A Gift from the Heart

Some of today's top Christian worship artists will donate the revenues from songs written at a special retreat next month to help relieve suffering worldwide.

Michael W. Smith, Chris Tomlin, Steven Curtis Chapman, Darlene Zschech, Matt and Beth Redman, Tim Hughes, Paul Baloche, Israel Houghton, Graham Kendrick, Andy Park, Stu Garrard and Martin Smith from Delirious? are participating in the retreat sponsored by Compassionart in Perthshire, Scotland Jan. 7 – 11. 2008. The songwriters’ goal is to collectively write 10-12 songs with 100 percent of the proceeds derived from the songs going directly to charity. One half of the monies will go to the songwriters’ charity of choice, and the other 50 percent will go to a charitable project agreed upon by all the songwriters involved.

“Over the last few years I have had the privilege of traveling to some of the poorest parts of the world and seeing first hand the plight of humanity,” said Martin Smith, Delirious?, Compassionart's founder who is organizing the retreat along with his wife, Anna. “As a song writer and a person with a microphone I made a promise to try and do something about it. What better than to call on my friends and do something together. To be people that can make a change rather than just singing about it.”

“They have all waived their rights to see something historic happen: the music business coming together for something great, greater than any individual could achieve,” Smith said.

Please keep these artists and the retreat in your prayers. Merry Christmas!

What Difference Does it Make?

'Tis the season of church Christmas events. There are pageants, children's musicals, live nativities, candlelight services, living Christmas trees, cantatas, Bethlehem recreations, full Broadway-style musicals and even Radio City Music Hall clones, all designed to attract people to church during December. And churches are right to be outreach minded at this time of the year when people who normally don't attend church might actually want to come.

Don't fall into the trap, however, of measuring whether or not your event is successful by counting numbers. Too often I hear pastors and worship team leaders talking about how many people attend an event (or church services, for that matter) and assuming that large numbers imply their "work for the Lord" has been accomplished. Several have reported Christmas outreach events that attract thousands, yet, it's almost impossible to measure whether attending the event made any difference in bringing the attendees closer to a relationship with God. Few outreach events include any type of follow up. The people come, we record the numbers and hope we see increased attendance in subsequent Sunday services.

Where some follow up has been reported, the results are thought provoking. At one church with about 2,000 in attendance each Sunday, a yearly Christmas outreach event which attracts thousands results in weekly attendance increase of no more than five persons. Another church bringing in more than 4,000 for an annual Christmas event has an average of 25 people attending adult Sunday school classes on a weekly basis. Another had about 1,000 at an outreach event-- but most of them were regular attenders.

The reality is that many Christmas events become social traditions. In some communities a particular event may be the "cool" and popular place to be seen. Some feel that attending an event at Christmas time makes up for not attending church during the year and somehow earns them points toward heaven. People have tons of reasons for attending, but the real question is what difference does it make?

My challenge to church leaders and worship teams evaluating this year's efforts is to look beyond the numbers. Don't be lulled into a sense of accomplishment if your numbers are large. Find out what impact it had for Christ in the lives of those attending and in the lives of those involved in presenting it. Also, if your event drew just a few, or smaller numbers than for which you were hoping, don't be lulled into a sense of failure. Evaluate the impact. If only one person attended, but that heart was changed, your event was a success. If 5,000 attended your event and then went out to finish their Christmas shopping, look for ways to make a more personal impact next year.

The personal invite, the event, the difference:
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
(John 4:39-40 NIV)

Holiday News & Reviews in Christian Arts

Noelle, a film from the folks who brought us "One Night With the King" opens this Friday in selected theaters nationwide. Haven't been able to preview it, but here's the synopsis:
Father Jonathan Keene - a cold, impatient priest arrives in a tiny fishing village the week before Christmas to do what he does best: shut down a dying parish. But things take an unexpected turn as he becomes entangled in the various lives of the village's eccentric characters, including their beautiful librarian, the childlike priest he is displacing, and the magical experience of Mrs. Worthington's legendary Christmas Party, where everyone is welcome and anything is possible.
The film, written, directed and starring David Wall, is a testament to the tenacious work necessary to get films with wholesome Christian messages made in today's market. View the trailer above.

Visit Masterwork Productions at http://www.shoutlife.com/masterworks on Shoutlife, a safe and clean alternative to social networking. There are a number of Christian artists and performers represented on the site.

Looking for some great gift ideas for Christmas? Let me suggest two terrific books: "The Case for the Real Jesus" by Lee Strobel and "Home to Holly Springs" by Jan Karon. Strobel's latest in his apologetic series of excellent books takes six of today's most popular arguments against Christianity and Jesus' true identity and methodically examines them. The former atheist turned Christian after trying to disprove the claims in the bible lays out each argument, then shows that they don't stand up after thorough investigation. Every Christian needs to read this book.

"Home to Holly Springs" is the first of Karon's "Father Tim" novels which follow her popular Mitford series of novels which bring to life the delightful characters of Mitford, NC and their devoted and faithful Episcopal priest Father Timothy Kavanagh. I treasure the Mitford novels, not only because they're just a delight to read, but because of the wonderful, steadfast and inspiring faith of Father Timothy. God has used these books and Father Tim to inspire me in my own personal relationship with Lord a number of times. The Father Tim novels leave Mitford and focus on Father Timothy, which can only be encouraging reading.