1. Make it fun – I love fast songs fun songs, we have done “The Roundup” for over 10 years and our kids still love it. The round-up has nothing to do with Jesus it’s just fun. I try to be the best father I can yet I make mistakes our Father in heaven is perfect. If I delight in the sound of my kids having a good time laughing and playing in the next room, imagine how our Father in heaven delights over us. Our father in heaven delights in us when we are simply having fun.
My friend Yancy has released a new worship album. She sent me a copy of it and it’s fantastic. I love Yancy’s music because her generous spirit and her passion for the local church can be felt in the music she writes and in any conversations you have with her. Yancy is a gifted musician and songwriter with an obvious passion for kids and family that is tangible in everything she does.
In her latest offering you can really sense her authenticity in every song she has recorded on “Roots For The Journey“. I am a sucker for old songs so I love “Eye is on the sparrow” Yancy also adds a few modern songs to the mix to create a well-balanced record that I believe will stand the test of time. We play “Roots For The Journey” in our house during dinner time which is huge for us as a family. It’s during dinner that we talk about everyone’s day go over catechism question for the week. Yancy’s Roots album is a perfect addition to our dinner conversation.
Another way we plan on using Yancy’s record is to give it away along with the Jesus Storybook Bible to all our families who dedicate their babies at our church. So if you are a church leader or a parent pick up a copy of Yancy’s Roots for the Journey today!
Order the CD today! We are offering a great deal on a pack of 5 CD’s too. Get some to give to others who are needing encouragement or use in classrooms, etc. (Get FREE SHIPPING with code: yancylovesme )
Or you can download from iTunes and other digital outlets.
There have been many instances of people using guns to inflict pain on others all over the country. Each one is horribly tragic. To read about the senseless slaughter of innocent people is overwhelming and mind numbing. This reality of senseless gun violence came to my town literally down the street from me. People who attend our church were directly affected. It is unspeakably tragic.
You will hear the Republicans and the Democrats over then next few days point the blame at many things. Some will say it’s a mental health problem others will say it’s a gun control problem. We go back and forth in reality we are arguing over the symptoms but no one wants to address the true sickness. Although both sides see that there is a problem they both are so blinded by the symptoms they can’t see the actual problem. It’s a trap we all fall into because if we point to a symtom we don’t have to deal with the deeper issue. We think we are ok and everyone else is the problem. We don’t have a gun control problem we have a worship problem.
What we believe about God matters, because it informs the way we live. I did a blog post a while back about how so many Christians are Theological idiots. I got a lot of feedback from people saying that every person should not have to know or understand deep biblical truths. What I was trying to say and may have been unclear in that post was the decisions we make are based on what we believe to be true or untrue about God wether we like it or not. We believe something about God even if that something is that He does not exist.
The chief end of man is glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Our worship problem starts and ends here. When we don’t believe in God and we eradicate Him from the our schools, our courts and our hearts what happens is we fail to see him is our creator God and when we no longer see God as our creator and maker we no longer see that which he has made as precious We no longer see man as the image of God because we have contempt for the image of God. When we have contempt for the image of God people become things we use for our own pleasure and discard when we are done. The problem with both sides of the isle is they are trying to fix our worship problem by addressing the consequences of our worship problem. What or who do we live our lives for because that’s what we truly worship. Very often we substitue true worship for something that isn’t God. Romans 1 addresses this very issue.
Romans 1: 21-25
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,who is blessed forever! Amen.
More than gun control, more than mental health reform each of us need to recalibrate the loves of our lives. Piper says “Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth” When there is awful situations of profound sadness and loss due to gun violence it is easy for me to point the finger at the broken person who perpetrated this act and society that enabled this act but I must also point the finger at myself and ask God to help me to properly love and worship him so that I can proper love and serve the people He died for. That the loves of my life are recalibrate to reflect the culture of heaven.
Came across this on the Desiring God blog thought it was helpful:
J. I. Packer will turn 86 on Sunday. He is a skillful writer, a fruitful author, and many of his works have become classics, none more than Knowing God. Recently in our interviews with him in Vancouver we asked him for writing advice, or more specifically, what he would say to a budding writer of Christian nonfiction.
He offered three pieces of advice:
To watch the video of J.I. Packer talking about these three points and to read the rest on the blog click on the picture below. 
Most people would say leading worship for kids is totally different than leading for adults. I disagree. I have heard and seen people who lead for adults that are unable to lead for kids? Is adult worship leading really that different from kid worship leading? No.
The biggest difference you will find as you move from kids, to youth, lastly to adults is that you can get away with a lot more the older the crowd. The stuff you get away with when leading for adults won’t cut it for youth ministry, and what you can do for youth ministry doesn’t work in kids ministry.
Here are a few things every worship leader can do to be successful no matter what the age of the kids you are leading.
1. Open your eyes – You are leading you can’t lead what you can’t see. Closing your eyes to much breaks the connection you need with those you are leading.
2. If you have the mic LEAD - Nothing worse than tentative leadership. Lead strong.
3. IF you talk at all make sure its about the greatness of Jesus not trying to get those you are leading to do what you want.
4. Have LOTS of energy. – If you feel stupid you are probably doing something right.
5. Smile – no one wants an emo worship leader
6. Know the words –
7. Practice during the week not before church.
8. Remember worship is about Jesus not you. – You want people to leave thinking about the greatness of Jesus not the quality of your voice or the skill of the band.
9. You can’t lead people to where you have never been. – Be a worshiper yourself.
