Chuck Lawless suggests bivocational ministers are often more connected to non-believers.

“I didn’t come to seminary to be a bivocational minister, to have to get another kind of job,” my student told me. I may not have agreed with my student, but I did understand his thinking. Back then (almost 15 years ago), we weren’t talking much about bivocational ministries.

Now, that conversation has shifted. Pastors are beginning to embrace as their primary calling the role of bivocational minister. Some even intend to remain bivocational regardless of the size of their church as it grows. If the Lord were to call me into a bivocational church role, here is why I would gladly follow His leading.

1. Bivocational ministers serve the church without being dependent on them for income. I affirm full-time pastors; in fact, I served full-time for 14 years. Further, I do not want even to hint that being dependent on a congregation for salary somehow leads to compromise. Nevertheless, I do suspect there is some freedom in leading a congregation that does not pay the bulk of your salary.
2. Bivocational ministers are often more connected to non-believers. No full-time pastor I know wants to be disconnected from people who need to hear the gospel, but that separation happens. Unless they intentionally fight against it, full-time pastors can be cocooned in the church world. Bivocational leaders can be equally cocooned, of course, but their work outside the church at least provides a roadblock to that process.
3. Bivocational ministers lead churches that often have a higher percentage of funds available for ministry and missions. In most churches with full-time staff, the largest percentage of their budget goes toward personnel. Funds for doing ministry are often lacking. The church that has fewer personnel commitments, though, can free dollars to reach their neighbors and the nations.

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‘Worship Wars’ Have Died Down But Some Christians Are Focused on ‘Coolness’ Instead of Genuine Ministry

Fierce battles over whether classic hymns or contemporary tunes should be the linchpins of Christian worship may have subsided, but the arena is still messy, according to worship pastor and recording artist Lincoln Brewster. Some Christians are more excited about turning up for a concert than they are about getting to worship on time, he says from experience. Others have placed facilitating genuine God-connections on the back burner for the sake of being “cool.”

Brewster, in his 40s, was such a maestro on the guitar as a youth that by the age of 19, he was considering a major recording contract. But he passed on the golden opportunity for what he believed was a more sure-fire deal — serving at his local church. He has since released seven albums in partnership with Integrity Music, and has produced for the label such worship anthems as “Everlasting God” and “God You Reign.”

Bayside Church in Granite Bay, California, where Brewster has served as the worship arts pastor for the last 14 years, describes him on its website as “a multi-talented guitarist, singer and songwriter” who “speaks to the hearts of people who are hungry for non-traditional, passionate worship.” His accolades surely attest to his skills, but Brewster, a married father, is reluctant to take on the “rock star” title.

He’s all about keeping his music ministry authentic, especially when it comes to leading people into God’s presence during worship. Brewster’s approach isn’t very complex, he explained in a recent interview with The Christian Post: he leads people to sing words that are both inspiring and motivating.

“Really just songs that are saying ‘I love you’ and ‘thank you’ to God,” Brewster told CP. And whether he’s serving at his home church or performing on the road, his end-goal is the same — which is [that] people would connect with God and ultimately come to know Him.

But leading people in worship is a bit different than putting on a show at a concert, he explained, stating that the “expectation level is different.”

“If somebody has bought a ticket to come to a concert, they expect a certain thing,” he said. But he invites God to work in those venues, too.

“I’ve believed since I very first got into worship ministry that God would use the parts of what I do that are maybe fun to watch to open the door to be able to speak to people and minister to people and kinda tear the walls down,” said Brewster. “People come into church with lots of walls up. Typically, people don’t come into concerts that way for the most part. They’re ready to rock n’ roll, they show up on time.”

For church? — Not so much. “I try to encourage any church that we go minister at, to show up on time. That’s an appointment with God,” he said.

Pointing to John 4:24 — ‘God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth’ — Brewster emphasized the need for authenticity in worship, calling that particular aspect “huge.”

As for critics hung up on style more than substance, Brewster said, “We can tend to make too much out of the packaging and not enough about what’s inside of it.”

Yet the trend he finds most troubling that he has picked up on during his travels doesn’t have much to do with music as it does with church in general.

“I think that church in general in the younger generation, the biggest core value unspoken is cool,” said Brewster. “That’s problematic.”

“When cool becomes more important than people, we are really missing it,” he added.

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Jon Nicol asks if you really love the people in your church.

Early in ministry, I had a senior pastor say to me, “You know, Jon, you do a good job leading worship, but I’m not sure that you really love the people of this church.”

My first thought was, “Well, I don’t hate ‘em.”

My second thought was, “Ow…”

It hurt because it was true. I was more focused on set lists and segues and building a band than I was forging relationships with those I was leading. I didn’t hate them, but I sure wasn’t loving them.

I was in a relatively small church where it was possible to get to know everyone. So I took his rebuke to heart and started to work at getting to know and loving the people I was serving. When I left there a few years later, it was tough departure because I had grown to truly love the people of that church.

But there was still a part of loving the congregation that I didn’t get.

A while ago, I heard Tom Jackson, a live music producer, talk about “loving your audience.” Translation for the church: loving your congregation.

Tom says this:
“The enemy of love is not hate. Rather, the enemy of love is self-conciousness. We’re preoccupied with our ‘selves,’ and when I am concerned about me, then I’m not concerned about you.”

I realized that when I was on the platform leading, I was leading my congregation from a place of self-consciousness. And my team was following suit.

So we’ve begun to take Tom’s message to heart. We’re learning to express visually and not just musically. We’re learning what it means to be so prepared that we’re free to NOT think about ourselves and able to think about what the congregation needs.

The church I serve at currently is beyond the size of knowing every person. And so while I can build relationships with some, I can’t really know them all. But I don’t need to in order to truly love them. So I wanted to build on what Tom says about loving the congregation and give you some practical ways to love the congregation that you’re leading, both on and off the platform.

Sometimes it’s easier to look at the negative side first. So here are 10 ways to hate your congregation as you’re leading them in worship.

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Steve Caton offers seven ways to ensure that your data is telling the right story.

We have no shortage of information. We are surrounded by data, but data alone doesn’t tell a story. An individual star in the sky may be beautiful, but only when you connect the three in a row do you see Orion’s Belt. Individual data points are less important than the story that they can tell when we connect the dots. Measuring the right things can give a full, accurate picture of what is happening in your church. Here are seven ways to ensure that your data is telling the right story.

1. Attendance

This is where most churches start, but they often aren’t looking at the right metrics of attendance to give them meaningful information. Sure, how many people were at Sunday services is important, but what about small group engagement, or the church picnic? Measuring participation in areas other than just worship services can yield fruitful information. How many people come to a newcomer’s luncheon but are not attending the church three months later? How many children are there in sixth grade Sunday school, and what will that mean when they transition into the junior high youth group in the fall?

2. Giving

Most ministry decisions involve some sort of financial implication. Investing in new staff members or expanding to a new campus can either enhance the growth you are experiencing or overtax the budget. If you are not using comprehensive giving reports, it will be difficult to project the right timing of a new initiative and how it will affect the financial security of the church.

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Jesse Gruber discusses the free/cheap tech that church planters can start using now.

Planting a church from scratch nowadays is a difficult undertaking, but I can’t imagine what it was like in the book of Acts! Technology is widely available and cheaper than ever here in 2014. This article is here to help get you started with planting a church with little to no budget.

Utilize Free Services

There is a ton of free tech that church planters can start using strait away. From the get go, I recommend diving into a free ecosystem to help organize your plant. We at Missio Dei chose Google for their extensive free catalog, portability, and reliability, but there are plenty of free ecosystems out there that you can use.

 I’ve already written about “going Google” in the past (here and here to be more precise), so follow those links to catch up. I’ll throw another service or two for you to try out, as well as link you back to Steve’s article on some organizational tools too. All for just three easy payment of….. nothing! Absolutely free! Ok enough with the jibber jabber. Let’s get to it.

• Evernote– Evernote is a great way to get organized. I know several pastors and teams who use Evernote for both personal and collaborative projects, and it’s definitely a competent ecosystem. Basic plans are free, but there is a premium service that increases upload sizes and unlocks important collaboration features. It’s portable too: Chrome, Desktop apps, iOS, Android, and even Windows phone.  You’ll have access anywhere you go. A while back I wrote a little review of it, but I wasn’t sold on it then. Today, it’s my go-to organizer for my personal life. Give it a whirl.

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By Dr. L. Lavon Gray and Dr. Frank S. Page

Excerpted from Hungry for Worship: Challenges and Solutions for Today’s Church (New Hope Publishing, 2014)

Imagine for a moment you arrive at the church house this Sunday, Bible in hand and family in tow, ready for a great day of worship.  As you enter the worship center things look like any other Sunday: pre-service music is playing, people are greeting one another, the worship band is ready to go. At the appointed hour, however, things get weird. The worship leader steps into position carrying a statue, a golden calf just like the one you learned about as a child in Sunday School, and places it in the center of the platform.  As the congregation audibly gasps, the worship leader invites the congregation to stand and worship this “thing,” this inanimate object that carries no power or hope.  Two things then happen:  First, several deacons rush the platform, remove the idol, and chase the worship leader out the front door.  Second, a medical team rushes to the pastor with a defibrillator unit to resuscitate him following cardiac arrest!

While this situation may seem ludicrous, it is closer to reality than we might want to believe.  In truth, we live in a land of idol worshipers.  Over the past thirty years, a monumental shift of focus has placed a growing emphasis on the topic of worship, giving rise to countless books and articles, a plethora of conferences and training events, a new genre of “worship” consultants, as well as parachurch organizations and entire publishing houses singularly dedicated to the subject.  Colleges and seminaries now offer degrees in worship studies/leadership. The subject of worship, almost without fail, surfaces in any church-related discussion.

While at first glance this is not bad, after all God instructed us to worship Him, it is theologically problematic when our approach to worship displaces the object of worship. Unfortunately, this is exactly where we find ourselves today. While we have not collected gold from our church members to use in forging literal idols, far too many of us have elevated our methodology of worship to “golden calf” status, sanctimoniously placing it on the altars of our churches. Our intentions may be honorable, but an idol is still an idol and the end result is exactly the same!

When did we become idol worshipers?  It happened when the method of worship became THE priority of our churches.  Many spend much more time promoting a style of worship than encouraging people to stand in the presence of God. And a lot of us have bought into the idea! This coming weekend countless people will leave our worship services and comment, “I loved the worship today,” when they really mean they loved the music. Therein lies the problem:  our churches are filled with people hungry for a specific worship style (traditional, contemporary, modern, alternative, coffeehouse, or whatever else) rather than a life-changing dialogue with God.  In elevating musical styles, our churches have polarized the Bride of Christ and there is no one to blame but ourselves.

We’re Not the First

Our generation is not the first to struggle with idolatry.  Throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites weaved back and forth between worship of Jehovah and worship of pagan gods.  In each of these instances, the end result never was good.  Christians must understand there are always significant consequences for displacing God as the object of worship.

On Mt. Sinai God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, as well as additional laws to guide the lives and worship practices of the Children of Israel.  During these Sinai encounters, God described in detail the specifics for building the Tabernacle and its surrounding courtyard and outlined the entire sacrificial system.  No detail was left to chance, with colors, types of cloth and metals all intricately detailed by God.  In these twelve chapters, God defined and prescribed the worship practice of the Israelites leaving no margin of error.  Finally, in Exodus 31:18, God gave Moses two stone tablets containing His laws, written by the His own finger.  Moses was in the midst of the ultimate mountain-top experience. Too bad all was not well below!

The Israelites became impatient waiting on their leader.  After all, forty days and nights was a long time.  While Moses worshiped in God’s presence, life in the camp continued. With no direction, the people began to lose faith.

When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!” Then Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from their hands, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf.  Then they said, “Israel, this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt! (Exodus 32:1-4, HCSB)

 We do not know all the circumstances surrounding this shift in attitude, but Scripture clearly records the devastating outcome:  God was not happy!   Upon coming down from the mountain, Moses ground the idol into powder and forced the people to drink it.  In the end, the Levites killed three-thousand Israelites, and God inflicted a plague on the entire nation because they sinned against Him. The Israelites faced very significant consequences for focusing on an incorrect object of worship. The same is true for us today.

 A Biblical Response

 In Exodus 20:3 when God said, “You shall have no other gods before me,” He meant it!  This literally means nothing should take importance over the One True God.  God so desires to have communion with us that He never allows anything to be placed above Him.  When outlining the requirements of the Covenant to Moses, God made this strikingly clear: “You are never to bow down to another god because Yahweh, being jealous by nature, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14, HCSB).

Jesus, in the New Testament, underscored God’s requirement that He not be displaced from His throne.  In Matthew we find the Pharisees approaching Jesus and asking, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment?”  His response is consistent with the theme of the Old Testament when He replies, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command” (Matthew 22:34, HCSB).  The word “greatest,” translated from the original Greek superlative megalh, literally means “first in importance.”  In Jesus’ response to the Pharisees, He affirms worship as our first priority.

In reality, however, many of us get the cart ahead of the horse.  Scripture clearly teaches there is an order of priorities for the church, and Jesus placed loving God at the top of that list.  This order, while not devaluing the importance of missions and discipleship laid out in the Great Commission, does highlight what comes first.  In our effort to be “good Christians,” many of us try to carry out the functions of the church but end up failing miserably.  For example, as church leaders we have tried using guilt, the latest witness training methods, gimmicky outreach approaches such as “Bring a Friend Day,” and every other imaginable approach to force people to share their faith. How many churches using these tactics are actually reaching their communities for Christ? While all these tools have a place in training and inspiring us to share our faith, they tend to address the symptoms rather than the root problem.

Worship serves as our lifeline to God. Without it we have no power to accomplish these tasks. Worship is similar to the lamp on your table. When plugged in to the power source, the lamp gives off light and fulfills the functions for which it was created.  When the flow of electricity is cut off, however, it fails to function as designed.

In order for us to love people as ourselves, which Jesus established as the second and great commandment, we must see them through the eyes and heart of our Lord by having a heart like His.  That only happens when we connect to Him through worship. Churches struggling with low or non-existent conversions, lack of passion for missions and evangelism, and weak commitment to ministry should look first at their passion for worship.  The reason there is no power: we are not connected to the Power Source.

Several years ago the authors led a team on a mission project to Chang Mai, Thailand.  There they visited a Buddhist Temple on the outskirts of the city. As the team walked through the ornate structure, overlaid with gold and fine jewels and sitting high on a mountain, all around were people burning incense and bowing down before statues of Buddha. These people were sincere, energetic and passionate…but the object of their worship had no power.  It was an idol.

As Christians we must be hungry for worship!  This means the passion of our lives must be the development of a love relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  This is done first and foremost through our daily walk with Him in prayer, the study of His word and personal worship.  Second, our corporate worship must become an overflow of our personal worship experiences where the primary focus is meeting with God.  Third, our approach to worship must simply be a tool that allows us to experience the presence of God and grow in our relationship with Him.  While our approach is important, it cannot be the primary focus of worship.  That place is reserved for God Himself!