Losing our normal, hurts. We had rhythms. We had reasonably certain expectations. How should we, as worshiping Christians, grieve our loss of normalcy?

I was leading worship for a group of YWAMers this week, and in my first song, I noticed that my left hand had a tight grip on the neck of the guitar.

Long trials require exceptional resilience, a healthy perspective, and an ability to stick with it. But we never thought we were in a sprint, did we?

I love worshiping with blind trust.

While training audio teams, I often interact with what I have come to call Sound Janitors.

I’ve been getting up at 4:30 AM the last couple of weeks to spend quiet, uninterrupted time writing and editing my past Fertilizers.

Imagine your worship team on a retreat. On a missional retreat in Costa Rica.

Steve, my brother-in-law, is a farmer.

What am I taking to heart?

Serving in worship can be grueling.

Do you have a Sound Janitor at your church?

More and more worship teams are beginning to play with a click.

What has been getting me out of bed on these cold, dark winter mornings?

I was leading Sunday morning worship at this church. I greeted the assembled worshipers and… got back a very wimpy response. I felt like I was looking at a room of corpses.

So I had this experience where I realized that I had been lulled to sleep. Maybe you can relate to this, because I had forgotten that God is actually steadfast. He’s actually good. He’s actually all-powerful. He’s actually able to do what He said He would do.

The other night, I was tucking my son into bed and noticed some trash on his bunk bed shelf. It was the remains of an old, burned-up plastic Coke bottle.

Doesn’t this just have a great ring to it? Campfire. Eating together. Relaxed worship. Late-night talks. Teaching tailored to your team. Friendships deepened. A break from your routine. God speaking...

As we approach the end of the year, I encourage you to take a moment between sips of 'nog (stay tuned for a killer recipe) to reflect on the state of your team's relationships.

Do you know which Sunday marks the end of the Church calendar year? (Did you know the church had its own calendar?!)

My pastor was a college professor who had just finished the semester.