Zack Arias calls this video ‘Transform’ – I would call it ‘An Artist’s Manifesto’

RSS peeps may need to hit the blog to get this one – it is worth it!

From The Talking Mirror whose motto is ‘we lie because the truth hurts too much’ – brilliant!

You’ve got a problem.  You feel the Lord calling you to a career as a chart-topping, face-shredding rock star, but you feel guilty about the sex, drugs, and sex that inevitably accompany super stardom.  Your solution?  Become a worship leader!  Get the groupies, the Facebook fanpages, and the all-you-can-drink booze buffets you’ve always wanted while keeping your conscience squeaky clean!

…

First you want to state who your song is addressed to.

Jeeeeesuuuuus.

To avoid confusion, you will then want to distinguish this Jesus from the one who mows your lawn.

Sovereign Lord of all creation.

…

Regardless of your song’s message, the chorus should always follow the same format: repeated shouts of adoration intermingled with requests that those in attendance join you in singing.  If you have trouble coming up with the right words, feel free to borrow liberally from other musicians.

Jesus, you’re so hiiiiiigh, high above me / you’re so lovely! / Sing it with me! / You’re so hiiiiigh, high above me / you’re so lovely.

…

After the second chorus, you will want to give the hand raisers and ribbon dancers a brief respite before the home stretch.  A “bridge” is a popular way to do this without letting their heart rates or endorphins return to normal levels.  The bridge is an important interlude, often accompanied by a key change, which serves to connect the second chorus to the third without subjecting the performer to the artistic degradation of a third verse.

Again, feel free to borrow lyrics from chick flicks, romance novels, or Seventeen Magazine.

You are the one, the only one for me. / Together forever, with you I’m free. / Nobody else makes me feel like you do. / Together forever, too good to be true.

You have to go read the whole thing for yourself.

If you live in church-world (and even if you don’t…) then you’ve probably heard of the mega-hit work of fiction The Shack written by William P. Young. I’m willing to bet that if you haven’t read it, your next door neighbour has. If they haven’t read it, knock on the door of your neighbour on the other side because they probably have. Seriously – this thing has exploded.

I wrote a post almost a year ago almost a year ago about the opportunity that I had to spend some time with Mr. Young and that post is still to this day one of the most popular on this site. The response to what he’s written has been unbelievable.

Wouldn’t you know it, The Shack came up as a topic of discussion on Tuesday in the course I’m taking and after commenting about it on twitter I was sent a link to the most beautiful, succinct, impactful review of the book I have ever read.

Enjoy! http://www.amazon.com/review/RCJQVPI1DTABT/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

I thought this was a horrible book, as I thought it was a biography about Shaquille O’Neil. He will go down as one of the greatest centers in the history of the nba. From his time in Orlando, through his current team, the Phoenix Suns, he continues to dominate.

Technically, I’m a day behind. If you’re upset about that, you can leave now.

I’ll wait.

Okay. For the rest of you, I said I’d be posting my notes from each day of this class. If you’re new to the fun, I’m taking a theology of worship course at Heritage Seminary this week. Five days, six hours of lecture a day. Start in Genesis and work all the way up to how worship is expressed in the modern church. Beautiful! I love thinking about and learning about this stuff so my mind is in overdrive all week.

The focus of the lectures yesterday and today has been on the worship practice throughout the Old Testament, specifically looking at the unique characteristics and distinctives of worship in the priestly, prophetic and wisdom books. Some interesting patterns show up and Dr. Barker is so familiar with the text  that he is able to bring out so much of the continuity that exists within the three voices.

Anyone still here? Hello?? Yeah. Some of you (one of you?) might find this interesting so I’m offering to post my notes from the course.

Here’s a link to my notes from day one – http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddnf597s_74dsbdf8fh
Here’s a link to my notes from day two – http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddnf597s_757ncsf9fj
Here’s a link to my notes from day three – http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddnf597s_76gdg72qcz

Let me say something here that I didn’t say when I posted the notes from the first day. These are my notes – this is NOT the content of the course. If it appears like I’ve written something which is heretical, that’s probably my fault. If, in fact, I have actually written something which is heretical, that’s probably Dr. Barker’s fault :)

If you actually read through the notes from Tuesday you’ll see that they end halfway through a lecture. The notes from that lecture are picked up at the beginning of day three.

Any thoughts on this stuff?

I’m in Cambridge this week taking a class – about an hour’s drive each way for me. One of my favourite things about spending time in a different city is that I often have friends who live there that I can catch up with. Today was no exception!

I spent about 5 years touring around North America with a bunch of guys putting on rock shows and leading worship at events. It was an awesome time in my life and we still get together a couple of times a year. I had the chance to get together with my friend Jamie for lunch today. Jamie was the weird one in our band – you know how there’s always ONE GUY in a band who’s just weird?? That is Jamie. Weird hair, weird clothes, would play shows in bare feet – just weird.

Since he’s the weird one, he’s continued on to youth ministry. That is a completely natural progression, I would argue! :) Getting together with Jamie today for a quick lunch was very cool but almost as cool as just being with him was the place we went to.

Check out this photo!!

Pho Shizzle! That is amazing. So brilliant. The best part is that as good as the company was and as good as the name of this restaurant was, the food was even better – famous award-winning pad thai and spring rolls. What a great way to spend an hour!

So next time you’re in Cambridge, Pho Shizzle on me!!

I’m not sure if anyone cares about this or not but I thought I’d throw it out there. Here are the notes from the first day of the theology of worship class I’m taking. If you’re reading it, some stuff probably requires context and explanation so feel free to ask if I can clarify anything.

I’m back in class today – listening hard and learning lots!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I’m taking a theology of worship class at Heritage Seminary in Cambridge, ON. The course began today and we are off to a great start! Dr. David Barker is teaching the class and his passion for Scripture and the church is inspiring and engaging. I’ve heard Dr. Barker speak a few times (including Sunday mornings at our church) and I have been looking forward to this class for a while.

Some of you were asking today about the books that we are using for the course readings this week. Here’s the list of required and recommended books that Dr. Barker has given us. I’ve read several of these and have added the rest to my (ever-growing!!) ‘need to read’ list.

• Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship by David Peterson
• Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship by Harold Best
• Worship by the Book by D. A. Carson
• Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down by Marva Dawn
• The Gift of Worship by C. Welton Gaddy
• Enter His Courts with Praise: Old Testament Worship for the New Testament Church by Andrew Hill
• Worship Evangelism by Sally Morgenthaler
• The Worship Phenomenon by Robert Webber
• Worship Seeking Understanding by John Witvliet

So have you read any of these? There are some classics on here as well as some newer books. Any books that you think should be on the list?

I’m at the church early this morning to help run a workshop that we’re putting on for vocalists who are part of our Sunday morning and senior high worship teams. I love doing stuff like this and really appreciate that people who serve here understand that dedication to their craft is important.

I remember hearing once that excellence isn’t always about quality – sometimes that freaks us out because we think if we can be the best then it’s not worth doing at all. Instead we should think of excellence as constant improvement in all areas. I like that. Excellence is development. If we are continuing to grow in the quality of our presentation, in the level of our skills and abilities, in our understanding of what it means to worship God then we are pursuing excellence.

Even take a look at the word – excellence. Excel-lence. ‘The state of excelling.’ It’s not about superiority, it’s about excelling.

So this morning we’ll be spending time talking about singing and warming up and body language and monitor mixes and all that good stuff but really we’re talking about excellence.

So this Sunday is week #7 of our marriage series and we finally getting to the good stuff – sex!! Haha. I kid, I kid. Sort of :)

This will be very new for lots of people who call OBC home – talking about sex in church just isn’t something that they are comfortable with. Earl has done a great job over the last number of weeks getting people ready for this Sunday – reminding them that it’s coming, letting them know that they’ll need to loosen up a little!!

If you’re from OBC and wondering what Sunday is going to be all about, here’s a video that will set the stage nicely –