Ah, we Americans – the great individualists! We pride ourselves on our independence and self-reliance, but those same traits very easily lead to fairly extreme case of self-centeredness. The treatment? Prayer, of course!
Services on evangelism, outreach, giving, unity, etc… could contain a time of prayer for those outside of our normal prayer spheres, which usually fall into three spheres – ourselves (often the biggest sphere), ours family and friends (in some ways, an extension of sphere number one), and the rest of the world (usually a tack on).
Here’s what we do… Pause in the service, and have a brief time of directed prayer. However, instead of praying for ourselves our loved ones, we intentionally scan the room and choose someone that we don’t know to pray for. Not generic prayer – specifics. Prayers for spiritual strength, health, financial stability, good relationships, etc… Focusing on the specifics helps us to realize/remember that others have the same hopes/fears/needs/failings as we do, and that helps us to see them as real people, rather than living wallpaper in our worlds. When they’re real to us, it’s a lot easier to care both for and about them.
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I'm a Christian, a husband, a dad, a son, a pastor, a consultant, a musician, a writer, and bits and pieces of a bunch of other things. My work life has followed three main phases - business to teaching to church. I was the Weekend Services Pastor for nine years at Northview Church, an awesome church in the Indianapolis suburbs. I used to work for Willow Creek, another awesome church in the Chicago area. Plus I've written for various magazines and websites, and other freelancy sorts of things... My life mission is to help the church be as excellent as it can be.
Oh yeah - the name's Greg. Greg Wallace. But not the race car driver or the major league pitcher or the British celebrity chef. Just the creative worship guy. Hi.
It's my hope that these ideas, musings, rants, raves, etc... will inspire you. They're just my opinions - but again, I hope that they'll help to inspire you. Because the church really, really needs inspired creative types. If you're a creative type (and most people are, deep-down), ask God for help. Then take any ideas that are useful to you - borrow them, nab them, use them, adapt them - and make them into something greater...
You can head over to my Instagram site for an abundance of shorter posts: creativeworshipideas. If you're looking for consulting - especially on weekend services, team leadership or multi-site strategies - I'd love to help. Just message me here, and I'll be in touch - Greg
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