Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. Sharing Scripture with each other is like iron sharpening iron. Leave a comment and share a scripture that has impacted you this week. Here's the scripture that stuck this week:
Numbers 1:51 NKJV
"And when the tabernacle is
to go forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle
is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The outsider who comes
near shall be put to death."
Several years ago, I started writing worship music and recording. A newcomer artist to the worship scene caught my attention. His worship songwriting really connected to what I desired to write....Scriptural, accessible songs that my church could sing. Unfortunately, those adjectives are getting harder and harder to find in a lot of the worship music that is promoted today. His name was Mark Roach.
I shot him an email and I think he responded in about 5 minutes. That turned into a friendship and him taking the time to give me advice and wisdom in songwriting and being a worship leader in the local church.
All that being said, I'm honored to post a review of his new EP release, Beautiful Truth.
One thing I know about Mark is that he has a heart for the church that transcends any desire for fame and notoriety. He is the worship arts director of Morning Star Church in O'Fallon, Missouri.
On his newest release, Beautiful Truth, he has stayed the course in writing songs for the church.
Here's my rundown...
1. "Glory Hallelujah" - This is an ideal opener for a worship album. It's a call to worship for the congregation. The chorus starts with "This is our song..."
2. "Here with You" - A love song to God with a major theme of dependence.
3. "Every Reason Why" - It's because of God we're alive. He is every reason why.
4. "Holy Lord" - This song is all about the Trinity...a theme that's greatly missing in modern worship. I love how the 1st, 2nd and 3rd verse represent each part of the trinity, separately and builds to the all encompassing theme of the chorus, which is HOLY.
5. "Transformed" - A declaration of transformation that has a killer drive rooted in Romans 12.
6. "Beautiful Truth" - There's no doubt this should have been the title track. A truly beautiful song for any congregation to sing. God's truth is what we all need to pursue, because at the end of the day, our opinions are just ugly compared it.
All of these songs are singable for your church. There are also elements that bring it into the modern era. There's no question that these songs were written from the heart of a church leader.
Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. Sharing Scripture with each other is like iron sharpening iron. Leave a comment and share a scripture that has impacted you this week.
Here's the scripture that stuck this week:
Leviticus 9:22-24 NKJV
22 Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, 24 and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
Gotta love some Old Testament corporate worship. The only logical response to God's presence is worship. Facedown worship is very prevalent in the Old Testament.
Last year, I went to the National Worship Leaders Conference in Kansas City. As a songwriter, I always take advantage of the songwriting critique panels they offer. They usually consist of artists and record company people who give their thoughts and opinions of your song. Last year, a guy named Richie Fike was on the panel & critiqued one of my songs. It's kind of a coincidence that now I sit here critiquing his songs. He gave me a great review, so hopefully I can return the favor here. :)
Fike is not just Richie Fike. It's Richie and Dana Fike, husband and wife, worship pastors at Vanguard Church in Colorado Springs, and Integrity Music new artist and writers. That's a mouth full.
One of the first things that grabbed me was Richie and Dana's vocals. Very smooth and distinct. They mesh very well and easy to listen to.
My favorite track is probably Glorious You Are. Just a beautiful song of worship that will work corporately.
For me there was also a standout lyric on this album that really struck me and stuck with me. It's the opening line on the song Wait:
"It never goes like I thought it should, and that's a real nice thing, because the Lord is good."
I just thought that was a really profound and beautiful way to express that message. Great writing!
The other standout songs for me were Jehovah (also great lyrically), Be Still, and the title track, The Moment We've Been Waiting For.
Not all the songs are corporate worship friendly, but there's a lot of heart and beauty in this album. I really enjoyed listening through it. Great job Fike and Integrity!
Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. Sharing Scripture with each other is like iron sharpening iron. Leave a comment and share a scripture that has impacted you this week.
Here's the scripture that stuck this week:
Leviticus 2:13 NKJV
"And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt."
Salt was a symbol of the covenant they had with God. It's also the same for us. The Bible also says that we, as New Testament believers, are to be salt in the world. Preserved and flavored by God. Our life is the offering. I love that God uses so much symbolism in His Word. We need that.
About 10 years ago I started my first job as a worship leader in a church. I was 24, green and eager to grow. I went to my first music conference shortly after, and it wasn't that great. It was pretty old school and very irrelevant to the vision God had given me regarding worship ministry. But just like most things in life, you can always learn something. As bad as the conference was, I walked away learning something that has been very vital to my ministry. I attended one of the workshops they offered, and the teacher said something that stuck with me. He said that the most impacting thing we could give our crowd every week, during the music, was scripture. He challenged us to make sure we used scripture, somehow, someway, during every worship set we lead.
I took that advice, and it has become a huge part of my worship set every week since that conference.
A few years ago, I was introduced to another idea that also has been a big part of my philosophy. It's the idea of planning the times when I use scripture during each worship set ahead of time. For me, it's felt right to plan out one moment during the set where I'll stop, share my heart with the church, and that's usually where I'll read or quote a scripture. I've watched worship leaders that have either talked too much or not talked enough. Learning the balance of that can make a big difference in the impact. I definitely don't recommend talking after every single song. That can be major over-kill. Anyways, I've found that planning those times before I lead worship to be a very positive thing. Being Spirit-led doesn't exclusively mean spontaneous. Some of the most Spirit-led things that I've experienced in worship services, I had prayerfully prepared ahead of time.
All that being said, I thought I'd share a few ways I've learned to use scripture while leading worship...
1. READ FROM THE BIBLE
I love to hold the Bible and read it. There's nothing like it. It's the best visual you can have in church, while giving them the best thing they'll ever hear.
2. READ FROM A DEVICE
The Word of God is not restricted to pages bound together. The Word of God is much bigger than that. We live in a day and age of technology. It's not going away. There's times when I've used my Blackberry, iPod Touch or iPad to read scripture, and guess what? It's still powerful, because its still God's Word. Most of the time that I've used a device, it's been because its last minute and convenient. I definitely embrace the use of technology.
3. QUOTE FROM MEMORY
Psalm 119:11 tells us to hide God's Word in our hearts. Scripture memory is a very important discipline in the life of a follower of Christ...not to mention, worship leaders. There have been times where it was more appropriate to quote the scripture from memory, instead of taking the time to hold a Bible and read it. Taking the time to memorize scripture ahead of time is something I've never regretted.
4. CORPORATE READING
One thing I've taught my churches is to worship God while reading scripture together, just like we would while singing a song together. I've had them raise their hands as we've said scripture out loud. There's nothing like worshiping God with His own Words.
5. RESPONSIVE READING
This is a very old method in liturgy and its still relevant today. One example of this is when I do the song "Forever" by Chris Tomlin. I love to start that song with Psalm 136. As the worship leader, I'll read the first part of each verse and have the crowd say "His love endures forever." Its an awesome way to start that song.
6. PROJECT SCRIPTURE
This is a very creative way to use scripture. Sometimes, it's been more appropriate and powerful to put scripture on the screen and not say it out loud. Just let the crowd read it quietly. I usually do this during an instrumental at some point during a song. Here's an example of how I did this recently:
There is truly nothing more powerful than God's Word. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, and it's certainly more powerful than the latest greatest worship song, or anything we could say, for that matter. I have seen the Holy Spirit move through a crowd and move people to worship with a song, but it's never been more powerful as when scripture is used with it.
I'm sure there are other ways to lead worship with scripture. If you have an idea I haven't mentioned, please comment and share.
The other night, I saw on twitter that some people were photoshopping the Blue Like Jazz movie poster with their own spin on it, and I couldn't resist. I took a crack at it with Shrek...
Word Wednesday is posted every Wednesday. Each week I post a scripture that I've read that week that has spoken to me in a fresh way. I believe that if we read God's Word every day, He will give us at least one scripture every week that will impact us. Sharing Scripture with each other is like iron sharpening iron. Leave a comment and share a scripture that has impacted you this week.
