Re: WHEN YOUR CALL IS ON HOLD by Scott Phillips

Link: http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=1448

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt.

In Response to the article linked above…

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the word. It apparently rings true for many that feel “put on hold.”

You wrote: …ideas many young pastors bring to the table will only be wasted on traditional “old boy’s club” churches. Better to take our ministry to the streets, to the people, a sort of grass roots movement. There are artists, musicians, rappers, dancers, preachers, evangelists, graphic designers, writers, and others with many gifts God wants to unleash on this world to make an impact.” [1]

I think this is key. It may be that we should not direct traffic as you conclude in your article, but take the step to see if our vision and calling can live in the street. Maybe fulfillment in our calling lies in taking our vision outside the walls and meeting the huge need that is out there.

I recently attended an Alpha training conference. One of the striking truths that I learned there was that many people who have no experience in the church have no idea who we are, and are intimidated by the thought of “church.” But if we bring the “Church” (capitalization intentional) to them, then they have opportunity to find out that:

1. We really do care.
2. We're normal folk.
3. There really is hope!

Blessings and fulfillment in your journey!

Robb

Bibliography:
1. Scott Phillips, WHEN YOUR CALL IS ON HOLD

The Artisan Worship Leader

Link: http://www.danwilt.com/the-rise-of-the-worship-artisan-2/

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt.

In Dan’s video [1] and the article linked above, Dan speaks of the Worship Artisan and proposes definitions and guidelines for becoming and being a worship artisan.

The immediate thought I came to was that often artisan and journeyman are used in the world of craftsmen. This immediately got my attention and gave me a new scope of measurement of where I was at as a worship leader.

In the Medieval times, there were guilds for various crafts. These guilds had positions within their craft of Apprentice, Journeyman, and master.

The apprenticeship makes a commitment to serve the master craftsman, traditionally a live-in position. They serve for a term of three to seven years. Then with the master’s approval, they become a journeyman (you can find a bit more information on a journeyman here). The journeyman can then work for any master craftsman who will have them.

A journeyman cannot have apprentices working for him. It is not until he has served as a journeyman and brings his work to the guild for approval that he can become a master.

I would guess that many today would consider the worship music industry to be the “guild” of our time, but if you applied this idea to the “profession” of a worship artisan, as someone trying to attain artisan status, you could derive several parallels:

1. At some point we are all apprentices. At some point, we decide we want to lead worship and learn the skills to do it. We become an apprentice of Jesus, and we need to stay close (live with Him) to get to know Him. This time is essential and cannot be bypassed. We also likely apprentice under another worship leader or pastor.

2. Once we have spent some time with our Master, and possibly under the guidance of some artisans, we will eventually graduate to become journeymen, able to be given a task and perform it on our own, but continuing under the covering of a master, and The Master.

3. Some will then gain master status, although for many it is not because of their maturity, but from a hit record. This puts them in the place of a master in that they are a craftsman unto themselves, and can work independently of another master. While some do this successfully, I believe the best worship artisans, the true masters, are accountable to others, and always subject to their One Master.

Someone once told me that to be a good leader you should always have a Paul (Father / Mentor), always have a Timothy (Son / Apprentice / someone to Mentor), and always have a Barnabus (peer / friend) in your life.

I feel this describes much of the place a true artisan would be in. If he is being mentored, he acknowledges that he is still growing. If he is mentoring, he must keep his own art sharp and fresh so that it can be passed on. If he is accountable to a peer, he has a lifeline that will help him remember his life song when he has himself maybe forgotten the words.

So I hope that as a journeyman and continued apprentice of Jesus and a servant to my Father, the ultimate Master, that I will finish a craftsman held in good esteem by the guild, and be a true artisan. Knowing my craft, my Master’s ways, and that my tools will be found well used and put to good use when I lay them down.

Some of the info on the Medieval guild system I got from this website: http://web.nickshanks.com/history/medieval/careers [2]

1. Wilt, Dan The Rise Of The Worship Artisan (audio track)

2. Jariwala, Nikhil Medieval Economy – Professions

Transitioning to Love The Old

Link: http://www.danwilt.com/old-is-good-toward-a-theology-of-age/

Transitioning to love the old.

In another post referring to old and older Dan wrote:

“For me, it’s like the teenager who can’t hear the Dad, but will listen to the grandfather. Then we mature, and the Dad starts to make sense – just when our teenagers are starting to disdain us…”

For me history has been like that, except taken a step further. Hymns and gospel songs were attached to the folks who were telling me that my musical leanings and expressions were not just invalid, but sinful based on style. This gave the music they loved an association that took me many years to overcome. Even now most gospel music as much as I may believe the writers truly love the Lord and wrote worship from their hearts stir the wrong response in me.

But time went on and I grew. Eventually I let those who could not get past a particular form of expression be left to their own arguments, since it neither enlightened them nor encouraged me to engage in the discussion. I guess I just walked out on it. Since then I have seen those who originally thought poorly of the style I loved embrace it. Now they stick to that style and reject the next one. I learned an important thing:

Change is hard for most people.

Fighting for acceptance of a style is inconsequential compared to Martin Luther’s Wittenburg Door posting, where he challenged the way the church was selling forgiveness to the highest bidders. This was an issue of heresy, and to stick with his beliefs cost him. Yet he purchased for us a new foundation to stand on, and we have benefited from it.

So I learned to let the small stuff be small stuff. I started looking again at the hymns and found that there was a richness in them. The writers of the time knew that many in their congregation could not read or did not have a bible. So the songs they learned defined their theology. Many songs had numerous verses that were whittled down to fit into today’s hymnals.

This engaged me as I had begun to write worship songs myself. I found that the typical verse / chorus / bridge / repeat verse / chorus / chorus format didn’t fit, because I wanted to make a more complete statement than that.

The I learned from one of Dan’s teachings about the Celts and how they integrated worship into life. Every part of life could become an acknowledgment of God. This was huge to me because I could see how my life and all of those around me became so swallowed up in tasks and work and chores that spiritual life got choked out.

So now this part of the old has become very important to me. It is a battle to pursue it, but my hunger is to get into a pattern of a life of acknowledging worship woven into all of my movements of the day.

Recently a friend wrote a new melody to an old tune: “Just as I Am” written by Charlotte Elliott. The hymn had not meant much to me growing up, because I always associated it with the Billy Graham meetings, and while I thought Billy Graham was doing a great thing, it was just part of that scenery for me and didn’t feel very relevant to life.

Then Robin (my friend) played this song with a new melody. I was in a place of being overwhelmed by life and had many things crashing in at the time. Those words sung in a new way, swept me into a time of surrender to the Lord.

Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

This was where I was at. It hit me and helped me to find that place of surrender.

And so the old has become precious. Not all of it, but some parts that cause me to resonate in my life.

“Time tested” is a phrase we sometimes use and can use in this context. Much of the old has been established and tested by time, and found to have merit. We need not start making the wheel from scratch. It as been done before. It is worth looking to see what they have done, even if some of the wheel makers are not trustworthy. It is worth diggin for. There’s gold to be mined. There are others who can show us the way.

Essentials Blue Intro

This is an initial posting to this new blog to introduce it. Last year while with Robin Lyle at a Vineyard Worship Leaders retreat, I got to hear Dan Wilt speak about “The Elemental Worshipper.”

This was about the roots of worship and addressed the whys of worship in a very quick trip over the landscape as Dan saw it.

He spoke of bringing worship into our everyday, and that’s how I have always felt it should be. So often I see folks who live life in narrow segregated bands and when they get to church, it’s like they “change channels” and now they’re in worship mode. Quite often this only lasts for the music, and they will change channels back for the rest of the gathering. But it’s all worship! Everything we do can be done to God’s glory or to glorify something / someone else. So it’s a continuum. The only thing that changes is the vehicle we are using to express our worship (driving a truck to earn money, speaking with someone on the phone, yes, singing, and even (something I struggle to be worshipful while I do) driving in traffic). These times of our life all contain their own unique opportunity for us to express worship.

So I could very much relate to his view of integrating worship and prayer into everything, but Dan had obviously spent a lot more time working on this perspective. He had some depth from study and finding out what others who believed similarly had seen and written. I felt the loss and lack and immediately wanted to learn more of what he had discovered.

So when this course became a possibility for me to take, I jumped on that opportunity.

Thanks Dan! Thanks Will! Hi fellow students!