Tag Archives | humility

Invisible Gorillas and Humility

I just finished reading The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us, by Christopher Chablis and Daniel Simons. No, it’s not a Christian book, nor is it a book for people responsible for leading congregational worship (the target audience of my blog). But I think it’s relevant to both. The book was named for the video above. If you haven’t watched it, you should now. The authors describe the purpose of their book in the introduction: The Invisible Gorilla is a book about six everyday illusions that profoundly influence our lives: the illusions of attention, memory, confidence, knowledge, cause, and potential. These …

Continue Reading 9

How I Got Here

Ben, a 28 year old worship leader, is in the midst of some career decisions. He emailed me the following to me:   You seem to be actively employing several different gifts and passions. You’re sort of a hybrid preacher/producer/worshiper/blogger guy.  You are living outside the box – and that’s exciting to me. As I dream of what my life and career could look like, my most
 satisfying career would look a lot like yours does now. However, I don’t
really know how to get from where I am now to where I’d like to be.  I
 wonder how it is that you’ve come to the place where you are now: leading 
worship, producing albums of your church’s …

Continue Reading 15
Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

Ten Reasons to Share Musical Opinions Humbly

I’ve been musing recently about how we express our musical opinions. Why do we feel so strongly about songs, bands, and styles? And why do we draw conclusions so quickly? Nope. Don’t like it. That stinks. I can’t stand that kind of music. You like that stuff? Is there anything wrong with raving about the music/artists we love and being swift to trash those we despise? If we’re Christians, yes. Let me suggest ten reasons why musical forbearance might be good for our souls. 1. Being a self-appointed music critic is often just a sign of pride. Using outrageous or exaggerated words to put down certain songs, styles, or artists can be a symptom …

Continue Reading 25

What is a Successful Christian Musician?

This past weekend I had the joy of speaking on various topics at the Christian Musician Summit in Overlake, WA, near Seattle. It was a very encouraging time, and I met quite a few people who were currently using Worship Matters with their worship team. Great hooking up with old friends and making some new ones. I mentioned to a few folks that I’d be posting my message and workshop notes on my blog. So that’s what I’ll be doing over the next few days. In the opening session I spoke on “What is a Successful Christian Musician?” I chose that topic because I know that when we attend large conferences led by highly skilled musicians, we can be …

Continue Reading 5

Whose Glory Do We Make Music For?

This past week we recorded some of the lead vocals for our upcoming project, Come Weary Saints, due out in April. It’s a project of congregational worship songs designed to encourage faith and hope in the hearts of those who are going through trials. Each of the vocalists who came to sing was clearly there not to promote themselves, but to serve those whoever would be listening. It was evident from their preparation, the way they joyfully received comments, and their gratefulness for the opportunity to participate in the project. Grace abounded. It reminded me of a message I gave at the Sovereign Grace WorshipGod conference in 2002. I was …

Continue Reading 14

The Humble Critic

This question came in from Amy, after reading my post on “Entering the Draw Me Close Conversation.” “How do you balance discernment without being critical? I find myself struggling with this constantly. Where is the balance between noticing and being concerned that the theology presented in songs/sermons is man-centered, or that the gospel is missing, vs. being critical of the music and preaching and thus being unable to actually worship?” Great question. How do we exercise doctrinal discernment and personal humility at the same time? First, we need to recognize the importance of being faithful to Scripture. We aren’t simply …

Continue Reading 7

Powered by WordPress. Designed by Woo Themes