The Problem with Church Isn’t Church

I mentioned in a post the other day that I’ve been struggling lately with corporate worship. Corporate worship settings often aren’t the place where I worship with complete abandon. They aren’t often the places where I am left in complete awe & wonder of God and my heart is without words as I consider His power and glory. Honestly, over the last several months I feel like I’ve had more powerful moments of worship driving down the road in my car. Something about this bothers me. Maybe it should, maybe it shouldn’t, but it does. I want to be able to worship completely and authentically with other believers on a Sunday morning.

For too long I’ve sat and blamed this fact on churches. I criticize what I see as “high production.” I get frustrated with the “noise” I feel some churches create. All the while I’m forgetting that there are hundreds of thousands of people who are worshipping with complete abandon in the very settings that I’m criticizing.

A couple of weeks ago the lightbulb went on…
Maybe it’s not so much the particular church or the worship setting or style that’s the problem…maybe it’s me.

I think oftentimes we get so busy critiquing or looking for an opportunity to throw punches from the sidelines that we don’t give our hearts a chance to simply worship. I know that’s been the case for me recently. The solution isn’t changing every church and corporate worship gathering in America to be what I think it should be. The solution is adjusting my focus and the mindset of my heart when I walk into those places to worship.

Take Note…Guns & Words

It’s time to spread a little love in another edition of Take Note…
Shortly after moving to Nashville I sat down and had coffee with Rebecca Smith who works with ProjectAK-47. I first met her while working with them on a sponsorship for STORY. I had never heard of ProjectAK-47 but when I heard their story I was absolutely blown away. The work they are doing with child soldiers is absolutely incredible. Check out their website and see how you can help take an AK-47 out of the hands of a child.

Next up is Mike Perez. If you haven’t seen this video featuring his spoken word piece “Just Worship,” take 4 minutes and watch it now. Mike recently embarked on an 11 month journey with The World Race. You can follow his adventures and hear more of his inspiring spoken word pieces here.

What people or organizations do you know of that others need to know about?