What I Learned from Leading WorshipGod08 | Worship Matters

I wasn't able to attend the WorshipGod08 Conference, but one thing Bob Kauflin says in his recap struck me as something I'll want to remember and remind others during worship:

...the Holy Spirit doesn’t leave the room when we make mistakes.

Church Matters: The 9Marks Blog

The following thoughts are from Greg Gilberts post at Church Matters: The 9Marks Blog:

There’s a whole generation of young people out there now, though, who aren’t emotionally affected by words, whose fires are only stoked when those words are accompanied by great rhythms, skilled instrumentation, and a certain well-recognizable mood that typically accompanies Christian “praise-and-worship.” And the result is that you have young people church-hopping around town, and one of the main criteria of their shopping is “the worship,” by which more often than not they mean “the music.” You have young Christians feeling discouraged because—despite the fact that they sit under faithful preaching of the word Sunday after Sunday—they say they haven’t “felt close to God” in so long. Maybe there’s something important going on there. But there’s also a good chance, I’d argue, that they just haven’t had a good endorphin rush since the last conference they attended.

I am really afraid that we’ve managed to create a generation of anemic Christians who are spiritually dependent on excellent music. Their sense of spiritual well-being is based on feeling “close to God,” their feeling close to God is based on their “ability to worship,” and being able to worship depends on big crowds singing great music.

I encourage reading this post followed by Bob Kauflin's response.

Bob Kauflin and Tim Smith

Tim Smith leads worship at Mars Hill church in Seattle. 6 minutes video. Worth your time.

John Piper on Music in the Church

In this 5 minute video, Piper shares his heart on music in the church and introduces Bob Kauflin.

Bob Kauflin Videos on Music and Worship

While I'm on vacation I have arranged to have a couple of helpful videos of Bob Kauflin teaching on worship appear here today and tomorrow. I hope you find them as helpful as I have. This video is entitled Who's Glory Do We Make Music For?

Blessings,
West

Spontaneous and Prophetic Songs | Worship Matters

This and more thoughts on worship leading from my friend Bob Kauflin at Worship Matters:

"If you lead corporate worship, my hope is that you believe the Holy Spirit can work not only through what you’ve planned, but also through leadings and impressions that occur during the meeting. Without being dependent on them or exaggerating their importance, they’re one more way God can demonstrate the overflow of his love which was most clearly demonstrated in the substitutionary death of the Savior at Calvary."

Reflections on Leading Worship at Together for the Gospel

Bob Kauflin's reflections on planning and leading worship at T4G. Check out his blog at Worship Matters.

Preview Videos of Worship Matters - Bob Kauflin

Below are videos of my friend Bob Kauflin giving a taste of his new book, Worship Matters.

The Leader


The Task


Healthy Tensions


Right Relationships

You and You Alone - Review

Pat Sczebel is an associate pastor at Crossway Community Church and a worship songwriter. He is the author of one of my favorite songs - His Forever, which you can download for free HERE. Pat and his son Joel recorded an album last year entitled You and You Alone. Pat sent me a copy to recently to review on the blog, so here I go. (If you want another review, check out Bob Kauflin's.)

Trust in You
A fast 4/4 rock n' roll anthem, very youthful about God's sovereign rule over all creation and our trust in him. In my opinion, should have been called "You Reign" since that is the predominant phrase. The strong lyrics match the attitude of the young, sold out heart of the singer:

In joy and in suffering
Always I'll keep singing
You are good
Jesus, you are good

Over All
Laid back, 4/4 southern rock tune declaring to God is sovereign, is seated on the throne, that none can thwart his plan, for he is "over all".

Yesterday, Today, and Forever
A medium tempo, 4/4 Scripture song; too wordy in my opinion on the verses, but the chorus is memorable.

The Greatest of All
A slower 6/8 swing that borrows lyrics from Fanny Crosby's "Redeemed How I Love to Proclaim It". Great lyrics, but the slightly jazzy, B-3 based accompaniment seems stylistically juxtaposed to the emotion of gratitude of the song.

In You
A relaxed, guitar-based, 4/4 celebration of God's grace, mercy, shelter, forgiveness, love and rest.

I Surrender All
As the title says, a song of aspiration to give everything to Jesus, because Jesus laid down his life, purchased our freedom, and made us heirs. Stylistically, the song bears a kind of sultry jazz feel, freely borrowing some diminished and major 7 chords here and there.

You Are Good
A bass guitar 1/8 note driven singable tune that begins with a screaming bottle neck electric guitar a la U2's "Bullet the Blue Sky". A creative song; memorable. Rejoices in the incarnation, the atonement, and God's gracious and merciful commitment to defend and forgive us. Download it HERE.

Lord, You Are Gracious
A piano-based ballad led by nice female vocals. The electric guitars and drums are kind of overkill for my taste. Great lyrics with a memorable melody. Very sweet. Moved my heart.

Your Son was perfect,
Blamelessness itself.
Father, you turned your face away;
You bruised and crushed him,
That I might know your grace
For all my days.

You Alone
A 3/4 modern hymn with a short refrain at the end of every verse; very, very nice! Only electric guitar accompaniment with lots of chorus effects. A hymn of aspiration. Rehearses the gospel as if the worshiper is standing before God's throne.

You and you alone
Will be my song,
Will be my joy forever.
Take all of my days,
I give my life
To bring you praise.

Jesus, You Are Beautiful
An easy-listening tune that goes back and forth between Dmaj7 and Gmaj7, then heads into the album's characteristic heavy drums and guitar sound. It's kind of weird to mix these styles to me. It also bothers me that Pat breathes between beauti and ful. I have a pet peeve about that kind of thing.
Lyrically, the song is reminiscent of Tim Hughes' "Here I Am to Worship":

Son of God you saved me,
Rescued me out of darkness;
Caused these blinded eyes to see
Just how beautiful you are.

But the song's theme is that Jesus is beautiful, and I love him because he first loved me. No matter how it's sung stylistically, such truth is never hard to enjoy singing.

Critique
The album closes with an recording of a small group singing "I Surrender All" accompanied by just acoustic guitar. When I first heard the CD a few days ago, my first thought and wish was that the entire album had been a recording of the church singing these songs. So hearing this last song done this way was relief. The whole album seemed over-produced, sounding a little too ambitious to me. The drums and guitars too heavy. The timing was off in a few places, and the singing got pitchy here and there. However, the Sczebels aren't trying out for American Idol. They are trying to provide "doctrinally rich, Christ-exalting, contemporary songs for worship". In this regard , they've met their goal. And I plan to use a couple of these songs (Lord, You Are Gracious and You Alone) in worship services at my church.

Thank God for Sovereign Grace Ministries, Bob Kauflin, and Joel and Pat Sczebel. I pray that God will continue to use them to bring us new songs.

What Is Surprising About Worship - Bob Kauflin

Many people are familiar Bob Kauflin. He has been publishing Worship Matters, which has evolved from a very helpful weekly article to a blog, for many, many years. I am grateful for his friendship, his pastoral heart for songwriters and worship leaders, and his pursuit of God-glorifying worship.

If you've been reading my blog lately, you know why I'm about to say - that I asked him a question: What is the most surprising thing you've learned about worship?

Here's his answer:

The most surprising thing I’ve learned about worship is that there is nothing about our worship that isn’t defined, governed, affected, and made possible by Jesus Christ. For years my thinking about worship started with what we do, what we bring, what we feel, and what we want. It’s been revolutionary for me to consider and rejoice in the fact that Jesus offered the once and for all perfect sacrifice to God at Calvary, and that through him, all our offerings of worship are now accepted by God.

SBTS: Past Lectures

Click HERE to download lectures from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's Institute for Christian Worship. Luminary teachers include Ron Man, Harold Best, Ken Myers, Kevin Twit, Mathew Smith, Robert Webber, and many others, including some personal friends like Keith & Kristyn Getty, John Frame, Bob Kauflin, and Reggie Kidd.

Heart Attitudes for the Worship Team MP3 DOWNLOAD

"Idolatry is the root sin behind wrong heart attitudes. The worship ministry lends itself to certain temptations that the worship leader needs to help his people guard against.

In this message, Bob Kauflin speaks about why people should serve in a worship team: because of God’s call, by his grace, and for his glory. Bob invites worship leaders to allow the Holy Spirit to do surgery on their own heart attitudes first."

© 2002 Sovereign Grace Ministries

Matt Casada, our Director of Music Ministries for Students, and I took the CSPC worship bands on a retreat a while back and listened to Bob's talk on heart attitudes. Very helpful. Download it for free here.

Whose Glory Do We Make Music For?

This recent post with downloadable video from Bob Kauflin answers questions like:
“How do we know whether we’re successful as a musician or not? What standards do we use? Does being a Christian musician mean we only play or sing songs that reference our faith in Christ? If that’s true, then can someone glorify God as a member of a symphony orchestra or a jazz trio?”

Bob goes on to say,
It doesn’t matter whether we make music for the church on Sunday morning, for a recording, or in some completely different context. Our musical gifts are just that - gifts. May our music making, no matter where it happens, always be a humble servant’s response to the Gospel and bring glory to the Giver of all gifts.

The Holy of Holies - Are We There Yet?

I wrote my friend, Bob Kauflin, who is the Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries, to ask him to further develop his thoughts for me regarding entering the holy of holies now that we are on this side of the cross. From previous statements he's given, I wanted to know more. You can click here to go to his blog where he answers my question.

Worship Matters

I asked Bob Kauflin about the extent to which national holidays should influence our worship services. My question and his answer are posted on his blog.

The Call of the Christian Musician

My friend Bob Kauflin has spent many years in music ministry. If you are a church musician, click here to read his conference notes on the call of a Christian musician.

Good thoughts on Christmas

Check Bob Kauflin's new post on Christmas.