Tuesday-Last day of the Kolin Conference

Today was the last day of the conference. Our main goal was to use the student musicians we had been training to lead worship for the final service of the conference. For the short amount of time we had to work with them, the did REALLY GREAT! We taught them songs like “Your Name is Great,” 2 of P. Jeff’s other songs, “Psalm 80″ and “Send Your Rain,” and we ended with the Czech version of “Christ and Christ Alone.”

We began singing in english and then with a small choir of Czech students close by, began singing, “Jezis, Jezis Sa’m, Je Mov Pisni.” It was a beautiful sound as the room erupted as one voice, in such simple, humble praise to God.

There is still more to come though!
Tomorrow is our free day in Prague. We will do some sight seeing, and maybe some shopping. It should be a nice quick break after a busy few days.

Then Thursday we travel to Byrno to minister for the only protestant church in a city of half a million. There is much work to be done. Great things are to come!

Set List 10.25.09

This set list is one of many that you can find at the worship music set list blog carnival at fredmckinnon.com, a great resource for worship leaders and bloggers.

Today at HRCC, we did a set list focused on the nature of God in our relationship with Him.

Jesus Paid It All - written by Elvina M Hall (adapted by Kristian Stanfill)
We started off this week’s service with this great hymn about Christ’s payment for our sins and our need for His sacrifice. We were down 2 electric guitars this week, so it wasn’t quite as rockin as normal. Still, it was a great way to get the service started and set our hearts in the right place.

You Never Let Go – written by Matt Redman
This is a wonderful song that seemed to get people excited as soon as we started singing. The lyrics of this song describe our trust in God through every season of life and is a call to action for us to worship Him in those times.

O Great God – written by Nicholas Petersen & Tim Wildsmith
Speaks of the greatness and nature of God in our lives. God of grace, love, mercy, justice, power and might. This folky hymn-like song really seemed to bring it home this week to wrap our praise and worship.

Worship Band
Nicholas Petersen – vocals, guitar
Andrea Mackowiak – vocals, keys
Carmen Mugnollo – bass
Brandon Hererra – drums

Discipline in Worship–Ephesians 5

I’m always a big fan of contrasting realities. Like when you’re a kid and your parents discipline you and you’re completely mad at them while they say, “I’m doing this because I love you.” I think that’s God does for us sometimes. In our worship services, we often want to feel an uplifting emotion from positive lyrics that give us “warm fuzzies” and leave us saying “worship was good today.” If worship was intended to be based on emotional or musical “highs” this might be okay. However, just as our parents showed us love with a strong slap on the rear, God has some discipline for our times in worship.

In Ephesians 5 Paul gives the church stern instructions for living as Christians.

Ephesians 5:3-5 (NLV)
Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

There are so many believers who are smudging the grey areas and living as much in the way of sin as the world. For those in ministry, there is a temptation to put on the posture of holiness while in our homes living something quite different. In verse 15 Paul says “Be careful how you live.” This is the same person who told the Romans “give your bodies to God…as a living and holy sacrifice…This is truly the way to worship Him.” The way we live is parallel to the way we worship. Its in fact the same thing.

I love that this entire chapter is going somewhere. If you read all of verses 1-20 you’ll see how God starts with a gracious encouragement, leading to strong discipline instruction, a call to acton to “Awake o Sleeper” and response of praise and thanksgiving. In verse 19 Paul instructs the church to lift up psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with music to God. The songs should be the overflow. The worship is how we live throughout the week, continually giving our lives to God. Our congregational worship on Sunday mornings should be an outpouring of thanksgiving on top of the worship already giving to God previously.

I encourage you to read the whole chapter of Ephesians 5. Good stuff for all!

Double Duty

There have been some changes recently in my life at Hobson Road Community Church, where I am the Worship Arts Leader. Janell, the youth pastor of ReasonYouthChurch recently resigned, and while we look for her replacement, I am taking over as interim youth pastor. This means me doing double duty: worship & youth and also gives me a chance to stretch my preachin skills. Last wednesday was my first week and we had a great service talking about “The Next Chapter: Principles of Change.” Obviously, it was a fitting message and hopefully got us off to the right start.

From time to time, I’ll try to post some of the topics we are talking about and how things are going at Reason. Please keep Reason in your prayers during this time of transition.

New Site Is Up!

I’m very happy to announce that www.nicholaspetersen.com is up and running. If you are reading this from wordpress.com than you will be intersted to know that my blog is now posted at www.nicholaspetersen.com/blog as well.

Otherwise, you have already found your way here and are having a look around. Feel free to poke around, look at some designs, listen to a tune, and send me an email.

Excellence and Skill

I had a conversation with a pastor recently who said that he wouldn’t mind “having a guy leading worship that couldn’t hold a tune, as long as he was anointed.” This idea isn’t altogether unusual, as most pastors and worship leaders understand the importance of anointing over skill in leadership position. This is something that we see over and over in the Bible where God called people into the least expecting positions; Moses, Samuel, David, Paul, (do I need to go on?).

However, something about the idea of an inadequate musician leading musical worship stuck in the back of my head and kept nagging at me like an itchy shirt tag. Was that right? Of course, I myself have always said that I would take a heart over talent any day. So does that mean I should let someone take on a musical task that they have no natural talent for simply because “they have a great heart?”

Ironically, the next day I came upon a scripture that answered my question, and put in the “heart vs. talent” question into perfect balance.

David was making plans to bring back the Ark of God to Jerusalem. God gave the Levites the task of carrying, guarding and leading Israel in worship before the Ark.

1 Chronicles 15:19-22
The musicians, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were chosen to sound the bronze cymbals. Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah were chosen to play the harps.  Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were chosen to play the lyres. Kenaniah, the head Levite, was chosen as the choir leader because of his skill.

Now that first thing to notice here is that the men being chosen to lead in worship were Levites, God’s anointed priests. These were men that God had called specifically, generations before, to worship carry the ark and bring the Lord’s worship.

Secondly, we see in verse 22 that musical skill was a large factor in placing Kenaniah as the choir leader. While God looks at our heart first to see our character and motives, He also places a high value in skill and excellence.

For Worshippers
God has given each of us gifts, talents and strengths to use to glorify Him. To some, those are musical talents, and others, they aren’t. When we join in congregational worship, an individual’s musical talent makes very little difference to God, in comparison to their heart.

1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT)
“People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

In our worship, even the most off-pitch voice can be beautiful in the ears of God, if it comes for passionate heart.

For Worship Leaders
To those leading a group in worship, there is a lesson learned about God’s standards for leadership. Its all about balance.

First and foremost, God chooses the anointed. The Levites were God’s priests, called and anointed to bring worship before the ark.

Second, in leadership we must have a skill in our calling. Whether its through natural talents or divine blessing, God will always equip who He has called. This may not happen overnight and it will probably take time for God to develop the gifts He has put inside you, but be sure that if He has called you, He will empower you. In turn, God also demands excellence from us in our gifts.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NKJV)
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might;

Psalm 33:3
Sing a new song of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.

Clearly, God wants our best, and we should bring Him our best, purest sacrifice of praise as we worship Him.

Archtop Restoration 01

Last week I discovered a little piece of junk that just might be a nice gem. This guitar has been sitting in my pastor’s garage for the past 15 years, pretty much untouched, given to them by an elderly neighbor who was in his 80s. I spent some time trying to find what type and how old this guitar is, and when I expressed how much I admired it, my pastor gave it to me. Now, granted, this no-name relic isn’t probably worth more than $50 at a pawn shop, I believe it may have the potential to be a very playable instrument, and mostly an inspirational sidekick to my songwriting. (always good to have some nice, old equipment lying around)

It definitely will need some work though. Here is a list of some of the problems I will have to address for it to be truly playable:
1) 2 large and very significant cracks in the headstock needing repair
2) String 1 tuner peg broken (must replace all tuner pegs)
3) Volume/Tone pots need cleaned and re-mounted to pick-guard
4) Re-mount pick-guard
5) Action is EXTREMELY high (must sand down bridge to appropriate height)
6) Binding on neck is coming loose (super glue to neck)

My goal is to restore this guitar as close to original as possible without losing the very worn character that it have earned over the years. This will be difficult thought, because as i’ve looked at this guitar there are a few things that don’t fit. The neck is a much thinner electric neck than those typical to guitars of this body style and age (40s-50s-ish). It is a bolt on neck and its finish doesn’t seem to go with the strange green finish on the body. Also, it doesn’t help that there are no markings or numbers on anywhere on the body, neck or pickup.

My conclusion: this guitar was either pieced together from two separate, really old guitars, or made by a guitar company that didn’t really know what they were doing.

Still, I have faith that I can end up with a pretty sweet guitar.

Finally, I am toying with the idea of stripping the green finish and giving it a natural or perhaps even a sunburst finish. This would be later on in the project, and I haven’t decided if I want to make the jump, but we will see.

Either way, I’m really excited to get this project off the ground. It will be a fun experiment.

Hillsong United: leading a worship leader

Last night was an interesting experience for me in being lead in worship. I was able to see Hillsong United at Willow Creek Church, and of course came in with high expectations. It was the third time I’ve been able to see these great worship leaders, but was met with a different experience than before. As they started the night off with classic united tunes, Break Free and Take It All, I found myself not entering into worship, but analyzing the differing musical parts, drum tones and unique apparel choices the band had made. I started thinking about the sections of the song that were coming up and if the keys were sitting in the mix right. Basically, I was distracted by so many of the things I become aware of when I’m leading worship, and was having a hard time engaging in worship. I told myself, “This is your night off – just let yourself be lead.”

I’ll just be real and honest.

I’ve found that as someone who is engulfed in a culture of worship, I can sometimes have a hard time just worshipping. I listen to “worship music” during the week, spend my time reading worship blogs and making set lists for worship services. I learn and practice new worship songs, and then swap ideas with my worship leader friends. However when its time for someone else to lead me in worship, I can be easily distracted by all that is going on. Is this just me, or do other fellow worshippers experience this? Have we become so focused on the culture of worship christians have created that we can lose focus of “just worshipping?”

I will not offer a solution or conclusion to the thought in this post, but I will sit on it and open up the topic for feedback.

btw
The night with United was a wonderful one, and the message they brought was great. They used some wonderful elements of video that added to the worship experience, and most importantly, they challenged the crowd to make the night more than an experience and to take the message of love to the world. wonderful night of worship.

The Priestly Function of Praise (Part 3)

*If you have not read parts 1 & 2, please do so, otherwise you’ll be lost with this one. *

We are called to be a “Kingdom of Priests” as John told the early church in Revelation 1:6. The chief function of the priest in the Old Testament and today is to “draw near to God.” We do this through praise and worship. While we are given examples of what the priestly function looks like by Melchizedek, David and Jesus, the greatest description of the requirements of the priest are found under the priesthood of Aaron.

It is important that we understand God’s standards for priesthood. Those in ministry especially, must realize what God requires of those who lead His people in lifestyles of worship. There are four main requirements that are expected of God’s priests.

Set Apart
God wants us to be sanctified and pure, set apart from the evil of the world. I’m always amazed and disappointed when I see worship leaders who are actively working to make their worship services more like a secular concert. Don’t get me wrong, I love lights, media, and having the music LOUD, but often I think worship leaders start letting the focus on presentation become a performance. We are not supposed to be modeling the world, we are to model Christ, who’s lifestyle worship was very different from the status quo of the world.

Exodus 19:22 (NLT)
Even the priests who regularly come near to the Lord must purify themselves so that the Lord does not break out and destroy them.

Let us make sure our hearts and motives for worship are pure and that we keep our focus on bringing glory to God.

Holiness
Numbers 16:5 (NLT)
Then he said to Korah and his followers, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show us who belongs to him and who is holy. The Lord will allow only those whom he selects to enter his own presence.

We need to live a LIFESTYLE of holiness to enter the presence of God.
Our weekly, 20 minute dose of worship is not enough to sustain us. We need to constantly and continually live holy and pure before God. Worship is not a moment with God, it is a lifestyle of sacrifice to God. Holiness is an absolute requirement for those who want to enter His presence.

Ordained
Exodus 19:4-6a (NLT)
‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.”

Notice the possessive nature of God’s description of His people:
“I carried you”
“brought you to myself”
“my own special treasure”
“my kingdom of priests, my holy nation”

God has intended great things for those that belong to Him. He is not willing to share us with the idols of this world; rather He has kept us as His own and desires for us to follow only His ways and live by only His standards.

Cleansed
It was very important that all priests kept themselves physically clean when they entered the presence of God.

Exodus 30:21 (NLT)
“They must always wash their hands and feet, or they will die. This is a permanent law for Aaron and his descendants, to be observed from generation to generation”

Exodus 40:12-13 (NLT)
“Present Aaron and his sons at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and wash them with water. Dress Aaron with sacred garments and anoint him, consecrating him to serve as a priest.”

Genesis 35:2-3 (NLT)
So Jacob told everyone in his household, “Get rid of all your pagan idols, purify yourselves, and put on clean clothing. We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”

Exodus 19:10 (NLT)
Then the Lord told Moses, “Go down and prepare the people for my arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing.

Over and over, God expressed how important cleanliness and purity is to those that would stand in His presence. This is a type symbolizing the state of our hearts as we enter into worship. Just as Moses was instructed to prepare Israel for God’s arrival, so we should prepare our hearts and the hearts of our congregation. We must repent of sin and address the unclean parts of our lives that will keep us from communion with God. Through His grace we are made clean and able to come into the Holy of Holies.

1 John 1:9 (NLT)
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

A Warning for Priests
Being a Priest was a great honor and privilege, but came with important requirements that had to be followed with complete obedience to God. Nabab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, were ordained and appointed as priests, but they entered God’s presence improperly.

Leviticus 10:1-3 (NLT)
Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu put coals of fire in their incense burners and sprinkled incense over them. In this way, they disobeyed the Lord by burning before him the wrong kind of fire, different than he had commanded. So fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and burned them up, and they died there before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord meant when he said, ‘I will display my holiness through those who come near me. I will display my glory before all the people.’” And Aaron was silent.

In Part 2, I mentioned the responsibility and importance of the sacrificial fires. As priests we must not be careless with the responsibility of entering God’s presence. If we enter improperly, as Aaron’s sons did, by bringing our own traditions and customs that do not meet God’s standards, into His presence we will not honor God. As we are stirring the fire, we must take care that our songs, music, and forms of worship follow God’s pattern for worship, and not allow the world’s influence to enter as “the wrong kind of fire.”

The Kingdom of Priestly worship
In conclusion, we are called to something higher than a mere voice among a multitude of voices. We are all called to be a priest in a royal priesthood, with great responsibility, a high standard of holiness, and a commission to be a light in a dark world. We become that light by living a lifestyle of worship to God, leading others to this same priesthood. This is the Priestly Function of Praise.

1 Peter 2:9 (NLT)
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

The Priestly Function of Praise (Part 2)

***If you have not read part 1, please do so, otherwise you’ll be lost with this one. ***

We are called to be a “Kingdom of Priests” as John told the early church in Revelation 1:6. The chief function of the priest in the Old Testament and today is to “draw near to God.” We do this through praise and worship. While we are given examples of what the priestly function looks like by Melchizedek, David and Jesus, the greatest description of the functions and responsibilities of the priest are found under the priesthood of Aaron.

The Aaronic Priesthood
Aaron was the first High-Priest. The Aaronic Priesthood was established through genealogical decent and a high standard of perfection was required.

Leviticus 21:17,21(NLT)
17 “Give the following instructions to Aaron: In all future generations, none of your descendants who has any defect will qualify to offer food to his God. 21 No descendant of Aaron who has a defect may approach the altar to present special gifts to the Lord. Since he has a defect, he may not approach the altar to offer food to his God.”

God required absolute perfection in the priests that came before him. This perfection is exemplified in Jesus, the perfect priest, who’s blood-line we have been adopted into. We are believer-priests by his grace and sacrifice.

Priestly Duties
The chief function of the priest was to “draw near to God,” and this was done by several important duties, reserved for only the priests. Just as the early priests were a type of Jesus’ priesthood and us, so are their responsibilities. We have the same duties as they, and though they may take a different form, they are very applicable our lives and our worship.

Sacrificial Fires
The Priest had the responsibility of keeping the sacrificial fires burning.

Leviticus 6:9,13
9 “Give Aaron and his sons the following instructions regarding the burnt offering. The burnt offering must be left on top of the altar until the next morning, and the fire on the altar must be kept burning all night. 13 Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out.”

We must not let the fire that fuels our sacrificial offering of praise fade out. Paul reminds Timothy to stir up the gifts God has given him.

2 Timothy 1:6 (NLT)
This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid hands on You.

Sometimes our patterns of praise and worship become the same old thing, and our worship services can become a pattern of rituals that lose their spark. When we see the tell-tale signs of our fires dying, we need to poke the coals and add fuel to what we are doing. Find the things that can stir up your worship time. Maybe its remembering the greatness of God, or finding new songs, styles or venues to worship God. Keep your worship fresh.
This leads us to the next duty of the priest…

Clearing Ashes
The priest were responsible for clearing the ashes from the altar.

Leviticus 6:10-11 (NLT)
“he must clean out the ashes of the burnt offering and put them beside the altar. Then he must take off these garments, change back into his regular clothes, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean.”

As a fire burns, the ashes must be removed or they will smother the fire. The job of removing the ashes was essential to the priest’s role of keeping the fire burning. We must never get so stuck in the past things that God has done. In my first years of leading worship, I would mistakingly try to recreate an experience of worship, attempting to force God’s hand to move in a way that He had before. This often ends in a train-wreck of a worship set, and smothers the holy spirit in the ashes of past experience. Paul tells the church not get stuck in the past, but to look to future and to new things.

Philipians 3:13 (NLT)
No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.

Psalms also reminds us over and over to “sing a new song” to the Lord. Keep it fresh. Keep the fires burning.

Offering Sacrifices
The Priests were responsible for offering the sacrifices to God.

Exodus 29:38, 39, 42 (NLT)
38 “These are the sacrifices you are to offer regularly on the altar. Each day, offer two lambs that are a year old, 39 one in the morning and the other in the evening. 42 “These burnt offerings are to be made each day from generation to generation. Offer them in the Lord’s presence at the Tabernacle entrance; there I will meet with you and speak with you.

We, in the same way, are commanded to give sacrifices of praise; even to offer our entire lives to God as living sacrifices.

Give Blessings
Numbers 6:23-27 (NLT)
“Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing, ‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show His favor and give you His peace.’ Whenever Aaron and his songs bless the people of Israel in my name, I will bless them.”

Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth and are called to be a blessing to those around us. (Matthew 5:13) As we bless and love those around us, they will see God’s light shining through us.

Offerings
The priests led in bringing offering into the temple. We should give generously as God has blessed us.

Deuteronomy 16:17 (NLT)
All must give as they are able, according to the blessings given to them by the Lord your God.

1 Chronicles 16:29 (NLT)
Give to the Lord the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his presence. Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor.

Spiritual Sacrifices
Besides physical offerings and sacrifices, we are also called to bring a spiritual sacrifice to God. Its not enough to simply go through the motions of weekly worship services or to sing empty songs to God. We must give our whole heart to God, letting the Holy Spirit change us from the inside-out. Our worship must be honest, pure and heartfelt.

1 Peter 2:5 (NLT)
And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.

Hebrews 13:15 (NLT)
Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.

This sacrifice of praise is the greatest function of the priests. Worship leaders should take care to keep the fires of worship burning strong with their congregation and to lead people in these offerings of worship.