We just made chocolate chip cookies from scratch. But get this! Part of the process was to grind our flour by hand.

I just returned from an overstuffed, extended weekend in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was my first time back in the US since moving to Costa Rica about 20 months ago.

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

“Well, I’m standing up here, so I’d better be playing something.”

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.”

Worship ministry is personal. It’s a beautiful weaving of the human and the Divine. It’s logical and unexplainable. It’s predictable and mysterious. But…

I was pushing a wheelbarrow across the discipleship training school base next door on my way to pick up some dirt for our garden.

The worship leader put a message out to the team. It said:

I asked my worship leader friend what his job was. He replied something like, “I just have to make sure there’s worship when we need it.”

I sat in a meeting surrounded by 18 other worship team members from our church.

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

I’ve been looking at lots of worship leader job descriptions lately as we help several churches look for staff. Almost all of them have some kitchen-junk-drawer statement at the end of the responsibilities

When we first moved to a new country, GPS was a lifesaver. By “GPS,” I’m referring to Google Maps or Waze. See, Costa Ricans are famous for giving directions like this:

I was reading 1 Peter 4 and was struck by verse eleven.

How do you show up to rehearsals? Would you describe it as "fully prepared?"

Headlines are designed to DO something in us: excite, sober, inform, activate, celebrate, persuade. Persuade? That’s a fascinating thought.

I spoke with yet another pastor who is looking for a worship leader. This one was lost to burnout.

God is not seeking worship. God is seeking worshipers. (see John 4:23)

We made it! 2020 is 99% in the rearview mirror. Phew!

I want to invite you into hope. Into a world with less anxiety. Into a less distracted, more purposeful, wildly optimistic living.