To secularize, or not to secularize…
That’s the question. At least, if we’re going by the look and feel of modern worship these days, it seems like that’s the question alot of worship leaders are struggling over. It’s a touchy topic, too. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lead worship (at places not to be named) and been asked by some youth minister with spiky hair to “just start off with a cool song the kids will like.” The rest of the conversation goes like this:
Me: What do you mean?
Spike: Maybe some Fall Out Boy?
Me: Well, that’s not really what we do…
Spike: I think it would really connect with the kids.
Me: Right, but, is that really what the weekend’s abo…
Spike: Look! There’s a girl with a Fall Out Boy t-shirt on! You gotta do it, man. They’ll go nuts.
Me: Well, we don’t even know any of their songs, so I don’t think it’s going to happen.
Spike: Ok, cool man. I trust you (the Christian way telling someone you think they’re about to blow it, but it’s on them.)
Me: Thanks. So, you want to pray before we get started?
Spike: Sure, let me go make sure the Family Guy clips are loaded into the computer first
So, we know we’re supposed to engage people, but how? Scripture tells us clearly that seeker-friendly worship is a bad idea, because there’s really no audience for it (Romans 3:11). 1 Corinthains 14:24-25 tells us that it is when we speak prophesy about God that people are drawn to Him. Clearly we are to engage with the Holy Spirit, not the weekly top 40. The way I see it, in most worship services we have 30-45 minutes to worship the Most High God with singing. I’ve never been able to justify wasting 5 of those minutes singing “fun songs that they’ll like.”
But what if the song relates to the message? I find it funny that when I usually run into this argument, it’s someone who hasn’t suggested a single worship song that relates to the message, just a secular one. I smell a smoke-screen. And if the only song in the whole world that ties into your message is “Since You’ve Been Gone,” then I can’t help but be curious about just how Biblical your message is going to be.
I had a good friend tell me once, “people can find ‘cool’ in a million different places all day long, and the thing is, all of those places do it better than us. But they can only find truth here.” I think there’s alot of wisdom in that. We have to realize that our job is not to have the coolest rooms, or the best bands, or the brightest lights. These things might make alot of people show up weekly. But just like the amount of hands raised in worship, or the number of amens in a sermon say nothing of the actual work of the spirit, the number of people who show up every week says nothing of whether or not they are being discipled. That only happens when God and His Word are made higher, and we, along with our ideas, songs, words, and resources, are made lower.
Just like the (kind of) old song says:
Turn Your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
Never Thirst
I had the opportunity tonight to check out a benefit at 2nd Row Studios. The benefit was for an organization called Never Thirst. It’s a pretty incredible organization. Their goal is to support local churches in impoverished areas around the world by giving them the opportunity to provide clean drinking water to their communities. Through these opportunities, local churches are able share the love of Christ with people in their communities. Never Thirst is unlike any organization that I know of. 100% of the money that they raise goes to the field. Not one penny of it goes to pay staff or toward administrative costs. God has blessed them with a board of directors that has chosen to take care of all of those costs in order to further the spread of the Gospel.
You can check out Never Thirst here: http://www.neverthirstwater.org. Be sure to watch some of the videos. You can also see some of the photos documenting Never Thirst’s work in India at http://www.jasonwallis.com/
-Matt-
Think Like A Jock (worship is a team sport)
I love sports and cant really keep my self from using the terms i picked up in my “glory days” in everyday conversation.
Starting with day one of my internship, I was brought on right before a very large worship gathering involving students called “brighter days”. It was very hands on and involved set wise. Jim had said “hey i need YOU to own all this” which was not a prob at all. Shortly after was when i realized how serious the people i worked with took the title “worship TEAM”. The whole worship staff started doing little parts of my job when they had finished theirs, without me asking! Awesome, i was really blown away by their selflessness.
This is what i would call my “freshman spring training” or “two a days”. You show up and are kinda scared, thrown into a new system, and the older guys tease you about your backpack. But in this case the older guys also show you they care, and want to make things easier for you, they want you to know that you are part of the team.
my family
OK—if you are spending time reading this, I think it would be good to begin by introducing you to my family. First, my wife, Amy–she is a perfect help-mate for me as we raise our family and constantly strive for God to be glorified in our home. She graduated from Samford University in Birmingham and is about 6 months younger than I am. We met just after her high-school graduation on a mission trip to Kenya. Hope to add a photo later, once I learn how to do it. We dated on and off through college and married shortly after her graduation. She is mom and teacher to our 4 boys. She is also my favorite singer when I can talk her into it. She stays really busy, so it’s not that easy.
The Boys—Fisher (13), Jude (8), Tripp (7) and Levi (4) are our children. They are a source of tremendous joy to Amy and I and we have a great time being together as a family. Our family is our primary hobby and we spend a lot of time around the table together. They all have various interests, but we all share a common love of music. The two older boys play instruments and we all like to sing.
choir
Choir at Brook Hills is a bit different. We don’t have choir year round—we normally do it in two semesters (Fall and Spring). We rehearse once a week and sing about once per month. We just finished the semester of choir this week. WOW—what an incredible group. This past Fall, we shifted our focus away from 2 hours of intense rehearsal to more Bible study, prayer/worship and then rehearsal. I was initially a bit nervous about this transition, but I know that God led us this way.
For those who know me, I am a BIG rehearser. Our rehearsal times ended up being about 1 hour of rehearsal and about 30 minutes in the word and prayer. What a difference a year makes. The transformation of this group has been beautiful to see over the past year. We have all grown in understanding more about our role in our worship gatherings and God used this ministry in a huge way to lead our church in celebration of who He is. What a blessing they are to the local body of believers gathered here each week.
Public Service Announcement
We get a lot of questions about the following topic, so I thought I’d help spread the word.
“That girl that sang ______” is likely Mandi Mapes.
And “that song that she sang” is likely one that she wrote.
Also, no, she does not have a CD. At least not yet.
I definitely do not fault anyone for calling or emailing to ask about her and her music. Mandi is one of the coolest people I know. She’s an intern currently – with our worship staff until August. She’s truly gifted in songwriting. Her ability to take the word and make truth into music is amazing. Until I met Mandi, I never really believed that songwriting is a “gift”. I kind of thought that if you sat down and put your mind to it, you could write a good song. Then, along came Mandi. She’s got a gift. Anyone who can take a topic like “church discipline” and make a hip, relevant, and yet deep song out of it has got some sort of gift.
So, if you see her singing, come on down and get to know her. Who knows, maybe she’ll work your conversation into a future song lyric.
My Story
Hey. I’m Steven. Here’s my story.
I grew up in a Christian home. My parents took me to church from the time I could remember. We were there every time the door opened. I was a good kid, never really got in trouble. (You’ve heard this story before, huh?) Well, anyway, when I was about 7, I was saved. Basically, I didn’t want to go to hell, so I “prayed the prayer.” I didn’t understand all the ins and outs of it, but I know that Christ saved me then. As I grew up, I began to have some doubts. Around age 12 or so, I was struggling with “was my faith real, was I really saved?” I know that it was a turning point for me. At that point, I think I really began walking with Christ. Finished high school, went to college, went on some mission trips, led worship here and there. Lots of opportunities to serve, but there wasn’t a whole lot of spiritual growth. Got married and then two months later, my dad passed away suddenly. He was my best friend. We were very close. He was in good shape too, so it was quite a shock. I was stunned, but within a few minutes of finding out, I had a peace. I knew that from now on life would be different, but I knew that God was in control. From that point on, I have grown more and more in my relationship with Christ. I now have absolute confidence in His sovereignty. I know that He is faithful, and that He has a plan. Since that time, God has allowed me to overcome some MAJOR hurdles of sin in my life. I have learned more of how to trust Him everyday.
praise teams
I get a lot of questions about the types of vocal ministries we have at Brook Hills. So, I thought it would be a good idea to give you a little bit of info here. We have three primary vocal configurations we use on a rotation at Brook Hills. Praise Team, Solo Background Vocalist and Choir. Our Praise Team ministry consists of 30 singers who are divided into 5 teams. We typically have 2 singers per part. These singers are auditioned musicians and sing parts by ear and read music. Many of them are strong soloists, too. These singers serve in a deacon role at Brook Hills and are considered leading servants within worship ministry. They are a part of our larger choir ministry and have additional rehearsals as a Praise Team singer. We memorize scripture and study the Word together weekly. Many people in this ministry have been a part of it for a long time. I have deep relationships and have shared ministry for a long time with several of these folks.
Another small vocal group we have a Brook Hills is Solo Background Vocalists. This is 3-4 female singers who will lead with myself and my associate, Steven, as a single voice. These singers have strong gifts of worship leading and good ad lib instincts as well.
song writing: part 1
Song writing. Before i even begin to talk about the subject, first let me confess my lack of knowledge when it comes to anything music. When people ask me, “Hey, have you heard of that band…?” my response 98% of the time is, “Uh.. nope.” And even if I have heard of the band, for example, death cab for cutie, I still couldn’t name a single song that they play. On top of my bandology deficiency, I can’t read music. In fact, in my one semester as a music major, I have consistently remembered nothing except maybe a few funny acronyms, ex: All Cows Eat Grass, Fat Cats Go Down Allies Eating Buritos.
This week I’m working on a song that was left on the cutting room floor from a few months ago. I was inspired to write it based on what God has taught me in the last year at Brook Hills. The song is about people who have never heard the Gospel, kings and presidents who exchange truth for corruption and kids who are seeking to be loved. Who will get up and deal with these realities?
I think the words are complete, but I’m not married to the melody and it may be that the whole chord progression just needs to go. Song writing is a lot like cooking , even though I don’t know a thing about cooking. Just follow with me. 
In song writing there are three main ingredients: words, chords, melody. The fun of it all is that you are allowed to play around with all three ingredients.
The first thing I almost always throw into the pot are the chords. Note: If you want to write a song, but you don’t know how to play an instrument. Learn how. You don’t have to be awesome, just learn your basic chords on guitar or ask someone to show you a few chord progressions on the piano and start with that. Sometimes I’ll sit at a piano for hours playing the same chords over and over again, thinking about what I want to say and humming melodies that merge together with the chords.
Today was one of those days. I sat and I played. I hummed melodies. I prayed about stuff. I listened to the sound of the leaf blower that comes through the worship center to blow all the trash to the front of the room. Nothing. No brilliant ideas. No tear jerking crescendos. Just the same old song I started out with. Maybe I’m just not supposed to change anything about it… Maybe God’s trying to teach me that the significance of a song doesn’t actually depend on perfection but on the heart of the person God is trying to perfect.
new blog
Well, Brook Hills is launching a new website this month, hopefully. We have been busy gathering all of the info we want on the web, etc. I’m pumped about this as a more interactive way to communicate and share what God is doing individually in our lives and within our ministry. One of the new aspects of the website is blogging. I think I am technically too old to be a blogger, but I’m going to give it a whirl anyway. The staff and interns will also be contributing to the blog. I hope this blog will be informative and will help you with study, with resources, with your ministry and with life . . .