More Rain - Acoustic Worship: Blogs

When the Music Fails…

dan — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:38:00 -0400

For a period of about 5 years I was the worship leader for my churches youth group. I remember having my first opportunity to lead for that group. I was so excited and passionate about experiencing God’s presence through worship. God’s presence was very real and very clear to me in the first year of leading. I remember instances where students would just come to the front as a sign of their devotion to God. I also remember seeing the hunger in those students’ lives to experience a relationship with God that was deeper than any program or religion could fill. They were hungry for intimacy with God, and it showed in the way they worshipped God at those meetings. They sang their hearts out.

After that year passed it seemed like every following year I was striving to recapture the passion and expressions of that first year. It’s funny because during that first year I remember wishing that I could make changes to the band and to the style of music we played. Then when the second and following years came I was able to implement some of those changes, but things felt like they got off center. So I tried to change back and still nothing was quite like the expression and passion of the first year.

Looking back after those 5 years I see now how even though our expression in music was never the same as that first year, God’s presence was increasingly with us. More and more students began to reach out to each other and to the community. There was a passion for God, but the students just weren’t as excited about the music. I wish I would have realized this in those last 4 years. Too much stress and wasted energy went into trying to re manufacture God’s presence through music.

It wasn’t until the last year that it started to sink into me. Before I was teaching and reinforcing that worship isn’t about the music, but I was still chasing that expression and I wanted other to chase it as well. Then that last year I remember a weight lifting off my shoulders as I realized that chasing God is more valuable than chasing the expressions and experiences of worshiping Him.

Expressions will fail, but a relationship with God endures. Seek God.
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Thanks for reading. Let me know what your thoughts are. – Dan

Waiting for more rain...and a "Servant Artist"

dan — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:27:00 -0400

It has been a while since I’ve had a chance to record anything. This podcast is still on my heart in a big way, life has just been really busy lately with new additions to the family among a lot of other things that are going on. But I assure you that More Rain will come soon. (enough with the puns)

But for now, here’s a thought…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a “Servant Artists”. When you take those two words and put them together it’s almost an oxymoron. Yet I feel like this is something that God is wrenching in my heart. Here what I mean…

“Servant”. Servants are concerned with one thing, their master. Everything the servant says and does is in service. That is, they do not think about how something will affect them, or to what loss it would be for them to serve. A servant’s actions point to and honor those they serve. They are not concerned with fame or fortune, because that is not the fuel behind their deeds. They are driven by a heart of humility, debt, and gratefulness. They don’t treat others as beneath them, but rather they lift them up. Self promotion is not in their vocabulary. They serve with confidence, not in their own gifts to serve but in the freedom of service they have been given.

“Artist”. In a commercial sense, artists strive to be noticed. Being seen and heard is what makes them important. Humility is just another label that is used for promotion. In this sense artists must always be selling themselves. This is a common perspective on an artist in this culture.

In a more generic sense, artists create attraction to and inspire thought on the subject of their art. This is the definition of “artist” that I would like to marry to the word “servant”.

So what is a “Servant Artist”? What does their art look like?

A servant artists are artists whose art is created in such a way that it points to and honors the one it was created for. Their desire to create is not driven by attention or wealth, but rather it is moved by a humble, indebted, and grateful heart. They want the spotlight to be moved to the one they serves, the subject of their art. Their art drawls attention to the beauty of the subject. their hope is to be a highlighter on the beauty of their master (the salt on the table, not the centerpiece).

The best example of this is seen the life of Christ. He humbled himself for our sake. He turned down earthly riches and power for our eternal hope. He came to serve not to be served. He is exalted of God, not of himself. That is the image of a true servant artist.

God, give us the grace to follow your lead and live as servant artists; using artistic expression to bring your beauty and splendor to the forefront.

-Dan

Thanks for reading. Let me know what your thoughts are on this subject.

General Usage

dan — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:30:00 -0400

I just wanted to let anyone and everyone know that they are free to use this music in whatever way they would like.

On the last post I attached the chord charts for anyone with interest.

The point of this whole podcast thing is really for me to give this stuff out freely. I don’t begrudge anyone for selling their music (whether it be for music or for art (if there is a difference)). It is just where God has me right now.

If anyone would like to for whatever reason put these songs onto a CD for resell, then I would like to discuss this before hand.

That’s pretty much it.

God Bless,

Dan

More to Come

dan — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:53:00 -0400

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who subscribes. I hope that you are able to pull something out of what I’ve put up here.

I would love to hear your comments. Sometimes it’s just good to know that someone is listening. So please don’t be shy.

I hope to have more to put up here in the near future. I have been very busy lately but I am compelled to share a more of these songs.

Thanks,

Dan