RussHutto.com

Inspired by an article on theworshipcommunity.com by Sarah Markley.

Dear Worship Leader Person,

I am a churchy person. I’m what you would call a Believer, Christ-follower, Christian. I’ve been in church for a while. I know most of the ins and outs of this thing we call faith.

I mean, I know that I grow when I read and study Scripture, when I pray, and when I hang out with others who know God. I know that I get stronger when I serve others.

I know that we get together to sing to and about God and call it worship. I know that worship is supposed to be about my heart. But most of the time it’s really about the music. In fact, I’m pretty comfortable using the word “worship” to talk about the music time. Even when I don’t worship during the music.

I love it when you challenge me, though. Not by little mini-sermons between songs, or by awkward sung prayers that don’t make much sense. I am inspired by your passion, by your heart for worship. The music is cool, the arrangements of songs are nice, but it’s really the look on your face when I know that you are in the zone. That place of connection with God.

When I see you out and about and it really LOOKS like you’re walking with Jesus. I’m inspired by that. Oh sure, I like to sing along with the latest modern worship chart toppers on Sundays, but man, oh man, I am INSPIRED by your worship on Mondays through Saturdays.

Problem is, I don’t know how to tell you this. So, I just say, “Worship was great this morning.” Hoping, that you’ll thank me, of course, and then somehow hold me accountable. Ask me about my week. Anything. Show me you care about something more than just the music, even though technically, that’s what we “hired” you to do at our church.

I’m not worried so much about being impressed by the music. I want to be INSPIRED by your worship.

Thanks,

Churchy Person

P.S. My friend Un Churchy Person is writing you a letter too.

Thanks to Jonathan Chick of Clarus Photography for snapping these great photos (on short notice and in a limited time frame)! Had a blast playing drums for House of Joy Sunday, and I hope these pics convey some of the energy that we worship with!

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Here’s a peak into HOJ worship music! This week I got to play drums. I schedule myself on drums once every 2-3 months to give our regular drummers a break.

Since we’re moving in a few weeks, this is the last time I got to drum at HOJ. Tear.

I’m no Lester Estelle, Jr. or Will Denton, but I have fun and overall I’m holding it down!

I Am Not Forgotten from Jimmy Linville on Vimeo.

Jesus Is The Best Thing from Jimmy Linville on Vimeo.

I Am Free from Jimmy Linville on Vimeo.

Thanks to Mr. Jimmy for the vids!

1) Not Forgotten (Houghton) Key E. Pretty straightforward yet funky groove. Kind of dancehall reggae-ish but we added in some more driving rock grooves as well.
2) Jesus Is The Best Thing (Munizzi) Key D. Nothing out of the ordinary. But we love the simple, repetitive singability of this tune!
3) I Am Free (Egan) Key D. One of my favorites to play on drums. It’s tought for me to lead this one in D so I just hand it right over to our female vocals and they rock it!

I was on drums today. It rocked. I love playing with this team!

Part of Sunday Setlists. Come and share yours!

This is a GREAT way to introduce people who are not plugged in to a church family to church that may live far away from your home church, or that might live right where you do but aren’t “into” going to a church building.

I’m all for leveraging any and every form of technology we can to expose people to truth and NPO is doing a great job at that. There are many who believe that this is just wasted effort because they can’t grasp the impact that this might have as a gateway for someone to enter into local church family. I see it as a starting point, a doorway.

This isn’t the main course, but an appetizer of sorts.

And depending on the season of life someone is in, this might be the ONLY faith family that they can plug into. Deployed. Away from home. Moving to a new town. Etc.

Check out the upcoming series, Losing Your Religion at NPCC. They’ll be inaugurating NPO (northpointonline.tv) with this series. Follow the project on the NPO blog.

Promo: “Losing Your Religion” from North Point Media on Vimeo.