Change Is Coming
Ten years ago, I took on my first paid ministry role, leading worship on weekends at a little church in Cincinnati, OH. Ever since then, that has been my identity– local church worship leader, and I’ve loved it. While not in any way a musical virtuoso, I ’struck a deal’ with God that as long as he let me lead worship- to create environments like those that first centralized Christ in my life- I would do so.
Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with church planting, and as a young man too inexperienced to plant a church myself, worship became a way to stay involved in new church work. I was able to be a part of the launch or early years of four different new church communities. .. Each one grew by leaps and bounds and I got more and more satisfied with my involvement in the church bubble.
Wait… no, that last part isn’t right. The deeper I went into vocational ministry, in bigger and bigger organizations, the less satisfied I became. Passionate worship got traded for something insulated, something lesser– and I let it happen. Even when our gatherings became relevant (what I would describe as “accessible”), there was still something missing. The churches I was a part of said things like, “we are going to do a few things well rather than a lot of things poorly”– but it seemed like all churches agreed that one thing, the weekly worship gathering, was their number one priority. My problem was that the more I thought, prayed, and studied, the less I felt that these gatherings were what following Christ was all about… yet I was the one tasked with making those gatherings excellent!
I know many pastors are finding new meaning in the missional/incarnational church movement, and I am one of them. For now, I have distanced myself from the worship leading role with the exception of the occasional article here where I will explore how worship could develop in a missional community. Beyond that, my wife Patti and I are exploring what missional church planting would look like for us. I want to invite our friends and family and anyone else finding themselves at a crossroads to come alongside us in this journey via Warm and Well Fed and whatever conversations it spurs.
Ten years later, God isn’t letting me lead worship anymore, at least in the form I have known for the last decade; in its place he has given me a mission and reminded me of what it means to be sent… an even better deal, I believe.
