CONNECTED WORSHIP

In my last post, New Media and The Church – Part 1, I discussed the idea that advertising trends are changing and the church should be aware of these paradigm shifts. Today, I am interested in addressing how to apply these trends to the church.

To start, maybe we should ask, what is new media anyway? Well, Sam Mahlstadt writes about using social networking to extend the vision and reach of the church. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are three of the big online communities where people gather to share information and experiences through text, video and images. Building relationships is a huge part of being successful in the social networking sector and harnessing the power of these new forms of communication.

“Relationships are built in a context, and you must be willing to immerse yourself in the network to which you belong in order to become part of the framework. A community is a living, growing collective that can only exist within a context created by multiple contributing members. To be a viable component of a network, you must continually engage with the other members in conversation and creation.”

In Part 1 of this post, we saw that people want an interaction with your message, not just a sales pitch. In order to spread the truth of God’s word using new forms of media, you need to understand how to create “online” relationships with those people who are interested in your message. Once that relationship is created, it must be sustained. These relationships through online networking are very powerful. Through them, awareness of your message can grow exponentially.

“Simply becoming a member of an online community does nothing to further your cause if you don’t engage and interact with that community in a meaningful way…Whether you are building a community, raising awareness to a cause or generating financial support, your social network can become an important extension of your vision.”

The power of new media is growing, and spreading the truth of God’s word can be done effectively when these forms of media are used correctly. Just like advertisers are considering the change in media consumption trends, we need to be aware of these changes and use all the tools in our tool belt to get people connected to God.

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Excerpts taken from Sam Mahlstadt’s article in Collide Magazine, “Extend Your Vision, Expand Your Audience”

Communication changes from culture to culture. From oral stories and cave drawings to email and twitter, the medium used to convey a message is always changing. I believe that the church must be just as aware of these changes as is the mainstream advertising industry. As church leaders, we can use new ideas and mediums to convey the rock solid message of Jesus Christ and His saving grace.

In the context of advertising, Steven Pearlstein writes, “These days…the power has shifted from marketer to consumer. Thanks to the Internet and TiVo, digital radio and video-on-demand, consumers decide what information and entertainment they want. Rather than simply pushing messages on consumers, the trick is to get consumers to pull them.”

I feel that what Pearlstein is getting at is that people know when they are being sold something. I believe that this new generation of consumers, especially, can tell when someone is peddling something and trying to get them to buy. According to Pearlstein, consumers want to be interested in something and follow it down the rabbit hole. They want to be engaged with a more authentic experience rather than an artifical sales pitch.

I think that the church can use emerging trends and new media to engage God’s people in a relationship style experience that displays Christ’s love and grace. Stay tuned for more on this very idea in my next post where I will look at specific media and ways to use it effectively in the church.

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Excerpt taken from Steven Pearlstein’s Washington Post article, “Advertising’s New Idea: Don’t Push the Product; Pull the Consumer Instead”

I really enjoyed this video clip of the opening to a Hillsong conference. It’s a little long but very interesting and inspiring.

I was recently reading Isaiah 1:1-31 and was intrigued by two verses: Isaiah 1:16-17. My wife, Jenny, actually brought them to my attention and as I read them and studied them, I started to hear what God was saying to me. I believe these two verses contain important insights for successful Christian living. In this chapter of Isaiah, Israel had fallen away from God. They had forgotten who their true master was. God was using the prophet Isaiah to tell Israel to return to Him. Are there areas on our lives we have turned away from God? Have we in some way not allowed God to truly be our master? One of my favorite parts of this chapter is verse 18, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…” God doesn’t leave His people, He gives them hope. And through Jesus Christ, He gives us hope that our sins are washed away and we can be completely free of them. 

I took a look at several different versions of the bible and for the sake of our human attention span (and limited memory capacity in this busy world), I boiled Isaiah 1:16-17 down to 5 statements that I believe are keys to Christian living: 

1. Learn To Do Good
2. Seek Justice
3. Stand For Freedom
4. Defend The Fatherless
5. Plead For The Widow

I love how these five points from Isaiah paint a picture of how God wants His people to act. I believe these are noteworthy because God sees fit to include the idea again, in the New Testament, giving particular emphasis to the last two on this list. In James 1:27 God tells us through His bond-servant James that, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” Living successfully here on Earth, as Christians, is not a difficult thing to understand. The truth is clearly laid out before us in the Bible.

As worshipers, looking at God’s truth and allowing His spirit to help us live it out is vital to leading others not only in worship but as real life examples of Jesus Christ and His amazing love. I want to leave you with an excerpt from Matthew Henry’s commentary on James 1:26-27. I believe he articulates this concept very eloquently:

“When men take more pains to seem religious than really to be so, it is a sign their religion is in vain. The not bridling the tongue, readiness to speak of the faults of others, or to lessen their wisdom and piety, are signs of a vain religion. The man who has a slandering tongue, cannot have a truly humble, gracious heart. False religious may be known by their impurity and uncharitableness. True religion teaches us to do every thing as in the presence of God. An unspotted life must go with unfeigned love and charity. Our true religion is equal to the measure in which these things have place in our hearts and conduct. And let us remember, that nothing avails in Christ Jesus, but faith that worketh by love, purifies the heart, subdues carnal lusts, and obeys God’s commands.”

It’s amazing how our whole way of thinking and our actions change when we know something is the last. I remember last year when the Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop, Jack Wilson, thought he might not return this year to play for the Pirates. He scooped up some dirt after one of his last games. The fans cheered him just a little bit more. Maybe he even played a little bit harder for those last couple of games. It seems like when something has finality, we take it more seriously. Think about the series finale of your favorite TV show. For me, I remember the Cosby Show. I watched that show for years as a young boy and I remember the final episode. It seemed so important. We all gathered around the TV to watch every second of it, almost without a blink. I didn’t watch every episode that way, but I did this one. How about this…you are on a bike ride in the country, in the heat of summer, and you have a whole gallon of water. In your mind you may be thinking, “Ok, I have to ration this water.” But it may not really become all that real to you until you have one sip left and 20 more miles until the next watering hole. Now, you become much more careful of how and when you take a drink. You don’t just gulp it down. You wouldn’t dare let even a drop miss your mouth.

As christians and as leaders, we need to live everyday as if it’s our last. By that I mean, we need to take each day as seriously as the last gulp of water on a hot day. We need to be ready for anything, not taking our life or our time for granted. Jesus explains the importance of readiness in Luke 12:35-38. 

³⁵ “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, ³⁶ as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. ³⁷ The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! ³⁸ He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.

A few months ago my wife and I had a baby girl. This was our first baby so we were not sure what to expect throughout the pregnancy. When her due date came and went, we both were unsure of things to come. The doctors said the baby could arrive any day, so we needed to be ready and wait. So we waited. And waited. And then her friend had a baby, but we still waited. And one unassuming day, T+8 days after the due date, baby Miriam came into the world. My life has never been the same and I love it! However, there was the week before and after the due date that we had to be ready to drop everything at anytime and go to the hospital. This proved to be an extremely trying but beneficial experience for me. Particularly at work, my mindset and actions had to be altered. Everyday that I left work, I knew there was a chance I wouldn’t be back for several days if my wife went into labor. So, I made sure all my work was done promptly. I didn’t leave anything to finish the next day, if I could help it. I regularly updated my boss on the progress of certain tasks so he could carry on in my absence. I basically gave 120% at work during that time (as opposed to my usual 100%, you all know what I am talking about). Living in that state of readiness, like everyday was my last, forced me to change habits and patterns in my life…mainly for the better. 

I believe this is how we should live everyday. Like Jesus illustrates in Luke 12, we need to live in readiness. The one who does, will be rewarded. As worship leaders, we can worship and lead with readiness. We can give Him everything that we have, lay it all down in worship. What are we waiting for? Are we holding out for a better deal? God is the best deal, and we need to worship Him now like it’s our last drink of water on a desert voyage.