worshipersonmission

Here is a challenge for the 21st century church to empower its members so they can impact their world….one life at a time.

Posted in Motivate

“Let Us Hook You Up”

Yeah, I know that it is rainy and cold right now, but hey, summer is coming.  Let us hook you up NOW for summer opportunities to serve and witness with your worship teams and music groups.  It’s never too early to start planning and there are organizations close by who want to work with you!  Here are links to their websites:

• http://www.charlestonoutreach.org/missions-teams – The Human Needs Network of Charleston Outreach sponsored by the Charleston Baptist Association
• http://impactmb.org – Impact Ministries of Myrtle Beach
• http://www.savannahriverbaptist.org/mei – Savannah River Baptist Association of the Hilton Head/Bluffton area
• http://goldenislesministries.com/ministries – Golden Isles Ministries on the Savannah/Brunswick GA coast

These organizations will hook you up with service opportunities of all kinds and help you find accommodations, meal arrangements, and performance opportunities.  Dream big and give them a call.

In the meantime, your Worship & Music Office offers events which will equip you and support you in these efforts.  Creative Ministries Festival, March 16-17 at White Oak, specializes in training for outreach-oriented drama, puppets, and creative movement, and will conclude with a block party in Winnsboro.  The Youth Choir Festival, Saturday March 10 at Riverland Hills Irmo, is a one day event with two tracks for youth singers and missional training for leaders and chaperones.  The Instrumental Expedition for church orchestra members is April 20-21 in Charlotte and concludes with an outreach concert in downtown Charlotte.  Hook up with us and let us hook you up with these great opportunities.  Go to www.scbaptist.org/worship for more details and registration information.    

Remember, though, that mission events and projects are only a door to ongoing mission service projects.  If we only take a mission trip with one of the above partners once a year, we are falling far short of being “on mission” as Christ has commanded us.  Mission Trips need to open the door for us to invest in our own communities in ongoing weekly mission service projects which lead to witnessing relationships.  So don’t stop short with mission events.  Go all the way with regularly scheduled mission service projects.

Posted in Motivate

Every January, I take one of our choir rehearsals and focus on a campaign theme for our choir.  This year’s theme is “Who Wants to Be a Musicianary?”  I took the logo from “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and adapted it so it would work with our theme. That logo image was on the screen in the Worship Center as our choir entered to take their places for rehearsal.  I used the theme music from that popular tv show and introduced myself as playing the part of Regis.  I brought in two black swivel chairs so it would mimic the tv show’s style.  Then, we started playing the game.  I called upon 8 players, one at a time, to answer just one question.  Each one of them, if answering their particular question properly, would win a million dollars.  The dollars we gave away came from this website and are witnessing tracts that look like million dollars: http://www.livingwaters.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=141&category_id=8&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=199

To make sure we had equal participation, I selected one member of each of our 8 sections (Soprano I and II, Alto I and II, Tenor I and II, Bass I and II).  I called out the general category of question.  If they didn’t know the answer, they could use one lifeline and call on someone else in their section to answer.  You can come up with your own questions, but here are ours, listing the category and then the question:

1. CHOIR – Name one music group in our church that goes out and sings for other organizations on a regular basis.

2. SONG – Name and/or sing a hymn or congregational song that promotes us to be on mission.

3. IDEA – Come up with an idea of where our choir could sing as music missionaries in our city.

4. TECHNOLOGY – Name the Blog that is generated by your minister of music that gives ideas on how to be a music missionary.

5. MINISTRY – Name the new choir in our church that has been organized to both sing and minister to their own age group.

6. SYMBOL – What is the Christian symbol used by Christians in the first few centuries to declare the Christian faith.

7. SCRIPTURE – Quote or give scripture reference to a passage in the Bible that tells us to be missionaries.

8. PROJECT – Name an annual project that takes musicians from our church and sends them to perform in local businesses.

9. (BONUS ROUND) MISSIONARY – There is at least one vocational missionary in our choir.  Name that person and the type of mission work that is done.

After we finished the game, each choir member received a sheet that gave them the chronological steps of becoming a musicianary and “50 ways to activate the musiciary in you.”  Each choir member also received a lapel pin of the logo used on this website.

The night was all in fun, but hopefully it stirred awareness of our need to be on mission wherever we are and wherever we go.

Posted in Motivate

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