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As
regards church music, every Christian should lead, follow, or carry ammunition |
In congregational singing, encourage people to sing by you praising God and letting your joy show verbally between verses. To enhance worship, pick a phrase in a hymn, and ask the people for a Bible verse that backs up the lyrics with doctrine. Forget theology and church creeds..... those are man made and suspect. I did this regularly in a church I pastored, and people soon volunteered verses to back up lyrics. Occasionally, some man would suggest that a line in the hymn violated sound doctrine, and we rewrote that line, or we censored the hymn. This sort of thing will bring out zeal and maturity in your fellowship as the people become alert to sound doctrine in all things. Never give your hymn book a higher authority than the Word of God.
Do not make jokes and jabber mindlessly. Fundamental Baptists are horribly guilty of this. Pastors and song leaders crack jokes and tell short stories about mongrel nonsense, and the people suck up because every worship service becomes a sacral version of Saturday Night Live. Try to get a mental picture of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum, standing under the huge menorah, tracking jokes about Moses in the bull rushes. Or, can you see Paul on Mars Hill wise cracking to the philosophers who need Christ far more than they needed amusement? You are in worship, not Bourbon Street. Do not get lost in emotional talk about when you were a child and sang some precious hymn. Emotion in worship must come from either the Word of God or the heart of the people. You are NOT the main attraction. You are there to lead.
If you have a man with a good voice AND a good testimony, ask him if you can occasionally ask him to spontaneously sing a verse of a hymn. Make it neither the first nor the last verse. The people must sing the last verse.
If a famous musician happens to visit your church some Sunday morning, take my word for it, DO NOT ask them to sing a special number. I was pastoring in the California desert, and one Sunday an RV stopped at our church, and a middle aged couple came in. I went to greet them before the service, and in the conversation, it came out that the lady was quite famous as a singer and performer. Totally in the flesh, I asked the lady to do a special for us. She gushed, and she was eager to bless us with her priceless talent. The song she sang was doctrinal rubbish. I did not feel right about cutting her off mid song because I had put her up to it. As she sang, I begged the Lord to forgive me to doing such a stupid thing. But, would the saints forgive me? After the service, I told my worship leader I felt horrible about what I had done. He said, "Don't worry pastor, I could see from you face how bad you felt. We all make mistakes." Do not learn this lesson the hard way if possible. By the way, pastor, this rule applies to famous preachers. Do NOT ask them to preach. They may be on their way from Michigan to Texas to shack up with a church house whore, like a certain preacher from Grand Rapids.
Pick a part, and SING along with the group. A closed mouth by you will invite dull singing. Try to sing the melody if it is not too high for you. Otherwise, bass or tenor. Do not sing the alto. That is usually for the ladies' voices.
WATCH
THIS LEADER IN TEMPLE BAPTIST IN POWELL, TENNESSEE
Notice the left hand
does not always mimic the right hand. He lifts the left hand up when he sings,
"My soul shall rise to THEE." This brother is using straight forward
song leading hand motions. If you are not comfortable with Tom Powell's rather
extroverted style, try to find one of your own somewhere between this one and
Tom's.
Whatever you do, ask God to give you zeal before you ever get near the pulpit, and then show that zeal in leading. If you have a dull relationship with Jesus Christ, you will show it in your leading, and you simply do not belong up there distracting worship with your dull Christianity. You need a little personal revival before you try to serve.
Encourage the people to sing the words distinctly and keep together. Anyone who sings out of the flow should be rebuked. Special music (trios and quartets) must be ONLY by people who have learned to sing precisely together and enunciate distinctly. Slurple burple singing will do nothing to enhance worship.
BARBERSHOP
STYLE GOSPEL SONG and SECOND EXAMPLE
It
must take no special effort by the hearers to understand the lyrics. That is how
all music must be performed. For the record, I am not sure we can assume we all
get a chariot ride to Heaven when we die, but otherwise they had some pretty sound
doctrine.
Never ask a accompanist to transpose unless they really are that good, AND warn them ahead of time. Transposing up one step for the last verse can be uplifting for worship, but only if the pianist can do the transition, AND the people know it is coming.
Most accompanists will do a lot better if you give them the hymn list a day early to practice, no matter how well they play. If they are very good, then you can let the congregation select favorite hymns. I did this by asking them to tell me what hymn they wanted to sing before the service started, and I ran it by the pianist to be sure she could deal with it. If the pianist is really good, you can ask for favorites during the flow of worship, but do not push a pianist if this is at all beyond them. If a hymn request is unfamiliar to the accompanist, always allow her to opt out gracefully.
DO NOT RACE THE TEMPO. This is very common in southern US Baptist and Charismatic churches. When you rush the people singing, they do not think about what the words mean. Some will also give up and stop singing. But, do not drag the tempo too slow. A slow tempo results in a hymn taking way too big a piece out of the worship hour.
In a California church I pastored we had a lady pianist who had diabetes. She would occasionally cheat on her low sugar diet on Saturday evening. On Sunday morning she would go wild with a very fast tempo due to a sugar rush. I would suggest she slow the tempo a bit, and she would laugh and admit she had created on her diet. She had a good spirit though, and once I noted it, she slowed right down.
There is no glory to God in roaring. Encourage the saints to sing zealously, but demanding they "raise the roof" will not impress God if the thing gets to sound like a baseball game with some people yelling more than singing. There is no worship in a bunch of kids screaming "Power in the Blood" at the top of their lungs.
Being part of the music of the church is a social identity. Asaph was the choir director of Israel long ago. The singers were a special people, though they were not an elite. So, have gatherings for your music makers from time to time. Consult with them to talk about possibilities for the future. I mean, a full blown bar-b-que and singing jam session. Tell people to bring instruments, and make music together. Be sure to invite the pastor and a couple of deacons so that your people know you are not some secret society within the church.
Read all of this article so that you know what the others in music ministry may be doing.
TO PASTORS
1
Peter 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof,
not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3
Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
You, sir, must set the example of what worship music is. If you want a Las Vegas night club atmosphere, the people will follow your lead and become addicted to the show. If you worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, the people will follow.
I suggest you copy and paste this page into WordPad, print it, and give it to all you people in music, and to your deacons. You should have no secrets that you got from me. You need the whole church to be on the same wavelink as you. Also, how about getting busy, and prepare a Bible teaching series on church music with biblical evidences as the foundation of study?
Teach, teach, teach, and SING.
CAVEAT: I want to make this perfectly clear..... All of the suggestions below about enlarging your worship times are NOT because I am a closet Pentecostal of Holiness nut case. What I have experienced in worship is almost unheard of. It all came about because I got tired of dull worship which we used to call "the preliminaries." So, you may not have the comfort of tossing out my suggestions by calling me a Charismatic. In fact, Charismatics rarely have real worship either. They mostly have a three ring circus driven by the flesh and the devil.
My guess is, from years of experience singing in church, that you do not sing enough. What does God think about singing?
"The Bible never says, let those who can sing, sing, as if it were a spiritual gift. ... The Bible just says “Sing!” Over and over, dozens of times, we are commanded to sing: sing to the Lord, sing praises, sing joyfully, sing a new song. Come into God's presence with singing."
Christianity started as a singing religion. That’s one of the things that made it different and attractive in the pagan world. One of the earliest descriptions of Christians by a secular historian came in a letter by Pliny the Younger around 111 AD, asking a superior in Rome what he should do about these Christians. He said that they would gather early in the morning and sing joyfully to one another, singing “hymns to Christ as to a god.” It has always been so."
Steve Halloway
Pastor, do you really want to see your people filled with the Holy Spirit? If so, here is what the Apostle Paul says will be the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit.....
Ephesians
5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
If your singing is dull, you need revival.
Singing is not for the gifted or the trained singers. It is for ALL CHRISTIANS. So, when you sing only two of three hymns in a Sunday morning worship service, you are showing you do not have a biblical respect for the work of the Spirit of God. He wants to hear you sing, and you think the sermon is the main event. A little humility would be in order.
REPENT, preacher. Turn loose the power of God in your assembly with singing. Just take the time to sing more than two or three hymns. You will see a change for the better in the zeal of your people. I have proved this from experience. When I pastored in Grant, Michigan, in twelve years, there were at least two Sundays, maybe more, when the worship service was taken over by the Holy Spirit to the extent that I canceled the sermon and told the people we would spend the morning just singing and praising God. I AM NOT A SHUCKIN' AND JIVIN' PENTECOSTAL. That is not what happened. When I lead the worship, I ask people to come prepared to share anything in the way of victory in Christ from the past week. Also, I encourage the leading men (not ladies) to come with a word from their Bible reading last week. On the Sundays I speak of, this simply exploded in an orderly and intense atmosphere of God given joy. So, you now know I am not making it up when I tell you that you don't sing enough.
This TED Talk is an amazing discussion of the mental and emotional power of singing. DO NOT SKIP THIS.
If
you want the full benefit of the video, stop it when text is posted, and read
thoughtfully.
This is what can be done outside of Christ by good intentions.
What do you suppose could
be done in a Bible based worship service where the
Holy Spirit is the leader?
The longer you let them sing and praise God verbally, the more alert they will be when you start preaching. So, if you really claim to want to communicate the Truth from God's Word, you will increase the singing in your worship services. You will also make worship a participation event, not a platform event. I can tell you from experience that when I let go of total control and purposely turned our worship over to the Holy Ghost, our worship was totally transformed. We were a small church, but visitors from huge churches told us several times that they had never seen singing or worship like we had. I claim no credit for this other than that I let go and let the Holy Spirit take total control. I guess this all depends on whether you really trust the Holy Spirit or not.
Let the Shepherd have his sheep back, sir.
Practical Suggestions to Pastors:
Top priority: Have you gotten a personal confession of faith in Jesus Christ from everyone in your music ministry in your church? I don't mean what you THINK about it. I mean a verbal eager testimony of salvation. If not, you are in deep trouble. Satan knows the power of music..... he was the Heavenly choir director before he fell. He also is a great deceiver, and he may have deceived you into believing one of his servants is born again. There is no more potent place for Satan to infiltrate your church than through music. Witness the power Satan has over Hillsong.
When I was at BIOLA College long ago (disclaimer of the school today), the school hired a new music director. His name is unimportant. He signed the faculty agreement in order to be hired. Once in charge of music, he seemed to do a great job of bringing Godly music to the college. In no way did he seem to create any confusion over music standards, and he was a stickler for excellence. All went well, it seemed, until he threw a party for music students in his home. Some students saw on his fireplace mantel a pipe wrack full of smoking pipes. One of the points in the faculty agreement he had sighed was that he did not use of encourage smoking tobacco. The students told college leaders about it, and they called him in to talk about it. In the process of the discussion, some leader finally asked the long neglected question..... Can you give us a testimony of when and how you have been born again. He at once admitted that he did not profess faith in Christ personally, but he assured the leaders that he would never undermine the spiritual teachings of the college. And, he had not. But, the man who was supposed to lead the college in Bible centered music was actually on his way to Hell. He was at once let go, and the college leaders admitted that they had egg on their face over the blunder.
I don't care how famous some musician is, nor what spectacular credentials he has, nor what Fundamental Baptist patriarch gave him a letter of recommendation, pastor, ASK FOR A PERSONAL TESTIMONY.
CONTEMPORARY
CHRISTIAN MUSIC (CCM) “Contemporary Christian Music is built upon the premise
that music itself is a neutral force and that only a song’s words determine its
morality. If
you believe that, "God can use any medium to give the Gospel to men,"
I challenge you to put your teen age girls on the platform in bikinis, and tattoo
John 3:16 on their tummies. Oh, that sounds revolting, does it? |
Forget the trap set and the guitars. If you add these, you will slide into Contemporary Christian Music. Sing the old hymns of the faith. Every person who participates in worship music must be told that there will be no 7/11 songs. Those are the ones where seven words are repeated eleven times. Also, no CCM. CCM will drag your worship into trendy and silly behavior and totally destroy the awe of God. CCM is for only one purpose.... amusement. Amusement: A-muse, or "against thinking." If you want a room full of hypnotized fluff heads, sing CCM.
No Southern Gospel. SG is straight from Bourbon Street as to the origin of its genre. READ HERE WHERE I PROVE THAT. No off beat EVER. The pianist must be totally submitted to your authority in all of this. A jive piano is the fastest way to put the whole assembly into a dance hall slump and the mindset of the groin.
Examples of where you MUST NOT GO:
EXAMPLE OF CCM FLUFF
This is all about affect by self-possessed show offs. Doctrine is almost zero, and the theme is a love song to Jesus that sounds a lot like a Rockabilly Nashville love song.EXAMPLE OF SOUTHERN GOSPEL JIVE
If you want the whole congregation to have a libido rush, this is what you want. If I paid for a ticket to a rock concert and did not get this stuff, I would be mad. When I want to worship my Lord, I never want to be offended by this mob of devilish mad men. Here are my boys from before I saw the light about Southern Gospel. You might think this is OK because they are not as wild. Wrong, and Jake Hess, the lead singer, with his facial expressions, used to make the girls in the front row scream like they were at an Elvis concert. Jake Hess is now wowing the ladies for Bill Gaither. SAME FACIAL EXPRESSIONS FROM SIXTY YEARS AGO. This showmanship is NOT like Jesus when he sang in the Upper Room.EXAMPLE OF HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM
This sounds like something we might expect from a night club in Havana, Cuba. Salsa is great on hamburgers and fried eggs, but NOT in your worship service.EXAMPLE OF URBAN ORGAN GOSPEL Praise Break- AKA devil dance
These dear people are only 200 years away from the devil dances of West Africa. We might give them some slack for not getting it altogether right. But, you Anglo Saxons have had 700 years of worship music, and you have no excuse for dipping back into the sewer of Satan for your music.
SINGING TO SHAKINAH
Shakinah is NOT found in the Bible. Shakinah is the name of the wife of Elohim according to the Torah and the Cabala given by Babylonian pagan Rabbis long ago. If you believe God has a wife, this "worship" is for you.EXAMPLE OF HELL IN THE CHURCH HOUSE AT HILLSONG
CAUTION: No children watching this please.
I must admit that when I saw this I went into unbelief. I had to check the description text and make sure it was really Hillsong. I still find it hard to believe that men who claim the name of Christ could go so deep into a raw night club venue as this. I suppose the day will come, if Christ does not take us out soon, that Hillsong will have ladies stripping as the music plays. Brace yourself, folks. I must also note that this was not a thing that appeared ex nihilo. It has come as the end of an evolution from CCM that, long ago, seemed innocent enough. When you start buttoning your shirt wrong at the top, it will be wrong all the way down.WORDS DON'T MATCH THE MUSIC IN E-MINOR
The minor key is for sadness, eeriness, and suspense. It is for the theater organ long ago when theater melodramas were played. When the music violates the words, simply avoid the hymn. I happen to like the music of the hymn you just heard, but not when talking about the deep deep love of Jesus. So, can anyone tell us an alliterative melody to sing this hymn to? SEND MAIL if you find one please.SONG WITH A HOOK BASED ON A RAW FILTHY SEXUAL INNUENDO
Crouch had to know exactly what he was doing. This is demonic.
This will only be understood by any of you who are familiar with filthy street language. If you do not understand why I posted it here, do not worry about it. I don't feel comfortable explaining it in detail.
Here is a clue what Crouch was saying about Jesus.
Andre Crouch is a rock star Satan uses to call away Christians to the sewer of hog slop sensual music.Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
On our honeymoon, we went to the London House in Chicago. The music that night was by Jonah Jones.
This is where this music belongs, not at the church house.
Jonah signed our menu and sent very kind wishes to Elizabeth, but there was nothing spiritually edifying about his music. It was only useful with a steak and baked potato.WATCH HOW MAMA'S BABY BOY MOVES THE LADIES
This is totally sensual jive and honky tonk. The lady in the front row in black does not look like her joy came from the Holy Ghost. Compare that to the same genre, totally based in Hollywoof, of Oscar Peterson (red coat) and guest playing night club style honky tonk. The genre above is of the devil, and the alleged Gospel words are blasphemed by the spiritual bastard on the key board.
What is the standard, pastor?
Psalms 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Holiness does not come with an off beat. There is no beauty in boogie, no holiness in honky tonk. How the music makes you FEEL is not the standard for what is acceptable. To Hell with your feelings. How does God feel about your music?
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Do you seek wisdom in your music choices, or are you only trying to give the kiddies a rush? Teaching and admonishing, NOT amusing and charming one another.
What about doctrinally sound hymns written by heretics, or by sound men who became heretics before they died? There are two answers, and the first might well be called "situation ethics."
1. The only way a hymn will make a heretic of a Christian who sings it is if the writer is still alive and has a following. So, go ahead and sing it.
2. James 3:11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Heresy is heresy, and getting close to a heretic is dangerous, even if he is dead. His teachings are almost always still around in book form, and a gullible Christian may go looking for his works.The obvious choice is number 2.
Examples: "It is well with my soul" and "Come thou fount of every blessing" were both written by Unitarians who did not believe that Jesus was God. Their history and teachings are still extant and available if searched for. When I learned this, it was a kick in the stomach, but that is the way of our adversary. He will use any trick to sucker us into compromise.
Remember, pastor, God did not promise us a perpetual Sunday School picnic. It should be no surprise to us that finding Bible based Christian music would not be immune from the spiritual warfare of Ephesians 6.
Only the best?
I have seen churches where the pastor and music leaders are obsessed with excellence. This makes the music, that should be exalting God, into a top end performance. It also will draw people to your church who are spiritually dead beats..... they only come because you have fantastic music. If Granny Jones used to sing solos long ago, and her voice is not as sweet as it used to be, still, let her sing once in a while. It is never wrong to honor the aged saints who served well in the past.
If
you have a granny like this in your church, you are a blamed fool if you do not
turn
her loose to bless your people.
Do not push young children forward to perform before they have learned to make melody and harmony. On the other hand, youthful musicians must be encouraged to practice until they master the music they are to sing or play on an instrument. I am not suggesting concert quality, but have them play the piece for you, and if they don't have brain farts and restarts etc, let them play. Do not fawn over anyone. Everyone who serves with their whole heart should be thanked publicly, but silly bragging and flattery is way out of line in a worship service. Musical heroes become ego driven pests. You deserve what you get in chaos and in fighting if you use flattery to motivate the saints.
Proverbs 26:28 A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
Let the people choose some hymns. Ask the song leader to ask for a hymn with a theme, like Exalting Christ, The Blood of Christ, Hope of Heaven, or a Prayer hymn. Once people catch on to this, they will feel much more part of the flow of worship, and the Holy Spirit will use them to lead you along. I have done this for years, and I NEVER HAD IT GET OUT OF HAND. Your fear of letting go is why your worship is so dull. Do you really trust the Holy Spirit?
In a large congregation, you may have a piano and organ. Before allowing a musician to accompany singing, set a few strict rules.
1. The organ must not lag or lead. And, control the volume. The musicians are to lead by their gifts, NO SHOW OFF.
2. Tell them to play a straight forward melody. No elaborate rifs or progressions. You may want the piano to play the introduction, and the organ pick it up on the first word.
3. No extreme head wagging and body language. That is just showing off. No grinning as they play in a self-serving way.
Bad doctrine: Beware of hymns with lyrics which contradict sound doctrine, AND REJECT THEM. Or, if possible, change a word of two to come in line with the Word of God. Be sure to explain why you do this to the congregation. Once they catch on, you may find the people actually seeing doctrinal errors in hymns that you missed. Also, reject fluffy hymns or hymns that are mostly fantasy.
"I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown." Clinging to the cross reminds us of Catholics who make a fetish of crosses. Nothing in the Bible tells us to cling to Christ's cross. We are told to bear OUR OWN cross. Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. In our assembly we switched the word "sing of" for "cling to." As to the last clause, show from the Word that there is no cross traded in on a crown in Heaven.
HYMN WHERE EVERY LINE IS ALMOST VERBATIM FROM SCRIPTURE
What should disqualify a hymn because of its source?
1. It’s recently come to light publicly that the composer of a song is living or has been living in unrepentant sin.
2. A composer is part of a denomination that teaches what you consider a distortion of the Gospel.
3. The song springs from a church or ministry that has theology or practices you conclude are unbiblical.
4. Is the song about Jesus, the Godhead, of biblical truth, or is it about me, me, me?
6. Does the song cause confusion? Do certain lyrics contradict other lyrics?
7. Do some lyrics have words that are vulgar today or have totally different meanings?
Brighten The Corner Where You Are....."Someone far from harbor you may help across the bar."
"The bar" This sort of nautical term is not commonly used today, and kids will think it is OK to go to a bar to witness. Explain that this is about the peril of entering a bar harbor. EXAMPLE It is the harbor master's job to keep watch on the sand bars which are always changing, and he makes maps for the fishing boat captains. Today, this is done by radio and computer so that the captain can download the latest sand bar configuration from his boat. While it is a beautiful word picture of guiding a sinner to Christ, never leave something like this to chance. Explain it. Many other archaic English words in hymns need explanation.
Fantasy song: In the Garden. The birds do not hush their singing when Jesus speaks. If they do anything, why would likely sing their hearts out. "And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known." That is a lie. No one has a patent on the joy of the Lord. Indeed, Jesus used the plural pronoun when he promised his joy to the disciples. John 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Fluffy
hymn: This is about
as shallow as it gets. Is it heretical? Not too much, but it does not encourage
the security of the believer. It is very telling that, when I searched Google
for this one, all the results were by Hee Haw type idiots.
WHEN
HE CALLS ME, I WILL ANSWER
Children's choruses: Most of the choruses sung today with children in Sunday School are totally void of doctrine, and some are virtually heretical. It is YOUR job, pastor to check into this, and if a chorus is degrading to Christian truth, ask the leaders of the children to not use the choruses that fail the standard.
THIS IS MORE HINDU OR NEW AGE THAN CHRISTIAN and
NOWHERE
IN THE BIBLE ARE WE TOLD TO HATE SATAN
Satan is damned to Hell, and it
is a waste of zeal to hate him. We are told to resist the devil.
Hollywood
loves songs that have wretched doctrine. That is why 33rd Degree Freemason Roy
Rogers sang it.
As to dress, accompanists must dress to the occasion.
Wear your best: One pastor had a lady accompanist dressed in Levi's and looking way too casual. He asked her if that was her best clothing. That was a tactful way to ask because he allowed that the lady actually might not have better clothes. The lady said, "Oh no, I save the best for special occasions." The pastor then kindly asked her to wear her best clothes to play for worship. She was offended, and as I recall, she went away mad. So be it.
If you have a man who is to accompany worship singing who looks like he just came from a baboon convention, kindly tell him he will have to change his appearance. Musicians with disgusting pre-salvation tattoos should be asked to wear clothes that cover them up. The answer may be, "I want to show other people what I was saved out of." Your answer should be, "We don't want to know." Also, a lady with a short skirt is out of the question. Sitting at the piano will make her doubly immodest and a temptation to men in the assembly. If even modest ladies have trouble with this, spend the money, and hire a carpenter to surround the grand piano with a modesty barrier. The Body of Christ must not be distracted by the body of the musicians.
Beware of the big screen monitors. They do get people to lift up their faces and sing upward. But, research tells us that reading a book is more powerful than watching a monitor. In other words, also have hymn books, and encourage the people to use them. With the book, they add tactile feeling with their hands to their reading and hearing. Also, if you invite the people to choose favorites the book will give them an index to find the number.
Finally, the accompanist must be told not to interrupt to give testimonies or any other distraction. They are to serve. I had a lady once who played the organ for our singing who would interrupt the worship to give a sickeningly sweet, or sour, testimony, complete with whimpering and tears. She was a total pest, and she believed she had reached sinless perfection. So, I had to finally ask her to sit with her husband, and we got along with the piano only. She took her little house husband and fled to the Nazarene Church nearby. The pastor there sent someone to ask me to take her back. Not a chance. He was the idiot who taught her she could become sinless.
Special solos and quartets:
1. Top priority..... the singers must have a well known and godly life testimony. If they are living in sin or have a nasty temper, you are a hireling, pastor, if you let them sing during worship.
2. They must practice if they are to be featured as "special." Spontaneous performances often go bad. And, the accompanist must practice with them.
3. Do not give them an introduction other than their name. Flattering the singer will destroy the work of the Holy Spirit. Exalt the Savior.
4. The singer must be cautioned about chattering and moralizing, especially ladies. Some women, sadly, become a bit aggressive when they get to stand behind the pulpit. If you sense this in a lady, set up a music stand somewhere away from the pulpit.
I am repeating this from my suggestions to those who lead above. Keep the volume enough, but do not forte to dominate. I attended a church in the Detroit area where they had a Ph.D. for an organist. He was clearly full of himself. He slammed the volume pedal flat on the bottom and made the thing roar. I looked around, and almost all of the men in the audience were not singing, and some were chatting with each other. The idiot had destroyed the worship service, and the pastor was too much of a wimp to get his champion musician under control. Better to have Betty the beginner playing than Doctor Gasso Von Roarovich.
One more horror to avoid. If you have two pianists or two organists, you are ripe for a war over the instruments. As soon as you sense ANY tension between musicians, especially over who gets to play and when, get them both together and rebuke them in love. If they are ladies, talk to their husbands. If the war persists, shop for another musician, and send both of the combatants back to the pew. I have seen this sort of thing tear a church to shreds. How is it possible for two warring saints to exalt God in worship while they are thrashing one another? But, do make a roster so the musicians know when they will be expected to be on hand. If you have a musician who shows very poor interest in anything but playing the instruments, that person needs to be replaced by a truly and totally committed musician.
What about musical professionals? If you have a trained musician who has a degree in music, or who teaches music in some institution, DO NOT let them take over the music program. Welcome them to make suggestions, and ask them questions where you may need wisdom. But, your church is not a concert hall, and perfection is NOT what you want. Your job, as a pastor, is to keep the sheep fed on the Word of God, and keep them worshipping God together..... all of them. If you let a professional musician dominate your music, you will soon find the people stop singing and watch the show. This means that you may simply not be able to satisfy the professional musician's lust for excellence and power. Your church should be known in the community, not because the famous Bach organists Dr. Weizenheimer goes to you church. You should be known as the people who love one another and behave like Jesus.
Psalms 149:1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
Parting shot:
Should you go off somewhere and sit still and make a strategy for music in your assembly in the future?
Psalms
40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my
feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
3 And he hath put a new song
in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall
trust in the LORD.
TO
THOSE WHO WRITE MUSIC
While I have never written music, all of my experiences with congregational singing, and performance music, have given me some insight into what works and what is distracting.
How the hymn feels, or how it flows or rhymes, are NOT the larger issue to God.
Titus 2:1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
Give us doctrine. If you are a shallow Christian, very shy of knowledge of Bible doctrine, your songs will show it. They will be all fluffy with no depth to move the believer to think of the great truths of the Word of God.
Do not jump from one truth to another without finishing the thought. Some favorite hymns are a hodge podge of too many truths all tacked together. The singer sings eagerly, but they may mentally never make the connection of the lyrics.
Stop writing love songs to Jesus. Many of you writers give us songs with "he" and "you" all the way through. We don't know if "he" is Jesus or Buddha. Use the names of Jesus or God. Here is a song that is an old standard, but it deifies an attribute of God, Love, instead of God or Jesus by name. Stop trying to hide God and Christ from the singer. Some of these modern CCM songs are so devoid of the names of Jesus and God that they could pass for night club love songs.
The name of Jesus comes up once, but the chorus exalts one of his attributes, not him. In our fellowship in Michigan we rescued the hymn by singing, "Christ lifted me." One father told me that his teen age son sang the song all week long. These hymns that hide the name of Jesus or God are very popular in Nashville and sung by worldly honky tonk singers. Why? Answer: Because they can seem religious without speaking the name of Jesus.
Avoid difficult music progressions that require a professional voice and advanced musical skills to master. Write these complex hymns, and we will never sing them. You have NO business getting your nose out of joint because you have to write songs for ordinary people. Serve, or go write songs for the Nashville.
Do not key the hymn too high. This one applies to hymn book publishers also. You only make people miserable when you key too high.
Beware of vain repetition of the heathen. The following verse applies to singing also.
Matthew 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
The
way to learn to like CCM is to go to Bourbon Steet in New Orleans, sit in a night
club, and watch the floor show |
CCM is notorious for 7/11 songs..... seven words repeated eleven times. Repetition is vain. Some of the old hymns of the faith have no repetition, and they are loaded with doctrine. IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, GOD ONLY WISE.
Never use the off beat, especially in the genre of "stride," "rag time," or "boogie woogie." These, and other off beat melodies, are used in the world to move the libido of the listener. They have no place in church music. Southern Gospel may be southern, but it is not Gospel. READ MY ARTICLE ON THE ORIGIN AND REASON FOR SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC
When you write, start with a theme, a doctrine, a Bible truth, and then, only after you have studied that truth in the Bible for several days, write that truth into a song. Some sudden hook that pops into you head in traffic is NOT where sound doctrine comes from. It is in the Word of God, and only as you think deeply in some doctrine, can you be of any use to God.
Just because the Christian world picked up on your song does not mean you were in the Holy Spirit when you wrote it. A classic example of self-will by the hymn writer is the Gaither song, "The King is Coming." It is a treacherous mixture of two prophetic Bible truths, the Rapture of the Church, and the final Second Advent of Jesus Christ to set up his Kingdom. The main theme is about the King coming, but the refrain, "He's coming for me" is distinctly a Rapture phrase. When the King finally comes to rule in his Kingdom, he is NOT coming FOR the saints. The Bible says he will be coming WITH his saints the last time. The Christian singing that hymn will not be on earth to be taken anywhere. John MacArthur reported that, when questioned about this song in a letter by a believer, the Gaithers claimed that the song was given to them by inspiration, and no one had any business questioning their doctrine. Such arrogance is unforgivable. Get your doctrine right up front. And, when a believer suggests your doctrine is shaky, go back and prove all things all over again. You are not infallible.
But, do write us a new hymn please, for new songs appeal to God.
Psalms 149:1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
Read
all of this article so that you know what the others in music ministry may be
doing.
LINKS
130 Stamps Baxter Music School singing class hymns.
Almost all are from the old Redbacked Hymnal from the Deep South. The group sings some verses in SO FA, which is singing the note registry names instead of the words. This is an old device of learning to sing based in what is called Sacred Harp singing. If the meter of the music is a bit too jived up for you, just click to the next hymn. The pianist is Tracey Philips who has won awards for her work in the Christian music world. If you accept ladies to lead choir and congregational singing, I suggest you ask them to watch this lady.Great Joy in that City
Acts 8:6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
7 For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.
8 And there was great joy in that city.
A very good example of a song with a solid biblical foundation. Watch how Tom Powell gets his cardio exercise into the leading. His animation is meant to keep command of the singing of a whole room of singers. He keeps eye contact, he uses large hand motions, and he has the pianist in his total command. Notice the little grin when he holds suspense between verses and then hammers down for the pianist to hit the down beat. When you lead well, it is very satisfying to watch and hear the singing stay clear and zealous. Note the joy on the faces of the singers. Sour puss faces are a disgrace to the Lord. Also, notice the eagerness in the singers to be led. If you have a rebel singer who resists your lead, talk to them, and if you cannot bring them around, sack them. They will poison the whole thing. If you are the singer, FOLLOW. That is the best thing you can do to exalt God. The genre style may be suspect in this song. I used it to illustrate the leading technique.THIS IS NOT CHRISTIAN MUSIC..... IT IS VAUDEVILLE
Pastor, if you allow this rubbish to develop in your alleged worship service, you will be chastened by the God you claim to be serving. If you happen to be so deformed spiritually as to think this comedy exalts Jesus Christ, try to imagine Jesus putting on this slop hog clown show in the Temple in Jerusalem.GOD
The power and precision in this college choir is a result of.....
1. Much practice
2. A patient but perfectionist leader
3. Singers who really show the love or Jesus and an eager spirit
4. In music, they display what is called "Attack"
Can you do this in your church on a back road in Kansas or Nevada?
No, but you have the same Holy Spirit they have, and he will do a lot more than you might expect if you give real diligence to your worship services.
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