THE “STATE” OF CHURCH MUSIC (PUN INTENDED) – BACK FROM GEORGIA

 I just returned from Atlanta Saturday night after speaking and teaching for Church Music Georgia, the Georgia edition of our Tennessee Music Ministry Leadership Conference (MMLC). It is always refreshing and enlightening to be a part of what is going on in other states. It helps me think and compare similar events in Tennessee that we are trying to use to enhance and encourage your ministry. Of course I also absolutely love the fellowship, seeing old friends (well…you know what I mean), and making new friends. Having served in Georgia before returning to our home state of Tennessee (Ebbie was actually on staff in the Georgia Baptist Church Music Office), the return was extra special because I got to visit with a few folks who were part of the choir I led at my former church including a fellow staff member there (yes, in some churches fellow staff members also sing in the choir). I saw a few Tennesseans who have moved to Georgia at some point as well, some choir singers who are now in our neighboring state to the south, a couple of writers, Dennis and Nan Allen formerly of Nashville Judson Baptist, a GBC music staff member who was previously in Bolivar and then Knoxville, Steve Brown, and at least one music minister who now resides on Georgian soil, former Jackson FBC music minister, Greg Williams. Visiting between speaking, teaching, and directing assignments was absolutely wonderful. I would say, “heavenly” except in heaven we will not have time limitations. I had to watch myself as it was hard to break away from conversations to be to my next spot. In fact, I could have spent the three days just visiting with the Georgia Baptist Church Music Staff, and that is because I love and appreciate each of them so much, and not just because there are so many of them. J I kid Dr Jon Duncan all the time that it takes seven of them to do what Charlotte and I do in Tennessee. Each of their four specialists (yes, I said four) are gifted and contribute to their effectiveness in meeting the needs of Gerogia Baptist musicians. I love being around them and enjoy that fellowship and shared insight.

I believe it is impossible not to compare and contrast aspects of what is taking place in Georgia with what is going on in Tennessee, or other states for that matter. Needless to say, some of that is disappointing, whether considering budget dollars or numbers of singers in the state singing groups by comparison (and I cannot help but draw some correlation). I must hasten to say, however, that there is also a sense in which the comparisons enrich my own spirit as I consider what we do despite extraordinary challenges. TBCMC officers, area music ministers and others warm my heart to think of the spirit of “can we help?” that has been so openly expressed. Charlotte has never been afraid to ask for volunteer help as you know, and has never gone wanting for such either. The close relationships within our fellowship provide ministry crucial in times of hurt and need. Regional gatherings have increased exponentially this year and subsequent availability of local ministry attention have resulted. I believe these are responses to Spirit-directed caring for brothers and sisters in ministry through music. It is my contention that ultimately the ministry of the state worship & music ministry is here to serve your churches by being a strengthening encouragement to you, by joining with you in helping to build your church’s worship & music ministry to lift up Christ, bear witness to His saving power, and engage together in effective mission locally and abroad. Our participation in efforts with the Getty organization, events, training, network building, efforts toward revitalization and renewal, are all intended to serve to this end.

In just two weeks we will have opportunity to join together in Brentwood and bring leaders from our churches’ music ministries together in a similar fashion to what I have just experienced in Georgia. The old saying “the more the merrier” is literally true for such activities, because the more present brings together prospect for a stronger sound of praise and thanksgiving in worship. In Georgia I watched as vans and busses pulled into the church parking lot at North Metro Baptist and observed nearly every church unloading groups of five to as many as twenty-five singers coming to learn from those of us leading each session. There were 240 in the choir group that I was privileged to lead. Having more enhances the interaction and input to discussions in each class and ministry track. Bringing students to train in worship band, instrumental music, or other sections further endears musical ministry to them and gives access to their leaders at a new and different level. We are not just seeking to build a crowd, and yet we are seeking to mount up praise that resounds in the halls of Brentwood Baptist, but much more importantly stirs and encourages the hearts of all of us and our people to sing and proclaim the Gospel in music. Keith Getty will be leading us in his spirited and infectious way as we lend our voices to gathered praise and worship singing of rich hymns. Come, Christians, Join to Sing Alleluia! Amen!

Singing and playing to the praise of our Lord is powerful no matter what state you are in. As for me and my house I am surely glad to be in Tennessee, to have our family here, to be walking this journey alongside you, and to live my life seeking to serve the Lord and His Church by serving you.

Disturbing the Hush – a Guest Blog

I invited Pastor Greg Lindsey of Mill Springs Baptist Church in Jefferson City to write a guest blog.  Earlier this year I conducted a Worship Renewal through Congregational Singing Weekend at Mill Springs, and sensed a real connection with Pastor Greg.  His writing is articulate and artful.  While the post is longer than my normal articles I think you will find it engaging.  I am happy to note that Greg will be with those of us who are gathering for an East Tennessee Training for Worship Renewal through Congregational Singing leaders at the end of July.  Thank you, Brother Greg for your friendship and for sharing from your heart.

“Disturbing the Hush” – Pastor Greg Lindsey

I can still hear her voice. Loud. Strong. And above all, joyful – soaring upward to the highest notes of her favorite hymn: “Love Lifted Me”… but also, here and there, lagging just a bit behind the words, as was her wont. In all her years, my Granny was never asked to sing a solo in church; but that didn’t stop her from singing! Instead, she lifted up her “ordinary voice” (by human standards), given her by the Lord of voices, and praised Him with all her heart through all her days – until, in 1986, she passed from this earth to keep on singing of His greatness in heaven. Her example of love for God in song inspired her grandson to lift up his own “ordinary voice,” which I’ve tried to do ever since.

Several months ago the familiar thought returned: “I sure do miss hearing Granny sing!” And that’s when I realized, “I miss hearing anybody sing like Granny used to sing!” And I began to ponder it: “How come that kind of singing seems to have disappeared? Where have all those voices gone? Ordinary voices (most of us), but loud, joyful, and intense – united in stout praise of the God of our salvation? Why isn’t that kind of singing heard anymore? We still gather, but what happened to the singing that used to ring out?”

I think of John Wesley’s, Directions for Singing (1761): “Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.” (By “lustily,” our brother meant “vigorously, enthusiastically.”) This is the kind of singing that’s so largely vanished. Voices “lifted up with strength.” Oh, yes! We can amplify music “lustily” today – more than Wesley would have ever imagined, I’m quite sure! We have the power and technology. Unleash Brother Bose® on a congregation and he can jar loose the snuggest dental fillings! But kill all the microphones, loudspeakers, stage monitors, power amps, mixers, and instruments just for a moment on any given Sunday morning, and listen to what’s left: not much. A hush that disturbs.

“Since when did a hush ever disturb somebody?” Since the day this pastor began to notice call after call in his Bible for God’s people to praise Him loudly with their singing! “Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: ‘Glory to the Righteous One’” (Isa 24:15-16); “My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to You – I whom You have delivered” (Ps 71:23); “Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious” (Ps 66:2); “But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy” (Ps 5:11); “that my heart may sing Your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise You forever” (Ps 30:12); etc., etc., etc…. You get the idea!

Does anyone else see the irony of gathering on the Lord’s Day to faintly sing, “Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise”?

Then, as God would have it, I came across a brother named Paul Clark, Jr. and an online brochure describing something he was calling a “Worship Renewal through Congregational Singing Weekend.” I stared at those half dozen words. “Yes, this may be it!” I said. “The answer to the hush!” So I emailed Brother Paul and inquired about a weekend, and received a most gracious reply the next day. “I am at once humbled and encouraged that you would reach out,” he said. “And I would be honored to assist and consider serving alongside of you by conducting at Worship Renewal through Congregational Singing conference at your church.”

And just that quickly, the ball was rolling. We were able to secure a workable date for both our schedules, which turned out to be March 6-8, and Paul shared the plan: He would meet with me and the church’s worship leader on Friday afternoon into the evening. The next morning, he would gather with all our leaders (Sunday School teachers, deacons, committee chairmen, etc.) for conversation and instruction, followed by an afternoon session with our praise team, musicians, and audio/visual team. On Sunday morning he would preach God’s word on the subject of worship. The weekend would be capped off with an evening session led by Paul on “A Biblical Theology of Worship Singing,” culminating in an hour of “congregational rehearsal,” in which we would attempt to translate our learning into action.

When I met Paul in person for the first time and we sat down to talk, I quickly realized that my brother in Christ not only has a mind for worship, but a heart for worship. His years of working with the Lord’s churches and, most importantly, of walking with the Church’s Lord, made our time together extremely edifying and beneficial. I discovered in Paul a man who genuinely loves the church that God “bought with His own blood,” and who also appreciates the tremendous responsibility that pastors bear as under-shepherds, “to keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers” (Acts 20:28). And now he had traveled many miles to come alongside me in seeking worship renewal for a local church. I was grateful and hopeful. I knew that with a servant-leader like Paul, if the Lord saw fit to bless our weekend, something special was going to happen.

He did. And it did!

We had good participation in the conference (although as a pastor, it seems like you always wish you had had better). I think a lot of people, especially our leaders, came curious, wondering what it was all about. I guess some may have wondered if we really even needed such a conference. By the end of the weekend though, I could tell that the congregational singing “picture” was becoming clearer in our minds and that a noticeable shift in understanding was beginning to occur – away from us being “okay” with hushed non-participation and back toward the biblical standard: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts” (Col 3:16). Although we have some amazing voices (again, by human standards) in the church, we have many more “ordinary voices” like mine – and these were the voices I was especially hoping to reengage in singing, so the result would be all our voices together as one in praise of the Lord.

It was actually several weeks later, during our Sunday evening Bible study. About forty-five of us were gathered in our fellowship hall. I know of at least one person who was thinking about Brother Paul’s outstanding teaching given us over the course of our weekend together. (Inwardly, I was yearning to see and hear a singing difference.) Then suddenly, it happened! With the words of a song on a sheet of paper in our hands, we had begun to sing. No instruments were accompanying; it was just us. But now the voices were growing louder, the singing stronger than usual. The sound was becoming “fuller.” It seemed more intense somehow, more robust. It’s hard to describe. Everything just felt more “focused,” more “alive.” Unison was melting into the sweetest harmony, and the sound of praise to God was filling the room. It was beautiful! Faith was awakening from sleep! Distant memories of a treasured sound were roused in my own heart! I hadn’t heard God’s people sing like that in years! I looked around the room at my fellow worshipers. Eyes were wide open and faces appeared surprised, as if to say, “What’s happening?!”

I knew exactly what was happening: I was hearing my Granny’s voice again!

Three months after Brother Paul’s biblical instruction and investment of his time and heart in our “Worship Renewal through Congregational Singing Weekend,” I wish I could say that loud, joyful, intense singing to God is now the new normal in the precious church I serve. But, I can’t – at least not yet. Worship renewal is a battle, and not for the faint of heart. At times when we meet, I think we’re “coming alive” to what we’re singing in worship, but then we seem to slip back into the older, colder tendencies that we’re so familiar with. (What is it they say about “old habits”?) Truthfully, I’m the last person in the congregation qualified to point worship fingers. My heart knows all too well how easy staid, perfunctory worship is! And speaking of the heart, isn’t that the real issue for us all?

But I believe what the Scripture proclaims: “Jesus is Lord!” (Rom 10:9). And as “the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior” (Eph 5:23), He loves His church profoundly – beyond any measure of love that I could ever understand or show! “For Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word” (Eph 5:25-26). And one glorious day, He’s going “to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph 5:25-27). And on that day… oh, listen to us sing His praises!

Meanwhile, though, the people of God on earth aren’t called to sit around and wait until we’re the people of God in heaven. No! We’re charged to sing now! “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods” (Ps 96:1-4).

Brother pastors, when it comes to the worship of our triune God, isn’t whole-hearted, full-throated singing worth contending for? Surely! Then let’s preach and teach like it! Let’s walk right up to this “hush that disturbs” and poke it in the eye with our preaching! How about we decide to disturb it for a change? How about we preach some sermons on worship that, like thunder rolling across a night sky, will rumble in the quietness of our churches? Sermons that will signal unmistakably to our listeners our own passion for the return of heart-engaged, Spirit-filled singing on the part of all God’s people? Imagine for a moment the impact of such congregational singing – on believers and unbelievers alike (1 Cor 14:25)!

More and more, my conviction grows that the hush in our churches is a sinful thing. Mumbled praises are malfunctioning praises, and utterly absent in heaven; let’s strive then to make them absent on earth! Pray for loud, impassioned, full-bodied singing when we gather as Christians! Let’s lead toward it in the churches that the Lord graciously has called us to serve! And keep leading toward it, until by His mercy it becomes a reality! Draw inspiration, if you’re able, by recalling how the Lord’s people used to sing – all those “ordinary voices,” united in loud praise. Be convinced, for example, that if a group of people who love folk songs can sing with power (Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival), then a group of people who love Jesus can absolutely sing with power (Capitol Hill Baptist)! Call your people to sing this way! Encourage them in it! Urge them with all your heart, “Come, Christians, join to sing Alleluia! Amen! Loud praise to Christ our King; Alleluia! Amen!” And make sure they see you doing what you’re calling them to do – even if you’ve been blessed with an “ordinary voice” like mine… and my Granny’s!

“Sing to the LORD, for He has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world” (Isa 12:5).

RE – WHAT???

 Search for books on Church Renewal at Amazon.com yields more than 8,000 results. More narrowly, Worship Renwal yields more than 1,300 titles itself. Wow! According to most research entities 80% of evangelical churches are plateaued or declining. Whether or not we agree with quantifying a church’s health, declining numbers of participating church members and visitors serve as some kind of indicator as to what is and/or is not happening in our churches. For those of us in worship ministry leadership there are obvious alarms that affect us directly, and that should awaken us to address a need for revitalizing our churches’ worship.

As many of you know I have been asked to serve on the Church Revitalization Team as part of my work and ministry with Tennessee Baptists. That assignment makes sense. I have been interested in, studying about, praying over, and researching actions and disciplines that would serve in a movement of renewal in the church and its worship for a long long time. I wrote a book on worship renewal through congregational singing. I have consulted on issues related to worship renewal with hundreds of churches over the last fifteen years, not to mention the ones I served as a staff minister for twenty-six years prior to coming to TBC. So, looks like I should be an expert, right? Not only that, but our team includes members who have also been working at some aspect of renewal for many years as well. Our team leader is a senior pastor who has just recently joined the TBC staff, and has a special passion in renewal. The team includes a seasoned bi-vocational pastor with many years experience in revival efforts, and we also have two younger leaders who serve with children, youth, and college students. We have an experienced discipleship development ministry leader, and even our state newspaper editor who has written about sparks of renewal in individual churches during his years with the TBC, is on our team. There is a lot of experience gathered in the room when this team meets. And yet we cannot really say, “Here! Do these five actions and your church will be renewed.” As a matter of fact, there is a bit of question over exactly what is the right word for the area in which we are engaged. As I speak with other staff ministers I hear words like reboot, reignite, reengage, restart, renew, and the word that has been used in our TBC Five Objectives vision as the objective toward which we are striving, revitalize.

The fact is that all of these words point toward a central need for many of our churches. It has to do with vitality – life itself. The “re” part indicates a return to something we have known previously, and therefore we naturally tend to look back to see what we had before, how we lost it, and how it can be recaptured. No doubt that contemplation can help. However, there are dangers involved in such reminiscence, and my guess would be that most all reading this post know these dangers all to well, either by personal experience or observation. Our churches can find themselves wanting to live in the past, or discounting the need for change. They and we can too quickly embrace change for the sake of change itself without recognizing we have done little more than window dressing. Too often churches have been led to put proverbial lipstick on the pig, and journeyed down a path of misleading people to think renewal has come because we built a new worship center, added the latest technology, and/or enticed an American-idol worthy worship leader. The challenge is great! And it seems the answer is beyond us. Perhaps that is most challenging of all. I may serve this purpose, but I cannot make it happen. The end of our efforts can look a lot like the place we began with us sensing emptiness in the spiritual life of our worship and by extension in our churches themselves. We could easily become discouraged, or do endless searches for more material and technique. It seems to me that at the end of these roads lies a foundational truth, that only God can bring renewal, and our deep need is for God Himself. Surely whatever efforts we affect must serve the purpose of revealing Him, proclaiming His truth, presenting the Gospel message, and nurturing healthy community that gathers around the assurance of His promised presence.

The following statement articulates the core of our need in revitalizing worship in our churches. I find it a healthy reminder of our need.

Vital worship is not something that human ingenuity or creativity can produce or engineer, but is a gift of God’s Spirit.  It is a gift for which we pray, rather than an accomplishment we achieve.[1]

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because^[g] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  (Romans 8:26-27 ESV)

[1] http://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library/what-is-vital-worship