It's Really About Worship

A recent thread on the Church Sound Check forum has garnered attention from many members on the list.  The thread started with a post titled “Time for a Break” in which one church sound guy stated that he was calling it quits after 19 years at this particular church.  The main reason it seemed was church leadership would not heed his advice on technical matters.  This thread brought forth a hail of similar stories and complete understanding on needing to take a break.  

But one post changed all of that.  The post was titled “He Doesn’t Need Us” in which a passionate response was given that God does not need us.  This post went on to assert that it is our own pride that causes problems because we think we are irreplaceable.  That we believe that the church would cease to exist because we don’t show up to turn knobs and push faders.

The post had this to say, “We seem to be operating out of the basic assumption that "serving God" is necessary and desirable.  This is usually and easily extended to "God needs my service", which then leads to "the church couldn't make it without my service" - which has to be extended to "God couldn't make it without my service".Really?????Now, let's be truly honest.   Let's drop our religious masks and be real.   We all would reject the above paragraph - and say that "of course I know God is almighty and that He and His church can survive without me".   But, then we go and live as if we truly believe the opposite!   We let our families suffer, and rationalize that this is okay because we are truly "needed" (and that God and His church wouldn't be okay without my services).   We let our personal life and even our health suffer, and also rationalize that this is necessary and okay - for the same reasons.   Most important of all, we let our spiritual life, no - drop that religious jargon and admit that a real trusting and listening relationship with our redeemer and Lord is sacrificed for the sake of the "ministry" and the "serving".   Be truly honest - have you ever hid behind a sound desk or a computer screen?

OUCH!   I felt that one.   I believe that he is correct in his analysis for many of us; including me at times.  Jesus was talking to Peter when He told him that He would build His church and that the gates of Hell would not overcome it. (Matthew 16:18)  Who do we think we are that the church in which we are serving would fail because we are not there?  If God is in it then there is nothing that we do that will stop it.  Therefore I agree with this post that God does not need us.  

This post goes on to speak about worship.  

“Do we really think that you can worship the God of the universe in spirit and truth while mixing or running PP, or otherwise working?   Oh, we may experience God in some measure, but you can't be lost in worship and still be doing your job.  You just can't!  I'm sorry, but I have come to take these two as mutually exclusive,…”

Although I can understand where the writer is coming from I don’t completely agree with this statement.  Many equate worship with singing and music and therefore many worship leaders are music ministers.  I believe that our offering is our worship.  Singing and playing an instrument is an offering to God and is worship.  Performing our best at the mixing console is our offering to God and is worship.  When we have the correct response to a trying situation at work that shows we are offering our life as a living testament to God that is worship.  Casting Crowns has a song titled Lifesong.  The first line goes;

Empty hands held high; Such a small sacrifice.
If not joined with my life; I sing in vain tonight.

Our entire lives should be an offering to God.  In everything we do we should be doing for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  That is true devotion and that is worship.  If we are allowing our technical offering to become just a job or work then we need to examine our own hearts to see if we are there for us or for God.

Galatians 2:20 (NLT) 20I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

Colossians 3:17 (NLT) 17And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.

The premise of the rest of the post is that God does not need our service and that if we believe that God needs us then we are being prideful.  God, absolutely, does not need us but He created us for a purpose.  That purpose is to bring glory to Him.  God yearns for a relationship with us.  He wants us to need Him.  Although it is the better thing to sit at the feet of Jesus and worship like Mary; Jesus did not say Martha was wrong for doing the work but for being upset because Mary did not choose service too.  Likewise I don’t believe that Mary was upset because Martha was serving and not sitting with Jesus.  Whether we are serving or just participating in a corporate worship service we are there for God and God only.  It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing.  We should be concentrating on bringing glory to God through praise, learning and serving.  I believe that we would be dishonoring God if we do not use the gifts and talents that He has given us for His service.  Once again I’m not saying that God needs our service just that He wants our service.  

The writer of the post wrote, "I heard recently that a study revealed that 85% of those that "made a decision for Christ" in today's churches are out of the church (any church) within a year."   I believe that we need to reach out to those that receive Christ and get them into service so that they do not fall away.  But with that service we must disciple.  I believe that is where churches fail.  The Great Commission is misinterpreted as "go and make converts" when what Jesus said was "...go and make disciples..."  It is a much greater thing to worship at the feet of Jesus but don't completely discount service to the church because as Paul said in Colossians 1:24 - 29 (NLT) 24I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am completing what remains of Christ’s sufferings for his body, the church.  25God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his message in all its fullness to you Gentiles.  26This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to his own holy people.  27For it has pleased God to tell his people that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory. 28So everywhere we go, we tell everyone about Christ. We warn them and teach them with all the wisdom God has given us, for we want to present them to God, perfect£ in their relationship to Christ.  29I work very hard at this, as I depend on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

I also believe that God does not call us to just serve Him but to also serve others.  We serve in the technical ministry to facilitate worship.  We serve to help others hear and see what the Lord has laid on the heart of the worship leader or the pastor.  Jesus gave us this example,

John 13:12 - 17 (NLT) 12After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing?  13You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because it is true.  14And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.  15I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.  16How true it is that a servant is not greater than the master. Nor are messengers more important than the one who sends them.  17You know these things—now do them! That is the path of blessing.

We were created to serve.

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) 10For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

We give of ourselves in service because God has given everything for us.

Romans 12:1 (NLT) 1And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? 

Our service has meaning.

1 Corinthians 15:58 (NLT) 58So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.  
It really all comes down to worship.  Who are we presenting our offering to?  When we sing are we singing for the Lord?  When we play an instrument are we playing it for the Lord?  When we operate sound and video equipment are we doing that for the Lord?

I thank the writer for his passionate plea and for bringing to light areas in my life that I need to work on.  I pray that in all that we do we do with a heart to bring glory to God.  I pray that we do not let our own selfishness or pride get in the way of our worship or distract anyone else from worship.  Let us worship God with our praise, our service, with our lives.

Examples of Good Customer Service

I wrote recently about bad customer service (What Happened to Good Customer Service?). I wanted to recognize a couple of positive experiences as well.

I’m member of the Church Sound Check discussion group which I believe is the best forum for media ministry any where. If you are involved in media ministry then you need to be a member of this group. In this group is some of the most knowledgeable and wise people from churches, manufacturers, consulting firms, distributors etc. that you will find. One member of this group really stands out on a consistent basis. His name is Carey and he is design engineer for Allen & Heath. What distinguishes Carey from most is that he is about helping others regardless of whether you own an Allen & Heath mixing console or some other manufacturer’s mixer. He is a wealth of knowledge about audio and will share his knowledge with anyone. That is great customer service when you may not even be a customer. I would actually call that Kingdom minded. I applaud you Carey!

I next recognize the company Audio Ethics. We recently held a community wide evangelistic event at a local stadium. This event was the effort of 20 churches combined out of the local ministerial association. Unfortunately the knowledge of producing an event of this magnitude was lacking. I found out late in the planning what was proposed for audio and lighting and when I did my heart sank. I had to do something. I went into scramble mode and started taking bids from the limited knowledge I had of the event. The funding was not adequate to acquire the services of most production companies. In fact some would not even return my calls after I told them what we had for budget. Gordon Snyder in Production Services at Audio Ethics understood exactly what I was going through and worked with me to get the very best audio, lighting and stage for the money that was budgeted. We were able to procure a portable stage with more than adequate lighting and an awesome sound system for this event so that we could reach out to the community and share the gospel with excellence. Audio Ethics had the same understanding that the people we were trying to reach do not know Christ and do not go to church but they do recognize if you are putting forth a good production.

The “road crew” from Audio Ethics are very knowledgeable and hard working. Maybe the only fault I could see was that these guys were obviously tired from being stretched thin by working all day with various responsibilities and then working nights and weekends on these types of events and concerts. They knew every piece of equipment from top to bottom. Sam Trexler was the lead and not only did an excellent job of directing complete set up and tear down but produced some great mixes for the various praise bands, ensembles and the mass choir.

Audio Ethics did not skimp whatsoever on the sound system. For example they used QSC amps, D & B Audiotechnik array, subs and box speakers and to top everything off was the Yamaha MC7L digital audio mixing console. I was absolutely thrilled when I started to see what was being unpacked.

I extend a great big thank you to Audio Ethics for their example of excellence and good customer service.

Nothing But The Truth

I actually was able to visit a church this past Sunday. I can’t remember the last time I visited another church. I was afraid that I would be analyzing the place as to what was needed for audio, video and lighting and be completely distracted from being involved in the worship service. I did analyze the sanctuary at Elkin Valley Baptist Church in Elkin, NC but I was not distracted. The service was traditional and I was making mental notes of what was needed in media during each element including the sermon. Although I was doing that I was still able to enjoy the service and hear a great sermon from Pastor Johnny Blevins. I hear expository preaching just about every Sunday but it has been a while since I heard an exposition on just one verse. That one verse was Ephesians 4:25

Ephesians 4:25 (ESV) 25Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Pastor Blevins sermon was titled “Nothing but the Truth”. The three major points that Pastor Blevins shared with us were:

1. Lying is incompatible with the Christian life.


2. Truthfulness is characteristic of the Christian life.


3. Speaking the truth is essential for the body of Christ.

This sermon was the final straw in something I have been struggling with. I had been asked to give a description of my blog for an upcoming feature and I realized that I had started this blog as a place to rant and vent. That is why I used a screen name or an alias as it was. I was hiding behind that instead of being completely truthful. Of course the reason for blogging had changed really quickly from being negative to how I could help others and learn from the wealth of knowledge and wisdom in the blogosphere.

Therefore all pretenses are gone from this blog. No more not being totally honest with those that read this blog. The description of the blog has changed as well as my profile. I want to be completely truthful in all things as should be a characteristic of someone that loves the Lord and wants to serve Him with all I have.

I’m so grateful for the urgings of the Holy Spirit and Pastor Blevins being used as an instrument to show me how important complete honesty is to God and the body of Christ.