CBC Worship Ministries: Devotional Blog

After spending this past Thursday and Friday at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta I am returning with an overload of thoughts. Some of the greatest minds in our current Christian culture each spoke to a facet of one overriding theme: TOGETHER. I want to share with you some of the things that I experienced at this conference. It's hard to put this into words - you have to really see it to understand it - because it's the largest gathering of Christian leaders I've ever witnessed. If you can imagine 12,500 people singing worship songs under the worship leadership of Northpoint worship leader Steve Fee - it was extraordinary. You know what it's like - even on a great Sunday, about a third of the congregation is ambivilant towards worship. At Catalyst that might be 2 or 3%. Everyone sings. Everyone cheers. Everyone claps!

As great as the worship was, the reason why leaders were gathered in this place was to come together not just to hear great speakers but to unite in the cause of Christ. When entering the driveway to the Gwinett Arena this year there were little signs along the driveway . . . "welcome Pentecostals". . . "welcome Missionaries". . . welcome "Youth Pastors". . . "welcome Hispanics". . . and so on. They covered just about every socio-economic, racial and occupational demographics! The point was simple. . . we need to unite together for the cause of Christ! So for two days we put aside all our doctrinal and cultural differences and sought to find common ground in the spiritual war in which we are engaged.

Which brings me to the point of this week's post . . . (I can't possibly cover everything I learned in one post). The point is that we're in this together. Together, for our church, means that it's not just about the worship team. Or about the Production Crew. If our attitude is that we do our "thing" and other ministries do their "thing" we have missed the boat. Together means working together - with the youth. With the children's ministry workers. With the Sunday School teachers. With the deacons, and trustees, and missions committee, and Christian Ed committee, and, well, just fill in the blank. As we serve God at CBC let's start thinking strategically - that united we can accomplish great things for God - but divided we simply war against ourselves. Please think about the ways in which we can nurture and foster stronger alliances among the segments of our ministry at CBC. Share them with the rest of us!

I'll be thinking of you as I travel home from Atlanta today.