stephen rush

// Jim Eckert

One of my most recent meetings was with a guy named Jim Eckert. He is a retired worship leader of 35 years who now goes to Fellowship and heard about the residency and wanted to meet with me. Because of all his experience and stories i knew i would love to and benefit from hanging out with him. He had so many things to say and advice to give that could only come from years of first-hand experience. We met two different times and talked about everything from how to handle compliments and the always present negative comments. He also talked a lot about knowing the environment you are hired into and even looking at the songs you sing to see if the are theologically sound. One of the biggest take-aways i had from our time together was to never marry the church. He said that he knew so many men and women who would put off their families and other responsibilities to use the church as an excuse or honestly think it was more important and then wonder why their lives were falling apart. The church is not God. It was good being able to have someone confess that and talk about his own struggles that he had with keeping his priorities in line and not to put the church before God or his family.

// Night of Worship

So this has been a long time coming and i finally made time to write about it. It seems like things are always picking up here and there is never enough down time. A little while ago Fellowship put on a huge Night of Worship, which was cool being able to play in the student ministry’s Night of Worship and then turn around and help out with the big church-wide Night of Worship. And i feel like i’ve used Night of Worship a little excessively already. Sorry about that stylistic screwup.

i was put in charge of setting and running the light cues, which has almost become my area of specialty in the Worship & Arts team. We planned out what we would have to do to flip the stage design and right after our last church service we set the stage which included hanging scrim (thin sheer-like sheets), hanging china light globes and putting up raw bulb stripes from the ceiling of the stage. It ended up looking great.

The night itself went so well. All four worship leaders as well as all three teaching pastors led the event and it went for about an hour and a half. A ton of people showed up and the body was ministered to in a tremendous way. At one point we took the Lord’s Supper and it was done in such a cool way. There were six tables set up around the room almost like stations. Whenever you wanted you could go as a family or small group and take communion together. The worship leaders loved it and their band was phenomenal which freed them up to lead without having to worry about them messing up. There was nothing but positive feedback from the people who ended up coming which encouraged everyone to have another event soon. It was an incredible night of worship…that was a much better usage!

// Grace Works

At Fellowship, they call their small groups/life groups Community Groups and then all of the Community Groups are broken down into the areas of Nashville (North, South, East and West). The man who headed up our mission trip to Greece, Dan Vorm, is the Community Pastor of the South Community Groups and that area is really involved in Grace Works. Grace Works is an interdenominational benevolence group that finds ways to help out in their community, from giving clothes away to getting food donations from Publix. So when Grace Works wanted to hold one of their social meetings they asked if they could have it at Fellowship. They also wanted some worship and asked Dan if he could arrange any, since he knew me and also that i would love to do it he asked me. The night was originally canceled because of a snow storm we had and then rescheduled for the end of February. It was an interesting night because i had to plan worship for a ton of different denominations that didn’t approve of music. Even the band had to be different than normal because they were opposed to drums. The dynamics of the group was a weird blend of very traditional to contemporary and you could tell because in the set i did there was one hymn and that was one of the most well received song of the night. Afterwards, a bunch of people came up and thanked the band for leading them in worship which made us feel a little less awkward and let us know that they at least enjoyed it if nothing else. It was difficult trying to get a gauge on them but in the end, we knew that God accomplished what He wanted to do whether we could see it on their faces or not.

// FSM Night of Worship

Lance, asked me again to help him lead for the student ministry but this would be for their Night of Worship that Wednesday. It would be an hour and a half of music with the Lord’s Supper afterwards. i was so excited to be able to experience that and to have the opportunity to lead alongside Lance. The breakdown of the night was we would do about two to three songs and then they would pause for prayer and would read one of the psalms. Every time these students blow me away with how much they engage and how the majority of them desire to be there and want to worship. So many times, it’s easy to get caught up in the motions and just sing a song or show up to an event (even though it’s a worship gathering, it becomes entertainment) and not engage. Lance and i took turns leading our songs and playing along while the other led. i had a blast and was so thankful once again for the opportunity to lead at Fellowship.

// Greece Band Reunion

It’s been a little while since Fellowship went on the mission trip to Greece. One thing that i took for granted was how amazing the team was that went. We tried to get together a few times since then when everyone’s schedules worked, and then last weekend it finally worked. Carl was scheduled for leading that weekend and we set it up so that the band that went to Greece was able to all play as well. i was so excited because that meant that i was going to be able to join. It was one thing going to Greece with these guys and leading with a few bands for the student ministry, but playing on a Sunday morning with them was an incredible experience. Watching the way they interact with each other and know what each other would play without talking about it was one of the neatest things. Everyone has standards of what Nashville musicians should be like, but i can tell you that they are definitely talented. One of the things i’ve been trying to learn is the number system. Here, everyone uses numbers instead of saying chords or what to play…meaning all the music they use looks like a big math problem, which is the subject i always hated in school. But because of playing with the different people, i have almost learned what numbers are for every key. This is just another reason why i am so thankful for having this opportunity with Fellowship.

// EntreLeadership

Today Dave Ramsey came and spoke on leadership and time management for Fellowship’s staff meeting. It was amazing. Back in October, a group of us went to the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta and heard him speak on leadership there, but he still had some new points today. i ran the main camera for recording his presentation so i can’t wait to go back and re-watch it to pick on stuff i wasn’t able to earlier. He had a point during the time management part that stood out to me. It was that someone’s work desktop showed how cluttered their mind was. He said whether it was a cluttered email inbox or a desk, that it also showed if the person was organized, which can lead to added stress. It happens a lot to me. i will let a bunch of little things stack up that would only take a response email or a short phone call and i push it off because it isn’t important then when i end up having 6 small things that loom over me and i stress. He called these things foxes. The big problems we see coming and can address them are called elephants but the foxes chip away until we realize that we are overwhelmed and distracts our productivity.

Ouch. A little bit of conviction.

i won’t sweat the small stuff but rather take care of them whenever they come up and feel more free and clearer.