And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

I’ve been privileged to get to know a new acquaintance (who I hope will eventually turn into a good friend) who understands how to put this verse into practice.  Bobby Gilles and his wife Kristen have been faithfully serving the Church in many ways, from writing an outstanding blog encouraging artists and songwriters in the church to taking time out of a busy schedule to spend on a Skype call with me, although we’ve never really had a whole lot of contact.

Today, Bobby and Kristen released a free 4-song EP (and they really are releasing it for free, another example of putting the functioning Church into practice) that you should download and enjoy. The EP also addresses the issue of a “one-size-fits-all” liturgy that our American Church falls into so often.

These worship songs feature focused lyrics that consistently point us to the Cross and remind us of our rescued condition in Christ.  Some lyrical highlights that have already impacted me include:

• “Bold before God’s throne, yet unworthy to be there”
• “I stand condemned by my own heart, deserving just to die; but still I do not hesitate to stand before the King, a paradox to all but God who gave His son for me”

I am so thankful for Bobby and Kristen and their willingness to bless, encourage, and equip church worship leaders and musicians with this new music.  You can download the songs through the Noise Trade widget below, head to Noise Trade to download them, or visit Bobby and Kristen’s blog.

The Whole Big Story, Church and Culture Specific Liturgy is a post from: I am an Offering. The only thing it's missing is YOU! Please feel free to leave a comment as I'd love to interact with you.

But, I am an artist.  I’m also a performer.  I’m also part Irish, which pretty much throws all of the above paragraph out the window.

Is It Passion or Performance?

All of this leads me to a question: is it possible to be a passionate follower of Christ, more specifically, in my case, a passionate follower of Christ who happens to be a worship leader, and not show intense emotion?

I was evaluated by a dear friend and trainer and one of things he told me is that I needed more passion and more enthusiasm.  Is that me?

Throughout my high school and college life I’ve always performed.  I was in theatre, band, choir, musicals, you name it.  I can put on a different self fairly quickly.  The question then: is that a dangerous place to be?

Can Performance Become Genuine Passion?

When I get up to lead on Sunday morning, do I “put on a different self” and force myself to act with more passion and enthusiasm to help lead the congregation in that way or does that become a show or a pretense?  Can this type of passion be learned and nurtured and become genuine?

I don’t know the answers to these questions, and I’d love your help. Do you deal with this situation in your own life and if so, how do you address it?

Passion, Pride, & Pretense is a post from: I am an Offering. The only thing it's missing is YOU! Please feel free to leave a comment as I'd love to interact with you.

“If you have to explain to your wife and children why you were gone again, and the explanation is ‘because of ministry’ – something is wrong.”

The words above, paraphrased from something a friend and pastor said during a short message I was able to hear last month, rocked me.  They didn’t rock me because I was necessarily falling into this problem, but because I knew I had that potential.

Ministry has the opportunity to consume.  This can be a good thing, in a way, when we are consumed with an overwhelming desire to see souls saved and those under our leadership equipped and encouraged.  However, it can be an incredibly dangerous thing when we are so consumed with ministry that it consumed our thoughts, time, resources, energy, and mental well-being.

For those of us who are married, and especially married with kiddos, being consumed with ministry becomes even more dangerous.

I’m not a pastor (yet?), so I can’t even begin to imagine the toll ministry takes on the marriage of a full-time pastor.  However, even the limited amount of time I spend as a volunteer leader in the church has sometimes created strain on my own marriage.  So how can this be defeated?  A few ways come to mind for me:

• Always be consumed with God and His Word.  This is one thing where consumption will never be harmful. I have a long way to go hear, especially in modeling it to my family.
• After God and His Word, be consumed with your spouse.  Invest in your relationship.  Ask if ministry is taking a toll on your marriage and be ready to hear, and accept, truth.
• Show your children that you are consumed with God and with your spouse.  Then, love and invest in them.
• Show your congregation that you are first consumed with God, your spouse, and your children.  Model a Biblical portrait of family ministry before church ministry.  Your ministry to your family is one of the highest ministries you can have.
• Take a break.  This is completely acceptable and even necessary.

I love ministry.  But I love my marriage even more.  God, give me the strength and wisdom to keep it that way.

Question: How have you worked with your spouse to prioritize how your relationship is balanced with your ministry?

I Love You More Than Ministry is a post from: I am an Offering. The only thing it's missing is YOU! Please feel free to leave a comment as I'd love to interact with you.

Let me tell you what homeschoolers aren’t:

• Unsocialized – Kill this stereotype immediately.  The majority of homeschoolers I interacted with were easy to talk to, easy to work with, and had kids that could hold intelligent conversations with adults while still being able to play with infants and toddlers.
• Behind the times – There are some incredibly tech and web-savvy people homeschooling their children.  To be honest, many were utilizing way more technology than the average family does.
• Boring – In a word….no.  Many of these families do more in one year than many families do in an entire lifetime.
• Lazy – Many people think that homeschoolers don’t work hard and just want to let their kids slide through education.  That is SO far from the case.  You would not believe the organizational skills everyone has and the immense concern for making sure their children are properly educated.

Let me tell you what homeschoolers are:

• Smart, educated, and well-rounded.
• No-holds-barred passionate about their family’s core values.
• Hilarious
• Resourceful
• Pioneers
• Loyal

I am so thankful that my eyes were opened to the benefits, values, and highlights of homeschooling.  If it’s something you’re considering, while it might be a fearful leap, you will not be disappointed and there is a vast support community available to you.

And, since I’m no longer with the company and I can say with integrity that this is a true shout-out to these people I’ve met and not a tactic to drive business, I wanted to thank some specific people for some specific things that they did for me while in the homeschool community:

• Kris – Thank you for being brave and asking me to support you from the very beginning.  You paved the way for many good things to happen.
• Amber – Thank you for showing me just how important real relationships with people, not customers, are.
• Jenn – Thank you for your friendship, your support, your vision, your innovation, and your confidence.  Your friendship means more than you know.
• Stef – Thank you for your no-nonsense approach to everything.  Don’t back down.  Ever.  (And thanks for constantly making me laugh!)
• Jolanthe – Thank you for being a pioneer in the homeschool world and showing people what is possible for one single mom to do.
• Erin – Thank you for your constant inspiration to raise your boys with godly values in a mostly God-less world.
• Cheryl – Thank you for your patience and the stress you endured because of trying to get the 2:1 conference off the ground.  I truly hope you succeed beyond your imagination.
• Linda – Thank you for your friendship, advice, joy, and being one of the best co-workers I’ve ever had (even though we were hours away!)
• Ashley – Thank you for showing me what investing into a relationship can do.
• Jamie – Thanks for your quiet, encouraging spirit and incredibly inspiring photography!
• Meghan – Thank you for your confidence and trust in me during the early Hip Homeschool Moms days.  I’m so glad your efforts and reaping such immense benefits!
• Samantha – Thank you for being so patient with me during technical glitches and vague communication during a homeschool contest!

Truly, homeschool moms and dads (and there are MANY more of you), thank you for teaching me.  You’ll never fully know the difference you made in my life.

Homeschoolers are Amazing – What I Learned from Working for a Homeschool Curriculum Company is a post from: I am an Offering. The only thing it's missing is YOU! Please feel free to leave a comment as I'd love to interact with you.

Death is something that we tend to fear, the death of others and especially our own death.  I can honestly say that I’m not sure if I fear it or not.  Unfortunately, the thought of death is usually only thrust upon us in times like these, when we’re least prepared for it.  Although Grandpa was old, he was fairly independent and in pretty good health for his age.

My mind is inevitably drawn to thoughts of my own death.  Will I be ready?  Will I be afraid?  I’d like to think that, knowing what I believe, I can be completely free of fear from death.  But I’m not.  I’m afraid of the unknown, for even though Scripture has told us much about what lies ahead, there are still so many questions.

My prayer today is that God would prepare my heart, even now, for coming home to Him.  For now, though, I want to fully embrace Paul’s attitude of living between two kingdoms:

“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!

I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.” Philippians 1:20-26

I’m thankful, for sure, that Grandpa knew Christ and that I will see him again someday.  I’m also thankful that these words are a joy and a hope to me and my family in this difficult season:

It is not death to die
To leave this weary road
And join the saints who dwell on high
Who’ve found their home with God
It is not death to close
The eyes long dimmed by tears
And wake in joy before Your throne
Delivered from our fears

O Jesus, conquering the grave
Your precious blood has power to save
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That it is not death to die

It is not death to fling
Aside this earthly dust
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just
It is not death to hear
The key unlock the door
That sets us free from mortal years
To praise You evermore

It Is Not Death to Die – I’ll Miss You, Grandpa is a post from: I am an Offering. The only thing it's missing is YOU! Please feel free to leave a comment as I'd love to interact with you.

What do your personal worship times look like?  Structured/unstructured? Prayer/music? Extended Scripture reading? Share in the comments!

What Do Your Personal Worship Times Look Like? is a post from: I am an Offering. The only thing it's missing is YOU! Please feel free to leave a comment as I'd love to interact with you.

Someone that’s been intriguing me with some fascinating thoughts lately has been Vince Marotte, a pastor at Gateway Church in Texas and author of the book Context and Voice.

He’s observing that the Church (as a whole) has become a place of consumption for too long and that Sunday morning is losing its value.  People come to a building, sit in the seats, sing songs written by people outside of their own church, listen to a pastor, rinse and repeat week after week.  With the advancement in both content consumption tools and content creation tools in our culture it takes much less than driving to church to hear a good sermon. Vince writes:

“Users can watch video of the best bible teachers, preachers and expositors from all over the world when ever and where ever they like. If the experience is simply about consuming content then showing up to a certain place at a certain time is inefficient.”

Stating the Sunday is losing its value is a pretty radical concept, and I’m glad that he has a good balance of perspective by saying “We all know that the church experience is about so much more than simply consuming content but the truth is, there are a lot of people who don’t get much more out of their church experience than that.”

He goes on to say that “Gen X and Y/millennials are much more content in community in which they have a voice.”  While that might be true for many, is it true across the board?  Here’s what I observe from people in general, not necessarily in the context of the church:

• People watch A LOT of TV (either in front of the actual television or on their laptops or devices)
• People play A LOT of computer games (again, either in front of their console or on Facebook or on their devices)
• People read A LOT of books (physical, Kindle, eBooks, whatever)
• People seem to consume, consume, consume

Sunday Morning Losing its Value? Moving the Church from Consumption to Creation is a post from: I am an Offering. The only thing it's missing is YOU! Please feel free to leave a comment as I'd love to interact with you.

Ouch.

On the other hand, part of me was glad to know that he was feeling convicted, at least in part, when around me.

The discussion revolved around a behavior that I thought was dangerous to his spiritual health.  When he didn’t respond too well to it I sought some wisdom from a friend of mine and loved what he had to say.

He reminded me that we respond with a life obedient to Jesus not because we have to, but because we want to.  We are not bound in the legalities of the law that we must follow in order to achieve salvation but rather we are bound by the love of Christ so amazingly great that we have no choice but to want to please Him.  Christianity is not a set of rules to follow and live up to, it’s joy-filled obedience to the only One worthy of our allegiance.

2 Corinthians 5 speaks of the proper anticipation of things to come while living in this world for a short time. Some highlights:

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. (8-9) For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (14-15)

Whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him….For the love of Christ controls us…that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

It changes your attitude, for certain!

• It’s Sunday so I must go maintain my obligation to go to church to…It’s Sunday and I am joyfully privileged to be able to worship in God’s house.
• I can’t possibly keep myself from doing all the things that the world does, there’s too much pressure to…My satisfaction is found in what God asks me to do, not in the fear and approval of man.
• I’ll never measure up or be as good as so and so as a Christian to….God has measured Himself and poured Himself out for me through Jesus, I am worth dying for.

Letting the Gospel Control (Compel) Us is a post from: I am an Offering. The only thing it's missing is YOU! Please feel free to leave a comment as I'd love to interact with you.

Something got my wheels turning.  I am placed in a strange juxtaposition of two different cultures.  The culture I serve, my home congregation is a beautiful and wonderful place; a place I so enjoy serving, but I think we’re just starting to scratch the surface of how to be creative.  We’re making excellent strides there and I can’t wait to see what’s in store.

On the other hand, the online world of church creatives that I daily take part in is a place of bold innovation, extreme creativity, and fresh thinking that, at times, might even be offensive to some within my congregation.

I try to live in the space between with discernment, challenging our home community to be more creative when I see the opporunity and knowing when to say “that’s too much for us right now” when I feel pushed to be more creative from the larger creative community of church leaders.

I wonder if we get too caught up in it sometimes.  Let me set up the scenario:

You are working with a small team of musicians who are growing very successfully in their musical abilities.  However, they’re not scouring the web and searching for content to help them become more and more creative.  You, on the other hand, are constantly looking for new ideas, and you feel like you need to keep pushing the creative envelope and challenging your musicians, artists, and church leaders.

So, instead of hearing a piano player, who’s never learned to play by chord, play her first ever song with only a chord chart and get through it fairly successfully you say, “Nope, you’re not a creative enough piano player to fit into my team.  We only take people who can create from chord sheets, not people who are bound to the written page.  Sorry, we can’t use you” before she even starts.

How much does this sort of thinking apply to the broad spectrum of your entire congregation?

• Sorry, all of your designs look like something from [insert other church name here] – we need you to come up with something innovative and new
• Sorry, Vacation Bible School planning team, you’re not writing your own curriculum and music or using live musicians, we need something specifically tailored just to our congregation
• Insert whatever other creative ministry situation you can think of here

Maybe I’m the only one, but I’m finding myself thinking the above thoughts far too often.  ”Man, I really wish we had a creative designer.  Man, why can’t the people involved in the local theatre community use their skills in the church.  Man, why can’t we have a puppet ministry or a more exciting children’s ministry.”

Then I think, “Wait.  I’ve never encouraged or set out to train and equip any of these people!”  My disappointment in anyone’s “lack” of creativity has diminished any ability to help them get rid of that “lack!”

I wholeheartedly agree that the church needs to be more creative collectively and lead culture the way it used to.  However, instead of discounting someone just because they “only use clipart” or “only play written-out music” can we commit to helping move them from clip-art to creative design and from classical musical training to creative musical creation?

I’m afraid that sometimes the more we push people to be more creative, the more frustrated they might become. Gentle equipping and encouragement over the long haul is going to be what it truly takes to create a creative culture.

What do you think?

Unedited Photo from Ty Carlson

Does Forced Creativity Kill the Desire to Become More Creative? is a post from: I am an Offering. The only thing it's missing is YOU! Please feel free to leave a comment as I'd love to interact with you.

Since I haven’t had much time to write or much of a connection I’ll point you to a couple places I’ve guest posted recently:

I’ve been part of Chris Vacher’s Summer Mix Tape here, writing about how God is using Let Your Kingdom Come in our church.

I also wrote on Ashley’s blog here, writing about living intentionally by faith.

What exciting things have you been doing this summer?

Association Free Lutheran Family Camp and More is a post from: I am an Offering. The only thing it's missing is YOU! Please feel free to leave a comment as I'd love to interact with you.