Not about me
D'VINE has a preview celebration coming up on December 11. It's extremely exciting, and I hope you can come.
But as exciting as it is, it also makes me nervous.
We are still so very much in the process of building a launch team as a church. And I'm more than definitely still in the process of building a team that will lead worship for our gatherings. Some core members have stepped up to the plate, and they have served eagerly and faithfully. But I'm not where I'd like to be in the recruiting process. And everything seems to be happening so quickly now. In a couple of weeks, we'll have our preview celebration. And though our actual launch is still a few months away (late February or early March, something like that), I know that time will pass quickly. And it just makes me nervous.
Why am I nervous? Because I'm hoping people will walk away from our preview celebration thinking, 'Wow, that was cool. I really sensed God's presence.' Because if they walk away saying something other than that, it will be my fault somehow.
I want to give my best. I want to present quality. But sometimes I place too much weight on my efforts. And this leads to much stress in my life (and probably in the lives of people around me).
But I had a conversation this week with a mentor of mine. He's not much older than me, but so much wiser and so much more experienced when it comes to leading worship. I mentioned my nervousness regarding the upcoming celebration. And he told me the greatest thing. He said that in a church that is attempting to build a community where worship happens as much in how we serve and love each other as in how we sing and play music, there is not as much of a need to rely on the perfect production of 'worship'. In other words, I can relax a bit.
It reminded me that it's not up to me to create worship. Yes, our church's mission refers to wanting to create community and experiences where people can encounter God. But I think it's more about creating space for God to work. He does the actual work. I don't make worship happen, and it's really not my job to do that. I pray that God uses me, that He uses the other members of the worship team, that He uses the community we're seeking to build to give people we encounter a taste of the incredible glory that's coming... But if someone has an 'aha' moment with God, it won't be because of anything I did or said.
It's not about me. It's all about Jesus. It always has been. It always will be.
Soli deo gloria.
But as exciting as it is, it also makes me nervous.
We are still so very much in the process of building a launch team as a church. And I'm more than definitely still in the process of building a team that will lead worship for our gatherings. Some core members have stepped up to the plate, and they have served eagerly and faithfully. But I'm not where I'd like to be in the recruiting process. And everything seems to be happening so quickly now. In a couple of weeks, we'll have our preview celebration. And though our actual launch is still a few months away (late February or early March, something like that), I know that time will pass quickly. And it just makes me nervous.
Why am I nervous? Because I'm hoping people will walk away from our preview celebration thinking, 'Wow, that was cool. I really sensed God's presence.' Because if they walk away saying something other than that, it will be my fault somehow.
I want to give my best. I want to present quality. But sometimes I place too much weight on my efforts. And this leads to much stress in my life (and probably in the lives of people around me).
But I had a conversation this week with a mentor of mine. He's not much older than me, but so much wiser and so much more experienced when it comes to leading worship. I mentioned my nervousness regarding the upcoming celebration. And he told me the greatest thing. He said that in a church that is attempting to build a community where worship happens as much in how we serve and love each other as in how we sing and play music, there is not as much of a need to rely on the perfect production of 'worship'. In other words, I can relax a bit.
It reminded me that it's not up to me to create worship. Yes, our church's mission refers to wanting to create community and experiences where people can encounter God. But I think it's more about creating space for God to work. He does the actual work. I don't make worship happen, and it's really not my job to do that. I pray that God uses me, that He uses the other members of the worship team, that He uses the community we're seeking to build to give people we encounter a taste of the incredible glory that's coming... But if someone has an 'aha' moment with God, it won't be because of anything I did or said.
It's not about me. It's all about Jesus. It always has been. It always will be.
Soli deo gloria.
posted by sheplaysamartin at 11:28 AM
2 Comments:
This is somewhat related to what i was talking to you and Latria last night. I felt the night was pretty cool in many ways, including losing a chess match i was defintely winning :-)
If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one to hear it, does it make a sound?
I said if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one to hear it, does it make a sound.
If a poet writes a piece, with no one to hear it, does he make a sound?
Because sometimes we feel our words fall on empty ground
And then, we get discouraged.
We feel disparaged, even outraged
Sometimes
Around now,
We ask ourselves, are we making a sound?
the rest is here...
http://queencityspeak.blogspot.com/2005/11/if-tree-falls-in-forest-and-theres-no.html
Sounds great Candyce. Let me know if I can help out in any way with the previews.
josh
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