WHERE I AM

Hey everybody...

Figured I'd give you a little status report on how Bethel's going. You certainly can get a sense of this from the confessionals, but for those inclined to want a little more info, I'm happy to share.

WORSHIP: I think worship is going great. Granted, I don't have that many sets under my belt and all of us are still getting to know each other...but I still think it's going good. Let me hit band/tech and then the congregation.

1. Band/Tech - Both the musicians and technical teams are excellent. For those of you who don't know, they've run worship for the past year strictly on a volunteer basis. (If you've ever served as a volunteer coordinator for worship, you know that it's not for the faint of heart.) The musicians have really impressed me with the amount of time they put into rehearsal. It is a rare thing to have musicians at rehearsal who haven't worked the music. Almost every member of my team works some pre-rehearsal rehearsal time during the week, which makes a big difference. They come armed...they mark their charts, they know their stuff. Which is awesome.

Sure, we've got some struggles. But in my experience, what we're dealing with is perfectly normal for a team with a new leader. We've got some groove issues. Sometimes we struggle to lock in together, simply because we're all learning new songs under a new leader in a new environment. We've got a lot of musicians on stage and all of them have good timing. But if songs dip or climb in tempo a bit (as they are often wont to do...) we're still figuring out how to adjust to that. At this point, we're not really obsessing about those problems. We could feasibly halt rehearsal to spend some extensive rhythm time, but at this point, we don't need that. We need to focus more on watching each other and listening for our place in the mix. In my opinion, the hang-out, "gel" factor right now is invaluable...we'll never get these initial rehearsals and services back. I'm much more concerned with us enjoying ourselves and the band knowing that they can trust me. In addition to that, the band is also learning my arrangement style. Right now, they're seeing that some songs stick to an arrangement and some don't! (Yay for spontaneity!)

One of the most impressive things has been the actual services. I've always held to this philosophy that rehearsals should not feel "awesome." In my experience, when I've left a rehearsal feeling like we had a set down cold, the actual performance falls apart. I'm okay with us shutting down rehearsal feeling a mix of confidence and concern. I think it helps us to come into the service remember that transition that's important or that bridge that threw us for a loop early on. I find that those type of service end up awesome! And Bethel has done that...worship on Sundays has been feeling great - reverent, yet energetic, Biblical, timely, preparation for the Word, etc. They've been great!

I'm looking forward to doing more teaching/pastoral stuff from the stage. I'm just trying to make sure I don't sound like an idiot. I'll tell you this - I am surrounded by some smart dudes: Ross (Senior Pastor) Jim (Ministry and Missions) and Mark (Family Ministries) are all so stinking smart. I just sit in staff meetings in awe of the stuff they say and dream. That's why I'm leery of just freestyle-teaching from the stage.

The congregation at Bethel is great - a good mix of ages, worship styles, etc. They approach worship reverently and they've been nothing but great to me during the transition. But I do want to teach. To pastor. I think Bethel is at a real important place where we're trying to understand what Biblical worship looks like. We're digging into the Word on a consistent basis and our worship should be no different - it should be Biblical. I hate to say it, but there's a lot of worship out there that ISN'T Biblical.

That's a hard thing, though; staying true to Scripture is difficult for churches these days. We are surrounded by the glitz and glamour of Christian celebrity, the pull of Christian media marketing and the drive to perform and please. I'm looking forward to walking this journey with the folks at Bethel as we seek to understand the will of God when it comes to how we give Him praise.

...next time, we'll hit on the 'communication' side of things. (It's going really well - some cool stuff happening that I can't wait to share with you guys.)