There is just something so special about worship and the words chosen within it. The imagery used in most of these songs are so profound, that it amazes me that in almost every church, there are multiple people who just simply don't realize the words they are singing on Sundays. Granted, there are a few of these songs that have a limited audience, but the words behind them are so beautiful and impactful! Now this post could be inspired through my girlfriend having a job that requires her to sing songs everyday, but I think that the majority of it is just a glaring mark that God has been speaking heavily to me through worship recently.
Now let me explore some of these lyrics within worship songs. The first one up, Hillsong - Like An Avalanche. The main chorus sings a line, "Caught up in grace like an avalanche." Have you ever been caught in an avalanche before? Chances are no, unless you're some adventurer who is currently sidelined by taking an arrow to the knee. But the chances are high that you've seen footage of what one looks like or a movie's attempt to show a hero caught in one. It's completely overwhelming! And yet most people can sign through such a line without giving it a second thought, completely unaware that you just sang a lyric that is meant to bring you to your knees. Now recently, two churches of mine have talked about grace this weekend, covering a great deal of what grace is, versus what is not. Now when you get a chance to sit down and fully put yourself within a mindset that God has sending an avalanche of grace your way… You should be brought to some form of change right then and there. God's grace isn't cheap and comes with a great price tag, yet He freely gives it to you in the form of an avalanche! Think about that one a few times over.
The second song lyric I'm completely amazed at is John Mark McMillan - "How He Loves." This song has such crazy imagery within it that it's nearly impossible for me to pick just one line from it. So here are two to discuss from it. "Love's like a hurricane, I am a tree. Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy." Wow… Hurricanes have such an incredible force behind them, bringing forth a deluge of rain and wind. Most of these lyrics shoot from the idea that God's mercy given to us is far greater than what we deserved, and they're not wrong! Our position with God should be nothing less than a permanent separation from God in a life of torment and despair. (Just speaking one lie is worthy enough for God to pass this judgement upon us!) Yet through all of this, God showed us mercy! We should be bent over in a humbling posture permanently due to this idea upon our mind, and even more so upon our lips singing it! But this song isn't done yet! "So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss." Have you ever been kissed by a two year old, or tried to kiss one? If you haven't, allow for me to let you in on a hint, they're sloppy. But much more than sloppy, they're filled with unconditional love! This lyric fits perfectly within the song title, "How He Loves."! It's amazing to hear and sing within worship, and it does just what the follow up line is, "My heart turns violently inside of my chest." This line is just so impactful that I can't help but smile as I sing it, knowing that my Saviour loves me so much!
And time for the final song to cover. (In this blog at least.) Hillsong - Oceans. "Your grace abounds in deepest waters." That line right there seems to maybe sum up why I have these songs so heavily upon my heart. God's grace seems to be drowning and overwhelming only once the waters rise so high that I can't do anything. My life right now has much turmoil and uncertainty within it right now, along with a great sense that the walls are coming down. Yet through all of this, I seem to put my full rest within His grace and mercy. These are some songs that have been holding my hope through these past 3 years, which have been full of nothing short of disappointments, failures, let downs, and just an overall turmoil within my life. While nothing has cleared up for me yet, nor do I see a horizon yet, I am confident that God will rescue me, and lead me to shore where I can anchor and plant and grow. But until then, I will continue to use Him and His grace and mercy as my anchor through these rough times. I encourage for you to reach out to Him during these rough times and follow the chorus lyrics within Hillsong's "Take Heart", "Take heart, let His love lead us through the night. Hold onto hope, and take courage again." God will come through for you!
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Monday, January 6, 2014
The Human side of church is showing
Well, to begin with, this post may come across as mean or evil towards the Church, but it's not. It's bringing up the small tiny factors of the church that drive only a few insane. And with such information in your hand, I say this from a perspective of someone trying to get into a church to work, and finding many things that I am unhappy with. So this more or less is my rant against the church without getting fully upset with the Church. So below is my rant to vent and get things off my chest.
The Double Standard: This has been something that is driving me really insane for a while now. In almost every church I go to, they talk about getting people to volunteer and help out in ministries. The pastors talk about God qualifying the called, and not calling the qualified. This is all good, and the support in the bible is very strong for this. (Paul, Timothy, Peter, and many more.) The problem where this becomes the double standard is in the hiring process. When a church is looking for someone to fill a position that they have, this reasoning goes out the door instantly. I have been apart of far too many interviews that have come back without a job because I am not "Qualified" for their job position. This has become a big issue for me, as most of the reasoning behind me not being qualified is completely human in nature and leave God and the Holy Spirit out of the equation. In fact, most hiring processes leave the Holy Spirit out of it as the church goes looking for someone to be qualified for a position that they setup, rather then letting God bring them the right person. Yes, the hiring staff end up relying upon God to help them fill the position, but the position is fully looked at through human eyes, human standards, and human wants. It brings up a point that I actually hated when pastors used the saying, "Today's church would never hire the Apostle Paul." At first, I thought that such an idea was ludicrous. How could someone say that? But then the more I got involved within churches and their interviewing processes, the more I came to the full conclusion that such a statement is far too accurate.
This goes for a full interview processes as well. I've struggled to compile my resume together for churches, as I've altered it close to a thousand times by now. It's hard to boast about myself being someone who prefers to go unnoticed. But when a church wants you to... Or rather, wants you to do so until you're hired. That whole "Boast and show off to us, but you need to cut that out once you're hired, or else you'll be fired." mentality is something that is very prevalent within most churches. It's hard to cater a resume fit for each church not fully knowing what exactly their stance is on every small specific detail on life. It's become a trap game for most youth pastors. A church is either looking for someone completely fresh without any experience, or they want someone who has 5 years with a large church/youth ministry. (The later is far more prevalent than the first.) With standards like that, people like me are left in the middle. 3 years experience with churches, and they won't count the side extra stuff that I've done around the other 3 years. I am slowly being convinced that with some of the standards churches have, I must throw myself out of the running, or throw myself into full debt just to meet their standards. (At which point I no longer am a good steward over what God gave me.) What are some of these standards? Well, I lack a wife, as I am too old to still be single. I don't have enough paid experience with a church, or I just simply don't have enough. My track record of being heavily involved with one church for over three years, then going from place to place in the secular world doesn't look good to them. (That last one is the whole reason why I've stuck around at a crappy job that I hate and isn't good for me spiritually for so long.) And all of this really stems from the church using human standards to hiring people, rather than God's.
The last thing I will rant about is interviews in general. Without coming across as completely messed up, If your church is in California, and you have two applicants, one in California, one in Maryland, don't expect for the one in California to volunteer in your church before being hired without having the same standards for the one in Maryland. I'm sorry to say it, that thinking is very human and is without a doubt a double standard. (I've been hit with this one multiple times.) And truth be told, it doesn't make me want to jump in, but rather, withdraw my application.
Overall, I've actually only been apart of two interviews of my thousands that made me want to be apart of the church, or walked away without the job feeling good about it. There is a right and wrong way to handle the hiring processes within churches. Sadly, only about 2% of churches are doing it right. Within your process, you need to have your candidate convince you that they could fit well with your church. The second part is equally as important. You need to convince the candidate that they could thrive under you. That second part is left out far too often. You're a church, not a business. You need to show your church side within interviews. You also need to make sure that you are not stepping in front of God during these processes. If it's a God hiring, they candidate should stick around for 5 years at the earliest. If they don't, you stepped in and took over God's role during the hiring processes.
The Double Standard: This has been something that is driving me really insane for a while now. In almost every church I go to, they talk about getting people to volunteer and help out in ministries. The pastors talk about God qualifying the called, and not calling the qualified. This is all good, and the support in the bible is very strong for this. (Paul, Timothy, Peter, and many more.) The problem where this becomes the double standard is in the hiring process. When a church is looking for someone to fill a position that they have, this reasoning goes out the door instantly. I have been apart of far too many interviews that have come back without a job because I am not "Qualified" for their job position. This has become a big issue for me, as most of the reasoning behind me not being qualified is completely human in nature and leave God and the Holy Spirit out of the equation. In fact, most hiring processes leave the Holy Spirit out of it as the church goes looking for someone to be qualified for a position that they setup, rather then letting God bring them the right person. Yes, the hiring staff end up relying upon God to help them fill the position, but the position is fully looked at through human eyes, human standards, and human wants. It brings up a point that I actually hated when pastors used the saying, "Today's church would never hire the Apostle Paul." At first, I thought that such an idea was ludicrous. How could someone say that? But then the more I got involved within churches and their interviewing processes, the more I came to the full conclusion that such a statement is far too accurate.
This goes for a full interview processes as well. I've struggled to compile my resume together for churches, as I've altered it close to a thousand times by now. It's hard to boast about myself being someone who prefers to go unnoticed. But when a church wants you to... Or rather, wants you to do so until you're hired. That whole "Boast and show off to us, but you need to cut that out once you're hired, or else you'll be fired." mentality is something that is very prevalent within most churches. It's hard to cater a resume fit for each church not fully knowing what exactly their stance is on every small specific detail on life. It's become a trap game for most youth pastors. A church is either looking for someone completely fresh without any experience, or they want someone who has 5 years with a large church/youth ministry. (The later is far more prevalent than the first.) With standards like that, people like me are left in the middle. 3 years experience with churches, and they won't count the side extra stuff that I've done around the other 3 years. I am slowly being convinced that with some of the standards churches have, I must throw myself out of the running, or throw myself into full debt just to meet their standards. (At which point I no longer am a good steward over what God gave me.) What are some of these standards? Well, I lack a wife, as I am too old to still be single. I don't have enough paid experience with a church, or I just simply don't have enough. My track record of being heavily involved with one church for over three years, then going from place to place in the secular world doesn't look good to them. (That last one is the whole reason why I've stuck around at a crappy job that I hate and isn't good for me spiritually for so long.) And all of this really stems from the church using human standards to hiring people, rather than God's.
The last thing I will rant about is interviews in general. Without coming across as completely messed up, If your church is in California, and you have two applicants, one in California, one in Maryland, don't expect for the one in California to volunteer in your church before being hired without having the same standards for the one in Maryland. I'm sorry to say it, that thinking is very human and is without a doubt a double standard. (I've been hit with this one multiple times.) And truth be told, it doesn't make me want to jump in, but rather, withdraw my application.
Overall, I've actually only been apart of two interviews of my thousands that made me want to be apart of the church, or walked away without the job feeling good about it. There is a right and wrong way to handle the hiring processes within churches. Sadly, only about 2% of churches are doing it right. Within your process, you need to have your candidate convince you that they could fit well with your church. The second part is equally as important. You need to convince the candidate that they could thrive under you. That second part is left out far too often. You're a church, not a business. You need to show your church side within interviews. You also need to make sure that you are not stepping in front of God during these processes. If it's a God hiring, they candidate should stick around for 5 years at the earliest. If they don't, you stepped in and took over God's role during the hiring processes.
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