December 2000 Table of Contents

Special Feature
Sunday's Comin'
A Choir Member/Worship Leader's Preparation For Sunday Morning

By Joel Allen

In preparation for Easter Sunday morning, our church staff took time on Tuesday afternoon of Easter week to go to our Worship Center to pray. We prayed over each chair in our Worship Center; for the person that would be sitting in that chair and for God to move in a special way in their heart. As we did this, I had the responsibility for praying over every chair in our choir loft. As I was praying, I started lifting up choir members by name to the Lord. I knew of their family and work situations and special needs that many of them had. I knew that for many of them, it was not easy to get up and get their family to church on Sunday morning without a lot of effort and stress. God really convicted me of something. We need to come to church with praise on our lips and joy and peace in our hearts. It doesn't just happen; we have to prepare for it. I want to give our choir some helpful hints on getting ready for Sunday. These may seem elementary, but we all have things that we need to do to get our hearts ready for such a sacred time as our Sunday morning worship.

Pray for a Broken Heart

Psalm 51:17 "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, 0 God, you will not despise." This should be our theme! We cannot truly worship God with pride and/or self-sufficiency in our hearts. We are totally dependent on Him to accomplish what He wants to accomplish in our hearts and in the worshipers' hearts.

Saturday Preparation

1. Sing through your choir music and your worship songs. Get the song in your heart! It helps if you have a rehearsal tape to sing with. But get the music and spirit of praise in your heart, don't wait until Sunday morning to memorize the words!
   
   
2. Schedule the events of the day so that you can relax, pray and worship on Saturday evening.
   
   
3. Keep Saturday evening free. Try to stay at home on Saturday evening. Keep the eve ' g free for prayer, worship and Sunday preparation. For the Allens, we hardly ever go out on a date or to any social event on Saturday evening.
   
   
4. Get all Sunday morning details taken care of on Saturday:
   
   
   1. Get your clothes ready
      
      
   2. Get meals ready
      
      
   3. Get transportation ready
      
      
   4. Get your kid's stuff ready
      
   
   
5. Go to bed with prayer and praise on your heart. Whatever is on your mind when you go to sleep will be on your mind when you wake up.
   
   
   1. Pray for Pastor Rick. I pray Ephesians 6:19 for Pastor Rick every Saturday evening. "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."
      
      
   2. Pray for the worship time. Pray for God's presence to come in a very special way.
      
      
   3. Pray for sensitivity to the Spirit. Pray for the leaders to be sensitive to the Spirit and pray for the worshipers to be sensitive to the Spirit and pray that YOU will be sensitive to God's Spirit.
      
      
   4. Pray for the lost.
      
      
   5. Pray for special needs that you know of and intercede on behalf of others.
      
      
   6. Pray for a "servant's heart." (It's not about us! It's about HIM!)
      
   
   
6. Go to bed early! Don't stay up late! Get your rest!
   
   
7. Turn off the TV! Don't let Satan get into your heart and mind!

Sunday Morning Preparation

1. Get up earlier than you think you should. Don't allow yourself to get into a big rush.
   
   
2. Leave for church early. Get to church early enough to help, greet, encourage, pray and just be relaxed.
   
   
3. Don't be a GROUCH! Pray for a sensitive heart and spirit and don't let Satan get you all frustrated and shaken up over small details. (This is something I really have to work on. When I come to church on Sunday morning, I'm focused, driven and on a mission. I really have to work at giving it to the Lord and relaxing.)
   
   
4. Sing praises on the way to church. Get your heart and your voice warmed up.

These are things that our family has tried to practice for years, but we still haven't arrived. These are simple and "common sense" things, but they still take constant attention for us to be ready for worship. We cannot enter into worship casually! God deserves and requires our wholehearted praise! And as worship leaders, we have a special need to be prepared! Musical preparation is a big deal but heart preparation is of utmost importance! Satan wants nothing more than to get our hearts distracted and to keep us from encountering God in worship. AND, Satan loves it when, because of our own heart and spirit, we keep others from encountering God in worship!

Sunday's comin'! Let's get ready!

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