Tennessee Youth Singers Demonstrate Worship Focus

Last Friday and Saturday 350 students and sponsors from church across Tennessee gathered on the campus of Carson Newman College and primarily in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church, Jefferson City, for a weekend of fun, singing, and growing as Christian worshipers.  From the first note of their rehearsal there was a sense of purpose, and strains of musical praise that swept across the church sanctuary and resonated even to the exterior parking lots sufficiently to attract a few passers-by (CN students) to stick their heads in to see the source of the sounds they heard from outside.  I realize I am somewhat prejudice as the primary event planner, but I want to testify to being deeply moved by the attitude displayed by these young people, the sense of joy that permeated their time together, and the grand inspiration of hearing them sing glorious chords of God’s praise.

I want to comment on two ocurrences that caught my attention and I believe bore witness to the Spirit at work in and through these students.

One of the music ministers told me several of his “kids” were asking about the pipe display at the front of the sanctuary (the large Shantz pipe organ utilized by the church and school for recitals and weekly worship accompaniment).  He wondered about the possibility of someone playing it and/or the group having opportunity to sing with it, just so they would have that experience.  The church music minister and host, Kim Bowen, helped us reach Landrum Duvall, a CN Junior from McMinnville, Tennessee.  On Saturday, Landry played short arrangement on the organ.  When he kicked in the trumpet enchamade (protruding reed pipes) on the melody, the 350 students and sponsors burst into applause.  After this piece the students were invited to sing a great hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy with Landrum, which they did with great enthusiasm and spirited singing, indicating to me their desire to mean what they sang.  The group had invoked the same level of enthusiasm the night before when worshiping with a more contemporary song, How Great Is Our God.  The uniformity with which they expressed their worship in song was a model for all those who struggle to allow both “contemporary” and “traditional” songs to coexist in our houses of worship in regular Sunday gatherings.  Our future in this regard is bright as long as we leaders have maturity to keep alive the broad range of singing expressions, and do not “throw the baby out with the wash,” in the interest of establishing the style that we like.

Another occasion for optimism and gratitude was away from the campus.  As I prepared to leave the hotel on Saturday, the clerk told me that all the hotel staff had braced for a rough weekend when they heard there would be numerous teenagers in the building.  With surprise on her face, the clerk informed me that they were all not only relieved by the level of unexpected calm maintained, but that they were “blown away” by the politeness and gentleness in the way the teens treated them as hotel staff.  Prompted by this encounter, I stopped by another hotel where students were housed just to see if staff had experienced a similar time with our group.  Indeed, they had and thanked me profusely for using them.  The manager said, “I could keep these students every weekend and not grow tired of it.”  While this may have been a business man’s overstatement looking for future sales, nevertheless I recognized the truth in what he said as a way these teens had lived out their faith through good behavior and kind attitudes reflecting a Jesus who loves the world.

I wished for every worship leader and senior pastor I know to have been there in Jefferson City to experience the joy of being with these young people that I believe are the “cream of the crop.”  They demonstrated that worship is music more about joining the voice of praise than the style of the song we sing, and that our worship continues as we treat those out in the world in a Christ-like manner, continuing our worship by serving the world God loves.

Worship Renewal in Tennessee is likely to begin among its youth.  Pray we will all be open to the Spirit’s movement and surrender to His direction for God’s people.

Beauty of Simplicity

Traveling to West Tennessee to speak to an early Monday morning gathering of pastors, I decided to drop in on West Jackson Baptist Church where my brother, Ricky serves as Minister of Music, and close friend, Todd Brady is serving as Interim Pastor.  It was not until I was actually on the road that I found out that the church would be observing the Lord’s Supper in their evening worship, and I found myself in a state of preparation for worship even as I drove.  As I have expressed through different mediums I join other Baptist leaders in sensing that the people of God need a more frequent engagement in worship at the Table of our Lord.  I was thinking about that need, but quickly turned my reflection to self-examination.

I stepped into the back of the West Jackson Sanctuary and spotted my brother in law sitting with his granddaughter.  There was a seat next to them, so I made my way there as the prelude to the service continued.  Shortly after, my sister came and joined us, and I gave thanks for this opportunity to share the Table with dear loved ones.  The worship service was a wonderful reminder of the power of the simple.

The service was not overly somber, but it was contemplative and reflective.  The service included appropriate scripture readings by laymen alternated with hymns and songs leading to a message focused on preparing the church for her new pastor, and then the service culminated in the Table itself.  Piano and organ played with great sensitivity (something that is enhanced by the many years these two have served this church as a team).  The offertory music and the improvised medley that underscored the passing of elements were rich with recognizable tunes – There Is a Redeemer, Behold the Lamb, As the Deer, and Great Is Thy Faithfulness were some of those songs that I recall.  Congregational singing had included the prayerful Give Us Clean Hands and Communion Hymn (Behold the Lamb).   There was no band, no choir, no applause, no focus on anything other than the simplicity and beauty of worshiping the Lamb of God.

I realize that I have multiple connections to this church – several family members, my brother, my close relationship with the interim pastor, and years of serving in the same town as well as numerous involvements for different music events in the years since.  The root of those connections are loving relationships with fellow believers.  This night we were one in the Spirit.  The worship was not so much emotional as it was boldly transformative – a powerful reminder of the Lamb that was slain, and the resultant glorious salvation and unity.  It was a refreshing embrace of love that characterizes God’s people in His presence.  Thank you, Lord, for worship at your Table.

Conference to Focus on Leading Worship from a Pastoral Heart

  Worship Ministry Leaders in the Middle Tennessee area have a wonderful opportunity coming on Saturday, February 11, at Grace Community (Baptist) Church in Brentwood.  For the last few years it has been my privilege to get to know Jeff Bourque, Director of Worship Ministries at Grace.  I have attended worship at the church and have been struck with the commitment to biblically sound worship practice evidenced in Jeff’s leadership, Pastor Scott Pattey’s expository preaching, and a high level of congregational participation in singing and other acts of worship.  Having my office at TBC just blocks away from Grace Community it has been convenient as well as rewarding to eat lunch from time to time with Jeff and to discuss our common love for worship and particularly worship expressed through congregational singing and song.  Jeff and I are working together to present an important conference for worship leaders/ministers of music that will focus on what I believe to be a crucial issue for all who serve the church in this capacity.  The conference title reflects this issue clearly: Planning and Leading Congregational Singing from a Pastoral Heart. 

A key feature of the conference will be a time of Q& A with modern hymn-writer and friend of Tennessee Baptist minister-musicians, Keith Getty.  Getty is well-known for songs like In Christ Alone, Speak, O Lord, O Church Arise, and more.  The Irish native will reflect the seriousness with which he approaches writing songs for the Church to sing offering theolgically rich corporate expressions of worship.  Getty’s Irish humor and penchant for accessibility to participants at similar conferences have endeared him to worship leaders, young and old alike.  Other conference presenters will include host, Jeff Bourque, songwriter-worship leaders, Dave Hunt of Nashville, and David Ward of Minnetonka, Minnesota, and Paul Clark.  Church location and other details can be viwed at www.congregationalsongs.com.  Registration fee is $35 (discount for students), and may be registered through Grace Church or by registering online at www.tnworshipandmusic.org.  The itenerary for the day is listed below:

8:15 – 9:00: Registration and Light Breakfast
9:00 – 9:30: Worship through Singing
9:30 – 10:30: “Leading Congregational Worship Pastorally” – Dr. Paul Clark, Director of Worship and Music Ministry at the Tennessee Baptist Convention
10:30 – 11:00: Break
11:00 – 12:00: Q & A with Keith Getty
12:00 – 1:00: Lunch
1:00 – 2:00: Breakouts – Choose Between the Following:

“Cultivating Passion in Worship” – David Ward, Director of Worship Ministries at Redeemer Bible Church in Minnetonka, MN, Founder of Reformedpraise.org, Modern Hymn Writer

“Leading Your Worship Team Pastorally” – Dave Hunt, Worship Leader at Trinity Church in Nashville, Worship Songwriter

“Building Your Song Repertoire with Pastoral Intentionality” – Jeff Bourque, Director of Worship at Grace Community Church, Worship Songwriter

2:00 – 2:30: Break
2:30 – 3:00: Worship Through Singing
3:00 – 4:00: “Planning Your Worship Service with a Pastoral Heart” – Jeff Bourque

Worship Battles

Conversations this past week with fellow Tennesseans serving in ministry have indicated to me that the “worship wars” are not completely over.  I am reminded of stories I have read about World Wars I & II whereby soldiers continued to fight long after surrender and truce were declared, either because the word had not reached those soldiers yet, or they were not willing to accept that it was true.

 

What I am recognizing in talking with fellow minister musicians and pastors in our state is that though a church may not be openly fighting over worship, there may be a dis-ease just under the surface.  While my initial thoughts are often, “How long, O Lord?”  I have to admit that I understand that we humans adapt and adjust very slowly.  I recall a consultation with a church in which I noted a good group of senior adults attending a “contemporary” styled worship service, rather than the later service which was more traditional.  I made the presumptuous statement before a forum that I took this to mean that they were “ok” with changing music styles.

Abruptly I heard a senior gentleman blurt out, “Nah, we just want to get here early and get it over with.”  The forum attenders joined me in a pretty good laugh over the statement, but reflection tells me that the controlling point of worship attendance in this case as in many is more about convenience than content.  The fellow came to me after the forum and told me he didn’t care what they sang, said he just tunes it out, “though that’s not easy because it’s so loud.”

 

My constant prayer for worship leaders and pastors in our Tennessee churches is that the conversation about worship will focus on what is really important, Christ-centered, Gospel – proclaiming, Spirit-led, Word-honoring worship.  That is my prayer because it is a God-size need.  It calls for change of heart and only God can bring that about.  If those who call themselves the people of God are disengaged with active participation in worship, how can we expect to proclaim Christ as “the answer” to the rest of the culture and the world?

 

Keep the faith, brothers and sisters!  The battle belongs to the Lord.

Another Tennessee Baptist Musician in Glory and We Worship

On Sunday, January 8, I attended the memorial service for Martha Ruth Moore of Paris, TN and more recently of Nashville. The service of worship and remembrance brought to mind how important funeral services of just this sort are in the worship life of the church.

First, let me say a few words about Martha Ruth Moore. I first became aware of this great lady when serving a church in another state. Martha Ruth’s Henry County Girls Chorus sang at an American Choral Directors Association conference. I was so impressed that such beautiful choral music came out of a relatively small West Tennessee town. Martha Ruth was an incredible music educator and teacher of singing as the title of her Covention Press book indicates, “Teaching Children to Sing.” In more recent days Martha Ruth demonstrated Christian grace as she endured potent physical challenges. A faithful worshiper at Crievewood Baptist in Nashville, she made her presence known by expressing kind words of encouragement quietly following Sunday worship. I would not take anything for her kind words of expression the last Sunday I saw her in worship, December 18. When the service was over she came to me, placed her soft hands on either side of my face. She looked me straight in the eyes and said, “You have been such a blessing to this church and to me.” She spoke such encouragement about musicianship and effectiveness. She was a giant in my eyes, and to have her blessing meant so much. Little did I know that in just over two weeks she would be gone from us.

Martha Ruth Moore’s memorial service was worship. The simplicity of singing familiar hymns from a hymnal, reading of scripture, hearing words of a friend, a vocal solo whose lyrics were scripture, and a eulogy rooted in biblical truth as well, was more than a little refreshing. I recalled hearing Dr. Robert Webber speak about the power of words, especially the Word. I remembered him talking about funerals as rite. Important concepts for us to comprehend.

In a time when so many churches are pursuing novelty as a means of making the Gospel attractive, I am grateful to hear such powerful words from scripture spoken and sung with conviction at a memorial service where friends and family have gathered to remember one who has faced life’s final war with pain on this earth. Hearing the familiar strains of John’s Gospel read in the context of being reminded of our mortality resonated with power.

While attendance at funerals as well as weddings seem to be less strong today than in past decades, there is still an important and powerful message at these gatherings. As always, our call as Christians is to be faithful. It seems to me that an important witness to our faith is made when we attend the worship held during a memorial service just like the one I attended Sunday. Furthermore we are reminded perhaps of those who are dying around us without knowing the Christ-life. We are also reminded of some powerful Christian teachings about the eternity before us.

It saddens me that some of our Tennessee church folks do not recognize the power of a worship service known as a funeral or memorial service. It is more than a matter of how many people attend a service of this nature; it is also an organic expression of faith whereby a gathering of worshipers memorialize the earthly life of a cherished friend and relative, and commit her to the Life Giver. Worship may be renewed when God’s people are more richly sensitized to connections between Heaven and Earth and the Divine presence of the Holy Spirit in our gatherings as believers engaged in faith expression.