Vineyard East Worship

So time is moving forward, as it tends to do. It’s now 2010 (yikes, whenever I hear Prince’s 1999, I have to pinch myself that already happened over a decade ago!). And while the world around us still loves classic formulas for music, art & expression, it’s also embracing new styles, the young who are experimenting with it, the process by which they’re working out expression and (almost secondarily) the final result.

The iPad DJ video from @ranajune is case in point. Gimmicky? Without question. But allowing access to creative expression to a whole bunch of bored kids (or unemployed or really dedicated older people) in your town? At least in theory.

To what degree are you (worship & creative leaders) harnessing & encouraging that kind of energy into your church communities? I know I’m barely scratching the surface.

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Why We Sing

I have been blessed in my life by growing up in a home that placed a high value on music. It is so much a part of my life that during an assessment for ministry, when I was asked to describe what I did when my mind was in neutral, without thinking I responded with, “I Sing, tap a rhythm, a bass line, a piano part, or work on a harmony.” Taking that love for music into the church gives me the chance to do what I love with a group of people who are focused on the face of Jesus.

The question then becomes how to help the average person that sits in the congregation become a participant and not a spectator. One of the things that struck me when I first discovered the Vineyard was the high value on participation. John Wimber called it “Everybody gets to play.” That value permeates everything we do from praying for the sick, serving in the food pantry to singing the worship songs in the weekend services and the small groups.

Three values of our expression of worship in song are simplicity, intimacy and accessibility. As a worship leader I want to bring the people to that place of communion with the living God, to focus on Him in wonder and awe, and to bow before Him in surrender. We do this through songs and the songs that we pick to sing on any given weekend.

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In this short article on the how and the how not’s of worship leading, I am not trying to reinvent the wheel or introduce some new or powerful way of doing this. God knows, there is more than enough great material out circulating the globe from other worship leaders with much greater depth and understanding then myself.

Having said this, I do want to approach worship leading from a different angle that stems from a servant leadership principle, and not merely from a: “worship leaders” or even as Matt Redman put it; “Lead worshipper” perspective. In short, we are servant’s first and worship leaders second.

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Worship money, become a greedy person. Worship sex, become a lustful person. Worship power, become a corrupt person. Worship Jesus, become a Christ-like person. We become like what we worship. But what does it mean to worship? Read more »

Tapping into what sparks the creative juices in us and sends us to the pen and paper. It’s funny how it comes about as a matter of fact I witnessed it last week… It all started when I left our new sanctuary to get some papers from my desk in the office building next door. Read more »

In this column Mike Ward shares some in site on what it takes to write songs of worship. Here you’ll find comical snippets from other artists as well as structure from more serious folks. We hope you gain some ground in the creative process as we journey down the road of songwriting. Read more »

As we gather our thoughts and tokens of inspiration along our collective paths, we inevitably find moments of uninspired dryness. Read more »

In this column Mike Ward shares some insight on what it takes to write songs of worship. Here you’ll find comical snippets from other artists as well as structure from more serious folks. We hope you gain some ground in the creative process as we journey down the road of Songwriting’ Read more »