Just a quick note to let you know we are back and kickin’!  The adjustment back to the US culture and “normal” life has been more challenging than we thought, but we are doing well.  I’ll post more later, just wanted to let you know that the blog has not gone dead!

Note: No kangaroos were killed in the creation of this blog.

Alrighty, the details are together for The Worship Leading Practicum.

The practicum is a 10-week training and consulting experience designed for worship leaders.

Classes are an interactive study consisting of :

• Daily Devotions
• Weekly reading
• Practical assignments
• Evaluations
• Weekly phone consults with Scot and a small group of students.

If you are interested in taking part in the fall group, you can check out all the details here.

Blessings!

Scot

In this article we wrap up the Worship Leading Essentials series. 

A moment of silence please.

Thank you.

In Worship Leading Essentials #1, we talked about setting the base.  In this final article, we book-end the whole deal by realizing that it is really not about the music.  Take this one to the bank.  Music is an expression, a powerful artform, a beautiful medium, even a shaper of history.  But don’t make a god of it.  

When someone says “We are a worshipping church with a great worship time,” they are off base.  When they say “We are all about a rocking worship time,” they don’t get it.  They are off mission and it is just a matter of time before the whole deal falls apart.  Musical worship is not the focus of the church.  It is a tool, an expression.  Anything more and it is idolatry.  There are plenty of churches who idolize their worship.  Don’t be one of them.  If you are in this mess, do yourself a favor and get out for a season and reconnect with the God you sing about.

God doesn’t give a rip about a drum kit, bass rig, K-2’s, footpedals, or turntable.  He wants to make sure that you are on the mission of seeking and saving the lost.  He wants to make sure you are living in community to such a level that others are drawn to the kingdom.  He wants to make sure you are connecting with the people he died for.

If you are living centered around music you are slowly dying.  If your experience in following Christ is only in your music, you have it all wrong.

Worship is an anthem of the lives lived in complete abandon to this beautiful savior.  Go passionately follow a Christ who is worth wrapping your life around.  Live in such a way that your songs become an expression of the life that you live.  And watch the kingdom explode.

Love.  Live.  Rock.

Technorati Tags: worship, music, church,

For more great pictures like the one above (and a sweet blog) check out Josh at The Longbreak.

Passion just announced their regional dates.  In addition to the annual Atlanta event, passion hits the road and does some smaller venues.  Click here for all the details.  Shawn and I are planning on Chicago, Oct 19-20. Hope to see you there!

Technorati Tags: passion, louis-giglio, chicago

I remember graduating from Lincoln Christian College and taking my first church.  I was ready to make a mark on the world.  Totally clueless.  I thought I knew everything.  I was ready to make a contribution to the kingdom and knew that I knew everything I needed to know (say that 3 times fast).

It didn’t take long before I realized that I needed more input on how to move the kingdom along.  From that first ministry I have made it a point to never feel like I knew it all. 

Here are some of the realized benefits from being a life-long learner:

1. Keeps us out of the ruts.  We have a tendency to do things the same way, over and over.  Left to ourselves we will repeat this pattern until boredom or ineffectiveness sets in.  We need outside influence to give us fresh perspectives and motivations.
2. Networking.  People in ministry are not in competition.  We are on the same team.  Some other people in ministry have what you need, and you have what they need.  I have learned a ton from people who have allowed me to network with them.  I am always looking to learn more, especially from guys in the trenches.  Maybe that it why I dig the whole blog scene so much.
3. Makes us critical thinkers who operate fully awake.  With no outside stimuli, the mind sometimes goes to autopilot.  With no one to challenge us, there is no fight or flight response, just a “do the same thing because it is working and I have a nice routine” response.  Sometimes we need to be challenged to think critically about why and how we do what we do. Some of the best learning  times for me have been in research or observations or discussions with people who go against what I am doing.  They don’t agree with the way I do things, let alone the reason behind them.  No matter. I embrace them.  They make me defend what I am doing or change.  Either way, it is a win for me.
4. Keeps us up on culture.  My dream is that the church would reverse itself.  History has pointed out that the church at one point led the culture.  Today it is other way around.  Many churches figured out the culture the best they could, built kingdom movements around that, and then stopped learning.  Some churches had booming ministries in the 1950’s.  It’s not 1950 anymore.  When we bury our heads in the sand and stop learning, culture shifts and we are left wondering what happened.  I see some hope and some movement in all this, whish is greatly encouraging.  Understand the times, my friend, because soon we will be leading them.

I once read where Bill Hybels said something like “Never apologize for being a learner .”  I dig Bill.

I do all I can to learn.  I read (slowly :>), I observe, discuss, scan blogs, watch, critique, question myself, question our ministry, pace myself, and travel extensively.  For all of those, I make no apology.

What about you?  What are you doing to be a life-long learner?

Technorati Tags: learning, education, leadership, Bill-Hybels, worship

For more great pictures like the one above, check out TT’s photos.

I’ll be in Guatemala for the next 7 days.  I am with a team from exchange doing some orphanage work.  We would love some prayers.

For updates this week, check out the exchange website.

Here is a little video explaining the journey I will take this summer.  Special thanks to Eric Louk for the sweet editing.  He gots skills.

Technorati Tags: the-office, clergy-renewal-grant, exchange, Australia

For the past few years I have trained for the Indianapolis Mini Marathon (13.1 miles).  The training starts in January and goes up to race day; early May.  Each week I am on a schedule of running and cross training.  An interesting thing is also included in the regiment: rest.  My wife comes home and I’m laying on the couch, catching up on some TV time and resting.  The most strenuous activity at the time is pushing the remote buttons. 

“What are you doing?” She asks. 

“Pretty obvious, isn’t it?  I’m training for a half-marathon.”

As a worship leader (or a breathing human being), you need rest.  It must be part of your routine.  I have a tendency to run hard and not rest like I should.  Here is what I find happens when I don’t take time to rest:

1. Criticism is more painful.  When the criticism comes, it stings harder when we are tired.  We don’t  have the mental energy to push through the conflict so our first response is to fold.
2. Focus is off.  When we are tired, it is difficult to maintain focus.  Our game suffers.
3. Irritability.  Enough said.
4. Prone to sickness.  Run without enough sleep and your body’s immune system weakens.  Think you don’t have time to rest?  You will think different when you are sick next week.
5. Creativity is lowered.  When the brain moves slower, there is not the synaptic firing that we need to keep pushing the creative boundaries.
6. Spiritual defenses are down.  We are more prone to temptation when we are tired.  We don’t have the energy to follow through.  This can be incredibly dangerous.
7. Life is not enjoyed.  Ever heard anyone say that they are exhausted but totally loving life?  Doubtful.

Rest for you may mean more sleep. It may mean more playing.  It may mean having some time that is just your own.  Figure out what it is and schedule it.  Guard it and do it.

One final suggestion:  Sleep in the night before.  Some studies suggest  that we get better quality sleep before midnight.  Some also suggest that every hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours after midnight.  When your pals ask what you are doing going to bed at 9:30 PM, just tell them you are sleeping in.

May your rest be renewing in such a way that you lead from a point of renewed energy and focus. 

Technorati Tags: rest, worship, focus, criticism, indianapolis-mini-marathon

For more great photos like the one above, check out Wigglets’ photos.

I’ve been in the market for a PMP (portable media player) for some time now and, what with being a part-time worship leader, it only made sense that I finally make the jump and pick up a unit that can hold my entire library (nearing 20 gigs of music). It also wouldn’t hurt if it played video and let me view pictures on it, too, so in the end, I chose the Microsoft Zune. Why the Zune? Read on…

The unit is controlled by a directional pad with a button in the middle, and two buttons flanking the directional pad. The left-most button is the back button, the right-most button is the play/pause button, and the d-pad is used to navigate through the Zune’s user interface. The button in the middle of the d-pad is a select button (which also acts as a play button in certain instances). The buttons feel just right and are intuitive. Anyone who has used a keyboard on a computer in the last ten years will find no problem using the Zune.

You can watch a quick 1:30 video of the Zune on YouTube by clicking here.

The screen is nice and bright, and the audio quality is top notch. I frequently plug my Zune into my desktop speakers at the office, and it always sounds clear and crisp. The headphones that come with the Zune seem fairly standard, and while their audio quality is acceptable, I’m not sure I like the way they feel in my ears. They feel like they’re about to fall out, even though I’ve never had them fall out, even when using them for extended periods. This could just be me, so your mileage may vary. The headphones do come with a little magnetic strip on the back of each earbud, helping you to keep the rat’s nest of wires under control a bit when storing your Zune headphones.

In comparison, the Zune is slightly larger than a 30 gig iPod (not the Nano, we’re talking the full size iPod here) but the screen is also larger as well (you can click the image to the right for a size comparison; purple is the Zune, pink is an iPod, and green is a deck of cards, just for reference). It’s also slightly heavier than the 30 gig iPod. The iPod’s screen is 2.5″ diagonally and the Zune’s screen is 3″ diagonally. The Zune also sports a built-in radio for when you get tired of your MP3 library.

The Zune will also sync with your pictures and videos so you can carry just about any media with you that you’d like. Pictures look pretty good on it, even though sometimes they’re not scaled down too smoothly, causing some jagged edges to show up in your pics. Overall, though, your images will get treated right on the Zune’s screen.

Videos look fantastic even on the Zune’s 3″ screen. When watching a video, the orientation changes by rotating 90 degrees to maximize the 4:3 aspect of the Zune screen (you can see what I mean by looking at the pictures in this review where the Zune is tilted on its side). What’s more, if you have an Xbox 360 (which I do) you can plug your Zune into it via the USB cable and watch movies through your Xbox. I did this with a lower res movie, and one that’s closer to DVD quality, and both looked pretty good. The lower res movie was just under VCR quality, while the higher res movie was just under DVD quality. Both were definitely watchable.

Zune’s tagline is “Welcome to the social” and Microsoft is backing that up with wireless Zune to Zune sharing. Let’s say you have a Zune, and your buddy has a Zune. You have a track you want him to check out, you can beam it to him wirelessly and he gets the track for 3 days/3 plays. That is, he can listen to the shared track up to three times, or he can have it for up to three days on his Zune before it becomes unplayable. If he liked it, he can go buy it via the Zune Marketplace. I’ve not been able to test this yet, as I haven’t found anyone else with a Zune (hint hint Microsoft; if you want to send one our way so we can complete our review, we wouldn’t argue with you).

Battery life seems pretty good as well. I consistently switch between the radio and my music library throughout an eight hour day, and I have battery life to spare (not much, but there is still some left which counts for something). The radio obviously uses much less battery since the hard drive doesn’t need to be accessed as often, but even when I’ve listened to my MP3 library for a whole day, my battery has lasted at least seven hours if not more.

The Zune software, which includes the Marketplace, where you buy MP3’s using Microsoft Points, is pretty intuitive, and in reality, very snappy. Importing your existing MP3 library into Zune is a snap. Upon first startup, it will automatically import music from common music directory names (namely, My Music which is typically in My Documents). You can also set Zune to look in custom directories as well. Any time you add new music to your library, you can tell Zune to rescan your hard drive, and assuming the music you’ve added is in one of the “to be scanned” folders, Zune will find it, import it, take care of the album art… the works. Playlists are handled efficiently, too. It’s simple to create a playlist out of a new album you just purchased. Simply grab the album name, drag it over to New Playlist on the left, name it, and voila, you’re done.

The search function in the Zune software is fast, which is a nice change from the laggy iTunes search interface. There’s also plenty of views within the software to choose from, whether you want to see album art, or just straight up track and artist names. Plenty of options abound to fit your library sorting tastes. Also, if you have iTunes on your computer and install the Zune software, it will import your music information from iTunes into Zune, including your track ratings and edited ID3 tag information as well.

Note that podcasting support is not built into the Zune software, even though I’ve read that it’s to be included in a future release. For now, you might want to check out FeedYourZune to get your podcasts onto your Zune. (Thanks to TheElusiveFish for the podcasting image.)

I used iTunes for a long time prior to getting my Zune and I’ve found the transition to the Zune software to be an easy one. I’d purchased about 100 tracks via iTunes, so transferring those protected M4P files to Zune will require I burn them to disk, then rip them to Zune from said disk. For me, though, it’s a small price to pay. If you’ve purchased alot of music via iTunes, and are considering going with a Zune, you may have some trouble getting your purchased tracks (protected by Apple’s FairPlay DRM scheme) into Zune, as there is really no set method for doing so at this point. You can purchase a program called TuneBite that might be able to do this for you, but I’ve not used it personally.

At the end of the day, the question is, should I buy a Zune, the newcomer to the PMP playing field, over the tried and true Apple iPod. The only reason I’d say no is if you own a lot of music purchased through iTunes, because there’s really no standard method of getting your music over to the Zune. Otherwise, for the larger screen size, built-in radio, and wifi Zune to Zune sharing, I have to recommend checking out the Microsoft Zune for your next portable media player.

Technorati Tags: microsoft, zune, ipod, apple, feedyourzune, marketplace, worshipplus

Hey, thanks to Joe at Average Joe Radio!  Joe featured a track from Simple Worship 1 and threw out some love to us here.  Check out what Joe has to say on Podcast Episode #8 (we are about 1/2 way through the episode).

Thanks Joe!

Technorati Tags: Average-Joe, podcast, Simple-Worship