Inspiration

I don't think I've ever been more inspired by a movie than tonight. I rented "The Great Debaters" partly because there was nothing else in Blockbuster that seemed interesting and partly because I have an insatiable craving for movies. I sat down @ my imac and decided to put this movie in first because it seemed like a movie I needed to pay really close attention to (ie. it required more attention than I could give while working on design stuff). So I put the movie in and waited for the heart warming goo to flow out.

As I sat there, I realized the weight of this movie. It is a deep and really heavy movie. It motivates plenty of emotion, either being hate, sadness, pain, or simple discomfort. I hate movies that bring up racism in order to prove that a certain group has done lots of wrong and should still feel bad about it. Those kinds of movies irritate me as much as Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson do when they are in the news trying to pick apart some instance of wrong doing as a huge racial issue. Not that they aren't right some of the time, but usually they are out to get publicity because the American people have forgotten about them.

"The Great Debaters" is not one of those movies. It has a wealth of intellect and wit that most movies lack now a days. There are emotion filled rants, tearful moments and sad travesties. For every one of those moments, there are three moments that break the human spirit down into a simple, better notion. That mankind has lost the passion that once fed freedom. I sat there listening to young men and women debate over topics that are weightier than tax breaks and campaign ads. It brought about compassion, not sympathy. It stirred desire to see equality, not hatred towards those who have done wrong. I was half through that movie when I picked up my notebook and penned a heart felt response to what mankind has done to itself. I look at this movie, not as a reflection of the past, but as a mirror image of our current situation. We sit back and watch as the world around us falls into a cyclical motion of rising and falling. Not only are we living in racially charged times, where a black presidential candidate stirs voters because of his race, but in a time where there are those around us who can't see past their social class.

I'm not saying I'm going to go out and change the lives of every American. I can't do that. What I can do is understand the struggles others face each day and show compassion to someone who, otherwise, might not see a friendly face. I can step up and show my fellow man how beneficial him being around really is. People need to know there are needed/wanted. People need connection to something more than just a job or a loved one. They need to know that God has reached out His hand towards them in the guise of someone smiling at them or telling them they are great.

This movie was intended to show the will of the human spirit. To show that even though racial tensions were strong, there were a few who stood tall and stood proud. It gave me the will to exercise my civil disobedience. My disobedience to the norm of looking out for myself first and then if I have the time or resources to give help to another. My act of civil disobedience is to reach out to any and all, and give them the hope they are looking for.... My Lord

There's more than just the music!

Recently, I've started thinking about the different aspects to worship. As a Worship and Creative Arts Pastor, I tend to get stuck in the mindset of music. Don't get me wrong, I love music! It's one of my three big passion! Unfortunately, the "Church" tends to think of worship in terms of music. Worship is a lifestyle. It's a way of thinking, breathing, eating, sleeping.... living. We worship God with our hearts, our actions, our minds, and our talents. Not everyone has perfect pitch or can play an instrument. Which can make it difficult for them to get into worship because they feel they aren't contributing to the overall experience.

So that being said, I am working on different ways to think about worship. Whether we think of art work, music, handy work, or some other expression, I am trying to find ways to incorporate the entire church body into contributing to the overall worship experience. Some ways I've thought of so far are:
- Art work (painting, sculpting, literature)
- Sound and Technical (sound board, video projection, etc)
- Setup (It takes a lot of work to prepare for a service and setup is essential!)
- Call to worship (Giving a word, reading a scripture, or sharing a testimony at the beginning of the worship set)

I know that isn't a whole bunch of ideas, but I think that people often feel disconnected from the worship experience. Almost like it is a concert and not a time where they can personally take a few moments and share their heart with God. I wonder what the "Church" would look like if everyone was in tune with God on a corporate and PERSONAL level, simultaneously?

New Life Parkfest

First of all, I just wanted to announce to everyone that our Church website has finally launched!!!! Woo hoo!!!! There are still some updates that we need to do, but it's running! I have attached the address: thenewlifecommunity.com

Ok, so we had our New Life Community Church Parkfest yesterday and it was definitely great! We had a blast and had a great turn out! Hopefully I'll be able to place pictures up pretty soon!

We had a young adult team down from a church in Wisconsin. Many those guys were awesome!! I led worship with their worship team. It was an awesome time. They arrived on Thursday and started to work on helping "update" our church. They painted the inside and outside of our church.... now it looks AWESOME!!!!!! I'll take some pictures pretty soon and post them up. I got back in town on Saturday afternoon, from JP and Jana's wedding (congrats guys!!!!) and when I drove up to the church they were almost done painting. It was one of the best surprises I could of come back to. So I gathered my guitar and equipment up and headed home (actually to get a new cell phone.... I need everyone's numbers). I arrived at the Vlasses Park early Sunday morning to get setup. I finally met the band that morning and we had our first run through for the worship set. Now, normally I panic at this point. I'm a stickler for practicing until we have the whole set this down and can play it in our sleep. Well, we had one run through and decided that was enough.

The worship set was awesome!!!!!! I can't believe how well we all meshed and how quickly it happened!!! It was so refreshing to go through a worship set like that! I am so worked up about it that I've had a hard time sleeping! This whole weekend was an upper for me! Coming back to see the church painted and having a great service where people really responded to God and to our vision is what I really needed. We are moving along quite nicely! Hopefully soon we'll have new lighting!!

I say all of that to say that sometimes things seem to stop and you seem to be making no progress. That time will pass and all of your hard work and time spent agonizing over the little details will lead to your dream being realized! You just have to embrace patience and realize God is working things out in His own way.

Now it's time to dream more....... dream bigger.... and dream cooler (don't know what that means).

July 13, 2008

So we just finished up service at New Life about two hours ago. It was a good service! Worship was splendid (who uses that word anyway!?) as usual! W only had three song on the set list this morning, but they took plenty of time.

New Life Set List: 7/13/08

Jesus I Surrender- Jeff Deyo
All I Need Is You- Marty Sampson
Freedom Reigns- "Some guy"

I know that's not fair to the author of the song, but heck.... I don't remember his name and I don't really want to go look for it. Laziness! I tell you, kids these days don't have value for hard work. When I was their age.... wait I am... crap! Oh well.

Jason spoke on the second half of our "motto"..... Grow In Love. The first half is Grow in God. They may sound redundant, but the fact is that the two are the same and separate. He talked about how we love one another. To Grow In Love we must first learn what love is. The Father has love abounding and it is easily accessible to us by simply accepting the gift of His love. We tend to worry about whether or not God has "feelings" for us, like some worrying girlfriend or needy lover. The fact is that He loves us and we have to deal with it. Once we do that, we then have to start loving others.

Jesus in Matthew 22 is speaking to the people and the Pharisees try to catch Jesus in His own words. One of them being an expert in the law asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is? The ever clever Jesus replies with one of the greatest sayings in His ministry. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

The reason this is so important is that Jesus puts these two commandments side by side. He equates loving the almighty creator of the universe with loving the man next door. We often neglect loving God by being mean to our neighbors. We forget that God has created every being on this planet and His love for mankind surpasses them all! So if he loves someone and we are mean, rude, hypocritical, and not loving towards them then we are neglecting God. He created us in His image. So leaving out one person is like leaving out the master of our hearts. It's sad to see people continually neglect the heart of their Savior by hurting their fellow man.

We worship God through many avenues. Songs, dance, prayer, preaching the word, but the most powerful of all of them is showing compassion and care for those who are around us. Whether or not we like the person, we are still to love them with the love we show towards God. We can lift our hands into the highest of the heavens, sing the praises with our loudest voices, but if we have not love for those with whom we interact with on a daily basis then God will turn a deaf ear to our clanging cymbol.

Leaving A Church?

I found this on another blog site. This guy is an interesting pastor and I really like what he said here. So here is John Voelz's ideas on leaving a church


Tonight, The Times reported that Senator Barack Obama left his church. Obama was an active member for two decades at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago where he was married and his daughters were baptized. But, as we all know (unless we’ve been under that proverbial rock) the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., pastor of TUCC hasn’t made life too easy for Mr. Obama in recent days.

Some folks are speculating this will be great for his general election campaign while others are questioning why it took him so long to leave since this controversy is probably indicative of a deeper sentiment the church has always communicated.

I cannot begin to speculate whether this was a good decision for Obama or not. I don’t know the “whole” story. I don’t know how they handled themselves behind closed doors. I don’t know if they followed biblical means of confrontation and/or reconciliation. Since I don’t know, I won’t form an opinion.

However, it does have me thinking tonight about people leaving churches.

I have read so many articles and heard so many opinions about when it is “okay” to leave a church. And, quite frankly, unless you know the situation inside out it is hard to make a blanket statement about when it is okay.

For instance, some would say it is okay—and even necessary—to leave a church when the “truth” is no longer preached. While that makes some sense, there is also honor in staying at a church and lovingly holding leadership accountable through the proper channels in order to save the church’s reputation and not drag the name of Jesus through the mud.

There is a bigger question behind the question of “when is it appropriate to leave a church?” and that question is “have you committed to the church you are thinking of leaving?” In other words, if you are not a member (partner, owner, etc.) of your church, you can pretty much do what you want.

If you have issues with your church but you aren't a member, you haven’t committed to anything so your leaving is just like switching grocery stores.

I'm only halfway joking.

So then, if you haven’t committed to any church body there may be a bigger question you may want to ask yourself—“why?’

P.S. If you haven’t committed to that body (through whatever process the local body has in place) and you are not an active participant and financial giver, you should keep in mind you really don’t have any "right" to voice your opinion on your way out.

If you have committed, there is a higher standard for you on how you “go about your business” with raising concerns, communicating issues, and/or leaving.

A commitment to a church is like a commitment to a spouse or a relationship or your family. You don’t just walk out on a family. You don’t just give up on a relationship when it doesn’t “meet your needs.” When you have an issue with your spouse you talk it through—maybe even with a counselor (third party). When the passion wanes, you work on bringing back the original passion.

And, if you do break up with someone or air your grievances, it is not looked upon favorably when you do so by note, letter, or email.

So, without talking about all the possible reasons you might have to leave your church. Let’s talk about “how to do it.”

Let’s assume you have every biblical reason to leave, you have had every conversation you need to have, you have prayed incessantly about your decision, you have gone through the proper channels, and you have exhausted all other possibilities. Now what?

It is 99% inevitable that the church you belong to now is the church you will be from one day.

But, there is a right way and a wrong way to leave a church.

In no particular order, here are some suggestions : : :

1. Don’t make a scene. This is Jesus’ church. No matter how pissed you are at Pastor Bob, Jesus does not deserve your prideful attention grabbing hissy fit.

2. Don’t slander. Again, Pastor Bob and his wife may be idiots. His kid may be the demon seed of Mayberry. But, the church belongs to Jesus. You owe it to your own reputation, the reputation of Bob and his family, and the reputation of Jesus and his church to keep your mouth shut.

3. Ask your pastor(s) out for lunch and explain your decision to leave. Let them know what the “agenda” is before asking them out. Give them the option of not going to lunch with you. Depending on the circumstances that have led up to your departure it may be best you part friends without talking any further. However, give them the courtesy of the lunch invite.

4. In the best of all possible scenarios, part on good terms. It is always better to go out like Seinfeld did—nothing wrong, top of your game. Make sure when you leave you are leaving on the kind of terms where you won’t have to duck down aisle 3 of the supermarket when Bob is on aisle 5 up ahead. Make it the kind of departure where you would be asked to come volunteer in a heartbeat if you ever came back.

5. Do not write a letter or email listing your grievances. Seriously. Trust me. A departure letter gives your church leadership no way to win and leaves them with a bad parting opinion of you. It would be better for you to slip away quietly never to be heard from again than to send a flaming email and disappear.

6. Do not take anyone with you. A common disaster in most churches happens when someone gets their shorts in a wad and starts to build a network of support they take with them on the way out. Truth be told? Most of the folks who were invited to take up pitchforks usually end up coming back after they realize how dumb it was to leave and how invested they are in a place they call home.

7. Don’t talk about “your old church” with your “new church.” Trust me, your new pastor doesn’t want to hear your smack talk. We are all on the same team. Truth be told, when I hear talk about the “last church” I know it is only a matter of time before we fit the profile.

8. Never use your tithe to hold the church hostage. Believe it or not, some will dangle their tithe in front of the church leadership as a way to grab their attention—“I’m gonna leave and take my money with me.” First, your money is Jesus’ money. Second, said money does not buy you privileges.

9. Set an example. Be cognizant of the fact that others are watching you. Young believers, not-yet believers, seasoned believers, and everyone in-between is watching. So is Jesus.

10. Don’t say anything you will regret. Words mean something. Words have lasting effects.

Have We Missed It?

Tonight I went to my first concert since I moved to St Louis. It was downtown near the loop and I have to say I really like the area. It's a neat little nook where all the hippies chill. There are cool clothing stores, vinyl record stores (yes I know what those are), and there are some colorful characters down there. I really like the area, although it isn't very safe. But none of this is the point.

I saw Iron and Wine in concert (A BIG thank you to the Copelands for the free ticket and ride down there) and I really like their music. I couldn't make out the lyrics real well, but their music was off the hook! (90's catch phrase brought to you by VH1's Pop-Up video) Their melodies were insane, they blended an eclectic array of musical instruments, and they had this stage presence that was very unique. The lead singer is a very quiet man. He speaks very little and I like that. The transitions between songs were flawless and the drummer was amazing! (why is it that all the really awesome drummers seem to be black. We white people need to learn) Even the opening band was good! I was just really impressed.

I say all that to say this: I think the Christian community has missed out on a really cool style of music. Someone sitting near me said: "If your church had this style of music then I'd be there every Sunday!" He went on to say that most worship music is very dull and outdated. I laughed and agreed with him and then began a pretty cool discussion on some of my favorite worship bands and how they are different from mainstream worship stuff. Unfortunately, I can't say that my style of worship is any different from the "mainstream" stuff. I've become content with boring chord progressions and bland melodies. I feel like I've not done what I've wanted to do all along, that is buck the system. Change the way people see and hear worship music. I've stayed where I've become comfortable. This style of music was really cool and added something of an eclectic feel to the whole concert. Steel drums, percussion that was abnormal, guitar lines that were out of the box. It was just.... fresh. I think I am going to work on that.

I wonder how people at church would feel if I did something very very very different from what they have known. I mean I am already pulling them out of their comfort zone with the music I am using now. I just want to do more. Bring something fresh so that when new comers enter the building they realize we aren't like the other churches in town. We have something fresh! For me, it all starts with finding more band members. Right now I am hunting down musicians. I am posting flyers in music stores and on college campuses. I am trying to bring people in. My first priority is to find some really good electric players. Next, I think I am going to look for someone who is pretty good on the turn tables. After that, I think I am going to stretch even further. Who knows what that will look like, but I'm going to give it a shot! Maybe in ten years people will look back on what I have done and think to themselves "Geoff did something in worship that I've never seen before!" Maybe I'll change how worship is done.

This night really inspired me! Thanks again to the Copeland's! You have challenged me as a worship pastor. You have opened my eyes to something I never thought a 40's something couple could. Now it's off to brainstorm and dream!!

Something I've Found Helpful

So I found this nifty list and figured I would share it here on my blog. I will be using it at New Life when we get off the ground. Check it out this list !

And I will be updating the song writing vlog soon!

"You Took My Place"

Here is a song that I wrote called "You Took My Place". In subsequent blogs I'll be discussing song writing issues.

Voice Issues

So I am sitting here on my futon, relaxing from a weekend in Topeka, KS. We were at Good News Church this weekend leading worship and doing ministry. I had kind of a rough weekend and it's hard to get over. You see we got up there Friday night and stayed in the house of a gentleman in the church. As soon as I walked in the house, I knew I was in trouble. You see the guy has a cat. For some people, that's not a big deal. For me, that's a huge thing. You see, I've become allergic to cats in the past few months. Not sure where that came from, but it's terrible. So I slept in the house that night and the next morning... it was terrible.

Later that day we practiced and I knew it was over. My throat was on fire! I felt like I was breathing fire every time I sang a note. It doesn't help that I am not very friendly to my vocal chords when I sing. So I bore down and began to sing. As we hit the set that night, it was a struggle. I couldn't hear much because our monitor went out and had to listen through the main speakers and we had a drummer with no drum shield. The first song went terrible for me. I was off and my throat was dying. By the time we hit the last song (a very high song) I was done. I'm still getting over the soreness and being hoarse.

All that being said, I am trying to figure out some things I can do to preserve my voice. Singing when you are hoarse and when you are sick..... VERY BAD for you vocal chords. The only thing you can do is drink water and rest. I am looking for some voice remedies as well. Any suggestions?

Writing.... An Art Form?

There have been several worship albums come out in the past couple of months.
A few of my favorite include:
- Free by Planetshakers
- The I Heart Revolution by Hillsong (this is a re-release of some of the their old material live with some new stuff)
- My Savior Lives by New Life Worship

All of these albums are really good. Like any other album, there are songs that I like more than others and there are a few that I think are terrible. Maybe I am just biased, but worship songs always sound better when the bands and artists take time to work out every aspect of the song and then go back and fix the mistakes at a later point. This just shows commitment to excellence, which I firmly believe is a scriptural foundation.


I've always wondered how these song writers produce such quality songs. It's amazing to look at the simplicity of the lyrics and hearing such an anointing on the songs. The compositions are so refreshing and the music behind the lyrics is so deep and complex. God's wonder and glory seem to be encompassed in these songs. Maybe it's just my biased towards to the music, but the music just inspires writing every time I listen.