Is a worship service a stale event for you? It appears to be for many of the people I see in these events, and I think I might know why.

My quiet time this morning brought me to Psalm 47 which commands “Clap your hands….shout to God with cries of Joy….”How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth!” Does anything like that EVER happen in your church? Have you ever done it yourself?

Last Summer I took my daughters to Kansas City to a concert performed by the British boy band One Direction. Thousands of screaming teeny boppers—some who would be silent in their churches the next morning—were swaying, shouting, singing, and clapping because of their appreciation for the band. Make no mistake, it was worship, of a form.

Now back to church…..I think we don’t clap, shout, say, and sing, because we don’t value and appreciate. And we don’t value and appreciate because we don’t understand. We haven’t seen God for what He’s worth. We haven’t experienced Him simultaneously high and lifted up, but also living right inside us. For many it’s really nothing more than a few songs and a talk about a figure who we only hope is more real than Santa Claus, but we aren’t sure.

If we realized WHO God is and HOW MUCH He cares for us, and understood HOW ACCESSIBLE He is and WHAT He yearns to do for us, we’d worship for all it’s worth. No one would have to tell us to clap, and shout, and sing. It would be spontaneous.

Perhaps the problem is that we are holding worship services (with the emphasis on the word HOLDING). Maybe it would be better if we “let go” and released people into a natural flow of worship that can’t be programmed in 3 songs and an offering that set up a sermon.

It’ll happen naturally, when we see Jesus for who He is. After all, He said of himself in John 12:32 “If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me.”

Lift, friend.

Lift, preacher.

Lift, singer.

Lift, prayer.

Lift, elder.

Lift, brother.

Lift, offering bearer.

Lift, ladies.

Lift. Lift. Lift. And then, let go.

And you might want to get some earplugs, because the cacophony of praise could get a little loud and raucous  when you lift and let go.

When you see Him for all He is, your heart will be full and your worship will be anything but boring.

I recently heard a well-crafted sermon well-delivered by a tag team of preachers on the topic of their church’s core values. One of those values was “team.”

I know these men and the hearts that spawned their message. They are good men, really good men. They work among a larger team of good men, all of whom are Kingdom minded. I appreciate them and what I think they meant to communicate. However, I take exception with what I heard in this message, and the general tenor of what I often hear and see demonstrated when the church gathers. Particularly what I heard in the section of their message addressing TEAM was “elders, elders, elders, staff, elders, elders…………..staff, elders, elders, elders, staff, elders……….you can join our team………elders elders, elders, staff, elders, elders. ”

Since this is Super Bowl Sunday, I want to consider what you might say to motivate YOUR team if you were a football coach. Perhaps there’s something church leaders can learn from this.

I’d suggest that as the coach of a football team you wouldn’t spend alot of time in your speech talking about the quarterback. Here’s why: he already gets talked about alot. His name probably gets called more than any.

Want proof? Quick, who is the quarterback of the Denver Broncos? Now, name the center. Name the right guard. Name the punt returner.

You quickly named Peyton Manning didn’t you. But did you know the names of Manny Ramirez, Chris Kuyper, and Trindon Holliday?  I’ll bet not. (I googled them.)

Now tell me, how well could Peyton pass if Ramirez didn’t snap him the ball and Kuyper didn’t give him the luxury of time by effectively blocking the defensive linemen who have the quarterback in their sights?

While we are at it have you ever heard of John Boyett, Paul Cornick, Ben Garland or Hall Davis? They are on the inglorious “practice squad” of the Denver Broncos. How good would the Broncs be if they didn’t have these unheralded teammates to practice against?

So if you are a coach giving a rousing speech, you start with the water boy. Peyton is great, but it’s the water boy keeping him hydrated that allows him to stay in the game. You talk about the practice squad. You really talk alot about the unheralded offensive linemen. If they don’t protect the QB he’s toast and you’ll never score a point or win the game. I’m reminded of that passage from I Corinthians 12:23 about “the parts (of the team) we think are less honorable, we treat with more honor.”

Leaders need to give less voice to themselves and those who are members of their select club, and speak more overtly about the underlings and minions without whom their rank would be unnecessary. In church, that means we give highest honor to the “poopy diaper changers” and coffee makers, and bulletin folders, and meal preparers, and sidewalk shovelers, while intentionally and overtly avoiding calling out the ministerial staff and elders who—like the quarterback—naturally already get more press than everyone else. The higher you rise in leadership the more intentional you must become about limiting your own press and magnifying the spotlight that get’s shined on the people who are down the org chart.

Somebody has said “there is no end to what you can accomplish so long as it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.” Indeed. That’s why leaders need to be sure they overtly shine the spotlight on the hidden people who get the job done. Without the “poopy diaper changers” and the people putting fruit chews and Pepperidge Farm goldfish into Dixie Cups while singing “Jesus loves the little children,” the preacher wouldn’t have a congregation. I believe they already know that, but they tend not to say it adequately which begins by saying it often, loudly—-and when they are tempted to tip their hat to someone in service—-always finding someone hidden deep in the org chart they can laud and applaud.

I want you to be an effective leader. It starts by intentionally heralding the water boy.

“Success isn’t everything” some people will say. Or, they’ll say “Success isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.” But wait! The opposite of success is failure. So……in my simple mind, success IS everything!

I believe you were created to succeed. Don’t you want to be a success in life and work? In marriage and family? How about spiritually? The Bible speaks of having God say “‘Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into my rest.'” That “well done” part sure sounds like success to me!

Money’s not everything. Fame and fortune aren’t everything. But success……..ah. It’s right up there!

All men are created equal. That’s egalitarianism, and it’s appropriate. But while all men are created equal, not all ideas men have are equally meritorious, which allows for elitism.  Some ideas are just better than others.

Hitler had a bad idea. The Unabomber had a bad idea. Slavery was a bad idea. Sex without commitment is a bad idea. So when it comes to the marketplace of ideas, Elitism is a good idea! Some ideas are simply better than others. And THAT is why Right Thinking is so important.

Be critical of ideas and discriminating in your evaluation of the people who produce them. Not everybody is thinking in a way that is beneficial.

Are you?

What do you expect to happen when you preach?

Are you preaching for a decision? Or, are you preaching to fill the time until the cafeteria opens down the street?

Every Sunday pastors collectively use millions of hours of valuable time that is entrusted to them by their parishioners. If you are going to take it, you’d best use it well. In my opinion, that means preaching for a decision.

Preaching for a decision can mean many things. You could be preaching for conversions. Or you might be preaching to produce repentance of sin. Or you might be preaching to evoke worship, or to produce generosity, or to encourage one of many proper behaviors or good habits. But whatever you do, preach to produce a result. Otherwise, don’t waste our time.

If you were preaching to 20 people. Is it conceivable that you might preach well enough that the Holy Spirit might use your message to produce a decision by 1 person? Of course! That would be a 5% response.

If 5% of the people you preached to last Sunday responded publicly to your message, how many people would respond? If you were seeking a public response—let’s say to a sermon offering salvation—and 5% of your congregation responded would you be able to handle, process, and counsel the respondents?

No?

I didn’t think so.

So let me ask you this: if you aren’t willing to strategize to handle response by 5% of your congregation, and if you don’t preach for response, why should God give you a response?

I’m not a pastor. But when I was, on occasion we’d have a response from roughly 5% of our attendance when I’d give an invitation. We had a method for receiving those responses, and counseling and processing them. However, I notice today that pastors often don’t have any mechanism in place to receive respondents.

It’s really not that hard. But you have to think about what happens if a certain number of people wanted to respond. How would you receive them?  Who would talk with them? What would they say to them? Where would that conversation take place? How would you make the invitation and their reception effective and avoid creating a fearful or weird experience?

If you want people to respond when you preach, you need to preach a sharp pointed message designed to evoke response. Then, you need to expect a response. If it’s a public response, you need to know what you and everyone else on your team is to do when the response comes.

I’m inclined to think that the blessing of conversions, recommitments, and the surrender of sin might most often come in churches where the leaders have designed a reliable system for receiving and helping those who respond.

What do you think?