Worship Musician August 2020 | Page 26

doesn’t sound amazing, and there is no way you can fix it, and the Holy Spirit doesn’t care, He shows up anyway. I think we’re using what we have to right now and I’ve seen it work effectively. I’ve also been kicked off Zoom meetings. (laughs) I’ve been in the middle of singing and the whole thing froze. All of that’s happened too, but our church has found that our weekly reach has just about tripled just through digital outreach. impact worship leaders, and then extend to, worshiping congregations? you and I have to care about God. [WM] The subject matter that you cover is broad and quite remarkable. When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, He told her that Samaritans did not know what and who they were worshiping. I sometimes wonder if that same comment applies to many church worship leaders. That’s why this video series is so helpful. [WM] In my recent interview with Mike Pilavachi (May 2020), Mike mentioned that he and his pastors were calling every church member weekly, just to keep connection happening. [Zach] Actually we’ve done that as well, we have weekly texts and we have weekly phone calls. Every pastor involved here at the church, we’re making sure every person in our church gets contact. We’re also making sure that anyone who comes to us with any physical need, financial need, any kind of prayer need, we’re meeting those as quickly as we can, and we’ve managed to reach the circle of our church, which is enormous. So now we’re having people who heard we are helping and we are getting floods of people from outside of our congregation. And the pastors have decided that the Lord has really blessed our church and so we have a lot of resources. So, when this whole thing started, and when people started losing their jobs and not being able to go out anymore, and not being able to afford Covid testing and their fear elevated… He said open the store now, we’re going to help people. So he gave us all permission to use our credit cards and gave us dollar amounts, which were very generous. We’ve just been so impressed that the church that’s known for the Word and for the worship, can also care for the actual needs of the people in its congregation and the people outside of its congregation. I just have fallen in love with our church again. [WM] Zach, you have great enthusiasm in your teaching, which I very much admire. How do you hope your book and video series will [Zach] You’ve probably experienced this, if you come out onto a platform and you are visibly anxious or nervous, that’s contagious. People are more concerned with your nerves than what you are trying to say or communicate. Well, the opposite is true, if you carry genuine passion. I think it was D. L. Moody who used to say that his entire ministry was to step out onto the platform and let God light him on fire so that people could watch him burn. If I burn for something, and I’m sincere about it and that thing is true, its very difficult for someone else not to be lit by that, it’s very difficult. If you care about the Jesus that I care about, you’re going to get sparked, something is going to happen. I feel like, in fact, I think I mentioned this in Revelation 3. We’re talking about the church of Laodicea. That’s the seventh church that Jesus talks to. And if we’re in the seventh age of the church, the telltale sign of that age is that they’ve lost a passion, they are neither hot nor cold. And that speaks the world about our obsession for God and about whether or not He’s worth having affection for. If I’m lukewarm then I’ve got a God who is only worthy of lukewarm interest. I don’t want them to see that, I want them to see that I’ve got a God that’s worthy of burning for. I believe that if we can figure this out, if we can submit ourselves to burn for the thing that He burns for. I don’t know if this is the last age of the church, but I want to see the glory of the Lord cover the earth like the water. I want to see the Lord enthroned in our nations. I want to see salvation cover the earth. I want every tribe and every tongue to have the opportunity to hear and to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. If any of that’s going to happen, [Zach] That’s not a question, you’ve summed it all up! (laughs) One of my roles at Gateway is pastor of worship development, and the entire point of the role was that when I first came on the worship team they didn’t understand worship. There were twelve people on a team, you could ask them, “What is worship?” and you wouldn’t get the same answer from any of them. The idea was, how do we develop the process and people to be able to have that understanding in the ministry of the congregation, so they are not receivers of the ministry, they become ministers. So, we started with these three c’s, core, character, and craft, and we put together a series of teaching and mentoring for the worship first. The core was the theological belief, because they didn’t know what they were doing, and they barely knew enough about God to figure out what they were doing, which is exactly what you’re talking about. Your core, which is your theology and understanding, informs your character, your heart. Then those things, your theology, your heart, and your character, are what permits you to utilize your craft as a minister. So we trained core, character, craft, because what you’re saying is exactly the problem, we’re not just Biblically illiterate… we’re illiterate of our own Savior. [WM] Thank you Zach for this wonderful time. [Zach] You are welcome. What a pleasure for me to visit with you! 26 August 2020 Subscribe for Free...