There’s Always Someone Better

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(if you can’t see the above video watch it HERE)

an iPhone

iMovie

and a song from my iTunes library

On its own this video is very unremarkable.  The frame is all wrong.  The quality is poor.  I’m filming with the phone sticking out of my shirt pocket as I drive.

A professional or even someone who makes videos as a hobby would have captured, edited, and produced something much better than I did.  But if I had contracted someone to make this video then it wouldn’t have been mine.  It wouldn’t have been my story.

There will always be someone better than you.  Everywhere I go I find better worship leaders, better musicians, and better artists than myself.  This isn’t self deprecation, it’s just  the truth and I’m ok with it.  But imagine if I allowed that to affect me so much that I stopped creating my art?  Stopped leading worship?  Or stopped telling my story?  I would be in danger of hiding God from others.  If God’s fingerprints are all over my life (which I believe they are, and yours too) and I neglect to share my story or my art with the world then what witness would I have?

Tell the God story that is in you

Tell it to everyone and anyone that will listen

Tell it with your personality, with your gifts

Tell it through your actions, tell it through your words

Tell it through your songs, your paintings, your photos, your videos, your anything and everything

Because His fingerprints are on you, and He has given you a story to tell

 

My story that goes along with this video is from August 12, 2012 and I will never forget that night now for as long as I live.  My family threw me a belated birthday party.  What started out as pulling out photo albums to compare my Dad’s gray hair level to mine at age 27 (I have more gray hair) turned into my brothers, my Dad and I telling our wives the stories that went along with the pictures in those albums.

Pictures of me as a chubby 1 year old in Germany – The story of a young family following the call of God to a country they didn’t know to serve people and tell them the God story.

Pictures of 2 small premature babies in incubators – The story of my twin brothers, clinging to new life, sustained by the one who created them, covered in the prayers of hundreds if not thousands.  A new brother reaches in to touch them, the beginning of an amazing friendship.  They are the miracle babies.  The babies who survived in a body that was simultaneously battling cancer.  The babies that gave a stranger, a mother in Sweden, hope for her own unborn twins coming into the world with the same odds against them.  They were with me to tell the story.

Pictures of me imitating my Dad as he plays the bass – The story of a boy who would grow up to tell the God story through music.  The story of a father who in the midst of the chaos and the uncertainty of a wife with cancer and two premature babies clinging to life took the time to be with his eldest son and share with him a moment of joy.  A God moment.

Pictures of a 3 year old me grinning from ear to ear wearing Mom’s wig – The story of a boy who loved his mother with all his heart.  The story of a mother who was strong for her family.  The story of a God who sustained life in a brittle body for much longer than any doctor would have believed possible so that she could build into her sons what it means to trust God in any circumstance.  The story that continues today where Mom is in heaven and I am here with a story to tell.

The video is what I captured on our way home from that night.  Lights in the sky.  Lights on the road.  Lights in the buildings.  Lights that to me in that very moment reminded me that the God story is all around us.

 

God has given you a story to tell.  You will be faced with moments in your life when you want to shy away from it.  You will feel like you should maybe just leave it to the “professionals” or the “experts”.  But it is your story.

There is a God story inside of you that needs to be told.

 

what is your story?

Excellence > Perfectionism

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There’s a tension that I have faced in ministry ever since I started playing on a worship team at age 15.  The tension is encompassed in, and sometimes created by the pursuit of excellence.

The word excellence by itself seems like something we would all like to have more of.  Think of 3 things you do well.  Would you not like to be “excellent” at those things?

I have seen 2 different positions expressed by worship team members surrounding the idea of excellence.

Position 1)

We are doing this for God’s glory.  It has to be as prepared, polished, non-distracting, and as perfect sounding as we can possibly make it.  Each worship team member is expected to be as prepared as they can possibly be.  We work hard, and pray a bit.

Position 2)

We don’t have the ability to change lives, God does the work.  People have busy lives, sometimes too busy to practice but what’s important is the heart of the person.  We’re just glad they’re serving in spite of the many responsibilities they have to juggle.  We pray hard, and work a bit.

 

You might find yourself on one position or the other.  During my time in ministry I have found myself bouncing back and forth between the two positions and hardly ever finding the sweet spot between the two.  There are moments when I try to uphold Position 1 but after the 4th band member has shown up 20 minutes late for rehearsal AND only 1 person has practiced their parts that week I can feel myself starting to lose it.  In those moments I want to scream Position 1 at them.  Am I right to do so?

Other times we start in to practice.  Most of the band is prepared and all that’s left is to pull all the musical pieces together.  But something feels off and after stopping and asking the team if anyone was feeling “off” that week you find out the bass player is “just not feeling like they’re in a good place spiritually.”  Is that the time to get back to practice and not waste everyone’s preparation or is it time to surround that individual and pray for them?

 

On paper there are some good things and bad things about both of these positions.  But the thing you need to remember when you are leading people is that PEOPLE are not PAPER.  People have struggles, burdens, short-comings, and inconsistencies.  And people can also achieve great things on their own and especially when they are led well.  If you are in Christian leadership your primary concern should be helping those you are leading become better disciples of Jesus.  Becoming better musicians is secondary.

A disciple who is a musician will view his/her musical abilities as a gift from God that can be used to bring Him glory.  They will find joy in doing their best for God.  It will become their “spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12) and not just an obligation.  Their goal will be to make Jesus famous (John 3:30) and they will prepare their own hearts for that in prayer and eagerly join in as the team prays together and asks God to work.

Don’t be overbearing on your musicians when they aren’t prepared.  They will just begin to resent you.  Find out what’s on their heart.  Point them to God’s truth.  Instruct them gently and speak words of encouragement to them.

Don’t ignore the preparation of your team to frequently stop and pray.  They will begin to think that their practice time doesn’t matter and they might assume you haven’t practiced or prayed about this at all yourself.  Teach them to rely on prayer in their own lives and model for them a desire to ask God to be glorified by everything you do.

 

Lead the way.  Everyone thought John the Baptist was a pretty big deal.  Maybe people will think the same of you.  But John pointed people to Jesus, and that is our primary responsibility.  

Do you have a personal philosophy of “excellence”?

Creative Space

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As artists we search out places, things, people, and environments that inspire us. It can often propel us to create better art. It can feed our creativity and I’m pretty sure it influences our frame of mind and might even help us be ready to be productive.

Over the past year I’ve been dreaming up ways to make my work space a little less office-y and a little more creative-y. When I moved into my new office this summer at First Alliance Church I saw an opportunity to make it into a creative space. I had gathered some ideas and come up with a few of my own that I was excited to act on.

It started with the large wall in my office. My hope was to fit a couch with two bookshelves on either side. I was able to snag a couple comfy chairs that I slid together to make my couch. It fit perfectly which was great news and so I went from there.

I had an idea for the shelves that I wanted to try. I had seen some backlit shelving on design-milk.com and I wanted to give that a shot in my own space. I chose to take the back panel off the shelves and replace it with transparent coroplast. To back light the coroplast I chose rope light. It’s not as bright as I would like and I wonder if I should have sprung for LED lights but alas, it’s still just a pastor’s office.

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As a music pastor I feel no need to show off my library so the books are scattered. I put some glass Ikea lights on the shelves placed between book clusters. There’s a scattering of small instruments and coffee cups on the shelves…you know, the important stuff.

The lighting in my space is fluorescent and ultra bright so I wanted to put in my own softer lighting. I found some cool colored light chords at Ikea and strung those up in a cluster in front of the shelf. there’s another white colored chord over the doorway and the glass lamps and rope light provide the rest of the lightI need.

I wanted a small desk as I don’t spend much time there. I found the perfect one at Ikea (love that place) and got a red chair to match my red folding table which acts as my laptop desk when I’m sitting on the couch.

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A small desk left my space for a coffee table. However, I needed to find a place to store 800 of my unsold CDs in my office. I found a spot for some on the shelves and the rest became my coffee table. The top of my “coffee table” is a kitchen cabinet door from the Ikea scrap pile. worked perfectly.

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I think my favorite part of the space are my framed paint color chips. I like color and so I figured I would just frame some color for my wall. It’s looking pretty good I think.

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There are a couple posters coming from society6.com and echohub.com and then I think it will be pretty much ready to go for now.

What’s your favorite place to be creative?

Preaching in the Mirror: Satan is Real

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Well hello again!

I’ve been away from the blog for over 2 months and this is the post I come back with???

Not sure what I’m thinking, this might get a little crazy. I won’t blame you if you decide to go surf youtube videos instead of reading this post.

To quickly bring you up to speed…since my last post I have been on vacation in Germany with my wife, sold the first house I ever owned, moved in with my in-laws for 3 weeks, then moved into an overpriced rental in downtown Calgary, and started a new job under bumpy circumstances.

All of these things are of the physical world. I can, to some extent, control them. Some of these things were awesome, some of them in the middle, and some of them have made this recent transition a lot more difficult than I expected.

And then there’s the spiritual world. It’s throwing me curveballs that I did not expect.

And so I bring you Part 3 of the Preaching in the Mirror series – “Satan is Real”

disclaimer: you might think I’m psycho and I’m ok with that

The word “coincidence” keeps coming to mind. I don’t know if I believe in it or not. I lean towards not, but somehow the word keeps creeping in to my vocabulary. (Please forgive a few long sentences here. Also, the following is just to provide you with context. Insert your our circumstances in place of mine)

Is it a coincidence that I face spiritual attack in my personal life that I’ve never faced before right as I start out as Creative Pastor of a worship service that I believe God wants to use in huge ways to draw people in the city of Calgary to Himself?

I don’t know…

Is it a coincidence that at the same time the church faces a difficult issue that has a lot of emotions and layers attached to it and could potentially be devastating to a lot of relationships if Satan has his way?

I don’t know…

Is it a coincidence that these spiritual attacks come in a church that has grown by over 1,000 people (many of those new believers) in 3 years in a city that has plenty of comfortable, wealthy people who would tell you they have no need for God?

I don’t know…

I can’t say for certain. But I do know that I believe it is NOT a coincidence at all. I believe that when God is moving powerfully Satan pulls overtime to try and put a stop to it. He attacks the individual with gossip, jealousy, anger, bitterness, self-righteousness, greed. He brings out the big guns of depression, substance abuse, and pornography. He knows all the tricks.

Satan is real, and he wants to destroy you. This isn’t a story in a movie. This is real. This is happening.

If God has placed you in a position of influence over other believers you can be sure that attack will come hard and fierce, especially if you’re seeing fruit in your ministry. Pastors, worship leaders, small group leaders, parents, teachers, CEOs, you name it. It will come. It will appear in ways you do not expect.

Personally I’d like to ignore everything I’ve just previously said. I would much rather live my life, have my 3 weeks vacation, collect my pay check, and feel good about my contribution to society than admit there is a battle raging for my soul.

Except I can’t.

I can’t because I know that will lead me to destruction. I can’t because imprinted in the very fibre of my being is a desire for relationship with the God who has something far greater for me than pay checks and feeling good about myself. This God gives us a purpose. This God reaches out to us and says, “I have something far better for you than anything you could hope to attain on your own.” This God gives us victory in the battle. This God has provided a way out.

Jesus, the God-man. The only one who has defeated all of the things that Satan uses to destroy us. He has defeated Satan and death. He is our rescue. He is the God who saves us. He is the atonement. He is the grace giver. He is the restorer. He is the victorious one.

Do Battle

Worship Your Face Off

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. – Ephesians 6:12

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I am sick of trying to ignore the battle. I am sick of seeing the destruction around me and in me. I am sick of my own excuses. I am sick of my lack of faith, lack of prayer, lack of courage, lack of perseverance in the fight. I am sick of fighting alone.

I will do battle. Worship is my weapon of choice.

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Bring it

The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf. – Deuteronomy 1:30

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Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. – Deuteronomy 7:9

Hiatus

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Gonna take a break until July.

This is my last week at Saanich Baptist Church.

  • way too many emotions and real-life conversations going on to spend time on blogging

Next week I leave for 3 weeks of vacation in Europe with my wife

  • way too many castles, cathedrals, alpine retreats, and way too little wifi to be blogging…not to mention way too many amazing convos with my wife

When we get back we’ll be packing up our house and driving the UHaul out to Calgary.

  • yeah, still no point bloggin in all that madness

Then it’s just 2 weeks of settling in to living with my in-laws for a while and getting adjusted to Calgary again.

  • Gonna spend time with my wife’s wonderful family rather than blog

On July first I officially begin my new role at First Alliance Church as the Worship Pastor overseeing a new Sunday Night service initiative.

  • That’s when I’ll start blogging again as I process new ideas, face new leadership opportunities, and begin to dream bigger than I’ve ever dreamed before.

 

See you in July

- Caleb