“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26 NKJV) The words of Jesus are not easy words to hear or apply. Why would Jesus ask us to hate? Are we not to love our parents and family? Is Jesus actually asking us to “hate” our loved ones if we choose to follow him? If you strictly read this for face value, it absolutely says that. In fact, even in context, Jesus is telling us about the cost of the being his follower. As is usual, our Savior never intends to close the loop on an idea. Our Twitter way of thinking …

In the original post, “Five BAD Ideas to Make Your Worship Services FAKE,” I discussed some ways of thinking that seem to reinforce inauthentic worship. Hundreds of shares and thousands of readers later, the new year has brought us a new and even worse list! I know, it’s not the best moment to be negative with our discourse in the public arena these days. However, a new year brings with it an opportunity to evaluate and refocus our worship leadership. And, it is important to find a clear way to articulate what we may actually be feeling—for better or worse. If we can form a lingo to describe something very subjective like our worship services, then it helps us to clarify where our closely held …

If you are a worship leader and have ever been asked about what you during the week, this post is for you. Maybe you are the one asking the questions as the pastor or congregational leader. Let’s be honest: Being a worship leader or musical ministry leader is a big job. The entire church will receive this public ministry–whether it is in all its glory or lacking something. The typical problem is that there seems to be trouble communicating between the worship leader and the leadership. And, I already know that most pastors and church leaders have this concern as much as worship leaders do. We all know there are tasks to be completed but mostly we observe the end result. There is more than …

Truth is not a sport that wins with the score of popularity or power won. In our postmodern world, we can believe what we want. We can pay a company to spin information or post fake news on social media. Consequences do not matter. We are driven to win at any costs. Knowledge used to be equated with power. Today, popularity is power, regardless of facts or truth. A post-truth, post-fact world is one we have embraced. Faith, not always built upon empirically proven facts, causes many to still sacrifice their very lives. The ISIS beheadings of Christians is proof of this. In America, would our form of Christian faith pass the martyrdom test? Would we survive in our current squabbling? When truth impacts issues …

As we reflect on an election season, here is a psalm to help us focus our worship–loosely paraphrased from Psalm 21. My eyes see have seen The Hill, My ears of heard the POTUS proclamations, My Twitter feed full of hateful power. But, where does my help come from? Does it come from political power brokers, Or entertaining media outlets, My fellow voter and citizen? Where does my help come from? The data of my life is watched day and night, But, only my Maker truly can see who I am. My Lord never sleeps as he cares for me, His aim is to never harm. As I come to worship my God, The idols of power are clearly before me. But, where does my …

This is the eleventh year of blogging for me here at RKblog.com, so it is always nice to be appreciated. This is the fourth time and third year in a row that RKblog.com has been selected by the editors of Worship Leader Magazine as a Best of the Best Blog. The conversation we have here does matter and I am thankful for the many years of support and engagement by you, my readers. This truly is not as much a personal recognition of achievment. In my opinion, it is the community lived out here because of RKblog.com that is celebrated. Why?  Without a tribe, a website means little. You make this all worth it!

Do I really need to go to church as a follower of Christ? When Jesus talked with the “Woman at the Well” about places of worship, his point wasn’t that place was unimportant. Worshiping in “Spirit and truth” can be done anywhere, so we know it is not about the exact address. We know our place of worship is where the Spirit is and where truth is. Widely, worship is looked at as a personal choice and activity. In fact, that is quite true! We all have to choose to worship Christ. We all have a personal free will. But, what is missed is that gathering for worship seems to not be valued. Our worship services are more than an additional stop in a lifestyle …

Mystery cannot be contained by two dimensions. We seem to escape mystery within the walls of our binary reality. If life was as simple as a switch, we could simply turn off or turn on solutions. In fact, we do that very act every day to choose hot or cold water out of the faucet. We change the channel or swipe to the next stream of content on our smartphones with ease. Choices, no matter how full of first-world sophistication all reduce themselves to a binary question. With thousands of TV shows, hundreds of thousands of songs, and millions of click-bait articles to peruse, the choice is either a yes or a no. The muscle that might have once been used on imagination and wonder …

From time to time I indulge in sharing music that many of you might not hear about in the main industry. Indie worship projects are as good or better than anything produced by major labels. Here is an example of a recent release. I have to say I love the new album Songs in the Key of the Congregation by Rick Muchow, worship coach, songwriter, and former worship pastor at Saddleback Community Church. Rick’s music company is named appropriately “Encouraging Music”–a label easily attached to the years of encouragement dished out by Rick to worship leaders and congregations all over the hemisphere. Encouragement isn’t always the easy words one gives. Rick pulls us deeper with this project just as he does in his mentoring. Beyond …

We have all been there. Everything may sound fantastic, look attractive, and planned with purposeful intent. But, something just doesn’t seem right. You feel fake vibes when hoping for authentic ones. Regardless, what makes a worship service fake might be boiled down to a few things even though there may be many things we can put on a list. Here are five ideas that promote the “fake factor” in church worship services. The worship team is performing like they are in a stadium and only 200 people are in the worship center. Just means over-scaling your team, sound and presentation might not be helping you. The energy put into production shouldn’t outweigh the value of building relationships with the people in the congregation you serve. Your haze …