Song Leader Guidelines

Chances are you have been setting in church when you are asked to sing a song that you have no idea what it means or it uses old english language. Why do we sing songs in old english or holy king james language? Doest thou thinkest this to be quiet atypical?

What is a night with ebon pinion and why is it brooded o’er the vale?

The other day we sang a song about how in heaven the polish on the door knobs will never fade.

I think there needs to be guidelines for song leaders to know if they can lead this song.

1. There can’t be more than 5 old english words. I know it is unrealistic to cut them out all together and sometimes we need a Thou to rhyme with how but there has to be a limit.

2. If you have to explain it or you don’t understand the words then you can’t sing it. I asked a song leader one day what a phrase in the song meant and he had no clue. This is just wrong to make us sing these songs.

3. It has to have a good melody. We are not some monks in a secluded space so we shouldn’t be chanting or singing some song that has a choppy melody.

4. You can never lead all the verses of the song. If you have to sing all the verses to get the meaning of the song then don’t lead it. Let’s face it many of the songs are weird and there is nothing worse than having to sing that awkward chorus 4 times.

5. Invitation songs can’t be about sinners coming. There is nothing worse than hearing a sermon wanting to come forward and then the song is “come sinner come” or “sinners God will receive” or “though your sins be like scarlet”. You already know you’re a sinner, if you come forward everyone else knows you’re a sinner (chances are they are trying to figure out what you did) the last thing you want is to come forward while the church tells you that you are a sinner.

Prince Caspian (Part 2)

Lucy is the first to see Aslan. She is asked why they couldn't see him and she could. Lucy replies, "Maybe you weren't looking for him."

Later this conversation takes place:
Susan "Why do you think I didn't see Aslan?"
Lucy "I don't know. Maybe you didn't really want to."
Susan "You always knew you'd be coming back here, didn't you?"
Lucy "I hoped so."
Susan "I'd finally just got used to the idea of being in England."

Are you looking for God? Can others see Him in places that you can't?

How do you see God? How do we become like Lucy and see what others can't?

Paul tells us to anticipate the day that we see Jesus and remember that heaven is our home and not this world (Phil 3:20).

When we are anticipating a reunion with God and we are looking for him was are more likely to see him everyday in our world and not get used to living here but looking forward to living with Jesus.

Prince Caspian

I just got through watching Prince Caspian and it was a great movie! There was so much action and my heart raced through so much of the movie. It also had so many biblical themes and I am going to take the next few blogs to write about the ones that impacted me.

When Prince Caspian first meets King Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy he is shocked that they are children and says that he was expecting grown up kings and queens. How many times do we find that God uses the unexpected to do great things. Think about all the people of the Bible who were young when God did great things with them (David, Jeremiah, John, Mark, ..).

At the end of the movie Lucy says that she wished she was able to be more like the older one and have more courage and fight. She has a little dagger as her weapon while the others have swords and a bow and arrow. But she is the only one who sees Aslan and has faith that he is there and can help them.

God constantly reminds us that age is not a factor in serving him and age is not a factor in him using you to do great and powerful things. Many times we let our own doubts and logic get in the way of letting God use us and sometimes as an excuse not to do things for God.

1 Timothy 4:12 was one of those verses I hated growing up I think it was because it was theme of every camp and youth rally or any speaker who thought he would dedicate a sermon to the youth. But I have gotten over my bitterness for it and grown to appreciate the fact that Paul is telling Timothy two great messages.

1. God has given him a great gift and is ready to use him to do great things. He is to live up to God's standards and lead people who are much older than he is.

2. He can't use age as an excuse or a fear not to do what God is calling him to do.

If God's kingdom (Narnia) is to survive and thrive it needs young people (another term I hate but don't know a better way to say it) to step up and use the gifts that God has given them. We can't let age hold us back, back us fearful, or use as an excuse to wait.

BIble Wars

(A Take off of Stuff Christians Like)

We have all been in a Bible discussion when a scripture war breaks out. We trade verses that prove our points in hope that we will somehow prove the other person wrong and that they will convert to our way of thinking. The problem is that at the end there is no defined winner. It is like the presidential debates both sides return to their corners and they think and spin how they won. So we need a scoring system to help us be able to declare a winner. So the following is my proposed scoring system:

Old Testament Verses +3pts

New Testament Verses +2pts

Bonus points for:

Quoting it from the KJV or ASV +2pt

Levitical Law +2pts

Minor Prophet excluding Jonah +2pts

Giving book chapter and verse +2pts

Proof texting to prove your point +2pts

Red letter verses +3pts

Verses quoted in New Testament +3pts

From God +3pts

Referring to the Holy Spirit +3pts

Verses from Revelation +3pts

Verses that you can illustrate or explain with a scene from a movie +3pts

Verses that refer to some obscure practice that now brings out the junior high reaction in all of us (Examples: Ezekiel 23:19-20 and Deuteronomy 23:1) +5pts

List of all the things that will send you to hell +5pts

Penalty points for:

Verses from VBS stories -3pts

Verses found on a sign at a football game, a Thomas Kincaid picture, a coffee mug, etc -3pts

Quoting it from the Message -2pts

Quoting an evil person -3pts

Being caught proof texting to prove your point -4pts

Verses that are a common song -5pts

Thinking it was in the Bible but its not (cleanliness is next to godliness) -10pts

So no you know the rules and have a way to know if you won or lost your latest Bible discussion.

Fasting

Over the last eight years I have been intrigued by fasting. I was never taught about this in church outside of the fact that it was something they did in the Old Testament and then Jesus condemned how it was done in the new. So I began reading anything I could on it, and discovered very few people write about it. So here are some of my thoughts on what I have learned.

Fasting was done for many reasons religious and not. It was a way to show that something in life had been altered (death, plans, etc) or something needed to change (your life, your relationship with God, etc). Over a period of time the Pharisees made fasting a badge of honor and taught that every good Jew would fast on Monday and Thursday. To them fasting equaled godliness and the more you did it the more godly you were and you wanted to make sure that others recognized how godly you were so you made sure people could know when you fasted.

The original religious purpose of fasting was to give up something that you believed you had to have (food) and when you took it away you would realize that you could live without it but what you couldn't live without was God. When Jesus was traveling through Samaria in John 4 the disciples went to get food and when they returned they found Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman who brought the whole town out to meet Jesus. They offered him food because he hadn't had any and he told them that he had food they didn't know about (4:31) and that it was doing God's will.

My schedule is pack full of going from one task to the next and filled with so many distractions from reading blogs, facebook, text messaging, talk radio ( I love ESPN radio), and tv at home. Many times I loose my focus on God due to these things. Over the weekend I didn't watch tv or have the internet because I was at my parents and I was going crazy not checking my messages. But it also allowed me to go out by the creek and set on the dock and meditate and pray. I wouldn't have done it if they had tv or the net.

We need to return to the practice of fasting. Maybe not the tradition of not eating food but maybe turning off the phone and computer for a day or two. The purpose of fasting is to help us regain control of our life from the things that dominate us. It allows us to realize that the things we think we need are not all that important. It allows us to spend more time with God. The purpose was to help us hunger and thirst for righteousness. Sometimes we spend more time texting than reading the Bible and praying. Sometimes we read blogs, post messages on facebook, and the like and forget to meditate on scripture.

So let me challenge you to unplug for a day and spend the extra time with God and reconnect and remember what it is like to be free of distractions and focused on God.

Splitsville

I was 14 years old when the church across town went through a split. When I was 18 I witnessed another church split in Florence. And when I was 26 I got to see a third split. I was not a member of any of the churches. I don't know all the details I only know the results. Here are some of the things I have learned over three splits.

Its always personal
Every split turns personal. The original split may begin because of a difference between doctrine, philosophy, or carpet color but at the end of the day it always turns personal. I call it church on church slander or brother on brother hatred. Every split I have seen two villians emerge. The person who lead the split and their antagonist. The antagonist may be an elder, minister, a member, or decorator. These two represent the cause and people start to spew hatred toward them and their family. In the name of standing for truth and leading a needed reform the people and supporters begin to slug it out with words. I have heard of hate mail sent to family members, u-haul boxes placed on lawns with a for sale sign planted in the yard, newspaper articles or ads telling everyone in the region why the other group is terrible, snubbing people, etc.

It always leaves people in the middle
My 10th grade math teacher went with the split group and people said nasty things to her. Later she and her family reconsidered their decision to leave. The problem was where do you go when you have been told by so many how you have denied Jesus, are going to hell, and have disgraced you family name? How do you return and set next to them in worship? She couldn't see how this would work. I have seen the same in other areas.

There are others who have friends and family who attend the split church and the original church and if they don't pick sides they are weak and not willing take a stand for truth. If they pick a side they alienate a family member. If they try to stay out of the mix people will do their best to draw you in.

It doesn't end at church
The split never ends at church it goes everywhere. If there is a Christian school they will be forced to deal with this. Church camp is never the same. Any major event that involves the local churches is impacted. Everyone has to pick a side and one side is the winner and the other the looser.

It never ends
It has been 18 years since I witnessed the first split and the controversy is still going on. Everything the split church does is analyzed and dusted for prints to see what heresy must be involved in their latest plan. The original church is always second guessed and every decision is yet another affirmation that they had to leave that place. 18 years later and this is still going on.

God Hates Division
I don't know how many verses in the Bible deal with unity, peacemakers, and getting along but when you see the aftermath of splits you can understand why God hates division. God knows how it looks to the community around us, how it impacts the people involved and the innocent bystanders who happen to live in the area, and how it leaves a path of destruction.

I have seen many church people do ungodly things in the name of Jesus when a church undergoes a split.

The Pope Text Messages

Pope Benedict will text message thousands of young Catholics on their mobile phones during World Youth Day in Sydney in July, hoping going digital will help him connect better with a younger audience.

The Pope will text daily messages of inspiration and hope during the six-day Sydney event while digital prayer walls will be erected at event sites and the church will set up a Catholic social networking Web site akin to a Catholic Facebook.

The Catholic Church said it decided to use technology to connect to the estimated 225,000 young Catholics expected to attend the World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations that start on July 15. (Reuters Press)

A Guide to Knowing When to Pray

This is another classic from Stuff Christians Like

SCL Guide to Food Prayers:

1. The Stand Up Rule
If you have to stand up while eating, you don't have to pray. Regardless of what you are eating, standing up makes the food feel very light and insignificant. It's impossible to cut anything while standing too. You end up just spearing chunks of fruit or meat awkwardly while trying to keep the plate from tipping over onto the carpet, further upsetting the hosts whose dog you just made urinate on the couch because you got it too excited at the Christmas Eve party. That just got personal, but trust me, no prayer required here. Use this easy rhyme to remember: "if you can't sit, prayer forget it, if you have to stand, God understands."

2. Wedding food
This rule actually works for any big event where one person prays for the whole room. Listen carefully to that person's prayer. If it's good, dig in. If it's a little weak, you better double up and pray for yourself just to be sure. No offense to the other person, but it's better safe than sorry. Plus, it makes you look extra holy which is never a bad thing if you're single and trying to meet a bridesmaid.

3. Drive in
This actually depends on which fast food restaurant you go to. If you go to Chick-fil-A or In-n-Out you probably don't have to pray because those are Christian restaurants and the holiness is applied like barbecue sauce to the food items. You're covered. Taco Bell, Burger King and other restaurants are questionable. At the bare minimum, turn your back in the car while they use that bean and guacamole gun at Taco Bell and say a prayer. Chances are you'll need it. (By the way, if you're partaking in Taco Bell's "Fourth Meal" or the food they feed you between dinner and breakfast, you better pray. Lots. You've just introduced a grilled, toasted, roasted, 17 layer, bean bandalero to your stomach at 2 in the morning.)

4. Progressive Dinner
A progressive dinner is where you travel with people from house to house having one course at each. The question is, where and when do you pray? Is it before the first house or at each house? Good question. I pray at the beginning and then at each house that serves something that might need a little God. When I used to be a bag boy at a grocery store we called it "spot mopping." You didn't mop the whole floor, just the few areas that needed it. Same thing applies here. If one house has a fresh manadarin spinach salad, hold the prayer. If the next one has some sort of homemade sausage that may or may not be squirrel, you better start praying.

5. Gas Station Snacks
Nougat? No prayer. Beef jerky? Depends. If you do regular jerky, no problem, you don't have to pray. If you do that jerky, cheese marriage thing where there's a tube of orange cheese spooning the jerky, you better pray. Or if the logo on the bag is a guy in overalls or a barrel with rope suspenders, you should pray.

6. Before or After Appetizers
The best way to get a waiter or waitress to come to your table is to start praying. They'll materialize out of thin air like some sort of prayer interrupting phantoms. I suggest praying in the parking lot before you get in the restaurant. That way, you eliminate any possible chance of the staff trying to crash your prayer party.

7. Eating contests
I weigh about 160. A few years ago, a coworker challenged me to an eating contest at Fuddrucker's, a hamburger joint. I accepted and ended up doing just fine in the "1lb throwdown." I was able to stomach a one pound cheeseburger without a problem. But then he suggested we do a "2lb showdown." Have you ever seen two pounds of meat on a plate? It was gross. It was like eating two 1lb meat frisbies. I finished it, but ended up getting the meat sweats and eventually throwing up at work. I am dumb. If you ever find yourself in an eating contest, please pray. Constantly.

I hope today when you sit down for lunch or dinner you'll consider these pearls of wisdom. I also hope that you won't take this seriously and email me with comments like "how dare you tell people not to pray when they eat nougat. You heathen."

Worker Saftey

I found this gem on Marko's blog and thought it was great.
It starts a little slow then it really become funny in a sick kinda way.
There is one profanity in the subtitle.