Don Chapman makes a great point in this blog about Churches and Worship music. Read it HERE.

All Praise was never created to force members to devote large amounts of time without compensation. The purpose of All Praise is, and has always been, to use the knowledge base of pastors, worship leaders and teachers to consult churches towards excellence – not to become a stable of worship-leaders-for-hire.

I felt it was an important enough move within the All Praise structure to let all AP Members know about this change. My wife and I feel it’s time to start being compensated for the work that requires so much time and effort from me and my family.

As far as the services received by the church I’m leading, nothing changes. Anything outside of Worship Leading will still be administered by and billed through All Praise Ministries, while the Worship Leading services will be billed by me directly.

As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, we want to keep any and all financial decisions made about how your money is spent 100% transparent and available for your review.

Thank you for trusting us with your time, money and efforts. And most importantly, thank you for your continued support through prayer.

Blessings,

Jimmy Smith
Founder/Chairman
All Praise Ministries

John 4:23-24

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

Those of us who are saved worship God. But how many of us worship Him the way He requires us to worship Him? According the scripture, God clearly wants us to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

To worship in spirit, we must stay connected to The Holy Spirit through prayer and communion with Him. To worship Him in Truth, we must know the truth. To know the truth, we must read His Word and Pray daily so He may reveal to us the truth we need to worship Him.

Wow! Are you showing up on Sundays to sing, praise and worship God after a week of not reading the bible, listening to or talking to God? If so, you are not the kind of worshipper God is looking for.

Today, make a commitment to stay connected to The Holy Spirit through prayer, and to know His truth by reading God’s Word. Otherwise, your worship is worthless and fruitless.

SCRIPTURE: Matt 9:37-38
He said to His disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord Who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.”

OBSERVATION:
Jesus was speaking to believers. To men he had chosen to do His work. Today, it would be you and me – pastors and leaders. What He’s telling us is that we need more of US to do His work. We should be praying that God will send more people like us to lead the lost to Him. Yet, I meet with pastors all the time who are reluctant to partner with other local churches. Many of them view other churches as threats to their own success. It’s sad, but it’s real.

APPLICATION:
Today, when I pray for more people to work the fields, I will also pray for the pastors who feel threatened by them.

PRAYER:
Father, you are so great and awesome! I am honored that You would call me to help bring more people to know You. May I never take that task lightly. I also ask that You give me the right words to say to the many pastors I encounter and help them begin seeing other pastors as allies. My prayer is that we can all work together as one to do what You have called us to do; work the fields and bring more people to You! I love You, God. I can’t imagine my life without You in the driver’s seat. Thank you for the many blessings in my life. I am so unworthy and yet so grateful. Amen.

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God has placed in each of us the trait of discontent.  Many of us, however, use that discontent inappropriately by letting off steam towards another person, often causing us to sin in the process. But when God placed that discontent in our DNA, his intention wasn’t for us to use it against others, but rather to use it to help others.

In the 2007 book by Bill Hybels, Holy Discontent – Fueling the Fire That igniters Personal Vision, Bill talks about finding that one thing that grips your heart, soul and mind to the point that you must do something about it. He calls it a “Popeye moment,” referring to the point in the old Popeye cartoons where the sailor man would get so frustrated that he says, “I’ve had all I can stands and I can’t stands no more.” OF course, each cartoon wnet on to Popeye’s defeat of the evil Bruto and always saved his dear girlfriend, Olive Oyl” from the hands of danger.

In the cartoon, it was Popeye that saved the day. In the real world, it’s you and me – the church – entrusted to save the day. But that won’t happen until we find that one thing that gets us to that Popeye moment.

SO HOW DO WE GET TO THE POPEYE MOMENT?

Point #1: Find your Holy Discontent
We all have things we dislike. I dislike spousal abuse. When I hear of a man hitting a woman, I feel like finding that man and throwing a few punches myself. Really. But clearly it isn’t my holy discontent or I’d be out there rescuing women and children instead of leading worship and my two extra bedrooms at my house wouldn’t be empty.

To find your Holy Discontent, pray. Ask Go to show it to you. Don’t get fooled into directing your attention towards something you merely dislike.  A holy discontent goes deeper than that and it may not be obvious. Quite possibly it could require fervent prayer and petitioning of God.

But once God reveals it to you, it will keep you up at night trying to figure out a way to do something about it.  It will become a passion of yours.

• For Moses – it was the misery of God’s people.
• For King David – it was Goliath trash-talking His God and his people.
• For Nehemiah, it was people mocking God.
• For Mother Theresa, it was seeing people in poverty (school teacher.)
• For Martin Luther King Jr, it was seeing injustice and unfairness and cruelty to an entire race of people.
• For Bill Hybels, it was churches who didn’t seem to care about the lost, so he started the “Seeker Sensitive Movement.”
  

MY HOLY DISCONTENT
For me, it’s people who won’t get out of their comfort zone and completely sellout for Christ. That’s why I’m so passionate about contemporary music and modern church services. Because we need to offer music and services that attract the lost, not pander to the saved.

I am discontent with complacency in churches and I’m doing things to change it. All Praise Ministries was formed with the understanding that we would make some people uncomfortable. To me, that’s a small price to pay. It’s not about us! It’s about the lost and bringing them to know Jesus. Period.

Point #2: Endure Your Holy Discontent (don’t give up.)
Once you find that one thing that you can’t stand any longer, you’ll need to expose your heart to it. You’ll need to open your mind to it. And that will most certainly lead to frustration and heart ache.

Someone once told me, “I want to disciple this person but they are too lost and caught up in their sin for me to help them.” Listen, IT IS GOING TO BE HARD!  But don’t give up. Just remember that this is your calling, your passion and one of your purposes from God. And for that reason, you can’t quit. If you did, you’d never feel satisfied again.

Point #3: Feed Your Holy Discontent
Don’t Run From it.  Stay Close to it! Feed that discontent. Most of us flee from frustration. But God gave you your holy discontent for you to run to, not run from. Immerse yourself into the fire God has placed in your heart and do something about it!

God wants you to become Popeye today. He wants you to find that thing that makes you say, “I’ve had all I can stands and I can’t stands no more.”

The most dangerous prayer you can ever pray is this: “God…. Use me!” But when God uses you, he won’t use you half way.  Be prepared to go the distance, and you might just change the world.

Today’s the day you start a new journey. Today’s the day you can look back upon and say, “I took a stand against my discontent and did something about it.”