big news…

August 5, 2007

Many of you know that I accepted a new role as Worship Arts Coordinator last month at my alma mater, Missouri Baptist University, to help them build and oversee their brand new Worship Arts major. I am stoked about the opportunity to speak into young men and women who feel called into local church worship ministry. It is a daunting task, but a worthy one! I know God has brought me here in this season of my life and theirs for a great purpose.

Immediately upon taking this job, God gave me a vision for an event focused on the emerging worship conversation that would educate, encourage, and spur on MoBap Worship Arts students, as well as the local church worship community. I didn’t know how I was going to pull this off, but I knew God had called me to do it.

For the last two months, there have been many meetings, phone and email correspondence, and prayer related to this endeavor. And as it has come together, I have been busting at the seems to officially announce it on relevintage, but I had to wait until it actually was official. And what has come together has surpassed even my greatest dreams. I guess that is what happens when you obey God outside of your comfort zone. Our faith coupled with God’s power brings about great things.

So without any further ado, I am pleased to announce the first annual abandoned: worship as life seminar on the Missouri Baptist University campus on Saturday, September 29 from 9:00 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.

abandoned will be a practical seminar on how the why and what of worship impacts the how of worship.

The vision behind abandoned is two-fold:

1) Simply put, Romans 12:1. We are ‘abandoned to worship as life’ because we have been commanded to offer our bodies of living sacrifices. Living - as in all of the time. That means our spiritual act of worship, or our spiritual lifestyle, never ceases. It’s not a something we clock in to do when we go to church and then clock out. Because of the cross - as I mentioned in my recent entry - the ‘temple’ of worship is now our own hearts. We don’t go to church, we are the church. And that means worship can and should happen everywhere, including the church.

2) ‘Worship as life’ eludes to the idea that as we offer our bodies as living sacrifices, it impacts the people around us. This is the missional aspect of worship. In other words, as we personally worship God, we have a conversation, a connection, an intimate exchange of love between Father and child. After we’ve experienced this love in a time of worship, how could we not share the love we have been so freely given with others? Why wouldn’t we want those around us to experience what we have? If not, our worship has terminated on ourselves. We have to remember our salvation doesn’t end at the point we receive God’s free gift of grace. We have been saved to continue to redeem the world. So our worship should propel us outside the four walls of the church.

Now, why the excitement? Well, it’s about the special guests who have agreed to come and speak at the first annual abandoned seminar.

First, I am pleased to announce our keynote speaker is none other than author/speaker/consultant, Sally Morgenthaler, will be with us in two sessions. She will be speaking on “Out of the Subculture: Worship When the Church Puts Mission First.”

Sally has no question has been one of the leading prophetic voices in the North American worship landscape in the last 20 years. Her book Worship Evangelism alerted us to the need to examine our methodology in light of a robust theology of worship. Even though the book is approaching its tenth anniversary, it is an absolute must read for every worship leader.

Her recent contributions to books like Exploring the Worship Spectrum and Alternative Worship have been equally informative.

And most recently, in the May/June 2007 edition of Rev! Magazine, Sally rethinks her entire paradigm of worship evangelism in light of the church’s missional mandate. You can hear her talk about some of her recent thoughts on worship and mission here with Dan Kimball from the recent Willow Creek Arts Conference.

It is truly an honor to have Sally with us for abandoned. I know you will want to hear from her.

As a side note, Sally is also consulting me as I build this Worship Arts program at MoBap. She has graciously agreed to let me post entries on relevintage of our conversation. Be looking this week for the first round of our conversations.

Second, I am so excited about our second guest speaker, Shaun Groves. Shaun is a friend from my days in Nashville and is a songwriter, performer, musician, worship leader, teacher, preacher, blogger with a unique and progressive view on how the church, culture, music, worship, etc. intersect.

In the realm of worship, Groves has written a slew of great worship tunes like “Your Renown” and “Here I Am,” writes for Worship Leader magazine, as well has been one of their ‘teachers’ for their innovative training webinars. Additionally, my wife and I sang many of his worship songs at our home church in Franklin, TN, The People’s Church.

Shaun is one of the most insightful, creative communicators I know. There is no doubt he will challenge and encourage you!

Third, my good friend, Joel Lindsey, worship pastor at The Journey, is speaking on “B-Sides & Bootlegs: The Call for Missional Worship Pastors.” Joel will talk about how we must rely on the Word, the Holy Spirit and we must become students of our own context and people in order to best capture the look, sound and feel of our setting at this unique time in history.

Also, he will talk about how increasingly, the “style of worship” you do at your church makes a lot of theological/eclessial statements to the broader culture and how we need missional worship pastors who are able to hold firm to the truth of the gospel in the face of cultural and theological trends.

As I mentioned recently on this blog, my family attends The Journey and is one of the most vibrant churches in the St. Louis metro, if not the Midwest. Lead Pastor Darrin Patrick started this church in late 2002 with 30 people. The Journey now ministers to 1,300+ in West County, Clayton, and Tower Grove.

Finally, I will be speaking on “Keeping the Sacred Space Sacred: Caring About the Right Things as Worship Leaders and Worshippers.” I will be talking about how in a performance-based, media-saturated world we can be Biblically faithful and culturally relevant without training ourselves to care about the wrong things and how what we care about in our corporate worship time is what our worship becomes.

The day will end with an unplugged concert from Shaun in the main auditorium of the Fine Arts Center, with all the proceeds going to Compassion International, whom Shaun is touring on behalf of, as a practical outflow of the day’s discussion on ‘worship as life.’

Thanks for wading through this long entry. Finally, I would like to say that I could not have done this on my own. I want to thank MoBap staffers Arlen Dykstra, Keith Ross, Andy Chambers, Rob Cornwell, Terry Dale Cruse, Lisa Hessel, Bryce Chapman, Brian Turnbull, and Lara Robey for the generous support of this event.

Tomorrow, I will post the current schedule of abandoned. Stay tuned…

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