From 4/05 - Stop Evaluating … Start Experiencing

Sometimes God chooses to inspire me by allowing me to read how He has inspired someone else. It’s OK. When God inspires me, I’m happy to share. I’ve found that others are as well. This message comes via the WorshipIdeas.com e-mail bulletin that I get periodically. Another WorshipIdeas.com subscriber sent it in.
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Bobby Sanderson, Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church of Columbus, Mississippi, was impacted when he read an article about worship. In that article, the author said, “I wish I could get my people to stop evaluating worship and start experiencing it.” Sanderson says that he began asking himself some hard questions:

1. Is worship about God or is it about what I like?
2. Do I seek God’s presence or the comfort of being with friends and doing what is familiar?
3. When is the last time God “blind-sided” me and spoke in a way I did not expect?
4. Am I so contemporary I lose the transcendence of God?
5. Am I so traditional that I forget God’s relevance?
6. Do I see myself as part of an audience giving approval/disapproval to worship leaders?
7. Can God use what I don’t like?
8. Am I more into music than the spoken word?
9. Do I ignore the command to sing just to get to the “message”?
10. Do I leave worship with a clear sense of what I’m supposed to do?
11. Is the style of worship more important than the object of worship?
12. Do I love His presence as much as the songs I sing and play?
13. Can I worship Him when it’s hard work and my joy is running low?

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That’s enough to think about for now …