So it is a few days old-
but I wanted to review this Sunday's service at Velocity.  We finished up our series, "Potential", and Pastor Reggie taught us that we need to break the huddle and actually play the game.

Talking about doing something and doing it is very different.  Just ask anyone who has climbed Mount Everest if someone who has talked about climbing is an equal of the one who conquered the mountain. We as Christians need to stop talking about changing the world, stop talking about telling our family and friends about Jesus, and start doing it.

On the musical side- it was so much fun to be back on stage, being part of something greater than myself.  The band did an amazing job of playing to the best of their ability while not making it about themselves or ourselves. May God continuously get the glory!


Set List:
Meant To Live- Switchfoot
All Because of Jesus- Fee
Lay Me Down- Passion featuring Chris Tomlin
Give Me Faith- Elevation Worship

Here is the video of me leading at Lowcountry Community Church in Bluffton, SC

10-21-12 from LowCountry Community Church on Vimeo.

This was my last Sunday at LCC.  I had some a great time during my stay- thank you all!

Tomorrow is my last Sunday at Lowcounty Community Chuch.  I have the honor of leading the worship that day as well before moving back to Greenville to take a job as Worship Pastor at Velocity Church in Taylors.

I have been thinking about my six months there for the past week or so.  About how I was when I came there- broken, confused, I thought about just giving up the whole ministry life.
And they brought me in, told me to just rest.  They wrapped their arms around me and lifted me up.
God has done some amazing things these past six months, and alot of it was because these people were willing to pick me up when I couldn't on my own.

They taught me things I wouldn't have been able to learn if none of this had happened, let me help in raising up of the next generation of students, ha- they even trusted me to design a stage for them!

I can't say thank you enough to Eric, Pastor Jeff, Corey, and the rest of the staff there.  Ever.  I have made lifelong friends that Dorothy and I are going to greatly miss.  I know we will be back to visit as often as we can!

This is a short post because words can't express how thankful I am and how much I have learned.  I pray that God uses me the way that He used Lowcountry to heal me.

I announced yesterday on twitter some news that Dorothy and I are very excited about: we are moving back home to Greenville so that I can be the new worship Pastor of Velocity Church in Taylors.

As I said in a post a week or so ago- we have known we would be moving come Nov 4, and that God had told us to simply wait on Him before freaking out.  God truly works all things for our good (Romans 8:28).

I am so excited about what all God is going to do through this opportunity- being back near family and old friends, and being part of an awesome church like Velocity.

We are going to greatly miss all our friends here in Beaufort and Bluffton- but our guest room is always open!

I start my new job November 5th!

This has been such an incredible experience- letting God truly take control and living by faith the past few months-  when the pieces come together in this way, all you can do is sit back and say, Wow!

When I, as a minister, say the word "Worship"- our minds trigger a vision of singing praises.  We know in our mind that worship is more than songs sung on Sunday. Many worship leaders, such as myself, even like to use the term "lifestyle worshipers". When asked to define this term- we say "it is when someone worships God with more than song, but with their life".

But what does this entail?  How does someone become a "lifestyle worshiper"?  What exactly is worship?

Matt Chandler says,

The root of Christian worship, then, is acknowledging, submittting to, and enjoying the supremecy of God's glory.  In all things.

 Worship is enjoying something at a high respect, at its essence.  We have a choice- we can worship really whatever we like.  From sports teams, to superheros, to celebrities, to "celebrities" that we aren't sure how they became celebrities, to technology, to social media, to food, to music and bands, to anything where enjoyment can be had.

And so, as Christians, we have an opportunity to worship, to enjoy and submit to, the glory of God.  This can be done in song, yes.  But in our daily life- how do we apply this?

By enjoying the life that God gave us.  And in that enjoyment- acknowledge the fact that this was not given to us so that we would fill a void in God's heart.  Acknowledge God's grace in every day occurances. Even to the seemingly mundane like the fact that color exists- give God glory!

When we take our worship beyond songs sung on Sunday morning, beyond a genre of music, we will truly begin to experience what it means to worship God.

Yesterday was my birthday.  Many people have asked me what I did, what I got, that kind of stuff.  Well I had the joy and honor to lead worship for The Way- the high school ministry at LCC. I can't think of a better present than getting to hold the door for 50-75 students as they enter in and worship their God.

Too often we as church leaders forget about the teenagers.  I mean, we give them their own room and some furniture no one else wanted, and we let them have fun trips.  We even give them great discipleship.  But how often do we pour into them and teach them about worship?

Do you know what happens to teenagers that don't learn about worship?  Look at your average church building on a Sunday- the room is full of adults who never learned what worship is- and view it as a singalong time before the sermon.  As a time for someone on stage to pretend to be a rock star.  And they miss out on just how vital worship is to our spiritual lives.

This isn't calling out anyone saying that they have done a poor job at that- not at all.  This is just a way of me saying how blessed I was to be part of teaching these students a little bit.

Today's students are going to be adults very soon.  And to see students begin to understand the idea of worship at this age, is incredible.  I can't think of a better birthday present.

Here is the video of the service I led at Lowcountry Community Church July 22.  All of this you can tell from the title of the post, title of video, and watching the video itself, but I wanted to write this as well.

7-22-12 from LowCountry Community Church on Vimeo.

Set List:
God Is Alive (Fee)
Let God Arise (Chris Tomlin)
Jesus Messiah (Chris Tomlin)
I Stand Amazed (Charles Hutchison Gabriel and Chris Tomlin) 
Always (Kristian Stanfill)

I just finished listening to Louie Giglio's session from the Lift conference.  A couple things hit home like a missile locked on.

God will find you where you are..... God will raise you when He wants.  As far as He wants. As fast as He wants. -Louie Giglio

For those who don't know- I am looking for a new position.  I am volunteering at a nearby church, working under an amazing leader and learning a ton.  And these words are what I needed to hear at this very moment.

I am an ordained minister (yes- technically my name is Reverend Josh Williams... I don't think I have ever typed that out...), and I am called by God to lead others in worship, I am a creative.  And I was brought to this earth to do these things.  In time.

Everything that has happened in my life so far has been in God's perfect plan.  Despite any heartache, turmoil, joy, or unexpectedness- it was all for a purpose. God's purpose.  And God's plan doesn't just end with me in the midst of a huge forest.  I have been chosen by God, and He has a perfect plan.

I have to stop worrying that I need to be sending my resume to more people, make more contacts, that I need to network more.  Yes- networking gets you jobs.  But you see, when we try to take the pen from the Storyteller- when we try to write our own story- we worry that we will miss the opportunity.
God is the Storyteller.  And He isn't going to let us miss something that is part of our plan.

From time to time, I will think of "career moves".  You know what I mean- the "should I be a volunteer here at blank church, or a leader over here at blank church" thoughts.  "Which one will take me farther?"  These are the WRONG questions.  I don't capitalize much, so take this to heart- GOD WILL FIND YOU.
God will find me.  It doesn't matter where I am at- if God wants to move me He will.

What He requires of me is that I give every ounce of my being to wherever it is that I am.  Whether a volunteer- the leader- a person in the congregation- God wants my all.

God has a plan for me.  And in time,  He will bring me the next step.  But for now, and I say this will all sincerity- there is nowhere else I would rather be.


I write this for myself.  But I also write this for any one who is going through something similar.  Take heart- you won't be in a slump forever.

Carlos Whittaker recently shared a post he wrote a few years ago called "Dear Worship Dude."  In it, he writes from the point of view of a man who hasn't been to church in 10 years because church sucks.

He wrote another one.

I would add something to it, but 1) my brain isn't working right now, and 2) he is a much better writer than I.

I would encourage you to read these if you are a worship leader- even if you get on stage at a church service.

I got a speeding ticket in November.  I admit that I was speeding, but not maliciously.  That isn't relevant in the story except the fact that I was guilty.

I wrote down the court date in my calendar as January 9th.  I wouldn't be able to make it, so I was going to send my payment on Monday, January 8th.  Today, I looked on my ticket to see what form of payment was accepted, and saw in horror the date the officer had written for my court date: January 5th, 2012. Noon.

I had missed my court date by 28 hours.  Frantically, I searched the ticket for what penalty I had just brought on myself: a $300 penalty or 30 days.  I immediately head to the bank, take out the amount the officer had reduced it to- and went to Municipal Court.

When I got to the counter to pay and explained my mistake, the worker behind the counter said that I now owed the original amount, not the reduced amount.  Not a huge deal, but not fun.  And they were adding on 2 more points to the ticket, so it would add 4 points to my license.  My heart sank.  I went back to the bank and got some more cash.

When I returned to the counter, the clerk commented that the computer was slow, and I joked that it was having mercy on me.  The computer finally fired up, and he took my ticket to put in my information.

"Josh Williams?  1753FS?"
"Josh Williams? That's me.  Do you need my license?"
"It says here that you paid yesterday.  You are free to go."

I stood there for a second, and then asked, "What do you mean?"
He repeated himself, "The debt has been paid.  You don't owe us anything."

This happened 20 minutes ago, and I am still blown away.  To whoever paid this for me: thank you.  You went above and beyond any relationship we have, and I owe you so much.

But on my way home, I started thinking- this is the Gospel.  We all have a debt that we planned on paying ourselves.  We planned on taking care of it, eventually.  Christ paid our penalty, so that we would be free men and women.
And when we come before Him to receive Him as our Savior, our Lord, we realize the debt he paid, and the penalty we would have received.

This is the Gospel- that our debt that we sinful humans could not pay, was paid for by a sinless God, that we might live and abide in Him.

What do you do when that last note is struck?  When the sounds of your musical worship reverberate their final sound?
Is that the end of your worship?

Worship is not music.  Music is worship, but worship is so much more.  And I feel like that is something we know in the back of our minds.  But our hearts remain ignorant to the fact many times.

This isn't a post to tell you that you are bad at worship, or that worship is more than music, because like I said- most of us know that already.  It would be redundant to say, as is this sentence (just for effect).
But this post is about reaction to the matter, not the matter itself.

Let's say you just finished a great worship service at your church- you walk outside.  Part of worship is just enjoying God's creation.  But the hope- my hope as a worship leader- is that the worship you experience inside the doors our your worship center carry out into the world. 
So you walk outside, after singing a song like "We Unite", by Elevation Worship (if you don't know the song- click the link).  You just sang a prayer of unity among believers.  So live it.  Take what you experienced in worship and let is leak out of your core.

Say you sang, "Never Once" by Matt Redman.  You walk through the streets knowing that you aren't alone.  Knowing in your heart.  What I mean is this: live with boldness in Christ.  Troubles will come your way, but through faith know that God is here for you.  So as you live your day to day life- let that pour out.  Continue to worship God for that.

When the music fades- what do you do? Do you let it remain what it was? Or do you take that experience, grow it, nurture it, and live a life driven to the worship of our God.

Here are the songs we used today to worship: (Click the link to view in iTunes)

• Joy To The World (Unspeakable Joy)- Chris Tomlin
• Forever Reign- Hillsong
• It Is Well- Todd Fields
• I Surrender All- Josh Williams
• The Stand- Hillsong

Setlist:

• All Because of Jesus
• Beauty of the Cross
• No One Higher/ The Stand
• O Come O Come Emmanuel
• God of this City

Today was the end of our Core Value's series.  We talked about being missional minded.  That MISSIONAL is just a fancy word for SENT.  

Christ came to us.  Everything we are is because of Jesus.  Because of the hope He gave us, because of His mission, we can find beauty in the once-ugly cross.  The cross that was a symbol of death, destruction, sadness- is now a cross of beauty, hope, love, and sacrifice.

We are called to go.  Christ came to the world.  We, as receivers of this grace, are called to pass it along to those who have not received it yet.  We need to be more like Mother Theresa.

During the Holidays (Thanksgiving to Christmas)- the world feels much more giving than normal.  We raise money for food for families, we shower them in gifts and grace, are arms open up as wide as we say they are.  Why can't we do this all year?  I understand why non-believers do- they get caught up in the moment.  That special feeling one gets at Christmastime, like there is something special present with us.  But we, as Christians, who have that special presence with us at all times (Immanuel- God with us)- why can't we be this charitable all year long?

David gave us 5 things for us to remember where to go.

• We go where our daily lives take us.
• We go where we see God at work.
• We go where God calls us.
• We go to places that are broken…places that are in need of healing.
• We even allow those God sends to enter into our brokenness.

I want to close with this post with this song.  It is called "Unlock my Roar" by Daniel Bashta-  I love the bridge of this song:
I am Jesus to this city
I am Jesus to this city
I am Jesus to this nation

I am Jesus to the world.



Be Jesus to your city. Be Jesus to your nation.  Be Jesus to your world.

I was recently told that I have been doing a very small collection of songs at Tidal Creek.

I promise it will not be such a small collection for long.  I choose from a small batch of songs currently because I want to make sure that you (the congregation) knows them.  It does no good to sing songs no one knows- because it isn't about me singing and playing, it is about worshipping God.  Familiar songs allow that because you don't have to try to think about how the song is sung, what word comes next, what to do if the screen doesn't change quickly enough.

I want to invite you into my head for how I choose the songs we sing.  I look at several things:

• Theology- Repertoire is theology.  The songs we sing need to align with the values we hold to here at Tidal Creek.  And just because someone slaps a Christian title on it, or is signed to a Christian label, means that it is a theologically sound song.
• Singability-  Obviously, if I can't sing the song, I am not going to lead it.  But this also [should] extend to you, the congregation.  The singers on the stage probably have a big more range than the average person in the room, and can hit more notes.  But if you can't sing the song, then you probably aren't going to sing.  I can get around this by lowering or raising the keys of the songs, but some songs feature both extremely high and low notes, making them hard to sing.  So I try to keep the keys of the songs to a pre-selected range of keys.
• Relevance- This is a two part- I want to stay relevant in culture, and to the sermon.  I want to stay relevant in culture because the Gospel will always be relevant.  Jesus will always be relevant.  But the way that we share His name sometimes isn't.  I am not going to bust out a pipe organ every Sunday and lead "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" every week, because that style just isn't relevant here.  The same way I will not rap on stage (well, I guess part of that goes to my ability and sing ability).  It just isn't relevant to you guys.  It wouldn't work.
• Rhythm-  I try to choose songs based on their rhythm as well.  Not too many slow songs, not too many fast songs.  This song needs to blend well into that song, etcetera, etcetera.  I want to create a flow.
• How Well You Know The Song- This is where the small collection comes from.  Not that you don't know many songs- but I don't know what you know.  And so I start from a small collection, and slowly add to them.  When I introduce a song, I will do it for about 4 weeks before I introduce a new one.  This way you know the song.  The songs I have taught so far, "Your Love Never Fails",  "We Unite", and "Beauty of the Cross", would not have worked well if I did all three in the same service.  You would be frustrated because you didn't know the songs, and not have been able to worship like you would if you did know them.

But most importantly- I choose songs based on what God lays on my heart.  I let the Spirit move.  Because it isn't "my show".  It isn't about me.  Shockingly enough, it isn't about any of us.  We are there for Him.  To glorify Him.

Anyway- this is how I choose songs.  I gladly take requests for songs, but please don't be upset or offended if we don't play them, or if we don't play them for six months.  I promise you I look at them, and evaluate how well they would fit into these 5 categories.

Spotify is an amazing program and tool.  If you haven't heard of it- it is sort of a combination of iTunes, Facebook, and Limewire (but legal!)

You can listen to millions of songs for free, make playlists, and send music to friends.  It is even synced with your Facebook so your friends can see what your listening to!

But there are lots of awesome ways to use it for worship.  You can use it to send music to band members, or use it to share music with church members, you can create a playlist and allow others to add to it, making a "request" playlist, if you so choose.

I am going to try to make a playlist called "TCF Weekly Worship" later today, and each week I will update it will the songs we used for worship time.  I encourage every person from Tidal Creek to get Spotify and subscribe to this playlist once it is published.  I will create a button on here for it.


Spotify is free, and like I said, an amazing tool to discover new music, "try music out" before you buy it, and to share music with friends!

Matt Redman's song "Never Once" has become an anthem of mine.  It talks about how God doesn't leave us alone, ever.  Good times, and bad.  It talks about how God fights our battles for us, but it doesn't make them easy.

I want to talk about the prechorus/ chorus of the song:

Scars and struggles on the way/ But with joy our hearts proclaim// Never once did we ever walk alone/ Never once did You leave us on our own/ You are faithful, God You are faithful// 

This weekend while leading at the ethos retreat, we sang this quite a bit- and I started looking at this line- scars and struggles on the way, but with joy our hearts proclaim.  Joy.  Not 'bittersweet tears'. Joy.
When we sing this we are proclaiming that we know that it is going to be a hard road.  We are going to get stuck in storms.  It is going to seem like they go on forever.  That line is depressing.  But the line that follows it- that line holds everything.

We have joy in the fact that God doesn't leave us alone.  He doesn't stick with us in the good times and leave us alone in the bad.  It feels like he is far away, but He is always there, ready to catch us, ready to fight for us.

You are not alone.

You have not deserted.

You are not unloved.

You are a prized possession of the King.

You are worth fighting for.

This Sunday we started our new series, Core Values, by talking about Story Telling.


We all have a story.  Our story is tied to the story of Christ and the Gospel.  And it is at the very core of who we are to tell that story.


The verse we used was John 9:25, "He answered, 'Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.'"


You don't have to be a theological genius to tell your story  You don't have to go to seminary.  You don't have to be able to explain the trinity.  You just have to talk about your lifechange.  


We got to see the story of Kyle, a teenager in Tidal Creek who has experienced this lifechange.  



Songs used in worship:

• All Because of Jesus- Fee (Buy on iTunes)(Listen on Spotify)
• Jesus Messiah- Chris Tomlin (Buy on iTunes)(Listen on Spotify)
• Beauty of the Cross- Jeff Johnson (Buy on iTunes)(Listen on Spotify)
• Revelation Song- Jennie Lee Riddle (Buy on iTunes)(Listen on Spotify)
• I Am Not The Same- Aaron Keyes (Buy on iTunes) (Listen on Spotify)
• Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)- Chris Tomlin (Buy on iTunes)(Listen on Spotify)

I encourage you to go out and tell your story this week.  Don't let "Conversations didn't go that way" be an excuse- its the story of your life- which means you can work it in.

Sunday Setlist: 
Solution- Hillsong (Buy on iTunes) (Watch on Youtube)
Our God- Chris Tomlin (Buy on iTunes) (Listen on Spotify)
Glory to God Forever- Steve Fee (Buy on iTunes) (Listen on Spotify)
We Unite- Elevation Worship (Buy on iTunes)
It Is Well- Todd Fields (Buy on iTunes) (Listen on Spotify)


I loved our time together on Sunday!  It is so encouraging to know and be reminded that we aren't meant to go through trials alone.  To know that we have our God, and each other to rely on.  As you go through this week- remember what it means to be a TEAM!  


Remember the simple truth of 1 Corinthians 3:9: "For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building." (ESV)  I love the ESV translation on this- God's building, God's field.  Many times we as Christians like to say that we are going to the church (talking about the building), or that the role of serving is of those who work in said building.


The church is not built of brick and mortar, but built out of hearts, souls, joined together in the light and love of Christ with a mission of reaching a lost and dying world.  


And so we unite.  We join together. We serve others as one body of believers.  As a team.


Thank you for in inviting me to be a part of your team.  

Yesterday was such an amazing time of worship- both in song, teaching, and fellowship.  It is easy to get complacent, but we need to be reminded that the reasons we come together as a united body are to grow together in the love of Christ, and then to take that love and share it with the world.  

This week- take time to build one another up.  Maybe take a friend out to lunch, or even simply give them a call and ask how they are doing.  Pray for them.  Pray for spiritual growth in their life. Specifically.  Pray that they experience God in an amazing way this week.

We are not meant to do this alone.  Let us unite as one force, building one another up- encouraging one another's commitments.   

Ecclesiastes 4:12 says "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."  I have always found it interesting that it goes from saying "two people can work together"- to "three strands."   Think of it this way- you have yourself, a brother or sister in Christ, and God.  A joining like this cannot be easily stopped. 

 We are better together.

Songs We Used For Worship:

• Happy Day- Tim Hughes (Buy on iTunes) (Listen on Spotify)
• We Unite- Elevation Worship (Buy on iTunes)
• Jesus Messiah- Chris Tomlin (Buy on iTunes) (Listen on Spotify)
• You Never Let Go- Matt Redman (Buy on iTunes) (Listen on Spotify)
• Our God- Chris Tomlin (Buy on iTunes) (Listen on Spotify)

A few weeks ago, Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC opened their service with this:


What are your thoughts on this?  Do you think it leans more toward performance and not enough towards leading?