Invariably the one who charges that this is all something about preferences and that we shouldn't let that divide our congregation, or that this is Satan's work trying to divide us is an advocate for "contemporary worship". I agree. It has everything to do with preferences: these folk's preference for popular music and wanting to sing it in church. You can usually call their bluff by suggesting that if it is just preference, then we should put away the drums etc. every other week and just sing songs that are at least 70 years old or more.Funny thing though, around Christmas many of them kind of forget and start singing traditional Christmas songs like Silent Night.
Any unbiased observer can see that most of the newer music (simple tunes, few lyrics repeated many times) compare poorly with older hymns(musical complexity, depth of meaning and workmanship of numerous verses)as far as quality go. Shouldn't we want to offer our best when we worship the Lord?
And this isn't just a generational thing. The hymnals that have been thrown out in lieu of the powerpoint projected one verse songs contain songs like "Be Thou My Vision" which dates from the 8th century. We are dumbing down our worship in the search for church growth. Good preaching will take care of that.
We should worship our Lord with our heart AND our mind!
Used by churches all over the world to help teach worship, the Experiencing Worship study can help your worship team too.
Your team will learn why we worship and gain a better understanding of how to worship.
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This is the debut album by EXW friend Paul Langford. Paul is a Chicago based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. Paul has a career that spans 14 years. Paul's work includes arranging for groups like GLAD, Voices of Liberty, VoiceTrek, The Chicago based "Caroling Party" and Day of Discovery Singers. His arranging has appeared on recordings side by side with greats like Gene Puerling and David Maddux, and he has sung with Don Shelton, Bonnie Herman and Bob Bowker, among others.