Being present in Christ's presence.

It is the Monday after New Year's. It is back to reality. It is back to routine. It is back to life after a hazy, crazy, over-filled, over-spent, worship-filled, hugged-out Christmas season. It was a good Christmas, probably my most favorite ever, since it includes the most children I have ever had. And chickens. It included my first ever flock of chickens, too.

But what good is a Christmas if celebrating the birth of Christ hasn't worked on my soul?

What good are presents if the presence of Christ hasn't forever changed me?

What good is a New Year if I'm not using it to further the Kingdom of God?

I'm not going to tell you to make New Year's resolutions for your ministry. That would be completely heretical on my part. On the other hand, I do believe it is time to reflect on what worked and didn't work in 2015. It's a good time to think about how we can continue to grow musically and spiritually in our worship in 2016. There are plenty of fun  and exciting plans and programs that can help you - check out worshipleader.com, therocketcompany.com, worshiptogether.com, and praisecharts.com for tons of ideas, inspiration, and methods. Listen to some new Indie musicians and some music veterans for worship inspiration. But nothing compares to going right to the source. The one Source.

Who doesn't want to thrive personally and professionally this year? Who doesn't want to rise above their circumstances and succeed in amazing ways? Who doesn't want to make this their best year ever? I want all these things. But here's what I really want.

I want to be a worshipper - one who knows Jesus and responds to Him. I want to be God's friend. I want to know Him better than anyone else. I want to see His power working in my life and through my life every single day. And I want the same for my worship team - I want them to know Him even more deeply this year. To worship Him freely, not because that's what their supposed to do as the worship team, but because they completely and honestly can't help worshipping God because of how good He truly is. And I wish that for you.

But that will never happen unless I order my days. It's not going to become reality unless I do one thing - spend time with Jesus. We can't just show up in body, reading through God's Word, we need to show up in mind and spirit. And so my goal is to be present.

Present with God in my planned devotion times, present with God in public worship times. Emotionally and mentally present in my family so I can show them God's presence in my life. This means a lot of things - making devotional time a priority, not putzing on my smart phone when I could be interacting more with my kids, not wasting time on things that don't matter, going to bed early so that I am not too tired to be present.

God is present - am I aware of Him? I received a few great Christmas presents this year. But the Christmas season brought forth something even better in me - a stronger desire to know the presence of Christ in my every day life and the possibility of reflecting Christ's presence to those who are present in my life. I don't think I could ask for a better gift.

What gift have you received this Christmas? How does it change 2016 for you?

What Bob Ross taught me about leading worship

I grew up watching Bob Ross on Saturday afternoons. I loved to see him paint, but even more, I loved to listen to him talk. I waited each week for him to say that there are no mistakes, only happy little accidents. Oh, just put in a few more happy little trees. Look at the clouds - put in a few more happy little clouds. Try as I might, I could never quite get the same effect with my Crayola water colors that he could, even in such a short painting episode. He never seemed flustered, always happily painting away and creating something beautiful from a plain canvas and a few splashes of color.

What I learned from watching Bob Ross is that things in painting and things in life don't always come out the way we'd like, but that's ok, We can still make something beautiful out of what others might see as a mistake if we are willing to adjust our plans and keep our eye on the big picture.

 It's awfully difficult to compare our weekly service to a professionally mastered worship album or a worship concert. Worship artists spend months rehearsing for their concerts and albums, and have all kinds of technology to make their music sound even better - an average small church with a volunteer worship team just can't compare with the amount of time or technology. And that's ok! The truth is that live music is a lot like live painting on television - things don't always come out as planned. There are wrong notes, missed cues, and technological issues that creep up. But if we are flexible and go with the flow, we can still make something beautiful out of what others might see as mistakes.

Don't get hung up when things don't come out as planned, don't get stuck on mistakes. Instead, let the happy little accidents go, and keep your eye on the big picture - worshiping our Risen Lord - and He will make it beautiful.


Oh, and if you need more of Bob Ross's happy little accidents, there's a whole YouTube channel devoted just to him!Watch Bob Ross paint here.