I’m currently at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA, with 1600 men for "The Quest: A Journey Through Biblical Masculinity." It’s a conference being hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries, but we have a significant number of guests. I have the privilege of leading corporate worship three times along with my good friend Joseph Stigora. I’ve also been asked to teach a seminar on "The Pursuit: A Fresh Look at Courtship for Fathers and Sons." I’m happy to encourage young men to give more thought to pursuing a woman in a way that pleases God, and challenging dads to serve their sons in the process. One of the highlights for me yesterday was meeting Shai Lynn, an African-American Christian rapper from Philadelphia who told me how much he enjoys
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Someone wrote me to ask a question about the use of candles in congregational worship. As we are approaching a time of year when many congregations use candles, this is a timely question. Often, however, the way we ask a question can significantly affect the answer we arrive at.
I am starting to see candles used more and more in the services. Now, I know that the Bible never says not to use them, however, my concern comes in with how the world views the use of candles today…The only use of candles in the world today is for mystical and new age experiences. What is the church communicating when we turn off the lights and light candles sitting in an unorganized way? The use of candles seems to suggest
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West asked this question in the comments section of a previous post:
I was wondering what your thoughts were on how to, if at all, include lamenting in our present context. Should we grow in this area of worship? Does it mean that there is an "over-realized eschatology" in our worship if we don’t? A tendency to lean too heavily on the "not yet" instead of the "now" of our faith and Christian experience?…How do we (if we should at all) join the saints of old, and sit in the ashes as a congregation to weep before God?
His question included a reference to an interview with Michael Card, where he refers to lament as the “lost language of worship.”
Scripture is filled with the anguished cries of those who feel forgotten
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At the WorshipGod06 conference, and a number of times since then, I’ve been asked to recommend a basic reading list for worship pastors and musicians. While no book can replace the study of God’s Word itself, other books can help us grasp biblical truths more clearly so that we return to Scripture with renewed vigor and faith. Here are a few books that I think are helpful, although I know many more could be added. This is just to get you started. I’ve listed them by category, starting with books that are smaller and more introductory in nature, and ending with books that are a more challenging (but very fruitful!) read. By the way, I wouldn’t agree with everything in each of these books, but I don’t think the authors
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Josh wrote in to ask:
As far as an audition goes I was wondering if you had any specific suggestions on the best way to hold an audition. Should it be with the band? A one on one audition? A song that they would like to sing or something you would like them to sing (or play if it’s an instrumentalist)? Just some questions I had about the practical way to do this.
The most important thing to remember about auditions is this: Adding a member to the team is always easier than taking them off. God hasn’t required us to use a specific instrument or vocal part in praising him, so we shoudln’t feel any pressure to add a drummer/guitarist/pianist/alto ASAP to the team.
Auditions will certainly look different depending on …
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I received this question from a leader who recently had a young girl sing a very off-key solo in his church. He had worked with her to improve her pitch, but it was to no avail. Her parents didn’t recognize how poorly she sang, so he wrote:
How do you deal with a scenario like this? Singing is evidently not a gift that this girl possesses, yet her parents encourage her. I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone in this family, but should I continue to allow her to sing in services? If not, how would you recommend dealing with this issue should it arise again? I have no problem being “confrontational,” but I certainly don’t want to dash hopes or discourage this young lady or her family
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Jay, who is serving as a youth intern, wrote in to ask:
I have been searching and searching for songs which have theological depth and substance but it has been quite the challenge in looking through the modern worship scene. I have found Sovereign Grace Music and the songs of Townend and Getty to be a huge help. But what I am asking is, what would you suggest for the next 10 or so songs that we could add to our youth group worship service?
I’ll start by making a few general recommendations, then suggest specific songs. It’s worth picking up any CD by Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Indelible Grace, and the new Matthew Smith CD. Paul Baloche’s latest, A Greater Song, has some fine songs on it …
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I’ve been getting some great questions by e-mail recently, and am looking forward to sharing my thoughts on them in the coming weeks. This one came from Phil:
I recently looked at the lyrics to songs on a 2006 worship song compilation CD. There were 33 songs on the CD. Of these, only nine mentioned the cross at all, and only five mentioned what the cross actually did (i.e., achieved forgiveness of sins)…Is the trend among contemporary songs to omit the cross, or to mention it briefly, in passing (maybe only one line, a sort of a “tip-of-the-hat” to the cross) healthy?
No, that trend is not healthy. I’m actually pleasantly surprised that 9 out of 33 song mentioned the cross. I’ve reviewed CD’s that only make mention of the cross
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Recently, I received this question from Phil:
In a few modern "Praise and Worship" songs, I’ve noticed that the order of the Trinity has been changed. Rather than "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit", the order is, as in one popular (and otherwise good) song, "Father, Spirit, Jesus". This is not an isolated song. Is changing the order of the Trinity harmless, or is there a more subtle danger of relegating Christ and His atoning death to a more tertiary level of importance?
One of the reasons I appreciate this question is that it recognizes that how we address God matters to Him. Each divine name in Scripture proclaims an aspect of God’s character or being. God reveals Himself to us so that we might see His glory more clearly and relate
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Dan left this question in the comments section of a previous post:
I have been to quite a few conferences over the years and I always feel encouraged, rejuvenated, alive, etc. while AT those conferences… but then we go back to our churches - and over time, that zeal tends to be overshadowed, once again, by the mundane, the rut, the blahs, of real life/ministry. Any comments or suggestions on what we can all do to deal with that?
Are conferences beneficial? They can be. And if we’re going to invest time and money into them, they should be. God can use conferences to alter a person’s life and ministry. They can also be a colossal waste of time, energy, and money. For many of us they’re what Dan describes –
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