New BFFs: Rick Warren and Sir Elton John

Both Pastor Warren and gay activist and musician Elton John, sitting next to each other at the Congressional witness table, asked the panel not to cut AIDS funding to the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, launched by President George W. Bush.

Warren and John laughed as they held hands, and as Warren told him jokingly if they kissed it would be “the kiss heard ’round the world.”

You have to admit Rick sure knows how to zero in on one spectacluar photo-op.

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Amy Grant Defends Partnership With Pro-Abortion Gates Foundation After Criticism

Popular Christian singer Amy Grant is defending her partnership with Melinda Gates of the pro-abortion Gates Foundation after LifeNews.com exposed the partnership and the foundation’s massive financial support for the abortion industry.

Amy Grant is pro-life on the issue of abortion, but she recently announced she is teaming up with one the head of the most pro-abortion foundations that shuttled millions towards abortions and abortion businesses.

In an opinion column on Fox News’ web site, Grant announced she is partnering with Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation to push birth control and contraception in impoverished nations. Grant said she hosted Gates recently at a Christian event in Nashville, Tennessee to discuss their partnership.

“I hosted Melinda Gates in Nashville as she came to meet with our vibrant faith community for the first time. I didn’t know Melinda, and she didn’t know me. But we did know each other’s work well. What an amazing experience to hear about her faith journey, how Christian music had influenced her commitment to the world’s poor, and to learn more about how I could join hands with her and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help 120 million women around the world, to save their lives and the lives of their children,” Grant writes.

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Top 10 CCLI for week ending 5/9/15

1 10000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)
Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman

2 Holy Spirit
Bryan Torwalt, Katie Torwalt

3 This Is Amazing Grace
Jeremy Riddle, Josh Farro, Phil Wickham

4 Lord I Need You
Christy Nockels, Daniel Carson, Jesse Reeves, Kristian Stanfill, Matt Maher

5 Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)
Joel Houston, Matt Crocker, Salomon Ligthelm

6 How Great Is Our God
Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash

7 One Thing Remains
Brian Johnson, Christa Black Gifford, Jeremy Riddle

8 Our God
Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman

9 Cornerstone
Edward Mote, Eric Liljero, Jonas Myrin, Reuben Morgan, William Batchelder Bradbury

10 Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, John Newton

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Top 10 CCLI for week ending 5/2/15

1 10000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)
Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman

2 Holy Spirit
Bryan Torwalt, Katie Torwalt

3 This Is Amazing Grace
Jeremy Riddle, Josh Farro, Phil Wickham

4 Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)
Joel Houston, Matt Crocker, Salomon Ligthelm

5 Lord I Need You
Christy Nockels, Daniel Carson, Jesse Reeves, Kristian Stanfill, Matt Maher

6 How Great Is Our God
Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash

7 Cornerstone
Edward Mote, Eric Liljero, Jonas Myrin, Reuben Morgan, William Batchelder Bradbury

8 One Thing Remains
Brian Johnson, Christa Black Gifford, Jeremy Riddle

9 Our God
Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman

10 Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, John Newton

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7 Steps to Take on Monday When Sunday is a Train Wreck at Your Church

Rich Birch says it’s your job as a leader to take responsibility.

Some weekends at your church are better than others. Things seem to fall into place and everything clicks. The band is in the pocket. The announcement time goes well. People connect with the message.

Then there are weekends that seem like a total train wreck. Everything goes wrong. Nothing seems to work.

The chances that you are going to have a few of these weekends every year are high. In fact, the odds are stacked up to ensure it will happen!

Here are some actions to take on Monday after a tough weekend at your church:

Take Responsibility // When good stuff happens in your church it’s always because your team did such a great job. When things go wrong it’s your job as a leader to take responsibility. Take a deep breath, figure out what part of the problem is yours, and own it all. Owning the problem and finding the solution will grow your leadership influence. Assigning blame and pointing fingers will only shrink your influence.

Write Some Thank-You Notes // Even during the toughest day there are always team members who shine. Sometimes it’s because of a tough day that they shine even brighter. Take time to thank those team members before you jump into the details. It will help focus you on the “people side” of solutions.

Don’t Waste a Crisis // This is an amazing opportunity to learn and grow as an organization. Lead your team publicly through this process so you can spread the learning as far as possible. Show how fixing this problem is part of the vision of your church.

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Worship Ministries: A Call To Excellence

Mark Cole looks to Biblical examples for excellence:

What is excellence in music ministry? What role does excellence have in our service to God? Is excellence a standard that it used in the Bible? I have been mulling these issues over in my mind for the last few days.

When I think about well-known Biblical figures like Joseph, Daniel, Jesus and Paul; I think of excellence.

Joseph was such an excellent young man, that even though he was a slave, Potiphar put him in charge of his whole household. Joseph was so excellent in his character, work ethic and favour with God, that later when he was a prisoner, he was put in charge of all the details of the prison he was incarcerated at (Genesis 39). Joseph also showed such wisdom that later he became second-in-command of all of Egypt.

Daniel was also a slave but because of his excellent spirit and wisdom from God, he went from slavery to ruling over the province of Babylon. It was said that “Whenever the king consulted them (Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.” (Daniel 1:19-20) That is excellence!

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The Role of a Musical Director

Adam Bond explains that the Musical Director adds unity and strength to the worship team.

A Musical Director is a voice of leadership on the platform that helps to run the rehearsals, navigates the band through musical transitions, and fuels the worship leader with clear ideas that can create a moment where people can interact freely with God.

A Musical Director adds unity and strength to the team on platform, by verbally communicating people through upcoming sections in the service/session. They’re also the go to person for the pastor during worship. The pastor can communicate with the MD if he or she wants the worship team to do something specific. I.e. Reprise a song, end the song in a certain way, or completely change the set list. He or she can pretty much ask for anything, and the musical director will try his up most to facilitate it.

The MD is an extension of the worship leader. They act as another set of eyes and ears, and are aware of his or her surroundings. They’re looking to the worship leader, pastor, and congregation for direction on where to take the music. The MD also acts as the bridge between the worship leader and the musicians. He or she communicates confidently to the team on platform. They’re using what they have in the natural to help people worship.

I view the MD as a musical guide. You’re offering the worship leader different routes to achieve the end goal… people encountering with God. At our Church, the MD is one of the musicians on platform. They might not be the strongest musician on team, but they have been chosen to be a voice of leadership because they have a great deal of experience. The MD has a silent microphone, where he or she can communicate with the rest of the team. And he/she can communicate with F.O.H, and the stage managers sitting by the pastor.

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5 Reasons Your Church Should be Smaller

Tim Suttle says the assumption that bigger is better pervades the church leadership culture.

1. Faithfulness, not success, is the goal of the church
The church’s job is not to grow, multiply, or expand. The church’s job is not to take back the culture for Jesus. The church’s job is not even to survive. The church’s job is to be the church—to be the faithful people of God who organize their common life together in such a way that they image God to all creation. Sadly, most American churches do not image God so much as they image American story of bigger, better, stronger, higher, and faster. The story of God is quite different. This story says the last will be first and the first will be last. Authentically Christian leadership does not embrace success as a worthy objective. Instead the Christian leader must embrace the way of descent, and the cruciform life of dying to self and others. The American way is up. The Jesus way is down.

2. A fixation on success creates anxiety and burnout
When a church chases ministry greatness, and makes growing attendance their primary metric for success, the most consistent outcome is not growth. The most consistent outcome is anxiety. CEO style church leadership may or may not produce growth, but it always produces a consuming anxiety in the lives of the members and leaders who constantly feel bad for not being bigger. All of that anxiety adds up over time. It usually falls to the pastor to try and keep the system healthy. The megachurch pastor is like the liver of an alcoholic body. The anxiety, pressure, and stress generated by the megachurch are not shared equally but are focused primarily on the pastor. Just one person cannot cleanse those types of systemic toxins, and eventually the pastors will burnout.

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