On Monday we had our Worship Night and if you were unable to be there you missed a good one.  Our eFree Worship Team had a great evening spending time together, sharing desserts, praying together and worshipping loudly.  Towards the end of our time, I talked a little about looking forward to 2012 (twenty12!) and embracing both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

This is essentially what I shared…                                    _______________________________________

Hidden in the names and numbers of 1 Chronicles is a simple yet pertinent reflection concerning a tribe from God’s people.  In chapter 12, the nation of Israel is in a tough spot because Saul is their king, but David is their hero.  As David continues to increase in fame and success, he also begins to gain warriors who have left Saul’s army to join him.  The nation is facing a transition and after listing the warriors from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, Levi, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, the writer of 1 Chronicles comes to the tribe of Issachar.

Verse 32 says,

“From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives.  All these men understood the temper of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take.”

The leaders of Issachar knew the times in which they lived and understood where they needed to go and what they needed to do to move forward.  It’s a simple idea and not incredibly profound but something about these leaders stood out enough for it to be mentioned.

This principle could be said of people in any area of life. On Monday night I mentioned three examples.

• Teams that play football.
• The girl who cuts my hair.
• The 16th President of the United States.

This is Super Bowl weekend.  There are two well-coached teams who understand the situation and believe they know the best course to take.  During the game they will evaluate the temper of the game and make adjustments to reach their goal of a championship.

On Wednesday I got my hair cut.  It’s as simple as this:  If I sat down in the chair and said, “I’m open to anything, just cut away” and the nice lady who held the scissors didn’t understand the times in which we live, she might not know the best course to take with how to cut my hair.  It might be a 50’s flattop, a 90’s bowl cut or an 18th century pulled back and powdered look with the back “clubbed” together by a black ribbon.

When our nation entered the civil war in the early 1860’s Abraham Lincoln knew the temper of the times.  Although the emancipation of slaves would come, he knew the basis for going to war had to be about something different than freeing slaves  He understood that our country had to demonstrate and prove to itself and the rest of the world that a free democracy could stand on its own two feet.  He knew the best course to take was to go to war to preserve the union and the unity of a nation.  Only then could that united nation take a hard look at putting an end to slavery.

There is an understanding of the situation, a direction to move, and an outcome to be driven by.

• For the teams playing this Sunday their desired outcome is a championship.
• For the lady holding the scissors, it’s a decent 21st century haircut.
• For the 16th President, it was preserving a Union that valued freedom.

When we look at the leaders of the tribe of Issachar we have to ask, “What was their focus? What was the direction they needed to take? What drove them ahead?”  Verse 38 gives us the answer.   The writer says that all these men came together with the single purpose of making David the king of Israel.  In fact, it says all Israel agreed that David should be their king.

They understood the times and the best course to take.  The most important endeavor they could be a part of was making David their king.

As a worship ministry, we have a very similar focus.  It’s not about making David King. But rather, it’s worshiping Jesus as King.  This has been and must continue to be the singular purpose that drives us as a ministry.

The principles of leadership that the men of Issachar held should be true of us as well.  It’s imperative we understand the times we live in as we move in the direction of worshipping Jesus as King.  When I attempt to sense the temper of the times, I see the merging of six realities as an essential part of the course we now take.

As a worship ministry we must appropriately merge technology & authenticity.

In all our venues we encounter the advancement of technology.  In our Classic venue the pastor preaches on a video screen.  In our Edge venue we are making great improvements in how we use lighting in our services.  The Edge venue is simply leading the way as we plan to improve in this area in our Live services as well.  The opportunities to use technology in our services are only increasing.  Rather than resist that reality, we choose to embrace it and desire to use our resources for the glory of God.

However, one major challenge we face with the increase of technology is maintaining authenticity as worshippers.  I think much of this must come through our relationships with one another and with the church at large.  We must strive to be authentic worshippers and approach our worship leading as a team intent on being real before God.  What is driving me to lead worship?  What does my heart look like as I lead others?

As a worship ministry we must appropriately merge variety & community.

Because we have three worship venues right now and the possibility of a fourth, we are blessed to be involved in a church that worships God in a variety of ways. There are different styles and different experiences, and with that, there is a lot going on!  We will not apologize for that variety either.  We all have different tastes in music and art and God has blessed us with the opportunity to honor him with the different ways we are wired.  We embrace variety as a gallery of different canvases that can celebrate artistic expression.

The challenge with so much happening and so many people leading worship is maintaining a healthy and vibrant community.  This last weekend, there were 31 worship leaders on stage in our three venues and kids worship respectively.  That’s a good amount of worship leaders for what was a typical weekend of services.  The challenge however is that if left to us, those worship leaders might not even see each other. On Saturday nights we are working at meeting this need for community challenge.  Many of us have been a part of our discussions on community and how we can continue to grow together.  It’s important that we share joy together, serve one another and as the writer of Hebrews says, “spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”

As a worship ministry we must appropriately merge creativity & simplicity.

Creativity is a challenging yet essential reality.  As a worship ministry we must lead the way on creative and artistic expression.  There are so many things that we could be doing.  Some things that we should be doing to be more creative.  Our Creator God is a creating God and as his children we need to do what our Father is doing!  It’s how we lead our music, it’s what the room looks like, it’s the messages we send that tell others that God is doing something new in this place and new in our hearts.  Creativity must be a value as we move forward.

The challenge with creativity is that you can go so far that you miss the point.  We must merge creativity with the reality of simplicity – so we have one clear focus and purpose on the course we take.  Creativity can bring about dancing poodles and juggling trapeze artists, but can easily distract from the message we are trying to communicate.  We must be careful that our creativity helps us in the process of worshipping Jesus as King.

Like the leaders of Issachar, we must understand the times and know the best course for us to take.  I believe that the merging of these realities will help us through the course we are on and keep our focus on Jesus as King.