In a board meeting 2 years ago, All Praise voted to allow an All Praise Worship Leader to be paid directly from the client church. The thinking was that if the individual was going to use 100% of his or her personal time to create, execute and maintain all the elements of a worship service, payment of some sort was appropriate. However, All Praise’s by laws do not permit the ministry to pay any board member for services rendered. Thus, an agreement between the leader and the church would need to be established.  As a worship leader who has been blessed by God, I put off making this move of accepting payment for the last two years, until now.

John 4:23-24

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

 

Those of us who are saved worship God. But how many of us worship Him the way He requires us to worship Him? According the scripture, God clearly wants us to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

 

To worship in spirit, we must stay connected to The Holy Spirit through prayer and communion with Him. To worship Him in Truth, we must know the truth. To know the truth, we must read His Word and Pray daily so He may reveal to us the truth we need to worship Him.

 

Wow! Are you showing up on Sundays to sing, praise and worship God after a week of not reading the bible, listening to or talking to God? If so, you are not the kind of worshipper God is looking for.

 

Today, make a commitment to stay connected to The Holy Spirit through prayer, and to know His truth by reading God's Word. Otherwise, your worship is worthless and fruitless.

SCRIPTURE: Matt 9:37-38
He said to His disciples, "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord Who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields."

OBSERVATION:
Jesus was speaking to believers. To men he had chosen to do His work. Today, it would be you and me - pastors and leaders. What He's telling us is that we need more of US to do His work. We should be praying that God will send more people like us to lead the lost to Him. Yet, I meet with pastors all the time who are reluctant to partner with other local churches. Many of them view other churches as threats to their own success. It's sad, but it's real.

APPLICATION:
Today, when I pray for more people to work the fields, I will also pray for the pastors who feel threatened by them.

PRAYER:
Father, you are so great and awesome! I am honored that You would call me to help bring more people to know You. May I never take that task lightly. I also ask that You give me the right words to say to the many pastors I encounter and help them begin seeing other pastors as allies. My prayer is that we can all work together as one to do what You have called us to do; work the fields and bring more people to You! I love You, God. I can't imagine my life without You in the driver's seat. Thank you for the many blessings in my life. I am so unworthy and yet so grateful. Amen.

SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 2:1-12

OBSERVATION:
It is so clear here that God wants us to have wisdom, knowledge and discernment. 13 times in 12 verses, He mentions wisdom, understanding, knowledge or common sense. But it is also clear that we must listen for it. Ask for it. Seek it. Verses 1 thru 4 tell us that we should seek it. Verses 5-11 tells us what the reward is when we do. If we seek wisdom, we will understand fear; he will be our shield and protector; our hearts will change (v10) and we will make wise choices. WOW!!

APPLICATION:
So often, I find myself questioning things and becoming frustrated with things and people that I don't understand. I often look into the issue to find the answer. But this verse tells me I only need to ask God for understanding of what's going on in the spiritual realm and that He will not only provide it, but will change my heart towards these things by giving me a deeper knowledge of the situation. That is so HUGE in the world of ministry. To have intimate knowledge and discernment of what’s happening, in all situations, the spiritual realm.

PRAYER:
God, forgive me for trying to find the answers to life's problems on my own. Today, I beg you for more knowledge about the things that are holding me back. Give me more discernment in the areas I'm lacking insight. Help me to better understand the obstacles I face before I start trying to fix them. Lord, I also want to know YOU more and more every day. Reveal Yourself to me each day so that I may understand what is right, just and fair. Thank You for Your many blessings on my life. You are AWESOME!! –Amen.

Two things about this verse that stand out as learning opportunities to us worship pastors and leaders:

1. Those of use who are saved are the healthy ones Jesus is speaking about. Yet, we run around acting as if we need to be repaired, mended and administered to all the time. It's time we stop acting like the sick, and start ministering to those who really are. I encourage you - no matter what has happened in your life - whatever has you down or discouraged - God has already healed you. Act like it! Get up and go to the sick (the unsaved) and tell them about Jesus, the Healer.
2. We are also the sinners Jesus is speaking of. He isn't interested in how righteous we think we are. We may be saved, but Jesus wants us to witness to others so they too may experience eternal life with Him in Heaven. It's time we come down from the pulpit or stage and venture out to the streets and call the sinners home! Sure, we're blessed to be on a large platform and to be able to lead people to the cross with our music and teachings, but most of those in your church are "healthy." Lets go and eat with tax collectors.

Thank you for your time.

In His service,

Jimmy

Here are 4 More Things Godly Excellence is Not...

I recently had a conversation with a colleague about the incredible affect we've had on the world of music. I don't say that arrogantly, but as a radio programmer for over 34 years, it's amazing how many careers have been promoted or squashed by our decisions to play or not play songs on the radio. Inside the industry, we're called gatekeepers. We control the flow between all the music that is recorded and what actually gets heard by the masses on radio. Sure, there are other ways to become successful without radio airplay, but those artists aren't as rich, popular or famous as those who do make it onto the airwaves. Radio is what drives CD and concert sales. It's the engine that drives the ship of stardom. That's why I'm taking daily calls from record label executives and industry leaders - they want me to play their artists' material, and they're willing to do almost anything to make sure I do. in my earlier years, I was offered drugs, trips, cars, women and just about anything else they thought would entice my music decisions.

Lately, a dear friend, Pastor Rodney Fouts of North Church in Edmond, OK, has been teaching on changing your life. I’ve especially enjoyed his take on friendships and choosing your friends carefully. I’ve always kept my friendships to a minimum and believe it’s one of the main reasons God has blessed me with the best friends I could ever ask for. The World would have us believe that you keep your friends close and your enemies closer. But I truly believe that Jesus taught us that you pick your friends with careful intention, while loving everyone else through acts of service. If that premise has ever been challenged, it was 100% confirmed for me when I received the following letter.

Godly Excellence. Ten things it’s NOT!

As a worship consultant, I’ve had the unique opportunity to see firsthand both the good and the bad sides worship in the local church.  I’ve seen worship teams that are at the top of their game and those that couldn’t get any worse. Churches that support their worship ministries, and churches who shun them. When you think of worship band excellence, it’s easy to point towards the larger, more talked about churches and their bands. The worship teams at churches like New Spring in Anderson, SC; Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC; Andy Stanley’s Northpoint in Atlanta; and of course, Israel Houghton’s team at Lakewood in Houston, TX.  There are also some worship teams who are just as good or better which you’ve probably never heard of before. Like Brookwood Church in Simpsonville, SC or Puyallup Foursquare Church in Puyallup, WA. All of these churches have varying styles of music and technique, but the one thing they all have in common is a clear understanding and practice of Godly excellence.

So, what is this seemingly elusive “concept” of Godly excellence. Well, I could write a book on what it is… so, I decided to waste much less of your time and mine, and tell you what Godly Excellence is NOT. Read on:

Too Busy to Fellowship? Really?

 

I think 1 John 1:6-7 is one of the most powerful messages to pastors today. And in today's cyber-pastor world, it's more important than ever to understand the meaning of this passage. It's a part of God's plan that we have actual fellowship with one another. It's not good enough that 20,000 Twitter users per day read your quotes. Fellowship requires an investment of time and energies, and it must be personalized one-on-one.
1 John reads: "If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

 

Let’s look more closely to three phrases in that passage:

As worship leaders, it's important that we understand the power of praise. Which is why I'm telling you that you MUST read this book. At least the first chapter.

I know it may make me seem out of touch by saying my favorite book is a book older than most of you reading this, but this book changed my life!  I've recently re-discovered it and once again, it's had a profound affect on my life. POWER IN PRAISE has sold over 3 million copies for a reason. It's a book that can change your life.

Giving God all praise in all things - through the good and the bad - is a discipline we all need to develop and continue developing throughout our entire lives. Please, read this book and you'll discover even more Power in Praise!

In the ministry, being attacked and criticized is nothing new. Jesus himself experienced it over and over. But in recent years, it appears we have begun a trend in overlooking the "turn the other cheek" philosophy our Savior promoted.  Recently,  I have heard some of the most well-known pastors and worship leaders attack their enemies. Many of these pastors have even gone as far as to embarrass the offender via their public platform.  Read on:

Leading worship since the age of 16 has made me somewhat qualified to blog on the topic of hateful and hurtful people. I know lead pastors have their share of haters who love to tear them apart, but the music side of any ministry also gets its share of complaints. And even though I often have thoughts of writing a blog that would rip these people apart, I'm pretty sure God would rather me share a few things I've learned over the years. So here are some lessons from those who's goal in life is to bring every ministry under their submission through dissension and ill-willed attacks. Read on....

I get asked all the time how All Praise Ministries stays in such great financial shape, even through a time when giving is at an all time low. It's not easy, but there are four simple rules that we apply to everything we do which help keep us financially strong and able to help so many churches and ministries.

No, I'm not putting these three on the same level, but all three of them had a huge affect on me a couple of weeks ago.

In 1998, while living in Seattle, I was a part of a nationwide study that looked into commonly-used marketing phrases and their effectiveness on the average consumer. We found that many of the words and phrases used to sell an idea or a product were now simply ineffective.We found the same to be true in a more recent study, done in 2008.

With all the churches I've worked with over the years, if I could have worship team members and leaders understand just one thing, it would be this verse...

Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. 1John 4:4

…all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Rom 8:28

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. 1John 5:4

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

These verses are a staple in my daily walk as a worshiper, as a minister, as leader and as a husband. Read on about some true stories that illustrate how and when I call upon God’s word to set me on the right path.

So, I go 2 months without writing a blog and now I post three things in three days. What can I say? I write when God inspires. Here are a few of my thoughts I have swimming around in my head today: Read on....