Extended rehearsals every night this week, tons of extra work, and yet I am in my sweet spot. Why? Because I do not see Good Friday as a part of my job, I see it as a gift that I give to the Church. Every year we start clean and fresh. We don’t have an outline. The only thing we know we will do is communion, other than that, it is a blank canvas.

My goal every year is for the Good Friday Service is to force people to think about the cross in a way that they do not usually think of it during the year. To the best of our ability, we want to force the congregation to use different senses than they usually do in our worship center. During the normal year, our people usually hear the gospel and sing about the gospel. At good friday I want them to feel it, touch it, watch it be acted out, and take time to reflect on it. I want it to be different, I want it to be profound. The exact same truth, but told in a fresh way.

So why is this my sweet spot? Because as an artist, I have a year to think about what we will do. I know the target, I know the due date, and I love the subject matter. I am also blessed that our pastor is gracious enough to let us run with it. Bottom line, it is where my creativity gets to intersect with my faith. That is my sweet spot.

We work hard in preparation, but on that night we get to reflect with the NorthWood community on the sacrifice of our Savior. We walk out with a sober view of our sin and Christ’s work on the cross.  We look forward with deep anticipation of his resurrection and victory over sin on Sunday morning.

If you are in the DFW Area, we would love to have you. Here are all the details.

What do you do for Good Friday?

Following the service I got a lot of great feedback. It is always super encouraging when people take time to give you a positive reaction.  But as you can see, at least one person was bored out of their mind, which reminded me of a incredible truth.

Don’t take stock in the hype of your biggest fans or the negativity of your worst critics.

Ask yourself, “Did I do what God called me to do?  Did I do it with all my heart, mind, and strength?

If you did, then well done good and faithful servant!

We have been working on this record for months.  The studio tracks are done and now it is time to capture it live! We can’t wait!  If you are close to the DFW area, we would LOVE to have you drop in this Saturday night @ NorthWood Church at 7pm.   Here are the details.

We are giddy with excitement and can’t wait to see all God does!

Are you coming?

As we planned worship, we wanted it to be very global feeling, but also unique to who we were. We landed on singing the Revelation Song in multiple languages. It was powerful. It gave our church a small picture of what every tongue, tribe, and nation will be like around the throne.

The best part is that we have that much talent that can sing in multiple languages!

Forgiveness from Northwood Church on Vimeo.

This past weekend we used it as an intro and then we played the song. It was a huge blessing to our congregation. It is also a great example of team work. Great job Jordan and Chris.

The Time of Obedience is where at the end of the service, we are giving time and space to let people respond to what God has been speaking to them.  We have Alter ministers positioned in 4 places around the room to lead someone to Christ and pray for them, we open the altar for people to  come pray by themselves or as a family, we have cards for people to sit and write what God has been doing in their lives, we sing, and yesterday we took communion. It is controlled chaos, but our people are responding to God, and I could not be happier!

If you go to NorthWood, What do you think of the changes?

God is Good!
And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony… Rev 12:11

I just bought the Sovereign Grace CD “Together for the Gospel – Live.”  It is incredible.  The recording is hymns, and other doctrinally rich songs, with only a piano and a room full of voices.  The truth of the songs mixed with the voices of the saints have stirred my heart with overwhelming affections for our God.

Go check it out.  You can preview it and have several purchase options.

“If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship.”

The metric for successful worship has always been obedience.  It is has never been cutting edge songs, media, or tech gear. Those are all great tools but not the goal.

As you plan worship, make sure you are focusing on the end goal of obedience and not all the tools you can use. Once you have focused on the end goal of obedience, use every tool at your disposal to get people there.

As you attend a worship service, make sure you are concerned with living an obedient life,  not your preferences of songs, media, etc.

What tool do you get seduced to focus on rather than obedience?

Go check out this Free Christmas Carol Songbook by Praise Charts.

via: Chris from Canada