relevant expression: March 2008

this weekend- March 29, 30

We started our new series Twisted. I am really looking forward to it. We had a great start this past weekend. Here is a link to our website that has more info on it. http://www.babchurch.org/sermonseries.htm

Here are the songs that we sang this past weekend.

-My Savior Lives (New LIfe Worship)
-Everlasting God (Brenton Brown)

-I Stand Amazed (Passion)

-Amazed (Jared Anderson)

-Give us clean Hands (Passion)

I am really looking forward to our next few weeks. Please invite your lost friends and family to the services.

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easter weekend- march 22, 23

Wow, what a great weekend. I am so proud of our church and our worship team. It was just a great weekend of worship, celebration, and declaration of Christ our Savior.

The entire media, sound, praise choir, and band did a great job. I am so impressed of the talent that God has gifted our church with. Pastor Jeff brought a great message.

Even more importantly there were many people saved. We have not received the final numbers yet because we are following up on people this week, but there were several for sure.

Thank you worship team for a great weekend. You guys are awesome. I am looking forward to our new sermon series "Twisted" starting this weekend.

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Easter weekend

I can't wait for this weekend! Why? Because we're going to see more people give their lives to Christ this Easter Weekend than any Weekend so far...at least that's what we're praying for. Pray that with me, would you? How can you help? Invite the whole office…the whole family…the whole neighborhood…the whole class. Go to our new website and invite people with the "evite", using their email address. www.babchurch.org/evite.htm

If you’re not meeting a guest at a specific service time, come to the Sunday, 8:30 am service. At least for the next few weeks. Thanks for that, in advance. Also, park at Office Max if it is possible for you. We will need all the free parking spots here on our property.

And be on time, would you?!? The worship is going to be great!

Remember:
The gift of salvation wasn’t given to us to keep to ourselves-It was given to us to be given away.
See you this weekend!

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The Reason

This weekend is Easter. We are having 3 services as usual. We are really looking forward to them. I know the Salvation message will be clearly communicated. Here is the link for information on our website. http://www.babchurch.org/easter.htm

The Choir, Band, Media and Sound are all preparing to express our worship to God and celebrate what Jesus did for us. We will explore the "The Reason" why Jesus did all of what He did.

The choir and band will be doing a song that will really stretch us. I think it is going to be great. I am looking forward to it.

I hope you are able to make it and bring someone with you.

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this weekend service- March 15, 16

We had a great weekend. The service theme was investing in peoples lives for the main purpose of seeing them have a relationship with Christ.

The band, vocals, sound and media all did a wonderful job. Those guys are great.

These are the songs that we did.

-Not to Us- Chris Tomlin
-How Great Thou Art- Carl Boberg
-It is Well/At the Cross- Horatio Spafford/ Hillsong
-Your Name - Paul Baloche
-Lead Me to the Cross- Hillsong (Special Music)

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doing what Jesus did

I am reading a book called "The Master Plan of Evangelism". It is written by Robert E. Coleman. God has really convicted me lately of being a witness. To literally share the gospel with others. My friend Tim recommended this book to me. I just started it this morning as a I went to Moxie Java and enjoyed a nice cup of house coffee with sugar free raspberry. Yummy. (It was my day off)

The premise of the book is to follow the example of Jesus in sharing the gospel and teaching others. (Go figure) The beginning of the book starts with explaining how Jesus taught. He taught the multitudes. He did this many times, but as you look at the Bible, you see that Jesus heavily focused on teaching others to teach others. (The disciples)

I have a challenge for myself. Who am I telling about Christ? Secondly, who am I teaching and discipling to do the same.? I have in place a couple of people that help mentor me and disciple me, and there are a couple people in my life that I am mentoring as well. But I need to do more.

Who is discipling you? Seriously, who have you given permission to teach you and hold you accountable? You should never stop having that accountability, no matter how knowledgeable you think you are. After that, who are you discipling and holding accountable.

If you look at Jesus's life, he had the 12 disciples. He invested a lot of time in them. Who are you investing in? Who are you telling about Christ?

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my son

I have to give some props to my son Trevar. I went to a school awards program today where he won an award for Diligence. He is such a good boy.

If you have ever been around him, you know he is a very loving boy. You will also know he loves to talk and ask questions. He doesn't know a stranger.

I am blessed with 3 great kids.

Way to go Trev!

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what about physical expressiveness in worship?- part 2

If you missed the previous entry here is a link to it. http://dougconnelly.blogspot.com/2008/03/what-about-physical-expressiveness-in.html

Exactly how, and how much should we encourage our people to follow the numerous commands throughout Scripture of bodily expression (as a natural outpouring of the heart)?

I began by saying we must teach our church that physical expression is appropriate in biblical worship. God intends that we use our whole beings to bring Him praise. ( Ps. 16:9)

For some reason we we can get excited, shout, cheer, and clap at a sporting event, but when it comes to church and worshiping Almighty God, we feel like all we can do is sit there with our hands folded in our laps. I think there is a disconnect between who we are and the expectations of church with our expression.

But how and how much expression? It isn’t simply tell people to “sing like they mean it,” or “jump higher for Jesus,” although I have been guilty of that very thing before. Commanding a physical response can produce artificial affection and actually end up being dishonoring to God. Nevertheless, it’s clear from Scripture God expects us to use our bodies to glorify Him both in corporate worship and in all of life. He is well deserving of any type of praise we could muster up. So there is a balance for me as a Worship Leader. I have to teach and encourage expression, at the same time not over do it.

Here is the second point...

2. Physical expression should flow from a heart that desires to bring God glory, and that outward expressions are no sign one way or the other that someone is offering God acceptable worship.

God strongly rebukes those who think physical expression makes up for an idolatrous heart or disobedient life. Moving our church into greater physical expressiveness that’s not rooted in a clear view of God’s glory will hinder, not help, true worship.

One of the actions that could signify spirituality is lifting hands. Lifting hands can express a wide range of emotions and attitudes - dependence, gratefulness, expectation, reverence, or celebration. Raising hands in worship signifies surrender. What do people do when they surrender in war or in a battle? The will drop whatever they have and raise their hands in surrender. I think it is a great picture of surrendering to God. I did not grow up in a church where that was acceptable. But to be honest with you, I personally cannot help but worship him and raise my hands most of time. I've honestly got to the point, where I don't care what people around me think. I'm not doing it for them. But I also don't expect people around me to do the same thing, if they do not feel led.

However, God condemned both the actions and motives of the Israelites through His prophet Isaiah. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. (Is. 1:15)
The hands we lift to worship God should be holy hands ( 1 Tim. 2:8 )

In our culture singing has become almost synonymous with worship. But God turns a deaf ear to singing that isn’t accompanied by righteous living. I'm all for singing and everyone participating in the music portion of our worship, but if our hearts aren't right, God doesn't hear it anyway.
“Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. ( Amos 5:23-24)

There are people that are very expressive in their worship who live in sin. There are also people that exhibit little expression in the corporate worship setting, but live an exemplary life, and have a profound love for the Savior. We can never prove our devotion by external acts alone. God looks on the heart.

As Christians, if we could just find the balance in this area, we would do good. Let me encourage you, if God is real in your life, let other's around you know by how you express your love to God. Don't be fake, but at the same time don't be fake. (That's deep)

I will continue this thought in another entry.

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this weekend- March 8,9

It was a great weekend. The focus of the weekend was about being connected to other believers. The text of the message was from Hebrews chapter 3. The writer of Hebrews was admonishing us to be connected to other believers, so that we can encourage one another. At Broadway, one of the biggest ways to be connected is being in a Home Team. Barry brought us the message. He did a great job.

I am excited. The Home team that I was in is multiplying. Heather and I are hosting a new group starting tonight. We are really looking forward to it.

The band, vocals, sound and media did a great job. Scott Plumley lead. He did a great job as well. Thank you guys for a great weekend.

Here are the songs we did...

-I am Free (New Life worship)
-My Savior Lives ( New Life worship)
-Majesty (Hillsong/Delerious)
-Sing to the King (Passion)
-Amazed (Jared Anderson)

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what about physical expressiveness in worship?- part 1

How do we know how much physical expression should be in our corporate worship as the body of believers? I would have to say this might vary some depending on what church you attend, and what personality your church has. Exactly how, and how much should we encourage our people to follow the numerous commands throughout Scripture of bodily expression (as a natural outpouring of the heart)?

As many of you know, I grew up in a very conservative Baptist church. I am not complaining about that. I am where I am today because of my heritage and my background. I would have to say that clapping, lifting hands, or anything else would have not been tolerated at my home church. Is that how every church should be in their corporate worship? On the flip side, I have been to churches where people are rolling down the aisles, and if you are not getting a sweat worked up because of all of your bodily movements, you will feel guilty as if you were not correctly worshipping God.

Responses to this question range from sober reverence – “do what you’d do in the presence of royalty” - to complete freedom – “do whatever God commands in Scripture.” I think the answer is a little more complexed than either of these extremes suggest. For that reason, I want to take a few posts to answer this question.

My main point is there needs to be balance both ways. I will take the next 4 post to talk about 4 ways to look at the importance of expressiveness as a christian.

1. There is an appropriateness of physical expression in worshipping God.

Worship of God was never just meant to be intellectual engagement with biblical truths. Nor is it limited to an emotional response. God created our bodies to glorify him (1 Cor. 6:20). God commands us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That certainly includes the bodies he’s given us.

As I was researching this, I have found that the words that we use to translate the word "worship" in the Greek and Hebrew have the idea of bodily movement. The two most prominent words – histahawah in the Old Testament, and proskynein in the Greek – connote the idea of bending over at the waist or bowing down as an expression of homage. In addition, physical expression is both commanded and spontaneously modeled in Scripture as a way of giving God glory. (Ex. 12:27; Job 1:20; Ps. 47:1; Ps. 95:6). Those expressions include clapping, singing, bowing, kneeling, lifting hands, shouting, playing instruments, dancing, and standing in awe (Ps. 47:1; Eph. 5:19; Ps. 95:6; Ps. 134:2; Ps. 33:1; Rev. 15:2; Ps. 149:3; Ps. 22:23). At Broadway, we want to stress all of these important expressions.

Some people say that there are few references in the New Testament that talk about expression except for kneeling, singing, and lifting hands.(although this last one isn’t emphasized too often). However, it’s not apparent that the bodily responses commanded in the Old Testament have been superseded or fulfilled in Christ’s work on the cross, or that we now obey them only in a “spiritualized” manner. (“I’m shouting in my heart.”) Rather, we need to seek to apply these Scriptures in a way that truly honors God and edifies the church.

More to come later...

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this weekend- March 1, 2

We had a great weekend. We were challenged in our Faith in regards to our church to step up and be stretched by God. We were asked to pray as a church to pay off the remaining $260,000 owed on our land by June 1.

The worship team did a great job this weekend. The praise choir sang this weekend as well. I was sick, so I wasn't able to lead, but Rob and Scott stepped up and did a great job. Everything sounded great.

We did these songs this weekend...

-All Because of Jesus (Steve Fee)
-Our God Reigns (Brandon Heath)
-I Stand Amazed (Passion)
-Mighty to Save (Hillsong)
Special- God of this City (Chris Tomlin- Passion)
-Grace Flows Down

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