May 05
jeffMiscellaneous
[Editor's Note: I'd like to introduce you all to Jeff. He's on my worship team at Crossings Community Church, where he plays guitar and sings. He's also filled in for me on a number of occasions. I asked Jeff to write up a post on what worship means to him, and this is what he wrote. Please join me in welcoming Jeff to LAWN!]
When I was younger, at the age of eight, I accepted Christ into my life. When I was about nine or ten, my father and I would do devotions at night and sing a hymn or two. From even an earlier age than that I was always into music. Listening to the oldies station in the back of my parents station wagon. Always knowing the words to almost every Beach Boys song. You could say I had a passion for music.
But those nights with my dad of singing hymns had started a new passion in my heart. Yeah, of course I love the music. Although if you hear me sing a hymn now, it might be few and far between modern day worship songs. But it started to ingrain in me a passion I would later discover. A passion of my heart. A passion that only the Holy Spirit can give you. The passion of worship.
That is what worship means to me. It’s a passion to love, know, and understand who God is and His Son. It’s an opportunity to lift up your voice in song and praise. Worship is a way to tell God, ” I love you.” It’s a way to say, “Thank you, Jesus.” To say, “Thank you for the Cross.”
Worship is also a way to allow the Holy Spirit to intervene in your life. When you are happy or sad, healthy or hurt, ashamed or not ashamed, it is a way for the Holy Spirit to help you pick yourself up. To have It keep your head held high and keep on running the race. I love to sing and play guitar to lift my Jesus up on high. And when the Holy Spirit takes over… wow, it’s like becoming a new person. Like having a kind of passion that you didn’t know existed.
Worship though is not all about singing or playing an instrument in a worship song. Prayer can be worshiping God and so can many other things you do thoughout the day can be. Worship doesn’t have to be just in song. If you pray to God with a heart full of love and passion, that is worship. Doing your everyday stuff like going to work or school. Staying home with your children or watching over your grandchildren. They all can be acts of worship. If you do those things unto God and do them wholeheartedly unto the Lord, you are worshiping Him.
What does worship mean to me? It means whatever you do – whether sing, play an instrument, pray, work, go to school, or watch over your children – that you are doing it unto the Lord and giving Him all the glory and honor and praise. So if you haven’t today just lift up a praise to Him in all you do. And give Him the glory that is due His Name!
May 05
BenMusic
I once heard it said that “Christian” makes a better noun than an adjective. I think there is much truth to this, especially when it comes to music. I am happy to be a Christian (noun), but what is often touted as “Contemporary Christian Music” does not please the heart of Christ.
Maybe I was just extra-sensitive because of numerous run-ins today with “cultural Christianity,” but as I drove home from work listening to our lovely local “Contemporary Christian” radio station, I was a bit irritated when I was told that my faith is to be:
More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It’s like I’m falling, oh
It’s like I’m falling in love
Now I understand what the artist, Jason Gray, is trying to say. He’s putting into poetry the [almost] old adage, “It’s not about religion, it’s about a relationship.” But in doing so, he’s denying some very important biblical truth.
You see, when the Philippian jailer asked Paul what he must do to be saved, Paul didn’t answer, “Just fall in love with Jesus, lose your heart and get everyone to look at you.” He said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31). When he wrote to the Romans “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” I don’t think he really meant “Fall in love with Jesus… get yourself feeling all warm and fuzzy inside and THAT’S how you will know you are saved.”
Jesus, in his Word, told me he wants me to believe in him. He doesn’t want to be my boyfriend or husband or lover… he wants to be my LORD (and for that I am EXTREMELY grateful). He wants me to love him, but not with a sexual love (what “falling in love” denotes in our culture, if we want to contextualize), but rather a devoted, covenant love.
So let’s agree to something (especially as worship leaders): let’s be careful what we communicate with the music we write and promote. Let’s not write all “Christian” music off as good and all “secular” music off as bad. Let’s pursue the heart of Christ in our words and songs, being discerning in all things.
Apr 28
BenMiscellaneous, Preferences, Why do we Do That?
Last time I asked the question: why do you do “contemporary” or “traditional” worship? In other words, why sing praises in the style you do? In asking this, I realize that worship is not at all about style or singing per se, but rather it is a way of life (in fact, I don’t really like the terms, thus the quotation marks, but we all sort of know what we’re talking about, so I still use them). Still, singing praise to God is part of worship and most of us have chosen a style to use. So why? Below are some of the reasons I have landed on concerning why I use a “contemporary” style. And by this, I mean we still sing ancient songs of the faith, but we play all of them with modern instruments and cadences (and we sing brand new songs too!). I try not to even categorize music by hymns and contemporary songs anymore. It’s all about what we need to sing that day and what is helpful to the service. So here’s my reasons:
- It is a natural expression of our culture/era: Our culture expresses itself in a certain way. When was the last time you passed someone in their car singing their heart out to Bach? Now, this is not the same as following the culture. If I were doing that, I’d be trying to mimick the sound of what’s on the Billboard Top 100. However, if my job as a worship leader is to select songs that will be sung in the voice of the congregation, it is my job to pick both songs that will both accurately address theology and be a natural expression of that theology from the lips of the people. So I ask, “How does our culture naturally express awe? Excitement? Joy? Brokenness? Mourning?”
- It guards me from traditionalism: Dr. Jim Ayers at Lancaster Bible College taught me that tradition is a good thing… it’s traditionalism that’s bad. Traditionalism is maintaining a form not because it is helpful, but for the sake of the form itself. Traditions are good: prayer meetings, hymns, Sunday School and organs can all be good. Some traditions are commanded: the Lord’s Supper, Baptism, meeting together regularly, etc. But when we hold onto a tradition for any reason other than the fact that they point us to God and help us keep his commands… for reasons like nostalgia or because we’ve assigned undue worth to them or think that they are themselves the command of God when they aren’t, then we fall into traditionalism (and sometimes worse: legalism). There will come a day when my generation is 80 and won’t be able to let go of “How Great is Our God” done just like Chris Tomlin used to do it… I am constantly praying against that. If your tradition has not become the end in itself , then it’s fine to stick with tradition. Just don’t let it become the main thing.
- Worship teams show unity: The contemporary style allows me to use a team of gifted artists to create a unified sound that I couldn’t create by myself. It’s a small microcosm of the body of Christ working together in unity. I get excited about that every time I play with my team. I LOVE working with other artists and I LOVE seeing what they add to the whole. I also recognize the traditional version of this is the orchestra and choir, but in my church of 90 people, I don’t have that amount of volunteers.
- It’s what I’m good at: If you heard me try to play an organ, you would want to cover your ears and run out the back door like your pants were on fire. If you tried to follow me waving my arms in song leading, you would think a wasp had entered the chancel. So while this is not a primary reason, I do think it’s a legitimate reason for me to choose a contemporary style. There are many churches that could do traditional worship far better than I could at my church. So I’ll let them do it.
All of this means that if I were to go to a church that has a different style than I prefer, I can still worship. It’s probably not where I’ll stay for good, but it also doesn’t mean I can’t worship. But it also means that I have a good idea of why I do what I do. It’s certainly not a fully developed idea, but it’s a start.
Apr 22
bradMiscellaneous
I just ran across this comment at Elevation Worship:
Let me break it down as simply as I can. If you are part of a worship band, don’t limit yourself to just playing the right parts. Smile. Sing the songs the worship leader is calling your church to sing. Go for it in worship in a way that is authentic for you. And know this – You have the ability to draw people into a spirit of worship without ever playing a single note.
It’s a very good thing to keep in mind, no matter what your place in the worship service is.
Apr 21
brettMiscellaneous
Um, can anyone say, “FIRE HYDRANT!” That’s what it felt like I was drinking from the whole time at Harvest University in Elgin, Illinois the past few days. Here are some highlights…
Singing
We worshiped the most glorious, most holy, most worthy God every session with excellence. Tons of biblical truth and gospel saturation in every song, played skillfully, reverently, passionately, joyfully. The best time for me was on Tuesday morning when I got to go up on stage and sing in the choir about the heavenly worship seen in Revelation 4 & 5. I was overwhelmed many times with gratefulness, wonder, joy at the thought of joining in that worship someday and getting a taste of it now.
High Impact Services workshops
James MacDonald, Andi Rozier, and Rory Noland did a great job of equipping us with lots of philosophy for why Harvest does what they do during their weekend services, lots of practical and creative ideas, and some good, clean fun. Most helpful in these sessions was the answer James and Rory gave about whether preaching or worship is more important, but there was tons of other good content.
Preaching
Oh how refreshing to hear James preach from Revelation. He is a fantastic communicator and has a gift for applying the text to the lives of the listeners. His first message was from Revelation 12 about “Pulling Over” and his second message was from Revelation 10 about “It Ain’t Gonna Happen.” Something James mentioned in both the workshops and his second message was a list of 5 things he thinks churches should focus on that will be “conduits of transcendence”: being vertical, biblical, intentional, relational, and missional. He also mention the following 6 paradigm shifts, which I thought were excellent:
- Forget about relevance and go for transcendence.
- Forget about what people want to hear and go for what God wants said.
- Forget about making people feel comfortable and go for making them feel “wanted.”
- Forget about fun and go for ministry.
- Forget about subtlety and go for directness.
- Forget about gifts and go for passions.
The guys
It was great to be together with all the pastors and other guys from NewSong. I love them all and feel so blessed to be part of such a great team!
Now I’m looking forward to getting an even closer look at the Harvest Worship ministry over the next 2 weeks! I’m so grateful to God, Harvest, and NewSong for giving me the opportunity!
Apr 20
bradMusic, Sunday Set List
Jason Fried recently wrote, “Constraints are advantages in disguise. Limited resources force you to make do with what you’ve got. There’s no room for waste. And that forces you to be creative.” Sometimes circumstances force our creativity. This past Sunday, I knew I’d be going without percussion or drums, so that put some constraints on the music I could choose. But I also knew that I’d have a violinist and a mandolin player, in addition to bass, keys, and two acoustic guitars.
Our pastor was preaching on Romans 2:17-29, with a focus on the law. With that in mind, I prepared the following set.
1) Come Now Is The Time To Worship
2) Open The Eyes Of My Heart
Admittedly, these two songs didn’t necessarily reinforce the theme of the service, but I find that they’re always good openers. They get us to focus on worship and “open up” to what God has to say to us.
3) All That I Need
The law can’t provide for us, but God does. That’s what I wanted to get across with this song, that God provides everything we need.
4) You Are My King
There’s no law without a king, right? How better to focus on the original source of the law than to explicitly acknowledge Christ’s Kingship?
5) Good To Me
I love this song because it comes from such a place of brokenness: “I am weak, I need Your love to free me.” We need freedom. The law will never free us; only God can.
6) Amazing Grace (following the sermon)
I know my pastor pretty well, and I should after serving under him for five years. I knew that after all that talk about the law, he’d turn to grace, so I used “Amazing Grace” as our response song. And with our instrumentation, we played kind of a country-ish, slightly bluegrassy version, which the congregation really seemed to enjoy.
So that was my set list for this past Sunday, and the reasons behind it. I’m curious to hear what you think, and also what songs you played and why.
Apr 17
brettMiscellaneous, Reviews
Chew up the honey, spit out the wax.
That’s what my pastor (Jamie Mitchell) always says when you go to a conference. There are always really good things you will learn at a conference, and there are always things that are not so good. So you must take away the good and seek to apply it in your church context as well as learn from the not so good things, and remember not to do them.
From my perspective, here’s the honey and the wax from the Worship Together conference I recently attended in Lenexa, Kansas. My hope is to post on each of these things individually in future posts, but here’s the summary:
HONEY
- Phil Wickham – Phil was in concert with Matt Maher and Leeland the first night. I had heard a few of his songs previously and had been thinking about exploring more of his stuff, and after his set I was convinced, blown away, blessed, and hungry to spend a couple bucks on his music. It had been a long time since I heard lyrics that were so hope and wonder-filled. Most of his songs looked forward to our future hope of Christ’s return and reign and were written in a way that was new and fresh. Different melodies, different hooks, unique ways of saying things, new thoughts to ponder, words that made me (and God, I’m sure) smile again and again because of their lyrical artistry and reverence. Not to mention Phil is a great worship leader, performer, and vocalist.
- Rich Kirkpatrick’s Seminars – Rich has a blog where he has addressed some worship myths. When I read his list of myths, I thought we were in for a fight. I disagreed with most of them at first glance. But he presented them in a way that was thoughtful, open for dialogue, and he clarified the context of the statements which helped me to get my dander down. He also had some helpful tips on how to have a conversation. Rich and I are from 2 different worlds, I believe, but I think I could learn from him, even if we don’t agree all the time.
WAX
- Where was the gospel? – I don’t know if I’m spoiled by going to Sovereign Grace conferences, but I honestly only remember one person referring to Christ’s life, death, or resurrection, and that was at the very end of the conference. The focus was definitely more on music and the experience of worship than on Christ, which is off-target in my opinion. Maybe I just wasn’t listening well??
- Rick Cua‘s messages – Rick gave 2 talks on “10 Things Every Musician Should Know.” Some of what he said was decent, but there were some things that really raised some questions in my mind. His most troubling statement was, “If worship is the road to God, then worship+technology is the super-highway.” Any takers on why this is troubling?
- Unbelievers on the worship team – I don’t know if this was the case on any of the teams that led worship at the conference, but I know there were numerous comments made in the seminars I attended about the blessing of having unbelievers on your team. Doesn’t Scripture warn against this?
Any initial reactions or comments? Any questions about these things that you would like me to address? Can’t guarantee I’ll be a big help, but I can try.
Apr 15
BenMiscellaneous, Preferences, Why do we Do That?
I’m sort of a contemplative person. Sometimes to a fault. But I do believe that this aspect of my personality has helped me as a worship leader. I’m always asking the question, “Why do we do that?” Like a 4-year-old on a never-satisfied quest for a good answer.
So when I thought about what I could contribute to this blog (which is not much at all), I thought maybe the best thing I could bring is to get us thinking about “Why?” If we can think about the things we do through a biblical lens, it will either correct or embolden our actions and/or our calling to be worship leaders.
I wanted to start with a question that is has no direct biblical answer and therefore is more difficult to answer. For those of us who use contemporary worship, why do we use contemporary music instead of old songs played on an organ or piano? Or, on the flip-side, why do we use an organ or piano and only sing songs written pre-1960? I DO NOT ask this question to get the worship wars started AT ALL. There are many great churches that use a “traditional” style and many fantastic churches that use a “contemporary” style (there are many not-so-good ones on each side too!). However, I think it is helpful to think about why we do what we do, and I think that doing so will help us feel more comfortable when someone brings up the issue of style preference and we need to reason with them.
I think we are at a point in contemporary song writing that we can throw out worn-out answers to these questions like “the old hymns have more rich theology,” since in my experience, the hymns that stick around at hymn-sings and the in most churches actually have more experiential content and less theological content than the contemporary songs I choose week in and week out. I mean let’s face it, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” is not exactly a good representation of popular hymnody from ages past (though I love it and use it often!). At the same time, contemporary songwriters in the Sovereign Grace Movement, Harvest Bible Fellowship movement and others are bringing fresh, rich songs with which we can praise both the transcendant and imminent attributes of God.
On the instrumentation side, we can neither say that organs or guitars and drums are the chosen instruments of God. They are not in the Bible, and the instruments we find in the Bible aren’t around anymore (for the most part). I don’t think organs give us a bigger idea of the majesty of God because they pale in comparison. I don’t think keyboard synth sounds cause the Spirit to move more freely either! Yet I choose guitars and drums and synth and loops… why?
There are a million other questions here. Should we go with the preference of the majority? Should we go “blended” to make everyone happy (even though this often results in choppy services with generations staring into space, arms crossed while the organ bellows or the drums pound). Is it right to simply follow the style of the culture? Is it just about what the pastor wants or what we want? Should we just stick with what we’re good at?
So why do you do what you do in regards to worship style? Don’t try to answer why the other preference is worse… just think “Why does our church do what we do?” and see if your reason is a good one. If it’s not, then find a good one and work to change your motivation. I would love to hear why…
Apr 12
brettMiscellaneous
Haven’t posted for a few weeks because I wanted to let this one sit for a while before I posted it. Thought it might be something people have strong opinions about and didn’t want to rush into controversy. Anyway, hope you find it helpful and/or comment-worthy!
Our discussion this morning centered on a question posed to me last week: if a person is distractingly unattractive, should they be allowed to serve up front on the worship team? This question is not about how a person dresses or grooms themselves. Those things can be fixed and controlled, and can even be good indicators of a person’s character. This question is about things a person can’t control: physical traits. If a person is overweight due to a thyroid problem or they have some sort of malformation or perhaps are even in a wheelchair, yet have the character, heart, and talent required to serve, should they be excluded from serving up front because they may be a distraction?
I see the issue from both points of view. My role as a worship leader is to make it easy to worship Christ, to eliminate distractions through culturally relevant, excellent, and tasteful presentations of Scripture and songs. I want people to be able to engage with God together with no hindrances. This also means considering visual elements of our worship, including the people who serve. So there is a legitimate concern that a person’s physical appearance can be a distraction. But when a talented, godly individual desires to serve on the team, must I deny them that opportunity because, from my perspective, they have some sort of physical characteristic that may distract the worshipers?
The answer is yes when it comes to things legitimately within that person’s control, e.g. the way they dress and groom themselves and perhaps (and I mean PERHAPS) even a weight issue. This can and should be the case even with a person’s expressiveness or lack thereof. If any of these controllable issues potentially distract people’s attention from Christ, I need to address them.
However, what do we say to the folks who haven’t chosen to look the way they look? Are they to be disqualified because they fall short of a cultural, and perhaps anti-biblical, standard? How may this standard be anti-biblical? Here are two possible ways:
1 Sam 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
2 Cor 5:12
We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart.
Think of the issue this way. Have you ever seen someone on stage in a worship service who was attractive? Perhaps they were very good-looking and nicely dressed (not immodest) and had a beautiful voice and you had more than just the passing thought, “Wow, they’re all that.” It is not that you’re lusting for this person, but you are certainly not focusing on Christ. Is this not a distraction too? But surely the worship leader is not going to put this person off the team because of that. For him to do that would be catering to the immaturity of the individuals who are distracted. The responsibility falls to you to get over the distraction, discipline your mind, and focus on Christ.
In the same way, I can’t bring myself (at least from my spiritual side) to put a person’s God-given ability, character, and desire on the shelf because of someone else’s immaturity and adherence to a sinful worldview.
Wow, but what about the weaker brother and not causing him to stumble? Umm, that’s a great question and we’ll save that for a later post.
Mar 10
brettMiscellaneous, Wednesday morning worship
The discussion this morning started with the question, “Is worship a subset of obedience or is obedience a subset of worship?” Jeff, Ryan, and I looked for verses in support of either side of the equation. One one side, there are numerous verses where God commands us to worship him (see Neh. 12:45, Deut. 6:13, Matt. 4:10), implying that worship is a subset of obedience. However, Scripture also indicates that we are created to worship (Isa. 43:7), that worship is not simply an outward act (John 4:24), and that obedience to God’s laws must also be accompanied with the appropriate heart attitude (Isa. 29:13, Matt. 15:7-9), all of which carry some implication that worship may be necessary for obedience to happen.
At the end of it all, I would conclude that, as Ryan said, the above question is not the right question to ask. Obedience to God’s commands and our inward love and heart attitude toward God are inextricably linked. Obedience that is simply outward is not pleasing to God. Worship (aka heartfelt love) of God is not pleasing to God if it does not lead to some form of obedience to His commands (Amos 5:21-24, Isa. 1:10-17). Obedience is worship AND worship is obedience.
The second half of our discussion then turned back to our definition (once again). Should we then just include obedience in our definition so it would read, “giving preeminence to someone/something through obedience, adoration, sacrifice, and reverence”?
This is where Webster’s Dictionary really helped us out. What does it actually mean to “define” something? According to Webster, define is defined as
to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning of.
What does “essential” or “essence” mean?
The permanent as contrasted with the accidental element of being OR the individual, real, or ultimate nature of a thing especially as opposed to its existence.
So, when you try to define something, you need to, as much as possible, boil it down to its most basic, ultimate nature. In the second half of our definition of worship, we believe we have mistakenly included things that are not basic and ultimate. The idea of “giving preeminence” is basic and ultimate; how we do this (i.e. through obedience, adoration, sacrifice, reverence, or whatever) is what Webster would call “accidental” or in relation to worship’s “existence.” These things are how worship exists, how it is carried out, elements of worship, but are not necessary in every case for worship to occur.
So, at this point, we are again honing our definition to just say,
Worship is giving preeminence to someone/something.
If you have thoughts or suggestions about this, please let me know. This is all still in process!
The discussion this morning started with the question, “Is worship a subset of obedience or is obedience a subset of worship?” Jeff, Ryan, and I looked for verses in support of either side of the equation. One one side, there are numerous verses where God commands us to worship him (see Neh. 12:45, Deut. 6:13, Matt. 4:10), implying that worship is a subset of obedience. However, Scripture also indicates that we are created to worship (Isa. 43:7), that worship is not simply an outward act (John 4:24), and that obedience to God’s laws must also be accompanied with the appropriate heart attitude (Isa. 29:13, Matt. 15:7-9), all of which carry some implication that worship may be necessary for obedience to happen.
At the end of it all, I would conclude that, as Ryan said, the above question is not the right question to ask. Obedience to God’s commands and our inward love and heart attitude toward God are inextricably linked. Obedience that is simply outward is not pleasing to God. Worship (aka heartfelt love) of God is not pleasing to God if it does not lead to some form of obedience to His commands (Amos 5:21-24, Isa. 1:10-17). Obedience is worship AND worship is obedience.
The second half of our discussion then turned back to our definition (once again). Should we then just include obedience in our definition so it would read, “giving preeminence to someone/something through obedience, adoration, sacrifice, and reverence”?
This is where Webster’s Dictionary really helped us out. What does it actually mean to “define” something? According to Webster, define is defined as “to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning of.” What does “essential” or “essence” mean? “The permanent as contrasted with the accidental element of being” or “the individual, real, or ultimate nature of a thing especially as opposed to its existence.”
So, when you try to define something, you need to, as much as possible, boil it down to its most basic, ultimate nature. In the second half of our definition of worship, we believe we have mistakenly included things that are not basic and ultimate. The idea of “giving preeminence” is basic and ultimate; how we do this (i.e. through obedience, adoration, sacrifice, reverence, or whatever) is what Webster would call “accidental” or in relation to worship’s “existence.” These things are how worship exists, how it is carried out, elements of worship, but are not necessary in every case for worship to occur.
So, at this point, we are again honing our definition to just say, “Worship is giving preeminence to someone/something.”
If you have thoughts or suggestions about this, please let me know. This is all still in process!
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