I’ve been given an awesome opportuinity. I am so happy about it! I can’t believe that I’ve been blessed in this way. It may not seem like a lot to those who read this, but I’m pumped! So here it is…

I am going to be working with a couple of the ministry groups on campus at Missouri Baptist this year. I spent some time with someone who has always been in my corner this afternoon and he presented this opportunity to me. I must say, I’m totally elated that I get to use the abilities that God has given me to help train and teach others.

Before you ask, it’s not a paying thing, but I am gaining some real experience working in a school AND I’m getting some exposure on campus as someone other than a student. Who knows what will come of this? I don’t know… but I do know that I’m going to have some fun and really pour myself into this while I have the chance.

In other news, if I had money I’d go into the studio. If we can figure that out, I’ll start recording. That’s my plea for help. LOL!!!!

If I haven’t said it in awhile, thanks SOOO much for continuing to check in and read this blog. I appreciate you. You keep me going. Be blessed!

Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow, blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name when I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness, blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your glorious name…”Beth & Matt Redman

I shared this yesterday during the worship gathering at Grace Community Chapel yesterday. I don’t think I had really though about it until then, but this is how I’m feeling right now. This is a trying time for me and my family. We are trying to stay focused on what God has for us, but it seems so far away that we don’t really know what we’re focusing on right now. This has been a really tough road for us. For me, it feels like Sunday mornings that we get to worship with others fall within the streams of abundance and the sun that’s shining down. It’s the rest of the week that feels like the wilderness. That’s when we are at home trying to make a couple dollars stretch to pay tons of bills. And when we are doing all we can to keep the hope and faith that God is going to do what He said.

I would be lying completely if I said that this was not a scary time for the Walls’ family right now. However, I can say that we are trying our best to say Blessed be the name of the Lord in all times. We are SOOOOOOOO grateful for the amazing time we experienced with the GCC family yesterday. God really did some powerful things during that service and touched a lot of people. I was impacted as well by the response that the congregation showed us. So thanks, GCC for sharing your love with me and my family yesterday.

Lastly, I would ask all of you to continue to pray for us. As of right now, we don’t have the line up of churches to play for in the month of August as we did for June and July. We will be leading at First E-Free on August 2nd. After that, I might just start holding worship services and concerts in my living room. Who knows? Have a blessed day and week friends. There are a few things in my head, so you’ll more than likely hear from me again this week…

I was talking to my wife this morning about life and all of the decisions that we have to make in the upcoming weeks. I visited an area church yesterday that we are interested in and I was filling her in on the details. As I talked to her, I realized that my brain is quite interesting. I’m sure that I’m not the only person that thinks this way, but when it comes to the people I spend the most time with, I know that my brain is quite different. Anyway, I was sharing with my wife all the details and the things that run through my mind over the course of a worship gathering. And we came to the point that I have worship leader A.D.D. What does that mean? That is a made up phrase that just says that I’m thinking of so many different things and sometimes it is hard to conentrate. Here are some of the pros and cons to this ‘condition’…

I consider it to be a blessing and a curse that I have this ‘condition’. It’s a blessing because I truly believe that there needs to be people in the church setting who consider all the inner workings of the time. It’s sort of like being a creative director as well. However, I’ll be the first to say that I’m not really good at the visual creative things. With that being said, I’m so glad that God has wired me this way because I notice the things and people around me while I’m a part of a gathering. I take in sights and sounds and people’s reactions and incorporate them into my own worship experience. The flip side of this, or the curse, is when I let it distract from what’s going on. Sometimes I get SOOOO wrapped up in the details that I completely overlook what God is doing or saying at any particular time. It gets so easy to start thinking about the external aspect of the Sunday morning time, and I can start to overlook what God is doing internally; not only in me but what could be happening within the hearts of others.

Something that I’ve realized is that this is who I am. That is not going to change because that’s the way God made me. The only thing I can do is learn what this means and make the most of it for the kingdom. As I’ve said before, it’s easy to see how this could be distracting in a worship setting. If I spend all my time (and I have) wondering why the lights are the way they are and why that person is singing the wrong note, I’m not concentrating on the beauty of who God is and why He deserves this praise. But when I am able to focus on the task at hand, then this is a lethal weapon as a worship leader. If I can give all my attention and brain power to who God is and what he wants to accomplish, the attention to detail becomes crucial in the overall outcome of what happens when we come together in worship to our heavenly Father. So pray that I can curb my WLADD, because when I do it’s a great thing. But when I don’t….

So, this year has already brought challenges in my life. I expected it to, because life always brings challenges. I didn’t think that I wouldn’t get through 10 days before things started to happen. Oh well, that’s life I guess. I think that God is getting me ready for something big…something I haven’t quite imagined yet. I don’t really know WHAT God has for me right now, but he doesn’t do anything half way. Here’s what I do know. I’ve been called to lead people in worship through song and I’ve been given a gift that I cannot take for granted. I know that if I’m going to do what it is I want to do I have to just step out and start doing it. I am preparing myself to move forward. I don’t know what that means quite yet, but I’m writing again. I’m even going as far as starting to set up possible opportunities to sing. For those of you that know me, this is a big deal. I don’t normally just promote myself. I don’t really know how to do that.

Anyway, I’m asking for your prayers as I attempt to step out of a comfort zone that has been there for a really long time. I’m quite scared, but I want to be obedient to God. Pray that I can listen to God AND respond the way I’m supposed to. That’s been the big issue for me. I have been running from some things because I’m scared of the outcome because I can’t see it. I need to start following God’s lead. Believe it or not, I’m not that great a leader…

I am called to lead people in worship. I am called to minister to people through song. I am called to be a servant. I am called to be a leader. I am called to help people unite their hearts with Christ. I am called to help people turn away from the distractions of life and focus on the God that saves and sings over us.  I can’t do any of that while I’m looking backwards and holding on to my fears. I can only do that if I turn around and begin to move forward. So lead the way, God, lead the way…

Community Life…It’s sort of a buzzword in the church. We like to use it as a catchy name for our small groups. It invokes thoughts of people being together doing life together. What does that really mean? I believe we are called to be in each others lives intimately. Knowing each other and being together in peace is what God wants for us. One of the things we overlook or input on our own is community ‘part of’ life. In the church our groups are part of our busy lives. Now I know that these are generalizations, but hear me out…

I’m a sports fan. Whenever you watch sports news or interviews, people are always talking about chemistry. It’s not only what happens on the field, but it’s the relationships and ‘life’ that happens off the field. The most successful teams always talk about how much they were like a family. Yeah, things got tough and I’m sure they fight, but they were family. The things you don’t see highly affect what you see on television or in the stadiums. What’s in the heart comes out on the field.

How does all of this apply to corporate worship? I’ve read and talked to people who have said they feel like something is missing on Sunday mornings. When you ask them about it, they feel disconnected to the people around them. Church becomes more like a concert or a conference. It is easy to get lost in the crowd and then you begin to pick and choose the things that you like and don’t like about a specific church. Then it becomes more and more about you. It makes it easy for you to choose one place over the other and jump from church to church.

We can begin to experience deeper, more intimate worship when we know the people around us that we are worshiping with. What relationships do you have with the people around you on Sunday morning? Do you really know them? Do you have any community within your church body? If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, it’s that people need community. Churches need people in community. Worship needs people that are in community. Think about what the worship in your church could look like if the people worshiping together actually KNEW each other? I don’t think I’m quite done with this thought, so there may be a part 2 to this one in the near future…

So as God continues to work, I’ve decided that I’m going to actively watch Him. Man, is He good! I am constantly surprised at what God has been doing throughout this whole idea. It would be very easy for me to get ahead of myself and move faster than I’m supposed to with this thing. I have to be able to be still and listen to God and let Him lead me.

I have no idea what it is that God is doing right now. The more that God does, the more I realize I don’t know what He’s doing. I do know that there is a plan and this is what I have up until now…

So I was hanging out with a friend (I’ll leave him anonymous until the linear notes of the CD) last night and we were talking about this idea. As we talked and shared and let God work, we came up with the idea of worship180 being the overarching theme of this ministry. We then started to put some things together graphically and it started to come together a little more. The scripture that stuck out after awhile was 1 Corinthians 13:12. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. I won’t go into all the nerdy details that we came up with as far as how we will make that look in the future, you’ll have to wait for the website for that. However, it’s fitting that the passage comes from the “Love Chapter”. When we are dealing with worship, we are expressing our love for the Master. We want to show Him how much we love Him, but we don’t know truly how to love Him. We don’t know how to love Him fully because we don’t know Him fully. The desire of the ministry is to help us look at the gospel, which will help us to see Him a little more clearly.
From a ministry front, we don’t totally know what God is doing yet, we see through this mirror very dimly right now. The hope is that as we continue to look to Him for guidance and direction He will continue to clear the glass out a little. Stick close, this is getting good…