EP

I've been challenged by a lot lately.

I took Alan Hirsch's APEST Test and discovered, much to my surprise, that I'm an EP. I'll let you have a look at his site to understand exactly what that means, but suffice it to say it's not at all what I'd expected. And as a result I had a minor identity crisis.

I'm ok now.

I also attended a conference where I discovered that I ought to think of myself not just as an artist and musician, but as a curator of environments that facilitate spiritual formation for large groups of people. It's a mouthful, I know, so maybe read that last one again. A worship artist is not just someone who arbitrarily picks songs and throws them together with a band or choir, but rather, is a storyteller. I have discovered that a big part of my calling is to use the mediums of music, service flow, and all the pieces that fit together to tell a story that helps people connect with God and with one another.

I've also been coming to terms with the truth that I am an introvert. We live in a culture that strongly values, even idolizes, extroversion. The people who get paid the most, the people who seem to be the most trusted, the people who draw our praise and admiration are extroverts (or are introverts who can fake it). But I'm learning that introversion is a badly needed gift to our culture, because introverts can give the gift of silence.

The three of these minor revelations have helped me make more sense of my calling as a full-time minister (I would say 'pastor,' but given how low I scored on pastor/shepherd-type on the APEST test, it's not entirely an appropriate term for me in that context), and more importantly, how my unique personality and passions can flesh-out my calling.

I'm not, for example, ever going to be the most amazing people-person. I'm awkward in groups, and in my rush to try to say something to contribute, can often stumble over my words or say something I didn't really mean to say. But the introverted/large-group-discipler/Evangelist-Prophet in me can contribute to the ministry of the Church in my own way.

As such, I've started writing a lot more. Two places in particular have taken the bulk of that, and I've really enjoyed embracing this newfound freedom to be the me that God made. One blog is for our current sermon series (though it may continue past that in some form or other, we'll see), currently called Revolutionary Promises (updated weekly). In it, I get to reflect on the sermon of the sunday prior. Currently, our pastors are preaching through the Sermon on the Mount. It's hard, it's deep, and it's incredibly rewarding to write about.

The other place is one that I've found equally, if not more fulfilling. Our denomination's worship artists have a facebook group called "Better Together" and, coupled with that, a presence on the denomination's website, called Worship Connect. For a while, nobody really posted on that page, but then a good friend of mine suggested that four of us take the month and post weekly. I get the fourth week of the month, and to be honest, I've never had nothing to say; the words always come, and I love it.

Thanks for reading.

Missional Worship (ECC Worship Connect)

My latest post on the worship connect blog:

"We worship pastors are discipleship pastors too, but for us, it means discipling a whole congregation all at once through our art, through music, and through the liturgy we write. How we choose to lead can emphasize this rhythm of gather and send."

Illuminate 2012 Vignettes

This Advent, as we do every year, our church put on an event called "Illuminate," which is an evening for families of all ages (aka "The Church"); food, games, activities, and of course, music and art in two parts. Part 1 took the form of a program, the evolution of what used to be a "Cantata," a story told through singing and monologues. The choir features prominently in this, and we also include a children's choir and small modern band. Part 2, of course, was pure chaos, but was fun - all the activities, games, food, and a live walk-through nativity were held in this part of the event, following the program.

My iPad is probably one of the best tools I've ever owned for what I love to do. If you don't own one, it's your loss, though I do know they're expensive. If you do own one and have never used the app Paper by FiftyThree, then shame on you - you're missing out on probably the best visual art app in the entire Apple library.

The reason I bring this up is that this year, for our program, we decided to tell the story of Christmas a bit less traditionally; what would it look like if it happened in contemporary Kansas City? Who would Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds be? Where would they live? What were they doing when this all went down? And to tell the story this way, I used Paper to draw our scenes, and iMovie to turn it into three vignette videos with voiceover. The first bit of the first two vignettes was actually live-action on a couch in the sanctuary, but for the purposes of post-event sharing, we recorded the whole thing as a voice-over.

Enjoy.