When I came to Mars Hill Church over ten years ago, I had never owned an electric guitar or been in a real band. I was an acoustic guitar-playing, worship-leading youth group poster-child with hippie tendencies. This didn’t go over well when I showed up at Mars Hill. At that point Mars Hill was known for dim light, incense burning, and experimental rock bands. Virtually every musician was a new Christian who had been in many bands, worked in music professionally, and even toured.

A huge musical shift began for me. Instead of my previous diet of Dave Matthews, Bruce Cockburn, and Phil Keaggy, I started going to local shows and was drawn to the Seattle indie-rock scene. I got my first electric guitar, nerded out on amps and effects, and started a band. My acoustic guitar lived an isolated existence for the next 8 years.

Recently, this changed. Over the past year, I have led many small groups in song with just an acoustic: at staff meetings, for students in Re:Train, during community group training, for Acts 29 events, during family song nights, and on and on. During the reawakening of my acoustic guitar, I’ve learned a few things:

Turning Down the Effects Turns Up the Music

If a song can’t stand on its own with an acoustic guitar and a few voices raised together, it needs more work. Effects and instrumentation shouldn’t be used to cover up a poor song. If you can’t strip it all away, and still have substance that moves hearts to worship Jesus, then you’re relying too much on technology, tricks, and gear.

You Learn to Lead, Not Perform

Worship leaders exist to lead others in song; not to perform for them. If you can’t stand on your own and sing your guts out with just a guitar and lead others to do the same, then you need to grow as a leader. I’ve been leading worship for a while now, but leading more in small groups on acoustic has given me significantly more confidence and insight in how to lead others than leading with an electric.

Acoustic Lets You Try New Things

When it’s just you and your acoustic, you can be more sensitive to the people you are leading and, most importantly, the Holy Spirit. If you want to be able to “go with the Ghost” you have to practice and grow in your confidence just like anything else. This year I’ve seen spontaneous prayer, words of prophecy, healings, and rich times of fellowship with God—all in small groups raising their voices in song. Now, by God’s grace, these things are starting to make their way into our main services. Coincidence? I think not. We’re almost charismatics!

I’m still a fan of large bands and worship teams leading God’s people in fist pumping shouts of praise to our great God. But no matter how big your church, seek the opportunity to lead small groups of people in song—and don’t forget your acoustic!

For any questions or comments go to our Facebook group or follow me on Twitter.

Re:Sound

The musical arm of the Resurgence offers music that is theologically unified, stylistically diverse, and musically excellent. Find out more.

Don't Waste Your Music

Some Christians might argue (especially in Reformed circles) that as long as gospel truths are present in the songs we sing together, our gathering has been a success. Helping our people see and respond to Jesus with biblically orthodox words is the most important factor in worship services, but don't waste your music.

God has made music a powerful tool. As a body of believers we can communicate, memorize, express, and emotionally connect with truth through music in ways that no other medium allows. When we see music in its proper place, our job as worship leaders and pastors becomes less about truth and good music being at odds with one another, and more about utilizing great music to highlight truth. Let me unpack this.

Style Polarizes a Crowd

If someone walks into your church service and hears your new pop-country band for the first time, I guarantee you they aren't paying attention to the words. They are either thinking about how much they hate the music or how much they love it. Music is not a neutral tool. It polarizes a crowd. People draw much of their cultural identity from the style of music they listen to.

Can Musicians Be Too Good?

Nothing is more distracting than the guy who wants all eyes on him, and not on Christ. The front man isn't the only worship leader on stage; the players are too. Our gatherings can't be a musician's competition between his glory and God's. We have one target in mind, and all band members should be shepherded to aim there together.

Don't Water It Down; Change It Up

Since stylistic choices and musicianship can be a distraction, the tendency in churches is to make worship music "broadly palatable." Watering the music down may remove a stumbling block to some, but it can also dilute the power of the medium. If we have to work in the confines of music and all the cultural baggage it brings, we must also take advantage of the cultural benefits.

Keep in mind that there is diversity in the body of Christ (Rom. 12:4-5). Change it up from week to week. A good sign that you have the right balance of styles is if every congregant has one band they love and one band they hate.

Seeking to find balance is our lot as worship leaders and pastors. One day we won't be distracted by musical style or sin, and every tribe, people, and language will come together (Rev. 7:9-10) singing praises to our Savior! This is a hope we look forward to. Until that day, we will make the most of this gift that God has given, using it as a tool to point to his unparalleled worth and glory.

Red Letter Music

Music from the Mars Hill band Red Letter. Pay what you want and download the full album now from Re:Sound.

This is a series on 11 Leadership Lessons from 12 Disciples, based on the recent sermon Jesus Calls the Twelve, on Luke 6:12-16.

Lesson #6: Under authority before in authority

In Luke 6:12–16, it uses two words: disciple and apostle. It says, "He took those who were disciples, and he commissioned them as apostles." A disciple literally means a humble follower, a servant. Jesus is teaching, they're listening. Jesus is commanding, they're obeying. Jesus is leading, they're following. They're under authority. And Jesus had a lot of disciples, hundreds, thousands of people come out to hear him. They're all part of the come-and-see, and he picks those who are under authority, and he appoints a handful of them into authority.

And here's why this is so important: some people love to be in authority, but they don't like to be under authority. They want to boss other people around, but they don't take orders well. We've had this situation at various times at Mars Hill where somebody's like, "Okay, I'm a leader now. You can't tell me what to do." No, everybody's under authority—I'm under authority, everybody's under authority. We're all sinners, we all make mistakes. We all need to be under authority. God opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble, so humble yourself.

So the Bible says, "Come under some authority." Those who are above the law, those who are the exception to the rule, those who get to do whatever they want, they're dangerous. They're very dangerous. They like sheep, but they bite shepherds. They like being in authority, they don't like being under authority, and you've got to be good at both to be a leader, because when you go into authority, you still need to be under authority. Being under authority is something for everybody, including the leaders. And if you're going to be in authority, you've got to be under authority.

So he takes those who are under authority, disciples, and he gives them a new title and job description and office. He calls them apostles—that means one who is sent. This is like an ambassador. The language here is like a king who rules a mighty kingdom, and he selects someone to be his emissary or his ambassador, and sends them on a mission into another nation, into another kingdom representing his authority and speaking on his behalf.

Apostle: office vs. gift

So let me explain "apostle." This is very important. First of all, Jesus is the apostle. Hebrews 3:1 says, "He's our apostle." So when God the Father wanted to send a representative, ambassador, emissary from heaven to earth to represent his kingdom, he sent God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our apostle. He's the sent one. That's why it says repeatedly, particularly in John's Gospel, "The Father has sent me." He's the apostle, the sent one.

And then there's the office of Apostle. We'll call this capital "A" Apostle, and those are the twelve hand-selected by Jesus. So their number's fixed. Ephesians 2:20 says, "They set the foundation of the church with the prophets and apostles," that's who's at the foundation of the church with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. The apostles included Judas. He's going to betray Jesus and hang himself. Another man will be selected early on in the book of Acts. One of the requirements is that he would need to be an eyewitness to the resurrection of Jesus. Paul is later added as an apostle, Jesus comes down and commissions him as an apostle as well.

We see that the apostles are a set number of people hand-selected by the Lord Jesus, eyewitnesses to his resurrection, given a very special authoritative designation, some of them actually writing books of the New Testament. That's the level of authority they enjoy. To that degree, there are not apostles today like that. No one has that kind of authority. No one could say, "Well, you know, Peter and I, we're at the same level. John and I, we're at the same level of spiritual authority." No, you're not.

But under the capital "A" Apostle, there's the lowercase "a" apostle and that's not the office, but the gift. And the gift of apostle is one that the Bible includes. You can read the gifts lists. It does list it, 1 Corinthians 12–14, Romans 12. It's listed in the various gift lists. It's a gift. It's a spiritual gift like serving or teaching or administration. It's a capacity. It's a capacity that God gives to men and women. God gives spiritual gifts to men and women, teaching, leadership, whatever it is. And there's a difference between the gift and the office. And so the gift of apostle includes a couple things, like the ability to do cross-cultural ministry, so he could go into another country and be a missionary, start a church plant, start a campus plant. Sometimes it's a movement leader who works across multiple churches, multiple pastors, writes, travels, preaches, speaks, teaches, sometimes internationally. This is one of my gifts.

Okay, but just because you have the gift of apostle doesn't mean anything unless you qualify to be an elder or a deacon, because you can have a gift and not have character. You can have a gift, and not be qualified. So we hold the offices are different than the gifts, but the gift of apostle does exist. We believe in that.

And then there are false apostles. The Bible talks about false apostles, people who are sent by Satan, not Jesus. They minister by the power of demons, not the Holy Spirit. They tell lies, not the truth. They lead people astray, not toward God.

So he takes these twelve who are under authority. He positions them into authority. "You are now Apostles, and you're going to lead," and then there are gifted people under them that have the gift of apostle, and part of our job is to keep people from false apostles, leading people astray.

Under authority before in authority

Here's the big idea. Some of you bounce from church to church, ministry to ministry, because you just don't want to be under authority. You don't want anybody to know you, or what you're doing. You don't want to become a member. You don't want to join anything. You don't want to be held accountable to anything. You just want to live in this come and see, come and see, come and see. But let me tell you, it's an immaturity. It's an immaturity, and today I invite you to go and die, to settle in somewhere, to commit to something, to make it ours and yours, and to come under authority, and then grow and be trained, and maybe one day God would have you to be in authority.

I mean, I can't tell you how many hundreds, there may be thousands of people at this point that I've met, they bounce from church to church to church, ministry to ministry to ministry, because they want to be in authority, and they don't want to qualify. They don't want to get trained. They don't want to prove themselves. They just want to walk up to the leader and say, "You need to do this. Obey me. I'm in charge." They don't say it, but they act like it.

Really, you walk in off the street and start bossing people around? It doesn't work like this anywhere else in the world. You can't do this in the Marines. You can't do this in a college. Can't just walk up to your professor, "I disagree with the degree. We need to do it this way, now." No. Sit down, learn. Be under authority, prove yourself. If you demonstrate faithfulness, someday you can be in authority, and when you get in authority, you can make some changes. Some of you love the idea of being in authority. You resist the thought of being under authority. Please don't pursue being in authority until you've had a season where you've proven yourself under authority.

To be continued.

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This is a series on 11 Leadership Lessons from 12 Disciples, based on the recent sermon Jesus Calls the Twelve, on Luke 6:12-16.

Lesson #5: Weird teams are the best teams

Weird teams are the best because number one, they're fun, and number two, they complement one another. One of the great weaknesses in leadership development theory, and here's the truth, we like to read business books and leadership books, and I subscribe to the Harvard Business Review and Wired and Fast Company. I mean, I like it all, but the Bible and Jesus, that's where we really go to learn, and other things can help us learn about what others are thinking in leadership.

Here's the big idea: if you have a weakness, should you work on it if you're a leader (this could be in ministry or business), or do you find people who are strong where you're weak? Conventional prevailing wisdom has been, you've got to work on your weaknesses. Maybe a little bit, but you know what? You need to find somebody who's better at things than you. Get a weird team of people who are really different. If everybody looks the same, watches the same TV shows, listens to the same bands, wears the same clothes, uses the same colloquialisms, has the same everything, you're probably in a cult. I just hate to tell you that, and the problem with the cult is you never know till the last day, and so it's kind of a disappointment.

A weird team's the best team, right? Jesus' team is kind of a weird team. John's young, Peter and the other guys are older. John's apparently single. Some other guys are married and have kids. It's kind of a weird team. Eleven of them are country boys. One's from the city, Judas, didn't represent us real well. It's a weird team. On this team is a guy named Simon the Zealot, we read in Luke 6. He hates the Roman government because it's ruling over God's people, and he's kind of a punk rock anarchist kind of guy. He's a Fugazi fan. He's that guy. And so he just wants to overthrow the Roman government. He says, "I hate the government. Down with the government." He's got the anarchist patch on his sleeve. He's that guy. And then on the team as well is Matthew the tax collector, who works for the Roman government, ripping off God's people, and these two guys are on the same team. It's the antigovernment anarchist activist and the IRS auditor. Seriously? The guy with the gun, and the guy who tucks his shirt in, they're on the same team? Yeah, that's a weird team. That's a very weird team.

Some of these guys are fisherman, one's a tax collector. At least four guys, we don't know what they did. Some are brothers, some aren't. It's a funky, little, weird team, but it works because they're different, and they compliment one another's strengths and weaknesses. Some of these guys had business experience, some had political experience. Some had leadership experience. Some of them already had pre-existing social networks and relationships. Just so you know this, the best teams are the weird teams.

It's like our eldership at Mars Hill Church. Every once in a while in an elder's meeting, Pastor Jamie, he's the legal president at Mars Hill, he'll just kind of chuckle. And I've asked him before, "Dude, what's so funny?" He's like, "Look at this team, what a weird team." True, I look around like, this is a weird team. Forty-some pastors, nineteen more in training. Maybe we'll be at sixty by the end of the year, and it's like, nothing but Jesus could bring this team together. Some are jocks, some of these guys have action figures. I mean, those are two totally different teams. We have guys who tuck their shirt in, guys who don't tuck their shirt in. And you're not supposed to tuck your shirt in, by the way. But we can't make it a rule because legalists are wrong, so you get to do whatever you want, tuck your shirt in, don't tuck your shirt in.

Some of the people on the team drink alcohol, some don't drink alcohol, some speak in tongues, some don't speak in tongues. Some are in their seventies, some are in their twenties, some are grandfathers, some are infertile. Some have a PhD, some have a GED—a "good enough diploma." It's a weird team, and if you walk in you're like, "What's up with this team? Ah, Jesus, brought this team together." It's a weird team. And people will ask, "How does this work?" Oh, when Jesus is the center, you get a weird team, because if you're Christ-oriented and not cause-oriented, you get community and not affinity.

Affinity vs. Community

If you're cause-oriented, you get affinity. All the people who agree with you come together. If you're Christ-oriented, people who disagree on a whole lot of things, they come together. That's actual community. What passes for community in our day is pretty much affinity. Everybody like me hangs out and does what I like. Community is people totally unlike me, who don't have much in common with me, come together with me, because we're Christ-centered. It's all about Jesus, and as we're all walking closer to Jesus as followers of Jesus, we happen to get closer together and become a team. That's what's cool about Christianity. You guys know this, in your community groups, your social networks, you're like, "Man, my Christian friends, I would never pick these people. I don't have anything in common with them—bipedal, upright—other than those two factors, we got nothing in common. But you know what? They love Jesus, I love Jesus, I love them, and together we make each other more sanctified, and together when we serve Jesus, it goes better, so praise God for a weird, diverse, collective team of different kind of people." So on our team, there are artists, there are accountants, people who are good with pictures, people who are good with numbers, all important, very vital. Weird teams are the best teams. You see that with Jesus. It's kind of a weird team. He's not picking the guys you'd expect, he's picking a bunch of no-names and nobodies.

To be continued.

Luke Sermon Series

The current Mars Hill sermon series traces the life of Jesus through the Gospel of Luke. Watch the preview.

At a recent meeting with our campus pastors, I offered thirteen considerations related to church giving and finances. One of our deacons was kind enough to take notes, and so here they are.

1) Times are tough.

It’s taken awhile, but the poor economy is affecting our main base of operations in Seattle. I’ve spoken with a number of churches over the past few months—locally and nationally—and all have reduced budget by about 25 to 40 percent. The budget is tight at Mars Hill, but God continues to provide all that we need. It’s important to maintain this perspective.

2) Our theology hurts.

Mars Hill members generally get married young, have lots of kids, and live off of one income so mom can stay home. This is a direct application of key biblical principles that we teach regularly: husbands are to lead their home as Christ leads the church; children are a gift from God; and men must provide for their household. We will continue to preach the Bible—even if it means our people have less income to give.

3) The bottom line is not the bottom line.

Number of givers matters more than total given. As you check the giving report each week, don’t place so much emphasis on the bottom line. If you’re making budget on the backs of a few super-generous givers, when they lose their job, leave the church, or stop giving for whatever reason, you’re sunk. On the other hand, if a lot of people are giving faithfully, that probably means a lot of people are following Jesus, which is more important than making budget.

4) Don’t be timid.

I struggled with “the ask” for a long time. I knew people were suspicious of pastors asking for money, and I didn’t want to be that guy. But the truth is, we’re calling people to a lifestyle of worship—not a cause or a corporation or a minimal standard of token contribution. Yeah, there will be the cynics who roll their eyes or fold their arms when the basket comes their way, but anticipate the objections ahead of time and address them head on. Don’t wing it. Be prepared. Look people in the eye. Be courageous.

5) Disrupt the service order.

Just like a morning commute you’ve driven a thousand times, Sunday services too often coast on autopilot. . . . (Click here to keep reading)

Doctrine Book

Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe is available now. Read a free chapter and find out more.

Growing up I played soccer, basketball, and football, but what I really loved was baseball. I lettered all four years of high school (mainly pitching and catching) but hung up my cleats once God saved me and called me into marriage and ministry in college. Now that I’m the father of three boys playing on five teams, I spend a lot of fun hours throwing the ball around and cheering from the stands.

We also spend time collecting baseball cards and watching the moves Major League General Managers and coaches make. I’ve learned nine leadership lessons from baseball that are important for any organization, especially a church.

Lesson 1: Get a Great General Manager

The GM is the organizational mastermind and architect who sets the vision and values, runs the finances, and hires coaches (in a church these are elders) who are senior leaders developing the talent (what Ephesians 4 calls equipping people to do specific ministry tasks).

To be continued.

Worship Podcast

The free Mars Hill Worship Podcast features content from Mars Hill worship leaders and songwriters. Download the podcast or subscribe to the feed.

I was raised in the mountains. If you weren't, let me inform you that this is very different than being raised in the city. NASCAR. Pork rinds. Different.

Life was hard there. Most of the men mined coal underground. People had to be tough to survive. For example, if you had a dog and it got old and sick, you may have had to shoot it to put it out of its misery. You heard me. Shoot it.

Put It Out Of Its Misery

This didn’t happen because the people were angry, mean, or against the ethical treatment of animals. In fact, quite the opposite was true. People shot their dogs because it was the most humane thing they could do when their beloved pet was old and sick and the owners couldn't afford to have a vet put him down. When this point came, they simply went out to the woods, did what they had to do, cried, and came home.

Ministry Dogs

Let me be clear: this principle should NOT be applied to people in the church, but I do believe it should apply to programs and systems in the church. Even though most of us reading this would not want to admit it, I can almost guarantee you that there is at least one "dog" wandering around in each of our ministries that needs to be shot.

These include a program or system that has outlived its effectiveness; a set of ideas or terminology that is no longer relevant; or a leader that is no longer leading and needs to be lovingly transitioned. In other words, a dog that needs to be shot. And as long as you allow it to wander around, it is going to drain your momentum and hurt the mission.

You don't need to act rashly about it, but you know the mission is too important to not act prayerfully and soon.

Do you have the courage to shoot the dog?

Check out Pastor Mark’s book Confessions of a Reformission Rev for a further discussion of this idea.

Pins and Needles

Dr. John Catanzaro discusses acupuncture in this blog series on Christian engagement with alternative medicine, Pins and Needles.

When a church member, ministry, department, community group, or campus has an idea for a new project, how should a pastor decide whether or not to take it on?

Rely on the Holy Spirit

For starters, we must rely heavily on the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit and possess a clear understanding of our God-given mission:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt. 28:19–20).

At Mars Hill Church we are working to make disciples and plant churches in order to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus—as well as his prophecy in Acts 1:9, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Separate Good Ideas From Bad Ones

Theology and mission (the primary filters for any proposal) are found in the Bible. When it comes to implementation and methods, however, God gives us as leaders a lot of freedom to establish best practices and separate the good ideas from the bad.

As part of this decision-making process I filter proposals through this framework:

In order for a proposed idea to fly:

• The mission must align with our biblical mandate.
• The vision must be clear, compelling, and theologically sound.
• Leadership must be identified to lead, promote, and communicate the vision.
• A reasonable strategy must be designed that addresses how the vision will be accomplished.
• Good management of the resources (time, money, people) must be apparent to guide the project to completion.

Strong projects (and organizations, for that matter) give adequate attention to each of these five key ingredients. A proposal worth implementing addresses each one.

Missional Ecclesiology

Re:Train professor Gregg Allison explains the missional church in his blog series on Missional Ecclesiology.

Sojourn Community Church in Louisville has created a new podcast containing the full audio from two sessions of the Worship Track at the November 2009 boot camp at Sojourn, featuring Sandra McCracken, Tim Smith, Mike Cosper, and others.

Subscribe to the Podcast

The podcast is called "Inside Sojourn," and you can download these and other interviews and features of the podcast via iTunes or RSS.

The first is the "worship leader panel" featuring Tim Smith, Mike Cosper, Kevin Twit of Indelible Grace, Marc Heinrich of Bethlehem Baptist, and Josh Dix of The Journey.

The second is the "songwriting panel" featuring Tim Smith, Mike Cosper, Kevin Twit, Sandra McCracken, Neil Robins of Sojourn and Chip Stam of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Direct Download

• Worship Leader Panel (mp3)
• Worship Songwriting Panel (mp3)

Trial Study Guide

Get the companion study guide to Pastor Mark's Trial sermon series in downloadable PDF form. Find out more.

A police officer I recently met was gracious enough to send me a long report on church safety. I’m passing it along in hopes it can be of help to all churches.

• How to Assess the Safety and Security of Your Place of Worship (PDF)

Resurgence Podcasts

Get all the latest audio sermons, interviews, and lectures delivered straight to you as soon as they are released. Find out more.