After posting this earlier today, I had another thought about training our children to worship God. "Worshipping God" means different things at different ages. Younger children, who may not know God yet, may still participate enthusiastically in various external forms of worshipping God. However, we want their worship to be from the heart, and not simply a matter of conforming. They need a clear knowledge of who God is and what He has done. That includes His nature, His attributes, and His works, especially our redemption through Christ. As the Holy Spirit enables them, they will become increasingly aware of their sinfulness before …
Archive | March, 2006
Training Children to Worship God
This is a topic that is more related to parents than congregational worship leaders, but I thought it was worth addressing. Helen wrote in to ask about recent experiences she’s been having with her children at home. She’s noticed a decreased lack of fervor in her 8 and 9 year old as they meet in the morning to sing God’s praises and read Scripture together. She wrote: Did you ever go through this with your children? Is this something we should force them to do? We recognize that worship encompasses much more than singing with our voices…are we putting too much emphasis on this part of worship? The topic of training children to worship …
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Watts on Prayer #3 – The Grace of Prayer
I’m continuing my summary of the chapters from Isaac Watts A Guide to Prayer, which is enriching my communication with God. Today, I’m reviewing Chapter 3, The Grace of Prayer. Watts distinguishes the gift and the grace of prayer in this way: “The gift chiefly consists in a readiness of thought appropriate to the various parts of prayer, and a facility of expressing those thoughts in speaking to God. The grace consists in the inward workings of the heart and conscience toward God and religion.” In other words, the grace of prayer refers to the life, affection, sincerity, and vigor that characterize our praying. It stems from an awareness …
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New Blog for Tech Personnel
Dave Wilcox, the technical director from my church has started a blog that I couldn’t recommend highly enough. I’ve known Dave for about seven years, and he’s been on staff here at Covenant Life Church for five years. He completed his degree in 1998 in Audio Engineering and Visual Media Communication at American University and is a man of prodigious gifting. He oversaw the installation of our 1.2 million dollar sound system, and has put together a fairly large sound/video/lighting team of joyful and faithful servants. But what I want to commend to you about Dave is his humble heart to serve the Savior. The first time I met Dave, he was attending …
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Monday Devotions – Grateful for Mercy
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’" (Luke 18:13) Yesterday morning Chris Silard, one of our pastors, preached a message from Luke 18:9-14 on the Pharisee and the tax collector. It was wonderfully convicting and encouraging. Chris highlighted many of the differences between the attitudes and actions of the two men. He pointed out that the Pharisee mentions God only once in his prayer, while he uses the pronoun "I" five times. His goal isn’t to seek God but to impress Him. HIs prayer, rather than being an expression …
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How Do I Improve My Voice?
This question comes from Joe. I appreciated his desire to grow in the often neglected skill of singing. How can a pastor-to-be improve his voice to be prepared to lead congregational singing if he is called to a small church where he is the sole staff member? I took the liberty of asking some of the vocally gifted folks in Sovereign Grace churches how they would answer this question, and here are some of their responses, starting with those that require the least time. 1. Sing at home, taking the words out of the song and just singing on AH or OH to have the voice open up and get comfortable. Later on, add the words. 2. Practice …
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Watts on Prayer #2 – The Gift of Prayer
Yesterday I shared my burden for giving more attention to the way we pray, both publicly and privately. This is an area I very much want to grow in. For that reason I picked up Isaac Watts’ A Guide to Prayer. I’ve been so encouraged by it, I wanted to give you a synopsis of the chapters to motivate you in your own pursuit of a rich prayer life. Today, I’m looking at Chapter 2, The Gift of Prayer. Watts defines the gift of prayer as: “An ability to suit our thoughts to all the various parts and designs of this duty, and a readiness to express those thoughts before God in the fittest manner to profit our own souls as well as the souls …
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Watts on Prayer
While I was in India, I finished reading A Guide to Prayer, by the well known hymn writer, Isaac Watts. I was impressed by his humble, practical, and biblical approach to this topic that is more often discussed than done. I’ve asked Mark Mullery to address the issue of praying publicly at this year’s WorshipGod06 conference. I think we often don’t realize what a significant means of edification, training, and grace public prayer can be for the people we serve. Of course, it might be difficult to imagine when our prayers often sound something like this: Father God, we just come before you today, Lord, to say we love you, Jesus, and Spirit, …
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WorshipGod06 Conference – You’re Invited
It’s a funny thing coming back from India…My body still thinks I’m taking a nap when I go to sleep at night, so I wake up every two hours thinking it’s time to get up. I’m sure I’ll adjust eventually… There are many things I’m looking forward to discussing on the blog in the coming months, but at this point I wanted to make you aware of an event we’ll be hosting August 9-12 , 2006 here in Gaithersburg, Maryland. We’re calling it the WorshipGod06 Conference: The Glory of His Presence. It’s our fourth bi-annual conference related to the topic of music and biblical worship. This year the main messages will focus on the topic of God’s presence. …
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Monday Devotions – Receiving Correction as a Gift
This comes from the prayer “Reproofs” in The Valley of Vision:Teach me how to take reproofs from friends,Even though I think I do not deserve them;Use them to make me tenderly afraid of sin,More jealous over myself, More concerned to keep heart and life unblameable.Cause them to help me reflect on my want of spirituality,To abhor myself, to look upon myself as unworthy,And make them beneficial to my soul. May all your people know how little, mean, and vile I am,That they may see I am nothing, less than nothing,To be accounted nothing,That so they may pray for me aright,And have not the least dependence upon me.In His mercy, God often sends …
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India Update #10 – Final Reflections
I’m back in the States now, and grateful that God returned me safely to my family. They are too. On the flight home, I had time to think about what most impacted me from my time in India. I have so many fond memories, so many moments when I was aware of God’s Spirit at work, so many reasons to be amazed that God allowed me to go on this trip. One of the things I was aware of was how important the local church is to effectively communicating a theology of worship. The fact that these were pastors and not simply musicians wanting to learn more about “worship,” affected what I shared, the way I shared it, and the potential fruit. We weren’t …
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India Update #9 Heading Home
Well, I’m sitting here in a hotel in Mumbai, India, waiting to head home. I was unable to post yesterday, because the Internet café near our hotel was closed for the Hindu holiday, Holi. Yesterday, I finished the final two sessions with these precious pastors from Northern India. I spoke on How Do We Sing to God? We focused on singing with our minds, our hearts, and our bodies. As in Visakhaptnam, we took time to express how Psalm 23 applied to our lives. Three people shared stories of God’s faithfulness, protection, and power. Then one woman, a new Christian, began to describe through tears the recent persecution the believers in her …
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India Update #8
Well, I thought I might make it back to the States without any health issues, but I thought wrong. I suspected last night that something was going on in my stomach, but hoped that God would keep it under control. For His own reasons, He didn’t. I’ll spare you the details, but it wasn’t pretty. I ended up giving a significantly shortened version of one of the sessions, and then took an hour nap. During that time God renewed my strength, and I was able to give the whole last session sitting down. I’m definitely on the mend. I began the morning by sharing that I had an impression that God wanted to minister to those who were married and had families. …
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India Update #7
I’m typing this from Bharuch, India, in the state of Gujurat in the northwest part of India. We arrived yesterday evening, after spending the previous night in Mumbai (Bombay). When we got to Bharuch, we were rushed into a Christian concert, being held in the center of town. Larry and I were recognized as special guests, and I was asked to sing a song. Let’s just say it was a humbling moment, but I trust the Lord encouraged people through it. I’m teaching a three day conference at a “spiritual life center” in Bharuch. The center is made up of various rustic buildings, including some for sleeping, and a meeting room for 150 people. It was started …
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India Update #6
Well, our three day worship conference for Indian pastors and worship leaders connected with Love-N-Care Ministries is over. I’ll warn you – this is a long post. I began by reviewing all we had covered in the previous two days. This was partly so that men would remember it, and partly because pastors were still arriving last night. I then spoke on How Does God Want Us to Sing? My first point was that God wants us to sing with our minds. That means he wants us to understand what we’re singing, remember the words, and come to know God better through our singing. I shared that we aren’t to sing out of routine, duty, or ignorance. God …