Worship & Prayer Archives | Page 5 of 10 | Christian Standard

April 13, 2014

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Worship Is a Verb!

By Teresa Metzger Worship is our goal forÂ every day, but the Lord”s Day presents us with specialÂ opportunities. Life is often lived segmented into neat little boxes we construct for ourselves. We have our work box, family box, sports box, entertainment box . . . and all of these fit into a larger, “secular” box. Many activities make up our secular lives. Then we have this much smaller box labeled “sacred.” Into this box we put our church attendance, Bible reading, praying, and service. Our sacred box takes up much less time and space than our secular box, but that”s OK

April 12, 2014

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Fuzzy Worship

By Steve Wyatt God made us to worship him. Which means we need to get worship right. But at least four factors push worship out of proper focus. The No. 1 reason God gave you his breath is to bring him pleasure. “O Lord. . . . You created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist” (Revelation 4:11, New Living Translation, 1996; author”s emphasis). “All things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16, King James Version; author”s emphasis). How much of “everything” is included in “all things?” ALL. Including you! You were made for God.

April 11, 2014

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Seven Ways to Make Your Worship Creative

By Lise Caldwell 1. Incorporate Scripture in creative ways: turn a passage (such as Isaiah 53) into a dramatic monologue. Weave Psalm texts together in a thematic responsive reading. Share Scriptures on which a worship song is based. Provide reflective texts on screen or in a bulletin for times of silent prayer. 2. Get people out of their seats: allow people to respond with movement. Invite people to write something they are thankful for on a giant blackboard and display it during the month of November. Encourage families to leave the pews and pray together during Communion. Encourage them to

April 11, 2014

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Seven Attributes of a Healthy Worship Planning Team

By Lise Caldwell 1. Debate and disagreement are encouraged. People are willing to (respectfully) express concerns or offer alternatives to ideas that are presented. 2. No one “owns” an idea. Often one suggestion sparks another, which sparks another, and in the end, no one knows who had the idea in the first place. Emphasis is placed on collaborative brainstorming, not bragging rights. 3. Laughter and play are encouraged. Provide Slinkies, Legos, or Play-Doh during planning meetings. People who are able to laugh with others (and at themselves) will be more creative. 4. People are more important than products. Offering creative

April 10, 2014

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

We Plan, They Respond

By Lise Caldwell Worship is a response to who God is. Can you plan to respond? Maybe not, but we find great satisfaction in crafting experiences that lead people to worship God. We huddle around 8-foot round tables strewn with laptops and iPads, soda cans and pizza crusts. The whiteboard that dominates the front of the room is ominously blank. The dates of our upcoming weekend services throb in the corners, pulsating in their urgency. I scribble on my notepad. Someone coughs. The room grows quiet. Time to plan our worship services. “Planning” worship sounds counterintuitive. We don”t “plan” to

April 9, 2014

Christian Standard

Prayer Worship & Prayer

Praying by Design

By Casey Tygrett My research has convinced me of this: When our experience and temperament interact with the presence of God, something very special happens. When I”m teaching people how to pray, often they ask me, “What do I say?” In other words, people want to know what “counts” when it comes to prayer. What is prayer and what isn”t prayer? It isn”t a silly question, but it can be difficult to answer as we look at all the different kinds of prayer in the Bible. We have selfish prayers like those of Pharaoh (Exodus 8:8), sacrificial prayers like those

April 7, 2014

Christian Standard

Prayer Worship & Prayer

Jesus: Man of Prayer!

By David Butts I”ll never forget the question, even though it has been 20 years since I was asked it. I had just settled into the easy chair in the living room of a pastor friend. I was there to talk with him about his church supporting our new venture, Harvest Prayer Ministries. Before I could begin my appeal, he startled me by asking: “So you”re starting a prayer ministry. What is your personal prayer life like?” It was a valid question. If you are going to teach on prayer, you had better be praying! That”s why it is so

April 6, 2014

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Does Everyone Worship?

By Ken E. Read “Want to see the next trend in worship?” It was a decade ago. My daughter started the video halfway through the song, with the camera sweeping across the crowd. They were certainly enthusiastic (“filled with God”), raising their arms and swaying as they pressed up near the stage and sang along with the contemporary band. Thousands of people in the crowd were singing full-voiced, their faces turned upward, arms extended skyward, and waving in united praise, their eyes gazing off into space while they sang. The camera changed to show the performers on the stage. I

April 5, 2014

Christian Standard

Prayer Worship & Prayer

When Praying Becomes Hard

By Danny R. Von Kanel Dot lost a son and daughter””her son died in an accident and her daughter from cancer. Praying became difficult. The pain silenced any attempt to approach God. Her dilemma seemed insurmountable. Yet, over time, communication returned, her pain eased, and life became livable again. Dot stumbled upon some keys to reopening communication with God after praying becomes difficult. These six keys can help restore that dialogue. 1. Tell God It”s Hard to Pray When you tell God it”s hard to pray, you are praying. Simply say, “God, it”s too hard to pray to you

April 4, 2014

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Still We Meet on the Lord”s Day

By Jeff Faull “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus. . . . On the Lord”s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet” (Revelation 1:9, 10, author emphasis). Today is the Lord”s Day, but it doesn”t quite seem the same. John was being punished. We are not. John was suffering. We are not. John was alone. We”re not. John was an apostle. We”re not. John was an eyewitness. We”re not But we are trying to listen to God,

May 4, 2013

Christian Standard

Prayer Worship & Prayer

Praying for One Transforms Church

By Kent E. Fillinger “Pray for One.” Bo Chancey sent an e-mail to everyone atÂ Manchester (New Hampshire) Christian Church on theÂ Thursday before he preached his first sermon there. He told them his inaugural message would be for each person to pray for one person to follow Christ. That Sunday, Chancey told the 1,200 who had gathered that if everyone would consistently pray for one person, the church would double in size in two years. Chancey continued to reinforce his “pray for one” message in his various communications. “Pray for one” is now part of the church”s cultural language. People regularly

April 25, 2013

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Stewards of Audio Volume

By Eric Radecki In the field of church music today, dealing with audio volume comes with the territory. It”s not a simple topic, and it”s worthy of a serious and honest discussion. Daniel Schantz”s article “The Half-Inch Solution” broached the subject but failed to go beyond generalizations and opinions. In this article I hope to offer practical help in dealing with the audio volume levels in your church by providing a responsible interpretation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines within a theological context. “Loud” is in the Bible Scriptures seem to indicate that much of the music

April 4, 2013

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Arts Guilds Featured

By Jennifer Johnson Two years ago, Ryan Phipps created a “guild” for songwriters and another for filmmakers and photographers at Forefront Church (New York, NY). Phipps, who serves as the worship and arts director at Forefront”s Manhattan campus, says the church offered several groups for business professionals but nothing for artists beyond the music on Sunday morning. The Forefront groups are in the spirit of the medieval guilds, which developed as associations of master craftsmen with shared skills. “The idea was to gather people around a shared creative interest,” he says. “The response to the first two was overwhelming, so

February 7, 2013

Christian Standard

Prayer Worship & Prayer

Drive-through Prayer Draws Traffic

By Jennifer Johnson Since last April, Centerpointe Christian Church (Lexington, KY) has offered “drive-through prayer” one Wednesday night a month. A small team of volunteers stands on several corners and in front of the church waving signs to direct drivers to the building, while two couples wait to pray with anyone who pulls in. “We see everything, from families having trouble to people coming right from the bars,” says Rex Hughes, coordinator of the ministry. “Each month is a reminder of the burdens people around us carry every day.” The team hands out cold water in the summer and hot

September 18, 2012

Christian Standard

Prayer Worship & Prayer

Have a Good Trip . . . I Mean, Meeting!

By James Riley Estep Jr. My family and I enjoy taking trips. We”ve become rather good at preparing for the trip, traveling together, having fun, and capturing the memories. Trips and travel are a lot like meetings. In fact, meetings could learn a lot from family trips. Perhaps most important to consider is this: who”s driving? Elders” meetings are typically driven by the chairman. His role is to oversee and administrate every aspect of the journey, from preparation to the return to the real world in which we serve. Meetings have one driver, the chairman. Where Are We Going?

September 3, 2012

Christian Standard

Prayer Worship & Prayer

A Call to 40 Days of Prayer

By Staff Dave Butts, founder of Harvest Prayer Ministries (Terre Haute, IN)Â and chairman of America”s National Prayer Committee, has set up www.40daysofprayer.net to provide information, prayer guides, and links to ministries sponsoring prayer efforts for the 40 days leading up to this year”s elections. The ministry writes, “The challenge is not to pray for a specific candidate, but simply to have 24/7 prayer for our nation during that time. We are beyond political solutions for our nation, but we are desperate for God”s intervention. We are challenging people to pray God”s purposes for our nation, revival in the church, and

August 25, 2012

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

The Half-Inch Solution

By Daniel Schantz One of my Bible college students came flying out of chapel, shielding her eyes with her hand. “Are you OK?” I asked. She shook her head. “It”s the music””it”s so loud it gives me headaches.” I can”t tell you how many times I have heard church members say, “Sometimes I just hate going to church because the music is so loud.” It”s not the type of music they are objecting to so much as the volume. Solve the volume problem and I strongly suspect the worship wars would soon die down. Music ministers seem to think that

July 7, 2012

Christian Standard

Prayer Worship & Prayer

The Mystery, the Meaning, the Love

By Rick Chromey As a man and woman exchange vows of commitment, to love for better or worse, in sickness or health, for richer or poorer, “until death” separates them, two people become one. In their physical relationship, they are one flesh. In their personal choices, they are one mind-set. In their seasons of loss, trouble, or crisis, they are one spirit. A divine thread is woven within the Christian wedding. What God has joined together, no one on earth can separate. A marriage is rock solid when God ties the knot. The bride”s white dress represents virginal purity. The

June 16, 2012

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Conflict Is a Constant, Encouragement Is a Fuel

By Mark A. Taylor The best way to avoid conflict about worship styles is to leave things the way they are, right? Not according to a survey conducted by Faith Communities Today* (FACT). FACT has surveyed religious congregations of every kind, Jewish and Muslim and others as well as Protestants, Evangelicals, Catholics, and Orthodox. When it comes to worship, these groups, diverse as they are, have some things in common. One of these is conflict. One set of questions in the FACT surveys surrounded worship change and conflict. Most of the congregations (60 percent) that introduced “a lot of change”

May 25, 2012

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Beautiful

By Mark A. Taylor “How beautiful is the body of Christ,” sang the children”s choir, standing in perfect rows on risers in the Sunday-morning worship service. The Twila Paris anthem pictures Christ”s perfect hands and feet and heart and eyes””all sacrificed with pain deeper than we fully understand to take care of sin greater than we fully grasp. And then it reminds us that his beautiful body is still alive and active today, whenever “humble hearts give the fruit of pure lives so that others may live.” As the melody echoed in my mind throughout the day, I remembered