My mom has been diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer, a stage IV cancer that's particularly aggressive and nasty. As with a lot of IBC patients, it was misdiagnosed in December as mastitis or some kind of staph-like infection. Now that we have some definitive information, we want to be as aggressive in her treatment as the cancer is destructive to her body, so today she will begin 4-6 months of chemotherapy, followed by 4-6 weeks of radiation. 

Please pray for us while we are dealing with the news and asking for God's guidance in her treatment and planning. We know this will be a hard fight. As often as you think about our family, please pray for her and for the rest of us. 

May Jesus be glorified. 

Beautifully done. Inspiring. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

…find out more about Culture Making and Andy Crouch here… 

As a worship leader and amateur sound guy I realize there can be areas of tension between the stage and the booth. Between 'us' and 'them'.  But the goal of the worship leader and the sound person should be identical: to provide as few distractions for the worshipper as possible. I'm blessed to work alongside a worship staff and a media team who see our goal as one-and-the-same. But every now and then, we pass around this list (which I blatantly stole and adapted from the creative mind of Nathan Sutliff) just to remind ourselves…

10 Things Every Worship Leader Wishes Their Sound Person Knew

1. Sorry, that equipment is not in the budget.

2. I realize when I ask for more of “me” you just put your hand on the knob, looking at me without actually turning any knob at all. Tricky, tricky…

3. An acceptable volume level is not when less than 10 people complain.

4. Vocals and melody are really the most important thing for a congregation to hear.

5. A drum cage is a great way to control the sounds of our drummer (however, I am not opposed to chains…).

6. Microphone cues aren’t mere suggestions like the speed limit.

7. When you do a good job, I look good, when you do a bad job, you look bad. That's life.

8. You don’t own that booth; you are part of a team.

9. Batteries, batteries, batteries.

10. You are a vital part to making people experience worship. Thank you for your hard work and dedication. This is something I don’t tell you enough and should tell you more.

Of course, you have to consider the other side of the coin… 

10 Things Every Sound Person Wishes Their Worship Leader Knew

1. It may not be in the budget, but you should never buy microphones that are 2-for-1. Seriously. You get what you pay for, so don’t be cheap if you want better sound.

2. You have no idea if I am turning that knob or not when you want more in the monitor, so trust me.

3. Do you want a good mix or acceptable volume level? In our church, it’s one or the other.

4. My job is basically to make louder whatever you give me. A better mix starts on stage.

5. A drum cage makes the drums sound like they are in a box… that is the reason you never see them in real life.

6. More speakers doesn’t mean 'louder sound'. It means a fuller sound at a lower volume level and better coverage. 

7. Do you want me to mix or produce? Because that one guy is completely overplaying…

8. I can achieve anything with enough coffee.

9. Soundcheck time is not practice time.

10. My goal is not to draw attention to myself, but help point the congregation towards Christ. Thank you for what you do. Without you, I wouldn't have a place to serve. 

It always gives us a chuckle and helps us refocus our priorities. Whether you lead worship with a full band, piano and organ, or a vocal mic and iPod, the goal is the same: to create a worship environment with minimal distractions. Jesus said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all people to myself." By working together, we can be undistracted in worship as we proclaim Him. 

He’d to do that without remembering the words of Jesus…

“Martha, Martha…you are worried about so many things. Only one thing is important..”

Tom, Tom… You are worried about so many things. Be still. Know. Trust.

"Haley kissed me at school today", he announced with a disgusted look in his eye. 

"What did you do?", I asked. 

"I told her that if she did it again I wouldn't be her friend anymore."

"That's not very nice," I said, "You don't want to hurt her feelings. She was just trying to be nice to you… that's what little girls do sometimes." 

"…but I didn't like it…," he finished. He was not budging on this one. She had an affection for him, but he was not interested. Period.  

I brought it up again yesterday and asked if she'd kissed him lately. "Nope….so she's still my friend. But yesterday she kissed Dallin!"

In worship, I sometimes wonder if God is more like Haley than we think. We ask him to come and be with us and, when He does something unexpected (or something we just don't feel comfortable with), we push Him away. Tell him to quit it. Make it clear that if that kind of thing continues, we're outta there. 

Of course, it has nothing to do with song choice, whether or not we raise our hands, or if we use drums or organ. Those things are irrelevant. It has more to do with how the Spirit personally and corporately moves among us. Touches us. Turns our hearts. Connects to the deepest longings and fears within us. It is during those times that we have to choose to accept his expression of affection… or wipe it off with the disgust of a 6-year-old. 

And God may indeed move on to someone else who is willing to accept his affection. And I wonder what we miss out on…  

After we talked some more, I told our son, "Next time she kisses you, tell her she owes you a dollar." Everyone laughed but him. Dryly he responded, "My kisses aren't for sale."

Good boy. 

"If you treated your wife like you treated your iPhone, you'd have a great marriage!" 

-Dave Gibbons (HT @darrinpatrick)

(HT to stixblog!)

"Will our children have to jump over our generation to earlier ones to find the Christian message again? Or will we have celebrated its fullness in such a way that they can remember from our worship what transcended our understanding, but will touch theirs?"

-Donald Hustad, True Worship

I wonder what our children will say about worship of God. What will their understanding of the essentials of Biblical worship be? By our action, our tradition, our liturgy, what are we teaching? 

We must make sure the music we use for worship does not become the music we worship.