Open Mike

A European First Church Experience @ LFC: Welcome Who Jesus Welcomes

We had a church visitor from Europe (Spain) last fall, who wrote me about his 'coming to church' experience. 

I want to share his note with you today.  It's interesting to me for several reasons.  One - I'm hoping to visit a couple of European church plants this summer, to see what the Gospel looks like today when creatively contextualized to that continent's thoroughly post-Christian culture (that is proving highly resistant to re-learning about Jesus as the actual Son of God - the attitude is 'been there, done that' culturally and philosophically).  So I'm gratified to hear the reflections of a 'given up on church' European who visited our church recently, to help me reflect on our own cultural contextualization of the Gospel and worship.

Reason two its interesting to me - I really love this man's family.  His son and daughter-in-law came to Lake Forest Church a couple of years ago saying 'yep, we are exactly who you mean when you say 'given up on church but not on God,' and its thrilled me to see them begin following Jesus as a family, taking progressive steps into serving in the church and risking being known in Christian community.  I'm proud of them, and their lives encourage me.  So, knowing about their father/father-in-law in Spain and their relationship, I would be hopeful that sharing their newfound church and faith experience would strengthen their extended family ties.

Reason three its interesting to me - in part of his note to me, this poetic man described to me the fact that he darkens the door of the local, formal Catholic church only a couple of times a year, but primarily attends 'church' by walking and seeing nature's beauty, and learning to talk out loud to God for himself.  I too enjoy the Lord in this way, and so was all the more curious if 'organized worship' of our type would put him off, or perhaps draw him farther than his solitary prayers.

So here's my new Spanish friend's email, sent after he arrived back home (edited, of course, but I've left in the endearing style he uses in English as a second language, which impresses me):

Dear Mike,  I have been a guest in your church, Sunday the 27th of November… That’s already over 2 weeks ago and now “back home” in Spain, I still would like to share my thoughts with you and explain how I did experience that special Sunday morning! 

I spent 4 weeks in the United States to visit my five sons, their families and the grandchildren and happened to be in Huntersville during the Thanks Giving Day weekend.  I happily accepted my son’s invitation to join him and his family for your early Sunday morning service, however I felt somewhat uncomfortable to do so in a pair -for that matter- clean jeans?

My son just chuckled about that hesitation: “Watch how Mike will be dressed!” he assured me, knowing I still reflected that old fashioned church in Holland, we left that many years ago.

 So I entered your church…

I was impressed, astonished…, flabbergasted, you name it!

What an impression! And how surprising were the warm feelings you got within minutes! Yes, minutes! I immediately felt myself home!

Of course the change you undergo, entering your church versus to enter that old fashioned Dutch church years ago is overwhelming!   The style of the music; the entourage, the atmosphere …; the big video screens; the band and the group of singers, which to me not only just performed magnificently by their professional voices… No! To me their songs seem to come straight out of their hearts. No wonder we all tried to sing with them or at least to hum with them, like I did?

Mike, I didn´t decide to write you to just give you -well deserved- compliments!  No, my decision to write you, is my hope and wish that your people; all members of your church will understand and realize the great advantage, the privilege they do have to be able to be in your church each and every week! 

Each and every week to have the possibility to listen to God’s word, presented in a normal, very clear and warm manner and not –as I experienced for so many years-in dramatic , almost threatening or even scary versions. (Sorry to describe this that way…)

 How lucky and thankful they should be, to be in a position “to recharge the batteries!” each and every week!  I thought of that at time you mentioned a simple expression during your preach. “Empty nesters” …  “Empty Nester”…  A so typical American solution, to clearly describe a situation by using two words only.

I admit you were talking my category that very moment, but I could smile thankfully when I glanced at my son and his family at my left side from where I was sitting, for that moment I knew him sitting there, in his church would warm that empty nest overseas!!! Surely a nice compensation!

Yes Mike, I have to agree with my son´s valuation of your church: “Our church is awesome!”

But now Mike, I can look and think back of how my son experiences “church”!  I can assure you: A good, darn good feeling!  And that’s what I liked to share with you, Mike!

 Despite my clumsy English, it was good talking to you, Mike!   Sincerely yours,   L.S.

The Sweetest Preaching Spot in the World: Intersection of Bible & Blues

 

 
My favorite preaching over the past decade has been our Hope in a House of Blues series.  The material both in life and in the Bible is almost endless, and equally rich.  Its not a simple thing to put the Blues and Hope together through worship and the Scriptures - its an art.  Its also the series in which I am the most influenced by our artists - visual and musical.  The ambience and art they put together ahead of time while meditating on the scriptures and themes always change where I head in my messages - its the most interactive, dynamically changing preaching I do.  AND ITS THAT TIME AGAIN!  Here's the press release going out this week.  If you lead another church, PLEASE steal this series idea and make it your own.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Lake Forest Church Turns Up the Volume with Hope in a House of Blues Series Starting January 29. Featuring award-winning musical talent and best-selling author Huntersville, NC. Hope in a House of Blues, a Lake Forest Church (LFC) tradition, will kick off on January 29, 2012 at the church’s Huntersville and Davidson, NC campuses and will continue each Sunday through February 19. Hope in a House of Blues 2012 is a four-week sermon series addressing hurt, hate, hope and healing with an inspiring, blues-based musical backdrop. Critically acclaimed musician and vocalist Mike Farris returns to kick off the first week of the series in Huntersville on January 29. Recipient of the Americana Music Association’s “New & Emerging Artist of the Year” award in 2008 and winner of the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for “Best Traditional Gospel Album of the Year” in 2010, Farris’s stunning vocals are a celebrated highlight of the Hope in a House of Blues series.

Best-selling author Don Miller will lead services at the Davidson campus on January 29. Miller’s New York Times bestseller, Blue Like Jazz, tells the story of his experience at Reed College, voted at that time as “the most godless campus in the country.” Since then, Miller has written other best sellers: Searching for God Knows What and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, the story of his writing of the screenplay for Blue Like Jazz-the movie. Rev. Mitch White, LFC’s Pastor of Spiritual Growth, says, “Hope in a House of Blues 2012 has a very transformative feel. As a church, we have added another campus in Davidson, established a footing in an impoverished local neighborhood and are in the midst of an expansion at our Huntersville location. Though the actual series is only a month long, we are establishing ongoing counseling, leadership and spiritual growth opportunities which will allow us to extend the impact of Hope in a House of Blues well into the future through multiple venues.” Kyle Dillard, LFC’s Worship Arts Director, says, “Mike Farris’s bio perfectly captures what it’s like to experience his talent; ‘In music there are those special artists that seem to transcend genre and defy categorization. From time to time, one hears a voice that can stop you dead in your tracks and shake you to the core. Mike Farris is that artist and he has that voice.’ We are thrilled to have such an incredible talent join us to kick off Hope in a House of Blues”.

During the second week of the series in Huntersville, Larry McCray will be the featured guest performer. McCray’s savage blues-rock guitar and warm, soulful vocals have drawn attention worldwide. In 2000, he was honored as the Orville Gibson Male Blues Guitarist of the Year and has opened shows for legends such as Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, and Buddy Guy. Billboard Magazine has hailed McCray as "a deep-voiced player with strong original tunes." Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue, featuring the McCrary Sisters, will also be in concert at Lake Forest Church-Huntersville on Saturday, January 28 at 7:30pm. Don Miller will speak during the intermission. General admission tickets are open to the public and cost $12 in advance. No tickets will be sold at the door. Tickets can be purchased at http://mikefarris.eventbrite.com .

LFC is a growing, Evangelical Presbyterian Church with campuses in Huntersville and Davidson, NC (just north of Charlotte). Started in 1998 by Dr. Mike Moses, LFC has grown to a weekly attendance of 1500. Since its beginning, LFC has been known for reaching “people who’ve given up on church, but not on God”, through a clear and engaging focus on Jesus. Sunday worship times in Huntersville, located at 8519 Gilead Road, are 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00am. Worship times in Davidson, located at Davidson Elementary School at 635 South Street, are 9:30 and 11:00am. -- END

-- Contact and reference information For more information on Hope in a House of Blues, contact Kyle Dillard at 704.948.3232 x222 Visit the Lake Forest Church website at: http://lakeforest.org/  Visit Mike Farris’s website at: http://www.mikefarrismusic.com/  Visit Larry McCray’s website at: http://larrymccrayband.com/#!/about  Visit Don Miller’s website at: http://donmilleris.com/  Visit the McCrary Sisters’ website at: http://themccrarysisters.com/ For tickets to the Mike Farris concert: http://mikefarris.eventbrite.com/

My Fax from David Crowder, and Culturally Relevant Worship Music

In 1996, our church in Memphis was growing healthily.  We had recently moved into our first permanent building, and what we co-dreamed with the Spirit of God was happening - unchurched people were being found by the love of Jesus, and suburban Christians were actually maturing in their faith, in large part by living out God's heart for inner city poverty and problems (similar to LFC with our Missio Dei emphasis).

We needed more worship services, otherwise we would have told the Lord 'no, please don't reach and grow any more people through us - go do that somewhere else, even though you've apparently gifted our church at precisely that' (hmm, similar point Lake Forest has reached the last several years, and each time we've added a service, and now are adding space in Huntersville and a new campus in Davidson). 

So I put my hand up to the elders and said 'I will start a Saturday night worship service.'  See, I had just been to a conference called 'Ministering to Generation X' (hey, it was the mid- 90's) at Eagle Eyrie Conference Center in Colorado, put on by Leadership Network.  The worship was led by a barefoot hippie-looking worship leader from a startup church.  Friends, halfway through the first set I was weeping in my little personal space.  The lyrical style, the chords, the language, the way Scripture was used, the i-don't-know-what hit me like a ton of bricks, and I realized 'this is what it means to worship in your own indigenous cultural musical language.' 

As a Gen Xer, I realized at that moment God had massively gifted our Memphis church to reach unchurched baby boomers.  Musically that meant keyboard-led choruses with lots of melodic harmony, stylistically that meant everyone on stage had matching shirt colors (in our church, at the time). But now I had experienced worship music and style that had popped open the tupperware lid on my Gen X heart and soul, creating wider space for the Spirit to work on that uncovered heart than I had ever experienced before in worship.  I loved my church and was proud of how the Lord was using it, but now the question came to me - could there exist worship music that would reach my generation more effectively for Christ than what we were doing on Sunday mornings currently?  If my heart was any measurement, the answer was 'yes.'

So I said 'yes, we need more space anyway, I will lead a Saturday night worship service if I can design it in a way that would reached me more effectively in the worship (to open my heart to the Lord), and unchurched 'me's' - Gen X'ers - to meet Christ.'  I started meeting with a core group from our church who became the leadership team for 'Sat.nite@Hope.'  I promise (cross my heart...stick a needle in my eye, etc.) that we MAY have been the first ministry to use internet-ese to name our gig.

But how to get that music, those honest lyrics that expressed longing and brokenness so well, that dared to use minor chords in church!?  I know, that barefooted kid who led worship somewhere in Texas.  Four weeks before we started Saturday night worship, I called up JT Paige, who was going to lead our band.  I said 'JT, even though I'll be leading the worship verbally with the microphone and my rhythm guitar, you are the maestro of our music and will lead the band. I heard this new worship music that I want to try on, but I'm not musically knowledgeable enough to tell you what defines it - will you go with me to that church and then just do 'that' for our music?'

So JT and I flew to Waco Texas the next weekend, and sat under the young David Crowder leading worship in a theater.  Again, I was overcome with the closeness of the Spirit of God to me in this worship, as it used the musical language of my personal soul (rock with an alternative edge, unafraid to throw in Seattle Grunge-tinged angst and disaffection over things not right with me and with the world, and between me and the Lord, and bold love language for our soul's union with Christ, etc.).  JT and I hung around and talked with David for a while.  David was a bit shy seeming, the opposite of verbose, and humble.  He was genuinely surprised and encouraged that we were so interested in his original worship music, and agreed to fax us whatever we wanted. 

Over the next week I got him to basically fax me his whole repertoire of original music at the time.  And the first Sat.nite@Hope service?  We opened with the Lemonheads tune 'Into Your Arms,' turning a top 40 rock song into corporate worship, added a U2 worship tune, and all the rest of the music was me lead-worshipping to these Crowder tunes as passionately and on-key as I could possibly manage.

 
Here are a few takeaways - most of the songs David lent me were never published.  I still have the faxes, and led one of them in our nightly worship with the Reynosa MX mission team several years ago.  I did not stay in touch with Crowder, because I'm not that cool.  I have a memento hanging in my office today, given to me by the first person who gave his life to Jesus in our Saturday night service.  When I left that church to move here and found Lake Forest, they hired their first full-time worship pastor and asked him to blend our Saturday night and Sunday morning styles for all the services.  It worked great for them.

I founded Lake Forest right after that, and when I moved here I ran the Arbitron radio listenership ratings for the Lake Norman zip codes, to discover the predominant musical language of the soul here.  It was far and above 'adult rock with an alternative flair' in 1998, among adults aged 25-55 in Huntersville, Cornelius, and Davidson.  So that is the style we chose, and the Lord has used it.  Its not for everyone, that's okay.  The Lord has used this similar style massively across the country. 

But what happens as Gen X gives way to Gen Y, and then generations come which are nameless because it got too cheesey to do so after a while?  Specifically, what happens when modern culture, with a single style of music defining top 40 popularity, morphs to some kind of post-modern culture, in which its now a matter of pride to say 'i don't have a single style of music that's my favorite, just check my ipod, i like all kinds of music'(that's almost never completely true - most people have a go-to style, but still, this is the changing spirit of how we engage with music)? 

In other words - when culture changes, then worship styles and music designed to be culturally relevant must remain conversant with where culture is.  Our CONTENT is eternally bound by the Word of God (David's Psalms as our primary model for content, ethos, praise, lament, all together and privately), our METHOD changes with each culture.  For example, the musical score and instrumentation for David's praise Psalms were not preserved for us, making sure we know to sing those songs and new ones in the musical heart-language of each culture and generation.  As Lake Forest becomes 'one church in two locations,' we will continue to explore, morph, and express our freedom in Christ as we worship and hopefully be observant and teachable as culture changes.  If we calcify, we die.  Blues worship, you-tube style (unpolished) videos, Hillsong United songs, and poetry are some of our stylistic experiments the last few years.

Thank you, David Crowder, for following your Holy Spirit muse and worshipping the LORD in your own heart-language.  It turned out to be mine also.

Links: Lake Forest Band on TV Monday 11am, Missio Dei Trip Blogs, and Road Rules

Wassup my friends. Some stuff to jam your way.  It's all interesting to me.

1. The Lake Forest Band is headed to TV this Monday... 
Kyle Dillard and the Church Band have been invited to appear on "CharlotteToday" (WCNC, News Channel 36) this coming Monday, June 20. Every day next week, the show will highlight a local church band and we're excited to kick off the week with our rock-and-roll flavor of worship.

Make plans to watch or set your TiVo for this Monday from 11am-noon. You can also pray that someone tuning in might say, "What? Worship music can sound like that?" and maybe come and check us out on a Sunday. 

2. Once again, we are tithing our Ministry Partners on short-term, cross-cultural mission trips this summer.  Follow them, as well as stories of local mission (like the daily lunches for local low-income children) by subscribing to our Missio Dei blog at http://lakeforest.typepad.com/missiodei/  Last weeks team that built a home in Mexico was chronicled by our own high schooler, Annabeth Larrabee - i loved reading every powerful entry.  Here they are. The second team just arrived and starts building tommorrow. 

3. Many of our High School students who aren't going on mission trips are going on one of three 'Road Rules' trips.  Greg TeSelle, our student director, dreamed up this crazy idea of discipleship-by-perpetual-10-day-road-trip-and-unusual-activities.  To follow the twists and turns of the first trip, follow Frank's House on facebook or twitter.  http://www.facebook.com/#!/frankshouse?sk=wall Last night, they went to a Cincinnati Reds game.  This moment they are in a KY truck stop heading toward Plan B because the place they were going tonite was just destroyed by a tornado. 

Enjoy wherever your own twists and turns take you this summer.

Wade in the Water: Reeve Coobs' Music

For the weekend, I give you a copy of Lake Forest's Reeve Coobs, opening our worship service three weeks ago singing "Wade in the Water." 
The band and horn arrangements (by Kyle Dillard and Danny Lloyd), as well as the soulful presence of the whole band as they played that day, make this a new favorite of mine!  For our current sermon series, we open each service with a stand-out song to prepare for worship - this one was so good we wanted to give it away.  I'm grateful that under Kyle's leadership, God has gifted our church with a wide variety of talented musicians.

Reeve is one of them.  Along with singing in the band and occasionally playing bass, she arranges and coaches our vocals weekly as her service to Christ.  As you might imagine, Reeve doesn't only sing at LFC - she can be heard often around Charlotte.  Listen to more of her original music, keep up with her schedule, spread the word and become a fan right here:

 

I think that is the same as joining her band page on Facebook, in case not, click this link too to show your interest for this fabulous young singer-songwriter http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Reeve/17847648206

So here's the song 'Wade in the Water,' recorded at Lake Forest, for you to enjoy over the weekend: http://lakeforest.org/2011/03/wade-in-the-water/ . Thank you Kyle, Reeve and Danny!