Likewise, if our older kids throw a fit for a few hours to get something we don’t want them to have,  and we eventually give in, then they have learned the length of time they need to throw a fit in order to get what they want.

Well, that’s what I see is happening with Ohio State and ESPN & Sports Illustrated. Those two have now learned that to get a Head Coach fired, all they have to do is throw a fit for 4 or 5 months. If they drag someone through the mud long enough, they will eventually get him/her fired.

Am I saying that ESPN is biased against Ohio State. Yes.

Just look at the amount of brow beating that former coach Pete Carrol of USC received for the mistakes that were made while he was head coach. They pale in comparison, by enormous amounts. But ESPN always loved Pete Carrol, I know because it drove me nuts. He had created a dynasty at USC, just as Tressel did at Ohio State. You would think that ESPN would just trample Pete Carrol in the same way they are trampling Tressel and Ohio State, but they didn’t.

You’d think, but they didn’t. They didn’t even trample Reggie Bush in the same way they have trampled Terrel Pryor.

This might be a good place to stop and clarify, they made mistakes. Pryor made mistakes, as did the other players. Tressel made a mistake by not turning them in immediately. But seriously, how does getting some tattoos for signed memorabilia compare to getting cars and what not?

Or what about what’s his name from Auburn. I didn’t ever hear that his case was overturned. I heard that the NCAA concluded that he hadn’t personally received the money, but that doesn’t mean his dad didn’t. And sure they talked about that for a while, but not nearly in the same amount as they have talked about Tressel, Pryor and Ohio State.  And receiving thousands of dollars is worse than receiving tattoos.

Of course today, there are new accusations that Pryor was getting checks for signed stuff. And I’m sure they will find the evidence they are looking for. I have no doubt of it.

The big sports news people want Ohio State to be destroyed, and now that they’ve made progress, they aren’t going to stop. Like the quote from Air Force One: “Give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to want a glass of milk.”

Ohio State made a huge mistake in letting Tressel go, because now ESPN, Sports Illustrated & Yahoo are going to want their glass of milk too. And if Ohio State doesn’t give it, they’re going to put pressure on the NCAA to get it for them.

College sports programs should never give in to the demands of the media, because they will always ask for a cookie.

Who’s next? Well, it won’t take long before it’s your team.

I could easily propose we flip the coin. Let’s put the writers, researchers and announcers under the same scrutiny they have put Tressel and others through. Ethically speaking. Would it do any good? Of course not. The standards aren’t the same. We hold coaches (especially ones with Christian morals) to standards that are far superior than the standards we hold for the people who call them on the carpet. Do you suppose someone as ESPN has ever taken money inappropriately to write an article that isn’t true? Hmmm.

Instead, I proposed this, get out of the way. Report the news, don’t make the news. If your ratings are slipping in the off-season, don’t create news where there is no news. Just because you’ve created a need for year round news in a sport that isn’t played year round, doesn’t mean you have the right to make news where there was none. Just as we get frustrated with referees who make bad calls and don’t seem to let our teams just play, ESPN and the others should do the same thing. Stay out of the way. Report the news don’t make it.

This is and issue that I’m sure many of us deal with. We would love to hear how you deal with the perfectionism problem. If you have some advice on this subject, or you would like to respond to the advice that we give in this podcast, feel free to comment on this post. You can also join in the conversation by joining our network, or fill out the contact form, or sending us an email. david@worshipministrycatalyst.com or kevin@worshipministrycatalyst.com.

We truly appreciate your faithful listening. We hope that you find these podcast both entertaining and informative in helping you take the worship ministry you are involved in down a path of excellence. God bless you in your week of preparing for the weekend.

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If you’re interested, follow this link to our group. If you don’t already have an account at good reads, you will probably have to register for one, but they’re free, so there’s no downfall to that. Plus, it’s a cool way to keep tabs on what books you read, if a book you want to read is getting good reviews and a “to read” book list.

I hope you’ll think about joining and that I’ll be talking to you over there soon.

We realize that leadership is a huge topic, and is something that we all have a lot to learn about. We also realize it’s probably the most important topic for all of us. Whether we’re in a leadership role as a staff person, a worship leader or even for those who aren’t in a leadership role, leadership is still very important.

If you have some thoughts on vision and leadership, please feel free to leave your comments on this post, or to send us an email through the contact form.

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In some ways, leaders live their lives backward. They see pictures in their minds eye of what the results will look like even before they’ve started their project, much as an architect draws a blueprint or an engineer builds a model. Their clear image of the future pulls them forward. Yet visions seen only by leaders are insufficient to create an organized movement or a significant change in a company. A person with no constituents is not a leader, and people will not follow until they accept a vision as their own. Leaders cannot command committment, only inspire it.

This quote really strikes a chord with me right now, as one of the biggest thoughts on my mind is ownership/committment. I realize I am not fully responsible for the actions of others, but it is my responsibility to inspire and lead people into a place of committment.

This weekend was youth weekend. We would have liked to have done more that centered around the youth and get the youth

• Indescribable
• Unchanging
• Welcome & Intro to youth weekend
• Parent prayed for youth
• My Savior, My God
• Jesus Paid It All
• Youth Worker prayed for youth
• Sermon by Youth Pastor
• Closing prayer by Senior Pastor
• Enough

It was pretty good. I’ve been sick, so I had to let the other vocalists to most of the leading. I sang where I could but didn’t want to wreck my voice. She does a pretty good job. She’s one of our leaders who does more than just sing when she’s leading, she’ll prompt the congregation too – which is a big part of worship leading.

I’ve been forming bands for the last few months, and next week we start into a rotation of those bands, so hopefully starting next week we’ll be building some ownership and be raising the quality of what we do on a weekly basis around here.

Here was our Set:

• All The Earth Will Sing Your Praises
• God is Great
• Welcome
• Trading My Sorrows
• Blessed be Your Name
• Message
• Heart of Worship

We did some old songs and some newer songs. The first two songs are still somewhat new to the congregation (even though they’re not new). It was a good weekend. Last night seemed to lack energy, but this morning did not. It felt as though people were really engaging and choosing to worship.

I do have to say though that I’m looking forward to next weekend when we’ll have a full band. It should be really good!

For more Worship Service Reviews Click Here!

We did:

• Rest in Your Peace (my song)
• Portland City Fest Promo
• How Great is Our God
• Holy is the Lord
• VBS Highlights
• Sermon
• Everlasting God

Bill was talking about rest and did a tremendous job talking about how we need to rest like a three year old rests with their mother. It was a great image to get people thinking about rest. Myself having a 2 year old knew exactly what he was talking about.

We only did three songs as a band, and once again, I had another vocalist lead one of the songs. This weekend it was great to be able to do that. It allowed me to focus a little more on working with our new drummer and making sure he & I were on the same page. It also helped for me to be able to fill out our sound a little bit as we only had drums, acoustic & keys.

This weekend had the potential to go really bad, and it went really well!

For more reviews see Sunday Setlists.