The following guest blog is by Charles Hill, church planter in Salt Lake City and founder of The Sticks Conference

I have been engaged in “vocational” ministry for over a decade now. I have read the church growth, church health, theology, polity, simple church, mega church, church history and church future books to name a few. But it wasn’t until I held the dying bride that everything changed for me.

God blessed our first plant in the middle of nowhere, cornfield, rural, small-town [2,800 people] Ohio. Our last Easter there, we saw 1,500 people just at our first campus, and we had 2 other regional campuses and 1 in China. Yes, God blessed beyond our wildest dreams despite our stupidity. [By the way, if you are called to the middle of nowhere, you might want to check out this gathering of radicals who are called to the same thing at THE STICKS gatherings.]

God has called us to do that all over again, this time in the fastest-growing state in the country…UTAH [not a typo], through MISSION WEST. There are 24+ cities just in the upper 1/3 of Utah found by leaving the main interstate by only 20 minutes in either direction that we have found without ONE CHURCH in them [non-Mormon of course]. And yes, that is UTAH, USA, not Pakistan or some other out of the way place. And in cities as large as 22,000! I dread doing the rest of the research.

So why not? Let’s roll. We did it once [actually several times through multi-sites] through God’s power, let’s rock it again. We have the experience, we have the tools. Let’s roll this thing. Same thing, new location right? Until I held the dying bride in my arms.

You know all of those alarmist books that calls those of us in America to wake-up, to take notice, to understand that the future of the church is and will look much different, and we need to take notice NOW so we can prepare for it? I had read those, but working in the mid-west and the Bible-belt for a time, where cutting-edge music, graphics, programming, lights, cameras, action is still so new, hip, sheik and still working well to draw people to the Savior? Crap, we had half the town in church that last Easter, but something still felt wrong. Because I didn’t really get it until I held the dying bride in my arms.

January, 2010: I held the dying bride in my arms. On a vision/learning trip to London and surrounding areas, it happened. To my friends working in the UK/Europe, I honor your efforts [and many of you are KILLING it in Jesus name, and I salute you!] In just 1 generation, everything has changed in the UK you told me. 1 generation. And for those in the bible-belt, it’s happening here in the USA just as fast. You, like me just haven’t experienced it yet.

I now not only have read about it, spoken about it, theorized about it, but I have held it. And as a church planting coach, consultant, speaker, and planter myself…everything has to change, and it has to change not just to be trendy, not just to be hip, and not just to use “missional living” as the next big “program”.

Everything. You are like, no kidding Charles, how is this innovative? Where have you been? Awfully late to the party aren’t you? This is old stuff.

Oh, no, trust me…I’m not late. I travel the country right now a ton, and people might say they are living this out, but they are still stuck in one of several “forms” of ministry that are leading us to record decrease in the US, not an increase. [And many are still stuck in the good old days of yester-year, but that's a totally different story.]

We are 1 generation from being a very post-Christian nation such as they are in the UK and Europe. Matter of fact, we are easily on our way as I type this. But many of you, like me, have refused to change everything. Not just tinker with a few things here and there. But radically overhaul everything. But that might cost you some givers, some momentum, might even cost you your job. You might not even know where to start. But you, like me, know something is wrong with this picture, no matter how “small or large” your church is.

This week I will be sharing my thoughts on how, why and what we must change immediately now that I have held the dying bride in my arms. I believe we can turn this ship around in the name of Jesus!

You can find me this week over HERE and help carry out the discussion. I would love to learn with and from you. [Thanks Greg, innovation guru, and the best late-night movie date ever, for hosting me as a guest. You are a noble and honorable man of God].

The other day I was commenting on how I had been listening to Tim Hughes’ song “Everything” over and over. It’s been stuck in my head and my heart ever since visiting North Point about a month ago and hearing them do it. My friend, Kye S. Chung messaged me on Twitter and told me to check out this video by Justin Pae. Check it out.

Everything from justin pae on Vimeo.

If you haven’t noticed, my blog posts have either been brief or copies of someone else’s. This month (March), I’ve committed to write at least one chapter a day for my new book on innovation. I’m putting all my effort, energy and brain cells into that. Honestly, I don’t have a lot left over.

After I write this book, I’ll be back to blogging like  normal, but in the meantime, if you know of a good blog post that you think is worth me reposting or you’d like to do a guest blog, just let me know and I’ll take it under consideration. It could work out to be a win-win for us. It will free me up to write and expose my readers to a new voice. So if you’d like to contribute something, comment here or email me at greg@gregatkinson.com.

Thanks for your continued prayers for me as I write daily. Pray that God would inspire me and give me great insight to the subject of innovation. Thanks!

I met with a church leader yesterday and we were discussing ideas for this year’s Easter service at his church. I’m curious about you and your church. Please share what you guys are working on for Easter.

As I watched the Super Bowl I couldn’t help but be struck by the boldness and guts it took to do the onside kick at the beginning of the second half. I applauded New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton for having the idea and nerve to go for it. For me, I think that recovery of the onside kick changed the rest of the game – there was a momentum shift and the Colts never recovered.

As you know, I’ve been traveling the country for the last 2 years speaking on the subject of innovation. I’ve taught on innovation at several conferences, schools and to regional meetings of Church leaders around the country. After the past 2 years of studying, reading and forming my thoughts on innovation, I’ve come to realize that innovation and risk go hand in hand.

A lot of churches want to be “innovative”, but don’t have the guts or faith to take strategic risks. Hear me Church leaders: sometimes you must be willing to risk it all – that means your organization’s culture has to have a freedom to fail. Successful and innovative organizations and businesses actually reward failure because they realize it’s necessary for breakthroughs in innovation.

I’m working on a book on innovation in which I’ll go into much more detail, but for today I encourage you to chew on this notion of risk and being willing to fail – it just might lead to something amazing in your ministry.

Let me know: When was the last time your church took a risk?

Today’s example of great musicianship is brought in part because of one of the comments made by Trae earlier in the week. I absolutely love this song and love using it in worship, but it had slipped my mind. Trae brought it back to my attention.

This will close this week out. This is Lifehouse singing/playing “Everything” live in Amsterdam. Please notice how long the song takes to build. The band doesn’t come in strong until 4 minutes in!

As Trae said, one of my friends and favorite worship leaders, Michael Bleecker of the The Village Church (where Matt Chandler is Lead Pastor) does this song the best of anyone I’ve heard lead it. I used to play this song with a band I was in every Tuesday night that led worship for 20 somethings/singles and college age. I would often request that we play this or just start playing the intro and let the band jump in with me. Enjoy!

Not sure how this translates to worship? Watch this video of a drama performed to Lifehouse’s “Everything”. I’ve blogged about this before. I can not watch this without crying every time – it’s amazing.

The first time I realized the power of withholding the drums until just the right moment was in Phil Collins’ genius song “In The Air Tonight”. That’s when I “got it”. The following is a video of him playing this live in his Farewell Tour (I have this DVD – because Phil Collins is a musical hero to me). You know you love it! Is there anything cooler than when the drums kick in?

I hope the point is getting across. Let music build. Let it grow. Let it breathe. Leave space. Know when NOT to play. The musicians and bands that I’ve featured the last few days get it – it’s time the Church got it. I know some of you get this – but unfortunately, the majority of the Church (big “C”) doesn’t.

Do you have any other great examples? And yes, I know Mercy Me opened their Live DVD concert with their arrangement of “In the Air Tonight”. I loved it. You can watch that HERE.

Yesterday I expressed my personal opinions about music, dynamics and letting a song build. I said that the quickest way to spot an amateur player is to see him playing the whole song. A real musician knows when to not play.

One of my favorite bands is Coldplay. Today I thought I’d show you Coldplay playing “Fix You” (one of my favorite songs) Live from Tokyo. In this video, notice the bass comes in at 0:51, the guitar comes in very lightly at around 1:20 and drums come in with a driving electric guitar at about 2:44 (like yesterday almost 3 minutes into the song!) . You’ll notice the drummer often has his arms crossed or his hands in his lap – again a sign of  a pro. Like yesterday, both bands also know when to drop out at the end. Enjoy!

I can’t embed it, but also check out the same song (“Fix You”) Live from Austin City Limits HERE.

Continuing with the theme of worship music (yes, I’m focusing on worship leaders for a bit), I’d like to talk about one of the most beautiful parts of music: dynamics. Dynamics are the ebb and flow/highs and lows of music.

As you know, I travel quite a bit and visit/work with a lot of churches. One of the most common problems with church praise bands (and also easiest to fix) is this issue of dynamics. Most church praise bands play too much. They play all the time (from beginning to end) – which is another way of saying they’re too busy – and they don’t let the music build. Like I said yesterday, music needs space – it needs to breathe.

If you’re  a worship pastor that leads a band and you let your musicians play 100% all the time, you’re dropping the ball (you know I like to shoot straight). I mentioned that when I visit churches I often look for a laptop on stage. But one of the first things I look for is who is not playing. The difference between an amateur musician and a professional is knowing when not to play. It’s the whole “less is more” thing that I always preach.

Maybe this is something that your church band struggles with. Maybe you have a pianist that used to be “the band” and is used to playing the full 100% of the music. Now that a guitar, bass and drums are added in, she doesn’t know that her role must decrease and she must adjust the amount of action or busyness that she plays with in order to allow the other instruments to equal to 100%. This is what I call the 100% rule. You only have 100% to divide up – any one player can’t play like the 100% is up to him/her.

Let’s get practical: Often to make a point, I will go to the extreme. I used to do this with my camera operators and video directors all the time. When working with church bands, I will often ask players to “sit out” or restrain from playing for a LONG period of time – in order to get the point across.

One of the best songs I’ve used to teach this to countless people is “My Immortal” by Evanescence. I want you to watch this video twice. The first time just enjoy it and be moved by the song. The second time, look at it more technically.

As you’ll notice, the high-hat comes in at about 2:43 and the full band kicks in (hard) at about 3:07. If you missed that, the band doesn’t come in until 3 minutes into the song. This is a song and video that you can download from iTunes and play for your church band in order to drive this point home. The song is moving and powerful because of how long the rest of the band waits to come in. The song would be ruined if the band was playing the entire time (which again, is what happens with most church bands).

Take this lesson seriously. Learn and grow from it. Go to extremes with your band if you have to. Let the music build. Your congregation will thank you.

Last week I posted about Owl City’s – Meteor Shower song possibly being the future of worship music. I could tell from many of the comments that some didn’t quite get why I thought he (Adam Young) may be on to something in the realm of worship music.

Yes, I love seeing laptops on stage and I love using loops in worship, but that’s just scratching the surface. What makes that song special is the space that he leaves in it – the room to breathe and reflect. There are plenty of moments when he’s not singing anything. THAT I think may be a glimpse of the future. Actually, it takes us back to Biblical (Selah) times of worship. Funny how things come back around isn’t it?

This week I’ll be writing primarily to worship leaders. If you’re a techie or pastor, please forward my blog on to your worship leader. I hope you’ll read it as well, as we all can stand to learn something new, but please make sure whoever leads worship at your church reads my blog this week. Thanks!