We recently visited one of the congregations in our Association during a quick weekend trip to Minneapolis, MN.  During the worship service we were introduced to songwriter and worship leader Brenton Brown’s new ?”Joyful (The One Who Saves)”? which incorporates the beginning words from the hymn “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” and melody from the Beethoven’s ?Ode to Joy? from the his 9th Symphony.

I had heard a preview of the worship song when Brenton gave us the opportunity to listen online when the album was released and enjoyed it.  I liked it even more in a congregational setting. Continue Reading…

Spiderman's my favorite! No, Scorpion's my favorite!

I was recently taken aback by a post on Twitter that I happen to glance at and wanted to get some discussion going. The tweet basically went like this (I’m paraphrasing from what I remember):

I can’t wait until [so-and-so]’s worship set.  Then I’ll really be energized!

Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand that God has consistently used personalities to do His work (Moses and Aaron, Joshua, Sampson, the prophets, Peter, Paul, etc.), but I wonder if there’s a danger in the above statement.  Do we, as Christians declare that without a certain “persona” we:

• Aren’t able to be energized?
• Aren’t able to be taught?
• Aren’t able to worship?
• Aren’t able to really feel fed?
• Aren’t able to….whatever?

Did God use some personalities doing some crazy things to get His people’s attention? Yes (Specifically thinking of Ezekiel laying on his side and other prophets doing odd things).  But the danger remains in the fact that if we don’t get the worship leader or pastor that “we want” we might tune out, assume that we can’t learn, and potentially harden our hearts to the working of the Holy Spirit.

I have my own “favorite” teachers, pastors, and worship leaders, but I try to be as open as I can to letting God work through anyone (as long as they’re proclaiming Biblical truth of course).

So what do you think? Is it dangerous to have a favorite teacher, pastor or worship leader? Is it bad that certain “personalities” can stir us up more easily than others?

Photo by Ricardo Bandiera

In working with every element of the worship service, it’s important to remember that everything we do should serve the congregation and help them be able to worship without distraction.  One of our toughest areas to minimize distraction has been on the video team.  One of several issues we’re attempting to tackle in that area is to display the song slides in a much more helpful way.

Displaying Songs in a Helpful Way

One key to displaying slides for your songs on your screen(s) during corporate worship is to make sure that the phrases are displayed musically.  Every song is a piece of poetry, really, so understanding the meter of the lines of the song helps to know how to break up each line visually.  By breaking up each line visually the congregation will naturally know where to pause, keep going, and feel much more comfortable singing the song.

Let’s take a look at two examples.  The first example shows a poorly created song slide that doesn’t help the congregation understand how the lines of the songs are broken up:

This next image of the same song shows the song in a much more processable format:

Continue Reading…

One thing I love about our congregation is that we’re a body of believers that is highly engaged in God’s Word.  Yesterday was a testimony of this and I wanted to share what we did as I’m certain it could be a great way for any congregation to both fill your corporate worship gathering with intentional Scripture proclamation and challenge your church body to continue to let God’s Word “dwell in [them] richly.” (Colossians 3:16)

What We Did

Instead of doing a congregational confession of faith that is spoken in unison by the congregation we decided to let the people confess their faith by sharing a Scripture passage that has been meaningful to them in their daily walk with Christ.  Here’s how we did it:

• Set up a microphone on either side of the sanctuary right next to the seats.  I think it’s really helpful if you don’t call people up to the platform area as that can be fairly intimidating.
• We had the microphones facing the people (both to avoid feedback by not pointing them at the speakers) and to help lessen the “fear” aspect of having to look out at the whole congregation while they shared.
• We made sure the sound tech is trained to adjust the gain on the microphone.  We had short people, tall people, people who spoke loudly and softly, kids and adults that came and shared.
• We used wireless mics.  Super easy to setup out in the midst of the congregation as there aren’t any cables to deal with.  Just make sure your mics are on and that the sound tech controls everything.  No use distracting from the Scripture shared by getting everybody wondering out loud “Is the mic on?”
• We had planned this time into the gathering specifically but didn’t give a heads up to the congregation that we were going to do it.  We knew this would work for two reasons: a) we had just finished coming off of a concert of prayer service that proved that the congregation was willing to share Scripture and confess God in the midst of the congregation and b) we know the many in our congregation are highly engaged with God through Scripture reading during the rest of the week.

Bringing the call to worship to life

Psalm 34:3 mentions to its audience to “Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.”  This is a popular verse used for a call to worship and by many worship leaders to encourage the congregation to do just what it says.  However, often, while we do sing “together” as the first says, it might not always be a conscious decision to “magnify the Lord” and “exalt his name” but just the thing to do because you sing at church.

This choice to remember what God is doing through His word AND proclaim it in the midst of the congregation gives everyone in the congregation that opportunity to magnify the Lord and exalt His name together.

And it was a sweet time.  We had seasoned believers (that’s a nicer way of saying “older”), college students, mothers, fathers, and even a four-year-old sharing the verse “Be Still and Know that I am God” that they are learning to do in their family.

What have you done that has purposefully engaged your congregation to share Scripture and God’s faithfulness “in the great congregation?” (Psalm 40:9)

photo by Sparky