Rev. Dr. Sam Hamstra Jr. is an adjunct faculty member for Visible Music Colege (Memphis, Tenessee) and Western Theological Seminary (Holland, Michigan). Prior to this, he served thirteen years as an affiliate professor of church history and worship at Northern Baptist Seminary (Lisle, Ilinois). In addition, he has been a full-time pastor search consultant since 2012 as the founder and president of ChapterNext, a pastoral search firm. Since 2021, he has been an executive search consultant with the Rukes Group. He was prepared for this work by nearly forty years of service to the local church. He has served five unique congregations and one Christian college. He is also author of several books, including most recently Practicing the Monastic Disciplines (2021).
Last Updated: September 11, 2025
When we gather each week, we participate through thick and thin practices. We benefit from both and both play important parts in the liturgy. But given a choice between the two, choose thick.
As Christ-followers, we worship the Lord through thick and thin. We worship the Lord in good times and bad, with plenty and with little, after victory and after defeat, during storms and while basking in the sun.
While few of us spend much time in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, when we do we discover an exciting truth: our God loves to party. In fact, he prescribed three seasonal festivals of worship and remembrance for his people.
Here is yet another book on worship, but one that stays clear of the “contemporary versus traditional” debate. In Gathered Before God, Jane Rogers Vann encourages church renewal, not through programs but through worship. She then offers an educator’s perspective on how liturgy might accomplish that goal.
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