when we draw near to Him, when we study His Word, and spend time getting to know not just about Him, but also to know Him, our passion will rise. And when you are passionate about God, and about great Worship, you will have great Worship.

 Luke 10:37b: Go and do likewise!

Have a great Sunday!

Erick

Are you desperate enough?

What drives me?

I ask myself the question why do I do what I do? What motivates me? What gets me out of bed in the morning? What drives me?

Other than the obvious answers of : I have bills to pay, my wife makes me, because I would be bored, etc, a deeper look at this question is required.

In every area of our lives there are things that make us tick. There are things that we are passionate about.

I love good coffee.

I love coffee so much that I was willing to make the decision to buy a good machine and find a really good roaster and grind and blend my own bean. The result is that people love coming for coffee at my place, because they are going to get as good a coffee if not better than one they pay money for at a coffee shop.

I am good at my job.

My boss and I started our business virtually from scratch, and we now have 6 stores employ some 33 staff and have a fleet of trucks on the road delivering goods all over the place. we are passionate about our business and want it to succeed and do well. We are keen to have the right people with the right attitude working with us so that our business prospers and in turn our staff share in the profitability of the company.

In order for me to stay on top of my game, I do a lot of research and development. I invent new products and look at ways of doing things better to achieve a better outcome for the client. In turn the clients love our ideas and purchase our product.

There is a cost.

Every time I have an idea, it may well cost us money. Some of my thoughts have cost our company hundreds of thousands of dollars. Fortunately they have been successful and we are on the way to making a profit from them.

There is a risk involved. Every time I have an idea, there is a risk that it won't succeed. That the idea is just too far fetched that people won't see it and therefore embrace it, and no matter how good my idea is, it doesn't get off the ground, and the money spent does not bring a return.

We do our homework well.

We research thoroughly. We build prototypes and test them. All these things because we are desperate to succeed. And then we market the new product and train our staff in the features and benefits of that product.

Are you desperate?

When you are desperate to achieve goals in life, you will do anything for that. Look at great sports people or famous inventors, scientists who have discovered life saving technologies or drugs.

As a Christian you are no different. You have a similar calling. Not only in your life as a student, professional, factory worker, checkout operator, but in your faith.

We all want God to do great things in our lives. We want to see the Holy Spirit move mightily in our lives, families, church services. We want to see healings, we want our churches filled with people who need Jesus.

Or do we??

How desperate are you?

How much do you want to see God move in your service? How much do you want to see the Spirit release His power in your Praise and Worship?

Are you prayed up? Daily? Are you seeking God? Daily and earnestly? Are you making changes in your life that fall into line with a holy calling? Are you doing the R&D; getting into God's word, seeking Him, communing, fellowshipping, meditating on Him?

Yes just as I mentioned all the prerequisites for success in business, there are requirements for successful church.

Proverbs 8:17 : I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.

When Lachlan asked me the first time if he could marry my daughter, I asked him what he was prepared to give up to marry her. His answer was hockey. Some months later when he asked me again if he could marry my daughter, I asked him the same question. This time his answer was: "I will give up anything and everything to be with Bethanie"

I am writing this blog from Bethanie and Lachlan's home.

What are you willing to do to see a full and vibrant church of people making strong inroads into your community, where the worship is great, and the Spirit of God manifests himself daily?

Have a great week.

Erick.

Love is the principal thing (Part 2)

 

In part one of this blog, I started to speak about the reasons why we are in relationship with Jesus, and everything that is involved and included in this...that Love is the principal thing. I then left you with a challenge...

Did you do it??? Did you read and meditate on Psalm 91? Isn’t it the most amazing piece of scripture? “He who dwells in the secret place of the most High...” and right down to :” With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation” Such love, such intimacy...

The Challenge

Why did I challenge you to read this psalm? You are a worship leader, whether at the front leading the singing, or at the back, keeping the beat, or somewhere in between, you are a worship leader. If you can get a revelation of what this psalm is saying, then you will find it much easier to communicate that love and intimacy to the church today.

Worship leading can be a real struggle. Why do I do it, especially week after week, and especially when the congregation seems so unresponsive, and unappreciative? The reason I keep coming back to this wonderful call is the title of this blog: Love is the Principal thing.

Response to rebellion

As a parent, I have experienced in my own children rebellion, un-appreciation, ignorance of my instruction, un-responsiveness... but never once did I stop loving them, never once did I give up reminding them, encouraging them, disciplining them, loving them. Now that they are older, and mostly independent, they have a much greater appreciation of what Tambrey and I did for them all those years ago. In doing what we did, we helped to build their character and personality, and we helped shape their sense of intimacy with Jesus.

Worship-leading is not that far different. You have an amazing opportunity to impart into this congregation principals of worship, grace, mercy and love. Even though it may seem to be falling on deaf ears, your job is not to reap the harvest, yours is to sow and to water and to nurture. Many is the time when I have walked away from the stage exhausted and drained, feeling that the worship had gone absolutely nowhere, and wondering if God was in the place at all. Then someone would come to me later and say: “Erick that worship really ministered to me today, thank you!” Wow! The challenge is: am I doing this for earthly reward or for a heavenly one?

The Principal Thing

Today I have been reading a book by English author Adrian Plass. It is called “Jesus: Safe, Tender, Extreme” He makes this statement which really brings home my point about the principal thing: “The sacred and mystical truth is that when we Christians touch each other, we are touching Jesus. When that touch is the touch of care and love, heaven smiles on us...”

Love

John 15:12-17 says this (Words of Jesus, written in red): “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from the Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.”

How strong the instruction, how beautiful the promise, how pertinent the reminder. The very instruction Jesus starts with is the same as the one He concludes with: “That you love one another”. Bear in mind, dear worship leader, that this is a command. See, sometimes with your family, your worship team, your congregation, your Pastor, things aren’t going to go the way you planned or even wanted. The principal thing is love. Let love be your guide and your motivator. This week you have the opportunity to bring your congregation into “the secret place of the Most High”. Whether your worship experience is a fantastic time or it all goes pear shaped, remember: LOVE IS THE PRINCIPAL THING.

God bless you real good, and have a great week!

Erick

Love is the principal thing. (Part 1)

 
Greetings from China!
As I sit here in my comfortable hotel room in China, listening to Worship music streaming through my computer, my thoughts are with everyone out there today who is at Church, participating in the anointed worship, diligently prepared by you, our faithful Worship Leaders, taking in the anointed Word of God, a message in-season, prayerfully prepared by our Pastors, refreshing us from the week past, and re-charging us ready for the week that lays ahead.
This is my second week away from the Studio, and I really miss Darin, Suzie and Chris. These guys are the high-light of my week! We talk with each other, joke with each other, share Jesus with each other, pray together, eat together, laugh together, and we share our thoughts, experiences, highs and lows of life, the church and specifically aspects of Worship leading.
We are in this together
In all of this, we all feel very much a part of you and your world as you join us on the Worship Leaders Podcast each week. It is an honour to have you join us each week, sharing those experiences, and allowing us to encourage you from the Word of God and by the example of our own lives. Thank you!
There is really only one reason why we record the Worship Leaders Podcast each week: you! We are so passionate about this thing we call worship; the act of falling on our faces before a Mighty, awesome, majestic, righteous, loving God; a God who is not too busy to be intimately interested in every part of my life, who knows the very number of the hairs on my head!! (Matt 10:30). Our desire is that as we share that Passion with you, that it will rub off onto you, encourage you, build you up and charge you up in your holy calling.
My Week in China
It has been a busy week here in China. I have spent the past week in a half star hotel. The bed felt like it was made up of layers of re-cycled worn-out carpet, there were things not working, and every night upon my return to my room there would be an array of business cards slipped under my door with photos of scarcely-clad women on it and telephone contact numbers. As if! I have been married to the most amazing woman in the world for about 28 years! No one could come close so I am definitely NOT interested. I ended up that week with a sore back and neck, tired of walking through the Fair I was attending. So now I am in a 5 star Hotel, enjoying some of the creature comforts like a comfortable bed. (Phil 4:12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound!)
The thing about all this is that as I am away from family and daily routine, it is easy to forget the things established at home; Prayer, devotions, giving myself to the study of God’s word. And yet here it is so much more important even than at home. I am in a strange land, with strange customs, where communication is difficult at the best of times and almost impossible most of the time! So I need Jesus, my constant companion; and the Holy Spirit in me to guide me to the right people, the right business deals, keeping me safe from danger, and keeping me safe from myself.
I am not alone!
Am I on my own? Yes. Am I alone? Certainly not! Jesus said: I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Heb 13:5) See, no matter how I look at it, Jesus loves me, this I know! He is my constant companion and my guide and protector. The reason why we record the Podcast, the reason God gave His Son, the reason Jesus will never leave me nor forsake me; the principal thing is LOVE!
At the completion of reading this, I challenge you to do something radical: Get out your bible, and read Psalm 91. All of it. Then take some time out to meditate on it. This is one of the most wonderful Psalms about the promise of God to those who are intimate in Him... but I am giving it away. I dare you! And let us know what you have discovered.
God bless you real good this week.
Erick