A Wednesday Funny
Jan 8, 2009 Uncategorized
Working at any job I used to think the worst days were Mondays. But I have learned that Wednesdays are the days I tend to dread more. Yesterday my friend Russ Bowlin sent the entire staff this video. Apparently his goal was to inspire, and encourage us all this tough point of the week. I can tell you, I was inspired.
Hopefully Wednesday videos will become a weekly tradition. To read some of Russ’s slightly more serious thoughts you can follow his blog at http://russbowlin.blogspot.com/ or catch him on twitter @russbo
Tags: application, blogs, CD, Funny, Russ Bowlin, Thoughts, twitter, video, work
Just Can’t Take a Joke!!!
Oct 14, 2008 How To
Have you ever been reading the bible and come across a passage that told you to do something, and you thought there is NO WAY that this can be followed today? Here is one such passage for me
Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
I mean come on.. seriously? How much of my day is spent either hearing, or saying things that shouldn’t be said. How many times do I sit around and joke about something with co-workers or my family? What about the times I join in a little gossip here or there.
I use this verse with a song I wrote called “Don’t Feed the Bears” I remember I wrote it while I was a youth director and I was constantly amazed at how much time was spent by my youth “Joking” about each other. They would talk about someone and then, usually if caught, would say “I’m just joking!”.
I ask this question in my set up for the song. “How would your day be different if you said nothing all day except words that built up those around you?” and then I ask “How would your day be if those around you only said things that built you up?”
You know if you really think about it, the verse doesn’t just talk about saying bad things or gossiping. But that the only things that come from your mouth should be words that build each other up.
I would hope that as an adult I would have grown out of it. I would hope that as members of a church that we would have stopped those childish ways. Unfortunately I think that we still have a long way to go. I know I do.
I think we should remember that the verse doesn’t just talk about when we gossip, or lie.. read this verse in the Message translation: (Emphasis is mine)
Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
Are there times when what we say may just be true, but not helpful? I think this is usually where the complaining comes in. It is very easy to sit around a table with your friends and find fault with someone, or something and then proceed to continue to talk about it. Is what you are saying true? Maybe. But does it do any good to sit around and complain about it? Not really. All you do is breed negativity that affects way more than you, or your group. What if instead you took the verse to heart and thought about “Saying only that which helps”, what if you treated each word you said as a gift. What if we didn’t complain? Here is a church that is doing just that which was brought to my attention by Russ Bowlin who recently posted about complaining.
Unfortunately I write this more as a confession of my own faults than a condemnation of others. I have been torn down by words, emails and idle conversations, but I have, and continue to catch myself doing the same things to others.What I want to do is to remind myself and others of the problem. The book of James tells us that the tongue is like a small flame that can cause a huge forest fire. Unfortunately fires are started every day, everywhere, and they can burn down families, friends, companies and yes even churches.
How have complaints, gossip and negative talk impacted your church?
What can we do as worship leaders to help combat this in our own churches?
What are ways your church is working to overcome this problem?
Please share…
Tags: blogs, Church, Gossip, Russ Bowlin, work, Worship, Worship Leader, youth
Song Thoughts- “Instead of a Show”
Aug 8, 2008 Uncategorized
by Russ Bowlin
I was recently introduced to a song that challenges the way we live our Christian lives. Jon Foreman is the lead singer of Switchfoot, but recently began releasing solo EPs (6 song CD). ”Instead of a show” is written from God’s point of view as he expresses his dissatisfaction with our worship and the fact that the other parts of our lives don’t line up with the way we worship. I encourage you to visit Jon’s Myspace and listen to “Instead of a Show” for yourself- just scroll down a bit, double click on the title and it should start playing.
There are numerous things that I think are very powerful (and convicting) in this song. The first one is calling worship a “show.” Not only does this allude to the fact that God may despise ‘productions’ of worship, but also that God hates inconsistency- we should be praising God everywhere we go and in everything we do. Another part that caught my attention was the thought that God would actually “stop up [God's] ears when [we're] singing…” them (hymns/worship songs).
This song is based on Isaiah 1:11-17. The prophet addresses many of the problems we often face as worship leaders- how do you lead others in worship, make it appealing to the masses, and avoid making a “show”? The answer lies in verse 17: “learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” In other words, live a life of worship at all times- find a way to serve in the church as a volunteer, serve in the community, go out and cause a flood of justice.
As worship leaders, we often waste time worrying about making sure every song is perfect, or creating slideshows/videos that will really inspire the congregation… What if you started asking for more than clapping with the beat from them? What if you challenged them to live righteously and help those that can’t help themselves? What if we changed how our congregations looked at worship- from an end, to a means of changing the world by changing their lifestyle? How long is it going to take for us to start listening to the words spoken and written by Isaiah thousands of years ago?
Russ Bowlin is the youth director at Williams Memorial UMC in Texarkana Tx. He shares a weekly devotional called “Observations and Devotions” as well as writing for the Williams E-votional
Tags: blogs, CD, Church, Devotional, Russ Bowlin, Songs, Thoughts, video, Worship, Worship Leader, youth
Free Stuff: Song-Breathe Your Love In Me
Jul 28, 2008 Free Stuff
The other night our youth director Russ Bowlin, led a discussion based on the song “Instead of a Show” by Jon Foreman. He has promised me he is going to write a post on it for FITR so I will not share reflections on that right now. During the course of the discussion, the conversation kept going to how we so often read the words, say the words, sing the songs and go through the motions without even thinking about what we are doing in church. Immediately this song called “Breathe Your Love in Me” came to mind. It is basically a song of confession and a prayer that God will revive us. I wanted to share it with you. Maybe you can use it in a worship service, maybe it is something you can play or listen to as part of your own prayer time. I am including a link to the song and to the chord sheet.
Breathe Your Love in Me mp3
Breathe Your Love in Me PDF
(You have permission to use this song for corporate or personal use. Just don’t record it and tell people it’s your own. I’d love to hear how it is being used so send me an email.)
If you have resources you would like to share please email them to me. If I post them I will give you a link back to your site and a huge thanks.
To listen click play!
Tags: blogs, Church, Free, Free Song, Free Stuff, Prayer, Resource, resources, Russ Bowlin, Russell Martin, Songs, Worship, youth
Green Props
May 15, 2008 Uncategorized
I wanted to take a moment to give some props to my friend Russ Bowlin on his recent blog post. He has spent this last week sharing with us ways that we can live up to our responsibility in the series “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” He begins with this verse:
“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15
From there he gives us around 8 simple suggestions for saving energy, or recycling or other things we can do. When I first thought about posting this I though.. I usually write about worship stuff.. why post this? Then I had a profound duh moment. If worship is how we live our lives in response to God then taking care of the planet is a HUGE aspect of worship.
In fact it has gotten me to think about how we could be more planet friendly in our worship. Things like using LED lights instead of cans on the stage, making books and reusing lead sheets instead of copying them every week. Even something like using chorded microphones instead of wireless ones that use batteries, or find recyclable batteries that work in wireless mics well.
Who knows.. maybe I’ll write that one a little later… for now I redirect you back to Russ’s blog. Oh.. take a look at some of his other posts… they are cool and though provoking too.
Tags: blogs, Russ Bowlin, work, Worship
Try Something Different
Mar 30, 2008 Uncategorized
Today in our worship service we decided to try something a little different. Usually we will follow the format of 3 worship songs, then children’s moment, prayer time, offertory, sermon, invitation and closing song. But in a recent trip to the “Every Member In Ministry” conference at Frazer Memorial UMC, we went to one contemporary worship service where they did not do all the music at once or sermon at once but split them up and divided the points and songs throughout the service.
So today we tried our own version. We started off with “Trading My Sorrows” followed by our announcements and welcome, then used a new version of “Jesus Paid it All” followed by the first part of the scripture, and the first point of the sermon brought by our youth director Russ Bowlin. Then we sang “Here I Am to Worship” followed by the second part of the scripture and second sermon point, and then had the offertory where I sang a new original song I wrote called “Alleluia.” Finally we had the children’s message, third scripture and third point after which we sang “I Am Free” for the invitation. We recapped with an instrumental version of “I Am Free” after the blessing.
I really liked the flow because it was different. Someone else mentioned it was easy to follow the sermon because it was broken up in three parts. I am not sure that we will do it all the time but it was good to try. What I was reminded though is that we should not feel tied by the same order all of the time. Sometimes our “contemporary” worship service becomes more rigid and tied down than our traditional services. I encourage you to try new things, mix up your order and see what happens.
What do you think?
Tags: blogs, Free, Prayer, Russ Bowlin, Songs, Worship, youth
