No Christian Music

This may be a controversial statement, but THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CHRISTIAN MUSIC. The only thing that exists is "Christian Lyrics".
I know there are some people out there who do not like certain styles of music because they are afraid that it will not please God.

1 Samuel 16:17 says, "The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart"

God does not look at things the way we do. Do not allow the style of music stop your heart from praising God! There are some songs that I hear on regular radio stations that express my feelings to God. I sing them to him. How is that any less worshipful than Amazing Grace?
How is a piano soloist any more worshipful than an electric guitar solo, drum solo, or even a rap artist?

"Give thanks no matter what happens. God wants you to thank him because you believe in Christ Jesus. " 1 Thess. 5:18 (NIrV)

Watching over His Kids

I think about all of the times that I have walked into my kids' rooms to check on them in the morning, and there they were, sleeping peacefully. Sometimes I just love to stand there and watch as they sleep. I am in the room, but they have no idea that I am there. They continue to sleep without knowledge of the presence of their father.
One of the great pleasures in life is watching them sleep, but it is surpassed by the feeling I get when they slowly open their eyes, look at me sleepily, smile and wrap their arms around my neck.

As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. - Psalm 17:15 (TNIV)

Sometimes I feel like that is what happens to the church. The presence of God is in the room, but most people don't know it because they are asleep. They are not paying attention close enough to the Spirit of God to notice He is there wanting to be in their lives.
How many times does God call out our name trying to rouse us out of our own selfish routines? How often do we lay slumbering when God has so much more for us to do and experience?
It is my desire that the church as a whole would "awake" to the presence of God in their lives and be satisfied.

Be the Church

Too many people in this generation have developed a spectator mentality when it comes to church, as if you can just punch your church attendance card and you are set for the week.

I like the way Keith Green put it, "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald's makes you a hamburger."

I suggest that we need to get in the habit of BEING the church instead of just going to church. We need to correct the error of leaving our houses saying, "I'm going to church" and start saying, "I'm going to be with the church."

Being a Christ follower is a 24 hr/day job. God never said it would be easy, in fact this is what he said:

And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Mark 13:13 (NLT)

Don't just go to church and watch. BE THE CHURCH!

Definition of Worship

I would like to share with you a post from evotional.com. I think this hits it right on the head.

Can I share a couple of personal definitions? Worship is bragging about God to God. Evangelism is bragging about God to others. In other words, evangelism is a form of worship. We start bragging about who God is and what God has done as we worship Him. And we don't stop. I know that a lot of Christians feel subconscious guilt about not sharing their faith enough. That really isn't the issue. It's a byproduct of a deeper issue and the issue is this: we don't love God and love others like we could or should. If you really love someone what you really want for them is a relationship with Christ. And the more you love them the more you want it.

Let's go brag about God. Please post your comments.

Worshipping on empty

I have been reading Leading on Empty by Wayne Cordiero recently and it made me think about my own life and question how well I do at recharging my batteries frequently. Then I had this question: What about worshipping on empty?

How many times do you get up and not feel like giving God your best? For some people, worship is recharging in itself. I love to worship, but have you ever been in a service where you say, "you know, the worship didn't so anything for me today."

There are times where it is important to press through in those circumstances and worship anyway. That is when I find my best breakthroughs happen...when the musicians are off and we are singing styles I just don't like. God uses those opportunities to test whether the worship is truly about him or just an enjoyment of the worship team.

If we continue to avoid connection in the worship setting, your relationship is bound to become dry. If you find yourself in a dry time, find some worship music that you do like (CDs, mp3, or just sing yourself) and let it recharge your battery. It is much easier to serve God full than constantly searching for better.

Christ Follower

I just thought I would share this video with you. What are the differences in the way these two look at the world and God?

True Worship

I have been pondering what the true meaning of worship is. Is it just slow songs in church? Is it an attitude? Does it have to do with actions?

I think it is a mixture of attitude and actions.

It goes well beyond just a set of slow songs. That can bring on worship, but just because someone sings a slow song does not mean worship is taking place. What would make a slow song that someone likes in church any different than a soft rock hit on the radio?

True worship evokes a response that brings pleasure to God.

Acts 7:48 "However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands." (NLT)

Worship does not only take place in a church building.

It follows a person whose main desire is to love God and prove it by the way their actions make God smile. So worship takes place in Walmart, in the hair salon, in a theater, at the mechanic's shop, in the bathroom, etc. (I know someone who was filled with the Holy Spirit while on the toilet!) God will take our worship wherever we are.

Performance in Worship

There is definitely a fine line in a worship service that a worship band does not want to cross where the people in the crowd feel it is a performance. There is great validity to this concern. This concern brought to my attention a question that needs to be answered. What makes music a performance? (feel free to leave your thoughts)

• Is it excellence in music?
• Does it feel too much like a concert?
• Is it because people enjoy the style and presentation of the music?
• Do people sense arrogance from the leadership?

It is my opinion that if worship seems like a performance, it might just be because it is. The problem is when people get the wrong perspective. We need to broaden our view of who the performers are. The performance does not come from the band and singers only, but from every person in the room!

A worship service is powerful when every person is focused in to the audience of one, seated on the throne who lives in the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). Angels are constantly presenting a concert of singing and we join in with them.

11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon
thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and
the living creatures and the elders. 12In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" 13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on
earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" 14The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Revelation 5:11-14)

When you think about it, our worship is just joining the performance that is already going on in Heaven.

Manly Worship

What words come to mind when I say the word "elf". Usually the words: cute, short, work, Santa, even Will Ferrell.

Why doesn't hero, cunning, valiant, warrior, manly or macho come to mind? Until 2001. Up to that point elves were only known for working in Santa's workshop and making cookies in a tree for Keebler.

In 2001, elves got a license to be manly. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings came out in the theater. Legolas entered the scene able to fire arrows like a semi-automatic and saves the day multiple times!

Why can't real men worship? Has there been a stigma put on the act of worship? Is it looked at as womanly to worship, just as men are not supposed to cry? Can a man truly feel like a man after coming to church?

What has placed this stigma on worship? Is it the songs? Is it because we sing songs like, "Oh Lord, you're beautiful" or "You're all I want...You're all I've ever needed" or use words like: love, desire, precious and words that men never say to other men?

Today I want to let you know that it is manly to worship God! Joshua (one of the manliest men in the bible) worshipped God when he said "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!" (Joshua 24:2)

Today, I give you the license to break the mold of whatt you think is expected of you and truly worship God. Be who God has made you to be...a lead worshipper.

I was reading a blog this week about modern worship music, and I wanted to share it and get some thoughts from you. I will post my personal thoughts in a few days.

This is from: The Search by Brett McCracken:

"So, as you can see, I have issues with modern worship music. It really pains me, because I want to like it; I want to think that God is pleased by it. But I can’t get over the fact that it is mostly just mediocre, conservative, and stuck in a box. Worship is so much broader than just a “genre” of music that can be “entered in to” as a corporate, religious activity. Worship is much bigger than that—so much so that perhaps the question we should be asking is what isn’t worship?
Here is my non-traditional definition of what we might call worship: Any music, art, or experience that moves us in a transcendent way.
This includes things made by Christians and things made by secular hedonists.This includes wordless music, formless painting, and R rated movies.This includes books, poetry, and just talking. Yes, just chatting with friends.This includes silence—the simple, still, do-nothing, unmediated experience of God."

What are your thoughts on worship as defined by Mr. McCracken? Is he right in his definition?

Here are a few other thoughts he has on modern worship:

• It’s 90% crappy, knock-off Keane or secondhand U2 (i.e. it is usually very predictable and unoriginal)
• It’s an industry. How bizarre and kind of disgusting that branding your music as “worship” and selling it as an “experience” earns the most money in CCM.
• It’s a very fickle, trendy industry. Every month there’s a new “it” song that eventually filters down to every evangelical church across the world… only to be replaced by a new “it” song a month later. No more standards, no more canons.
• It turns its nose up at good writing. Most worship music wallows in bad water imagery, fire metaphor, or pseudo-sexual verbiage (“Jesus your love is ravishing, intoxicating, orgasmic, etc).
• It’s more about creating an emotional response than eliciting a profound spiritual reflection. The measure of a good worship leader is often how many in the audience stand up or raise their hands out of their own volition.
• It’s much too happy and self-satisfied. “Make a joyful noise” does not mean “don’t worry, be happy.” Some of the most beautiful (and yes, joyful) hymns have come from places of sorrow and brokenness (e.g. “It is Well With My Soul”)
• It’s much too focused on the words. Can’t the music be worshipful on its own? Could not an all-instrumental song be just as worshipful as one with lyrics?

Tell me your views, whether you agree or disagree. Are words important to worship? Is it too much about the emotional response?

McCracken, Brett. "The Tragedy of (Most) Modern Worship Music." [Weblog entry.] The Search. 26 Aug 2007. (http://stillsearching.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/the-tragedy-of-most-modern-worship-music/). 16 Feb 2009.

Worship for a new generation

When I was attending a church planters roundtable at Allison Park Church last year, Mark Batterson said something that I will never forget.

"There are ways of doing church that no one has thought of before."

I firmly believe that there are sounds, instruments, and ways of doing worship that no one has ever tried before. It is my desire to find those ways and creatively bring worship in a new way to my Savior.

In this quest, I emailed David Crowder and received an email back surprisingly fast.

I wrote: "You have a lot of interesting beeps and sounds in your music. How would you get someone to learn to make music unique through experimenting with new sounds?"

His response was: "I would suggest a computer program such as Abelton Live, Logic Pro, or Reason. If someone digs into any of those programs, they can stumble onto the beeps and blips pretty readily."

I would love to hear from anyone who uses any of these programs in their worship sets. Let us know how it adds to your sound and worship experience.