This past week, our class ventured into the land of the sacramental leader, and joined with our friends doing internships with Kathryn Scott in Port Stewart, Northern Ireland.

It was a great video connection, and I drew most of the teaching from an elaboration on Peter Fitch’s beautiful article, Inner Living, Outer Giving: Spiritual Habits For The Worship Leader.

Our class had rich, further dialogue then on N.T. Wright’s, For All God’s Worth.

Here, our students will respond to the ideas in The Sacramental Leader teaching. Friends in Porstewart, N.I., and beyond… join in.

This past week, our FY100 students engaged with ideas in creational theology.

Students fell passionately on two sides of the issues of caring for aesthetics in worship, including quality visual art in our connecting with God, the importance or non-importance of buildings, and the concept of seeing the physical world as good rather than inherently evil or passing away.

Should a building or a worship environment be beautiful? Who does it serve if it is? Why is this important, or unimportant biblically?

This week our students respond in 250 words or so, how they interacted with the ideas presented. Use the Scriptures to back up your reflection.

If you’re not in the class, feel free to interact with our students.

This morning our Institute students (and others at SSU in our FY100) course presented their creative expressions of the early Genesis narrative and their reflections on the origins of worship.

Physical theatre, DVDs, unicycles, dance, songwriting, photojournalism, handmade books, stories for adults and children, and many other beautiful expressions of worship - all centering around the themes of Genesis, were presented.

What a stunning morning of worship, and what joy to see these guys “getting” the idea that a human being is optimally designed to glorify God.

What a privilege to teach this group of powerhouses.

This week, our FY100 students engaged with the What Is Worship? DVD, and the Leading Worship DVD.

This week our students respond in 250 words or so, how they interacted with the ideas presented, and amplifying our session the week before.

If you’re not in the class, feel free to interact with our students.

Today, our FY100 students engaged with Kathryn Scott via video chat (iChat), as she and her 6 interns met with us and our 15 students. We shared in small group sessions, and as usual, Kathryn led us in a rich time of soul searching as lead worshipers.

Her topic was The Motivation Of The Worship Leader, and we opened up our souls to examining the motives the lead us as we care, lead, create, serve and challenge others. It was a wonderful session, and Kathryn’s humility and wisdom shines through into the hearts of students on both sides of the Atlantic.

As well, we looked into the basic foundations of Christian worship, tapping into the creative impulse of God in Genesis 1, resulting not only in the created order, but also in the flower of creation - humankind.

This week our students respond in 250 words or so, how they interacted with the ideas presented today, and the experience of shared learning with our Northern Irish friends.

If you’re not in the class, feel free to interact with our students.