Waitsfield Church

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Live Design is one of the industry leading magazines (online and off) for live production. I am honored that Maxon as well as Live Design posted an interview about the tour visuals I created using Cinema 4d. Check out the interview HERE.

Source: Barton Damer

A pastor recently sent me this question (slightly reworded):

Mark -

If you have two minutes… I’d like some godly counsel. I’m a pastor with zero musical skill. I’ve been preaching a cross-centered gospel in what used to be a mostly man-centered church for almost three years… progress is slow (2 Tim 4 “with great patience”)… but we’re making progress.

Any thoughts on how to transition a worship team from more worshiper-focused songs to more cross-centered music?

Here is my (edited and slightly expanded) reply:

Hi Bill (name changed), great question. Not knowing your situation exactly, here are a few quick thoughts.

You could have the worship leader(s) and team read Bob Kauflin’s book, Worship Matters, and The Cross-Centered Life by CJ Mahaney.

You could talk with them about the importance of lyrics in worship songs, especially cross-centered, gospel lyrics. We want to focus on Christ and his work, not on ourselves and our subjective feelings.

You could request that every worship set include at least 1 song about the cross.

Every song in a worship set need not be directly about the cross – songs that magnify God for his many wonderful attributes are needed. But we should seek to root all we do in the gospel. For example, say we sing a song about God’s holiness. How can we approach an infinitely holy God except through the blood and merits of Christ? If we sing about God’s love, what more clearly demonstrates that love than Calvary? If we sing about joy, we recall that our joy springs from knowing our sins are washed away, and we have access to the living God. How did that happen? Through the cross.

Encourage the worship leader to tie an exhortation or intro to a song to the cross. For example before singing a song about trusting God to meet our needs, the worship leader could remind the congregation how Jesus met our deepest need (forgiveness and reconciliation to God) when he shed his blood for us. Therefore we can trust him to meet all our needs.

If you haven’t done so, it would be good to teach the church and the worship team that the pastors must set and guard the doctrinal diet of the church, which includes preaching, worship, the book ministry, children’s ministry, special classes, etc. That would include approving every worship song the church uses.

At times, as pastor, I’ve eliminated or refused to do a song because of one line being doctrinally wrong or possibly misleading. Once I altered the lyrics in one of my songs because someone pointed out to me one particular word in the song was not doctrinally accurate.

In many ways it’s about creating a whole gospel-centered culture in the church, which it sounds like you are doing.

Hope these thoughts are helpful, Bill. They’re not exhaustive. God bless you in your patient labors. In the long run you will bear much fruit.

Mark

What thoughts would you add?

photo by caruba

Source: Mark Altrogge

Can the Bible be understood and applied by all believers, or only those with specialized training?

Do you need a Masters of Theology to really understand the Bible, or can any believer read it and understand it? The doctrine of the clarity of scripture will help us answer that question.

The clarity of scripture can be defined as follows:

The Bible is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by all who will read it seeking God’s help and being willing to follow it. (Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine)

Psalm 119:130 says, “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.” These are sweet words. The words of scripture give us light, and they impart understanding even to the simple (someone lacking wisdom). They are clear and show us how to live rightly in the world.

It’s important to realize, however, that understanding God’s word is more of a spiritual ability than an intellectual ability. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, Paul says:

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

In other words, only those who are born again by the Holy Spirit are able to truly understand and apply the Word of God. Those who aren’t willing to believe or obey they teachings of scripture cannot rightly understand it. The Holy Spirit must help us understand the Word of God.

Does the clarity of scripture mean that all believers will agree on the meaning of all the scriptures? No. There were many times that, due to unbelief or hardness of heart, Jesus’ own disciples misunderstood the teaching of scripture. Until we get to heaven and are freed from sin, there will always be some measure of disagreement over the scriptures. However, we can know that the problem always lies with us, and not scripture.

This doctrine should encourage us. God wants us to know Him and follow Him and has given us words that can be understood. When you sit down to read your Bible, you can know that God wants you to understand it and benefit from it. This truth should cause us to love, treasure, and study God’s word.

–

Adapted from Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith by Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell

+photo by annia316

Source: Stephen Altrogge

This is the funniest video about mini vans I’ve ever seen.

Source: Stephen Altrogge

I love spring.

The hard winter is past; birds are singing, carpenter bees are building fresh hives in every orifice of my home, trees are dumping billions of helicopter seeds in my yard, and my neighbors are all manicuring their lawns to look like carpet while mine looks like a prairie dog city. But best of all, it’s time to break out the grill.

I know a man who, sadly, lets his wife do all the grilling. He claims to have paper work he has to do. I have to question his manhood, for next to fishing for Alaskan King Crab, nothing says “manly” like grilling.

What else, in our emasculated society, so hearkens back to our primeval caveman days like grilling?

First of all, there is the extreme danger involved. If you read your grill’s manual, you will find a warning to check for spider webs. Apparently spiders can build nests that block the gas flow, thus causing explosions that level whole city blocks. What man would ask his wife to ferret out gas-blocking spiders for him? Personally, I don’t check for spiders, because I know if I look under the grill, a Brown Recluse is going to leap onto my face and inject me with gangrenous poison. So I just fire the grill up each spring, then run for cover. If the grill doesn’t blow up, we’re good to go.

A primary manly aspect of grilling is that it’s outdoors. Being out on my deck, with the sun and the wind and the clouds, I envision myself roasting fresh Mastodon under a prehistoric sky, Pteradactyls flying overhead as I fend off Raptors with my spatula.

Of course, nothing says manly like raw meat roasting over an open flame. The heat and smoke billowing up into your eyes. Grease dripping, flames leaping up, searing the raw flesh.

You’ve also got your manly grill tools. In addition to your stainless steel spatula on the 3 foot long wooden handle, you’ve got your oversized fork, also on a 3-foot handle, and your grill brush for slathering barbecue sauce. Women just aren’t qualified to use these weapons.

A proper finish to the whole grilling experience is to eat your meat without utensils, plates or napkins, preferably wearing a viking helmet. Wash the partially chewed flesh down with mead and toss the bones onto the floor. Grunt a lot, and laugh loud barrel-chested laughs. And rejoice that you’re a man.

photo by chatirygirl

Source: Mark Altrogge