Last night we kicked off the second annual SOW with an acoustic concert from Matt Papa, some Q&A with Billy Foote, Chris Orr, Jake Gutledge and I, a little old school medley sing along, and some pizza. Not your typical opening session but it worked great.  Today was jammed packed with 60+ breakout options from some really, really great teachers and one main session led by yours truly and another by Chris Orr. We were honored to have Billy Foote and Wade Morris be our main session speakers and are already working on having some pretty big surprises for next year. Thanks to all the people who helped make it another successful year!!!

I was really only supposed to teach 2 classes but due to some last minute requests and a last minute teacher (read: really late), I ended up teaching four.

1. Building a Functioning Website (this was way out of my skill set as anyone who visits here regularly will know)
2. Sound System Basics (again…not something I really prepared for but I think somebody got something out of it)
3. ProPresenter and Keynote: Reason Enough to Buy a Mac (I really thought I was prepared for this class but I’m pretty sure nobody walked out of there wanting to change what they were already doing)
4. Making A Video Basics (this one was fun but I think I might have talked a bit too much)

By the way, if you were in my video class, I’m going try and salvage the videos we made and post them on here in a day or two so check back.

After Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the men of Seir and set them up as his gods and worshiped them, making offerings to them. - 2 Chronicles 25:14

It used to be that everyone attributed their success and failure to to blessing and curse of some higher being. Today, many people will pat themselves on the back when something goes well and blame others when it doesn’t. That is just as much idolatry as it was for King Amaziah to attribute his success in battle to the “gods of men of Seir.”

There are two questions that come to mind when reading this story:

1. How often do we choose to give worship and praise to someone or something that is not God when we feel excited, celebratory, or successful?
2. How often do we give God honor and thanks for something we think He did but it was only us acting out of his will?

King Amaziah had success and was willing to thank the gods for it, but not the God and God had nothing to do with it (realtively). As you read the rest of the story, you see God even sent a prophet to set him straight but he wouldn’t listen. In the end, he was captured and his kingdom destroyed because he chose to follow his own path and not that which God had set out for him.

Are you following God’s path and worshiping Him alone along the way?

I started out typing a long explanation of copyright law for some church leaders who have recently been asking me questions. There are plenty of sites out there that do a good job explaining things in detail, so I’m just going to give you the basics.

1. If you are performing a song in what the Copyright Office would consider a religious service (”in the course of services at a place of worship or other religious assembly”), then you can perform the songs without any kind of permission whatsoever.
2. However, you cannot print or display the lyrics, record the service via audio or video, nor can you reproduce chord charts for your band even if they include the title of the song or any of the songs lyrics without written consent from the owners of the copyright.
3. That is where CCLI comes in. They cover chart printing (not choir or orchestra sheet music copying), recordings (not distributed or sold), and lyrics displayed among other things I don’t specifically use.
4. If your band plays other people’s songs for community events or anything that is not a “religious services,” it is considered a non-exempt public performance and you would be breaking the law without permission from the copyright holder. Contrary to popular belief, CCLI does not cover these types of performances along with many other things.

• CCLI has a limited library and includes no secular tunes or many popular songs heard of Christian radio. If you just perform the song without displaying lyrics, you’re in the clear so long as your band members learned the song on there own you did not create and distribute charts.
• CCLI also does not cover web broadcasts of the music you perform - but Church Copyright Administration does along with everything else including video. CCA is expensive and requires serious planning-ahead skills - like 4-8 weeks out planning-ahead skills. They describe themselves as the difference between buying turbo tax (CCLI) and hiring a professional personal accountant (CCA).
• With so many new artists and so many new songs that are not registered with CCLI, it is legally up to you (whoever is in charge of reporting) to locate the copyright owner/publisher and report to them your use of their song and pay the PROs (publishing rights organizations) the proper royalties.
• If you are a member of the Willow Creek Association you can get discounts on licenses that are not covered by CCLI.

Bottom line, it is expensive, complicated, and extremely time consuming to be compeltely covered, but there is a slight bit of room in the U.S. copyright law for liberal interpretation. Churches are similar to schools as they are non-profit organizations that a teach reproduces copyrighted material to a face-to-face audience for educational purposes. In that regard, the “fair use” clause in the U.S. copyright law allows for even more exemptions. Though I’ve never heard of any church being taken to court over this gray area and the chances are pretty slim it ever will, it could happen and you would not want it to be you.

Tim Stevens discusses copyright a bit in his book “Pop Goes the Church.”

This site is a nice resource and much easier to read than the pages on the official U.S. Copyright Office’s website. The laws have changed from time to time, so make sure your info is up to date.

Yeah, I stole this from my pastor who stole it from another blogger, but hey, considering I might get one comment, I don’t really care.

2 Chronicles 20:18

“Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.” And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the story of King Jehoshaphat’s prayer, he basically asked God to deliver His people out of an imminent defeat and God responded by telling the nation of Judah to “stand firm, hold your position,” for God was on their side and that meant it was God’s battle to fight. Read the 20th chapter some time to get the whole story.

The part of the story that interests me the most are the two drastically contrasting postures of worship the differnet people groups chose. It makes sense for the inhabitants of Judah to follow the example of their King. It would even make sense for everyone else to do the same out traditional of respect and honor, but the Levites did not. In fact, they chose the complete opposite repsonse and were probably a distraction for those laying prostrate on the ground. However, as far as we can tell from scripture, they were so moved by the spiri, they were completely unconcerned what others were doing around them.

You don’t see that kind of thing much any more. If you go to a church where people like to lay prostrate and worship in whispers, pretty much everyone lays prostrate and whispers. If you go to a church where everyone shouts and jumps around, pretty much everyone is shouting and jumping around. When was the last time you were somewhere God’s presence was so prevalent shouting and whispers went hand in hand or laying down and dancing did not get in the way of each other? What would it take to make every week in church so inviting and free that the grumpy old man with his arms crossed was just as moved by the  Holy Spirit as the lady down front with the tambourine?

“Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord…and laid hold on other gods and worshipped them and served them.’” – 2 Chronicles 7:22

God’s warning to put nothing before Him, seen again in verse 19, is prevalent throughout the Bible. He doesn’t like it and is very clear about it. The most unique aspect of this particular passage is the lasting consequence God dictates to His people if they choose to serve other gods and worship them. Not only will He bring disaster, but He will also turn the whole scenario into a lesson and illustration for future generations.

When I was teaching, I used to love to tell stories. Often my students who knew about my love for story telling would try to get me to tell stories to kill class time. Regrettably, they were good at it and many minutes were wasted talking about old college roommates and the deadly cat I had growing up. Though some of my stories were just for fun, most of them had a useful lesson to be learned.

Many times my stories included former students who had gone against rules and guidelines and the resulting consequences were not only humorous but also valuable teaching points to help prevent other students from making the same mistake. Unfortunately, there were more than a handful of students who did not heed the warnings and followed the same path as the Israelites becoming another story for me to tell.

Unless it has something to do with wisdom, I don’t want what I do to be made into a proverb or example for future generations. I don’t want God to be able to use my actions and disobedience as an statement of what not to do. I want God to be proud to put me on the victory side of the example pedestal to show off how it should be done. However, I’m still in the class hearing the lessons and more often than not finding myself in the shame side of story. How much longer is it going to take me to finally get it and stop allowing the thrill of ignoring the rules to get the best of me?

“When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.’” - 2 Chronicles 7:3

Solomon dedicates his newly constructed temple with a prayer of blessing and thanksgiving to God who in turn responds by presenting his presence and appreciation by means of fire from heaven. Now imagine you are standing there among the crowd of Israelites when that happened. How would you respond?

Yeah, me too. I’d fall on my face so fast I might throw my back out in the process. The people who were there began to shout out praise to God proclaiming the eternal value of his love. Too bad they couldn’t say the same thing about their dedication to their worship to Him. As you can probably imagine, it would not be too long before they had all forgotten about this day and yet again allowed the temptations of the flesh to prevail.

Not to defend their actions, but I can relate to that. How many times have I been taught a lesson just to forget it and make the same mistake again? Too many to count. Even life-changing, monumental moments that compounded conviction with desire to be become more disciplined have been set aside or forgotten in times of laziness, apathy, or peer pressure.

The good news is God Doesn’t give up or forget like we do. He keeps trying. He continues to reach out and reveal Himself to His people. Far be it from me to understand why he would continue to wrestle with a bunch of ungrateful, forgetful, no-good hypocrites, but “His steadfast love endures forever” even when ours does not.

Just a few lines later in this chapter is the popular verse 2 Chronicles 7:14 which reminds us if we will just look to God, and continue to seek Him first, we will see He is always there for us. We are a pathetic people and we need constant reminders. God could pour out fire from the sky everyday but it still wouldn’t be enough to keep our hearts and minds right. Eventually we would get used to it and forget all over again. The cure is a consistent pattern of worship every day is every aspect and element of our daily lives. God has revealed His glory. It is our responsibility to remember.

“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.” – 1 Chronicles 16:29

I’m not going to lie; it is a little refreshing to move past the repetitive “in God’s favor/out of God’s favor” exchange found in 1 and 2 Kings. However, if my memory serves correct, there is much of the same to follow in the next too books.

Nevertheless, we have this beautiful poem written by David after the ark was returned to Jerusalem that is evocative of prayers offered in Isaiah and of course the Psalms. The entire song has several beautiful lines, but only one that uses the Hebrew word for worship (”shachah” in case you’ve forgotten).

One of the unique aspects of this verse is it provides a basic definition of what true worship should be. “Ascribe” is a fancy word for “give,” which of course means present someone with something. So we are to give to God the recognition and praise He deserves; a response to what He has done and is doing. But what do we give the one being in the universe who really doesn’t need anything? We offer the only thing we have to give: our life – thoughts, actions, language, everything. But it is not enough to just say you’ve given it all. You have to approach Him, direct your gift towards Him, and leave it at His feet. It is a gift after all. Who really wants to be an Indian giver to God?

Worship and giving go hand in hand. If it is not to God then it is to something else. And we have seen in the last several books how anything other than God is a bad idea. There is only One who deserves your worship and only One you should be giving your worship to. When the author of 1 Chronicles tells us to “worship the Lord in the splendor (or beauty) of holiness,” he is literally saying we should clothe ourselves, surround our minds and our bodies, with everything that is right, and pure, and holy. That is how we should worship God: release our grip on everything the world is dangling before us and give Him our everything by living a life that pleases Him.

“For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.” - 2 Kings 21:3 (context: 2 Kings 21)

My biggest fear has always been that my children would stray away from what I tried to teach them and choose a path that does not lead to righteousness. Seriously, I remember as far back as high school thinking how devastated I would be if my kids treated me like some of my friends treated their parents. I was by no means the perfect child, but as I slowly began to realize how wise and right my parents were, the thought of my children’s choices began to change how I behaved.

And reading stories like that of Hezekiah and his son and grandson in 2 Kings does not help ease my fears. Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, was the polar opposite of his father. In fact, he even went so far as to rebuild the idols his father had destroyed and moved some into the temple of Jerusalem. That would about like an Islamic leader today taking over Israel and deciding to give it all back to the Muslims by erecting monuments to Mohammad and turning synagogues into mosques. He rebelled against his father’s ways and I can’t help but wonder what Hezekiah did wrong and what else I can do to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to me.

I understand a king has way more responsibilities than I do and the cultural and generational differences have to be recognized. But if you strip down to the raw basics of father and son, what did Hezekiah miss that four generations before him got right? Even three generations later when Manasseh’s grandson, Josiah, ruled Judah and worked diligently to restore God’s favor, it was too late to turn back the anger God had built up against all his father’s had done.

So how do I do it? How do I raise my children in the way they should go so they do not stray from the straight and narrow? I believe it all comes back to how I worship. That outward expression in response to what God is doing and has done in my life must be authentic, consistent, and obvious. My children should see a difference in me as much as I hope and pray every stranger I come in contact with can tell I am filled with a passionate love for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If they can’t see that, what are they seeing and how can I expect them to follow anything but my example?