Monday Musings from a mind numbed Minister

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2009-08-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

Consider this a personal invitation from me to you to be a part of the first CHRISTMAS PARTY of the year here at High Pointe. The Worship Ministry will Kick Off the 2009 Christmas Season on Wednesday August 26th at 7:00 PM and I want you to be a part of it. We will hear this years Christmas musical FEAR NOT, give away a few gifts and enjoy a great time of Food, Fun and Fellowship. CHRISTMAS AT HIGH POINTE is a major outreach event for us and I hope you will consider being a part of it. From our first rehearsal in August to our performance in December our prayer is that God would impact us through the truth of the Gospel presented in the music, and in turn we might be used to impact the lives of others.

So, here is the offer. Come Wednesday August 26th at 7:00 PM enjoy the music and the party and then see if this sounds like something God would have you invest your time in. Whether your interest lean toward CHOIR, INSTRUMENTAL (band/orchestra) or TECH (sound/lighting/video) this KICK OFF/ PARTY is for you. Child care will be provided, and a good time will be had by all. If you have any questions I would love to hear from you. You can drop me a note at robert@hpbcglobal.org, or give me a call here at the office at 837-7725. It is a joy and an honor to serve with you here at High Pointe. MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours!

I am and continue to be…
POSITIVELY HIS!
Robert Baldwin
Worship Pastor
High Pointe Baptist Church

FEAR NOT:Encountering The Christ Of Christmas
Words and Music: Randy Vader / Jay Rouse

The wise men offered their precious gifts and they worshipped. And so it has been for two thousand years. People of wisdom still seek Him, still experience that exceeding great joy, still bring Him their offerings. The celebration of the birth of Christ has taken on many traditions since that evening in Bethlehem. Ritual has once again threatened to overshadow reality. The excitement as Christmas approaches is sometimes equal to the letdown as the season passes. Christmas is not about all of the things we bring to the celebration. Christmas is about what He brings. Christmas is about a God in Heaven who loved us enough to send His Son to die for us. Christmas is about deliverance from fear. Christmas is about returning to the heart of worship--Christmas is about offering my heart--Christmas is about Jesus. Fear not: for behold, we bring you good tidings of great joy.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES...

2009-04-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

My Grandmother was an avid Soap Opera viewer. I remember her saying many times I just can't miss my shows. One of her shows was called THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES. I don't remember much about that Soap, but I do remember the announcer at the beginning saying AS SAND THROUGH THE HOUR GLASS, SUCH ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES. That phrase did not have much meaning to me as a boy, but as a I approach my ten year anniversary here at High Pointe and almost thirty two years in ministry the sand seems to be passing through the hour glass just a little faster.

When I arrived on the scene here in Austin 9/11 was just another day on the calendar, Starbucks was was not on the way to anywhere and the building I am sitting in now was just a dream talked about in the office of a double wide trailer. My years of service here at High Pointe have been filled with some of my greatest joys and sorrows. Many of you have been here all along this journey and others have joined us along the way and God has used you to encourage, pray for and sustain me and my family. To all of you we say thank you and God bless you! You will never know the difference you made in our lives as struggled to stay focused on what we believed God has called us to do.

I know I am a blessed man! I have an awesome family that loves me, a Worship Ministry Team that allows me to serve along side some of the most gifted and talented folks in the Kingdom and Leadership that trusts me and gives me freedom to follow God's call on my life. It does not get much better than that.

I do not know how much sand is left in my hour glass, but I pray that all THE DAYS OF MY LIFE might be filled with opportunities to WORSHIP our great God. Will you join me? The Father is seeking Worshipers, I want to be one. How about you?

I am and continue to be...
Positively His!
Robert

HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

2009-04-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

As these words still echo in my ears this Monday after RESURRECTION SUNDAY I pray that the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ might impact us as much today and tomorrow as it did yesterday. May Easter and the resurrection be more than an event for us, may we truly experience the Risen Christ and may that experience change the way we think and live.

"May God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit
make us one. In holiness let us unite that we may
Know The Risen Christ." (Keith Getty)

I look forward to joining with you again next Sunday as we continue to celebrate the Resurrection as an experience and not just an event.

Positively His!
Robert

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

2009-04-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

To God alone be the glory! What an awesome time of Worship we had last night as we celebrated THE RISEN CHRIST. It was a joy and an honor to work with the Worship, Drama and Tech teams here at High Pointe. I am blessed to be a part of what God is doing here and I look forward to what He has for us in the future.

This Sunday is RESURECTION SUNDAY, so I invite you to come Worship with us as we once again celebrate The Risen Christ!

Have a blessed week...I am and continue to be...
Positively His!
Robert

GREAT OPPORTUNITY/GREAT RESPOSIBILITY

2009-03-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

If you have worked with me for very long you know I do not seek to motivate people through guilt or intimidation. You’re commitment is not to me, I simply seek to offer opportunities for folks to serve the Lord and His church through the gifts He has given them. As a Worship team the opportunities we have come with great responsibility. We are called to stand before God and His people and offer them a pathway into His presence. As a leader of leaders it is my job to remind us all that the responsibility we have as Worship Leaders must not be taken lightly. Let us continue, as the writer of HEBREWS said, to CONSIDER HOW WE MAY SPUR ONE ANOTHER ON TOWARD LOVE AND GOOD DEEDS. I commit to you that I will continue to seek to prepare myself and to prepare you to be the kind of WORSHIPERS and WORSHIP LEADERS that the Father is seeking. I ask that you pray for me, that I would be a better Pastor and leader. pray for those you serve with on the Worship team. God has given us a unique opportunity to serve closely with some great brothers and sisters, to borrow from Hebrews again LET US ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER-AND ALL THE MORE AS WE SEE THE DAY APPROACHING. I appreciate your service and I am honored and humbled to serve with you.

I am and continue to be...
Positively His!
Robert

More Musings...

2008-06-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it has been a while since my last post. I now know I have at least one loyal reader because my youngest daughter reminded me last night that I am behind on my Monday Musings. Thank you Jamie for noticing.

It is not that I have not been musing, I just have not been musing into my Lap Top. If you are aware of my typing skills you know my dilemma. If I had only taken that Typing Class in High School, but like I tell my kids, "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, what a Merry Christmas we would all have."

Legacy, have you thought much about yours? I must confess that the older I get the more I think about how I want to be remembered. The words to Steve Fry's song LET IT BE SAID OF US really spoke to me as I prepared for Worship last week...

"Let it be said of us that the Lord was our Passion,
that with gladness we bore every cross we were given;
That we fought the good fight, that we finished the
course, knowing within us the power of the risen Lord!
Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song! By
mercy made holy, by the Spirit made strong! Let the
cross be our glory and the Lord be our song 'til the
likeness of Jesus be through us made known. Let the
cross be our glory and the Lord be our song!"

May it be so!
Until next time...
Positively His!
Robert

Musings On Musing!

2008-06-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who found it hard to believe that I was entering the "Blogosphere". He knows that I am a rather private person and he could not believe that I would open myself up for comments and scrutiny. He does have a point it is new territory for me, but at this point in my life and ministry my desire to continue to push the envelope is overriding my desire for privacy.

As Pres. George W. Bush said when he was asked about his youthful past "When I was young and foolish I was often young and foolish". When I was a young Worship Leader, AKA, a Song Leader, Music Director, or other even less flattering titles, the mistakes I made were usually mistakes of inexperience or lack of wisdom. I had a lot of passion back then and I hope I still do, but not much accountability.

After 30 years in Ministry and heading into what I optimistically view as the 2nd half, my desire is to finish strong! Growing up in Houston I was an avid Oilers fan. I was at the greatest game in NFL history when Earl Campbell ran for over 200 yards, the Oilers beat the Dolphins and LOVE YA BLUE was born. But, I also remember the playoff game when the Buffalo Bills made one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history and beat the Oilers in the 2nd half because they played it safe and did not finish Strong.

I thank God for what He has brought me through, but I also look forward to what He has for me in the future. My intention is, as Paul told the Church in Corinth, to run the race "IN SUCH A WAY AS TO GET THE PRIZE"! I thank you in advance for your COMMENTS AND SCRUTINY. I believe they will push me to finish strong! See you Sunday as we continue to RUN THE RACE TOGETHER!

I am and continue to be...
Positively His!
Robert

THE RISEN CHRIST

2008-05-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a great evening of Worship we experienced last night as we as we celebrated The Risen Christ. Many hours of preparation went in to our time together last night and I am grateful to all of you who sacrificed in so many different ways.

Worship Choir, once again it is an honor to serve with you here at High Pointe. I am proud of you and what God is accomplishing through you. Tech team your tireless efforts to produce more than should be possible is greatly appreciated. Drama team, thanks for your time and talents invested into this work. It was a joy to hear you speak THE WORD.

I pray that God would give us all opportunities to rest and reflect this week. I look forward to what God has in store for us as we gather together again this Lord's Day... IN HOLINESS LET US UNITE THAT WE MAY KNOW THE RISEN CHRIST!

Positively His!
Robert

2008-05-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

Nine Years!

2008-05-05T11:35:00.000-07:00

Nine years ago yesterday God moved me and my family to High Pointe Baptist Church. Our first Sunday here was filled with much hope and great expectation. Never before in my then twenty two years of ministry had I experienced a church with such diversity and potential. I was honored then as I am now to be a part of what God was and is doing at High Pointe. The road we have traveled these past nine years has not been without its share of speed bumps and detours, but through it all God has sustained us and provided for our every need. Many of you have journeyed with us from that very first day, many more have joined us along the way. To all of you I want to say thank you! Your prayers, support and encouragement along the way have meant more than you will ever know.

As we begin year ten together I can honestly say that I am as excited and hopeful about the future at High Pointe as I have ever been. God is doing something special here and I am blessed to be a part of it. Jeremiah 29:11 says,
"I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper
you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
I look forward to facing the future with the hope that God will continue to give us the grace to serve Him here together at High Pointe. From me and mine to you and yours may God continue to bless and keep you!

As always I am...
Positively His!
Robert

HAPPY MONDAY!

2008-04-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday to all of you! Just a few thoughts this Monday from a Mind Numbed Minister. I was reminded again this weekend of what an awesome responsibility we have as Worship Leaders. One of our main priorities as Lead Worshipers is to call God's people to Worship. David's invitation in Psalm 34:3 was "Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together!" Bob Kauflin in WORSHIP MATTERS said, "I want help people remember that God is bigger than their problems and joys, greater than their sorrows and successes, more significant than their tests and triumphs." As we moved from a funeral on Saturday to Worship on Sunday God continued to remind me that as we call people to Worship and Exalt Him, not everyone starts from the same place. Every week we stand before people who are pumped and ready to experience God, all they need is a down beat and their off. But in the same crowd we find those who have just experienced great loss, or a bad diagnosis from a doctor, troubled children or even something as mundane as a flat tire on the way to church. Our mission is to meet all of those people where they are and remind them of how great our God is. It seems that we have become so intent on making God personal that we have undervalued His greatness. J.I. Packer said it this way:"vast stress is laid on the thought that God is personal, but this truth is so stated as to leave the impression that God is a person of the same sort as we are-But God is not so limited. He is eternal, infinite, and almighty. He has us in His hands: we never have Him in ours. Like us He is personal: but unlike us, He is great."

As I stated at the beginning, our responsibility is awesome, but so is our privilege. What an honor it is to stand before God and His people and remind all of us that our God is an AWESOME GOD! We may change, but He does not. "Age to age He stands and time is in His hands, beginning and the end" Have a great week! I am and continue to be...
Positively His!
Robert

State of the Heart

2008-04-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Worship Leader,

As we begin a new week I want to share some Monday Musings from a Mind numbed Minister. Even on a good Sunday, when my mind and body are both in the same time zone, Mondays are more often than not recovery days. Some Pastors I know have made the case that Jesus will come again on a Monday because the Bible says that He will come on “ A day when you think not”.

As most, if not all of you, could tell yesterday was not a great day for me. But Praise God I made it through without falling down or falling out. I write to you today not to confess how feeble I am but to testify of how faithful God is! I stumbled home last night with a new book Juan passed along to me called WORSHIP MATTERS by Bob Kauflin. I was reminded once again of how blessed I am and we are to be involved in a ministry of such eternal significance. Worship matters to God and so to be the kind of Lead Worshipers that the Father is seeking it must matter to us as well.

Worship must be more about the state of the heart than the state of the art. The great hymn-writer Issac Watts once wrote:
“The Great God values not the service of men, if the heart be not in it: The Lord sees and judges the heart;
He has no regard to outward forms of Worship, if there be no inward adoration, if no devout affection be
employed therein. It is therefore a matter of infinite importance, to have the whole heart engaged
steadfastly for God.”

Kauflin asks the question: is WORSHIP “ a matter of infinite importance to you? Unquestionably it is to God. And when it becomes a matter of infinite importance to us, we’re beginning to grasp the heart of leading Worship.”

This is the first installment of Monday Musings. Stay tuned for more…

Positively His!

Robert