worshipersonmission

Worship Leader Travis Agnew of Northside Baptist Church in Greenwood, SC is featured in this video which challenges all of us worshipers to become mindful of why we are worshiping.  Once we get this correct perspective, our mission becomes clearer.

Posted in Motivate

HELP!  CHURCHES ARE DYING.

Of the nearly 400,000 evangelical churches in America past years have shown that about 10,000 of them close their doors each year.  But that number is rapidly accelerating and as many as 100,000 could close next year.  At this rate, 20%-30% of present churches will be dead in the next 20 years.  First and foremost, pray every day for God to revive America.

As worship leaders we have a choice to ignite our people to action or retreat into the same old patterns of behavior that got us to this crisis point.  Which will YOU choose?  Are you willing to see God’s Spirit transform us from worship leaders to “MUSICIANARIES?”   Here’s the MusicArts Mission Movement (M3) process:

1.  Pray daily for God to revive our land.
2. Call out “The Called.” Enlist and train those who God is calling to join the movement.
3. Plan worship that is ALL ABOUT GOD.  (Worship was created by God and for God.  Let’s give it back to Him.  It’s not about US!)
4. Change our orientation from “Y’all Come” churches to “Let’s Go” churches.
5. Train our people to think and act as missionaries to their own community.
6. Discern the sub-cultures that God has placed around us and plan ways to reach them in their cultural languages.
7. GO!  Get out of the church and do ongoing mission service projects (not just mission events) in your community.  Build relationships that lead to witnessing opportunities.
8. Build a Mission Team around you and empower them to lead into missions.
9. Keep praying for God to revive our land.

Join an M3 Regional Resource Group today http://www.scbaptist.org/worship/article303861.htm 

Blessings,

Mark

Posted in Motivate

STAY BALANCED WHILE YOU RIDE THE WAVE

God is blessing.  Ride the wave. That is why I am so interested in being on mission, using music and the arts. Since beginning in the music ministry in 1976, I have been riding the wave of God’s movement.  As someone once said, “find out what God is doing and go get in on it.” Today, there is a movement of God blessing Christians on mission, through music and the arts.  Some have coined this term as “missional.”  I call it “worshipers on mission,” and thus, the title of this blog.

While it is fun to ride the wave of what God is doing, it is also important to keep a balanced Christian life. Having a balanced Christian life does not mean to live it in moderation.  Rather, it means we are to fully devote ourselves to become followers of Christ. We need to be spiritually well-rounded as Christians. It is important to do so for a couple of reasons.  First, God gives us a plan for a balanced Christian life.  Second, that plan gives us the tools we need to ride any wave that the Spirit of God provides.  So, what is this plan for a balanced Christian life?

This plan begins with a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. This is the ultimate purpose of each individual Christian (John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing).  With Jesus Christ as our focus and center, we are to follow Him.  Fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ are engaged in four main activities (this is what keeps us balanced):

1. Studying the Bible (as God speaks to us in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit) which becomes Discipleship. (John 8:31-32 Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”)

2. Practicing Prayer (as we respond to God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit) which becomes Worship. (John 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.)

3. Engaging in Fellowship (as we relate to God’s people in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit) which becomes Church. (John 13:34-35 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another)

4. Sharing a Witness (as we relate to others about God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit) which becomes Mission. (John 15:8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples)

Move with the Spirit of God as He moves, but don’t disregard the other important activities of the Christian life. While on Mission, continue in Discipleship, Worship and the Church.  God may move in a different way in the future.  The Spirit of God is now pouring out blessings for those who will dare to go on mission for Him, especially using music and creative arts. God is blessing. Ride the wave.

Posted in Motivate

Here are books I have read recently on the subject of the missional movement and a brief description of each (in no particular order):

The Road to Missional by Michael Frost.  Nashville, Tennessee: Baker Books, 2011.  This book presents missional as being a combination of evangelism and social action and calls us to alert people to the reign and rule of God through Christ.

The Missional Leader by Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006.  This book gives you insight on how to organize your church to missional action.

Missional Church by Darrell L. Guder.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998. Used by some as a primer on the subject, this book will help you understand why you should be at the task of being missional.

Worship and Mission After Christendom by Alan Kreider and Eleanor Kreider.  Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press, 2011. This book takes a historical worship form to formulate a missions mindset for today’s world.

Breaking the Missional Code  by Ed Stetzer and David Putnam.  Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2006. This book helps you become a missionary where you live.

Missional Map Making by Alan Roxburgh.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010.  Begin working on your own plan of how to find God’s work in your community and connect with it.

Sent: Living the Misional Nature of the Church by Ed Stetzer.  Nashville, Tennessee: Lifeway Press, 2008.  This is a devotional book on doing missions in your community.

Transformational Church by Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer.  Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishing Group, 2010.  While this is not a book fully devoted to the missional subject, it does have several chapters that deal with moving the church toward missional action.

Posted in Motivate

ANALYZE YOUR COMMUNITY

The Intercultural Institute for Contextual Ministry, Curt Watke, director, has a resource that can help you identify all of the varieties of people in your zip code.  Here is how you can access this statistical information:

 Go to www.iicm.net

• Click on “corps” in the IICM Missional Suite listing at the top of the home page.  (Note: If you click on “zip code,” it will take you to a ‘for pay’ service which is much more in-depth, so click on “corps” for the free service.)
• Click on “register” to sign up for this free service. 
• Fill out the registration information and click “register.”  You will be notified by e-mail within 24 hours that you have been accepted as a registered user of this free service.
• Once accepted, sign in with your user name and password.  Your Missional Corps personal dashboard will appear.
• Click on “Communityscape” tab and choose a category:

–         Socioscape = Social lifestyle stats for your zipcode

–         Ethnoscape = Ethnic & language stats

–         Demoscape = Age, Economic, & Family stats

–         Futurescape = Projected Topography upcoming

UNDER EACH OF THESE CATEGORIES YOU WILL FIND A WEALTH OF STATISTICAL INFORMATION TO HELP YOU DISCERN THE CULTURAL CONTEXT OF YOUR COMMUNITY. 

This understanding is imperative if we are to think and act as missionaries to our community!

Posted in Motivate

“Worship that Ignites”

 Let’s get it straight: God created worship for Himself!  So worship is NOT about us, nor is it about what we get out of it.  Instead worship is about HIM and for HIM.  The word itself comes from “worth-ship” which means to show the worth of the object of worship, not to glorify the worshiper. We need desperately to learn this lesson ourselves and teach it to our people over and over again.

Jesus gave us the formula for worship when He said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all to me.”  He was also foretelling his sacrificial death on the cross.  But when we look at His statement applied to worship, we realize that effective worship is not guaranteed by using any particular style or format.  Jesus did not say, “If you have a great praise band, or choir, or orchestra, or sing only hymns or choruses, then you will draw people to me.”  Again, worship is all about lifting HIM up.  Ultimately, this is the only formula that will work to ignite people first to salvation and then to mission action and discipleship.

So how can our corporate worship ignite God’s people to fulfill the Great Commission?  In other words, do our worship services create missionaries for Him in our communities?

First, we must make our worship services all about Him.  Many years ago I heard this quote from Ken Hemphill, “When people fall deeply in love with God, most issues of church growth resolve themselves.”  Our calling as worship leaders is to help people fall deeply in love with God.  The ministerial staff at Brentwood Baptist, Nashville, calls this the “worship vortex”: when corporate worship is so totally focused on God that everyone present is swept up into His presence and connects with Him.  Take anything extraneous (announcements, jokes, etc) and put it before the service or at the very end.  Then focus on Him with all your might.

Second, don’t break the flow.  Once you begin lifting God up in worship, be sure not to break the drama of revelation and response (see Isaiah 6).  The worship service is a re-telling of the gospel: God revealing Himself to us and us responding to Him personally.  Don’t interrupt the story.  Let the full impact of this drama play out from beginning to end so that we are caught up in this powerful portrayal, time and again.

Third, teach constantly the Biblical concept that worship is lifestyle, not just an hour on Sunday.  Weekly worship services are important as corporate worship for the Body of Christ. But worship in spirit and truth means total dependence on Christ every moment of life.  Constant worship is the essence of our love relationship with God.  And our “worship life” flows from personal relationship into mission action because we want to share it.

True worship will ignite the people of God to be His people in their communities… not just in the church.  Focus totally on God, then don’t interrupt the drama, and constantly teach worship as a lifestyle.  Let’s plan worship that intentionally ignites worshipers on mission!

Posted in Motivate