If you are a talented musician, you will be asked to use that talent to glorify God by singing, playing, writing songs or whatever. If you dance, you will be able to worship God in movement. If you are an electrician, God will put you to work rewiring the kitchen or fixing the blown fuses. If you are a teacher, eventually God will find a place for you to use that gift in our church by teaching about Him and His ways. No matter the "ministry" God gives a believer in our church, no person is held in higher regard than another. Each recognizes the importance of each person's spiritual gifts and their talents. No one is better than another. We are all parts of the same Body.
This has been demonstrated to me over the years in various ways. One way is how I can look around the church and not be able to tell who has money and who is struggling financially. There is none of that "snooty" attitude because we are all of one Body. I also notice it simply through the people who open up their homes for our SaLT Groups. These small group studies meet weekly at a person's house and often food is brought by those in attendance to share a meal together and fellowship. This encourages relationships which is one of the principle foundational purposes of Northbrook. Those people who are so willing to open their homes have a great gift of hospitality and sometimes I will hear someone say, I don't see how God can use that? Ummmmmmmmm, open your eyes! We are glorify God by worshipping and studying in your home...and then I will get "this is the home God gave us." I can appreciate those with the gift of hospitality because it is way way waaaaaaay down near the bottom of my list! LOL
Our church probably has now about 150-200 members yet we consistently see 300-350 people attending service on Sunday. We have a PLT (pastoral leadership team) at the church and the 7 or so men share the leadership responsibilities. Four of them I would consider the main teaching pastors and each week we hear from a different PLT member as they give the morning message. Last week our full time pastor and his family was out of town. I noticed that while we missed seeing them in church, nothing was really different about the service. At a prior church I attended, when the "main" pastor was gone, there was a substitute in place, so the pastor's absence was noticed because the routine was interrupted,...at Northbrook, because the pastoral leadership shares ALL the responsibility, the wheels keep turning and never miss a beat. I think that is how God intends a church to be. It is He that sustains it, not one pastor.
Another thing I find cool is that the worship team rarely has the same person leading worship from week to week. We have a pastor that organizes the worship, but each week someone else is designated to lead. It is rare to see the same group of musicians and singers leading worship two weeks in a row. This provides for an outlet for the worship team to share all the responsibilities and it helps keep the church out of a "rut". It is not the same thing from week to week. Each leader has their own style and so we end up having great variety in style of worship from week to week. I never know what to expect.
Oh, this is funny...last week, Chuck...the worship programming pastor was leading worship. We started with a great praise song and then had our time to greet one another. After about a minute, the worship team lead us into another great tune and then one of Chuck's guitar strings broke. That is usually not too big of a problem so he said "Ok, we'll try this one with 5!" so he started the worship team and we started singing. It wasn't sounding too good so he actually STOPPED the music! LOL Then he got a new string and as he was restringing the guitar he said "We never had two times of fellowship during a service. Go find three people you've never met and ask them their name, how many kids they have and where they work." LOLOL It has become known as the "guitar string fellowship"! LOL It was so fun! We rolled with the flow and God was right there in the midst of it all. I met some new people too!
Speaking of the talent in that place ... songwriting. We are blessed to have some great songwriters in our Gathering Place and Chuck is one of them. I was spending time today putting together some clips of songs from Northbrook's Worship CD to get uploaded to the church website. I ran into some technical difficulty there...but I thought I might be able to have some luck here. One of my favorites is the song "The Gathering Place" written by Chuck Maxwell, one of the founding pastors of the church. He wrote it, I believe, when the church building was opened a few years ago.
Click here to listen to a clip
Blocks and steel
Filled with hearts that feel
Drawn by the love they can find here
Paint and glass
Look on children who ask
Questions of teachers they know care
Lights and sound
Spread Good News around
Just tools of communication
We use this space
As a gathering place
To make a divine connection
Chorus:
Everytime we gather there's a chance for life to change
Everytime we scatter we go in Jesus' name
Our God is not confined to this one time or space
His Body comes together (3rd x - we find strength together) in this gathering place
Verse
An empty tomb
To a crowded room
We gather because Jesus lives
Even though
It was long ago
We know He still forgives
Everyday
People come our way
With hearts that are empty and alone
We must be
a real community
A place that they can call home
Bridge
We must shine like the stars in the heavens above
They will know we are Christians by our love
Copyright 2004 Northbrook Music
I love that song because it sums up what Northbrook says it is and I have seen it prove itself to be. Not perfect, but always looking Godward. Not perfect, but it does call Christ its leader.
Not perfect. Humble.
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