Even though rap, electronic dance music (EDM), and r&b have completely dominated both record sales and concert revenue for 17 stinking long years, most “contemporary worship” churches do not even have a single rap or EDM oriented song in their repertoire. So, in part one of this blog series, I made the case that, if we want to remain effective in using music to lead people to Christ, we may want to rethink the meaning of “contemporary worship.” After all, the only thing that’s “contemporary” about it is the fact that it’s not an organ.

So how do we avoid this “Christian Culture Bubble?” How do we avoid being the church that’s into weird or outdated music?

There’s a classic story in 2 Samuel 6 that illustrates why many churches miss the new type of worship God is ushering in.

When the Ark of the covenant came home to Jerusalem, 2 Samuel 6 says that King David “leapt and danced before the Lord with all his might” – to the point where his clothes got sweaty and loose. The music they were worshipping to was quite different than the music they’d play in the palace courts. And when his wife Michal saw David worshipping like a “commoner” from afar, she “despised him in her heart.”

Essentially, God was doing a new thing. And God’s people were worshipping him in a way that seemed vulgar and undignified to her. Yet, God was so moved by David’s act of worship that he sent Nathan the prophet to let David know that, “I will make your name great… and raise up offspring to succeed you.” (2 Sam 7:9,12).

Unfortunately, Michal, experienced the opposite fate. Her womb was barren until “the day of her death” (2 Sam 6:23). And when I read this, I couldn’t help but to see a parallel with a lot of modern churches: some are willing to embrace new styles of worship, and thus experience the joy of reaching a never ending flow of new spiritual kids; yet, other churches take on the spirit of Michal. They become elitists. They convince themselves that people are seeking their particular brand of tradition. They unconsciously make certain musical styles sacred. And to keep the peace, many leaders settle on one of two music styles: Organ or “Acoustic Rock.”

I remember when I first read the passage about David dancing before the Lord. It stuck out to me because, I realized, there isn’t a single modern worship style that synchronizes with any modern forms of dance. Don’t get me wrong: artists like Hillsong United and Crowder have come close with punk anthems and folk rock that gets people jumping. Yet the idea of dancing like David “leaping and dancing with all his might” still seemed like an impossibility based on the types of worship that are being promoted.

And I’m not against the music that’s currently being produced; however, I’m definitely trying to say: there is a MASSIVE genre gap in worship music. There is a MASSIVE unnecessary cultural disparity between the church and the world. And it’s not only hindering our ability to worship like David, but it’s alienating the world from God’s church simply because we don’t offer anything that’s remotely similar to the music that inspires them on a daily basis.

So, the million dollar question I want to explore is this: how do we begin incorporating new styles to maintain our relevance? Well, it’s important to realize that context and timing are critical to art. For example, almost all modern forms of music feel weird on a carpeted stage with white lights. And I don’t care if your worship band is amazing at dance music, the 9 am service is still probably not interested in hearing it. So, your leaders may need to have a few discussions about your facilities and service times. But, for most of us, the issue is talent.
“If I had a decent rap artist, I’d throw them up on stage!” one pastor told me. “But anyone else will just cause people to hate it.” And honestly, I empathized with this leader’s vigilance. As a former DJ, I hate it when Christians toss cringe-worthy electronic music into their services – which only causes people to hate EDM – when the problem isn’t the music, it’s the talent!

But allow me to encourage you: most churches have far more youthful talent than they realize. And all you need to do is start creating small platforms in your church for people to express these gifts.

I’ll never forget the day when I had a young intern in my basement recording studio. He had a unique voice so I asked him to come and record a quick voice over for a short documentary film I was making. As he modified my script to fit him, he had a flow and tone quality that I thought was incredible.

“Have you ever written music?” I asked him.
“Not really” he answered. “But I’m definitely interested in learning.” So, I encouraged him to write some raps and sent him home with some music loops to experiment with. Of course, that young intern was a man named Nick Foulks (who rapped on our recent I/O album).

Encouraging him to start was the easy part. The hard part was the first day he asked if he could rap during our worship set. At the time, I was nervous because our church was tragically youthful. We had about 500 people coming. Yet, 80% of our budget came down to 4 Baby Boomer couples. And, the last thing I wanted to do was scare them away with a worship style that was too extreme for them. So I finally told him: “You have to promise me that it’s going to be saturated in the anointing of God!” And, I was probably nervous enough where, I said it like a threat. I was already anticipating mean spirited letters.

But by the time the band finished the set, a 60 year old woman came running up to me saying:
“If that’s rap, then I am a HUGE fan! That was the most anointed prayer I’ve ever heard chanted from a platform.” And from that time forward, our team made it our goal to continue pushing the envelope.

But it still requires that we think through issues like quality, context, and believability. If we do, the Spirit of God can scratch out of a turn-table the same way he does through a synth pad. And who knows: someday, we might just fire up that organ at our downtown Minneapolis campus. After all, I think any style of music that’s done well can inspire people – well, almost any style (the song Cotton-Eyed Joe just came into my head); but, you get my point.

All I’m saying is this: God loves people. And if we do too, we need to be aware of the ways they tend to relate to the world. After all, music is tribal. It can communicate acceptance or rejection – even if we never intended to communicate those things. So, allow your church to be generous with its experimentation – while holding a high bar for authenticity and talent too.

And remember: there will always be a person with the spirit of Michal to cut you down. I once had a pastor rip on me for celebrating DJs like I do. But, God’s opinion is the only one that matters. And it’s extra fun when newly saved people come alive – simply because they can use gifts that normally aren’t celebrated in church. Amen?

—
You can find Substance I.O. on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.

Have you ever had a day from hell? I’ve had a few of them.

There’s the time I got locked out of my running car in the middle of a dangerous neighborhood during a snowstorm. And I had to wait outside with no jacket for six hours.

Then, there was the day I had to fly on an airplane with diarrhea and the flu. And somehow, I fell asleep on the floor of the airplane lavatory with my cheek resting on the toilet seat. And yeah…the flight attendants had to wake me up. I had a big ring on my face.

A more recent tragedy happened when I started taking a new medication for my Rheumatoid Arthritis that has the possible side-effect of causing people to pass out. Of course, it also has the possibility of causing diarrhea on an airplane; but, I’m already accustomed to that.

“It won’t happen to me!”… until it did, only a couple of hours before I had to speak to an arena full of women who were gathering at a convention center. While passing out, I managed to strategically face dive into the bathroom cabinet and broke my nose and caused my front tooth to go all the way through my lip.

Of course, I didn’t have time to go to the E.R. to get stitches; and, I knew that many people had been praying and prepping for this event for over a year. So, how could I cancel? But the swelling was starting to make me look like I had fish lips. And I was more concerned about the uncontrollable drool that dripped out of my mouth. I looked like a toddler who got out of control with mom’s lipstick – neither of which look good when magnified on a jumbo video screen.

You see, at some point or another, all of us are going to ask: “Why me? Why this? Why now?” Our plans will fall apart. And with every head turn, drool is going to fly out in the direction of friends and family. So, what do we do? How do we have a REALLY GOOD bad day? Well, God gives us a hint in Acts chapter 16.

In Acts 16, we read about Paul and Silas getting unjustly thrown in jail. This wasn’t some comfy overnight lock-up. They had been “severely flogged” and beaten with rods. Their backs were bleeding. And they were chained to the wall with shackles in the inner jail – a dungeon spot reserved for the worst of the worst.

Yet, what the Bible says about them is: verse 25 says, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” And against all odds, an earthquake suddenly shook so violently that all the prison doors opened. And not only did they lead their jailer to Christ, but God supernaturally released them the following day.

You see, the same principle plays true for you and me. Quite often, we believe that God loves us; yet, the shackles of our circumstances seem more real. But what can we do in the meantime? We worship. “Praise” is our best solution when stuck between Promise & Power.

As a modern example of this, on our new Substance I/O album, I wrote a song called “Reality like you Do.” It’s a song of praise that I wrote on one of those really bad days.

Of course, no matter what’s happening to you right now, the Bible assures us that, in heaven, everything is amazing. And Jesus taught us to pray: “Let your will be done on earth as it’s done in heaven.” i.e., We should pray that the realities of heaven would invade our earthly reality. And whenever we do, God has a way of turning things around for the good.

So, back to my face-plant: Soon after my wife peeled me off the floor, there I was with a throbbing lip and a nasty headache. I could barely put my glasses onto my broken nose.

And as I looked into the mirror, the thought occurred to me: “I’m pretty sure that no one in heaven feels like this right now.” So I prayed: “God, allow me to experience reality like you do.”
And against all odds, I immediately felt the healing power of God come on me. It almost didn’t make sense. My swollen lip suddenly got super small. And the pain was almost non-existent only an hour after my fall.

When all was said and done, I preached my heart out to those women and went home to rest the next day. And I’m convinced the power of God was all over me.

But, for the sake of total transparency, the next day (after the conference ended), my lip swelled up like a balloon (along with my nose). I turned into a total gorilla. I even ate bananas (because my teeth were all loose). I have no idea why God seemed to give me a “temporary healing.” I have no idea why my lip didn’t swell up until all of my speaking engagements were over. And yet, by that point, it didn’t even matter to me because, I had nothing on my schedule and I was able to binge watch an entire season of my favorite tv show. Even then, God was with me.

But my point is this: No matter what you’re going through right now, God longs to invade your reality with HIS reality. He may not do everything we want in the timeline that we want it; but, at the very least, he can give you a sense of peace and optimism no matter what’s going on.

So, would you take a moment to worship him? Perhaps even listen to the song: “Reality Like You Do” off the album. And meditate on this question: “What does God long to impart to me right now?”

Because one thing is for sure: “[God] is an ever-present help in times of trouble” (Psm 46:1). He’s a God who “daily bears our burdens.” (Psm 68:19).

So, Heavenly Father, be with us today. Our lives may not be perfect, but your peace is here. We receive it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
—
You can find Substance I.O. on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.

With the release of Substance Input/Output’s new video for Surgical Love, I’ve had a lot of people ask me, “What motivated the metaphor?” After all, “surgical” isn’t exactly a popular adjective for God’s love. (And if you haven’t seen it, click here). I actually wrote the song in a season of my life when I was feeling particularly discontent. And perhaps you can relate?

As many of you know, I’m an obsessive song writer. I’ve written a new song almost every week for the last 20 years (which is a lot of songs). For years I longed to be able to publish my music on a grand scale. But, despite my best efforts, nothing was happening. Of course, there are always people to whom success seems to come easily. During that same season, I watched a lot of lame and inexperienced songwriters get huge opportunities – opportunities I was longing for – yet these rookies only logged a small fraction of the time. At times, it almost felt unjust.

So, one particular day, I started whining at God about it. And out of nowhere, God impressed on my heart a rebuke that I’ll never forget. It wasn’t an audible voice. But it went something like this:

“Peter, your skills at songwriting aren’t the issue whatsoever. It’s your character. If I gave you the opportunities you’re pining for, they’d would destroy you in a matter of years. So, focus on the character worthy of these opportunities, and, I will open more doors in a single year than a normal talented person could strive for in a lifetime.”

Whoa there.
Could that really be my problem?

Looking back, my focus was on ALL the wrong things. My prayer life was fixated on ALL the wrong areas.

So, how can you know if you have a similar problem sabotaging your dreams? Simply look at your prayers. If your prayer life is obsessed with circumstantial things – opportunities (or people who you think are restricting your opportunities) – it’s a good chance your heart is out of sync with God.

Don’t misunderstand me: God doesn’t ever want you to EARN his love. Your character matters not because God will love you more but because it gives us the ability to handle more blessings without the temptation of worshipping them.

But here’s the truth: “the sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.” Psm 16:4. When we obsess over circumstantial happiness, it’s often a sign that we are finding our joy in the wrong things. Essentially, it’s idolatry in its most basic form. At the end of the day, “[Your] soul finds rest in God alone.” Psm 62:1. Quite simply: God loves us too much to answer our prayers when we’re not ready for such things.

As I wrote in my newest book, Broken Escalators, “Pray less for Promotion; Pray more for Promotability.” ie. Character is always a bigger issue than resources and opportunities. And that’s why I wrote the song “Surgical Love.” God already knows our dreams and already longs to accelerate them, too. “[God] knows what we need even before we ask” (Mt. 6:8). Like an athlete who needs surgery to get back in the game, God sees the flaws in our lives that will prevent us from reaching our potential. His love is “surgical.”

But how to we sign up for this surgery on our souls? Well, like most surgeries, we need to allow another individual to inflict a necessary pain on us; and we need to allow people to bench us until the proper time, ie. commit our lives to Godly mentors for an inconvenient amount of time.

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of people ask for mentoring but never really listen to me. ie., they got “surgery” but then wanted to go running the next day. When things didn’t turn out, they became bitter and blame-oriented. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I almost offered certain people the opportunity of a lifetime; yet, after seeing their impatience and attitude, I felt compelled to withhold my promotions. Now, I won’t even “do surgery” unless I know they have the faithfulness to truly listen.

You see, we all like to imagine ourselves to be teachable. But as my friend Matt Keller says: “Teachability is the ability to relearn that which we already know.” Or to put it another way, teachability is the ability to go through the counter-intuitive humiliation of submitting to someone else’s coaching and process.

“But I know things!” you exclaim! “And my leaders don’t always see what I see!” Perhaps so. But talent isn’t a rare commodity to God. The world is filled with brilliant and talented people who live in denial of character blind spots and demonic idealism that is constantly undercutting their potential. So, if we really want to put ourselves onto the fast track of God’s Promotion, allow your Godly mentors to over-ride your instincts for a significant period of time.

In fact, I am convinced that much of my success came because I stayed plugged in to a singular church for around 10 years. You see, longevity creates intimacy. And intimacy reveals blind spots. And when mentors confront us, we either run to another person or church (& start the intimacy process all over); or, we trust God to forge us and promote us at the proper time.

“But what if my authorities are wrong?” Well, the Biblical pattern is that God will supernaturally convict them, remove them, and/or supernaturally work it out for our benefit. When God teaches us to honor and submit to mentors, it’s not because those leaders are honorable or smart. It’s because of what honor and submission does in us. And God always pays us back when people hurt us. In the end: “No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt themselves. 7 It is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another” Psalm 75:6. Dishonor, job shopping & church hopping usually only slow things down.

Thus I wrote the lyric, “there is only one plan for me… It’s the one that leads to you. And if it starts with suffering, let it be my joy.”

Surrender to God’s surgical love. Let him speak to you through the painful submission of mentoring. And Promotion will stalk you the rest of your life.

Ps. If you haven’t pre-ordered the I/O album yet, click here to get 3 early bonus tracks (including Surgical Love); and, if you want to come to our album launch concert Oct, 5-7th, click here!

Well over a decade ago, the Lord spoke to me that He was planning on using our church to influence the sound of worship all over the world. So, as a part of our 2020 vision, we endeavored to start by launching a record label as well as our first national worship project. Our assumption has always been, if this project isn’t completely amazing, we’re going to ground the plane and wait until it’s ready. After all, the last thing the global church needs is mediocre Christian art.

So, for the album, we started out by writing well over 100 songs. We did demo recordings for 50 of them. Then we re-recorded the top 16 songs. And this Fall, we’re finally releasing our top 10! I can’t wait for you to hear them! Beyond this, we’re recording a half dozen music videos and launching an entire clothing line. Heck – We’re even printing our own skateboards!

But why? Why would we put this much effort into a single album? Well, quite simply, we believe that God deserves our best. But just as important, we believe that excellent art reveals God to the world. Every night, in every major city, hundreds of thousands of young people file into mega-clubs all over the world – which are the closest equivalent and competitor to the modern mega-church. They manufacture a sub-standard worship experience that rakes in $32 billion/year (in the U.S. alone) and they don’t even have Jesus!

Sadly, churches know so little about these mega-clubs or the music these young people relate to. Even though rap and electronic dance music have been the highest grossing music styles in the world for well over a decade, most churches don’t even have a single worship song in either of these styles. In some ways, the culture gap between the church and the world is wider than it’s ever been. But we’re going to change that!

Over the next couple months, we’re going to be unveiling a ministry called Substance Input-Output (or Substance I/O for short). It’s not merely a band, but a life-style. It’s a metaphor for worship: “We love because [God] first loved us.” 1 Jn 4:19 – “From him, through him, and back to him are all things.” Rom. 11:36

So here’s the scoop: Our national album launches on iTunes, Spotify, and will be available on over 150 music distribution platforms on October 6th! And there’s more:

On October 5th, 6th, and 7th, we are celebrating the launch of Substance Input/Output by putting on a 3 night live worship experience. We are actually going to be filming and recording these live events too.Pre-orders on iTunes will start September 22nd! And if you purchase the album there, you’ll get to download three songs weeks before everyone else!

Let’s receive the “Input” of the Holy Spirit so that our “Output” on a lost and dying world would truly be supernatural.

In the last few years alone, Substance has gotten over 40 of our interns and church leaders into their first full-time ministry positions.  Many of them get nervous about making mistakes; thus, before starting in their new position they often ask me: “What are some of the most common rookie mistakes that new pastors and full-time ministers make?”  But, no matter what your leadership role (as a parent or in the workplace), all of us need to learn from the school of wisdom. So, in this blog series, I’m covering some of the classic leaderships mistakes that people make – no matter what the leadership position.

In part 1 of “Leadership Lessons I Figured Out the Hard Way” – I confessed that I underestimated the Power of Spiritual Warfare.  And if you missed that go back and read it now : ) But as for my second classic mistake, I want to take a myth out of my book Broken Escalators called the “Over-simplification Myth.” And here it is: Its the misguided notion that promotion or new authority will make our lives simpler or happier.

For example:  People are always telling me their “If ONLY’s.”  Perhaps you’ve heard (or said) some of these:  “If only I had more… Opportunities / budget / staff / authority / income / control over my schedule, THEN I’d be happy.”  Or, “If only I had a better… Boss / coworkers / location, THEN I’d be happy.  I.e., We all have a “pressing issue” that feels like a burr in our underwear.  And when you’re on staff at a church or are involved in a team-oriented business, it’s even harder because, we all have to negotiate our individual dreams with “the family.”

Perhaps recently, your upline just changed your job description again, (or, your top volunteer just quit)… Or, your senior pastor just decided to delay your dream ministry to focus everyone on the next “big event” and now you have to divert your energy back to that one irritating task! (Ugh!)  During times like this, inexperienced or idealistic leaders can become a cauldron of toxic emotions that curse the rest of the staff (or, their spouses can : ).  But hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes:

In my new book Broken Escalators, I share the story of how I became a senior pastor. Before I became one, however, I had the privilege of working for two different senior pastors.  As I look back, I was pretty idealistic about them (for better and for worse).  I remember numerous times thinking:  “Ugh!  I wish I could make that decision instead!” Or, “Ugh! Why aren’t they doing this / that!?” (Apparently, I said ‘Ugh’ a lot : )  “If Only I could control THAT budget… or THIS hiring decision I just know I could do it better!”  After all, I saw things that nobody else seemed to see!  Yet, I had very little control over things.  On the other hand, my senior pastor had so much more freedom! …more money! …more authority!  “If Only I had…”

So, fast-forward several years:  The Lord suddenly granted my dreams:  I actually became the Senior Pastor at that church! (This was before Substance).  And I remember the first day sitting behind that huge senior-pastor-like desk.  (At the time, the desk was worth more than my rusted Chevy lumina.)  But finally, I had the opportunity to lead.  I put both hands on the glass top and sat down in the CEO chair.

I was going to show everyone how great church could be!  I was going to change the world!  (The soundtrack to the movie “Gladiator” was playing at this time).

But, over the next couple years, I had a rude awakening.  The chant in my head went from, “Yes We Can!” to “Maybe, Some-time!“…to “Probably Never!”  Because here’s what a figured out: Although I had ten times the budget to manage, I now had ten times the number of people begging me for money! I also had ten times more scrutiny for every decision I made (or didn’t make). I now had ten times more political events that I had to show up for!  My time evaporated faster than ever.  And I now had ten times the number of people who were angry at me for not doing their agenda!  Every day, I could hear the idealistic agendas of the staff barking away through my office walls.

The greatest irony was that:  Once I finally had the authority to do what I wanted, I didn’t even have the time to even enjoy the authority I now possessed!  I had to delegate it all away!  Ironically, I started dreaming of the days when life was simple… back when I was just a youth pastor.  I even started to look at various job opportunities in other churches where I could “promote myself via demotion.” Sure, I didn’t have much of a budget back in those days.  Sure, I had an upline/boss screwing up my schedule / budget / job-description… but, I didn’t have to be the nexus of people’s unrealistic expectations.

So, allow me to cut through the idealism, and give you the truth:  A higher level of promotion will not make your life simpler.  And if you believe this, you will eventually have a rude awakening.  You say to yourself:  “If only I had a situation like that.”  If only I was empowered more.  If only I …blah, blah, blah.  But the Bible shows a different picture of promotion.  Just look at King David in the book of 1 Samuel.  The moment David was anointed King, all hell broke lose in his life.  Which leads to the other part of the myth:  That a higher level of promotion will make your life happier.

However, check out what King David’s son wrote in Ecclesiastes 6 — (and keep in mind: This is coming from one of the wealthiest men on the earth at this time).

Eccl. 6:1-3  “I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men:  God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.”  And he goes onto say, you could have one hundred kids and still not be happy.  Because the point is this:  If we really want happiness we should seek it in God… not in Promotion.  Only God can make us happy (Eccl. 2:26; Psm 62:1).

And if we seek promotion that God doesn’t have for us, we won’t enjoy it anyway; because, only God can help us enjoy it.

So, here’s a simple way to know if you’ve got this circumstantial idolatry hidden in your heart:  What are you praying for?  Do you pray for opportunities more than character?  Do you beg for circumstantial blessings more than prayers of thanksgiving?  Or, here’s an obvious character question:  Do you pray for your leaders?  How often do you ask to take things off of their plates?  If you don’t do these basic things, it’s a sure sign that you don’t even have the character that God can bless in the first place.

So, before you switch jobs, ministry positions or churches, spend some time uprooting the idealism.  Otherwise, those very emotions that drive you forward may be the very things that short-circuit your calling.

“Dear Heavenly Father, help us live a life worthy of the callings we’ve received (Eph. 4:1ff).  Help us only seek the promotions you have for us.  Help us enjoy what we’ve already got to the fullest measure possible.  In Jesus’ name.”

[Excerpted from Broken Escalators]

Go to part 1 of “Leadership Lessons I Figured Out the Hard Way”