I need to slow down.
To think.
To pray.
To remember the reason why I am living.
To focus on true reality.
To sow to the Spirit who lives inside of me.
To bring my attention back to the way Jesus wants me to live.
To be with the one I love.
Because this is who I am.
A lover of God.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
My Journey as a Leader
Last December I took a position as the worship leader for a new church in the Cambridge/Isanti area called The Threshing Floor. This responsibility has been a HUGE growing experience for me. I'm learning what it means to really take charge of a worship service. How much planning it takes but at the same time....not very much at all. Let me explain.
I started by leading solo. Just me and my piano. Every once in a while I would have someone come in with the guitar and play with me. I would plan that weeks songs we were going to do and everything was going great. Worship time would come, we would sing our songs together, experience God, and be encouraged. It was beautiful and I had a TON of encouragement from people. Mainly the leadership team.
A few months later I had a friend bring up an idea. "What if we were to gather the young people of our community and all use our talents and gifts to worship together?". This is something that I had THOUGHT of before but never really saw as a reality because I was so busy and I liked to just keep it simple. I wanted to pick the songs that I knew and do them. God showed me that I was being selfish in wanting to have worship time be "my deal". He made it very clear that this was something that he wanted to see happen. We spread the word with those that the Holy Spirit had put on our hearts and had many confirmations.
So the next week, we had about 8 young people (18 to 24 year olds) get together on a Wednesday night. We discussed what we wanted to see happen and how everything would come about. It was beautiful. Every person in that group just wanted to worship and have The Threshing Floor be a place where one could worship freely. Everyone in that group loved Jesus and wanted more of Him. Everyone. Loved. To Worship.
I was so encouraged to be able to work with people that have the same mind and and heart for the Lord. And you know what? Starting a group of people didn't make anything more complicated. It has been the best decision I have made in a long time. I mean, sure....we are still totally disorganized and there are times when I have NO idea what I'm doing. But Wednesday nights have become my FAVORITE. They are what get me through the week. Honestly. There have been weeks when we all show up and look at each other and say "Tonight we just need to pray." So we do. There are times where I have a set of songs planned out, we start playing together, and The Holy Spirit shows us a whole different way with different songs for us to do. There are times when we don't even practice. But we just worship for the sake of worshiping the BEAUTIFUL Jesus that we all love.
Wednesdays are wonderful. We are becoming GREAT friends because we are all running the race that the Lord has put before us. We are running it together. And we're growing too! Every week since we have started, we have had at least 1 new person join us. It's truly a beautiful thing! We have NO IDEA where God is going with this but we know that He is GOING. And He's bringing us with Him. We know that He is going to use our little group of young people in Isanti, MN for great and mighty things. We are SO excited!
So....there is planning to do, yes, but at the same time I just have to let go and let the Holy Spirit guide me. It can be through the still small voice in my own heart, or by someone on my team telling what they are feeling God is showing THEM. It can be frustrating at times, yes. But if you look at it as being used for Jesus's purposes, then ya know what? He can mess up any plans that I have ever made. I just want to glorify Jesus.
My team is amazing. Each one of us bring a particular characteristic to the table. And we need all of them. The ideas that bounce off one another, the encouragement, the music, the teaching, the enthusiasm, the love, the friendship, the wisdom of the word, the experiences that we have together, are something that I can no longer go without. I depend on my friends to keep me accountable in my personal growth with Jesus.
All I can think half the time is, "I get to do this". I get to be a vessel for the Lords work in The Threshing Floor. And it's all for Him. Everything that goes down on Sunday and Wednesday or even when we are just hanging out together at caribou...we live to make His name known.
God is Good. All the time.
In His Name and for His Glory,
Emily Clawson
I started by leading solo. Just me and my piano. Every once in a while I would have someone come in with the guitar and play with me. I would plan that weeks songs we were going to do and everything was going great. Worship time would come, we would sing our songs together, experience God, and be encouraged. It was beautiful and I had a TON of encouragement from people. Mainly the leadership team.
A few months later I had a friend bring up an idea. "What if we were to gather the young people of our community and all use our talents and gifts to worship together?". This is something that I had THOUGHT of before but never really saw as a reality because I was so busy and I liked to just keep it simple. I wanted to pick the songs that I knew and do them. God showed me that I was being selfish in wanting to have worship time be "my deal". He made it very clear that this was something that he wanted to see happen. We spread the word with those that the Holy Spirit had put on our hearts and had many confirmations.
So the next week, we had about 8 young people (18 to 24 year olds) get together on a Wednesday night. We discussed what we wanted to see happen and how everything would come about. It was beautiful. Every person in that group just wanted to worship and have The Threshing Floor be a place where one could worship freely. Everyone in that group loved Jesus and wanted more of Him. Everyone. Loved. To Worship.
I was so encouraged to be able to work with people that have the same mind and and heart for the Lord. And you know what? Starting a group of people didn't make anything more complicated. It has been the best decision I have made in a long time. I mean, sure....we are still totally disorganized and there are times when I have NO idea what I'm doing. But Wednesday nights have become my FAVORITE. They are what get me through the week. Honestly. There have been weeks when we all show up and look at each other and say "Tonight we just need to pray." So we do. There are times where I have a set of songs planned out, we start playing together, and The Holy Spirit shows us a whole different way with different songs for us to do. There are times when we don't even practice. But we just worship for the sake of worshiping the BEAUTIFUL Jesus that we all love.
Wednesdays are wonderful. We are becoming GREAT friends because we are all running the race that the Lord has put before us. We are running it together. And we're growing too! Every week since we have started, we have had at least 1 new person join us. It's truly a beautiful thing! We have NO IDEA where God is going with this but we know that He is GOING. And He's bringing us with Him. We know that He is going to use our little group of young people in Isanti, MN for great and mighty things. We are SO excited!
So....there is planning to do, yes, but at the same time I just have to let go and let the Holy Spirit guide me. It can be through the still small voice in my own heart, or by someone on my team telling what they are feeling God is showing THEM. It can be frustrating at times, yes. But if you look at it as being used for Jesus's purposes, then ya know what? He can mess up any plans that I have ever made. I just want to glorify Jesus.
My team is amazing. Each one of us bring a particular characteristic to the table. And we need all of them. The ideas that bounce off one another, the encouragement, the music, the teaching, the enthusiasm, the love, the friendship, the wisdom of the word, the experiences that we have together, are something that I can no longer go without. I depend on my friends to keep me accountable in my personal growth with Jesus.
All I can think half the time is, "I get to do this". I get to be a vessel for the Lords work in The Threshing Floor. And it's all for Him. Everything that goes down on Sunday and Wednesday or even when we are just hanging out together at caribou...we live to make His name known.
God is Good. All the time.
In His Name and for His Glory,
Emily Clawson
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)