“Worship is all of Life”

Did you ever notice that while this correct teaching has become more commonplace in the church, very few people actually explain what it means? When I was in college I heard this phrase a lot. Unfortunately, it was usually being used as an excuse to not go to church or to avoid gathering with people to sing and proclaim God’s praises. They would say things like, “I can worship God while playing (or watching) basketball.” My response was, “Yes, you can. But do you?” Even still, I struggled with what “worship is all of life” actually means and how it relates to the gathering of the church.

In this book, Mr. Noland effectively shows us how we can consciously and obediently worship God every day of every week and how that can affect our Sunday gatherings. He gives practical suggestions to enliven your personal times of worship, to help you use your gifts and abilities to the glory of God, and to reorient your life to make all of your life one of worship.

It’s about the Heart

We have articles, blogs and books galore about the practicalities of leading worship. Those are helpful in their place, but they are fleeting and meaningless if our hearts aren’t right. I’ve read The Heart of the Artist four times and it still pokes me in the eye every time. Likewise, there were definitely moments of Spirit-filled conviction in the reading of this book.

Telling a Story

If you read The Heart of the Artist, you would remember that each chapter began with an anecdote regarding the content to come. The Worshiping Artist continues this thought-provoking tradition. Noland knows what worship leaders and team members go through every week, and you will most certainly find a memory of your own reflected in most, if not all of these stories. Better yet, he includes questions that help you think through how to overcome the challenges that face worship teams each Sunday. I have been using just these case studies with my team to get them thinking about what it is that we do on stage and behind the scenes, and they have been tremendously helpful tools.

Putting our Task in Context

It is often pointed out that the term “worship leader” or anything like it is not found in the Bible. Is this just something we made up? Is it a legitimate job? Mr. Noland points to three key precedents, both biblical and historical to whom we can look for spiritual guidance. He draws God-honoring principles from the lives and ministries of Asaph, the Levitical musicians, and the iconographers. While I think the last one is slightly a stretch due to the Roman Catholic theological under-girding of the iconographers’ code of conduct, Noland skillfully draws out biblically sound elements we can learn from them.

So if you have the time, give it a read. It is well worth it…

As we think about, plan for, and lead our meetings, let’s never lose sight of the fact that gathering as the church is one of the most significant events on earth. More dramatic than any movie, more exciting than any sporting event, and more life-changing than any political rally. We are the people of God, met together in his presence, joining with innumerable saints and angels in heaven, proclaiming the greatness of the Lamb who was slain, edifying each other through the use of spiritual gifts, and being transformed into his image as we feed on his Word and behold his glory (1 Pet. 2:9-10; Mt. 18:20; Heb. 12:22-24; Rev. 5:9-10; 1 Cor. 12:4-7; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Cor. 3:18).

How can that ever be dull or routine?

I think the other contributors to this blog would agree that while we have a few things to bring to the table and teach others, there are far more things that we could learn. I enjoy the thrill of putting something out there that I’ve been milling around in my mind to see if others think about this stuff too, to find out if I’m way off base, or to stimulate biblical thought in others.

But I also like the idea of a network. A support system between churches. This weekend I got to experience that support as Brad Rhine (of Crossings Community Church in Columbia) came and led worship at Oak Hill Fellowship (our church in Quarryville). I was there and it was a great experience, and I learned some things that I thought I would share:

1. A change of pace is good. Brad and I are really different leaders. I’m up-tight. He’s laid-back. I tend to offer a fire hydrant. He offers a refreshing glass of water. I don’t think either one is better or worse. Each has strengths and weaknesses. But I noticed our people responded well to his different pace and leadership style.
2. Flexibility is admirable. I’m not a very flexible person. It takes me a while to switch gears. I like the comfort of the known. I plan stuff weeks in advance. Brad rolls with the punches. I admire that a lot.
3. Simplicity works. I don’t think we’ve had a simple worship team of two vocalists with a guitar and bass since the earliest days of Oak Hill (and I praise God for that because he is answering our prayers for more musicians and vocalists). I have to admit that I was concerned that in the simplicity we would lose momentum. I was wrong. I think that through the simplicity, the truth of the songs we were singing shined through just as bright. The congregation responded in song with full-voice.
4. Families are cool. OK, so I guess I already knew this one. But it was awesome to have Brad’s wife, Jen, down to play bass alongside him. And while I didn’t get to talk to his kids much, I was really glad they came along too. I love serving with my wife every week and hope we can continue doing it long after we have children as well.

So thank you to Brad for the sacrifice of time and talent!

Do you sing “America The Beautiful” during the worship service?

Do you pledge your allegiance to the flag?

Do you decorate the sanctuary in red, white, and blue?

I posted this on Twitter this morning: As a worship leader, I am always uncomfortable with the conflation of God and country, especially on this day.

I can’t help it. Especially during a service dedicated to the worship of the Divine Creator, I just can’t abide displays of patriotism that elevate our nation (or its leaders or its supposed past) to anywhere near the Throne of God.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m thankful to live in a country where I’m free to worship as I choose, and I’m thankful to those who have gone before to make that possible.

But pledging allegiance to the flag? Singing patriotic songs? I say no thank you.

For the record, there were some patriotic decorations at Crossings Community Church this morning, and the song sung during our offering time drew parallels between the statue of liberty and the cross, but that was about it. My pastor stood up and said, “This is Independence Day, but we must declare our DEpendence on God.” To which I said, “Amen.”

In a recent blog post, Vicky Beeching takes on this topic:

Other church traditions – mine included- use “worship leader” to refer to the person who leads the musical and sung portion of the gathering. This also seems unhelpful, as it implies again that singing is the main or only form of “worship” in our spirituality, and also that we need someone at the front to enable this “worship” to take place…

Any ideas? What do you think good alternatives to “worship” and “worship leader” might be?  Perhaps “sung worship” and “song leader”? Other suggestions?

Jump over to Vicky’s blog for more discussion – there’s some good stuff in the comments.

So what say you all? What do we call it? And what do we call ourselves? What do you think?

Clicks

You would think that with so many talented musicians on the stage of such a large church that they would be pretty solid with their tempos. Well, they were, BECAUSE THEY USED A CLICK TRACK FOR ALMOST EVERY SONG! And when they didn’t use the click, it was obvious that the tempo would fluctuate and the band was not as tight (maybe not to the person in the congregation, but it was to me, the guitar player). The other surprise was that the click wasn’t really a bother. I barely heard it unless the band’s tempo began to rush, then we would just readjust and keep going. Anyone out there using clicks that could give some tips?

Loops

I met a guy named Matt McCoy who uses loops for just about all the worship songs he does. He showed me the ropes with Ableton and gave me some helpful hints. I’d really like to use loops at some point, but will need to make some investments first (i.e. MacBook pro, upgrade Ableton, training, etc.). Through his Twitter site I also came across another great website, LoopsInWorship. I’ve been reading that blog and have learned a ton already. Does your church use loops in worship services? Do you think it’s a good idea? Why or why not?

Humility goes a long way

I’ve been around great musicians and folks who’ve “made it” in the past, and most of the time they make sure you know that they’re great and you’re not. Not so with the Harvest gang. From record deals to books to incredible talent, you name it they had it. But they interacted with me as if I were one of them, making time for me and having lunch and meeting with no qualms. These guys and gals are the real deal, and that’s probably why God is doing such a great thing through them.

Planning is really important, but so is flexibility

I was surprised at the balance the Harvest peeps carry in this area. They spend a lot of time planning their services, being creative, communicating to all the volunteers at all the campuses. But they only had their services planned out for about 2-3 weeks in advance. And at times, they don’t exactly know how the end of the service is going to go or what song they’re going to close with until the service begins, or even after that! I thought their planning would be much more rigid than it was, but it helped me to see that flexibility is not my strong suit and is a growth point for me. How far in advance do you plan? How do you deal with last minute changes?

Every service should look different

One of the values Harvest holds is to look at last week’s, this week’s, and next week’s services and make sure they are distinctly different from each other. It doesn’t have to be a drastic difference, but something that sets it apart in the mind of the person in the congregation. I like that. Andi also gave me a huge list of creative ideas they’ve used, and I’m hoping we can use many of them. What are some creative ideas that have worked in your services?

Ministry is about relationships

Andi is so good at this. It seemed to me that he spent most of his time meeting with people. Shepherding them. Being personal with them. Talking about ministry, but not treating people as a means to an end. It was really refreshing, and convicting. How well do you do this? Any tips for boneheads like me who need to get better?

Communication is so important

With the uncertainty of the close of the services, it was crucial that the people on stage could communicate with the people in the sound booth who were communicating with the folks from the other main campus. So the sound booth guy had a feed to the in-ears of everyone on stage. Brilliant! And obvious at the same time. I can think of times when guys in the booth have had to furiously wave their arms, or used some sort of sign language that made sense to them but obviously not to me. Also, they use a band leader (one of the instrumentalists) on stage with a mic who says “verse”, “big chorus”, “here’s the break”, etc. and this goes to the ears of everyone else in the band (it’s not in the house). These were a couple simple communication tools they used that made things go smoother. Practical or impractical for you at your church?

Time is of the essence

Harvest uses their service time very well. They run through their service exactly as it is planned before the first service. This includes announcements, prayers, call to worship, and special music. They then use this to make adjustments and give direction to those involved. The idea is to make the most impact possible in 90 minutes. Even if we don’t do the run-through, all of us would do well to look at what we give time to in our services and ask if it is the best use of the time. How can your church use  your time better? How have you made changes in the past to improve?

I am so grateful to NewSong’s elders for allowing me the opportunity to take this sabbatical and have the experience at Harvest that I did. I really feel that it was a good use of the time and will benefit NewSong in the short and long term. Thanks to Andi and everyone at Harvest for being so willing to have me hang out and shadow and learn. I hope we cross paths often in the future.

1) Pay On Stage Or Free To See – Ragamuffin Soul:
Some questions about whether worship team musicians should be paid or not. I’d be very curious to hear your thoughts on this. On this blog, we have representatives from the “full time paid worship leader” camp as well as the “volunteer, but I get paid with the occasional free lunch” contingency. Thoughts?

2) Jon Acuff on perfection:
Greatest trick of perfection is that it pretends it’s possible. Take solace in “finished,” beware the trap of “complete.”

3) Sacrifice Of Praise – Kevin Riner:
But how does one offer up praise when the heart wants to cry? How does one lift his eyes to the Lord when his life is turned upside down?
What strategies/ideas/suggestions do you have for worshipping through the hard times?

4) There Is No Such Thing As Christian Music – Gungor
I was going to write a whole post on this one, but since Rich already touched on it in the comments, I’ll just share this excerpt:
Then I realized that things like labels or CD’s can’t be “Christian”, only people can be “Christian.”  Christian means being a follower of Jesus.  Music can’t follow Jesus.  Only people can.  That means there is actually no such thing as Christian music.  That would be like saying that a house is agnostic because an agnostic built it.   A house is a house.  Words are words. Music is music.  This also means there is no such thing as “secular” music.  It’s all just music.
Definitely worth a read.

5) The Paradox Of Tone – Guitar Blog:
I suspect that most of us play guitar, so I thought I’d throw this one in, too. I know that lots of worship leaders tend to lean on their acoustic most of the time, but I’ve been finding myself  playing my Gretsch more and more on Sunday mornings. For the record, my favorite tones are a combination of my Gretsch and my Floor Pod Plus. I can dial in a bit of drive without being too obnoxious for the more conservative members of our congregation. Plus it has great delay for those U2 inspired intros. Are you obsessive about tone or any other “non-worship” element of the worship service?

And I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment on this Memorial Day to acknowledge the sacrifice of those brave soldiers who fought and died to keep us free.

God created people with creative tendencies

This is the argument from “general revelation” that I mentioned in the last post. However, I think it can be supported biblically as well. When God placed Adam in the garden, he charged him with two tasks: name all the creatures and cultivate the land (Gen 2:15, 19). I find it interesting that one of those tasks was mundane and work-based and the other was creative. I’d imagine it was sort of a fun game when God would bring the animals to Adam and “whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.” What would Adam come up with next? Did God need Adam to make up names? Had God run out of creative steam? No, it seems he created Adam with the ability to create, though it be a much lesser form of the work that God could do. God created people with creative tendencies and gives them opportunities to use them.

God evidently likes creativity

I also find it interesting that there are so many times that God asked people to create in the Bible. God called Bezalel and “filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft” to build the tools for the temple (Exodus 31:1-5). God cared enough about this artwork that he filled the artist with his Holy Spirit to get the job done. Throughout the Bible, he calls people to create for him. “Sing a new song,” he commands in the Psalms (Ps 96:1).  ”Act out the imminent exile of Israel in dramatic form,” he told Ezekiel (Ez. 12). We can see that God likes skillful creativity because he told his people to use creative forms to proclaim his truth.

The Priority of Truth

So when it comes to our Sunday morning gatherings, what is the best way to use creativity? Do we use creativity for its own sake? Is any form of creativity OK? This is where I come back to the priority of truth. God desires our meetings with one another to be centered around him. This means that the focus of any creative piece MUST point to God in a clear way in accordance with the way he has revealed himself. None of this, “I created this piece because I think this is the way God is.” That is the fast track to confusion about God’s character and the minimalization of his greater attributes. He has revealed himself, we don’t need to guess how he is. We want to create pieces that point people to the way we know God is according to the scriptures. I also don’t believe there should be room for interpretation in the creative elements we use in our services. As worship leaders, the picture we paint of God should be accurate and clear so that people can know him more.

In our day, it has become chic in the white city/suburban church to use various art forms in their worship. A lot is done in the name of relevance without much biblical thought as to how God might receive glory from it (or if he even asks for it).

To define creative arts, I am talking about any form that attempts to communicate by means of representation. Paintings, sculpture and tapestry are in view as well as graphic arts, video, drama, singing (corporate and performance) and even preaching.

I have heard many reasons given for why we should use art in worship. One is that our God is a creative God that made us with creative tendencies that we should use to glorify him. I believe this is a valid argument from “general revelation” (i.e. Creation), but I seldom hear reasons given from specific revelation (i.e. the Bible) except for singing and preaching.

On the other side of the coin, many throughout church history (especially in Protestantism) believed that art does not have a place in the church. Abuses where images and icons were used as idols, or where God is represented by an image of our own liking occasionally caused the church to react in an extreme prohibition of art. Some might also argue that because God is the ultimate Creator, we should be satisfied with the beauty he creates and not be distracted by our own handiwork that pales in comparison.

Then, to amplify the question, are there art forms that should be emphasized over others? Are there art forms to be avoided? Is it “anything goes” in the name of creativity (as it is in most of the art world)? In what ways should/could art be used? In what ways can we become too consumed by our own creativity?

I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this topic. I’ll try to post at a later time about how I have processed some of these things.

I’ve been trying the “1-5 Worship Planning” concept we learned at Harvest University as a tool to lead our people from a state of potential distraction to an understanding of and response to the transcendence of God. So far it’s been working, though I won’t elaborate much on that here since it’s not really my idea and I don’t want to do it injustice in describing it. However, for what it’s worth, it has been going well (even if it is slightly difficult since we sing only 4 songs and the concept works better with 5).

So we began with “You are Good”by Israel Houghton, in essence calling one another to worship by singing “We worship you, hallelujah, hallelujah!”. I was supposed to read Psalm 65:1-6 prior to that, but I forgot. So before going back to the pre-chorus and chorus for the last time, I grabbed my Bible and read the passage. My pianist didn’t really know what was going on, but he covered well with piano fill.

The transition into the next song was a little rough and we should have rehearsed it more. But we then moved to Gateway’s “Come Thou Fount, Come Thou King,” continuing the thought of God’s goodness in that he’s the “fount of every blessing.” I then prayed, declaring to God that, while we love his blessings, his presence is more precious to us than any other thing he could give us. Then we asked him for a better understanding of his presence by singing the chorus once more.

From there it was right into “Better is One Day” continuing the idea that God’s presence is better than anything.

Then right into the chorus of “Revelation Song.” This was the second week teaching it and it worked pretty well considering its newness, in that I believe people used it to bring praise to God. We are teaching it because I realized after evaluating our song list in the “1-5 Worship Planning” process, that we had only two “5′s”, or purely ascriptive songs that give voice to nothing but the adoration and exaltation of God. Little to no mention of “me, my or I.”  So we will be teaching nothing but “5′s” for the rest of the summer. Let me know if you have any good songs that fit in this category.

We went back and sang the chorus of “Better is One Day” right out of the end of “Revelation Song” and Pastor Nate came up to pray and move into the sermon that he preached from Exodus 18 about responding to God in proclamation, praise and ministry. We closed with a reprise for “You are Good.”