I Have been ordering the Vertical Music Worship Tools for the past two years now and I thought I’d like to share what I think about the tool kit for any worship leaders out there thinking about it. Recent issues (which come quarterly) have been Hillsong’s “This Is Our God”, Parachute Band’s “Technicolor”, Brian Doerksen’s “It’s Time”, and Hillsong’s “Worship Edition” Integrity is good about getting different styles from very edgy to moderate level styles. Each Kit comes mailed in a box and contains one songbook which has lead sheets with notes, lead sheets with only chords, and just words for singers (all can be copied legally for your size band), A Listening CD (Stereo), Instructional DVDs for instruments, and Accompaniment CD for performer without a praise band which has been helpful for me lately. Each kit cost $32.95 and is well worth the money for all you get. For more information on Integrity Music click here.
As a worship leader I am faced many times with the problem of “Contemporary -vs- Traditional” battle. Many churches have adopted either or and some have utilized a blended atmosphere. I prefer leading a blended setting for a few reasons. First, I enjoy all types of worship music because I know that God enjoys us worshipping him whether to drums and guitars, or pipe organs. using a blended worship order allows me to tweak the styles according to a congregation. My church in the past has been strictly traditional hymns and a few praise chorus (from the 80′s) Over the past few years, I have slowly transitioned the worship to a more modern style. I was able to accomplish this by singing hymns in a contemporary setting using worship tracks and guitars. Once the congregation got used to hearing drums and guitars, I introduced newer worship songs that are heard on the radio today. With the exception of a few, they have been well received. If I new I was going to lead worship for a primarily older audience, I can add a few more hymns in the mix with a worship song or two. If the audience is younger I could use mostly worship songs with a hymn thrown in somewhere. Blended worship works for the behalf of the Worship Leader in a church that is needing to reach all age groups. Everyone enjoys singing with everyone even though the styles might not be their preference all the time. It’s all about glorifying Christ in our hearts, not the music we sing.
Worship at Bayshore Baptist Church
Worship at Bayshore Baptist is led with me as leader, a worship choir, piano, keyboards, organ, and guitar. I have been recently using Lifeway Worship Tracks to help out with the lacking musicians (drums, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, strings, horns, etc.). Our worship, as mentioned above, is blended with an emphasis on contemporary music as our community around us is younger now. Our praise choir sings special music numbers as well as cantatas and production throughout the year. Bayshore Baptist Church offers an evening service as well that is blended with an emphasis on traditional hymns due to the age demographic that attends. Bayshore Baptist Church uses the help of modern worship technology to assist in a vibrant atmosphere. Words to the music are displayed on a screen and videos are also played throughout the service. Below is an example of a worship service at Bayshore Baptist Church.
Below is a typical evening service with hymns, yet modernizing them a bit with a guitar.
In Ephesians 5:19-21, there is a great doctrine for worship music in churches. Many times I am approached by someone reminding me about a particular style of music they like to sing in church. I have blogged about this topic before, but it is a never-ending battle I deal with so I’ll mention it again. We come to worship to worship God, not fulfill our fleshly desires. What! wanting to sing only gospel or hymns is a fleshly desire? Absolutely. It is commanded in Scripture to sing to the Lord all types of song which glorify Him. I am one of the few worship leaders who actually incorporate a true blended style of worship in the services. I feel there is great doctrine and theology in the hymns we sing, I also feel there are great contemporary songs which are based on Scripture too. I have been studying the book of Psalms recently and have read it in an entirely new way then ever before. Since Psalms was the “hymnal” back in the day, I have been reading the texts while trying to come up with a tune to go with it. Some are harder than others. It is easy just to sing familiar tunes that have already been put to them like Third Day’s version of Psalm 36. if you’ve never tried this before I encourage you to, it has really made me enjoy the Psalms even more. Anyways…the verses in Ephesians give the importance of using all types of songs for worship. It could be translated today as being “singing old gospel songs, hymns, and praise music! While studying hymnology in school, I learned that some of the hymns we sing today are from old tavern tunes in which the church set the words to to help people learn them. That’s always been funny to me. Do you agree that wanting to sing only one type of music because it is what YOU prefer is a fleshly desire?
Yesterday (Sunday) was very odd for me in church. I just didn’t feel anything! As a worship leader I should be the first person to be in the spirit of worship but I just wasn’t. Why? I have no idea and believe me, the possible reasons kept running through my mind all through the singing, prayers, and sermon. I addressed this with Jessica on the way home from church and she thought the service was great! Was the problem with me? Was the problem with the congregation? I decided to post this personal problem because others I know have done this before. Who cares if I felt something! Worship isn’t about what I feel (at least true worship) Any comments?
O.k. so He (God) may not have actually spoken those words to anyone directly but He has given me that burden to tidy up His house (the church building) and make it more practical for ministry. The three biggest projects I have started in the past six months to do that are coming close to being done. Our Youth Room is now only needing new carpet and it will be done. I reclaimed a storage room and moved the contents to another part of the building where it was better suited, organized the room into a youth and music ministry storage closet. Everything prior to my coming was left out in the youth room and offices. I hate it when things aren’t organized and get in my way. The next big project was completed last Wednesday which was reorganizing the choir room and redo the music library number system. I added room for about 6-8 new chairs in the choir room as we are growing towards an attendance of 30 in choir! As I am writing this, I just completed cleaning out the choir music library of all its antiquated files, music, equipment, etc. that hasn’t been used in 30-40 years! (no joke…some of the stuff was dated in the 60′s and 70′s)
Why should a church be cleaned out? Because if a church is filthy, it shows how well the spiritual life of the church body might be. Is someone going to feel that church is important if they see so much junk lying around the facility? No! For those of you Bayshore readers…join me and the others who have helped in making the church more practical for ministry!
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