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.