Where's the Beat in Korea - Part 2

Ok. Here is an update.

It is official. I have double checked and talked with many other people about it. Korea does clap on 1 and 3. Most of my friends hadn't noticed... but after I mentioned it, they hear it all the time.

When Koreans are listening to music or clapping along to music they stick to that off beat. Well, it seems off. (No matter what the drums are doing they do their own thing.) I'll be listening to a perfectly normal version, musically, of a worldwide Hillsong hit and then they go against everything good and normal and make the song sound rushed. AHAGAHAGHA.

Anyway, if you were wondering about the validity of my privious post. It is true.

Where is the beat in Korea?

Ok, so I just thought you might want to know...

I've been living in Korea for a few months now and I may have discovered something. Most Koreans, or at least the real good Koreans, clap on the 1 and the 3 instead of the 2 and the 4. It may be the older generation, much like a traditional church in America that has mostly hymns. But, I've also seen many younger Koreans doing it too! It seems to be limited to certain styles of music.

They borrow so much from the western culture, exspecially with music. So, alot of the newer stuff is normal. But, still it's those few 'change-ups' to the 1-3... they screw everything up! Oh well, at least the guys at the Jazz concert that I went to knew how to jam.

I'll do more research and fill you in later.

Planning Center

Ok.

So here is a great website that I have been using for planning the worship service and scheduling the team. It has been great. I have had nothing but positive reponses from the Worship Team and it has helped clarify and customize the information that the team needs.

This is a screenshot of the website and it shows one thing that makes this program stand out from the rest. The tutorial videos are great. They have videos for everything, but my favorite is for the Volunteers.

There is a video that plays for each of the members as soon as they first sign on and set up thier member account. It is very simple and communicates exactly what the volunteers need to know. It is extremely user friendly and anyone who knows how to use a computer and the internet (even the basics) can figure this out. And anything that they do not know they can easily learn with this video. Watch it below.

Volunteer Training from Planning Center on Vimeo.

Also, another mentionable feature is the transposing of music... not only pdfs and chordcharts... but MP3s. They have a really easy to use system for transposing. It doesn't slow the track down and sounds pretty decent. The music quality is great and vocals are ok. But is is perfect for vocalists or musicians that would like to play along to the tracks in the correct key.

Finally, it interfaces well with CCLI and Songselect. Which makes it easy to get the correct copyright info and better yet, keep track of all the times and ways that you have used songs. I know that some of the other planning programs have this feature as well, but compiled with everything else... it just makes you smile.

I think the best part is that you don't have to pay per time you download, or use, a song. It may sound obvious... but I've looked around and seen that a lot. You are able to keep track of the copyrights so that you don't 'steal' useage, but you don't pay for every little thing. The plans are fairly cheap and easy to get set up.

I highly recommend this to any worship leader to help stay orginized and save a lot of time.

Book Review - Here I am to Worship

Aloha.

Tim Hughes wrote a book entitled 'here i am to worship' titled after his song. I had been neglecting it far too long and so i read it. It was a great book for worship leaders and musicians. I would highly recommend having your worship team read this because of the basic practical side of the book as well as the focus on our heart as worshippers.

Tim expands on and unpacks a quote by John Piper that I love, "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is." Tim goes on to point out that 'Worship is our Highest Calling' and that worship will last forever. But, what about our time here on this earth. According to Romans 12:1 we are to offer our lives as living sacrifices to Him as worship. That is a here and now statement. Tim wrote, "We first worship the Lord then from that place we look to love those around us. We cannot worship if we don't also serve."

I love that connection. We are going to be worshipping God forever but that starts today in our daily lives. No matter what it is, as we do it unto God we worship Him(1 Cor 10:31). So... building houses, waiting tables, selling cars, pouring coffee, eating, drinking and yes even playing music is all worship when done unto God. We also worship by loving and helping the widows, the fatherless, the broken, the discouraged, and the damaged.

Basically, great book.

Here is the top 5 reasons to read it:

5. Tim even writes with an awesome accent.

4. This book portrays the heart and humility needed by worship leaders

3. It tackles the stuff worship pastors have a hard time saying.

2. There are some great practical tips for leaders and team members.

and the # 1 reason: What would Jesus do? ... he would read it.

my brother in law is awesome

My brother in law had some great thoughts about the Kingdom of God.

Check it out... click here

I need to go eat lunch... I promise to update soon. But, for now, read Brandon's stuff. He is good.

Aloha.

Hawaii

Aloha,

My wife and I just moved to Kauai, HI for the summer! We are looking forward to spending time with my family and enjoying God's creation.

The other day at worship practice we read Psalm 65. Take a look at these verses about God's beautiful creation and His character as the Creator... be encouraged.

^{Psalm 65: 5-13}

⁵ You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,
O God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,

⁶ who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,

⁷ who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.

⁸ Those living far away fear your wonders;
where morning dawns and evening fades
you call forth songs of joy.

⁹ You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it. ^{c]" style=" line-height: 0.5em; ">[c]}

¹⁰ You drench its furrows
and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers
and bless its crops.

¹¹ You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.

¹² The grasslands of the desert overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.

¹³ The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.

It has been way too long.

Hey guys, 

I know I have been slacking in the blog department lately. Truth is, me and Lindsey (my wife) are moving and we are going crazy with all the packing stuff. Any free time is spent with close friends and family. Although, blogging should be part of the family... it is not. So, I will begin again soon and give you all updates asap. 

Aloha and Mahalos

Luke

Surfing and God... What else is there...

Hi all,

Take a look at this new Christian surfing magazine. It is called Reversal.

Open publication - Free publishing - More surfing

The Book of John as a Surf Magazine. Check it out.

Open publication - Free publishing - More surfing

This is true Worship in action.  This mag was birthed out of a love for God and two guys who wanted to use their gifts for God. Awesome and challenging. 

What will you do? Where will you go?

If you feel God calling you to support this movement financially please visit their website and contact them directly. 

www.reversalmag.com 

Sing over me

"The LORD your God is with you, 
       the Mighty Warrior who saves. 
       He will take great delight in you; 
       in his love he will no longer rebuke you, 
       but will rejoice over you with singing." - Zephaniah 3:17

This is an amazing passage that encourages me and points me straight to God. Read over it again and focus in on the bigness of God. I like to keep it in nice and simple words; big, other, above, set apart. For all of you intellectuals we like to call it the transcendence of God. In Psalm 8:1 we read, "LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens." We see this picture all over the Bible, we have 100s of songs written about it, God is altogether more wonderful than we can understand. He is transcendent. 

But as we look at the rest of that verse, we see that God takes delight in us. For all the readers of 'the Shack' God is especially fond of each one of us.  This is the idea that God is mindful of us. In His fully transcendent and other nature, He "comes down to visit sinful humans and address their problems and needs" (Wiersbe). This shows his great immanence. For all those who are bad with large and scary words, God loves us enough to sit with us in our crap and carry us through. He is the dearest friend who will not abandon you. 

But, as I read last line in Zeph, I can't help it! I have to smile! Read it again...  Are you kidding me? The great God of the universe cares and loves me so much that He rejoices over me with singing! That is amazing. We often take it for granted that God cares for us and knows the hairs on our heads... we have all heard the stories and seen the flannel-graphs, but we fail to grasp it. I know that we don't understand because if we did, our lives would be drastically changed. Think about it. I dare you. 

Here is the kicker. The word that was translated to 'rejoice', in its original context, would me better translated, dance. It is literally: Spinning and whirling around with shouts of joy. The automatic picture I get is of King David dancing in the streets in undignified worship. So, God Almighty sings and dances over us with absolute joy! This is of course after he has already saved us. 

Jared Anderson wrote a song about this amazing passage. The song is titled "Amazed." Listen to it and remember that God, although our minds will never comprehend his greatness, loves us.

Lord, I come in humility. Grateful for the truth in this passage, that you care for each one of us. We love you and proclaim your greatness. Father, fill us with your Spirit that we might proclaim your Son boldly. - Luke

It is the same Spirit

"The Same power that conquered the grave lives in me, lives in me! Jesus, your love that rescued the earth lives in me, lives in me." - Hillsong, You Are Here (Same Power)

Isn't it amazing how far we have come! We look back on the early church and look at the difference. It is night and day. We have great big churches and we have packed out worship events. We have a Billion dollar industry that has everything "Christian" that you can imagine. 

I hope you are reading that as I wrote it, with sarcasm. 

What is amazing is that in all of it we seem to have lost something. We seemed to have lost the passion and mystery that Peter and the early church had.  I recently heard Francis Chan speak and he really got me thinking. He asked a few simple questions in light of a passage in Exodus. The one where Israel sees and hears God with thunder and fire. Long story short they are afraid of God and say, "Moses, you go... we can't lest we die!"

Francis asked, "Do we believe that happened? Do we believe that God is the same still, that He hasn't changed?  Do we live like they did in the early church walking boldly in the Spirit and doing miracles all the time?"

What is different? Is it that God is less powerful and that the Spirit is less powerful now? NO. ...I used to think (well not seriously or spoken but understood) that the Holy Spirit was the same but just divided between all the believers... so that would leave me with about 1/1,000,000,000 of the whole. God doesn't work like that. I have 100% of the Holy Spirit in me... then why am I still like this?

I don't often understand that it is the same spirit that dwelt in the ark of the covenant, and in the holy of holies, and that swept through the place on the day of pentecost, that lives in me. The same spirit. The same power. Wow. 

What would happen if we started to understand? What would happen if we were able to live and speak with boldness like the apostles? To top it off, those apostles that proclaim Christ in boldness. What did they ask for prayer for, more Boldness. Maybe that is it? Maybe we need to understand and live in boldness... and let the world watch. I think there would be more followers of Christ and less religious "christians." I think that we would see people come to Christ in droves. Because of the power that they see in us because of Christ and the work on the cross. 

Father, help me to receive your spirit and your leading. Help me to live boldly and speak boldly. Help me to be transparent so that Jesus can be seen in my life. Help me to live with abandonment for You because I realize your greatness. Lord, I want to be yielded to You and proclaim the name of Christ. 

I love you and proclaim you the lord of my life. 

- Luke

Francis' Blog: francischansblog.blogspot.com/ 

Life is fast

Do you ever get those times when you realize that your life is happening way faster than you could ever keep up with?  I mean... It has almost been a year since we have been married. But it seems like it has only been a few months. I will admit, I don't remember what it is like to sleep alone and say goodbye every night. But seriously, life is fast. 

At the rate we are going we'll be parents before we realize we are actually married!  I love it. I'm convinced that all of our parents were right... they still did feel like kids. Ha. (mom and dad, love you).  I thought that I would know what it feels like to be a husband right away, like some magic trick. But, now I realize that we grow into that role.  

It is like our Christian life. We inherit a new identity when we become christians. We are pure, we are holy, we are children of God, ext. But, just like marriage, we grow and develop into those roles.  I am a husband, but I'm learning how that plays out. It doesn't mean that I'm not, just that I'm in learning what that all means. 

That is my goal, to understand, and share with others that we ARE holy, we ARE saints, we ARE forgiven!, we ARE adopted as children of God! Thank you Jesus!

"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight". Eph 1:4

"giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Col 1: 12-14

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1: 12-13

Dependence

Well. It is a scary and exciting place to be; dependent on God. 

Lindsey (my wife) and I are in this place of waiting and total and complete dependence on God.  I have been unemployed and looking for work for a while now and we have no hope of doing this on our own.  I always thought it was funny when people said with a big smile on their face, "be careful what you pray for, God will answer." They laugh and smile and i used to laugh along. 

Well... I prayed for dependence. 

How could they say such a statement with a smile? Here is what I can say, on the other side of this I will most likely smile and laugh. But, now when we don't have money to pay rent and eat it is a little harder. Don't get me wrong. I love that we are learning of God's faithfulness and provision. Literally, money would show up on our doorstep and in our mailboxes. We are learning how hard tithe really is... when you need the money to live and then you give. 

I'm glad that God is breaking us from the mold of narcissistic self-focused christianity. I'm glad that we have been able to grow closer together with each other and with God. I'm even glad that we can feel what it is like to fear. But, it is still hard. 

I wish I could show you in the Bible encouraging words that are about us living healthy and wealthy. I wish that i was able to show you that if God cares about you then you will never have to worry about life and money.  But as we read. We see that God wants us to be dependent on him. We see Gideon. He was led by God to go to battle and he had at least 32,000 men with him. Then God says... "you have too many men... so Israel will know it was ME, send away those who are afraid." So, 20, 000 men left.  Ouch.  But, even worse. God said, nope... still too many men.  Gideon ended up defeating the Midians with 300 men.  Can you imagine what that must have been like???  Gideon was already skeptical before he saw the size of the army God wanted to use. Now... 300 men. 

That is the God we serve. He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. The same God that fought with Gideon is my Lord. That is real hope.  

"Father, Abba, you know our fears, you know the battles we face, please comfort us and protect us. Lord, I love that song, "God of our yesterdays." Not that You WERE our God. But rather, that You were faithful in our yesterdays. So, how much more should we trust You today? Abba, please fill us with Your Spirit and help us to walk in faith and realize our dependence on You."

God of our yesterdays - Matt Redman

Worship Central

If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend attending a Worship Central conference.  This past weekend was amazing. God showed up. He was signing autographs and posing for pictures.... well, maybe I'm being ridiculous, but all kidding aside, God Did show up. 

Here is what went down. 

Friday, April 24th, 2009> 

There is something unique that happens when hundreds of worship leaders and songwriters lay down their instruments and join together in worship. Everyone in the room lifts their voice to familiar songs and raises praise that is due to their God. We had one goal. To make much of God. 

One thing that I love about Worship Central and that sets them apart from many other conferences is that the focus is not about the formulas and top 10 worship tips.  The overwhelming focus of the conference is being aware of what God is doing through the Holy Spirit in our churches and worship services.  We all know what works. As worship leaders we know the songs that people will sing to and will give them a 'worship experience'. We can put together a list of all the hit songs and people will sing and even lift their hands, or close their eyes. However, very few worship leaders are willing to forsake the 'easy' and follow

 the leading of 

the Spirit in each setlist and service.

The difference is an intentionality that allows a song leader, turn in to a worship leader/pastor. The major distinction is that a worship leader has in mind not only the setlist and service, but also the direction of the church, both theologically and practically.  Without going in to much detail, the lead worshipper has a pastoral burden in song selection and theology. We need to be aware of what we are communicating with our songs. 

Anyway, back to the conference. 

It is amazing to see how God shows up when we make room for Him and invite Him to lead and not us.  We had an awesome time of worship with Tim Hughes friday evening. I love the way Tim is aware of what the Holy Spirit is doing... we had songs of praise, songs

of pain, songs of repentance and times of pure silence. What was cool is that during the silence, or during a vamp, all the worshippers in the room would begin to sing their own song, a new song to the Lord. Lifting melodies and harmonies and praising in a way that was chilling to hear.  

After that Francis Chan came up and spoke on our Christian life and challenged us with one concept. Isn't the same spirit that rose Christ from the dead, that empowered to church in Acts to do miraculous things living inside of us? What went wrong? Why isn't that happening now? (more on this in another blog) It was amazing what God did. We ended this time with a spontaneous time of prayer for boldness, prayer for healing, prayer for our churches, prayer for our cities, and prayer for each other.  

It was amazing. God did show up. Not because we sang the right songs, but because we were willing to ask Him what He wanted to do that night. And we followed. We are truly honored to worship a God who loves us with agape, as His children.  Like I said before, if you ever get a chance to worship with anyone from worship central, do it.  They get it. They realize that worship is about God and it is not our self-centered spiritual gas station. 

"Father, I want to always give you the glory that you deserve. Not out of obligation, but out of love and adoration.  Lead me day by day in worship by your Spirit, and help me always to remember the significance of Your Son on the cross. Because of Christ's work on the Cross: I am free, I am made new, I have been justified, I am a child of God, I am complete in Christ, I am God's workmanship, I am a personal witness to Christ, I am a minister of reconciliation, and I am free forever from condemnation. Help me to live in remembrance. I love you, Luke."

PS> check out the new live album/DVD from Tim Hughes, Happy Day (Pictured above). There are some really good songs on there. I believe it will be released in the US in September. For now, find it in the UK store or just the CD on iTunes.

Pivotal Moment

So... 

We are left with this... God the Father sent His Son to die for us on the cross. He conquered death, and rose again, and in this pivotal moment in all of history, he allowed the Holy Spirit to take up residence in our hearts.  Our slavery to sin has turned to freedom, our debt of life has been paid, our identity is forever changed, our broken lives are now made whole. 

Now what? 

Do we continue to live like we are in bondage? 

Do we continue to live in the life that died with Christ? 

Are we holding on to the old self and the bondage that we lived in before?

Have we let the magnitude of this event penetrate our lives?

Are we even able to stay silent since we have truly been freed?

Just some questions. You decide the answer. 

Here is our call to worship... 

We are no longer slaves to sin we have been purchased and redeemed. Let us celebrate and spread the news about what God has done for us. Let us be easter people, forever in remembrance of the life that we get to live through Jesus Christ.

For a good listen>

"Sweetly Broken" - Jeremy Riddle

"Love Came Down" - Ben Cantelon

"Happy Day" - Tim Hughes

Cheating

Hey guys, 

I thought about cheating and giving you more to read on here because I haven't had time to get this thing up and running yet. I was going to copy and paste a bunch of old notes from facebook and other blogs that I had written. But, that is unfair. If you feel like reading about how wierd I am go to: http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=139000755

I'll start to heart leak here from now on. 

aloha.

Coffee and blogs

Coffee and blogs... what could be better? 

I have asked around and most people enjoy sitting and feeling a bit of culture sipping some Kean Coffee and browsing their favorite blogs.  I don't know what it is about the environment. Maybe it is the smell of fresh coffee or the sounds of busy (and not so busy) lives all around, but one thing is for sure... we all enjoy it. 

Today, my journey has led me to the local Panera for some tea and internet. I had the chance to talk with a random guy just about life and the culture that we live in. His name is Brian. He calls this place (panera) his office.  We live in a world that business and relationships happen at the same place over the same cup of coffee and/or meal. I think that is how it is meant to be. I think that we need to take any opportunity we get to enjoy the people around us while we all go about our lives and seek to bring God glory. 

What if we are meant to be more relational in our witness? What if God wanted us to establish community with those around us and engage in their lives no matter if they know Jesus of Nazareth  or not?  I think he does. I think that we should be connected with all kinds of people and still be open about our lives. So often I fall into the fallacy that my spiritual life is personal and I shouldn't talk about it with everyone I see. I think some of it is cultural. We all know the two primary touchy subjects: Religion and Politics.  All too often those blend into one - but that is a totally different topic. But, talking about my relationship with Christ seems, in my mind to fall into that category.  Why?  

I think that is what is amazing about the Gospel. It has nothing to do with religion.  It is a relationship with the one true God. But, there is more, God is 3 in 1, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.   This is trippy to think about and will continue to blow me away.  The bible also says that God adopts us into a relationship and that we are the Bride of Christ. In essence He is inviting us to join with Him and the perfect love that is already sustained in His relationship with Himself (3 in 1). 

Wow. 

Father, we thank you for the gift you have given us through the work of your Son on the cross. Thank you for sending your Spirit to live in us and allow us to join in worship of You and with You.