Joe DayOur Rising Sound

July 29 2008

1 Question Interview: What’s Next? by Joe Day of Mars Hill

Tagged Under : interview, Joe Day, Mars Hill, What's Next?, worship

What’s Next?

Joe Day This one question I am asking various worship leaders and pastors. The context is what’s next in corporate worship but beyond that no guidance has been given for appropriate response. Part 3 of this series is Mars Hill Worship Pastor Joe Day’s response.

Joe Day is husband to Jentry, father to his 9-week-old twin daughters Brynn & Chloe, and is a worship pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA where he leads his band The Northern Conspiracy. By day he’s a designer at CrashShop.com and is known to destroy Otter Pops with astounding regularity. He can be found at:

www.doxologist.org (which is in the blog roll)
www.marshillchurch.org
www.twitter.com/thejode
www.virb.com/tnc

We’re blessed to have Joe respond to this important question and his response is below:

While I can’t really say with any authority what is next on a grand scale I can share what’s next at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.

Making Worshippers

This really is the essence of the gospel as it plays out in people’s lives. The reality is we were made to worship and we never cease worshipping. We worship Jesus or we worship things Jesus created (idolatry). Since we are fallen, it’s quite likely that we will not worship perfectly, rather from time to time, season to season idolatry will creep in.

What’s next? My prayer is simple: that Jesus will will be the sole occupant of the throne of our hearts. For us, idols are not generally statues of gold on a shelf, but idols are anything that occupies a seat of power in the throne room of our affections.

At Mars Hill, our idol has been indie cred and the result has been worship services that feel more like a rock show than a gathering to praise our Lord & savior Jesus Christ. What’s next for us is walking in repentance and recovering the joy of adoring Jesus individually and when gathered as the church in corporate worship.