During the pandemic, God has been exposing the faulty things we have placed our dependance on. In this conversation Gina Stockton and Zach Neese explore what it looks like to realign our dependance and renew our intimacy with Jesus.
Meet Zach Neese
Gina:
My guest today is Zach Neese. Zach is an author, and has been a worship pastor, and care pastor at Gateway church in Dallas. He’s a mentor and pastor for other pastors and leaders, and just an amazing guy.
So Zach, welcome to Sacred Space. Thanks for being here. We met Sunday after church, it was so nice to meet you, and I really appreciate you taking the time. It’s an honor. We were talking a little bit, and we have a mutual friend sitting in the corner, trying to be real quiet, Loisa! I got a chance to interview her and for her to share her story.
I know that you were a big part of her journey here at Gateway. So thank you for a daughter/sister/friend over there that I still love, and I got to pour into. You were a big part of her healing and her ability to step into the things that God’s placed her in right now. And the authority she’s been given and the anointing she has.
Zach:
She’s easy to love, and she was easy to see in Christ, and she was easy to embrace and engage in family, and so there was no difficulty at all!
Worship Realignment
Gina:
So good. I kind of stalked you a little bit yesterday, because I knew we were going to be talking, and I just Googled and found some podcasts you were on and stuff. So I listened to some things.
You also wrote a book back in 2012, “How to Worship a King”, which is a really incredible book. I want to talk about a couple of things from that. There was a podcast that you were on called “The Worship Leader Problems” podcast. I’m going to dive right in if you don’t mind.
You were a worship pastor here at Gateway church, which is in Texas. It is an enormous church with several campuses. And now you’re a Care Pastor, and not just for the congregation, God opened the door in the last year to really be pouring into Worship Pastors.
You know, a lot of leadership in the last year has been faced with some gnarly things. God has really been exposing dependence that has been in the wrong places. He’s been uncovering our kingdoms that we’ve built, and unearthing idols that have been under our beds, and altars that are in the corner that we decorated to look real cute, but all things we actually know that need to go.
Leaders were really faced with such division in the church and didn’t know how to lead. And so God positioned you to start, really pouring into some of those leaders, and encouraging them, and walking with them, and praying for them, and helping them, and probably… and I’m making assumptions, but I’ve kind of been there too… helping them see the things where maybe their focus got off track, and kind of reposition and reorient and restore who they are, their identity and their call, and the things that God has in front of them.
I think God’s got a lot for you in the next season! There was something you said on the podcast… and if you want to go listen to it, it’s “Worship Leader Problems, episode 122”… but they asked you this question, they said, “What would you say if you were in front of a room of worship staff and tech staff and everything else?”
And you said, “I don’t think we know what we’re doing. I don’t think we understand how it affects God. I don’t think we understand how it affects history. I don’t think we understand how it affects humanity.”
You said, “If the Gospel is God’s love demonstrated to humanity, then worship is the love of humanity demonstrated back to God. When those two things intersect, there’s a potency released that changes the atmosphere of earth to match heaven. If we don’t understand either of those, that potency lays dormant.”
Mic drop. Amen.
Zach:
That’s the kingdom of God. If I have worship without the Gospel, then I have impotent worship. If I have the Gospel without worship, I have an impotent gospel. So, that’s where the church’s realignment is coming.
Zach Neese is a pastor at Gateway Church in Dallas and author of How to Worship a King.
Check the rest of this conversation Used by God, The Beckoning of Christ
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