Worship

“That Was ‘Good’ Worship”

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I’ve been so humbled by so many comments from Sunday’s worship services.  People have gone out of their way to say how impacting the time was, how we should have just kept singing for a few more hours, how tears of joy were flooding their eyes as we sang to our King.  Most of people commented, “that was ‘good’ worship.”

I’m not gonna lie.  I thought we were about to sing the roof off that place all 3 times Sunday morning.  I personally almost sang myself back into tonsillectomy rehab cause I just couldn’t hold it back.  But was it really “good” worship?

Sure, I loved the song selections.  The band was smoking and played the dynamics just right.  The singers nailed their parts.  The choir sounded like an angelic force to be reckoned with.  The congregation was outsinging all the microphones on stage.  It was loud.  It was engaging.  It was powerful.

But was it really “good” worship?

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One Worship Team’s Task

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“And he [Jesus] had to pass through Samaria.” -John 4:4

It was the shortest of ways for Jesus to travel. Traveling through Samaria would be shortest distance geographically, but most Jews would bypass that city because of their disdain for the Samaritans. Racial stereotypes kept most religious Jewish leaders out of that city.

But Jesus had to go through that way. He had work there.

In that city, he didn’t feed the masses or heal numbers of people, he spent time with a loose woman by a well. She had been married numerous times and was living with a man who was not her husband at the time. As Jesus was sitting by the well, she came his way, and she would never be the same again.

In this amazing passage, John chronicles Jesus’ uncanny knack for reaching people far away from God. As he draws her in, she begins to realize she is not dealing with your average passerby. When she realizes this fact, she begins to discuss one of Scripture’s worship wars. These feuds about how worship should be done didn’t start when drums were brought into a sanctuary; they’ve been around a while.

“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

“Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do now know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:20-24).

Did you catch it? She was more focused on when and where and how worship should take place. Worship happens when it’s in this location in a certain type of way and it doesn’t happen when it’s different than what is expected. Jesus reveals that worship cannot be confined to preferences. It is not manmade. It is not manufactured. It is a lifestyle. It is on God’s preferences and not our own.

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One Worship

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Today, we worshiped to: The Longer I Serve Him The Heart of Worship – Matt Redman Sing to the King – Billy Foote Amazing Grace – North Side Worship How Great is Our God – Bethany Dillon How Great Thou Art – Paul Baloche 3 services, 2 buildings, 1 flowsheet.  One worship. Today was incredible.  After Michael George gave us

Worship Vocal Workshop

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Due to me being unable to lead worship practice this week, we had a guest lecturer, Paul Baloche, to teach on worship vocals.  As we are focusing on worship value #3: capability – leading with excellence, Paul provides some great tips on leading worship as a vocal team.  Hope you enjoy!

Pass the Microphone

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You may or may not have heard, but I’m getting my tonsils and adenoids taken out next week.   I was reminded why on Sunday.  As I woke up, my throat was so dry and painful that I could barely sing by the time I got to church.

The good thing was I didn’t have to sing that much.

As worship pastor at North Side, I really never sing “lead” on every song we do.  I’m only the lead on a few songs of our worship CDs.  Visiting ministers have asked me why, that as the worship pastor, am I not leading all, or even most, of the songs and everyone else singing backup?

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Tis the Season to Be Involved

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Since Christmas decorations started going up in stores 3 months ago, I guess it’s time to start thinking Christmas time around the ol’ church house as well.  Our worship team has been doing some praying and planning as of late, and what we have realized is if we are going to pull off what we have in mind for the

Some Day Soon – Storytellers

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“Some Day Soon” is the last track on the Overcome album.  It is kind of a funny story how it came about.  One day, the power at the office went out.  We had no electricity, internet, or phone service for the day.  This was around the time we were trying to finish up tracking for Overcome.  I cleared the whiteboard and tried to finalize track listing.  As I came close to finishing, I realized there wasn’t a blatant song about the hope with Christ’s return and our trip home.  Elements were throughout the album, but it wasn’t explicit anywhere.

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Tolerating Mediocre Talent in Church

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We’ve all been there.  Sunday morning, the soloist gets up to perform the special music.  It’s not that it’s not your style, it’s the fact that it hurts.  This person simply cannot sing.  For whatever reason, they got the chance to sing a solo, and you are wishing they were singing so low you couldn’t hear them (sorry, I couldn’t

Present Help – Storytellers

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This edition of storytellers from the Overcome album focuses on a song called “Present Help.”  This is the 3rd recording project this song has been used on.  I actually wrote this song in college.  I started working on it in the piano lab around 1999 or 2000 (whoa, I’m getting old).

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Worship You – Storytellers

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  “Worship is a way to live rather than something to do.  Walking with the Lord makes us overflow with His praises!” -Angela McCall As lead vocalist on this track, Angela has really taken this song to another level.  She has brought so much passion and direction for the song. The song was written as a desire to write a

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