Sermon Tone Analysis

Pastor Doug told me it would be good to tell you my story.

We all have stories to tell.

Our lives are essentially stories that are being written each day.

They’re about choices we’ve made, our successes and our failures, our joys and sorrows, our likes and dislikes, our family and friends; all are a part of our stories.

So today I’m sharing with you only a part of my story, but enough to help you understand how I came to be with you.

It’s not very glamorous or exciting.

There are no harrowing tales or cliff hanger moments.

Some would say its just boring.

But my story has needed the transforming life of Jesus as much as any human being who has walked this earth.

We’re all in the same boat, so to speak, regardless of our backgrounds.

Jesus is life.

Anything good accomplished in my life without Jesus is worthless in the scope of eternity.

I was born into the local church, or so it seems.

My earliest memories have more to do with participation in the local church than anything else.

Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, afterglows, singspirations, youth events (Dad was a youth pastor for awhile so even as a 4,5 and 6 year old I remember them), choirs, hymns, potlucks, missionaries with slide shows (one that played the garden hose quite well), children’s church, Sunday School classes, volleyball and basketball after evening services, youth bible studies, youth retreats, men’s retreats, choir retreats, small groups, mission trips, camp meeting, evangelists who yelled and spit… a lot, District Assemblies, Annual Conferences, good friends who last a life-time; the list could keep going.

I am extremely grateful for a life that has been spent in and around the local church.

I met my wife in a local church.

I began sensing a call to ministry in a local church.

It was in a local church that I was allowed to spread my wings as a kid and minister various ways; sometimes on a Sunday morning!

And I wasn’t the only child or teen given those opportunities.

Part of my more recent story has to do with the dark side of the church.

I have wrestled with how to approach it or whether I should even mention it.

But I sensed that it is important to acknowledge the part of church life that we don’t like to talk about much because my experiences with it have shaped me permanently.

Remember, that even as I talk of things that are not pretty, I know God is capable of making all things work together for good, for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

I can honestly say I’ve experienced the local church functioning on all cylinders, looking and acting exactly like the church Christ calls for.

I’ve witnessed and been the recipient of the gifts of compassion, mercy, hospitality, discipleship, encouragement, wisdom, discernment of spirits, prophecy, tongues, etc.  I’ve been moved by liturgical, formal services and I’ve been rejuvenated by out right charismatic petal to the metal services too.

I think one of the greatest blessings of my life, though I was highly influenced by the denomination I was raised in, the God given ability to experience and appreciate a huge spectrum of the ways His children express their love for and submission to Him.

I have my personal comfort zone for services of praise and worship, but not much bothers me about other styles.

I’ve learned that God is more concerned with our heart than our harps!

In other words, if your polka praises God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength then let it roll.

Honest.

I’ll join you on my trombone and Lynn will bring her tambourine.

Lynn and I married July 8, 1989 and by November, 1990 we were in Modesto, California ministering as music directors.

It began as a traditional assignment directing a choir, rehearsing and developing ensembles, quartets, directing and producing with some great teams of people with more expertise than me seasonal drama~/musicals.

Then we added a contemporary service and began developing an entirely different approach to worship.

Frankly, in the early 90’s contemporary worship was an emerging process.

The “worship wars” were fully engaged and both the contemporary minded and the tradition embracing needed to learn a lot about what authentic worship was all about.

I needed to learn.

What I found was a little to much self-righteousness from both camps.

The contemporary crowd couldn’t understand why the traditional crowd wouldn’t just embrace the obviously spirit-driven sounds of contemporary Christian worship music.

(Personally, I came to find much of the music more publisher driven than spirit driven.)

The traditional crowd had voices that were convinced that the contemporary sounds would be responsible for distracting young people from good theology found in hymns.

Once I was told that because I changed the melody of a hymn and turned it into a contemporary piece I’d be responsible for the damaged souls of all the young people in our church.

More than once I was told contemporary worship was baby food for baby Christians and when they grew up in the faith they would prefer traditional worship.

In other words, maturity in Christ means everyone will look the same?

Ironically, contemporary minded people felt the same about the traditional crowd.

Both sides had moments when it was hard to see Jesus in talking about corporate worship because of all the focus on personal preferences flying around.

So, because of my past experiences, you’ll need to understand that I see nothing that honors God in worship wars, so consider me Switzerland.

You can fight about the merits of Issac Watts, Charles Wesley’s and Bill Gaither’s music as opposed to Chris Tomlin and David Crowder, but I’m convinced that God doesn’t care about that.

He does care about the attitude and motivation of our hearts.

Is it about Him or is it about us?

But, even during worship wars, there were incredible times when it was obvious God was in our presence; those moments when the Holy Spirit moved in such a way that preferences didn’t matter.

That’s an example of how big our God is.

I’ve been moved by liturgical, formal services and I’ve been rejuvenated by out right charismatic petal to the metal services too.

I’ve learned that God is more concerned with our heart than our harps!

In other words, if your polka praises God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength then let it roll.

Honest.

I’ll join you on my trombone and Lynn will bring her tambourine.

I was teamed with a great man in California who was the senior pastor at the time.

He provided a solid foundation and helped me learn much about being a pastor.

And I miss him.

The last time I saw him was at my ordination.

He died a year and a half latter at 52.

In June of 1997 I joined the staff of a church in Roseburg, Oregon.

That was a bit of a surprise because I honestly felt I’d never live in Oregon again.

Of course I never wanted to live in California either.

I make my plans, but the Lord directs my steps.

Enough said.

The Roseburg church and its senior pastor had a completely different personality than the California group.

They were a church that had experienced many highs and lows.

The church had populated many of the other churches in the community over the years and divisiveness and controversy had been an underlying theme for some time.

It was interesting to find rumors and gossip still floating around the community concerning things that had occurred years before.

Of course, just like fish, they seemed to get bigger the more they were talked about.

And of course if you leave a fish out long enough it begins to stink too.

The incredible thing was the transformation that was occurring in the congregation.

I came on the scene as the church was just about finished with its “reset“ so to speak.

The week I interviewed for the staff position I led worship in the Sunday morning service.

It was amazing to experience a different worship culture than I had ever experienced in my denomination.

It was as if all I had to do was strum a chord on my guitar and they were on their feet and into it.

Now, I’m an INFJ.

I’m more type B than type A.  I don’t need to be entertained, I don’t bore easily (referring to myself.

I don’t know if I bore you or not.

That’s you’re issue to deal with.)

And exuberance is not always the natural state of being for me.

But this group of people didn’t seem to care.

During my time at the church I quickly grew used to raised hands, people talking back to you when you preached, lots of “holy hopping”, dancing in worship, 2 ½ hour services, pure exuberance.

One 90 year old saint would sing so loud, both new and old songs that occasionally it was hard to keep track of where we were with a song.

The fun thing about it was that they were so not me, but God blended us together for that time and it was an incredible experience.

After about six months there, our Senior Pastor and leadership felt lead to have a reconciliation service.

I will never forget the day.

Former pastors, former members and attendees came back to the church for the day.

In the midst of the service our Senior Pastor represented all the leaders present and past, asking for forgiveness for past failures.

Another person from the congregation did the same for the people of the church.

We shared communion and breaking of bread together that had people embracing, shedding tears and renewing friendships that had been damaged or broken in the past conflicts.

There were those opposed to the idea for some reason.

One man sat in the parking lot while his wife attended the service, to bitter to come in.

Another stood up at one point and basically said it was silly we were doing it at all.

But the truth is, a spirit was broken in the congregation and from that point forward we often heard from visitors that love was the overwhelming sensation they felt from the congregation.

We were far from perfect, but the experience taught me that God can change us even when human logic would say impossible.

He can change hard-hearted people and He can change wounded congregations.