Is Your Family First?
Oct 31, 2011 Aviator Worship
As some of you know I am 24 years old and have been married to my beautiful wife Renate’ for a little less than two years. Lately we have been thinking and praying quite a bit about our future family. We are looking forward to having children but of course with kids comes a huge responsibility. As we have prayed about this we have been face with many tough decisions in our life. Choices like employment, housing, location, schools, and others have plagued us. Every time we have a huge decision in front of us it seems like there are too many factors to consider and we get overwhelmed. But as I was reading in 1 Timothy last week I found the answer to my decision dilemma. Check out this passage from 1 Timothy 5:8.
“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially the members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
Pretty strong words huh? Put simple this verse says, “Put your family first.” Now everyone has priorities, and we get preach to all the time about where they should be. Obviously God should be first, but what is next? Your job? Your car? Your friends? No. It should be your family. First your Spouse, then children, then everyone else. So ever since I read this verse, it hit me. When I make my decisions I first need to think about how the outcome will affect my family. Seems obvious doesn’t it? But fr so many of us all we think about is how our decisions affect us. We think, if I take this job I will make more money. But we don’t factor in that the new job will keep us from spending time with our spouse and children. We think if I move to this new city then I will have more opportunity to advance my goals. But we don’t always think of how that will affect our family.
Now you can say, but if I make a choice that benefits me, as a leader in my family won’t it benefit them? I don’t know. Will it? You need to find out. Just because something benefits you personally doesn’t mean it will benefit your family. You may think more money will benefit your family, but if you have to give up time with them to get that money, then you may have been better off with less money and more time. Each situation is unique. But the bottom line is you must consult God and ask yourself what is best for your family (or future family, for you young married and single people) before you make your decisions.
Now this is just one thing you need to take away from this verse. Next post I will be talking a little more in depth about provision. Which is mentioned specifically in this passage. Till then, remember to put your family first!
-Jordan
Writing Workshop #1
Oct 20, 2011 Aviator Worship
Down in the southern end at Aviator Church Wellington, the worship team and myself have agreed to start writing our own worship music. We have felt the Lord call us all to this, so I have decided to write about this for all of those looking to “sing a new song” to our Father. So we start off with Psalm 144:9:
“I will sing a new song to you, my God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,”
We as God’s chosen people have been asked by our Creator to create new songs for Him. It is said many times throughout scripture to “sing a new song” all the way from Psalms to Revelations, God has called us to sing to Him. So as a future worship song writer always remember, YOU have been called to this as well. All worship leaders, I believe, are truly called to this for it is all over the scriptures. This is our first step as a worship team to write new music.
Our next step as a team is to have a heart of submission. It is easy for us to write about what we feel is right but worship isn’t meant for us, it is meant for God. As a team when we get together to write, we have agreed to commit ourselves to prayer. God must tear down our selfish desires and wants for Him to tell us what He wants for us to write. If our goal is to truly worship Him with this music we must give ourselves over to Him just as much as any act of worship (don’t you love how anything you do can worship the Lord?). With our hearts and minds focused on God we can begin to sing unto Him a new song.
Now this entry and the entries that will follow it are not meant to be a step by step guide as to how to write a worship song. There is no perfect formula as to what makes the perfect worship song. These entries are meant to guide and help understand how to prepare yourselves, know when is the right time, and what it means to write new worship songs.
Please do not misunderstand this. Yes, at the beginning of this entry I mentioned the Wellington location alone, but I can tell you this: All of Aviator Church and the worship teams at each location feel that we are to write new worship songs to the Lord. This undertaking is not just being done at one location but at all. We have been called to “sing a new song” just as much as David did when he wrote the Psalms.
“Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.” Psalm 98:1
We have been called, and we are listening. Now is the time for us all to take the next step of action in writing to the Lord, a new song.
- Spencer Jones, Worship Leader Aviator Church Wellington
Stressed Out?
Oct 18, 2011 Aviator Worship
A few days ago, Olivia, (worship leader at Aviator Derby) posted a blog about worry, and how to counter it with worship. (check it out HERE.) I wanted to elaborate on that during this post and talk about stress. I have been reading “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan lately and found this quote from the book:
Worry implies that we don’t quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough or loving enough to take care of what’s happening in our lives.
Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace towards others, or our tight grip of control.
Sound familiar? I don’t know about you, but I have a major tendency to stress out and worry about things way too much. Recently I came to terms with the fact that I have this habit where I plan out everything, and then strategize on how to go about achieving that plan. If I hit a roadblock I reevaluate and make new versions of the plan. (I think I am on version 47,092 of “the plan”) The point is I have a natural tendency to put more faith in my plans than in God.
Blame it on society, blame it on human nature, the point is we have to fight these habits of thinking that we have to plan every little thing out. Obviously it is good to be prepared. But sometimes you just have to believe that God is bigger than the stuff you are stressing out about! Check out this quote from James 4: 13-15.
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
Here you have a prime example with a couple of people making plans without consulting God first. Too often we make plans and ask God to bless them, instead of following the plans that God has for us which He is going to bless because they are His plans! We must get into the habit of living our lives following the next step God has for us and stop pushing God to show us steps 1-12 and what the ultimate result will be. We are humans! We mess things up! If we knew all the steps we would probably screw it up! But if we follow God as He reveals His plans little by little everything will work out.
Now this means that sometimes things won’t make sense. Things may not add up on paper, which means that we have to have faith in Jesus, that He will continue to provide, and that if we are obedient to what He asks of us, even when it doesn’t make sense, it will all work out in the end. So stop stressing out about stuff that you were never meant to worry about! Turn to Jesus, give it all to Him, stop making plans, and have faith in the God that created you for a purpose. Jesus will never let you down, period. Believe it.
-Jordan Golden
Worship Pastor, Aviator Church Derby
Aviator Unplugged (but not really)
Oct 13, 2011 Aviator Worship
A couple of months ago we had an awesome Sunday where we stripped down our setup and did a more acoustic oriented worship experience. It was, simply, awesome. At Aviator Church we are fairly well known for being progressive and using mostly electric guitars, synth, and whatever else we can get our hands on that is loud and modern. But every now and then it is nice to just strip it down and worship Jesus in a different way. So we took away all but one of the electric guitars, added a percussion section, keyboard, stand up bass, acoustic 6-string, and acoustic, 12-string, with some intense vocal harmonies. On stage and in the auditorium we brought the lights down very low and put electric candles all over the place as you can see in the pictures below:
We had an especially intense Sunday this week leading some to say, “why don’t we do this every week?” Our vision at Aviator Church is to constantly be innovating new ways to worship so we can reach the next generation for Christ. Currently the next generation, (those who don’t know Jesus) tend to like louder more progressive music. So this is the style we focus on for our worship experiences. However we also will change things up often, we never want to get to complacent in what we do on Sunday mornings. If we keep things fresh then it keeps our worship experiences from becoming ritualistic. The whole point of our worship experience is to worship God and listen to what He has to say to us. When we do stuff the same way over and over we may just go through the motions and miss what God has for us.
-Jordan Golden
Worship Pastor, Aviator Church Derby
The Opposite of Worry
Oct 13, 2011 Aviator Worship
So I have a couple of questions for you….Have you ever had a bad day?
Hah…that’s a silly question, isn’t it? Of course you have. Everyone has bad days. But have you ever tried to have an intimate worship encounter with God during one of those Murphy’s Law Mondays? Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t. Either way, I’d be willing to bet that it still wasn’t your first thought in the middle of things going wrong.
I know it’s certainly not the first thing on my mind when I’m busy stressing and worrying over the latest problem that’s decided to plant itself in my path. I tend to get angry and my stress levels get worse because of it and I blow the matter up far worse than it really is. Relaxing and giving in is the last thing I want to do.
But…why not? Why do we not think to stop and just relax for a moment? Relaxation and relief is what you seek when you’re stressed isn’t it? And truly…there are few things more comforting than entering into a mode of worship to our Creator in an intimate setting of heart to heart sharing. It feels good to sing at the top of your lungs and forget about the stress for a bit. It’s a matter of letting go of your worry and releasing it into the hands of God. Let Him be the one to look after the problems…because, I can assure you, they don’t worry Him in the least.
I had an experience two weeks ago where I had one of these days and I fought that little voice in my Spirit that was prompting me to just relax and sing. Sing? In the middle of the crud that was putting me in such a foul mood? I didn’t want to talk to anyone, much less sing to God. But…the more I fought, the stronger the prompting got until finally…I couldn’t ignore it and I gave in. It was the best choice I could have made. I let go..and I sang. And at once I felt God’s peace and goodness flood right over any anger or anxiousness I had and suddenly my problem didn’t seem to be so big at all. In fact…it seemed quite trivial. Stupid even. I found relief and comfort in the act of simply letting go and praising God for who He is and for being far greater then my problems.
So why?…Why do we not surrender more readily? Why do we not pour our hearts out in praise to God more often? Why is this simple act of surrender our last resort when we’re walking through a tough time? Worship is such a powerful thing. Glorifying God with our heart and voice (or instrument) is a healing act. Because if we’re focusing on Him then it keeps us from the dangerous sin of worry and it blocks the enemy from sneaking in to try and drag us further into our self pity and stress.
So let me encourage and challenge you…the next time you’re having a rough day and feeling tempted to close up and clutch your problems close…don’t. Let ‘em go. Hand em right over to God and start singing. I guarantee you will find peace so long as you surrender completely. Worship is a mighty thing and Satan fears it.
-Olivia
Worship Leader, Aviator Church Derby
