A brief introduction of sorts are in order, I believe. I'm the worship pastor at Fellowship of the Parks in Keller, TX. Through the last 14 years of my life, God has blessed me with the amazing opportunity to love and lead his people in worship via song, teaching, and prayer. Over those 14 years, I have formed many philosophies on worship. I've had them challenged, molded, and completely changed. God has used many experiences, that I plan to share here (hopefully once a week), to shape and mold me into the pastor, worship leader, husband, father, warrior, and follower that I am today. It's been a long and sometimes painful journey as God has broken me and molded me over and over again. I am thankful for his grace and patience toward me, an underserving sinner saved by marvelous grace, that he would use me to share the amazing news that Jesus loves the world and offers life and love to the undeserving.
That being said, albeit not that short, I'd like to talk a bit about worship services and my view on it. I'd like to start with telling a story about a David Crowder Band concert that me and several of my bandmates went to somewhere around the years of 2005-2006. Our band and a few friends of ours traveled to Little Rock, AR to see Crowder perform in concert. We'd been leading worship and traveling around doing camps, retreats and disciple now's for about 5 years and we covered a lot of Crowder's music. We felt that the music not only was "about" Jesus and worship, but that it represented Him well. You see, as a general rule, we didn't listen to much "Christian music"; the reason being, most of it wasn't any good (and some of it still isn't). It seemed to be the same key phrases with the same chords and chord progressions that had no real personality and no real creativity. When we discovered the music of the David Crowder Band, we felt as though we'd found a group of guys that truly believed that we were called to represent our God with immense creativity, all the while providing songs for the church that they could connect with and sing corporately.
When we arrived, the opening act was Shane and Shane. To my friend, and our student pastor's dismay, that is where my mediocre feelings for them stemmed from. I wasn't there to see the opening act, I was there to see Crowder! Ridiculous, I know. Anyway, shortly after the two guys with acoustics got off stage, the DCB came on stage and welcomed everyone to join them and have a great time together. Through the concert, I was worshiping and lifting my hands, singing loudly, and probably moved to tears by the power of the Holy Spirit loving me and leading me to worship Him. There were also lots of people in that place that were there to listen and bobbing their heads to the beat of the music and really appreciating the professional and creative musicianship. All of that didn't come together for me until our drummer made this statement, "You know the cool thing about Crowder? If you come to experience a rock concert, you're going to get a rock concert; if you come to experience a worship service, you're going to get a worship service."
That statement has stuck with me over the years and it's something that I've always wanted to be able to do. I wanted to create a worship environment where a person that isn't a believer can appreciate the creativity and good musicianship and where the believer can engage and worship their God in an intimate and authentic way. In either scenario, we are giving honor to Jesus and making His name and message known; we are worshiping. Our pastor, Doug Walker, wrote a post on our philosophy of church and worship service at www.partyatmychurch.com When I first read that site, I knew that I'd found the church home that my rock concert/worship service would fit perfectly.
In seeking to create an environment where people who don't believe or don't know Jesus yet can feel welcomed, we aren't "dumbing down" or "lessening" the influence or power of God. I truly believe that we are contextualizing the party thrown in Luke 5:27-32. As we worship, we celebrate the goodness of God. We proclaim Him as King and Savior of our hearts and the world. We show Him as the guest of honor. As worship leaders, we are tasked with the honor and responsibility to introduce guests (both believers and non-believers alike), to the guest of honor. Through our prayers, through our songs, through the phrases and words that we use to lead and guide them, we are introducing them to the King of Glory. What an amazing privilege!
Takeaways...
1. Play and sing well...In Psalms, it talks about the musicians playing skillfully. None of us would go to a concert where the musicians or singers weren't any good. Practice hard and your instrument whether it be drums, guitar, or vocals.
2. Be creative...We are singing about and introducing people to the most creative being in the universe. We should attempt to use dynamics, lyrics, and music that accurately portray the greatness and creativity of our God. Saying things like, "it's good enough for church" or "the right heart is in it" is just a crutch and our God deserves our best.
3. Be welcoming...Invite people into the celebration that we are hosting. Our church is hosting the party for Jesus. Don't use words that you wouldn't use in normal, everyday conversation. If I use "propitiation" from stage, I've immediately excluding people. You're at a party. You're at a rock show. You're at a church. You're at a worship service. Use language that people understand and be personable from stage. Let the people feel like you are approachable and that you genuinely care about them and want them to meet the person we are celebrating, Jesus.
4. Know your context...Play songs that fit the culture of your people. If you're at a cowboy church in downtown Fort Worth, two electric guitars and a guy singing with rock vocals might not translate as well. Speak that musical language of your people. This is the most important thing in allowing it to be a rock concert and a worship service. If you're people don't appreciate the music you're doing, they'll disengage almost immediately.
I'm sorry for the length; being short (except in height) isn't one of my strong suits. I'll get our teaching pastor, Rob Carmack, to help me out with that. Thanks for stopping by and I pray that you hear my heart in all I say. I'm not cheapening holiness of God or showing a lack of reverence. I'm simply seeking to create an environment where all can come and worship and meet their Savior, hopefully some for the very first time. Love you guys and looking forward to sharing more with you as we grow in grace together.
Worship louder...
