My Jazz Daughter Gets a Moment of Fame

A little brag on my kid... :-)

Plus, you get to listen to a sweet samba.

Leadership Lesson: Never justify my actions by the size or "success" of my ministry

I have been trying to gather some leadership lessons from a few of the current controversies buzzing in broader evangelicalism. Here is one I have come up: Never justify my actions by the size or "success" of my ministry.

It has surprised me how many times certain church leaders have appealed to large or growing numbers of followers to defend themselves from criticism. Critiques of their decisions or statements are shrugged off as irrelevant since “we just added 5000 people to our church,” or “I pastor 13,000 people meeting in six locations.” These numbers are utterly irrelevant. There is no place in the Bible that lists “large numbers of conversions” or “growing amount of members” as the gauge of success or as a reason everyone should just do what you say.

The NT rarely lists numbers and when it does it is more out of surprise at grace than anything else. And nowhere in these texts does one find the idea that this increase made the leaders where it occurred better pastors or teachers than the others. In fact, if numerical growth were the gauge of success, Jesus was a dismal failure – His crowds shrunk to zero.

Thus, when a man is challenged on his public actions, and all he can do is appeal to numbers, that reveals an alarming pride.  The notion that “big equals success” is Western, not Biblical. What disturbs me about this is not that it is new, but that some of the men defending themselves in this way really ought to know better. They have preached better.

What is the lesson? Don’t believe my own press. Don’t fall prey to thinking that even one convert makes me a better pastor than the man who, as yet, has seen none. At the same time, expect to see many conversions! We believe the Gospel is the power of God used by His grace to save sinners and we preach it like sinners will indeed be saved. But if the membership of my church is bigger than the membership of another church, that doesn’t mean I am a better pastor, a smarter pastor, or a pastor with greater ingenuity, charm, methods, or passion. In the end, it just means I bear greater responsibility and accountability.

And lest I excuse myself too easily, I must remember that this deceptive heart may find other ways to boast of numerical growth than the blatant statements above. Even Biblical sounding language, (“the Lord is adding to our numbers day by day”) can be foaming with envy and boastfulness.

Most of all, I must never allow my apparent “success” turn into a carte blanche defense of all criticism – especially if those critiques are coming from smaller corners of the vineyard. The Apostle Paul did not boast in numbers, but in Jesus. And when he did defend his ministry from accustation, he pointed to his personal suffering for the Gospel, not his "success." Godly leaders will listen carefully to their critics and compare their accusations to the Word, not their attendance charts.

(For more, see Tim's post yesterday about church size and Phil's post from today on basically the same topic.)

Living with a person who has Williams Syndrome

I loved, just loved what this New Zealand mom had to say about her adult daughter with Williams Syndrome.

“She’s one of the great things in our lives. She’s great! We wouldn’t changer her… well, we would change her if it would make it easier for her, but we quite like her just the way she is!"

Check out this link to my WS blog to see the video. Really well done!

Winners to the Great Image of God CD Giveaway Announced!!

I am happy to announce the winners to the Great Image of God CD Giveaway!!  In first place comes Mr. Dave Theobald, an old friend with some serious extra time on his hands. Dave put together a lovely little letter using a bunch of Christa’s earlier song titles. That was original and I and daughter #2 decided it deserved to win.

My friends have been telling me about Christa’s new EP Image of God. They’ve been like, it’s “Amazing” and it’s “All that you need!” And when I read your interview with Christa, it made me want it "all the more."

Second place was a little harder to decide, but in the end the CD will go to Daniella. Her letter was overflowing with excitement and the thought of making anybody dance around their kitchen and family room, well, that was just too good to pass by.

I'd so love a copy, any copy, any CD, of Christa's music so I can sing loud over dishes and dance in praise while I vacuum…

Thanks to all our participants and be sure to download your own copy of Christa Well’s and Nicole Witt’s Image of God.  You will be blessed!

Interview with Christa Wells plus win a copy of the Image of God EP!

Recommending music to someone is a perilous task. There is so much preference when it comes to what we like, that we can be utterly baffled when someone does not love what we love. That said, time seems to sift out those songs that are objectively good. They stick around for more than a few years. I think time will prove the songs of Image of God by Christa Wells and Nicole Witt to be in this camp. 

Some of you will know Christa Wells from her remarkable Frame theClouds EP. Who can forget the lyrics and melody of a song like, “Weightless?”

Well, I’ve carried this a long time

In a well-hidden bundle on my back

But I’ve realized forgiveness is weightless

So I’ll leave my burden on the tracks

How happy I was when Christa and Nicolle released their new EP Image of God at the start of the year. The album is full of rich lyrical content so perfectly carried along by creative and layered melodies and I think Christa has taken the depth of meaning in her songs to a new level in this work. It has been getting so much airplay in my world that I asked Christa if I could interview her about the album she co-wrote with her good friend, Nicole Witt.  So, here are 7 questions for Christa.

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The Interview:

Christa, thanks so much for joining us on the blog today and taking the time to answer our questions. I wanted to start by asking where the idea for the song Image of God came from?

Nicole Witt and I were co-hosting a retreat with Canadian writer Ann Voskamp focusing on what it means to live creatively, “In the Image of the Maker.”  We decided to write a song for those women and that weekend.  So the song “Image of God” was born in Nicole’s living room, with ideas emailed between us and Ann; we sent the song to the guests before the retreat, so they could learn it and sing it all together that weekend.  It was a beautiful thing, hearing those voices sing that song together for the first time.

Your thoughtful description and exposure of idolatry seems to indicate this is something you have lived through. What has the Lord used to show you your idols and how has He “left ashes in place of gold?”

That’s a huge question!  ☺  Nicole and I wrote the song together, but a portion of the lyrics had come to me years ago when God began showing me patterns of pride in my life. 

It didn’t look like pride to me at first glance – extreme performance anxiety (aka people-pleasing) is one example.  God used Andrew Murray’s book “Humility” to begin opening my eyes.  Another day, a fresh reading of Moses coming down the mountain to find God’s people worshiping a golden calf impacted me, because I saw that maybe what we most often erect in God’s place is simply Self, our own images, wants, agendas.  My insecurity and fear was rooted in pride, self-preservation and ego.  In essence, I was self-focused and didn’t want anyone to ever see my flaws – or even, see me as flawed.  This affected my ability to share music, my ability to be free and other-centered in relationships, and ultimately my experience of joy in Christ. 

He gave me eyes to see through reading, conversations, sermons, counseling.  The tearing down of those idols, repentance and renovation have been a long, slow process, and he’s used many situations, people, and circumstances.  He has allowed me to “fail” and then used those very moments to bless others more than the moments when I thought I was doing it all right. His beauty really shines through weakness.

Really, it will always be a temptation to resurrect the idols we are most drawn to.  But there is a great, big beautiful freedom and joy that has gradually come into my life because of His work in this area.

When was the “dawn of grace” in your life? How did the Lord save you?

When we talk about (as in the lyric) the “sweetest day my heart has known,” I don’t have a specific day to refer back to, because I don’t recall not understanding that I was loved and saved by God through Jesus Christ.  It seems like He was always there.  I remember asking to be baptized when I was seven, so I suppose that’s when I felt a fresh awareness of that relationship. 

But having said that, this song (which Nicole Witt and I wrote with Tony Wood) also points to the daily saving that He does – rescuing me from my persistent drive to try to earn His love, rather than receiving a Love I can’t possibly deserve. It goes back to the pride/idol conversation.  We want to think we’re worth it because we’re good enough. But we can’t keep the Law, and grace dawns on me every time my eyes return to the face of the One who did it for us.

What comes first for you, melody or lyric? Or are they born together? Or does one drive the other?

I typically write lyrics and music in tandem, although I need at least a solid scrap of lyric to kick off the whole process.  After the start, each line of lyric and melody affect the shaping of the next.

Where does songwriting fit into the life of a busy wife and mother?

I really want to be fully present when I’m with my family, and it’s a challenge once wheels start turning on a new song.  Or when opportunities to share or record come along.  Just making time to get to the piano is difficult, and comes and goes in seasons.  During some seasons, I carve out specific chunks of time into my routine, and my husband is awesome about that.  During other seasons, I fit it in in random pieces, slipping into the piano room on breaks from other activities.  God has been so very gracious to allow impactful music to come from a relatively small amount of writing.

If pressed, what is your favorite song out of all the ones you have written and released? Why?

Oh, that’s so hard!  I might have a special one from each project: “Garden Gate” from my first project (A Rogers/Wells Project: so much to tell you), “A Thousand Things” from Frame the Clouds, and “How Emptiness Sings” from the recent EP.

I’m a sucker for ballads and really find pleasure in singing them, but more than that I enjoy the phrasing, word choices, and melody lines in these certain songs.  I’ve never really tired of them.

How did you and Nicole Witt end up working together on the Image of God EP? Where did the idea for the album come from?

Well, Nicole and I work together on so much, it was natural after writing “Image of God” for us to write a few more and record them.  We do a lot of our performing together and are often asked to lead at least a few songs of worship.

Neither of us has really written for corporate worship before.  I really hadn’t felt the desire to do so before now.  We felt it was something we could do together with integrity.  It was very meaningful to both of us to pour simple music over these profound spiritual concepts and create something that we hoped would lead others to deeper reflection and prayer.

Well, sister, thank you for taking the time to let us into your world a little. It has been a joy!

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The Contest:

Conclusion and CONTEST! (Win a copy of Image of God!)

And for those of you reading at home, you can download Image of God from iTunes or Christa’s online store. Or, you can try and win yourself a free copy of the CD!  Here is how it will work. Leave a comment here on my blog and on Friday I will pick the two I like best and, courtesy of Christa, send you a copy of Image of God. Tell me why you think I should send you a copy, or what you have loved about Christa’s music, or something original. I will announce the winners in another post.

You can also download two songs from Christa's album, How Emptiness Sings, from Noisetrade.

Calvary Grace Church of Calgary | Calvary Grace Conference 2012

Calvary Grace Church of Calgary | Calvary Grace Conference 2012:

My good friend, Clint Humfrey, is one of the pastors of Calvary GRace Church in Calgary, Alberta. They were pleased to host a conference with Dr. Carl Truman over the weekend and thankfully have posted the audio. Be sure to download!

"The Relevance of the Reformation: Learning from the Past, Living in the Present."

'via Blog this'

The Top 10 Ways to Make Your TAG Great!

Sunday night will be the start of what we call TAG's at Grace Fellowship Church. TAG's are Truth Application Groups - small group meetings of members of the church in homes every Sunday night where we seek to work the truth we are learning on Sundays into the warp and woof of our daily life.

TAG's are a big thing around our church. Members love them. So, to get us ready for a new season of TAG (they run from January through May) I wrote out a Top 10 list of ways to make a TAG great. A bunch of folks have emailed asking for that list so I thought I would post it here.

10.            Sit beside someone new every week.

9.            Help your leader. Try to take as much off their plate as  you can by organizing childcare, food, weekly email, etc.

8.            Look for one truth in every Sunday morning sermon to work into your life – that way you are TAGging even before you get to TAG!

7.            Decide now you love your TAG – why give the Devil any opportunity?

6.            Commit each week as you reach for the front door to godly openness.

5.            Take your nap in the afternoon, not at TAG.

4.            Expect God to work – maybe He doesn’t for you because you are a doubter?

3.            Come ready to give. To give by opening your life to others or by graciously looking into thiers.

2.            Pray! Pray for your TAG,  your TAG members, your TAG effectiveness, etc.

1.            Never miss. Attendance is everything. Be there.

0.            If you are in my group – I like lemon loaf!

Reflections on Week of Prayer: DELIGHT

Our last night in the Week of Prayer had a lofty goal. We wanted to spend the hour simply finding our happiness in God. Is that a new concept to you? Our goal at Grace Fellowship Church is to delight in God, to the glory of God and the good of all people. We do this as we choose to treasure God above all else - an easy thing to do when we are in our right minds.
But spending time in prayer focusing on the goodness of God and expressing to Him in our words the delight we find in Him and His ways is something many find new. In one sense, this is surprising. So many of the Psalms, for instance, do this very thing. Yet, I wondered what it would be like to end our week this way.
Frankly, it was wonderful. What an encouragement to pray along with my friends as they expressed to God His great worth. It was a wonderful way to finish our week, taking us all the way back to God Himself as our chief end and pleasure.
This was my favorite Week of Prayer ever. I can't wait until the next!

Reflections on Week of Prayer: MINISTRIES

I suppose this might sound discouraging, but my experience of prayer last night was rather dry. Maybe “hard” is a better word. It was our fifth night in a row, our smallest turnout and I was tired. But the saints came and we prayed. How strange it is that an hour of prayer seems to go faster as the week goes on… even when you are weary.

We tried to pray for every “official and non-official” ministry carried on by the members of Grace Fellowship Church. It was a daunting task to pray for so many things and not to pray the same old thing over and over. God was gracious.

One of the things I learned last night was the joy of help. I felt like Aaron and Hur were holding my arms last night so that we would prevail. Brothers and sisters kept praying, kept grappling and kept on until we covered it all. How glad I am for the Body of Christ. This is one of the great blessings of corporate prayer… you are helped along as you pray along with others.

In my morning devotions today I read Paul’s description of the prayers of Epaphras: “… always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God” Colossians 4:12.  The only way Paul could know the content of Epahras’ prayers was to hear them. And Paul drew great encouragement from what his brother sought from the Lord. This Paul finds a similar boon when he hears the prayers of his fellow church members!

Reflections on Week of Prayer: LEADERS

Last night we devoted an hour to pray for our leaders. This may seem very self-serving (since the leaders set the agenda for the meetings!) but there was a theological rationale behind it. Strike the shepherd and the sheep are scattered. False shepherds lead the sheep astray. Like priest, like people. The Bible contains a robust and careful job description and qualification list for church leaders. We believe in it. Yet it is so precise and full of exacting standards that we know the only way we will get and keep leaders like this is by prayer.

I wondered if last night would be the shortest of meetings, yet the saints came ready to work hard on behalf of their elders and deacons. How humbling to hear such tender, Scripture-full, pleading prayers on our behalf.

After several years in the ministry I concluded, “The only reason you have gotten this far is people are praying for you.” I had a renewed sense of that last night.

I'm not making this up. I really get to serve the best saints in the world. I don't deserve it.