Mark Hilbelink
I am the Lead Pastor of Sunrise Community Church in Austin, TX and Executive Director of the Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center, as well as Stated Clerk of Classis Rocky Mountain. I love God and the Kingdom.
Connect to The Network and add your own question, blog, resource, or job.
Add Your Post
Posted in: Worship for Whom?
Hey Josh, thanks for being the first courageous one to respond!
So, I think you bring up two basic questions here: "how much of this is based on personal preference" and "why worry about disconnect?". (feel free to correct me if those are innacurate paraphrases).
So first, I think we've all heard the dread "p-word" in worship war discussions (preference). Obviously, there's nothing wrong with preferences. The problem comes when our preferences implicity exclude others (ie, the opposite of mission). My argument would be that, far too often, when mission is at odds with our preferences, we choose preference most of the time because it is the path of least resistance or is most self-beneficial. I'm fairly certain neither of those was Jesus' way.
For the second point, there's obviously nothing wrong with preferring a style of worship that is more "traditional" - in fact, there are some wonderful parts of traditional, liturgical worship. The only issue I'm pointing out is that, if we engage relationally and at the level of people far from God six days a week on mission and then try to invite them to a worship service that is far different both intellectually and stylistically, its kind of like letting someone test drive a Chevy and then sending them home with a Ford. We shouldn't be suprised that many of our churches are missionally engaged with their communities but very few people ever make a home in our worship services. If we're okay with that, then I guess we carry on. I just don't think Jesus would be.
Posted in: Worship for Whom?
Hey Josh........
Love the comments, but I think maybe I disagree with the premise. Something inside me twinges every time I hear the word "fed" in relation to the quality of a corporate worship experience. My guess is (to take it back to the original piece) if being fed is the goal of corporate worship then Jesus would say we're sorely off track. If mission is the ultimate end of what the church should be doing (as my premise above reads), then corporate worship should be a support mechanism and operational appendage of mission. Being fed can be a byproduct of that, but only in the context of how it prepares us for mission and it musn't be our sole measurement for defining if worship has been done well. It is common to hear the phrase "all of life is worship", and that phrase might be true - but in comparison to the Gospels and Acts (our main source for how the early church dealt with worship), we've put far too much of an emphasis on the corporate act of worship - especially when it has no connection to how we are the Church sent.
To me, this has little to do with the cultural relevancy of our churches and much to do with our missional consistency as people. I think most of us are culturally relevant, or else we'd just all have no friends. The problem is that we treat corporate worship as something that's wholly other than our normal selves. As we missionally approach each moment of our lives, we become more culturally relevant. As our corporate worship becomes more like who we are the other 6 days of the week, those friends we have those other 6 days will find a place of belonging in the Kingdom.
Maybe this is all too philosophical, so I'll take a practical example: My church knows that, to me, going to church is the 2nd-most important thing I want them to do in our faith community. 1st is small group, which, at our church, includes Bible study, living as community, pastoral care to each other, serving their neighborhood and serving our city. I regularly tell them (as do all our staff) that if they have to skip one of small group or church, they should skip church. That's a bold thing for us to say and our attendence is more spotty, but wouldn't you know it, our church is entrenched in neighborhoods, including non-Christians in spiritually formative environments, taking care of one other physically and spiritually and thriving. Its not rocket science, we just feel its more like Acts 2.
Posted in: Top Worship Songs of 2010
Great thread here - I love seeing what's winding up on everyone else's setlists. Gives us a feel for where worship has been and is heading in the broader scope of the CRC. We've been discussing the increasing quality of lyrical content in worship songs that have been produced recently. I'm glad to see that many of them are working their way into folks' worship expressions. Like Jubilee, Sunrise keeps a playlist of our "regular" songs available online for our church members to listen to at work or download on their own. We call it Sunrise Radio: http://www.myspace.com/hilbelink/music/playlists/sunrise-radio-1525044
Here's Our Top 12 list for 2010:
Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) (Tomlin)
Changed (Aaron Niequist)
Evermore (Hillsong)
God of this City (Bluetree)
Hosanna (Baloche)
If We Are the Body (Casting Crowns)
I Will Follow (Tomlin)
Lead Me to the Cross (Hillsong)
Let Your Kingdom Come (Aaron Ivey)
Mighty to Save (Hillsong)
The Stand (Hillsong)
You Hold Me Now (Hillsong)
Posted in: New Songs for Christmas
Here's our 2 Advent setlists so far........I'd say the border on they creatively insane (makes me love our worship leaders :)):
Nov. 28 Setlist:
Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog (Three Dog Night)
Joy to the World (Traditional)
Jesus Messiah (Chris Tomlin)
O Holy Night (Traditional with violin solo)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Jars of Clay version)
How Great is Our God (chorus/bridge only)
Dec. 5 Setlist:
O Come, O Come Emmanuel (dark, minor, guitar-driven)
All Who Are Thirsty (Vineyard)
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) (Chris Tomlin)
The Glory of It All (David Crowder)
O Little Town of Bethlehem (traditional with lead guitar feature)
Advent is always a hard time for churches with full bands because musicians STRONGLY DISLIKE traditional Christmas carols, for whatever reason (they claim boredom). Every season, I seem to lose 1-3 musicians during Advent. This year, I've already lost 2. We really tried to incorporate some of our regular music that has Christmas overtones (All Who Are Thirsty is a great example with its chorus, "Come, Lord Jesus, Come"). Its a tricky business and a great challenge for our young worship leaders - but I think its exciting, too, to give them the challenge of picking great Christmas music AND challenging our musicians.
Posted in: What's In A Name? [VIDEO]
Bev, you'll be encouraged to know that these young adults DO pour this creativity & passion into worship. I'm 26 and the other three people who made the video are all 20 years old. They are THE leaders of our worship at Sunrise. Chris is our Creative Arts Director and Roman & Ashley (the two stars of this video) are our two worship leaders.
Its my distinct privelege to have been blessed with such powerful young staff members. Leading a young staff can be challenging at times and must be done with careful consideration, but the pure capacity for creative excellence amongst young leaders, if harnessed correctly, is an amazing thing!
Posted in: Synod Discussion on Adolescents
I'm confused.....is the discussion about Young Adults (ie, Ty's comments) or youth (ie, middle school-high school - adolescents)?
Posted in: Everyone a Missionary?
Thoughtful article, Steve. I think you were so guarded, its a little hard to tell what you're actually arguing.....are you saying that the phrase "We are all missionaries and our mission field is right out that door" is accurate, inaccurate, or simply a tool that we can use rightly or wrongly?
Whatever your argument, it is a conversation we need to have because I see it as a key faultline in the CRC right now - who will do the work of mission, professionals or everyone? Or, rather, who should be doing it? In many ways, every congregation faces the same challenge with professional staff - does the pastor, youth pastor, church planter, etc. do ministry or does he/she facilitate ministry? What is the difference between a professional pastor or missionary's calling versus that of every other member? I tend to think there is no difference, but that we all team up financially to allow one or a few persons to dedicate their time fully to the task of the ministry we all participate in. Easy to say, REALLY hard to do.
Posted in: Classis Takes Step in Right Direction
Amen, Karl. If we spend all our energy bemoaning slow progress or scaling mountains only with our eyes, that is the only way we can assure we'll never change. Let's bring our brightest and best to the forefront - nothing speaks louder than results, so let's amp up our coverage of the innovators, the risk-takers, the creatives and the mold-breakers. Let's recognize that sometimes you have to pass by people who are standing still or moving slowly to get ahead in a race and quit trying to pacify the "way-its-always-beeners". Let's not get so distracted by internal discussions (ie, Children at the Table, Belhar) that we forsake the growth and movement of God and His Kingdom in our world.
We're good at being pioneers in the mission field and the educational realm, so why not be pioneers in ecclesiology? At the very least, even if we fail sometimes, creating an environment where failing isn't failure, but rather a step in the innovative process is imperative if we're going to fight back against doom & gloom. I'm fairly certain God's still in the business of doing things in new and creative ways, so let's get on board rather than wishing Him well on His trip.
Posted in: Classis Takes Step in Right Direction
Our brothers and sisters in the Southern Baptist Convention are talking about similar issues regarding leading WITH new, young leaders for the betterment of the Kingdom.
Ed Stetzer & Phillip Nation's 5 Part Series is 2 Parts Complete:
Part I: http://bit.ly/9McU5s
Part II: http://bit.ly/bWZpQR
Posted in: "Contemporvant" Worship Video--Funny? Offensive? Satirical? Mean?
My good friend Pastor Dave Horner pointed out this video to me a couple months back and I thought it was hilarious. For those of us who are worship artists, particularly in the modern worship movement, many of these things hit very close to home.....sometimes so close that it stings. And like most artists, musicians tend to be pretty sensitive folks (if you've ever been in a band that plays to the 10 people who showed up on time to church, you know what I mean).
But in the modern church, artist stretches from drummer to sound technician to video editor to web designer to lead guitarist and (hopefully) to pastor. Its helpful to point out that the people who put this video together are poking fun at themselves in many ways - artists reflecting satirically on themselves.
My favorite part of this video is the part about the worship leader trying to sing a song he wrote so that you'll buy it later in the bookstore. In our bands, we call this "inbred" music - being so selfish artistically that we only sing songs we wrote the way we wrote them with the band members we select. When its all about us in worship, the comments God makes about worship in Amos start to become very true.
Posted in: Worship Leaders as Guides
(comment removed)
Posted in: We Need to Redefine Excellence in Worship
I appreciate your article here, Mark, but I think perhaps I disagree a little.
Excellence is really a funny term because it means different things to different people in different situations. I think one thing you're failing to point out here is that growth is an important part of excellence. If someone sings or reads poorly and no one says anything to them or doesn't help them improve, you're doing that person a disservice just as we would if they were having trouble in any other aspect of their spiritual life and we didn't come alongside.
Additionally, worship leadership falls under the broader category of teaching/leadership in general - which James mentions calls us to submit to a higher standard. I think throwing just anyone up on stage in worship is a disservice to them and the worshipping body. What's more - worship is a firstfruits offering and giving less than our best is a real issue.
I've met a lot of people in my time leading worship who really cared deeply about God and loved him and maybe even loved worship, but who didn't have the gifts to lead it. In a sense, it would be like throwing a cello at you and asking you to play cello in front of church, even though you probably never have.
I guess I'm really not sure what you're arguing for?