There is a myth about creativity that will surface in almost every conversation about the subject. It may not be expressed in quite the same way; it isn't even always said. But at the bottom of almost every discussion on creativity is the belief that creativity is about authenticity, it is about being unique, being different, being an individual. When a person does "what no one has ever done before", she is being creative. When a person copies or incorporates ideas or methods that have been used before, he is being dull and uncreative.
I have always felt that at my core I am a teacher. It shows up in everything I try to do. This has often come with some unwelcome baggage. I find myself turning simple conversations into a soapbox pontifications; friends who simply want to vent are forced to endure my "teaching moments". Music for me has always been a tool to teach-- a lovely, moving, beautiful tool, but still, a tool. I have never considered myself a "true musician", one who loves the art for the art itself. I have been a worship leader because I love calling people's attention to God. And music is an elegant and potent way to communicate that call. In some ways, I stumbled into being a worship leader vocationally, always knowing that some day that would pass. So, when I stepped out of the Desperation Band last summer, it was not to "go solo". I had no intentions then, nor do I now, of being a "solo artist". I left so I could make room in my life for more speaking and writing. When I made the decision in April (it didn't become official until the summer), I hadn't signed a contract with David C. Cook, though conversations were in process. Still, I had no idea how things would play out.
Before we begin, it's important that we get our terms right. When some people say "institutional church", what they really mean is the "corporation church"-- the church-as-a-business that operates for profit and self-preservation. I would offer no defense for such a church. But I would suggest a caution to you: while there may be pastors who have become more like shopkeepers than shepherds, I want you to understand the seriousness of the allegation you are making when you denounce a church as being nothing more than a corporation. You are making a claim that cuts to the heart and motives of pastors and people you may not know, suggesting that they are mercenaries who care nothing for God and His work. There may be cases where that is true, but you cannot know for sure. Which leads me to another point of clarification: it is impossible to deal honestly in generalities. I could not possibly defend every church, nor could you condemn every church that fits a particular bill (too large, too small, too stagnant, etc.).
Last month marked 10 years since I graduated from college. It also marked 10 years of leading worship in a full-time, vocational capacity. I was 21 when I started and I thought I had it figured out. I was a theology major in college and had led worship in chapel services and traveled all around the world with teams from our university, leading worship and teaching churches how to do it just like we did. I knew how to run auditions, put a set-list together, and make worship flow like a river.
Three conversations made me think of church planters this past week. This first was an unexpected encounter with an old friend who has been leading worship for a church-plant. He was, at once, exhilarated and exhausted by the work of setting up a mobile church service every week and watching it grow to well over a thousand people in a little over a year. The second was a lunch I had with a worship leader in town that same day who told me that he had considered planting a church in the future but was intimidated by the enormous pressure and work that comes with planting. I listened to both wondering if church planting was doomed to be a herculean task.
Dallas Willard: The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God
N. T. Wright: Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship
Eugene H. Peterson: Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer
Eugene H. Peterson: Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity (*****)
John Grogan: Marley & Me (****)
J.R.R. TOLKIEN: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (LORD OF THE RINGS, NO 1) (****)
Eugene H. Peterson: Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness (*****)
Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) (*****)
Julia, Duin: Quitting Church: Why the Faithful are Fleeing and What to Do about It
Eugene H. Peterson: The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways That Jesus Is the Way
Henri J. M. Nouwen: Clowning in Rome: Reflections on Solitude, Celibacy, Prayer, and Contemplation
Mark Driscoll: On the New Testament (A Book You Will Actually Read)
Mark Driscoll: On the Old Testament (A Book You'll Actually Read)
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