For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies

St. Stephen’s University

Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

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This is my creative project for Essentials Green. I have written a song with an emphasis mainly on Spiritual Formation. During the course there were many things that really touched me and caused a lot of reflection, most of all the weeks of focus on Kingdom Expectation and Spiritual Formation. In Kingdom Expectation, I was really struck by the intentionality of preparing for the Holy Spirit to come into our midst and expecting Him to cause a transformation in His people. In Spiritual Formation, it was the understanding that we need to always be prepared to be an open vessel that the Holy Spirit can pour into. Again, there was a sense of preparation and expectation involved.

In one reflection, Dan talked about the lighting of a candle in preparation of a devotion time in the word and prayer, and also about the relentless pursuit of the Holy Spirit that we as Lead Worshippers need to always be striving for. This can seem pretty daunting, at least to me. I really appreciated Matt Redman’s words in describing how difficult he found it to just put aside time in the day for reflection and devotion. There’s no question that I thirst to know God more, and that I want the closest relationship I can possibly obtain, but man, it is hard sometimes. It is nice to know that I’m not the only one that struggles with this, and it give me hope and a desire to keep trying harder

The song focuses on a relationship with the Holy Spirit. It starts with a preparation and invitation for the Spirit to come and continues on to a further invitation for Him the be active in our life. It then moves to the anticipation of working in the Spirit to see God’s will be done.

This is one of my first forays into a A-A-B-A (no, not ABBA) type song that does not necessarily have a chorus, but a rather a kind of bridging verse between verses. Though I must admit, I’m not entirely convinced that it might have turned into a chorus in the end. You decide, I won’t argue. The song is called “Spirit (I Pray)” and the lyrics are below. Song MP3 link – Spirit (I Pray)

Thanks to everyone in this course, it has been great sharing with you and getting to know you all. God Bless you in your ministries.

E-mail – stebbutt@rogers.com

Spirit (I Pray)

G5
Spirit, fill this place
C2
Spirit, fill this place I pray
Dsus   D
With a holy fire
Spirit, fill this place
Spirit, fill this place today
With a burning desire for You

Spirit, live in me
Spirit, live in me I pray
Every day and night
Spirit, live in me
Spirit, live in me today
Let me shine like a light for You

G5                               Dsus            D           C2                               Dsus D
Renew this heart, renew this mind, renew this soul in me
Send me, Lord, to spread the Word, that sets your people free

Spirit, Use my life
Spirit, Use my life I pray
Let His will be done
Spirit, Use my life
Spirit, Use my life today
To show mercy and love for You

Stacy Tebbutt – 2009

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies

St. Stephen’s University

Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

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This is the second to last week that marks the end of the Essentials course and it is ending up with a great focus. This week we took a look at Spiritual Formation, centring on how one should live their life as a Worship Leader.

This is a subject that at once is invigorating in the challenge to lead an absolute God centred life and potentially overwhelming for the very same reason. I was very thankful for a short clip from Matt Redman in which he shared how hard it is to hit the mark. It made me feel not so alone that the level of dedication can often seem almost impossible and elusive. Sometimes I can get focussed on the benchmarks I’m not hitting, instead of celebrating my growth and continuing maturity in the Lord. The encouraging part of all this is that this level of dedication and devotion is not impossible, just ALMOST impossible.

One word that repeatedly hit me this week was vulnerability. I have always, always struggled to become more vulnerable. I don’t particularly feel any angst in being real and honest with people, but I still feel it difficult to open all the doors of my soul to others. I’m not really sure if this is just a “guy” thing, a symptom of being an introvert or something more, but there are some days that I feel really tied up spiritually and I wish I could be completely free to express myself. When I feel this way I can’t help but to think of David when he was so overjoyed in the spirit of the Lord that he started dancing like a fool, dancing like no one was looking, and he didn’t care. Michal, David’s wife, thought he had completely demeaned himself, and thought very negatively of him. My ultimate goal in this journey with God is to fix my gaze on David’s example, and ignoring the “Michals”, whoever they may be.

I think David’s words in the Psalms also helps me in this journey. David is considered one of the most faithful men in Bible, and yet to see his struggles from desolation to consolation and back again helps to put my struggles into perspective. Trying to drive for perfection is a recipe for self defeat because you will eventually realize it is impossible. The key for me is to keep my eyes and heart focussed on God and live my life in that direction.

Will I miss the mark sometimes? No doubt. But God has great mercy and grace, and I will continue to fixate on Him on the mountaintops and in the valleys.

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies

St. Stephen’s University

Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

————————————————————————————-

This week focussed on Kingdom Expectation and its impact on our approach to worship.
Kingdom Expectation represented a real watershed memory for me. I’ve always seen worship as a responsibility where, through music and leadership, the worship ministry would facilitate the congregation to come to God in worship. For me this meant approaching God in humility and honour, and lifting our praise and devotion to Him, and to invite the Holy Spirit into our midst. But, Kingdom Expectation takes this role to an entirely different level.

I don’t think I’d ever considered worship leading as a role where I am establishing an environment and atmosphere, where we are inviting God in, through His Holy Spirit, to effectively transform His people and the church. It makes sense that this is what we are striving for, but the deliberateness and consistency is something that I will be building into my programming going forward.

I’ve always found keeping a regular devotional life challenging. Be it the busyness of the day, the distractions that come with it (it doesn’t help that I’m pretty much ADD), or whatever else gets served up, the ability to sit still can sometimes be elusive. After this week, it has become that much more important to dig deeper into the spiritual vault, and work toward a greater oneness with God. I am glad for everything that I have learned over these last many weeks and it has no doubt caused a change in my relationship with and understanding of God. Overall, it heightens the necessity to make that relationship ever deeper and to never stop wanting to learn about and know God better.

Funny enough, I’d always had the opinion that the Worship Leader’s role in the church sometimes outweighs the Pastor. If there is one thing I’ve learned from this course, is how much that can be true, but more importantly what am I going to do to rise to that responsibility.

The importance of what we are doing often has roots in what we aren’t doing. One of the areas that I see worship ministry needing to improve is in its stillness. Give room for the Spirit to move, give spaces for people to commune with God. There is a tendency to fill our worship music set with sound and “meaning”, where in reality the meaning is found in the solace of quiet time.

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies

St. Stephen’s University

Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

————————————————————————————-

This week we looked at the values of accessibility and cultural relevance in the area of worship.

This is a really interesting perspective to examine since we are taking another concentrated look into the human side of worship. There are so many unique and diverse elements the human dynamic brings to the worship equation and there really needs to be a sense of discernment to be able to disseminate what your specific worship community requires.

I always find amazing how no two churches are alike in this manner. Amazed, though not necessarily surprised, since a church is a living body made up of the people in it and the personalities that they bring. Still, I find it interesting and refreshing that there really is no cookie cutter model for churches now. Even to the degree that two churches can sing the most popular songs of the day and not sing them quite the same way. As this brings to the forefront the importance of knowing your community, how to reach them and empower them to worship in their own way.

Accessibility is something that’s always struck a deep chord with me as a worship leader. I guess I don’t see my position having much purpose unless I make a concerted effort to tailor a worship program that resonates with the church and compels them to respond with glory to God. Most of the time it’s the simplest of details: is this song singable for someone who doesn’t sing all that often. Most people don’t have a wide singing range, men can’t sing very high, women can’t sing very low, and neither will sing at all if the song is too complicated. I’ve found that if you can resolve these issues, you’ve overcome a lot of obstacles. It’s the other issues that take more time, mainly because they tend to be more specific to a congregation. Things like age, style, and culture. It’s in these things that balance becomes a greater point of focus.

There is much of cultural differences that at once excite me and intimidate me. There are so many avenues that you can go to bring elements of other cultures into practice in our worship, but I would be reluctant to try them unless I knew they were done well. The last thing I would want to do is diminish something simply because it wasn’t done well and cast a shadow on its richness and value. I really endeavour to explore these avenues and work to bring knowledgeable people into the process, to see that what we present is worthy and glorifying.
God creation is so diverse that it would be a terrible shame not to be exposed to it and celebrate His worth in a way different from our own. Overall it’s been a great week of learning and understanding.

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies

St. Stephen’s University

Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

————————————————————————————-

Integrity and intimacy are probably the most daunting attributes that I find in worship leading.

When it comes to integrity, I come face to face with the awesome responsibility that is worship leading. When it comes to realizing what this position means to the context of the whole church, I can feel very unworthy. It is an awesome privilege to be able to facilitate a group of believers to worship our Lord. It makes my personal relationship with God all the more critical, and I need to be praying and talking with Him as much as I can, which unfortunately, never seems like enough.

I feel like I don’t really fit the stereotypical worship leader mould somehow and I sometimes struggle not to lose faith in what I do. By nature, I am an introvert and tend to be more of a “thinker” than a “feeler”. There is nothing I love more than to be inconspicuously playing my guitar or drums in the background, and being completely unnoticed. There is a freedom in simply worshipping God with no strings attached. But I know that God has called me to lead.

I know this because I really didn’t want too! I find comfort in reading bible stories about all the people that God called on to do His work, and their first reaction was “Not me!”.

But God stands by. I feel unusually comfortable leading worship. I never give a second thought that I am up front, facing hundreds of people week to week. I could be the only person on stage and it wouldn’t bother me, even though my personality tells me this is the last place I should want to be. I don’t hesitate to do all the work goes into it; Sunday morning almost never drains or strains me, and I have a laser focus for what responsibility the worship ministry holds. So I know I this is where God has put me, and I thank Him for that. My heart lies squarely in worship and helping people meet God through the music we play. I always love my teams and love my church. I know there is much more to integrity, but I can rest in knowing that my foundation is secure and I can always keep building on that.

In leading worship, I consider intimacy and authenticity to be indivisible. I don’t really have it in me to manufacture intimacy. Even if I could, I don’t think I’d do it well. Ultimately, one thing I came out of this week with, was that I could be more vulnerable and allow some of what’s inside me to come out. I think I tend to be so subconsciously concerned about appearing to be “faking it” that I pull back from being expressive. It is this, that I need to put my trust in God to move in His own way and just do what He’s asked me to do.

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies

St. Stephen’s University

Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

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Here is my creative project for Red. I chose to write a song, which has been interesting to record this week, since I haven’t been able to hear much of anything because of a head cold. But, these are the things that build character, right? At least that’s what my mother use to tell me.

Anyway, the aspect of this course that impacted me the most, mainly from the perspective that I hadn’t given it due consideration before, was the role of prayer and scripture in worship. I’ve previously looked at prayer and scripture as things that “had” to be included rather than elements that were to be interwoven and cohesive in our worship.
I decided that I would write a song that would be like a prayer to music. I also wanted to use an element of scripture, so I chose to use much of the prayer language that I have read in the Psalms. I wanted to shape a prayer/song that touches on the greatness of God, the shelter of God, and lifting praises and thanks to God.

The song is called “Back To You” and the lyrics are below.

Here is the link for the MP3 and PDF chord sheet – Back To You
If the link doesn’t work, copy and paste – http://drop.io/EssentialsRedProject

Back To You
V-C-V-C-B-C

Verse
I kneel before you Father God
In the warmth of your embrace
In the shelter of your wings
I find my hiding place
You’ve filled my heart with greater joy,
That I may sleep in peace
And in my every waking day
This praise shall never cease

Chorus
Lord Almighty, God & King
Ruler over everything
I give all I have
Back to you
For all you’ve done
Oh thank you, Holy One
I give all I have
Back to you – Back To You

Bridge
Lord, you shall forever reign
Robed in majesty
You are worthy of my praise
For all eternity

Stacy Tebbutt – 2009

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies

St. Stephen’s University

Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

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When reflecting back on this week, it becomes very easy to get saturated by thoughts of how to implement ideas, in the areas of art and music, into worship.

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies

St. Stephen’s University

Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

————————————————————————————-

This week we explored the language of sacramental acts with a specific focus on Baptism and the Eucharist. It has certainly been interesting exploring the nature of many of the physical ways that we worship. What has also been apparent is our ability to often turn these acts into exercises where we simply “go through the motions”. It is very easy to simply do, than it is to take the time to reflect. It brings to mind the necessity for those who lead worship, to draw more focus, not to what we are doing, but why we are doing.

I’ve always found baptism to be one of my favourite acts to experience. I really am humbled by the experience of seeing someone being cleansed and raised in new birth to Christ, and witnessing the beginning of their journey with God. It also brings to mind how important it is for me, and other “mature” Christians, to help guide each of these individuals in their spiritual lives. This is one of those critical times where community is so paramount.

Also this week, we looked at the act of the Eucharist, or communion. I have to admit, this is one of those acts that I find far too easy to do mindlessly. Over the course of a morning, where there is any time of silence and reflection, I can find myself going over the next song in my head. I suspect that I am not alone in this experience. It’s interesting that during the course of this week, we explored one act that I find so profound, and another act that sometimes barely shows up on my radar. I think, to a degree, that this is propagated by churches themselves, where the leadership and those actually performing the communion ceremony, are simply going by rote.

When revealing and revisiting the meaning and the depth of the promise that the Eucharist holds, it’s a no brainer that the church, and we as leaders, need to hold this act in a much higher regard than we currently tend to do. Frequently, the best way to bring attention to a element in a service is to do it differently. I think the church, more than any other entity out there, is very jolted by change, and it serves as a great tool to address something. It also is very effective in eliminating “going through the motions”, especially since no one knows what the new motions are.

Again I have to admit, I take a perverse pleasure in seeing people shaken out of their routine, especially if they need it. I think that was such an admirable trait in Jesus that I liked. He could throw a pretty mean curve ball sometimes, but boy did it make the point. I’m beginning to think that maybe a good curve ball should be a sacramental act in itself.

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies

St. Stephen’s University

Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

————————————————————————————-

As I’ve found myself saying many times during this course, it’s easy to get focussed so much on the music portion of Worship ministry, that sometimes the simplest things look like great discoveries. This week we’ve looked at the languages of prayer and scripture when it comes to worship. I have never denied the importance of these elements, but did not fully appreciate what they contribute to the wholeness of how we worship, especially on a Sunday morning program.

Personally, I do not like to pray in front of people. Somehow I always find it awkward and forced, and I feel like I’m spending so much time thinking of the right words, that I don’t really absorb the heart and meaning behind it. One aspect of prayer that has arisen during Essentials Blue and now Red, is exploring written prayers used in the church throughout its history. This is honestly something that I would never have thought really was an option; I didn’t even know that people took time to write down and chronicle their prayers.

This is such a refreshing element in the area of worship ministry for me. Namely, the fact that I can use some finely crafted and thought out prayers that can perfectly fit a particular theme of a morning. It really is a testament to how wide the sphere of worship is, that a prayer can be something created and shared with the family of God, the same way that we use the bible to pull specific scripture passages.

In the same way, scripture is finding a renewal of importance in the way I approach worship. I have often used scripture on a Sunday morning, but it almost tends to be nothing but filler; I’ve got an empty spot here – fill it with a scripture, there’s an awkward pause before communion – stick in some scripture. Scripture seems to have gotten pretty short shrift in many services that I’ve been a part of or attended. I think this is because we try to find scripture to fit in with the worship set after the fact, rather than maybe taking the time to make scripture a foundational part of the program.

In the study this week, it became very apparent that the essence of the early church centred on the letters and the scripture they read. It was in the consistent reading of the reminder of God’s promise and Jesus’ life and sacrifice, that the church found energy, encouragement and faith to keep growing and moving.

Overall, these are two elements that I know I will be digging deeper into beyond this course, and using to enhance our ministry and our message.

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies

St. Stephen’s University

Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

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This week our class explored the aspect of time and space in the way that we worship. Yet again, this is one of those things that seem to rush as an undercurrent in how I’ve viewed worship. I find my worship focus so easily centred on the music and the message, and gloss over the time and the space that the worship takes up. The idea of time and space as “Worship Languages” uncovers an incredibly new avenue of worship to draw from.

I haven’t been part of many churches when liturgy was very tightly adhered to, so the idea of a yearlong calendar that goes beyond focussing on the Easter and Christmas seasons, is not unknown, but certainly something that I have not really explored. This knowledge definitely provides a new tool for forming more intentional worship sets based on reflection of Jesus’ impact throughout the year.

I just got through watching Dan’s synthesis for this week, as was really struck by the impact of “marking time”. I know I have certainly been part of events that will have a lifelong imprint on my heart, soul, and mind, and yet, I haven’t ever considered the people behind the event that made that impact. I ask myself, how many “markings in time” have I helped create, that have impacted someone else the same way? How many will I help create in the future? I’m sure I’ll never know those numbers in this lifetime, but I know that I will continue, from here forward, with a marked intentionality and humility to the “markings in time” that I may be involved in.

I do find myself more in tune with spaces and how they impact worship, though. From a church perspective, I have found myself to be sensitive about the presentation of the sanctuary and how that affects the people entering in, but I think I’ve always viewed it as supplementing worship rather than being a worship expression in itself. In Dan’s video he said this – “Space is meant to amplify something in the Christian heart”, indicating the space itself helps to lend clarity and increased measure in how we worship. So, spaces can be a worship expression and worship supplement at the same time. Again, I find myself much more mindful of the environment of worship, rather than just zoning in on the music and message.

Overall, it has been another eye-opening week for me in my worship walk. I’m beginning to think if my eyes open much more, they’re just going to drop out of my head. Ciao!