Poland, People and Photoshoots

Last week I had the privilege of travelling to Poland with Ben Davies. Ben was the Senior Pastor at Kerith Community Church for 43 years before he handed it over to Simon in 2007 (I think it was 2008 - before I was a part of the church anyway!). Being 49 years my senior, it was fascinating to hear the seemingly endless stream of stories that Ben had for almost every situation...all I can say is that I just hope that I have as many stories to tell when I'm 70! It was also great to see him in 'leadership' mode with some of the fantastic people from the church in Poland, got lots of notes!

Definite highlights include Ben holding a machine gun and having lunch with Dawid's family. For those of you that don't know Dawid, he's the tall Polish legend that has been working at Kerith with us for the last year!

I was also struck by the sense of global community that I found. The more I travel (particularly in a Christian context), the more I'm amazed by the love that people have for each other. Although at most points we required a translator to communicate with each other, people were genuinely interested in looking after you, talking to you and hearing what you had to say. I hope I get to experience that a lot more in the future.

It also needs to be said that I have the most awesome job! How many jobs combine writing, arranging, teaching and playing music, working with people from between the ages of 8 and 60, songwriting with 11-16 year olds one minute to a photo shoot the next?! Bring on Albania - less than a month to go!

UPDATE

So at the start of my blog, I listed some of the places I wanted to be. I thought it was time for an update.

Kerith Worship Academy - we're weeks away from finishing the trial run of the Kerith Worship Academy guitar course; and it has been an exceptional success! I can say that happily because I have seen the results of running this course. There are some fantastic young musicians now integrated into the Revolution team; youngters that I think will play a pivotal role in the future of the worship team. Exciting stuff! All the promotional material is finished now and being processed. The job now is to get enrolled in the course and good to go! Can't wait to start the drums, keyboard and vocal courses in September. Beginning work on the level two guitar course...very very excited indeed!

Revolution - After months of planning, we spent some time recruiting new members to the Revolution team. There are now just under 30 members in Revolution, and we had our first dual band rehearsal last week. Well on the way to where we want to be! The structure of the rehearsal has changed significantly, and it seems to be having a really positive impact on the team as a whole. I'm looking forward to seeing where we are in another few months!

Ethos - The preparation has begun for the Albania tour in July, It's going to be fantastic! The team that is going is incredible; and everyone has something good to offer. We are so far ahead of where we are in terms of planning compared to last year, I have a really good feeling about what is going to do when we're away!

Resound - It needs to be said that we have the best team that you could ask for. We've got some huge changes coming over the next few months, as well as looking forward to taking things to another level at the conferences this year! I've spent the last two weeks working on some behind the scenes stuff, and I'm really pleased with the results! There is a fantastic dynamic both in and out of the office, and we're all really excited about seeing where we'll be in another year or so!

My biggest problem is that I'm always looking a year ahead. Don't get me wrong, I'm really proud of where we are now, but I just can't resist thinking about where we could be in a year's time! Can't wait!

Change

Change is the most exciting, inspiring and intimidating aspect of progression. It’s both inevitable and unavoidable. The worship teams at Kerith Community Church have seen an incredible amount of change over the last few years, and frankly I hope it continues in the same vein.

The formation of Revolution and the Kerith Worship Academy, the amalgamation of Ethos and the adult worship team (now called ‘Resound’), the rehearsal times, rehearsal structures, removal of music stands from the platform, the style of music and most recently, the formation of set bands for Sundays have all signalled large steps forward in the way we are able to serve the community at Kerith, which is what our team is all about. In order to consistently encourage people who don’t know God to engage with Him, we need to constantly change the way we ‘do’ church. Our style of worship needs to be stylistically relevant to those that aren’t interested in his message. The Pop music genre (short for popular music) got its title for a reason - it’s what the majority of people listen to. It’s familiar to the ‘unchurched’ and why worship music today is swayed more by today’s music than the hymns of yesteryear.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” Paul reminds us not to undertake change lightly. It needs to be thought through, prayed about and planned. However, that doesn’t mean we need to be intimidated by change. In order to truly reach our potential and achieve all the things that God has called us to do, we need to stride forward with well planned steps - we are as much at risk from change without thought as we are from thought without change. But most importantly, we need to see it as an exciting opportunity to do something phenomenal. If we are to be a part of a worship team that continuously serves it’s congregation and changes lives, we need to be willing to regularly change the way we do things, and challenge the norms in our community.

Norman Vincent Peale said “change your thoughts and you change the your world.” I desperately want to be a part of something world-changing. Before I start changing the world, I need to start changing the way I think!