“One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas Day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.” – Andy Rooney
This week, the vast majority of churches will make “the flip” [i.e. taking down Christmas staging and décor and putting it away]. Great services were had, and now it’s time to move on into whatever is next. However, in the rush to move ahead, hold on to Christmas. Not the décor, or the music, or the gifts – but the heart. The fact that God loved the world so much that He sent His Son – an actual part of Himself – into our world to wipe out everything that we have ever done wrong and to make it right. He came to redeem us. The first definition of redeem is “to
compensate for the faults or bad aspects of something.” We are the something.
At the same time, advance preparations for a different celebration are just beginning. Easter is coming. The second definition of redeem is to “gain or regain possession of something in exchange for payment.” Again, we’re the something. He is the One who payed. We are His – forever. Don’t lose that realization as the ornaments go back in the box.
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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