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It was my last time leading worship at InsideOut as a high school student. Pfft no, I didn’t cry.

[theworshipmovement]

[theworshipmovement]

Music as a form of worship

I am very passionate about music. I am very passionate about Jesus. And from those two, you can conclude that I am very passionate about worshipping the Presence of God through music.

I have had the privilege of working with and learning from some amazing worship leaders and worship pastors such as my mentors Jen and John Carrozza, Meredith Law, Nic Slade, Savannah Purdue, and Aaron Keyes. Chances are you have only heard of the last one (unless you go to my church). But there is no difference between Aaron and the others, despite the fact that he is a “big name” in the world of worship. He, along with the others, are worship pastors. They are all extremely talented musicians and vocalists, sure. But it takes more than that to lead people into the presence of the Holy Spirit.

They know the Father. They are seeking His Heart with everything they have. That is what makes them such remarkable leaders and pastors. They understand that the point of the music is not to perform it, it is to use it as an act of surrender to the King and a way to celebrate His Presence. There are five main purposes of music in a worship service:

To worship: celebrate His Presence

To praise: celebrate who He is

To offer thanksgiving: celebrate what He has done

To discover His nature

To surrender everything to the King of Kings

Obviously it can be used for much more than that, but those are typically some of the main focus points. 

Above all, the job of the worship leader is to usher people into the presence of God so they can lay themselves down at His feet and give them all they have. We are not here to provide entertainment (although there is value in that, it’s all a part of the balancing act) we are here to act as an example and a channel. We have to be real. We have to focus on the heart of worship 

I’m coming back to the heart of worship/And it’s all about you/It’s all about you Jesus (Heart of Worship - Matt Redman, 1997)

[theworshipmovement]

Music wasn't even used for worship until the Song of Moses in the book of Exodus. But since then, we've used it to worship our Creator. Music is a beautiful artistic expression of the soul. It is raw, vulnerable, and packed full of emotion. That is why we use it to express our love for our King

Unknown

[theworshipmovement]

What is the balancing act?

Sunday morning is quite a balancing act. The musicians and worship leaders are worried about balancing performing with excellence and worshipping the presence of the Holy Spirit. The directors of every ministry are worried about balancing kindness and firmness with volunteers. The pastor is worried about balancing sharing the gospel and teaching those who are already passionate disciples. They are worried about if their message is relevant to the middle and high schoolers on the right side of the fellowship hall and the 60 year old couple in the back and the young family to his left and the millennials looking for a challenge sitting right in front of him. 

Sunday is a balancing act. You can’t please everyone, that is for certain. The music always going to be too loud or not loud enough; the message is going to be too insider focused or too generic; the children will be bored, the adults will complain; the newcomer might leave because they thought it was too much of a production, or not enough of one. 

There is no way to make absolutely every member of a church happy. So you have to figure out your main audience: who are you targeting with this service, class, or program?

From there, you can begin to decide how you will balance it all.

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Ask not what the church can do for you, ask what you can do for your church.

Dr. Randy Mickler, Senior Pastor at Mt. Bethel UMC (Sunday March 22, 2015)

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We want to be fed on Sunday morning, it doesn't always feel relevant

Anonymous student

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Sunday morning is an outreach.

Russell Juliani

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This is What You Do - Bethel Music ft. Matt Stinton

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He washed our sins away❤️

[theworshipmovement]

First Impressions

First impressions are important. You only have one chance to make someone feel comfortable around you or impressed by you, and that happens the second you meet them. Or the second they walk into the doors of the church for the very first time.

You’ve seen the ushers and greeters on Sunday morning. Standing right by the doors or in the parking lot with a wide friendly smile on their face (hopefully). They’re always present, always happy, always kind, always genuine and caring, and always ready to help. And it is important that they they are that way and know what they know what they are doing, because a first-timer’s encounter with a greeter can make or break their entire Sunday morning experience.

Greeters and ushers are our primary outreach people on Sunday morning. People coming into a church are looking for God, but they are also searching for the body of Christ; they are looking for a sense of community where they feel welcomed and where they can be vulnerable. They want to know and be known. Greeters provide a familiar face that and a sense of direction (they want to know). Greeters are also very genuine and try to remember people by name and keep up with what is going on in the lives of others (they want to be known). They are the first impression someone will get of the community within a church.

That community speaks volumes. If people are not welcomed warmly, if they do not feel that people remember them or are aware of their presence, they will not feel like they fit into the community. They will not feel like they fit into the church, and whether that means a particular church or the body of Christ as a whole, you may never know. 

We have to create an environment where people feel welcomed and loved so they want to stay. So they want to get involved. So they want to learn about Christ. So they want to become disciples.

Creating a positive environment begins when they pull into the parking lot. Signs. Ushers. People who know how to give directions and advice. People who are willing to listen. Maintaining that environment does not stop. Signs. Greeters. Community. Authenticity. Love. Jesus. (Source)

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To feel is to be vulnerable. So when we consider vulnerability to be a weakness, we consider feeling one’s emotions to be so, too, she says. But being vulnerable connects us with others. It opens us up to love, joy, creativity and empathy.

Brene Brown

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Social Media and Community

In a previous post, I talked about the importance of churches marketing online and the value of social media. It is valuable because we are so drawn to it. But why are we so drawn to social media? 

It is largely due to the fact that humans are hardwired for community. We long for meaningful relationships with people around us. Researcher Brené Brown specifically discusses this in her TED Talk on vulnerability. 

She talks about how humans need connection; we long for friendship and community. The way we create that connection is through becoming vulnerable. If you can be vulnerable with someone and let them have a look into your life, your feelings, and your identity, then you have created a friend. You have started cultivating a community. For a lot of people, they use social media to create a sense of being vulnerable with other people. Then when people respond positively to that expression of “vulnerability” it triggers pleasure centers in our brains. That response to our “vulnerability” online in the form of a like or comment is validating; that is how we know people are at least somewhat interested in our lives (well, maybe) (Source).

Now at this point you are probably wondering why I put vulnerability in quotation marks whenever I talk about it in the context of social media.

This is because social media creates a false sense of vulnerability.

There is a second major factor that plays into this whole community thing: shame.

“Shame is really easily understood as the fear of disconnection: Is there something about me that, if other people know it or see it, that I won’t be worthy of connection?” (Brown, 2010).

Shame destroys community. Shame keeps you from being fully vulnerable with people. And since what we post on social media is driven by a desire for connection, our posts are created out of shame. We only post what we want other people to see. The more often we post positively, the more likes we get, the more people there are that think we have our lives together. To us, this means there are more people who deem us worthy of connection. So we only post the good things. We are only open to a certain point, which completely goes against the idea of vulnerability and feeds the fear of disconnection. We have now created a false sense of community from the desire for connection without being truly vulnerable.

Out of fear and shame comes false community. 

But it is still enough of a community for a lot of us to feel validated, appreciated, and worthy of human connection. This is why we are drawn to social media. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, unless this is everything you rely on for human connection. You will never be satisfied by that. True connection and community come out of true vulnerability.

So we should find a place where we can be truly vulnerable. You are worthy of connection. You are worthy of love. You are worthy of community. Allow yourself to be completely open with the people you trust, where there is no shame or fear. 

(Sources)

[theworshipmovement]

I can’t get this song out of my head, I am submerged in it.

I’m chasing You, I’m so in love Captivated, I just can’t get enough

I’ll spend my days running after Your heart

[theworshipmovement]

Online Marketing and Why It’s Important for the Church

In today’s society, people have access to all sorts of information at their fingertips. People don’t even have to sit down at a computer, they can simply reach into the back pocket of their jeans, pull out their smartphone, and find any bit of information they desire. This ability we have now is quite remarkable as it provides a new way for people to acquire knowledge. The internet provides the fastest forms of mass and individual communication and creates a unique platform for people to share ideas, much like I am using tumblr to share my thoughts and research. But, unless the church utilizes this platform, the church could quite possibly die, or at least get pushed to the farthest margins of society (which may not be an entirely terrible thing, but more on that much later). How?

If the church does not use the internet to make their physical presence known, the entire younger generation, my generation, starts to ignore it. With all of this information a few seconds away, we can easily decide what activities we are interested. If an institution or organization does not provide enough information online about what it is or what it does, we will not be able to adequately decide if it is worth our time. Churches are included in that. For some, it’s just a matter of which church is worth their time, but for newcomers, it may be whether or not the Church is worth their time as a whole. Why miss out on an opportunity to tell someone who has never had a positive experience with a church that Jesus is worth their time? 

This is how we get the younger generation involved in the church again. A massive percentage of teens and young adults and their parents use social media and mobile internet as shown in the graph below from the American Life Project:

“The youth are the life of the church.” So many people have said that phrase now that I cannot provide an original source. So many people are saying it because it is true. The children and the youth are not only the future of your church, they are the life, the fire, and the fuel. They are the example that we are meant to follow (1 Timothy 4:12). They are the body of Christ now. And so many of them are plugged into social media. There are children under the age of 10 that carry a smartphone or other device with internet capabilities. Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube. Almost everyone is using social media, and many people spend more time than they would like to admit on it. They are submerged in the popular culture through this social media. But why does that have to be a negative thing? Why not utilize that and give them the opportunity to be submerged in church culture instead? (Sources)

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To create a "sucessful" worship service, one has to have the perfect balance of excellence and authenticity. If we aren't excellent, then not only will people not want to come, we won't be offering God our best. If we aren't authentic, then why do it? Authenticity has to come first. We have to be real first.

Jen Carrozza