Have You Seen These?

Oh my hilarious...

Look Up

When I walked out of GCC last week after Wednesday night rehearsal, for some reason I thought I should look up.  When I did, I saw this.  I thought it was pretty cool.

Is it Art?

Question: Is this art?

How 'bout this?

Or this?

Or this?

Maybe this?

Or this?

The truth is that all of this could be art.  It all depends on perspective and delves into the world of aesthetics - "critcal reflection on art, culture and nature." - as scholars discuss it.  This is a quite complicated question and has been debated for centuries.  If you'd like more on this discussion, check out the wiki HERE.

As we think about creating art for the Church setting, several questions arise:

- who is art for (our target audience)?

- what art forms will express what that audience will understand?

- how do we handle critique? - both the affirming and the disdain

Have you ever been in church and experienced a piece of art that inspired you to worship?  Have you then left that service and had someone make a comment about the same piece of art that they thought "missed the point"?  THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.  And it has everything to do with what people value in art (aesthetics again).  One set of people may love a particular element, while another are either bored by it or flat-out hate it.  

So, as artists in the church, what are we to do?  We have a responsibility to bring our best to God.  But what is best?  

1. Pray - Ask God for great wisdom to lead as you plan and implement great art for His glory.

2. Listen - this is often the part we skip!

3. Plan - ask the questions about target and purpose to get you there

4. Work - work diligently (with as much feedback as possible often gets the best results.) 

2 Chron.24:13 says "The men in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them. They rebuilt the temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it."  In rebuilding the temple they had to be intentional.

5. Be a DUCK - realize that not everyone is going to "get it".  You can't please everyone.  Just make sure that for the most part, the people you want to reach are being reached with what you craft.  

Go great make great art for the Lord who considers YOU his masterpiece! 

"For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10

Connect the Dots

When I was a kid, I LOVED "Connect the Dots" books!  Especially when you couldn't quite figure out what the thing was when you first looked at it.  The tough ones were a challenge, but the reward was better at the end, because it was usually something cool like a rocketship or Darth Vader.

The more intricate and challenging it was, the more dots were needed.

This is similar to our dealing with our volunteers.  Especially in the arts ministry that we do, the complexity that we are asking for week in and week out is astounding.  With this in mind, we need to constantly point people back to the "WHY" of what we're doing.  

CONNECT THE DOTS.

Ultimately, a technician who pushes a button throughout 4 services on a weekend, must understand that his/her button pushing is helping people see Christ!  A drummer needs to know that each hit of a snare can be inspire people to worship God.  We certainly should affirm the technical/artistic skill of our volunteers, but they can get that kind of affirmation in other arenas.  What they can't get is the reminder that when they serve, they are directly impacting people for Christ.  This is what the Church offers that other artistic venues can't. 

When people are pointed back to the vision and affirmed as they use their gifts to further that vision, our volunteers serve with better motive, are more satisfied, better equipped, and ultimately will give their lives for the cause of Christ.  

CONNECT THE DOTS.

Chewing...

I've been chewing on a worship song for a while now.  It's basic premise is that God is good.  This is a basic concept that I would love for our people to internalize and truly believe.  Mark Beeson spoke of it this weekend that even through tough circumstances, we must trust and believe that God is ultimately GOOD.  It's the premise behind Romans 8:28 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  

A few thoughts/verses that I've been thinking about for the song:

• His love and mercy endure for all eternity
• Taste and see that the Lord is good.
• His unfailing love draws us in
• He is close the brokenhearted
• The Cross is the ultimate example of his goodness
• His kindness leads us to repentance
• We (His people) will declare His goodness to all nations

Anything that you might suggest?

Worship Smackdown

So, lately, three of modern worship's BIG GUNS have released new CD's:

Chris Tomlin's "Hello Love"

Charlie Hall's "The Beautiful Sadness"

Lincoln Brewster's "Today is the Day"

I'm going out on a limb here and saying that Chris Tomlin's has to be my favorite due to it's accessibility for corporate worship.  MANY good songs that can be used in the church setting.  My favorite new ones for the congregation (post-Passion releases) are: You Lifted Me Out and Praise the Father, Praise the Son.  I'm thinking that Jesus Messiah will be a great song for Christmas this year to give some variety.  For personal times, the song I Will Rise is absolutely stunning!  Musically, both Charlie and Lincoln have some edge (some great theology in Charlie's stuff which is usual of him), but for the group setting, Chris' album seems to win hands down.  

If you had to pick - which one would be your favorite?  

Anticipation vs. Expectation

As I was approaching our time of worship for our 1st Wednesday (midweek) service yesterday, I had a few thoughts.  For this particular service, I had done more spiritual prep than I probably ever have for a service at GCC.  Regular intentional prayer for about 4 weeks using the prayer (by N.T. Wright) that we presented to the congregation last night:

Abba, Father, maker of heaven and earth:

Set up your Kingdom in our midst.

Lord, Jesus Christ, son of the living God:

Have mercy on me, a sinner.

Holy Spirit, breath of the living God:

Renew me and all the world.

Check out the online version here.

What struck me in my preparation was that I wanted to wary of expectation for the night.  I wonder if that is how we as people who plan worship (and worshippers in general) might approach corporate times.  Do we come to God with a list of expectations as to how He needs to show up?  Do we have certain criterion that need to be met in order for us to engage?  

OR

Do we come in anticipation of what God MIGHT do?  That He might move in ways that are completely unexpected by us?  Do we leave the slate open for God to reveal Himself in ways that are beyond our preconceptions?  

Anticipation vs Expectation

My prayer changed the last day or so approaching last night - "God, do something unexpected - something I haven't planned for!"

It happened.

We were playing along, doing our normal thing - we entered into the song "Jesus Paid it All" by Kristian Stanfill (an arrangement of the old hymn).  During the bridge section, my brother Trace Rorie boldly led, "Oh praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead!" I WAS UNDONE!!!  I could hardly hold back the tears.  Immense gratitude for all Jesus has done and continues to do for us.  I think approaching the night with anticipation rather than expectation made all the difference.  

"I wait for you, O Lord; you will answer, O Lord, my God." Psalm 38:15

I was grateful for a great night of worship.  I'm hopeful that the next month of using the this Trinity Prayer as a church focus, will help our people move further up and further in with their devotion and love for Christ.  I believe that God was well loved by His people last night at GCC.

Words of Wisdom

I'm reading the book "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.  It's about a man dying of pancreatic cancer.  As I'm reading he reflects on life lessons.  Here are two lessons from one chapter that particularly struck me:

One was about his youth football coach:

"Coach Graham used to ride me hard.  I remember one practice in particular.  "You're doing it all wrong, Pausch.  Go back!  Do it again!"  I tried to do what he wanted.  It wasn't enough.  "You owe me, Pausch!  You're doing push-ups after practice."  When I was finally dismissed, one the assistant coaches came over to reassure me.   "Coach Graham rode you pretty hard, didn't he?"  he said.  I could barely muster a "yeah."  "That's a good thing," the assistant told me.  "When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you."  

This is a different look into criticism and how we take it.  I often think it's because someone doesn't believe in me, but is a great perspective.  

The second quote: 

"There's a lot of talk these days about giving children self-esteem.  It's not something you can give; it's something they have to build.  Coach Graham worked in a no-coddling zone.  Self-esteem?  He knew there was really only one way to teach kids how to develop it: You give them something they can't do, they work hard until they find they an do it, and you just keep repeating the process."  

I like this.  This is why we want our kids to be good at something.  It is important for them to know they are loved beyond "doing" anything, but once a kid takes off at something, it can really build confidence.  I remember learning the Rachmaninoff "Prelude in C# Minor" for my Senior Piano Recital.  I honestly didn't think I could do it.  But, after MUCH practice and hard work, I was able to get it down.  I remember thinking, "if I can do this, I can do anything!"  

My Dad: A Tribute

There are a few things you only do once in your life.  On Wednesday I did one of those - I buried my dad, Robert (Bob) Vukmirovich.  Many friends and family gathered to pay tribute to a very special man.  On Tuesday night, after a short Eastern Orthodox memorial service (my parents are Serbian Orthodox), I had the chance to talk about my dad.  Though it was hard to do, I felt like it was something that I NEEDED to do.  With my mother, wife, children, friends and family watching, I spoke of dad.  This is basically what I said:

So many people over the past few days have told me how kind and patient my dad was.  I thought about how they perceived these character traits.  What it really came down to for me was that my dad was FULLY PRESENT wherever he was.  If he was talking with you, he would put aside distractions and really focus on you.  This was often in contrast to my mom and I who are frequently known to say things like "there's a bird!" during conversations.  My dad gave of himself to you, enjoying the moment.  A particular example of this was when he and my daughters would play "the quiet game" while they traveled in the car.  Who could be quiet for the longest was the goal.  My dad, (they call him Deh-da - the Serbian word for grandpa) would usually let the kids win as all grandparents should.  On one particular playing "the quiet game", Deda "lost" by saying "I love rainbows!" - one of those random, kind of out-there statements.  If you saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory think "I love grapes!"  So this phrase began to be adopted by our family as a message of being in the moment.  You'll hear my kids every once in a while say "I love rainbows!"  A great way to remember Deda.

My dad also had an incredible desire for touch.  It would have been one of his top Love Languages - a book by Gary Chapman.  This was true every time we got together.  I wouldn't just give him a quick "hey there" hug.  No, these hugs were the real deal.  It was intentional touch time.  I remember one time when I was very young.  Waiting for Christmas Eve guests to arrive.  Now our family is Serbian.  And Serbian time runs anywhere from 15-45 minutes behind the rest of the world.  So I was waiting for cousins to come open presents.  I was getting tired too from all the excitement.  So, I cuddled up to my dad in our sweet Avocado green La-z-boy recliner.  This was the type with the smooth, kind of pleather finish.  Bring on the 70's baby!  So we squeezed in the chair together and we both took a little nap.  I felt safe in the lap of my daddy.  So I rested.  I think that's kind of what my dad just went through.  He was tired, so he crawled up into the lap of his heavenly daddy and is now at rest after a long and tiring journey.  

So that's what I said.  Much more could have been said, but I wanted dad to be honored by brevity.  He would have liked that.  More smiles about his life than tears about his death.  I think that's the way I want to go out.  

I thought I'd finish by letting people know some things about my dad:

- he loved tech toys - we had the first "portable" VCR (11 lbs) on our street 

- he loved model trains - we used make a track that would go around the entire basement

- he loved to sing - a church choir member and director for over 50 years

- he was a chemist - 41 years at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit

- he loved crossword puzzles - everyday Detroit Free Press, New York Times on the weekends

- he loved gardening - especially flowers

- he hated eggs - any kind, prepared any way - even in this last hospital stay he asked "no eggs"

- he had the driest sense of humor - many a groan at his jokes

- he never had an unkind word to say about anyone

- he adored my mom - in his last years he called her "his hero"

- he was my biggest cheerleader (before my wife) - his words were always "you can do it!"

- he was enamored by his grandaughters - always on his mind and heart

- he was a man who was well loved

- he was a man who loved well (for this I am forever grateful)

Wanna Have Success Selling on iTunes

Here's an article that might help.

Um....

Thoughts?

Thanks, Jeff.

Baptism: A Dad's Perspective

Just had to put these up.  It was a sacred honor and privilege to baptize both of my girls.  This was a next step in their growing faith in Christ.  We've seen their growth as they pray, as they serve, as they share their faith.  This was the year.  On Sunday, both of my girls drove a stake in the ground to remember the covenant they made before God and many people - to love, follow and serve Christ all their days.  It was, as I said before, a day to remember.

A Day to Remember

Yesterday was one of those days.  If you saw the movie, "Groundhog Day", it was one of those I would feel great about repeating.  

Quick rundown of the day:

• Slept in.  (Bonus: kids slept in!)
• Coffee mix was just right
• Read Bible and praised God for some amazing things the day prior
• Took a shower/shaved my head - NO CUTS
• Prayed with Lisa and my girls for the upcoming baptisms
• Came to church during the 9:30 service and there was ONE PARKING SPOT available!
• Baptized a whole group of people with Dr. Bob, including my new neighbor Marcie Herman 
• Between baptisms, hung out with my brother, Jason Miller.  I always walk away closer to Jesus after hanging with him.
• Completely overwhelmed by the attendance at the 11:30 service and was brought to tears as almost half the crowd came forward to receive Christ. 427 at that service alone!
• Baptized John Nace.  A special guy with a special story.
• Felt so loved by our church family and friends who came to watch Anna and Sophie be baptized!  Our friends the Geschkes and Longcors (who came from Goshen) were cool surprises!  
• Baptized Anna.  I couldn't even get the first words out.  Seeing my wife in the pool and Dr. Bob.  After catching my breath, I was able to finish.  I saw a radiant young woman of God emerge from the waters.
• Baptized Sophie.  Her sweet, calm responses to the 3 questions about her commitment to Christ.  Then as we lifted her from the waters, hearing the crowd around us cheer.  That was great!
• Gave each of the kids a cross necklace to commemorate the day.  And they were fully grateful!  
• Went to Logan's after church and had a great steak, baked potato, and the ROLLS, baby!  Our server, Kaitlyn, was top notch as well.
• Hung out on the bench outside of Walmart with my brother, Corey Mann.  Great to catch up and hear his heart.
• Got home and a slew of little girls were hanging out around our house.  Lauren Baker and Sophie got heavily into dressup.  No fights between anyone!  
• Kids off to bed.
• Watered our plants outside.  Always a time for reflection on the day for me.  Good time with God.
• Spent some great time with Lisa

It was a great day.  One of the best in recent history for me.  God is good.

Holding Steady

Thanks for everyone's prayers. My dad is holding steady. Fairly lucid - He asked for Diet Coke :). Yesterday the doctors were telling us that we had hours. Today they are telling us weeks. We are now asking what is next. This is where we will need a great deal of wisdom. Thanks for anyone who would lift up a prayer on behalf of our family.

Update on Dad

Thanks for all your prayers.  My dad is stable but in pretty rough shape.  They didn't catch him before the 3 hour window that can make all the difference in rehabilitating most of the stroke damage.  He is at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital (where he worked as a chemist for 40 years) and they are performing an MRI today.  I'll be heading up to Detroit after services tomorrow.  My mom felt that not much will change between now and then, so we're going with that.  

Specifics for prayer:

1. My mom and I will need to make some pretty tough decisions regarding my dad's care from here on out.  This could include semi-permanent nursing home care.
2. My mom's house is way too big for her to handle and though she has been doing most of the maintenance (and hiring a lot), she'll probably need to move.  The Detroit housing market STINKS, so we'll need that to pray about.
3. If my dad somehow is able to recover from all of this, his "good leg" often will get a bed sore on the heel which takes months to heal because of his diabetes and poor circulation. If we could pray for a well-taken-care-of heel, that would rock.

Thanks again everyone for all the well wishes and prayers.   

Prayers Needed

Hi everyone,

Just need prayers for my dad, Bob, who had a stroke this morning.  He has total paralysis on his entire left side.  He was taken to the hospital this morning by ambulance.  My mom is shaken.  Our hope is in Christ that His Kingdom is revealed in all of this.  

5 Years (and 3 days)

I just remembered that it was five years ago on August 24th that I came to Granger Community Church to be "Pastor of Music and Drama".  Since then, my role has evolved to drop the "drama" part of the title.  Kristin Baker is much more capable than I and is running point on an amazing drama ministry.

Five things I've learned in these past five years (I've learned a lot more, but this is a blog you know):

• It's either about Jesus or about me; it can't be both.
• Prepping to lead worship is much more than musical - it's "on your face time" before God 
• The team outperforms the individual in the long run, everytime.
• The three P's of ministry with volunteers: PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE.
• Key friendships are just that, KEY.

We've grown so much here.  I'm thankful for 5 great years.  GCC is a great people to be part of.

Chalk Dan

This is me through the eyes of my daughter Sophie.  Check out the sweet KICKS!  

"For we are God's masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10

Creating Space

This morning I had the chance to have my monthly breakfast with my daughter Anna.  We head to Bob Evans restaurant on or around her birthday date each month.  I stole this idea from Mark Beeson about a year ago.  She ALWAYS gets the Little Farmer's breakfast (which is quite the deal for $3.00).  I ALWAYS try to LISTEN with both my EARS and my HEART.  Making the space for this is crucial to me in really knowing my daughters well (I do this with Sophie too).  

This particular morning was great since we had a chance to wander the campus of Notre Dame as well.  Through a few comments that Anna made, I was able to literally hear her heart.  Knowing what my daughter is going through allows me to be much more specific in my prayers for them.  I have a focus for this next season that I will bring before Christ daily, on behalf of Anna.  I'm fully expecting God to do some amazing things in this area of her life.  

Without the breakfast and the time to just pull away from everything that distracts - TV, computer, cell phone, etc - I would not have had the opportunity to hear this.  I'm grateful for Anna and for the time we intentionally spend together.

Thoughts on Worship

I've been reading Marva Dawn's book: Reaching Out without Dumbing Down.  It has been challenging me in several ways with regard to worship.  I don't agree with all that she writes (as if that would be a good thing).  I do love her heart.

Here are a few things I like so far:

• "The entire act of Christian worship is a gift to God of the entirety of the worshipers' lives."  This goes against an attitude which might say "I didn't get anything out of the service today."  Ultimately, who are we gathering for?  Us or God?
• "Genuine praise of God depends upon truth.  It is not just an attitude of appreciation or an emotion of well-being or delight; instead, it acknowledges a superlative quality or deed.  Praise does not express our own yearnings or wishes; it responds to something given to us."  This is a what we are moving to at GCC.  More time to respond to God's truth.  I think it's working.  It is so good to be presented with truth and then have the space to process it and ultimately respond in praise of the One who allows us to recognize it.
• "Churches actually do worship participants a disservice if their praise of God ignores life's harsh realities and God's presence in the midst of them.  To be only upbeat is to be unbiblical."  Agreed.  If people experience only the aspect of joy in church, they may come to suspect that the people of the church are plastic.  That "real life" is being swept under the rug while we put on happy smiles for weekend services.
• "Worship must center on God, glorify Christ, involved people, express praise, communicate the truth of the Bible, encourage faith, promise redemption, reflect the incarnation, build up the Church, instill vision, make an offering, nurture communion, and evoke an 'Amen'."  This is certainly not an exhaustive list (from C. Welton Gaddy), but it is a good place to start.  The challenge is to discern what emphasis God desires in a given service.  Obviously all of these elements cannot receive the same amount of attention in one service.  In the fullness worship over a given season, I agree that these should be covered.

As we move through different changes at GCC, I'm sure we'll continue to wrestle with defining what our worship looks like.  I'm thrilled at this challenge.