Do you struggle to learn new songs? Before you say you don’t, let me clarify what I mean.

We are living on a coffee plantation. Most weekday mornings, the small crew of coffee pickers come through the gate, dragging along their nine and eleven-year-old children to play while they pick.

But what if no one is ministering to the Lord?

“What if where you feel the tension you discover God’s intention for you?”

I was speaking with a church that has been without a staff worship leader for nearly a year.

Yesterday, I was battling low-grade anxiety for most of the day.

When I was a kid, I hated tomatoes.

My three teenage children went to a youth camp recently.

While I was growing up, on many Sunday mornings, my family would eat coffee soup.

All my adult life, I’ve carried extra weight.

I’m not always aware of it when it happens. But something happens when the service officially starts: Something sneaks up on you and bites you on the behind.

What is it like to be at one of your rehearsals?

We were 100% designed for freedom. Sadly, we don’t often live like it. What limits us?

Any stage amplifies what’s already there. Any spotlight highlights what was hidden. If I want to be freer on stage, I need to know what freedom is offstage.

Some churches don’t seem to mind breaks in between songs. You know, the team finishes. There are five seconds of (awkward) silence.

Stop me when this sounds familiar. I got a text from a worship director. It said, “I wanted to tell you that my wife felt ill and tested positive for COVID, so tomorrow I can’t be with you.”

You remember the Capital One commercial “What’s in your wallet?”

What’s your worship team like? And by “worship team,” I mean the musicians and techs together.

Are you like a Worship Family? A Worship Indie Band? A Worship Elevator? Let me describe each one.

Praising by only singing is like golfing with only a putter, baking using only a ¼ cup measuring cup, drawing a rainbow with only a blue crayon, or fixing a car with only a ½” wrench.

In the middle of your day. When you’re too busy to stop. When the pressure of the moment is all you can feel. When your dryness defines you. When you lack in zeal in serving the Lord.