The Best Easter Experience Ever

What do you feel when you realize that Easter is right around the corner? I get excited, but I also get a little anxious. The reason for conflicting emotions is because I realize what's at stake. More people come through our church doors that weekend than any other weekend of the year. There's no better time to have a clear presentation of the gospel than on Easter, so we better bring our A- Game. Here are 5 ways to make sure your Easter experience is awesome this year.

1. GRAB THEIR ATTENTION

It's so important that you have something in the first few minutes of your service that will capture their attention. Something that will wow them or make them lean in. This doesn't always need to be up and flashy it can also be something very simple that makes them lean in. A few years back our opener was very high energy starting with five or six people on video retelling the story of the resurrection. Behind it, the band was playing the chords to Hillsong’s “Alive”. When they finished telling the story the band had built to a crescendo and we went right into the singing of that song.

 On the other extreme, one Easter we started with a video that just had words telling the story of the crucifixion and then a single light came up on the stage with someone singing acappella the old Andre Crouch song, “I Don't Know Why Jesus Loved Me”. Both were powerful, both captured their attention but they were done in very different ways. It doesn't necessarily matter if the energy is up or down but it does matter that we capture their attention.

2. LIMIT CONGREGATIONAL MUSIC TO 10 MINUTES

This is one that, on occasion, I may get some pushback from people. I can just hear some of you as you're reading this saying, “How is 10 minutes enough worship time on Easter?”. I had an assistant years ago that felt this way. She would always say, "Two songs ain't enough for my Jesus on Easter”. Ha ha ha....now, thinking selfishly,  I agree with her because I love to worship and I especially love to celebrate on Easter. But this goes back to asking ourselves the question: “Who is our target audience for that day?”. On this day, more than any other, we're going to have a lot of nonbelievers in our services, so we can't spend 30 minutes singing songs that they don't know or understand. So what I like to do is spend about 10 minutes in congregational singing and then use the other time that I have before the message to craft meaningful moments to inspire, to connect, and to challenge those that are in attendance. 

3. HELP THEM FACE THE AGONY OF THE CROSS

I think so often on Easter we only focus on the resurrection but not on the cross. Yes Easter is about the resurrection but without the cross, without the death of Jesus, there is no resurrection there is no Easter. I always want people to have that moment of gravity when they come face-to-face with the facts of how Jesus took on our guilt and shame. I always like to find a creative way to tell the story of the cross and allow them to sense the pain Jesus faced, but then move them past the pain so that they recognize that it was temporary...that because of what Jesus did on the cross... because of the pain and agony that He suffered, we can be free. I want them to know that sin has lost its sting, death has been defeated, and that we can be raised to life just as Jesus was. Without The agony of the cross there is no celebration of the resurrection.

4. TELL STORIES OF LIFE CHANGE

This is a very important element to use on Easter. We want those that don't have a relationship with Jesus to hear stories of people who were broken, and to hear that when they found Jesus their lives were forever changed. It is very important that you have a game plan when you are interviewing people for their stories. We try and use these three questions to shape the interviews in the stories that we tell about life change: 1. What was your life like before you met Jesus? 2. How did you come to know Jesus? 3. What's your life like now after your encounter with Jesus?

Those three questions are a great template for you to use as you’re crafting your stories.

I realize that some of you don't have a person who can capture a story like that on video. I would encourage you tell the story in other ways. We've told those stories by reading them during the sermon or having the person script their story out with those three questions in mind and then having them read it. You could also do a live interview as long as that person is comfortable speaking in a live setting. There's all kinds of ways to tell people’s stories, and the method is not as important as making sure that we are telling them.

5. LET THEM LEAVE WITH THE HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION.

Make sure the message ends with bringing Hope. Let people know that no matter how far from God they think they are that because of the Resurrection they can be raised to live through Jesus. We will always end the message with an opportunity for people to receive Christ. After that prayer we will lead into the offering time where one of our pastors will give people their next step. If they received Christ, they will be asked to check the box marked “I received Christ today” on our worship guide and then drop it in the offering bag. We can then follow up with them and help them as they start their journey of faith. We will also share whatever series may be coming up next, so that we  give people a reason to come back the next week. While receiving the offering we always like to end with a high energy, hope-filled song. I want to make sure people are leaving with the hope of the resurrection echoing in their hearts as they leave our time together.

I'm so excited about what God is going to do through our churches this Easter season. I hope this post will be helpful to you as you are praying, dreaming and planning.  I pray that this Easter will bring life change for many, and that you and your team will walk away refreshed after pouring into those looking for this hope that we have found! The hope of Jesus...the One who changes everything.

How To Get Along With Your Boss (Pastor)

When I was in high school I played the trumpet in the school’s band program. This was my main instrument all the way through college and I loved it, and I was pretty good at it! I remember one day in band class, the band director passed out new music to a song and we all began to play. As we started playing, the part I was playing was not matching up with what the rest of the band was playing. Somehow I had gotten a different version of the song! Now let’s be clear… I was playing my version of the music beautifully! I just had the wrong sheet of music! Before I realized that though, I became really frustrated because I knew I was playing my part correctly. But, I also knew it was not matching what the rest of the band was playing. I think this is what happens so often in our churches between our lead pastors and our worship pastors. They both are playing really great pieces of music, but they just don’t go together. The pastor is playing one version of the song while the worship pastor is just rocking out on a completely different piece of music. So over the next few minutes I’m going to give you three ways to help ensure that you and your pastor stay on the same sheet of music. 

1. Submit

The first thing you have to do is submit to the leadership of your lead pastor. This is really a non-negotiable. If you cannot support your pastor and his vision for the church, then you probably need to find another place to serve. God has placed that person as your leader at this particular time. The worst thing that you can do is not support the vision of your lead pastor. This will bring division and disharmony and it will severely damage the trajectory of your church. The enemy loves nothing more than having disunity between the pastor and the worship pastor. If you are having a hard time with this, I would encourage you to carve out some specific time of prayer and fasting so you can hear what God has for you. After you do that, you will have two choices. 

The first choice is to suck it up and get behind the vision of the lead pastor. It’s really that simple. You have to figure out how to support your pastor. This might come through conversations about what he wants or asking him what kind of worship music he likes. Maybe listen for what kind of things in worship experiences he has liked or not liked. Get to know, from your lead pastor’s perspective what a successful time of worship would look like if achieved. Through these conversations maybe he would get an opportunity to hear your point of view, too, and hear your voice in a productive way.   

The second choice is to ask God to open up another door to a church where you can serve. Many times this is the answer. My first opportunity as a worship pastor was at a great church with great people. I learned a lot in the year I was there but it was evident that I was not a fit. After I made this decision God opened up the door for me to come on staff at Stevens Creek Church and I’ve been here ever since. I believe if you are faithful and humble enough to really listen, God will open up the right door that you are to walk through. 

2. Communicate

The second thing you need to do is communicate regularly with your lead pastor. Communication is one of the most important things that will happen between a pastor and a worship pastor. Make sure you have a consistent line of communication. I’ve been fortunate to have the same lead pastor for 25 years so we know each other pretty well. Even after all these years, we still try to connect several times a week. One of those times is intentionally on a Wednesday or Thursday. On these days I want to see how his message is going and to see if there’s anything that I can help with to enhance his message or to set up his message. The other key time for me is Sunday morning before the services start. I always try to catch him before the first service just to make sure we are both on the same page. We also try to connect after the first service to see if we need to adjust anything for the remaining two services. 

3. Encourage

The third thing is to encourage your lead pastor. As a worship pastor you know more than anyone the pressures that come with pulling off Sunday services every week. It’s not easy coming up with new ways to say things week in and week out. Send him a text to see how he’s doing during the week and tell him you’re praying for him. Brag on him in front of people or post something on social media highlighting something he’s done. Just because they are the top leader doesn’t mean that they don’t need affirmation and encouragement from their team.

I’ve been very fortunate over the years to have good communication with my lead pastor. I really believe if you can put these three principles into practice you will be playing from the same sheet of music and making beautiful music together for years to come. 

How To Make Sundays Great!

At Stevens Creek Church, I (along with my staff and many volunteers) oversee the entire “experience.” That includes everything from what you feel as you drive onto the property to the elements you see as you sit in the service. There are so many churches out there on the brink of having great experiences, but for one reason or another, they can’t seem to get over the hump.  I want to share 5 things that if you can incorporate into your planning, you will see an immediate return on your efforts.

At Stevens Creek we believe that creating a great experience is much more than just what happens on the stage. Of course the service is very important, but if people have a bad experience in the parking lot or checking in their kids, it makes the job of the people on stage much more difficult.

1. Have A Greeting Plan

We want people to feel welcomed and cared for before they even sit down in the auditorium. So years ago we implemented a five-touch greeting plan for our first impressions team.

The first touch is in the parking lot. We do this by having parking attendants greeting and guiding people through the lot. We also identify guests by asking them to flash their lights. Then we take them to designated spots and have volunteers specifically assigned to address their needs.  The second touch is with our greeters at the front door. This is a simple welcome into the building with a warm smiling face. The third touch happens as you check your kids in or go to the information center. Both of these places have people who are ready to help you and answer any questions you might have. The fourth touch comes before you enter the auditorium. Here we have greeters welcoming people, again with a smile,  and handing them a worship guide for the day. The fifth touch is the ushers helping people find a seat in the auditorium. We hear all the time how people remember their first time at the Creek because people were friendly and welcoming. I guarantee if you implement the 5 touch rule, people who come to your church will feel like you care about them, and are there to take care of them.

2. Intentional Worship Time

There are three main things I look for in our congregational worship time. First is to start with energy. Most of the time that means an upbeat song that people can clap to. It allows everyone from the seasoned believer to that person that’s just kicking the tires of christianity to be involved. Everyone can clap but not everyone will engage in worship.

The second thing is to sweat the transitions. Make sure there is a flow to your setlist. If you are going to talk, make sure it is scripted out so you can transition into the next song with ease. Some people think a script or a plan limits God moving, but I think it’s the complete opposite. When you script things out, it gives you flexibility to adjust if God is taking things in a different direction.

The third thing is knowing how you want the worship set to end. How do you want people to feel? What do you want to accomplish? If you pray at the end of your set, what do you want to accomplish through your prayer? Here is a blogpost I wrote on How To Pray With Purpose. It’s also important to remember that your private worship affects your public leading of worship. You can’t lead people somewhere you haven’t already been.

3. Engaging Comments

In so many of our churches this section gets the least amount of attention -- and it shows! Comments and announcements should be four to five minutes at most, but ends up being ten minutes of everything happening in every ministry, and a mini sermon from the student pastor who’s trying to impress everyone with their preaching skills.

Here are four things that will immediately improve your comments section.

     1. Have a script for your comment person. Link for example script.

     2. Use a timer - ours is 4 minutes long and we make sure it’s visible.

     3. Rehearse the comment section and provide feedback.

     4. Make sure your main objective is to connect people and to give them their next step - not to read a bunch of announcements.

4. Relevant Authentic Message

Our lead pastor Marty Baker and our entire teaching team make authenticity a priority. We always want the content to be very clear. If you sound super smart, but your words flew over your audience’s head, then you have not communicated anything. Like it or not, people think in short impact statements, usually 140 characters or less. We try to boil our sermons down to two or three tweetable statements that can live on in people’s minds and social media feeds long after we leave church. Let social media be your friend!

We have found that 30 minute sermons are the sweet spot for us. If you’re preaching longer, you might be talking to hear yourself talk. Most people check out after 30 minutes-if not sooner.

Run your sermons through this filter: What you want people to know, what you want people to feel, and what you want people to do. We find this gives the sermon focus.

We also always give people a chance to  pray the prayer of salvation. No matter what you teach, it is so important that you give people that opportunity.

5.  Life Giving Exit

The exit is just as important as the entrance. We want to to give people a reason to come back, so before we dismiss we will talk about some next steps that will encourage them to come back for more. It’s important to end with something hopeful or life-giving, and we usually accomplish this with a song. Make sure your greeters and ushers serve with the same energy and excitement as they did when people were coming in. And the parking lot flow is just as important when people are trying to get out. We are constantly trying to make that a better experience. One easy way to alleviate some of that pressure is to hire a police officer to help with the traffic at the road.

We have an hour to make a mark on people. Let’s do our part to make it the best hour of their week.

3 Ways to Have Generational Teams

I’ve been married to my wife, April, for 25 years. Each and every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas, we go to her parents’ house to have dinner. And at each of these celebrations, there are two tables. (Is this familiar to anyone else?) There’s a grown-up table and a kids’ table. April and I have always sat at the adult table even though I started attending when we were still in college. Our nieces and nephews took their respective place at the kids’ table .

After more than two decades of this tradition, our nieces and nephew have grown up and even have kids of their own. But, they are still sitting at the kids’ table with my boys, who are basically grown themselves. Why? Because there’s no room at the adult table.

How many of our churches look like this. We have our ‘adult table’ in our main auditorium on Sundays and the ‘kids’ tables’ in our student and children’s ministries. All of these ministries may be incredible, but there just isn’t any crossover because we haven’t made room for a new generation of leaders. We’re happy with the way things are. We’re sitting at the big table with comfortable chairs and and the nice dishes. The younger generation is actually ready to leave behind the folding chairs and plastic forks for a better seat, though. We really just need a bigger table; one that has room for our entire family.It is crucial for the long-term health of our church that we create generational teams, not only to make sure we create space for new ideas, but because we want our church to be welcoming to new generations as well. We want to make sure our weekly gatherings look as diverse in age as the people we are trying to reach.

So here are three ways we can create these generational teams:

1. Make room for younger voices

The one thing that the younger generation wants more than anything is to have a voice. They want to be major players right now. They don’t want to wait for years to see if a seat opens up so they can have a role to play. If we want to retain high-quality, young leaders, we have to figure out a way to give them a voice and give them purpose. Otherwise, they will find it somewhere else. These young leaders also attract other young people to our ministry, which helps us continue to grow our church and fulfill our calling to reach people.

2. Don’t ignore the voice of experience

Just like younger leaders want their voice to be heard, our seasoned leaders have a need for respect. This can be a problem for leaders who are young and hungry (and often impatient). They feel like they can do it better than those who have gone before them. While that may be true in some cases, nothing can replace the experience and wisdom that only years of leadership can provide. If you are a young leader who has been given a voice, make sure that you are learning from and giving honor to those who give you opportunities to grow in your leadership. Their greatness didn’t come from just being good at something; it came from being good at it for a long time. Find someone who can help you get to that place.

3. Invest in a bigger table

When you find you have these two generations of leaders both fighting for the same seats, it’s time to get a bigger table. We need a family table where we can look each other in the eye and love each other for the things that we each bring to the table. Practically, this means creating new positions for people to lead and grow. It may mean discarding some of your traditions. It will probably be hard, but it will also probably lead to new experiences that are even better than what you have now. Then an amazing thing will happen: the leadership of your church will more accurately reflect the age diversity of people you are trying to reach.

A family table is a place where we can laugh and cry and grow and learn and respect each other. If we continue to have many separate tables, we will really never know the full unity and beauty that can come when we blend our generations to reflect the diversity in age and opinions that exist across the Kingdom of God.

When And How To Introduce New Songs

One of the biggest mistakes I see worship leaders make is their decisions on when, and how, to incorporate new songs. So much new worship music comes out every month and it makes it very enticing for us to add new songs as often as we add videos to our Instagram story. For most congregations this is a bad idea, so here are three things to consider when adding new songs.

1. Have A Short List of Hits

I’m a worship music junkie and listen to it all of the time, so I want to add a new song every week. But too much music can hurt more than it helps. The average attender comes to church about 25 times a year - that’s only half of the time! So some of our people might go months before hearing a song repeated at church. That’s not good.

We’ve decided to limit the amount of songs in our repertoire to 30. For six months, we will only use those 30 songs in our services. If we add a song, we take away one that has grown tired. We also try to make them all hits! If the song doesn’t hit with the congregation, we get rid of it. By doing this we will keep the best, most singable songs in our set lists and make them familiar to everyone attending.

2. Use the “1-2-4” Method

Years ago, I struggled with introducing new songs to our congregation because I didn’t have a system in place. So after trying many different options, I came up with the 1-2-4 method. Here’s how it works: introduce the song one week (1), add it again the next week (2), let it rest on the third week and bring it back on the fourth week (4). After that cycle it goes in your regular rotation. This has been a game-changer for us. Using this system helps the congregation learn the song faster and it also lets you know if the song will work for your congregation. Sometimes a song doesn’t make it to the fourth week and that’s ok. That’s why you have a system. Using this system we average a new song every month.

3. Add Purpose To The Song

When we add a new song I like to use a story or scripture to help people connect. When people can see how the song relates to their life, they find much more purpose as they sing. Here is an example from one of our services a few months back. Skip ahead to 9 minutes and 30 seconds where I was introducing the new Elevation song called, Here Again.

It took us a while to find this system, so implement these strategies as you can. I hope you find that adding these three things to your process can help make new songs more meaningful and easier to learn than ever before.

3 Ways To Become A True Worshipper

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. John 4:23

As you look through scripture you will find there are two kinds of people the Father seeks. First, He seeks those who are lost. Those who do not already have a relationship with Him. Jesus said this is why I came, to seek and to save the lost.

The second kind of person the Father seeks is a true worshipper. If you notice He doesn’t say he seeks the most talented or the best looking or the most popular or the wealthiest. The Father is seeking believers who will be true worshippers. God wants worship to be not something we do, but who we are. He wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

I think there are three things we need to do to become true worshippers.

1) WORSHIP WITH AWE

 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.  Hebrews 12:28-29

Awe is defined as an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear. It’s produced by something or someone that is grand or extremely powerful.

The problem is that we so often don’t see God as the Almighty God. Our minds have a hard time imagining how big God is so we make him small to help us understand. Then our worship becomes small. We have to come to the place where we can see God for who He really is. One of the ways I get a better perspective of God is by looking at creation. I love looking at all of the things that He has created. I love looking up at the stars at night and being amazed at all that is out there.

Try to imagine. A light year is 5.88 trillion miles long, and the furthest thing we have measured so far is 13 billion light years away. Somewhere in the midst of all of that is a spiral galaxy called the Milky Way, which is made up of hundreds of billions of stars. One of those stars is our sun, and one of the planets circling our sun is Earth. And two of the more than six billion people on this planet are you and Me. Yet the universe that so easily blows our minds is nothing more than a speck to God.

Psalm 33:6, 9
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.  9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

In other words God created the cosmos without lifting a finger. And when he created the heavens, He did it all without a DIY kit, an existing photo, a template, or a diagram. God was creating in the truest sense of the word, speaking the world into existence out of absolutely nothing.

2) WORSHIP WITH ABANDONMENT  

  Worship is a verb; it’s something you do. Worship isn’t something you watch, despite what you see from many people who attend church. We see a stage with lights and chairs facing it, and receive worship guides with an outline of the “show.” So we think every part of church is put on for us.

But here’s a wake up call for all believers.  Worship is a participation activity not a spectator sport. Worship isn’t something we attend, like a sporting event or a concert. Worship is something we enter into with everything we’ve got.

Some of you might say that’s not your personality, but believe it or not, you know how to lose yourself in worship. Just look at the way people respond at a concert or a sporting event. People go nuts when a team makes a great play or a band plays their favorite song.  Those are all great acts of worship, only to a  not so great god. We know how to worship with abandonment but for some reason not to the one and only true God.

The Bible has so many examples of how to worship with abandonment. Here’s just a few:

Shout to God! Clap your hands! Lift up your hands! Stand in awe! Bow down! Dance before Him! Make a loud noise!

Psalm 100: 1-2
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Psalm 149:3
3 Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and harp.

When you know who God is and you embrace what He’s done, your only reasonable response is to worship. Worship in awe that we even get to be in his presence. Worship with abandonment, losing ourselves in the presence of God.

3) WORSHIP WITH OUR LIFE

True worship is a whole-life response to God’s greatness and glory. The only fitting response to all He has done is to give back to Him all that we are. Worship is not determined by what we say but how we live.
All of us leave a trail with our action. At  the end of that trail sits a throne.You don’t get to the throne by talking about what’s there.  You get to the throne when you follow the trail and find where you put your passion, energy, time, and money. And at the end of the day, you may get to the throne and find your job sitting there. Maybe it’s your brand new car. Or maybe you follow the trail of your achievements and social media and find yourself sitting on that throne.

Maybe you think you are a worshipper of God.  You listen to worship music sometimes, go to church a few times a month, and even go to a small group every now and then. When you look at all the bread crumbs on your trail, and you follow them -  the passions, the energy, the time -- you get to the throne of your life and realize:  ”I am a great worshipper. But the thing I worship is me.”

You worship what you find most valuable, and it’s usually not what you tell people you worship. Worship is not found in your words, but in your way of life. That will tell you the story of what you worship.

Jesus said in
Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is there your heart will be also

Today we have a great opportunity to follow our treasures and evaluate the object of our worship, the god sitting on our throne. And I don’t know about you, but I want to do whatever I can to make sure that on the throne of my life is the One and only God . One day our time on earth is going to be through. And when that time comes we are going to stand face to face with a Holy God. I want to be able to say that He was on the throne of my life.

You can watch the sermon here. http://www.stevenscreekchurch.com/series/true-worshipers/

"Everything is Beautiful" Christmas Element Bundle AVAILABLE NOW!

Want to implement the "Everything is Beautiful" single in your Christmas plans this year? 

My team has put together a bundle kit for all the elements you would need to recreate this moment in your services! Start with the MP3 of the song and we'll send you the musical accompaniment tracks or "stems", two beautifully produced narration videos in both 4x3 and triple wide format, the script to recreate those videos if you choose, and official chord charts for the music itself! This bundle is a steal of a deal.