Discovering the Church, the Culture, and the Truth
May 19th, 2009

Where are we leading?

I met with my mentors, some of the teachers in my life, today and one of them brought a few things to light in my life that I thought should be addressed in a public forum… since much of the road I’ve taken to get where I am was in public forum this just seemed right.

He said something like this: Micah, you lead people. But is your main concern leading them towards Christ or away from other things?

Let me break that down. As you well know, if you’re a faithful reader of this blog (hi mom), I’ve run numerous posts on what I would call impurities in the church, heresies, etc. The very self reflective question I have to ask myself is “am I so concerned with showing people how wrong this pastor or this author is that I forget that the much bigger goal is to show them how great Jesus is?”

I fear the answer… for the most part in the past few months has been… yes.

Does this mean that I’m not going to call people out or attempt to purify the DNA of the Body? No. But it does mean that I do believe relaying Christ’s love is much more important than relaying His disapproval. Blogs are especially not the ideal place to discuss the impurities in the Church. If that is my means of communicating the speck I find in my brother’s eye, then I am doing exactly what I criticize him for doing: publicly generalizing and criticizing the body of Christ and using Him as the excuse to do so.

Yes, there are problems that need to be addressed. Yes, churches and pastors need to be held accountable for the way they present Christ. But so do I. And until I make leading people towards Jesus central, rather than leading them away from the flaws of man, I am but an infant in my understanding of the gifts of prophesy and teaching.

May 18th, 2009

Worship leadership 101: planning a set

Dr. Duncan recently posed the question on his blog: “can we use just anything in worship?” In this article, as well as others, he addresses secular, and even further, completely inappropriate songs being used in a worship service.

At this moment I would like to dig a little deeper into this initial question and at the same time, look at the broader scope of how a worship leader plans a musical worship set. This stems from my 3 years in experience of worship leading, two years of doing it wrong and learning from it, observations of scriptural worship, and my conversations with other worship leaders. So, for what it’s worth, here’s the very little wisdom I have to offer, and much more that I am restating that I have learned from others.

First and foremost: every song must communicate the gospel well.

This is such an important point and many… probably most worship leaders miss and I myself just recently learned. The function of worship is to bring glory to God. The best way to do this is to look to scripture to see how it’s done. All of the psalms model this. Depravity, brokenness, salvation in Christ Jesus resulting in hope and joy from the Lord.

This of course, immediately rules out all secular music. The excuse that it is making a point for the service is not only an inadequate excuse, but is really just downright ignorant of the Word, oblivious of the calling of worship, and shows severe lack in the faith that the Gospel can communicate in its own merit.

Beyond just secular songs, this also rules out a large number of worship songs and even hymns. It started in the 90s when Contemporary Christian Music (CCM, it’s an organization actually, not just a title) realized that worship was a big hit. Ever since, mediocre artists have been substituting Jesus’ name into bland love songs, overproducing them, and selling the sheet music for loads of money. The result is an influx of shallow, theologically incorrect, trite songs void of any substance. Somewhere in the mix we have Michael W. Smith and a dozen others focusing worship on the worshiper, singing Jesus

“took the fall and thought of me above all”

which does not at all hold up to scripture!

“For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.” - Isaiah 48:9

Communicate the gospel. That is the worship pastor’s (just like any other pastor’s) first and foremost goal. That requires a sound judgement, theological discernment, and sound doctrine.

by Micah Taylor | Posted in Christianity, Music, The Church, Worship | 12 Comments » | Tags: ,
May 9th, 2009

Spiritual discipline of service: part 2 - Humility

So it is humility that is fostered and fed by service. Humility produces true service. Richard Foster lists the the characteristics of true service

  • comes from a relationship with the divine Other
  • finds it almost impossible to distinguish the large from the small service
  • rests contented in hiddenness
  • is free of the need to calculate results
  • is indiscriminate in its ministry
  • ministers simply and faithfully because there is need
  • can serve by waiting in silence
  • builds community

Jesus portrayed all of these while walking the earth. Driscoll sates:

it is God’s love and Jesus’ example that compel us to humbly serve in love

True service comes from humility, and in serving with a true heart, humility is produced.

The opposite danger of humility in service is pride in being recognized. Service that is concerned with extrinsic rewards and seeks to draw attention to itself is self-righteous and displeasing to God. Any righteousness done for show and even that done to display holiness is self-righteous.

by Micah Taylor | Posted in Christianity | No Comments » | Tags: ,
May 4th, 2009

Spiritual discipline of service: part 1 - Jesus as a servant

Service is an outward discipline that flows from inward humility. Service is the product of a heart that seeks to lower itself in order to lift up the Father. Jesus was the complete example of service in that he was the perfect example of humility.

Mark Driscoll, in his article Spiritual Disciplines: Service, states;

“Service that is done in secret without the pursuit of human praise reminds us of how Jesus faithfully served us during His humble life on the earth.”

It is true that throughout Jesus’ life we see numerous cases of His service towards mankind. Mark 10:45 says “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.” Jesus’ highest claim was not that he was God come to earth as a ruler or king, but rather that He was God coming as a servant. Jesus did more than just speak grand words of instruction; He actually lived out his words by humbling himself and serving others. The most blatant display of this is when Jesus washes His disciples feet (John 13:1-20). He was their elder, their Rabbi, and their God. He was clearly the only one among them who had any claim to power, and yet He humbled Himself to wash their feet.

In His display of humility and service, Jesus completely changed mankind’s perception of true power and leadership. Jesus set one of the qualifications of being a leader as being a servant. Jesus tells a large crowd full of prideful people “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave” (Matthew 20:26-27). While we often look to be exalted for our humble efforts and focus on our selves, Jesus broke down the walls of self-seeking-sacrifice.

In his book Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster states that service calls us to

“experience the many little deaths of going beyond ourselves… to the mundane, the ordinary, the trivial”

Jesus set the example of humble service by serving the very least in the shadows, not the most grand in the spotlight.

by Micah Taylor | Posted in Christianity | No Comments » | Tags: ,
April 29th, 2009

Worship leaders as pastors

Barry Keldie wrote a very well done article about worship leaders being pastors first and formost. This really put things into perspective for me as a worship leader.

by Micah Taylor | Posted in Music, The Church, Worship | No Comments » | Tags: ,
April 17th, 2009

Perception of pastors…

As a frequent of Dr. Duncan’s blog, Pajama Pages (I’ve found that I check it much more frequently than my facebook during the day now) I recently saw a post alluding Perry Noble’s image and I would actually like to come to his defense… sort of.

So BigStuf made this deck and Cooper gets excited, posts it on his Twitter because he knows other members will be as well. I’m going to go ahead and say that we can’t use this particular case to pass judgment on Perry’s humility.

What can be spoken on, though is the way members perceive him.

There two groups of members at Newspring, and for that matter, most likely, any church that draws a young, predominantly college crowd. There are those who are fully into the vision of the church, the activities, the work, and the ideas behind ministry. Then there are those who are fully into the pastor, his spreaking style, his trendiness, his swagger, and his personallity.

I know many who are in the first group and who attend NS. I rarely, in fact, almost never hear them talking about Perry. Not that they don’t like him, I’m sure they do, but when they talk about NS, it’s more about the work they are involved in there, how they are being the church in accordance with the way NS outlines it. I respect these people. A couple of them are actually college workers, employed by NS.

I don’t know many in the second group personally. I’ve met plenty, but I typically get annoyed by them and try to find a way to leave their presence. All they talk about when they meantion NS is Perry; how great he is, how they hated church before they heard him speak, how excited they are about his new series, how awesome he is for coming out in a coffin/wearing a torn up suit, etc. They often know little to nothing about what goes on at the church outside of its services and to my knowledge, only one of these people is employed by the church, and not closely.

It is interesting that the people closest to Perry talk about him the least and seem to be more genuinely concerned with the purpose behind the church. This could be good or bad. In a way it reflects that those who are most involved at NS, who probably know its heart best, are less concerned with a man and more concerned with the Father. Maybe Perry communicates his image as a servant leader well to the people who work around him.

On the other hand, there is also a huge, freekishly stalker-like following among who those who merely watch Perry. Many of them idolize him. That is apparent in their talk, and the fact that tons of people attend church each week to watch a screen with him on it. Maybe Perry doesn’t do such a great job at communicating his image as a humble, lowly servant of the gospel to the vast amounts (thousands) of church-goers who see him every week.

Newspring isn’t the only place we see this. I’ve seen it in other churches I like, whose pastors I greatly respect. It is important, though, that we always remember, the gospel and every church exists to glorify the Son of Man, not a man leader.

by Micah Taylor | Posted in Christianity, The Church | 6 Comments » | Tags: , , ,
April 15th, 2009

This is beginning to worry me…

I’d like to preface by saying I have no vendetta against Newspring. I know many Godly people who attend Newspring, I even know many Godly people who I respect, that work for the church. This is not an attack against the church or its leaders, this is a plea for awareness.

Criticism towards this church has become nationally abundant. From the tasteless and unbiblical approach of some pastors, to the more concerned and accountable correction of others. It is no secret that people have problems with the way this church operates.

It’s true that pastors of megachurches cannot listen to every protesting voice. I think it’s important to keep in mind that probably only 10% of the criticism aimed towards Newspring is legitimate or Biblically based. But how important is that 10%? If we examine the issues, I would plead that they are very important.

Like the lack of discernment when it comes to language. Both the pastor, and the youth pastor have made egregious discernment slip-ups when to comes to watching their words.

Entertainment value is another huge problem. This was my first ever disagreement with Newspring, and many other churches. I abandoned it after a while due to the fact that everyone seems to be doing it. But that makes no excuse. Recently, the band has played such songs as Highway to Hell and I Believe in a Thing Called Love, a song with apparent sexual references. This is not ok. Worship! It’s a worship band people! Their function in the church is to direct others worship of the Creator. The arguement is made, as it was with Highway to Hell, that the songs serve to highlight an idea of the sermon. Let scripture highlight your sermon.  As Hebrews 4:12 states, “the word of God is living and active,” it has plenty of power to penetrate the “soul and of spirit,” it doesn’t need a trashy song to help it.

The final straw came last night when, upon logging onto Newspring Internet pastor Nick Charalambous’ blog I saw him using 1 Corinthians 14 to back his claim that

The Apostle Paul, for one, is amazingly clear about how everything we do in gathered worship should be seeker sensitive.

How in any way is this applicable at all? 1 Corinthians 14 gives instruction on order of worship inside the church. This scripture would have to be severely twisted out of context before I could even begin to grasp how it could fit into anything remotely promoting seeker-sensitivity.

There needs to be some kind of accountability for the way Christ is being relayed to our community. I was hesitant to state these objections out loud in fear of becoming part of the fray, but a friend suggested I pose this question for others to comment on, and so I will; How far of a hole will Newspring leadership will dig before they look up or listen to some type of Biblical correction?

April 7th, 2009

Grace, mercy, and peace.

The greeting of every letter attributed to Paul holds the phrase “grace and peace” (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, and so on…). But in 1 and 2 Timothy, a letter addressed to, and heavily referenced for, church leaders, Paul signs his greeting by wishing “grace, mercy, and peace” (1 Tim. 1:2, 2 Tim. 1:2).

Mercy is defined as:

compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power; compassion, pity, or benevolence.

I find it very interesting that mercy was added to the book about leadership. Paul later references the mercy shown to him by God (1 Tim. 1:13). Paul understands that teachers need mercy. They ar responsible for delivering and proclaiming the word of God. That doesn’t mean they always do a good job. Teachers carry a great amount of responsibility, so much that Paul recognizes their frequent need to not only be shown grace, the forgiveness of sin, but also mercy, the continued forbearance from the Father.

The dangerous side of this is that often teachers, preachers, pastors, forget that they are not Jesus. I wince every time I hear a pastor say, even ones I really like, “we are unapoligetic about what we do.” Those are big words. I think all teachers should be constantly growing in their knowledge of the truth, and to say one would be forever unapologetic would also mean they will forever believe as they do. It seems to stifle growth. Should a preacher be confident in what he preaches? Yes. But often I feel pastors communicate they have already achieved the full knowledge of Christ. Let’s be confident in our proclaiming the gospel of Christ, not cocky in our approach to teaching. We are in constant need of mercy.

March 11th, 2009

The willing are not always the called

Pastor Perry Noble addresses discernment of people who are “called” to do something.

“We used to have a philosophy, “If you want to start a ministry, go for it–we will support you!”

THAT was one of the dumbest things we ever said!!!

Just because some people have a HEART for ministry doesn’t mean they have the calling for it!

“But they love to (FILL IN THE BLANK…sing, teach, etc.).”  I am sure they love to…but passion for something doesn’t always equal calling.”

These words ring very true and I seem to discover this a little more every day in dealing with people who feel “called” to do certain things. Many times people have a vision and are willing to work hard to accomplish that vision. But often the willing are really emational seekers who just want to be involved in something or be in charge of something. Just because a person thinks they should do something doesn’t mean leaders should give them free reign. 90% of revelutionary ideas are bad ones.

by Micah Taylor | Posted in Ramblings, The Church | No Comments » | Tags: ,













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