Per a request via band leader, Brian Ward:
“The Mars Hill band Loma is in search of a ‘Master Of The Skins’ to replace our talented current drummer who unfortunately is moving back home to Florida in August. Stylistically the band is currently in transition, though past influences include Wilco, The Posies, Spoon, and most pop-oriented indie rock. Please contact Brian Ward at 206.915.7260 or at theunionstate@hotmail.com for more information”.
Howdy Doxologist-ers. Though the posting has been a little slow around here, let it be known I’ve been working on a pretty extensive song sheet / mp3 repository page that–Lord willing–should be ready to launch in the next week or two. Currently there’s tons of live MP3s and songsheets out there in the MH ether but most of it is not in one place. So even though this undertaking is kind of like re-inventing the wheel we music department folks thought it would be helpful to have it available in one place instead of having to waste time searching for it.Once this page launches please post comments on what works and doesn’t work. Please note that this page will be a work in progress and may not function perfectly at first. Stay tuned!
Every so often we get philosophy-of-ministry type questions from folks in other churches. Its humbling to know that people would come to those of us at Mars Hill for answers as we feel like we’re constantly figuring things out as we go. But it is a great honor to have the opportunity to share our thoughts. Our hope is that whatever biblically faithful insights we’ve gained along the way would honor Jesus and build up the church. Here is an exchange between a ministry leader in Australia and our own Deacon Joel Brown.Brother Down Under: Our church has three male band leaders and we’re considering the Mars Hill style “band model” instead of the “worship team” model. If we move to a band model it will mean either having women band leaders, or cutting the volunteer pool for the sake of three smaller manageable bands. I’m hesitating from the second option because of the pastoral implications it could have, but am I still being faithful to scripture if women are in the role of leadership?Joel Brown: First thing to consider as you transition is, what has God called you to, specifically? As a leader of these people, if he’s called you to the band model at your church and you feel it will be the best way to minister to your people in your time and place, then the folks currently serving in your ‘teams’ need strong vision casting from you up front.I suggest you get a game plan together – some sort of proposal that tangibly lays out the best case scenario for this group that you lead. Prayerfully consider how you want the “band model” structured in your specific context. What leaders and members do you want in and which do you want out? Give this proposal to your pastors/elders and have them edit, change, or approve it. Meet with the leaders you want to keep and make sure they’re on board. Then, pesent your plan in a meeting with all of your department’s volunteers. Maybe the meeting would go something like this:
As far as women as band leaders, I would say that there is no biblical office of band leader. So though the bible is clear on whether or not women can be pastors, the decision on band leadership is totally a matter of conscience for your church. At Mars Hill, worship leaders have very little spiritual authority and don’t perform a lot of pastoral duties in their role, so we have several woman band leaders. We work towards helping the ladies succeed when they work with men but help safeguard them from the need to lead spiritually and men leaders step in when there’s the need for a little more authority in a given situation.BDU: Bands have identities. How do we avoid glorifying the bands over glorifying Jesus? Perhaps its cultural but on the Central Coast in Australia, bands are worshipped. Does this make it wrong for us to follow this model?JB: If your bands develop identities and you see people leaning towards idolatry, then it’s time to call out your people’s sin. Idolatry isn’t caused by creation, it’s caused by our hearts and not having a right view of God’s surpassing worth over the things which catch our eye, and we all need to be reminded of that. Of course if this is a larger issue for your people then you should, of course, avoid leading them into temptation.
This week I have the pleasure of leading worship and doing a little teaching at the Dwell Conference in New York City. I have never been to NYC and am thoroughly enjoying it. Dwell is a corporative effort between the Acts 29 and Redeemer church planting networks and features CJ Maheney, Ed Stetzer, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll and others. Ironically it is being held at 4th Unitarian Universalist Church.
This afternoon I taught a breakout session on Missional Worship. Thanks to all who attended and all your great questions. I hope it was helpful.
As promised, here are links to the resources I mentioned in my sesh:
Here are the notes.
Here are the slides.
Here is a link to the talk I referenced detailing our new mission statement.
Here is a link to a resource page with our band development syllabus and a bunch of other stuff.
This week Mars Hill is hosting the Leadership Network “Multi-Site Exposed Conference”.
I had the privilege to teach a breakout session this afternoon entitled “Musical Multi-Site Missionaries”. We dug into Acts 17 and John 4 to define both worship and a missionary mindset and then applied these truths to music and worship bands. We didn’t record it but here are the resources I referenced…
Here are the notes.
Here are the slides.
Here is a draft of the mission statement I have been working on.
You can find the syllabus for our band development process along with other leadership development resources here or under the “leader training resources” page link on the right.
Pastor Tim
Easter is full of distraction. For us who are involved with music and production at churches it is an extremely busy season filled with programming, details and a desire and pressure to make sure all our carefully laid plans come off as well as possible. For children is a time that can easily be about bunnies and baskets. For the rest of us it can easily become a brief remembrance of a often told story; a small bump of religious observance along the road of life.
However, what we remember in Good Friday and Easter is the most essential and profound event of all time. It cannot even be contained in human words. The death and resurrection of Jesus, with all it’s implications, should shake and affect us to the very core of our being. Peter said it this way:
“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,”
(1Pet 1.8 ESV) (more…)
We had a great time last Friday night at the Downtown campus celebrating our first full length album, the Rain City Hymnal, in almost 5 years. I had no idea what to expect as we have not done this kind of event in a long time. It was great to see the room mostly full with more than 400 people coming out to enjoy our music.
We started the evening off with Joe Day and the Northern Conspiracy who played a number of his original tunes ending with his arrangement of the Doxology (featured on the Rain City Hymnal). Brian Eichelberger and Epop played next. I have to admit that I have not seen or heard Brian’s band in awhile as it seems like we are always playing at the same time. His band sounded great and his new version of “Just As I Am” (not on the RCH but maybe some future project…) was epic. My band, Ex Nihilo, went last and we had a great time.
We used to do “concerts” like this from time to time and with a great room like downtown we just may do it again. If you are not in the Seattle area sorry you missed it. Also, to clarify, this is just the Mars Hill Church release of the Rain City Hymnal. We are working on plans to release the album in a more public way and would appreciate your prayer as we wrestle with just how to do so.
Pastor Tim
Check out our Leader Training Resources Page (shown to the right on this landing page) It’s our new one stop shop for Band Leader’s in Training media. Included is all the audio content from the Continuous Worship Conference as well as the ‘08 syllabus.
I heard yesterday, by word-of-mouth (which was later confirmed by the evening news) that The Crocodile Cafe closed suddenly closed with no explanation. Check out the Seattle Times article here. A photographer buddy of mine unknowingly took photos at the last show ever featuring Dave Bazan (of Pedro the Lion fame) and J. Tillman. I have personally rocked and been rocked at the Crocodile many a time since ‘93, just a couple years after it opened. I have a whole lot of good time memories of that place and it’s a venue that will be sorely missed.
I have a particular stand-out memory of the Crocodile which can be read here. Anyone else have any stories?
Doxologist Content
