Facedown Worship

I just want to take a moment to express some concerns I have about some emerging trends in worship. Now I’m not going to pick on anyone specific, but with some of the newer artists, I’ve noticed a shift from focusing on God to focusing on ourselves, be it our depravity or our new-found holiness in Christ.

Now, using the Psalms as a model for worship, we do see David and the rest composing about their grave situations and such, but also notice how quick they are to turn the focus on God as their (and our) Refuge, Fortress, Deliverer, or whatever they need at the time. I just listened to a song that only seemed to mention God’s goodness as a footnote.

Worship music, also should be congregationally friendly. If the first purpose of worship is to give God the glory that He is due, the second purpose is to unite a congregation in that endeavor. The songs that we sing need to meet the congregation where they are at. Not everyone is skilled in music, but that’s no reason to alienate anyone with keys that are too high or song structures that are too lofty for the average person.

All I’m saying here is that worship leaders are to praise the otherness of God and worship music needs to reflect that. It needs to be different than regular music, and not in a “Christian” vs. “Secular” way, but a “Sacred” way.

P.S. Today marked my 1 Year Anniversary in leading worship at Stonebridge church.

I’m now at Culver’s, waiting in line to celebrate a wonderful night of worship led by Paul Baloche*. I’m always amazed by his pastoral heart and his humility in worship. Which is why I’m excited to be taking part in the workshop with him tomorrow.

Looking forward to it!

*That’s “buh-LOSH”, not “buh-LOWSH” like I formerly thought. Just for my own information.

Two weeks ago, I receive a phone call from my very good friend, Rob. When I answered the phone, I had no idea how huge the conversation would be, nor how agonizing the next two weeks would become, but that’s soon what it turned into. Rob told me that he would be leaving one of his two worship leading positions and that he believed/believes that I should fill that spot.

A little bit more about Rob: Beyond being my best friend, he’s also been a mentor, a teacher, a father figure, and a hero of mine for many years now. I first met him when he became the assistant youth pastor at my old church, and since that time, I’ve followed him on many adventures. I’ve led worship with him. I was in a band with him for 3 years. I can’t think of another human that I trust and respect as much as I do him.

Back to the decision: Now, I’ve been leading worship at Stonebridge church, just having completed my first year just two weeks ago. I’ve grown a lot over this year, I’ve struggled a bit, but, ultimately, I’ve been happy at Stonebridge. Now, I’ve known since the beginning that I won’t be at Stonebridge for forever—they’re a more traditional church, and I’m a more contemporary man—but, I always figured I’d be the one to initiate the leaving. Perhaps, I’d feel it was time to leave, tell the leadership about my intention, pray, fast, search out other churches seeking a worship leader, and then, when I found a match with God’s blessing, I’d begin my next chapter.

Well, here in this phone call, all of that came rushing in like an avalanche.

I have a history with this other church: I was their bass player for three years, under Rob’s leading, of course. I must say the people of that body are so generous and welcoming. I enjoyed my three years there, yet my time was ended when I went off to school in another city. In short, I knew that I would be very welcomed, if I took the position. This church also presented the opportunity to lead in more contemporary worship setting, with a band, and with the support of a decent audio setup and crew.

Now, there are more advantages to list, but, for some reason, I just couldn’t (and can’t) wrap my heart around leaving Stonebridge. Intellectually, I could easily get behind this. If this were any other job, of course I should take this new opportunity. But I don’t believe leading worship is just “any other job”, it’s God’s calling in my life and I take it way more seriously.

So, I just called Rob, the pastor of the new church, and Pastor Scott of Stonebridge and told them that I would be staying at Stonebridge. Before calling, I felt good about my decision, still anxious, but good. And it’s a curious thing that, after telling Rob my decision, my heart instantly sank. I don’t know what to make of that.

Now, I don’t believe that there was a “wrong decision” here, but, goodness, it felt like there was. At any rate, my prayer through this whole thing is that I would have the wisdom to see, and the strength to follow God’s leading here. I hope I did that. I know that I’ve now disappointed my best friend and a pastor that I respect, but I only pray that God is pleased with me.

Holy God, I hope You’re pleased with this decision. Now that I’ve made it, in faith that I’m following You, I’d love to see a confirmation. All Glory to You.
In the name of Christ Jesus,
Amen. 

I just made what is clearly the biggest decision in my 1+ year of leading worship. It will probably be a defining moment in my life. I’m not sure I was ready for it, but after much prayer and thought, I hope God is pleased with my heart and my decision.

I’ll have to share it with you.

P.S. I am HORRIBLE at making these decisions.

For whatever reason, I felt today’s service just really came together. From the adult Sunday School class (the class I attend), to the end of the service, everything fit together like a puzzle piece. Now, I know some churches really fight for that, they sit down and have meetings and plan everything out, but that’s not how Stonebridge chooses to work.

But that’s how it felt today.

The adult Sunday School class, currently taught by Pastor Scott, has been going through various aspects of marriage—from dating, to engagement, to newlyweds, to sex… and today, to finances. Pastor Scott talked on stewardship and how the Christian really doesn’t own anything, but we are trusted by God to be good stewards of the things that He gives us. He talked about the importance of tithing, keeping a budget, and focusing on being faithful in taking care of financial business before financial pleasure.

As it would happen, he also talked about much of this during the service. For the past few months now, we’ve been going through the book of Matthew, bit by bit. The past few weeks have been spent in the chapter 6, with the past few weeks talking about The Lord’s Prayer. This week, the lesson came from chapter 6, verses 25 through 34, the “Do Not Worry” verses. The focus here was spent on what it looks like to trust God in taking care of His children.

As for me, in picking songs, knowing that we’re going through the book of Matthew, I always try and anticipate what section Pastor Scott will choose to speak on. And I do a HORRIBLE job of it. Since he finished his two week study of The Lord’s Prayer last week, I figured he was going to talk about either fasting (v. 16-18), or treasures in heaven (v. 19-24). In so thinking, here’s are the songs God and I picked for the service:

• Forever (Chris Tomlin)
• Above All (Paul Baloche)
• Amazing Love (You Are My King) (Billy James Foote)
• The Same Love (Paul Baloche) *done during Communion*

In my mind, I was focusing on the concept of trusting God as we are to do when fasting and instead of storing up possessions for ourselves. But, this morning, God revealed that He had different plans for the songs.

“Forever” emphasized that God’s love lasts for forever.

“Above All” spoke about how much God values us.

“Amazing Love” solidified God’s love for us in that He gave His Son to die for us.

Knowing these things to be true, what reason do we have to worry about our future. If we are faithful with the things God gives us, of course He will provide the things that we need. God has promised that time and time again, and He is always faithful in keeping His promises.

As for the songs in and of themselves, I really felt each of them connected with the majority of the congregation. I was actually surprised to hear so many voices during “Forever” and “Above All”. Without giving too much credit to the old and familiar, these songs should clearly stay in the repertoire for a while. They congregation responds through those songs and that’s so important.

All of that said, I have to say that “The Same Love” didn’t work out how I intended it. Our Communion time is always a time of reflection and, when I play a song, I usually spend time noodling around on the guitar and singing a verse and chorus while the elements are being passed out. Despite slowing down “The Same Love” quite a bit, I felt it was too distracting in that moment. I’m blaming the “Straight 4” feel of the song; such beats always command attention.

Going forward, I’ll have to be more careful of picking such songs for Communion time.