I've been remiss in doing my confessionals lately. I would blame it on lethargy brought about by eating too much turkey, but I didn't eat any turkey so I'll have to accept responsibility for my inherent laziness.

Last time I confessed, was the children's musical Sunday. The next Sunday morning was the adult Christmas musical, and I think it went fantastically. The next Sunday consisted entirely of traditional Christmas carols along with the obligatory candlelight service later that evening. Pretty hard to mess that up.

The following Sunday, I was able to preach during the morning, and I might turn that sermon into a blog post some time. It was essentially the expected "New Year's Resolution" sermon you might hear the last Sunday of the year, but it also was my part to try and introduce the upcoming series we have planned for the Spiritual Disciplines.

Last Sunday was a crazy Sunday, but I won't go into details. Let me just say that some things that happened you wouldn't expect out of a New Year's smallish crowd. So that brings us to the latest Sunday.

It finally happened yesterday, after 4 1/2 years of service here, I looked out into the congregation while leading a song and thought to myself, "Am I in the wrong church?" (New Hope members reading this, don't panic. I'm not making plans to go anywhere, nor do I have any desire to do so. I'm just letting you have a glimpse of what goes on in every minister's head at some point of their ministry.)

Without rehashing the history of what brought me here to New Hope, and the means and reasons behind it, and without rehashing the direction we have been moving, let me just offer you this. Here is a quote of myself I posted over at snowjunkie's blog earlier this morning.

 "I had picked songs that I knew the congregation had responded well to in the past. I did this purposefully since I was introducing “From the Inside Out” as the “new song of the month.” We’re using the song to introduce our new teaching series on the Spiritual Disciplines.

Before we ever got to the new song I knew we were in trouble. As we were singing “Kindness,” I could count on one hand the number of people who were actively engaged. I actually saw people staring at the rafters, pulling out Blackberrys to check email, striking up conversations with those nearby. What was going on?

By the time we finished “From the Inside Out,” I was facing a congregation that by and large had the look on their faces of “what the &^%#$ was that?”

I keep reminding myself that it’s not my job to change their hearts, but the Spirit’s. I keep reminding myself that I cannot help these people change their hearts unless they are willing themselves to change. I keep telling myself that I’m only 4 1/2 years into my 10 year plan to transform the musical worship of this church.

Patience, young grasshopper."

That was my morning in a nutshell. I will persevere, and we will overcome. Here's the set-list:

•  Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee // Henry van Dyke (Charlie Hall arrangement)
• Let Everything that Has Breath // Matt Redman
• Kindness // Tomlin, Giglio, Reeves
• Breathe // Marie Barnett
• From the Inside Out // Joel Houston
• Draw Me Close // Kelly Carpenter

By the way, I would encourage my fellow worship leaders to stop by snowjunkie's blog and join the conversation on Why Can't I Get My Church to Worship? I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Popularity: 1% [?]