the evangelistic power of worship

here is a good article by rick warren. it's states an interesting view on how our services must be both meaningful worship for believers and seeker-sensitive. he even says that paul calls the church to be "seeker-sensitve." definitely worth the read.

play youtube videos in worship

my bassist e-mailed me a pretty cool plug-in for converting internet files. you can convert url to many file formats (ie. .pdf > .doc). you can also convert video files from pages like youtube into many different media formats (mp3, mpg, etc.) so if you find a video of a rare live performance you can convert it to mp3 and listen any time you want. or if you find a video you'd love to use at your gathering (ie. sermon illustration) you can convert it to mpeg and play it using your projection software.

here is the browser button.

here is a video showing the features of the program.

enjoy

East Texas Worship with Paul Baloche

Had a chance to visit Community Christian Fellowship in little Garden Valley, TX several weeks ago. It was about a 2-hour drive for my wife and daughter, and we struck out early one Sunday through winding East Texas roads in search of this non-descript congregation. The draw? Besides being located in a ministry mecca (Lindale/Garden Valley is/was home to World Challenge, Teen Challenge, Teen Mania, Mercy Ships, Keith Green, Leonard Ravenhill, et all), CCF is also the home church of worship leader Paul Baloche, whose songs most of us sing any given Sunday. I had emailed him some time back to find out when he would be home, and managed to schedule my trip around that particular date.

Some interesting notes:

• The church building itself was nothing extraordinary - not the megachurch edifice you'd expect with a musician of his magnitude (cf. Israel Houghten). The place was packed - SRO - but we managed to find a seat.
• Musicians were great, but obviously not professionals. Ordinary folk.
• The congregation were mostly sub-30-something, and (as I learned from the pastor) comprised largely of community people (as opposed to commuters like me).
• The service? Intimate, unpolished, authentic worship. No lights, no drama, no show. No "concert feel". In fact, you'd never know the guy up front was anything extraordinary (albeit obviously gifted).

My reflections? Professional musicians/artists have little interest to me unless they intimately connected to a local church. I don't think God needs more CCM artists. But he does need more local church leaders. Also, my visit brought some corrective to the notion that "worship" needs to be novel, polished, show-y, and entertaining. On the contrary, we all see through that, and it feels contrived and insincere.

so...a song i wrote...sort of

yesterday we traveled down to grand prairie family church to do their service. levi preached and i lead the singing with meagan and heather, and a few from their band. the worship went great and levi's message, based on matthew 22 (love God...love your neighbor as yourself) was awesome. as part of the service order i had put in "response song" after the message. i didn't know what i was going to do, even that morning. this is not my normal planning practice but for some reason i couldn't think of a song that would say what we wanted to say at the end. we decided before the service that we would just do "amazing grace (my chains are gone)" again, a song we did in the worship set.

all through the message i was just thinking and thinking, what do we need to say in response to this message? levi was talking about how we in american churches get so wrapped up in doing church stuff with church people that we don't impact those in the world that are really in need. he said this is totally not the way Christ lived. He hung out with those that were the outcasts. He hung out with tax collectors, prostitutes, samaritans, etc. He loved them and talked with them about the kingdom of God. He did not spend all His time in the temple or with religious people. He spent most of His time with sinners. then a question formed in my head (whether it was from levi directly i don't know), could it be that we don't interact with those that are outcasts because we aren't looking for them? and a phrase popped in my head: "who do you see? i want to see." so i was working on that thought for the response song. at the end of the sermon levi was closing and said "i want you to close your eyes and think about your life. think about who you can impact with the love of Christ." and then he said, "jonathan is going to come up and sing a song about grace"... so now i have to put grace in the song, i thought, and immediately came the phrase i wanna be Your grace.

so i get up on stage and just start singing what comes to mind and this is what happened:

who, who did you see
i, i wanna see
who, who did you touch
i, i wanna touch
who, who did you love
i, i wanna love
who, who did you show grace
i, i wanna be Your grace

i wanna be Your grace
i wanna be Your grace

show me
those around me
who are living
like i used to be


i don't necessarily like the "like i used to be" line for the finished version of the song. i guess i wanted to get across the idea that once we join the cause of Christ we are not the same, so the prayer is "God show me those around me that are not living life with You." i'll definitely keep
working with it but was pretty pumped that it came together. i asked levi afterward what he thought and he said, "i hope he remembers it next time." he was worried that when i got around to repeating it i wouldn't remember what i sang. lol

i don't recommend doing this. it is very nerve racking for that very reason. however, this is the second time i've written a song like this. next time, i'll post the other song.

before there were words...

Hey guys and gals,

i just got the new "live at radio city" blu-ray with dave matthews and tim reynolds. amazing! i have a lot of bootlegs of his shows (he allows tapers at his shows so it's not illegal), but it's really cool to see him perform the songs that i've grown to love in a more laid back setting with tim.

there's a new song that they've been doing called "eh hee" which is based off an experience he had in africa. he and his family traveled into the back woods, with tour guides and translators, where they got to see a tribe called cora san (don't know if that's how you spell it or not).

when night came the people gathered around and the women started singing these songs. dave said they were in scales that he'd never heard before. they were just singing, and then the men started dancing. he was in awe. he said that he began talking to the translator, asking what the songs were about. the translator said, this one is about the rain, and this one's about when the zebra comes around. dave said, what's the words. and the translator said, these songs were written before there were words.

before there were words...

there is an amazing thought. this tribe of people has been singing since the beginning of their existence. they didn't need words, but they had to sing. i think that's one of the reasons we sing in our worship of God. we have to. we can't help ourselves. the cora san people have been singing since the beginning and the people of God have been singing as well. once they had words they began writing them down and we get to have them in the hebrew song book, Psalms. we also have new songs that are being written. why? because God cannot be contained in one song, or one style, or one era. every day His mercies are new and we must sing. the psalms are filled with the phrase, i will sing a new song. we have to because our God is a living God. He moves within the hearts of His people and they must tell others about it.

there is a great hymn of our faith that was inspiration for a new chris tomlin song of the same title, how can i keep from singing. songs of praise have always been a part of human history and we must never stop.

how can i keep from singing (tomlin)

there is an endless song
echoes in my soul
i hear the music ring
and though storms may come
i am holding on
to the rock i cling

how can i keep from singing Your praise?
how can i ever say enough?
how amazing is Your love?
how can i keep from shouting Your name?
i know i am loved by the King
and it makes my heart want to sing

i will lift my eyes
in the darkest night
for i know my Savior lives
snd i will walk with You
knowing You see me through
and sing the songs You give

i can sing in the troubled times
sing when i win
i can sing when i lose my step
and i fall down again
i can sing 'cause You pick me up
sing 'cause You're there
i can sing 'cause You hear me, Lord
when i call to You in prayer
i can sing with my last breath
sing for i know
that i'll sing with the angels
and the saints around the throne


may you sing the songs of our faith and find new songs written in your heart by the Creator. have a blessed week.

Interesting site

I just wanted to know what anyone thought about this blog entitled "What I Wish I Could Tell Every Worship Leader."

I feel as if there is a constant struggle within me between worship that is aimed at nonbelievers and worship that is aimed at the saints. The purpose is to point both to worshipping God, but the language, look, and style can be very different depending on group.Furthermore, I haven't seen both successfully done in one setting, which is probably why a church plant is so appealing to me. I saw a worship service on my one channel of television (yes, only one channel but I do get football) last week of a very large baptist church in the area. The worship leader was obviously a very talented young guy with a contemporary style, nice voice, and nice band. The only problem was the church did not follow him. They pretty much stood there as he sang. The members looked to be individuals who fell under the "saints" category while his song presentation was more oriented towards the "new believer/unbeliever" category of "15-35 year olds." As we have visited numerous churches over the past year, I have seen this mismatch occur. There are worship leaders who want so badly to do Hillsong that they end up being two steps out in front of their church, or they are doing a worship set that is more appropriate for a church with a different vision. I gues my thought is that you can't be what your church is not. I'm not sure if I agree with this next statement or not but I will say it since it's what's on my mind, but Worship is not the place to determine the vision and direction of the church but it's a place to express the vision and mission. If you're church is serving in the community and bringing people to Christ, there will be an expression and an excitement in the worship time. If it is not, you can't create that excitement no matter how many Chris Thomlin songs you encorporate (unless you're from a charismatic tradition and then it's a part of the culture). Anyhow, check out this blog as I'd like to know your thoughts on what this pastor says.
http://shawnlovejoy.typepad.com/shawn_lovejoy/2007/08/what-i-wish-i-c.html

Forever Song

hey everyone

i'd like to share a song with you. this past year at powerline church in nc we had an ash wednesday service. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent which is a season of preparation before Easter. it is 40 days before Easter, not counting Sundays (so it's really 46 days before Easter). at the end of our worship, we read Psalm 103. now, i had read the psalm when i was planning the order and everything but when i read it in the liturgy, it was so incredible. ash wednesday is a time of reflecting on our need for grace. another psalm that is read is psalm 51 which is david's cry for forgiveness: create in me a clean heart o God, and renew a right spirit within me. we also read a prayer together that asks God to forgive our sins, individual and corporate. so when we get to the end of the service it has been a very solemn time of realizing how much we are in need of grace, and to be honest, being reminded of how much we don't deserve it. but when we got to Psalm 103 it was incredible. listen to verse 8-11:

the Lord is merciful and gracious
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love
He will not always accuse
nor will He keep his anger forever
He does not deal with us according to our sins
nor repay us according to our iniquitie
for as the heavens are high above the earth
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear Him (nrsv)

it was an awesome time of worship. so the next day, i was inspired to write a song based on verses 1-5.

bless the Lord, o my soul
and all that is within me bless His holy name
bless the Lord, o my soul
and do not forget all His benefits
who forgives all your iniquity
who heals all your diseases
who redeems your life form the pit
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy
who satisfies you with good as long as you liv
so that your youth is renewed like th eagle's (nrsv)

i loved the "who" language. the who is not a question but an attempt by the psalmist to help the reader remember what he's done. "He's the God who forgives all your iniquity, the one who..." i thought it was very unique.

so here's my song lyrics and video of our band playing it.

Forever Song
Jonathan Sprang and Larry Rogers

VERSE
who forgives all our sin
who cleans the stain within
who takes the sting of death
and makes me live again

who loves without end
who calls me His friend
who satisfies my soul
as long as i live
as long as i live

CHORUS
bless the Lord
my soul's forever song
Loving One
i know my only hope is God's own Son
Loving One
Loving One

BRIDGE
before there was time
there lived a Loving One
and at the end of time
we'll see the Loving One



if you'd like chord charts for the song you can leave a comment and i'll get them to you.

blessings