I’ve become a fan of Church of the Highlands in Alabama. Aside from being one of the largest multi-site churches in the US, they have become models of what unleashing the gifting of the congregation can look like. In particular, I’ve gotten to know Justin Bradshaw, who – at the beginning – was a volunteer who simply wanted to help his church. He came up with the idea for Infuse, the worship training process at Highlands – I’ve discussed that in previous postings. I’ve become a fan, not just of what he does, but how he does it. He’s a people person – but he started as a task-oriented guy. Through a family tragedy, God grabbed ahold of him and forced him to look at his own life. Here’s how he turned it around:
“‘When is the last time you sat across the table from someone to listen to what they had to say?’
Now this question doesn’t seem deep. In fact, in the moment I began to debunk the idea that there was even any weight to this “out of left field” notion. “Of course I have listened to plenty of people”, I thought. “I mean, just the other day I…”. Or “a few weeks ago me and…”. Nothing… the truth is I couldn’t remember the last time I spoke with someone without carrying my own agenda to the table. I had spent so much time focusing on my own pursuits, that I lacked awareness towards the needs of others. I believe this is something that God had been whispering to me for a long time, but now I was finally listening.”
Hmmm - well, let's see...
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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