Epic Worship

It's early and already the sun is warm. There is something sublime about fresh morning air, a new sunrise and the way the shafts of light are beginning to hit the branches on the palm trees lined just beyond our apartment balcony. Absorbing all this and taking it in makes me think about propelling my worship with God towards a new level. As I savor my first sips of morning coffee I am thinking about the recent invitation I accepted to speak at Florida City First Assembly's "Midnight Cry" event scheduled for August 27. I was asked specifically to speak about "Praise and Worship".

The opportunity we have as Christians to meet together and connect with God is nothing less than extraordinary. Yet sadly, many take both individual and corporate worship for granted. I'm really starting to zero my thoughts in on this subject. Far to often the worship service itself is crafted around agendas and human talents that have absolutely nothing to do with the activity of connecting with and honoring God. It has simply become an anemic packaged production masquerading as the "real thing".

I've been asking myself a lot of questions. When the unchurched arrive at Sunset Chapel (those who are living far from God) are they able to detect the presence of God among us? Can they see that life-change is occurring? And are they able to experience something in our mid-week and weekend gatherings that they've never seen before?

I'm afraid that far to often we are producing a new generation of church attenders who are lacking any experience or memory of an encounter with God. The result is that an emptiness exists within the "worship experience" itself. It's because of that emptiness people drift into the service at various times, rather than being prompt, filled with anticipation and expectation that God is going to show up in a HUGE way in that gathering and in the circumstances and lives of individuals. People make time for what's really important. And they just aren't capturing the importance of the worship experience to their own spiritual development.

Worship is all about seeking the tangible presence of God. It's all about discovering God's character and His expectations. It's about Him interacting with us!!

A lot of us have visited other churches. And to often in numerous ones the worship experience did little to help people meet God. If your a pastor that follows my blog posts please get this...

I believe that people are longing for a genuine relationship, one that only our God can and does offer!

When personal interaction with God is absent, you will see people drift and uncommit to attending church. People expect to find God in our gatherings. If they can't find Him here...then where can they find Him?

George Barna a noted church research expert once surveyed church attenders about how often did the church worship experience bring them into God's presence?

*27% = Always

*12% = Usually

*34% = Never

*27% = Sometimes, Rarely, or Didn't Know

Snap! This stinks! Is it possible that we are out of touch with what God desires to take place in our worship experiences for our people? It should be a simple truth. And I'm all about keeping things simple! People can come to meet with God in our gatherings. Our worship is intended to produce moments when God's presence illuminates the darkness in which we are all walking in every single day! Maybe this is an area we all need to refocus some attention to? Just a random thought.