What I Learned at Passion 2010

I had the opportunity to attend Passion 2010 in Atlanta this past week, and was blown away with how God worked. Here's a list of my takeaways and some things God did in my own life:

-Words cannot describe the power of standing with 22,000 passionate worshippers and lifting up the name and fame of Jesus. This is still the biggest takeaway for me, and was so refreshing to me. This is something I know I need regularly: to be in environments where I can participate actively in worship and not be the person up front leading worship.

-I was reminded by John Piper’s message that God is most passionate for his own glory. Why? Not because he is an egomaniac, but because he knows that as humans, we can get no greater pleasure than to bring Him glory and to make His Son Jesus famous.

-The Do Something Now component of Passion 2010 was breathtaking and beautiful. $1,393,077.42 was given to twelve different global causes. Wait let’s read that again because I think you missed it … ONE MILLION, THREE-HUNDRED NINETY-THREE THOUSAND, SEVENTY-SEVEN DOLLARS AND FORTY-TWO CENTS was given to fund causes such as underground seminary training for church leaders in the middle east, build wells for villages in Guatemala, provide small business loans for women in Haiti, package meals through Feed My Starving Children, build border outposts in Nepal to intercept sex trafficking victims, etc!!! What kind of college students give money like that? Only those who have been ruined by the goodness of God and who believe that all we have and all we are belong to Him. When Louie announced these causes and the amount that had been given, I was literally moved to tears and pictured people who have never had clean water to drink having a well built in their village that will provide clean water for a lifetime.

-When I compare Passion 2010 to previous Passion conferences I have attended, the most obvious difference for me was that I volunteered this time around, instead of attending as a college student. But I noticed another, more internal, difference: there has been a shift in my perspective of all the well-known worship leaders who lead at Passion. While Passion has always been about the fame and renown of Jesus Christ, they have also always partnered with song/worship leaders that are writing the songs that are being sung by the church worldwide. At past Passion events, I really believe that in my heart I was more excited about all the names that were going to be there than I was about the greatest Name of all: Jesus Christ. At Passion 2010, God genuinely changed my attitude on this and caused me to do a 180. My expectation and anticipation was centered on how God was going to work more than on hearing Chris Tomlin’s newest big song. This has truly been an evidence of God’s grace in my life.

God, thank You for allowing me to attend Passion 2010 and be gripped by Your greatness. I pray You would continue to live in me, and that by the power of Your Holy Spirit I would live a life that magnifies Your glory, in everything I do. In Jesus' Mighty Name, Amen.

Make Me A Servant

I have been reading through Luke's gospel in the past couple of months, and over the last week I have started to see a recurring theme in Luke 16-17: servanthood. Listen to Jesus' words:

"No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” -Luke 16:13

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” -Luke 17:7-10

I shared these verses with our worship team last night at rehearsal, and used the study notes in my ESV Bible to explain the point Jesus was making in this parable: that we are unworthy servants. That God owes us nothing, and we owe Him everything, even our very lives. And that in order to ensure we are serving God first and foremost before money or anything else, we are called to use our God-given gifts, abilities, time, energy, services, and resources to serve others and to further the work of the kingdom.

And that is exactly what we are doing by serving on the worship team. We have the privilege of leading our church body in corporate worship, and we are leveraging the musical gifts God has given us to bring Him glory. These verses are a great reminder that as worship leaders, we are first and foremost servants of God. Let's ask God today to give us an attitude of servanthood in all that we do, especially as we stand before our church Sunday after Sunday and lead people in praise to our Savior.

Remember the song "Make Me a Servant"? Let's make this our prayer today:

"Make me a servant humble and meek
Lord let me lift up those who are weak
And may the prayer of my heart always be
Make me a servant make me a servant
Make me a servant today"
-Kelly Willard, 1982

Psalm 42

Over the past year or so I have been studying the Psalms, using the NIV Application Commentary Volume 1 by Gerald Wilson. The Psalms have proven to be a place of refuge, where I am constantly encouraged in life and ministry, and where my understanding of worship has been shaped and challenged. Today I read Psalm 42 - one of the lament Psalms - and was struck by how the Psalmist dealt with his sorrow. Verse 6 says, "My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember You ..."

Wilson points out in his commentary the value of memory, and of remembering who God is and what He has done when we go through times of deep despair and sadness. He then connects it with corporate worship, and says,

"Worship together is a place of memory. Together we call to mind what it is so easy to forget alone - that God is good and that his steadfast love endures forever for those who trust in Him. Corporate worship counters our society's message of forgetfulness and sends a message both outwardly and inwardly that we are not alone. Worship is a place for testimony and celebration. It is a time for confession and forgiveness. It is a place where we remember the past, receive power to face the present, and conceive hope for tomorrow."

I really resonated with this idea - that coming together for corporate worship is about reminding each other of God's faithfulness and grace in each of our lives. Are we doing our part as worship leaders to remind ourselves and those we lead of God's continued faithfulness to His people, through the songs we sing and the prayers we pray and the Scripture passages we read? It may be exactly what many hurting people need to hear when they gather for corporate worship.