A r c h i v e d A r t i c l e s
By Branon Dempsey
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Fields of Gold - Part II.
The Scripture says in Ezk. 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” In the wrestling of my impatience, God made it clear that there were stones in the soil of my heart and they were to be removed. I needed God to clear the stones, cultivate my heart and nurture my growth in order to produce good fruit.
What do you do in the meantime? Proverb 3:5 & 6 tells us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” That’s it. No need to excessively add water or fertilizer to make it grow. No need to panic. God does the growing – not us. I found that my responsibility was to nurture the soil of my heart. A good friend reminded me that when we neglect our own vineyards, our growth is stunted (Song of Songs 1:6). God was purely calling me to do two things: trust and obey.
God wants your heart first. He desires to soften the soil of your heart so he can grow what he desires. Spend time in His Word that is food for your soul. Spend time worshiping and praying that places you in the intimacy of His presence. Spend time serving His Church and people that supplies and builds the Kingdom of God. Trust Him with all your heart as you obey what he’s called you to do today. Just the next step is enough; not steps 3-5. If you’re like me, jumping the whole staircase seems more fun and takes less time! However, we are a work in progress. God has called each of us to do something great and to produce something great.
We learn overtime. The joy we experience is in the progress. It’s not always fun and sometimes growth causes pain. But take heart: Paul said in Romans 8:18, our time of present suffering is not worthy to be compared with the glory that Christ will reveal. Our time is in the “here and now”. God causes all things to grow for His purposes. Our responsibility is to tend our fields. We are to be ready and able to have God complete his work within us. Check out this wonderful book, “Here and Now,” by Henri Nouwen.
What has God called you to do originally that you are not doing today? Take some time to nurture the soil of your heart, read 2Tim 1:6-12. This passage has been and will always be significant to my growth and outlook. My prayer for us is that we immerse ourselves in His Word and presence, allowing the Lord to nurture the soil of our hearts. As we seek to please him by producing good fruit, may we take the time to trust and obey by tending our vineyards.
5.14.08
Fields of Gold - Part II.
From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things
as surely as the work of his hands rewards him. - Pr. 12:14.
As God produces fruit in our lives, we give him thanks for the good things he has caused to grow. Has there been that time when God was ready to grow a purpose within you, but something else was blocking your way?
When our fields remain unattended many obstacles can prevent our growth. They can be weeds of the world, boulders of guilt, erosion of joy, the bugs of discontent or the birds of famine. Has not God called you to do something great? Has He not given you a field to produce a harvest?
About a year ago, my wife and I planted a small fig tree in the corner of our yard. We spent the whole day planting other trees and flowers. The one fig tree was special to me. I bought it because it reminded me of fun times when I was 12. I always loved the huge fig tree we had in our atrium. Large green pillowy leaves stretched over our patio to provide shade. The large brown branches shot over our enclosed area where birds would make their homes. The figs themselves made very tasty treats. On summer days, mom would make the most wonderful deserts. The figs also made great weapons of war with childhood friends. They also made a great mess of which I had to clean. Those were good times.
In a desire to rekindle some childhood treasures, I hastily dug a deep hole, planted the young sprout, added some stimulator and saturated the ground with generous amounts of water. A few weeks passed, I did not see much progress in the fig tree. I checked the soil, added a bit of fruit tree fertilizer and proceeded to water the tree. Still after a few more weeks – nothing. Then something happened, some of the leaves turned yellow. Because I did not know much about planting, I figured the tree was thirsty. I soon learned that the more I watered, more yellow leaves appeared and were falling off! I called our local nursery only to find that I was drowning the poor guy.
Yellow leaves mean that the tree is receiving too much water; brown leaves mean that it does not have enough water. I noticed another problem. There was a retention pond forming around the tree. The nursery worker informed me that sometimes certain conditions of the ground can cause this problem. South Texas is known for having large amounts of clay in the ground. Layers form together underneath the soil and form a barrier against moisture. When homeowners proceed with landscaping (like us), you have to determine where the clay is buried and replace it with good soil. What did I do? Panicked. Without reservation, I took the shovel and garden weasel and broke ground to alleviate the flood. I also added good soil to mix with the clay and aerated the ground carefully. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. The tree was already wilting with only a few leaves left. After a few more days, the little fella looked like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I was sad (sniff). I learned that I had ruined the tree. For the rest of the late spring and summer, the tree remained in its match stick appearance for the rest of the year.
I find that sometimes with the best intensions, we pour so much care into one thing, that we miss the bigger picture. In my case of the tree, I needed to understand the condition of my soil. Next, I needed to break up the ground more thoroughly and remove the counterparts. Finally, I needed to use less water and allow time to take it’s course.
When God calls us to do something great, we need to check our fields. We need to determine if or what type of obstacles are standing in our way. The fig tree represented something else in my life and I wanted to see results. I thought I was doing all the right things: planting, watering and waiting. But God was teaching me something greater. More tomorrow.
5.12.08
Pictures From Santa Fe, NM
Just got back from NM. Man, the mountains and the cool temprature environment was outstanding! I met with about 22 close friends and worship leaders from around the country. The southwest style food was great coupled with the rich time of camaraderie among friends. A special thanks to Martin Allen of Worship Foundations, Karen Lafferty and Sandy Hoffman – you guys rock!
We discussed the value and biblical importance of biblical worship. Not by the songs we sing or what songs we sing, neither did we share what tools we employed or the kinds of technology used in our services. I don’t know if this bores anybody, but for us, discussing the significance of biblical worship served as an important topic for today. Reason? It’s great to have a well tuned service, but three startling questions rocked us: 1. Is the local church merely putting on a “show,” to our congregations? 2. Are we truly worshipping? 3. Who is the service for?
We are surrounded by a popular individualistic world-view that has an anything-goes mentality – even in other worship movements and local churches. Biblical foundations places worship in a more Christ-centered context (1Cn 16:29; Ps. 98:5; Ex. 24:7; Lk. 4:15-21; Ac. 4:31; Lk. 22:14:20; Mt. 26:30). There is no doubt that both traditional and contemporary churches face their set of challenges of maintaining biblical and cultural relevancy for today’s people. The toughest point I see is how do we maintain an accurate biblical view, while relating authentically to the world as Jesus? To often, we dress our services in many different styles in order to appeal or to “show” to the masses. There also seems to be rivalries among local churches to affirm their efforts over another. Making services relevant to our communities is needed; like anything else, we can get caught in the motions and our purpose loses vitality. Unfortunately, this has been the case for decades in battles over preference issues: music styles, our appearance, culture as well as old arguments of carpet color, bible study programs and what the pastor ate last night. These minor subjects seem to override the spiritual priorities of the Church.
It is true that a church must have a defined DNA of style of worship, but biblical worship, reading of the Word and the preaching of the Gospel, should not be compromised at the expense of relevancy. Praise be to God, that he is not concerned over style preferences in our attempts to worship Him. He does not only hear traditional hymns, contemporary choruses or responsive readings; neither is he concerned about the caliber of our bands, video-eye-candy or catchy sermons. What He is concerned with is the condition of our hearts and the attitude of our souls in worship. Our concern does need to be in how we present ourselves to the world by our heart and biblical posture.
God is honored by a contrite spirit of worship. The worship service is for God and He alone. The Gospel belongs to the work of God in missions. The balance is found in how we rightly anchor worship services on the Bible while relating to the world via the Gospel. Through ardent praise and response from the community of worship, the unchurched and de-churched can experience the Gospel and God’s unconditional love through authentic relationships.
John Piper put it clearly in “Let The Nations Be Glad,” that evangelism (missions) comes out of worship – this means that worship comes first. For worship services to be ardent, authentic and of relevant substance, the Word of God needs to be the foundation for conducting services and not by our style preferences to govern our praise. Neither should the Gospel be governed by how the church presents a “style” in order to show relevancy, otherwise we appear to the world as just a show. What are your thoughts?
5.2.08
Back From San Antonio
I just got back from doing a clinic in San
Antonio with University
Baptist Church.
The weather was outstanding and the people were even better! No, I did not get
a chance to visit the Alamo, but we’ll give another
visit later; this clinic was the bomb!
We had around 45 people in attendance on the weekend; I must say: this clinic was definitely inspiring. The worship team ministry graciously went out of its way in their hospitality and kindness – I thank them all for the rich time we had together!
Friday night we discussed the meaning of worship; folks shared with me the following morning that they had a renewed perspective concerning worship. They began to understand the biblical value: Worship begins with God and ends with God. Saturday was a blowout of music theory, hands on training and band/vocal work. All of the attendees fully agreed that they wish we had more time for the hands on training. I could not agree more; I only wish we had more hours in the day among the other pertinent category topics. It’s like the old saying: time flies when you’re having fun!
Two greatest takeaways from the team:
1. Getting out of the way musically.
Among the many “aha moments,” the team really pulled
together as they understood the value: the Art of 100%. This concept is nothing
new as it was originally introduced by my mentors from the Maranatha! Worship
Leader Workshop Band. The band formed a new appreciation of their role in
supporting the singers (as the leaders). The singers learned from the band in
forming their own core value in better understanding musicianship and work
ethic. On a humorous note, each of them boasted: “well I guess what they do is
not so easy!” Each of them truly learned the value of musicianship, teamwork
and most importantly, balance-control. I was told that this church had major
sound issues. At the end of Saturday when the team implemented the Art of 100%,
I asked about “those sound problems,” and the worship leader said: “we fixed
them!”
2. Getting out of the way spiritually.
It was obvious that this team learned the importance of
allowing God to use them as a conduit of worship leading. Removing self and
placing God first to lead is a critical aspect for all of us to employ in our
leadership. Each team member, through both smiles and tears, shared with me how
God had touched and breathed the flame of
encouragement in getting to know Him more - deeply. These guys put on
their “mock,” worship service and let me tell you, I was in worship myself.
Chills run up down my sides as I experienced God moving within their souls.
When Sunday arrived, the house of worship was filled with such a joy and
excitement that you could see the light of the Son shinning through the hearts,
eyes and mouths as we praised and worshiped God. This team is so very special
to me as my heart was moved. I so look forward to our next clinic soon!
Testimony From The San Antonio
Clinic Weekend:
Branon opened our retreat with a lively discussion of
Biblical worship. His experience and candid evaluations encouraged our team and
revealed our potential. We walked away
with a renewed sense of responsibility including fresh insights and practical
techniques for reaching our goals. There is little wonder Branon is such a
sought after clinician and worship leader.
All he needs is MORE COWBELL!
Michael J. Peeler
Associate Pastor of Music & Worship
University Baptist
Church
5.1.08
The Challenge of Worship and Evangelism
In the worship of our churches today there is a popular
movement of moving toward deeper levels of cultural relevancy. Music, styles
and preaching formats have changed, along with the design of our environment,
landscapes and architecture. Overtime, we as a people have also changed in our
forms of relativity, communication and education in addition to our ever
increasing complex world. Our approach and purpose for worship has also
shifted. However, what has not changed is God Himself, the Word and what He
says about worship. Maintaining an
accurate biblical model of worship is something that seems to be in competition
with style and format issues in the local church. As a result, our worship is
distracted and the message of the Gospel is blurred.
We are surrounded by a popular individualistic world-view that has an anything-goes mentality – even in local churches. Biblical foundations and history places worship in a more meaningful context (1Cn 16:29; Ps. 98:5; Ex. 24:7; Lk. 4:15-21; Ac. 4:31; Lk. 22:14:20; Mt. 26:30. There is no doubt that both traditional and contemporary churches face their set of challenges of maintaining biblical and cultural relevancy for today’s people. The toughest point I see is how do we maintain an accurate biblical view, while relating authentically to the world as Jesus? To often, we dress our services in many different styles in order to appeal to the masses. Although, making services relevant to our communities is needed, like anything else, we can get caught in the motions and our purpose loses vitality. Unfortunately, this has been the case for decades in battles over preference issues: worship-war music styles, carpet color, bible study programs and what the pastor ate last night, which override the spiritual priorities of the church.
It is true that a church must have a defined DNA of style of worship, but biblical worship, reading of the Word and the preaching of the Gospel, should not be compromised at the expense of relevancy. Praise be to God, that he is not concerned over style preferences in our attempts to worship Him. He does not only hear traditional hymns, contemporary choruses or responsive readings; neither is he concerned about the caliber of our bands, video-eye-candy or catchy sermons. God hears our worship - giving Him worth. However, when our worship services shift from the centrality of Christ to self, we are simply making noise as we are reminded in Amos 5:21-23:
"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps."
God is concerned with the condition of our hearts and the attitude of our souls in worship (Rm. 12:1). Our reasonable (default) act of worship is to offer ourselves as living sacrifices - holy and pleasing to Him. If we are truly the bride of Christ, our concern needs to be how we are to present ourselves and the worship of God in a way that is honoring to the Bridegroom among the witnesses. God is honored by a contrite spirit of worship. The worship service is for God and He alone. However, through ardent praise and response from the community of worship, the unchurched and de-churched can experience the Gospel and God’s unconditional love through authentic believers.
John Piper put it clearly in his book “Let The Nations Be Glad,” that evangelism (missions) comes out of worship – this means that worship comes first. For worship services to be ardent, authentic and of relevant substance, the Word of God needs to be the foundation for conducting services and not by our style preferences to govern our praise. The worship and work of God is of the essence - not by our standards of style preference.