FCCN Worship Ministry: 7/2/12

July 15 Worship

Here's the worship flow for July 15.  I think it's going to be a special Sunday.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jPK6tDP7krnlMP8fqXbC6OVRqINS7pmhOprApsqY_6k/edit

I need a few more guys to be disciples. It's a quick, non-speaking role. The commitment is 7:30 A.M. practice on Sunday morning, and both the 9:15 and 10:45 services. No biblical costumes, just regular church clothes are fine: dress shoes, dress pants, dress shirt or polo shirt. Let me know if you would like to help.

Value of the Month: Be Gracious With Criticism

If you're involved in the worship ministry, you're going to have to deal with criticism once in a while. When 1500 people watch what you do, well, it's bound to happen eventually.

So how do we respond when the inevitable criticism comes our way? Do we have any examples from the Bible to help us with this question?

Take a look at Exodus 18, when Moses' father-in-law comes to visit. And not only does he visit, he observes how Moses is leading the people and tells him how to do his job better.

Exodus 18:13-17: When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”

Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”

Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good."

Now hold on, really? Moses' father-in-law shows up and basically says, son, "You’re doing a lousy job." Basically, yes!  And Jethro is 100% right.  But Jethro also tells Moses that he needs to delegate. Moses is away from his wife and kids all day long "judging the people," and is not developing any other people to help him lead Israel.

Does this story bring to mind any Thanksgiving or Christmas family gatherings when your father or mother-in-law showed up at your house? Yeah? Ouch, okay, maybe this is a little too close to home for you. Let's get back to the Bible:

How does Moses respond? He is gracious with criticism. Verse 24 says he listened to his father-in-law and does everything he suggested. But verse 27 is my favorite:

"Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.^"

So Moses responds graciously, but sends his father-in-law on his way.

Now, come on, there is more to this story, isn't there? Jethro just goes back home? That's it? Well, that's all we know for sure. But remember who wrote the book of Exodus: Moses did. I would love to get Jethro and Zipporah's side of the story too. :)

Since that's all we've got, let's take a cue from Moses' side of the story: be gracious with criticism.

But how about when it's not valid? Let's tackle that next week. Send me some ideas from the Bible on when people had to deal with invalid criticism. There are a few good examples. Ready, set, go! Post your comments below: