Sometimes you heard a band’s or artist’s debut album and think, “I’ll keep an eye on them.” Sometimes you hear it and think, “I’m hooked.” There are some artists who take two or three albums to really hit their stride while others make their mark right out of the gate. I was a big fan…
Every now and again I like to share an order of worship from Grace Fellowship Church. This service’s cast of characters included Paul (our lead pastor) as the preacher and service leader, Josh as the lead worshipper, and Murray as the elder who led the pastoral prayer. Steve, our new associate pastor, also led a…
I heard someone say it recently: “The music at that church is great.” It didn’t take me long to understand what he meant—that the church has a great music program. They have a band composed of talented musicians who play and sing with skill and beauty. To be part of that church is to benefit…
There are some Sundays when the worship service simply unfolds around me. With the rest of the congregation, I am moved from element to element, from songs, to Scripture, to sermon, to shaking hands. But there are other Sundays when I am very mindful of our church’s order of worship. On these Sundays, I maintain…
There are lots of great songs we can and do sing during our worship services. But my guess is that very few of us sing this one, and I consider it a hidden treasure. Of course, I do understand that it’s written in older language and perhaps not as accessible as some more modern songs.…
Every now and again I like to share an order of worship from Grace Fellowship Church. This service’s cast of characters included Paul (our lead pastor) as the preacher and service leader, Josh as the lead worshipper, and Murray as the elder who led the pastoral prayer. Our band consisted of guitar, piano, and drums…
Every now and again I like to share an order of worship from Grace Fellowship Church. This service’s cast of characters included Paul (our lead pastor) as the preacher, Josh as the lead worshipper, Peter (one of our Assistant Ministers) as the service leader, Thushara (one of our deacons) as Scripture-reader, and Steve as the…
Every week a pastor or worship leader chooses the songs his church will sing the following Sunday. Every week he combs through the possibilities to select the five or six that will best fit within the service he is planning. How can he choose well? How can he best serve his congregation in their singing?…
Every few weeks I like to share an example of one of our services at Grace Fellowship Church. I do this because I believe we can benefit from seeing how other people worship in other congregations and other contexts. I hope you find it helpful! This service’s cast of characters included Paul (our lead pastor)…
Every few weeks I like to share an example of one of our services at Grace Fellowship Church. I hope that by doing this others will follow suit! I love to learn how other churches worship and often find myself both challenged and encouraged as I see how other congregations worship God in their unique…
I’ve been surprised at how much people are enjoying these little summaries of our worship services at Grace Fellowship Church. I probably shouldn’t be, though, because I rather enjoy experiencing worship in other churches and learning how different communities of Christians worship the same God in different contexts. So here is another explanation of how…
I recently shared an example of how we worshipped one Sunday at Grace Fellowship Church. Quite a few people seemed to appreciate that example of a worship service and asked me to share more. I will be glad to do so from time to time. Here is how we worshipped one Sunday just a few…
The Bible instructs us in how we must worship God and tells us what elements we must include in our worship services. Yet it still allows a lot of leeway for us to interpret those elements to our culture and context. I thought it might be fun to share from time to time the liturgy…
A well-planned worship service is a tremendous blessing to those who participate in it. A well-planned service is not necessarily one in which the projector never flickers and the microphones never buzz, or one in which the transitions are smooth and the sermon doesn’t go long. Rather, a well-planned service is one whose elements have…
A few weeks ago I wrote an article titled What We Lost When We Lost Our Hymnals and was rather surprised to see 300,000 people stop by to read it! I meant to point out that there are consequences in shifting from one medium to another—in this case, shifting from hymnals to PowerPoint projection. (I…
I recently read an article about the architectural design of airports. Yes, that was an actual article I actually read, and I found it fascinating. A specialist in airport design told how he had been involved in planning Atlanta’s new international terminal and how he and his team had been specially tasked with finding ways…
I was making my way home after speaking at an event in Indiana. Or maybe it was Illinois, or Idaho—they all kind of blur together sometimes. Either way, I boarded my plane to find the seat beside me empty. I couldn’t stop myself from hoping that it might just stay that way, that I’d be…
This was a banner week for letters to the editor and I had a lot of them to read through and select from. In the end, I’ve chosen ones that speak about sleepovers, the ESV, problems with modern worship, and Roman sexual morality. I hope you find them helpful! Letters on Why My Family Doesn’t…
I once paid a visit to one of the most mega of America’s megachurches. It’s a church whose pastor is well-known, a church known for its innovation, a church held up as a model for modern evangelicalism. I went in with as open a mind as I could muster. I left perplexed. I was perplexed…
We all know there are times and circumstances in which the only right course of action is to leave a church. If the church leadership has apostatized or proven themselves unqualified for ministry, if they are preaching a false gospel, if they have surrendered to the culture, we need to get out. We can leave…