Truth that sets us free.

July 3, 2015 by Elise Miller 1 Comment

In light of the recent happenings in our country, I desire to not debate or address the actual events but rather emphasize how important it is as a pastor/leader to be educated in the Word and current culture of society. To give some context or qualify myself per say before you form your opinion, I will tell you that I was Catholic born, raised in an Assembly of God church, educated at a fairly liberal Nazarene college and am now immersed in an eclectic city culture. Honestly, I’ve pretty much heard, seen and read most all perspectives. At this point, really nothing can surprise me.

However, one observation that has concerned me lately is noticing how many Christians are either completely unaware of the current events in the world or completely indifferent to them. Even worse, the Christians that are aware or passionate about keeping the blessing and covering of our nation and our society aligned with the principles of the Biblical foundation it was founded upon, are marked as haters or closed-minded. I do agree that many Christians that have good intentions are displaying their passion for Biblical truth in the wrong way, but I also feel it is equal a crime for Christians not to speak up at all.

Our number one job as Christians is to love. One definition of love is doing what is in the best interest of a person because you care for them and this leads many of times to speaking truth, truth in love. Another job we have as Christians is to be always dedicated to truth, the truth of God’s word. However, the delivery of truth should always be wrapped in love, grace and compassion. I’ve heard it said, “Truth without grace is surgery without anesthesia. Grace without truth is a bottle with no medicine in it. Only grace and truth together can help people.”

Thinking back to my time at university, I was bombarded with dozens of ways to view life, culture, politics, ethics, etc. We were taught to challenge history, scripture and tradition. I found many of my classmates seemingly begin to value and pursue human intellect and knowledge rather than God’s presence and His Word. I watched as people questioned every aspect of their beliefs and searched to define “their own” definition of life and what they thought was freedom.

What I have found in my personal journey is that true freedom has already been defined for me, in the pages, principles and precepts of the Word of God. I’ve realized for many of my friends, and for the people I come in contact with on a daily basis, and even on social media, that people approach life and truth in two ways: either they believe in the infallibility of the Word of God, or they believe Scripture is up for human addition, subtraction and interpretation.

I’ve also heard it said, “If you are not rooted in the goodness of God, you will lower your theology to match your pain.” If I were to choose the later path of interpreting Scripture, because of the circumstances and real struggles we deal with on a daily basis in this fallen world, it would be much easier to be influenced by what I see and hear, to then draw my own conclusions of Scripture to match the current issue or circumstance before me. However, in moments of temptation to do so for hopes of not receiving opposition, I have found the result to be more hurtful than helpful, less loving, less healing and less freeing.

Personally, I’ve decided I will put my faith, hope, trust and belief in the Word of God. I choose to define my life, perspective and opinions by the parameters of the Bible and believe as a human, I do not have the right to change or alter what the Scripture declares holy and unholy, pleasing and unpleasing to the Lord. In saying that, you too will have to decide how and what you want to define your life by. One thing I know to be true is culture will change, but my rootedness in His Word will not. When I honor God with my beliefs, views, words and actions and commit to the defense of the principles and precepts He has laid before me, I believe there is blessing, covering and peace like no other.

3.22.15 Set List

July 1, 2015 by Elise Miller Leave a Comment

Message Series: “Integrity: Part II”

Song / Version / Key / Leader
“You Are Good” – Bethel – Key of F – Female 1 Lead
“Beneath the Waters (I Will Rise)” – Hillsong – Key of A – Female 1 Lead
“My Heart Is Yours” – Kristian Stanfill – Key of A – Male 2 Lead
“Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” – Hillsong – Key of D – Female 1 Lead

One of the pros and cons to being a church plant, whichever way you decide to look at it, is that sometimes during seasons of transition, you quite possibly will be without a position. In this case, our keyboard player, who is also one of our female worship leaders, was in the process of transitioning out with her husband to help assist and plant another church in the area in which they were moving to. Because of the short transition time, we were still in the process of assimilating other keyboard players.

This adding to the list of reasons why having multiple people rotating and training at every position is so important. However, when you are 7 months old, sometimes this is a dream and not a reality. I say pro and con because from the more negative angle, we were out a keyboard player. However, from the positive angle, it gave our team an opportunity to grow not only musically because they were filling and covering sounds, but also numerically because we were soon adding new gifting and perspective.

With that being said, this particular week, we only had two leaders because of the transition of our female leader and our other male leader being out of town. With our second male leader being fairly new to leading, I had him only lead one song, “My Heart is Yours,” as to not overwhelm him because he was leading on acoustic and I knew he would be pulling double duty with memorization. This song followed the two previous songs we opened with, “You are Good” and “Beneath the Waters (I Will Rise).” The Pastor’s welcome was sandwiched in between the first two songs. So, even though the keys were different, the transition was slightly easier because we used the pad as usual, but the greeting overtop helped distract from the key change.

We then remained in the key of A for the two songs following the opener, which we smoothly bridged with a down chorus before heading into the intro of the third, “My Heart is Yours.” We ended on the tag and let it ring out before changing the pad to the key of D for “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail).” Since we were continuing the “Integrity” series, we came back to “My Heart Is Yours” for response. Thematically the prayer of surrender (surrendering to Christ and letting Him make us whole and complete) facilitated by this song fit well with the theme.

3.15.15 Set List

June 23, 2015 by Elise Miller Leave a Comment

Message Series: “Integrity: Part I”

Song / Version / Key / Leader
“Running” – Hillsong – Key of E – Female 1 Lead
“One Thing Remains” – Bethel – Key of B – Male 1 Lead
“Never Once” – Matt Redman – Key of B – Male 2 Lead
“Place of Freedom” – Highlands Worship – Key of E – Female 1 Lead
“Cornerstone” – Hillsong – Key of C – Male 1 Lead (Repsonse)

To bridge the gap between the “Love One Another” series and the Easter season, we did mini series based on Henry Clouds book “Integrity.” In this particular set, we carried over “Place of Freedom,” which we introduced last week in the key of D (the original). However, it was a bit low for me once the chorus got full after the bridge and my vocals I could tell were getting a little lost, not volume wise, but feel wise. It was losing the power of the message musically because you couldn’t really feel the lyrics with the range it was in. So, I bumped it up to the key of E.

Other than that small tweak, we opened with an oldie but a goodie, “Running,” which I led, followed by two male led songs back-to-back: “One Thing Remains” and “Never Once.” We ended the second song with a down chorus, and stayed in the key of B to seamlessly transition to the third. At the end of “Never Once” we tagged “You are faithful, God you are faithful” four times before landing on the B (which we let ring out a bit) before moving to the key of E via pad.

For response, Pastor Devin chose “Cornerstone,” keeping in mind the definition of Integrity being “the quality or condition of being whole and complete.” This leading to our capacity as people only being filled and maintained in/through Christ. However, we edited this song down, creating a special version just for this moment (attached above).

Progress Report

June 20, 2015 by Elise Miller Leave a Comment

As leaders, taking time to step back from the daily grind and routine of “doing” to access where and how your team is doing spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally is important. It is vital in order to create an overall healthy environment for growth and essential for the continuation of ministry that flourishes and reproduces well. I’m not just talking about taking a Sabbath, while yes that is extremely important, but I’m talking about an honest assessment of how each person on your team is doing head and heart wise, as well as observations of personal and platform development.

Even being only 9 months old, I recently felt that our team was hitting sort of a plateau on Sundays. Worship was still great and the Spirit was moving, however, there was just an underlying lull. So, my husband and I (drummer, band leader, etc.) sat down and had a long conversation about what we thought might be happening. Below are some of the questions we asked ourselves that really helped us to identify some possible barriers. They also shed light on the areas that needed attention and really challenged/prompted us to be/do better.

1. Are our volunteers/team members happy & do they enjoy being apart?
(Are we creating genuine community, transparency and accountability? Is there un underlying negative tone or unhealthy temperature present? Do we say “thank you” enough?)

2. Are there external circumstances that could be effecting our team members in a negative way (home, job, etc.) and how can we help?
(Are people growing weary in well-doing? Are there prideful or ungrateful attitudes rising and what might be contributing to it?)

3. Are we assimilating new people to the team or are we declining and/or stagnant?
(Are we acquiring/making room for new perspectives, giftings, passions and areas of expertise that align with our Core Values and vision of the House?)

4. In what ways are we pouring into our team members spiritually?
(Are we praying for them? Are we cultivating a pursuit of Christ-likeness? Are we helping to facilitate a furthering of their knowledge of the Word?)

5. In what ways are we challenging our team members to grow in their giftings?
(Are we giving opportunity and empowering them? Are we providing continued education for their craft or area in which they serve?)

It is easy to get caught up in the check lists, meetings, set-list planning, Sunday services, rehearsals, small groups, etc. that you in a way become blind to the temperature and environment in which you are leading or serving. Taking a little time to press the reset button really can make all the difference.

3.8.15 Set List

June 17, 2015 by Elise Miller Leave a Comment

Message Series: “Love One Another: Part V”

Song / Version / Key / Leader
“Only Your Love” – Kari Jobe – Key of E – Female 1 Lead
“At Your Name” – Bethel – Key of B – Male 1 Lead
“Always” – Kristian Stanfill – Key of D – Female 2 Lead
“Place of Freedom” – Highlands Worship – Key of D – Female 1 Lead

This was our second week of Connect Group sign-ups. So, again we did not have a response song. However, we did introduce a new song, which I like to do about once a month. I think when you do more than once a month, it is difficult for the congregation to “keep up”, especially if people miss a week. One of our goals as leaders is to make it as easy as possible for people to enter into worship. It seems people do this better, when they are familiar with the songs (lyrics & melody). With that being said, let’s get to the set.

For our opener, we repeated “Only Your Love,” which was the new song we introduced at the beginning of February. Because of the long melodic intro, I read a passage from Psalms after welcoming the congregation and inviting them to stand for worship. I can’t quite remember what the exact passage was because I chose it last minute before rehearsal, which I highly recommend you not doing. I hadn’t calculated the length of my welcome ahead of time to know that it was too short for the intro. However, I believe Psalm 100:4-5 was the verse, with the emphasis being on “unfailing love.”

Concluding this song, Pastor Devin welcomed everyone and gave an invocation prayer as we softly played the intro of “At Your Name.” We ended this song with a down chorus and let it breathe a little before transitioning via pad to the key of D, where we stayed for “Always” and “Place of Freedom.” Our second female leader, led this song beautifully and it was perfect for her range and suited her really well. Finding the right songs and style for your other leaders is so important. It is part of the developing and empowering process. Remember, you want to set them up to win when they are leading. The right song in the wrong key can be a disaster and visa versa, so don’t be afraid to try them out in rehearsal with different songs before having them lead the perfect one for them on platform.

Our concluding song was the new song we had chosen to introduce. After introducing an opener last month, we really needed an intimate, more worshipful song melody and feel wise, but one that didn’t lose its congregational nature. We absolutely love Church of the Highlands, their leadership, their messages and their worship. The song “Place of Freedom,” a Highlands original, is a powerfully moving song that instantly connects the hearts of people to the presence of God. If you haven’t introduced this song, I highly recommend it. Our church grabbed onto it pretty quickly because of the simple melody and patient dynamics and it really challenged us to go to a deeper place in our expression of worship.