Catching Up: 07/06/2009

What’s up gang?! I am proud to report that I am now coming to you from a Macbook Pro! 1A was having a lot of trouble with two of our computers. Since media and technology falls under my Worship Arts Department (I sometimes wonder if Creative Arts Department would be more appropriate considering the span of “non-spiritual” hats that I wear!), I was responsible for finding a solution. With 1A’s vision for the near future in mind, I wanted to suggest a step toward increased efficiency, quality, and longevity… so, naturally, I recommended an Apple. – I was able to find everything we needed and so much more at a very fair price. Thanks to the foresight and agreeable assistance of the board of trustees and lead pastor, 1A is now set with a good foot toward our plans and I’m thrilled to be a part of the early steps of this process.

In other news, my dad, along with several volunteers from the congregation, is working on the construction of a youth facility on 1A’s campus. The enclosure of a pole barn behind the main building will provide a new structure to house the Student Ministry and Royal Rangers meetings. Thankfully, the completion of this project will finally open up an unshared workspace for me. Working out of the so-called “Sunday school office” has sufficed for the last couple of months but I am ready to get back into my own office. Also, I look forward to the efficiency that can be gained by restructuring the Sunday school office to be more of a volunteer base camp. Several of the volunteer department directors lack ample personal equipment to fulfill their necessary and desired tasks so opening up the space by removing clutter and equipping it with a couple of desktop computers with word processing and printing capabilities will be a great win, I think.

In older, as yet unreported news, I have my own place here in Perry, now. I’m leasing a two bedroom, one bathroom house from a family friend for the next year or so. Features of the home include a car port, sizable deck, boat/RV port, laminate wood flooring throughout, and great location. I am just a couple of blocks north of downtown Perry, less than a mile from work/church, and only a few minutes from restaurants, supermarkets, and family. I’ve settled in nicely and made the house my home with the help of my incredible girlfriend, Jackie, and other friends and family. I am probably proudest of my living room, furnished with a cool green ensemble that I purchased from my “Tallahassee parents”, Piney and Michelle DeVeas. It’s tied together with a neat, abstract area rug and accented with art and decorative shelves that Jackie contributed to the cause. My flair for all things creative led to a very functional, yet very minimalistic, clean, trendy setup. It’s a place of structure and comfort that really has become home to me over the last month.

Snippets of other information might include that I am playing church league softball with 1A, my FSU diploma finally arrived, and I am thrilled to finally be making headway in paying down my credit cards and still staying afloat in my bills with ample recreation. In this economic atmosphere, I feel blessed to have a job at all, much less the rewarding, challenging one that I have. God is great.

In a final note for this edition of CBB2B Catching Up, I am really happy with the way things are going with the 1A Worship Arts Deparment. With the addition of this Mac running Pro Presenter 3, presentations are going to be better and simpler than ever. Sound has improved tremendously since my arrival through new equipment purchases (drum enclosure, drum mics, in-ear monitors, etc…) and tweaking and direction from the great Steve Vickery of GenesisChurch.tv (whom I often refer to as “my sound guru”). – On top of that, the 1A Band (Max, Rebekah, and I) has had increasing efficiency and effectiveness from week to week. I almost feel that a plateau is inevitable, and while I know that it would allow time to prepare for what comes next, I am not ready for the changes to slow down! I would love nothing more than to go ahead and add two to three more people to the the 1A Band, begin recording and editing audio and video, train more service team members for the multimedia and sound teams, and get marketing and web presence up overnight! — But I don’t want to go with what I want. As much as I love the initial progress that I have seen and want to see it continue, uninterrupted, I know that the plateau that I sense approaching would do us some good. I’m just praying for God’s will to be done and for my acceptance of it when it is revealed.

Intergenerationality

The sixteen dollar word in the title is probably the characteristic of the “ideal church” that I find most challenging to manufacture. Due to the multi-generational composition of our current congregation @ 1A, I’ve been studying up, a bit, on the subject, hoping to get some insight that will make both my worship leadership and my administration in this modernization of our operations more effective.

I understand that the wisdom (and let’s be honest… the checkbooks) of the more chronologically advanced individuals in the church is necessary. I also understand that the youth of the young is vital, if only logically, to sustain the existence of the church. But how on earth are we supposed to appeal to all ages, especially if we are trying to do so simultaneously?

The materials that I have read, thus far, all seem to promote an atmosphere of variety. Two sample suggested solutions were:

• Use many different types of music or even different bands.
• Make sure that every service team has members that represent every age group in the church.

And while I am aware that this method has proven effective in some churches, I have to admit that I don’t fully understand its success or understand how to make it work in our situation.

People have opinions… People like and dislike things in life… People have different passions, different callings, different gifts, and different levels of spiritual maturity… – The compulsion to develop a ministry that includes all of these individuals is perfectly understandable, of course. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:22 that he became all things to all people (NKJV), tried to find common ground with everyone (NLT), or became just about every kind of servant you can think of (Message) in his efforts to bring whoever he could to belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But I have to admit that I question the effectiveness of this approach as an organizational strategy in the modern church.

If, in college, I had decided to major in, not one or two related fields, but five to ten unrelated disciplines, I’d have had much more difficulty in my pursuit of greatness and academic success. The difference is like determining what your interests, values, and skills are and then selecting the best option for you versus simply going into college without evaluating yourself at all and declaring majors in history, accounting, Russian, computer programming, interior design, dietetics, chemical engineering, dance, meteorology, and psychology. Only the very best of students could accomplish anything at all in taking on such a task and only the most dedicated scholars would even be slightly interested in being a part of such a broad program of studies.

My point is that, with the advent of globalization (and indeed, since the era of imperialism), adding multi-culturalism to the mix, and the widening of the gap between the experiences of different generations, it simply seems inefficient to use a fragmented multi-style of ministry in the hope of reaching everyone. It’s like Paul had the standard field and rules in a game of baseball… but by now, when we are covering the field, someone has come along and added several dozen more bases and changed the rules so that a batter can run in any direction and to any base he chooses. The punchline? — We just can’t cover all of the bases…

… At least not the way that we’ve been trying to do it. I am in no way suggesting that people should stop trying to relate to and reach everyone possible, the way Paul did. People should… But I’m feeling, more and more, that churches that desire to thrive in their God-ordained vision just can’t… at least not the way they’ve been trying to.

I believe that your church can be intergenerational… if you only have and only want mature believers. I have seen churches where devout, impassioned young adults truly worship and grow alongside older generations in a traditional setting/style and I have seen churches where visionary, spiritually mature senior adults worship and grow alongside younger generations in a contemporary setting/style. But if you only have these mature believers who are able to worship God regardless of the circumstances and conditions of the music, speaking style, infrastructure, or decor, are you really following Paul’s example anyway?

Recently, I posted concerning consumerism in the church. At that time, I was addressing the need for excellence in the operations of the church due to the expectations of the mal-churched and the un-churched. But to achieve that excellence, you must know who you are and who you aren’t. You must evaluate your God-given passion and calling to find out where you fit and who you’re supposed to be reaching. Who needs you most? Who do you feel that God is affecting, through your ministry, on the greatest level?

As much as so many church workers hate it, the institutional church is a business. It absolutely must also be a welcoming community of faith and a school of biblical knowledge, but a church that desires to reach anyone who is not already in attendance is a church that must employ at least a small measure of business sense.

Who is your target market? –<>– Hint: If you answered “everyone”, you are in that analogical ten major program and I wish you all the best… You have your work cut out for you. –<>– If, however, you are aware that your God-designed personality, calling, and experience creates an area of passion that has a specific style, purpose, target group, etc…, then I believe that you are well on your way to determining what kind of church you are meant to lead.

This can be difficult to wrap your mind around. Am I saying that our goal should not be to reach everyone? Yes and no… I believe strongly that the love of God is intended to save anyone who believes in atonement through Jesus Christ and wholeheartedly desires to follow his example for living. I believe that it is the charge of the Church at large, according to the word of Christ Himself, to take the Message to the entire world and make disciples of all different types of people. But I believe that the individual… and even the individual church/congregation can certainly have a narrower target than “all the world”.

I’m not speaking against missions work now, either… We should do anything we can to assist other bodies of believers just as we should do anything we can to build up and enrich the ministries of fellow individual believers, as I demonstrated in the recent post, 1A: Day One. My statement is simply this:

• The leadership in a church should be in agreement about what the purpose of that organization is and how they plan to effect it. If there is no agreement, leadership may have to be changed. If you are standing alone, stop holding up progress and go find where God wants to use and develop you. — Straight talk…
• The collective effect of all Christ-followers, all over the world, following their personal calling and all churches reaching the market that they feel equipped and impassioned to minister to is, theoretically, the perfect, harmonious fulfillment of the Great Commission and the individual spiritual and institutional health of the Church at large.

We will attract and impact more people when we design our worship experiences to combine parts of their social culture with the leading of the Holy Spirit and the same Gospel that has been around since Christ Himself. The importance and time-sensitivity of our Message is too great to simply keep going and hope they begin to feel guilty enough, get curious enough, or become broken and lonely enough to turn to the church.

We have to customize our methods to fit our market. If that means reading from the King James Bible, decorating with lots of flowers and banners, wearing suits and ties to church, and singing traditional hymns with a pipe organ, so be it… And if that means reading from some other translation, decorating in a retro-modern style, allowing food and drinks in our sanctuaries, wearing jeans and flip-flops to church, and playing rock-n-roll praise music, that’s fine too. Neither way is wrong… It really does depend on who you feel called to reach.

But the experience that I have and the research that I’ve done seems to suggest that you can’t expect to attract unbelievers from all generations with either method. Neither do I believe that the variety that so many articles swear by is truly the answer. In a church that does two traditional hymns and two rocked out, contemporary worship songs per service, has a senior pastor who spits sermons with little substantive content and full of religious jargon and cliches, uses a small group model wherein the groups are fun, age-based, and led by a member of that age group, decorates with artificial flower arrangements, and projects the song lyrics on a large projector screen with colorful, abstract backgrounds, I am going to be incompletely satisfied.

I’d love the contemporary music, the small groups, and technology and style of lyric projection… but I’m going to be dissatisfied with the hymns, the sermons, and the decor. The beautiful thing is that I could still worship through those (perceived) imperfections because I am spiritually mature enough to ignore it and adore God. An un-churched person with my same tastes may not be so gracious.

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Let me tell you a story of two senior adults in a transitioning church… One woman: an excellent giver, clerk of the church, and social hub among the “silver surfers” in that body… One man: a spiritual pillar in the church, groundskeeper, and board member. Both were long-time members and both had long looked for the day when that church would fill up with young families, skeptical college students, and all sorts of people who needed the love and forgiveness of God in their lives.

But after thirty-five years of ups and downs and with only minimal changes in between, the church was dying. Membership and attendance held steady at around ten or fifteen people… Everyone saw the signs and no one knew what to do about it. The pastor left… The denomination determined that either the church would have to change drastically and experience a resurgence under new, authoritative leadership or the doors would be closed and the congregation merged with another one, nearby.

A young, modern pastor was offered the task of effecting this resurgence, by the denomination. He accepted, moved his family to the new city, shared his vision for the church with the membership, and began developing relationships with the people. The decor changed as the banners and flowers were replaced with candles and colored can lights. The music changed as the piano was replaced with a keyboard and the hymns replaced with modern worship music under a new, young worship leader and college-aged band. The messages changed as the pastor began to teach in everyday language with an NLT Bible, sometimes sitting on a stool, rather than shouting his sermons from behind the grand pulpit… which had now been replaced by a much smaller, more mobile lectern. Suits and ties and silver hair were embraced by jeans and flip-flops and hair gel.

Through it all, a sense of community was maintained. Through it all, a remembrance of the vision… the destiny of that church was maintained. — And through it all, our two senior adults exhibited two very different responses.

The man recognized all of this change as the God-given path to reach the dream that the congregation had held for so long… The woman wondered why the pews were sold and replaced with chairs. The man wasn’t crazy about the rock-n-roll worship songs but knew that it was sincere and Spirit-led and that the people that he wanted to find Christ in this church would love it and worshiped God anyway… The woman sat with a scowl and folded arms through every service and tried to force the pastor to bring the hymns back. The man saw the congregation growing and becoming younger and thanked God for answering his prayers as he tried to share his realization with the less satisfied older members of the church… But the woman wouldn’t hear of it. She couldn’t believe that they were spending money to make the church look like a disco or that the pastor never “preached” anymore or that they had changed the name on the sign… and she lobbied her view to whoever would listen, expressing her dissatisfaction and complaining that new pastor had stolen and ruined their church.

And though the young pastor tried everything he knew to satisfy the needs of the older generation, including planning and offering a special service with only hymns and a guest speaker who preached in a traditional style, the woman eventually left the church… The man stayed and experienced the glorious providence of God to raise a dying church from obsolescence to a place of effectiveness and salvation and Christian community once again. The woman found a church that provided her with hymns and had pews and a preacher that stomped and spit, the way she liked, every week… The man continued to be a great leader in the young congregation and poured love, good will, wisdom, and hard labor into the church and its people until his dying day… And the impact that he had on many of those young leaders and parishioners is still evident in their lives today.

That man proved that a church can be multi-generational and that intergenerational worship is possible, no matter the style… That woman demonstrated that some people simply lack the spiritual maturity to see that God isn’t planning to do things their way, this time, and that people really do, often times, simply want what they want and nothing else. The man showed God’s will for us… to be passionate God-lovers who desire to worship him and share his love and grace in whatever setting we find ourselves in. The woman showed us that we do still need churches that are fully committed to a single style of worship. Some people just can’t handle things not being the way that they like them.

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I can understand not wanting anyone to leave your church. I agree that you should make every effort to bring whoever is willing along on your journey toward the vision that God has given you for your church… But we can’t afford to wait too long to reach that dream. There are many dreams to come after we arrive there and much more work and change to go through. The people that your heart is breaking for right now, perhaps people that you’ve never even met, need you to exercise your faith and make the move.

Use different services for different styles if you simply must reach everyone… But know your calling and know your purpose as a church. When the tough decisions have to be made, make them in the knowledge that God gave you a passion and interest in certain people and areas because he wants you to thrive there. Evaluating your options and executing a strategy will eventually become necessary. Don’t be afraid.

We do need the wisdom of the venerable and the energy of the young… But we only need wisdom from the elders if they are spiritually mature and open to the possibility that God’s plan to reach the vision may differ from their own. And we only need the zeal of the youth if their zeal is rooted in a non-circumstantial passion for God and a desire to see him glorified no matter what the worship style is. I believe that that is where intergenerational worship exists… where true worshippers existed in the first place. Beyond that, decide who you’re meant to reach and do all you can to become their perfect church.

Matthew 11:15

The title verse reads like this: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”.

I have ears… but I can’t hear. I went to the doctor today unable to hear out of my right ear… just a congestion / blockage issue that I’ve experienced several times… And I’m still not quite sure why it was a two-hour visit or how I managed to leave the doctor’s office unable to hear out of my left ear, instead! — But without standing on a soap box in an indictment of incompetent medical services, I do notice a parallel between this situation and the process of culture alteration in a church or business.

In any organization, there are always going to be things that need improvement. There will be methods, policies, and systems that become ineffective, whether due to incomplete foundations from the outset, or because of some shift in skills, resources, or values within the organization or your target market. Change is uncomfortable and it’s easy to fall into avoidance of it, but it is necessary in some situations.

Like my blocked right ear, some things in your operation may already be at the point of dysfunction. Maybe you have several programs or assets that are “banging, flopping, and dragging” as my new Pastor and boss, David Stephens, once put it. If so, you have a responsibility as the director of the organization to, first, assess the need and evaluate the possible solutions, and second, to administer the treatment quickly. The health of your company depends on both the constant observation and evaluation of your operations as well as the swift and confident execution of actions that address the problems that you find.

Most people can accept that notion… When something is broken, you should fix it. Furthermore, I believe that many could agree that the longer you leave a deficiency unresolved, the worse its impact. But what about that left ear?

When everything seems fine in your organization and when nothing crazy is going on, should you avoid change? When things are all pretty good and you have only minor complaints, can and should you bring yourself to upset that equilibrium? — Only if you want to be great.

My friend and mentor, Pastor Ben Liles of GenesisChurch.TV, likes to quote author Jim Collins in saying, “Good is the enemy of great”. Let’s face it… Good feels pretty good. When things are going smoothly and you’re getting by without incident, there isn’t much natural motivation to take action and risk conflict or trouble. But when the personal, God-given passion that I mentioned in yesterday’s post enters the equation, good is never good enough.

Some would say that the doctor just couldn’t leave well enough alone in the case of my left ear. I came in hearing pretty well. I hadn’t had much trouble with it, at least not anything that I couldn’t work out on my own time… But by meddling where there was no immediate problem, a much bigger issue was created.

Maybe they’re right… Maybe the doctor did at least expedite the presentation of hearing trouble in the left ear. But the vision and the intention was to improve my condition and to give me an even greater level of auditory capacity than I came in with. Great intention… Great vision… and even a great plan. The method that was used to attempt to repair a minor, potential problem was the same treatment that worked perfectly on the more problematic right ear. So what happened?

I’m not saying that you’re never going to fail. There will be times when you choose to move when inaction just feels right and you’ll end up creating more conflict and malady than you began with. However, for those who understand that such risk is necessary to truly pursue greatness and fulfillment, there is only earnest prayer and study prior to making the move. Not trying is not an option when you realize that your effectiveness impacts countless lives.

And the knowledge that however badly you manage to mess things up in your well-meaning hunt for your best offering and effort, God is capable and faithful to transform that failure into something useful, provides the support and confidence to dream big and pursue greatness – not for yourself, but for the glory of God and for the salvation of all who will have it by the mercy and grace of Jesus.

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[I wonder if the doctor had all of that in mind? ]

1A: Day One

So, today is my first official day in the office at First Assembly. And while some of my time, thus far, has been spent situating my things, other tasks have included setting up a second computer in my temporary office, dismounting a computer keyboard drawer, and framing a slightly comical glamor-shot-like picture of Jesus… on a white horse… in a crown and… is that a cape?! — …riding atop a gloriously lit patch of cumulus clouds. Oh and… yes, he is White with flowing brown hair, too. And no, it wasn’t a joke.

Let me stop right here to give my two cents… I know that some of you would find such an image to be very inspirational and would take offense if anyone dared make fun of this Revelation illustration while others of you would suppress your gag reflex at such a cheesy depiction of our Lord, reaching for the nearest trashcan or box of matches to destroy the eyesore. Is it a difference in taste?

Doubtful… I dare say that some of those who would defend the portrait wouldn’t actually like it, but would feel that, just because it is Jesus, it should be exempt from quality judgement. This fundamental difference in how people look at products and services in the Christian sector, I think, does much to define the difference between churches who are operating in the creative Spirit of God to repackage the Truth in a way that attracts a target audience… and churches who are either still doing it the same way it was done fifty or a hundred years ago or who are using the shotgun method of ministry…- try a little bit of everything and surely something will hit.

What if there really are poor-quality goods and services? What if the evaluative selection that we demand in everyday consumerism is the same consumerism that the un-churched come into our doors with? Maybe it’s time that we begin to realize that there really is such a thing as boring music, impotent preaching, and cheesy art. The rest of the world realized this long ago… And perhaps that’s why the Church, as a whole, has lost touch with the people.

God became flesh in order to die in our place… But while He was flesh, He used the time that He had to model innovation, compassion, leadership, training, delegation, spirituality, and faith. The disciples and the leaders of the early church modeled these as well. Yet, somehow, Christendom has managed to twist that model into traditionalism and entrenched my-way-ism.

The fact is, we are called to be fresh and alive in the creative power of our God… not copy-cats of our grandparents’ religion. In their time, they understood this challenge and became the innovators that they needed to be. Their way was exactly what the world needed… at that time. Now it’s our turn to step up and take the Message of Christ to those who need it most in a way that they can and will accept it.

We are each created by God with a personality and style and passion that is all our own. And why would that be instilled in us except to forge a mission and a vision in our souls to be love in action — not the way someone else does it or the way we’re commanded to by the other members of our respective communities of faith — but in a way that reflects that unique personal flavor that only we can offer. When you operate in your very own style, that passion makes you do everything with greater quality and effectiveness.

Stop settling for less than your calling. Someone out there is depending on your God-inspired creativity to finally make it all click for them. Someone out there is laughing at the outdated church and its glamor-shot Jesus and needs you to find a way to make the Gospel real to them… Find your direction, set your goal, and be intentional about getting there.

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… And be sensitive. At the end of the day, you have to realize that your style is not going to appeal to some people. You must allow those who find things that you think hideous, amazing, to thrive in who God made them to be. Help each other to accomplish your respective goals however you can.

That’s why I spent fifteen minutes framing the picture of glamor-shot Jesus… He isn’t on my bulletin board anymore (so I won’t break out in hives!)… but I did a fellow minister the courtesy of preserving and enhancing something that she considers spectacular. The picture hangs beautifully… across the room and out of my line of sight!

Catching Up: 03/18/2009

Okay… I have an awful lot of catching up to do and a short amount of time to do so.

So, the Cliff’s Notes version goes something like this:

• I have a new job as the Worship Pastor at First Assembly of God in Perry, FL.
• I transitioned into the new position and out of my former role at GenesisChurch.TV on good terms with the staff and I did not leave as a response to the recent merge. The opportunity was presented before I even knew about the campus merger and only through much prayer and consultation did I accept the new job.
• I will graduate from Florida State in just over a month… SCHWEET!!!
• I’ll be moving (back) to Perry, FL after graduation to work full time at 1A.
• Jackie and I have been together for five months today! She’s incredible and it feels like I’ve known her forever. She’s so supportive and I don’t know what I ever did without her. {Love you, Kiddo!}

I’ll try to get more in about the new job and the move and anything else that comes up in the next few weeks and especially after I am finished with school and back in the office everyday. Hang tight and pray for me, gang. God is leading… I’m just along for the ride.

GCTV Campus Merger: From the Westside Worshipper’s Perspective

Now, I know that I have been a bad little blogger lately and haven’t posted much material but tonight definitely warrants a new entry. I feel like I have a message and a perspective on the future of GenesisChurch.TV that can help others as we make this transition.

It was announced tonight that GenesisChurch.TV’s two campuses, West and Midtown, will be merging into a single location at our Blountstown Hwy facility in just 24 short days. February 1, 2009 will be opening day for the new, combined super-church with an overabundance of volunteers, equipment, and passion for God. This does present some challenges as well as many benefits.

We will be one church… just as we have been since we embarked upon the multi-site merger of GCTV and Encounter Community Church back in June 2008. We will be led by the same Spirit-filled staff that has been in place all along and all of the leaders from both campuses will retain leadership roles as we prepare for God to blow the roof off this thing immediately. With the regrettable but God-led departure of a man that I admire greatly, Pastor Phil Harris, and the leadership surplus that this merger creates, there will have to be some changes to our infrastructure but this should not be interpreted as any leader or volunteer, from either campus, “getting the boot”.

If you’d talked to me a couple of days ago, I may not have been as confident. I confess to an initial feeling of demotion and dejection when I learned that the Lead Worshipper position for our one church would be entrusted to the capable hands of Pastor Jerad Collier, formerly of GCTV Midtown. Many of you know that I’ve poured myself into faithful service at Words of Life / Encounter / GCTV West on Blountstown Hwy for nearly a year and a half now. When I accepted the opportunity to work with Pastor Ben Liles in August of 2007, I felt called to minister to these people… to develop and serve this branch of the body of Christ. And even as I catch my breath and rehydrate for this next leg of the race, I do not sense that that call is lifted.

If you comprehend anything that I convey herein, get this:

Whatever God’s purpose for me is in this change, I am willing to be used. I am not required, in any way, to stay at GenesisChurch.TV, to appreciate the unsolicited relief from my post, or to continue to invest my time, talent, and treasure into this ministry… but, my God, I want to!

If I could just express to you the excitement and anticipation that I feel for the very near future of GenesisChurch.TV, I know you’d agree that this is a God thing. I wanted to feel hurt… I wanted to feel second-rate and I’d understand completely if those same feelings seemed appealing to some of you in this time of transition… but I cannot feel anything but blessed and highly favored by the grace and miraculous love of God as I watch His plan… not Pastor Brian’s or Pastor Ben’s or the DLT’s… God’s plan… unfold. We are living in a divine moment in which God is about to take a body of believers who were struck a financial death-blow just a short time ago and restore them to a place beyond their grandest vision.

GenesisChurch.TV will survive and thrive. GenesisChurch.TV will continue to be a positive force in this city of broken people that accurately teaches and enacts the community and compassion of Christ and the early church. GenesisChurch.TV will soon become everything that God has destined it to be at this moment in time… and I just can’t help wanting to be a part… any part… of that.

This merger will generate fresh excitement and relationships among the membership of both former campuses, develop a more stable financial base for GenesisChurch.TV, protect the jobs of the existing paid staff members, enhance the quality of worship experiences and ministry programs at GCTV through a leadership and equipment surplus, and fulfill several prophecies concerning this church and this location. It’s synergy and it’s holy obedience and it’s responsible stewardship and it’s a truly faith-filled step toward the mission and vision that God has for us here in Tallahassee. Make no mistake… We are in His will.

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I love you all…

To my former Westees, it has been an honor to be your chief leader in the pursuit of honest musical worship from week to week and I appreciate your trust in me, a young, crazy-haired Christ-follower, to competently guide you to the very throne of God. It is with great care and confidence that I am now humbly handing over that responsibility to my friend, Pastor Jerad. I will still be a constant, integral component of the team of true worshippers that passionately lead you from the stage on Sundays and all of my former team members will have the opportunity to continue be a part of our Worship Arts Department. Let any defense or resistence in your hearts on my behalf be laid to rest with the understanding that I am thrilled about the possibilities that this merge creates and look forward to carving out my new role at GCTV in typical, customized Arron fashion.

To the former Midtown crew with whom I am acquainted through Diverge and such and to the great staff with whom I work during the week only to separate on Sundays, I cannot wait to worship with you all! There are so many great people that I look forward to getting to know even better as I work with and continue or begin to lead the members of this previously segregated congregation of GenesisChurch.TV. Together we will welcome, minister to, disciple, and enlist hundreds and thousands of new Tallahasseeans at GCTV.

Above all, I challenge the members of both former campuses to immediately begin ridding yourselves of that exclusive identity. No longer are we in a season of separation, but of oneness. No good will come of clinging to cliques, refusing the unfamiliar, and resisting this merge. Change is a core value at GenesisChurch.TV and I believe in your ability and willingness to make this happen without incident.

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Finally, from a guy who knows well the anointing, talent, charisma, commitment, and knowledge that worship leadership takes, I ask that you show up on day one fully prepared to seek God under Pastor Jerad’s guidance. Prepare your hearts to receive and to give as Pastor Brian, kicks off a series about Christ-like compassion for others called “Love, the Movement”. May we mature and assert a greater interest in being Christ’s helping hand to our community through this challenging series.

Come with an agenda… I am expecting miracles of healing, deliverance, salvation, redemption, restoration, and spiritual gifting. I am believing in my God, who is mighty to save, for the complete physical healing of Pastors Brian and Scott Hunter and for all those in our body who need His touch in their own health. I am confident that, just as was the case with the early church, we will grow exponentially as the unchurched in our city come to find out what all the fuss is about and leave changed forever. I am certain, based on the promises of God, that our faithful obedience to His direction will not go unrewarded. Get ready… this is the Kingdom come down… This is God-life.

Sincerely,

Arron Archer

ReDiscover: “Somebody’s Baby”

A while back, I posted a “ReDiscover” entry about one of my favorite artists, Jon Foreman. Since then, I’ve listened to his “seasonal” EPs (”Fall”, “Winter”, “Spring”, and “Summer”) quite a lot. That’s why it took me by complete surprise when I noticed a song from the Winter EP for the first time the other day. I’ve become a big fan of the song “Somebody’s Baby”.

Even at face value, “Somebody’s Baby” is an emotional piece. Foreman, as always, weaves his lyrics and music together masterfully in this tale of a homeless woman’s struggles. It puts the dark, dirty reality of our world right out in the open before us, the Church, and should remind us of our mission in this world. We are not commissioned to simply tell others about Jesus and reject and judge those who fall short of our standard. Talking a good line doesn’t change the world.

“Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this:

Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight,

and guard against corruption from the godless world.”

James 1:27, “The Message” Bible

Beyond that, the chorus speaks a profound word about a person’s worth. No matter who you are, what you do, where you come from, what you’ve been through, or who has written you off; God still loves you. When not one soul on Earth cares for you, God does. This unconditional love for the lost world should be and must be the heart of the Church. Christ-like compassion operates independent of blame and in perfect unity with unending grace.

Listen to Jon Foreman’s “Somebody’s Baby” below

and let your heart be prepared by God to do His will.

Cultivate true religion in your life… Care.

“Carnival” Series @ GenesisChurch.TV West

Check it out! GCTV West is in an awesome new series about parenting and family for the next few weeks. “Carnival” kicked off a couple of days ago with a great live teaching by Campus Pastor Ben Liles. But don’t worry… Even if you missed out on that one, we’d love to have you join us for the rest of them! This week will be a video sermon by Lead Pastor Brian Hunter projected on three huge screens. Executive Pastor of Families Phil Harris will finish out the last two weeks of the series – a treat that I’m personally looking forward to – so don’t miss a minute! As always there will be live music/worship, child care provided, and a face-to-face sermon wrap-up by our own Pastor Ben. See you there!

Sundays @ 11:01am --- 862 Blountstown Hwy., Tallahassee, FL.

Peasant Princess

Check out this awesome series on Song of Songs/Solomon from Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church! Jackie and I are watching it together and, judging by the two episodes that I’ve seen already, it is a great resource for anyone who is married, single, planning to get married, planning to be single… – Basically, I think that anyone who has an interest in God and his design for humankind should hear the sound doctrine on a very controversial part of the Word of God that is set forth in this series. Driscoll is an entertaining and challenging speaker and your life will be improved if you’ll just take the time to hear what he has to say. Let me know what you think via the comment feature on this blog! Enjoy…

www.peasantprincess.com

P.S.- If you have a spouse or significant other, I highly recommend viewing together. It could… no… It will change the way you view your relationship and it will force you to look at some issues that you’ve probably never felt comfortable thinking about before. For God and love’s sake… Just do it!

Catching Up: 11/25/08

Hey gang,

I know that I’ve posted only once in a very long while and I have oh so much to share of late… so, without further ado, here’s what’s been going on in my world lately…

Love and Such

Believe it or not, I have, in the last several weeks, found the L word. That’s right… love. I’m certain that it is to be discounted and doubted by some and understood and hailed by others but I’m not particularly focused on outside opinions anyway. We weren’t looking for it but it is real. It brings with it complications for both our lives but creates, in itself, the drive to make it work, whatever the sacrifice. I can’t believe that after all of my senseless distress over my failure to find “like”, God has given me the chance to love and be loved by a beautiful, smart, funny, devoted, Christ-focused, supportive, giving, exciting woman. There has, of course, been much discussion of the M word… but just sit on the edge of your seat for a while. – I’ll keep you posted.

Trust me, though… A relationship of this nature is not without challenges. I can’t imagine what this experience would be like if we were not both committed to making our relationship be reflective God’s design. Even so, as we desire to draw closer and closer together, it becomes imperative that we draw closer and closer to God. We are unified and resolute in our unwillingness to let this great gift become something to trip over. Pray with and for us as God unfolds his crazy plan for our future.

Church and Music

GCTV West publicly launches on February 1, 2009! Things have been steadily increasing at the new campus of GenesisChurch.TV. Attendance is rising, relationships are skyrocketing, service teams are improving, experience and video quality is being enhanced week by week, etc… We’re on the up-swing to a great new year and the chance to establish ourselves with the sole motive of reaching people for Christ and demonstrating His brand of compassion and community with them. As before, we are still meeting weekly at 862 Blountstown Hwy. in Tallahassee, FL and would love to have any and all come check it out.

As for the Worship Arts Department at West, things are developing gradually. As frustrating as it is to see the great potential in a team and in a ministry and still constantly struggle to extract it, I love what I do. Like any band (no, church bands are not exempt), we have our internal issues. The incredible thing about having a foundational purpose of leading our listeners into a place of intimate worship of God is that, no matter how personalities clash, sound equipment misbehaves, or rehearsals fail to go as planned; when the lights go down, it’s not about us. Our day-to-day efforts are intended to make the music as high-quality as possible but when the countdown hits double oh’s, chords and counter-melodies become secondary. We are created to worship and exalting God with unabashed liberty always takes over when I feel like going under.

Some of the same things could be said for my student band in Diverge Student Ministries. DSMworship has really taken off and I am extremely proud of them. The music sounds better and better each week and I think that some of them are finally beginning to see what we do for what it really is… worship leadership. Nothing humbles and motivates me more than the realization of this opportunity to teach the rising generation what it is to worship and to develop them into the leaders that the Christian church will desperately need in the future. Pray for wisdom, innovation, patience, and effectiveness for me. I know that I’ll need it.

School

I graduate next April! With Thanksgiving only a couple of days away, I can really see the light at the end of the tunnel for this semester. Things are all set to carry my feet across that stage and I am both excited and nervous (like every other college graduate in history) to face the “real world” very soon. And as I’ve said before, there may well be more education around the next curve… but let me finish this stretch of the road and revel in my accomplishments first.

* * * * * * * * * *

Whether I know you or not, I love you and pray that something in your life, this week, reveals that God is right in the middle of everything that you’re juggling. May the Lord bless and keep you. May His face shine upon you and be gracious to give you peace. Amen.