A Nugget from New Life Network
(by Nick Coetze)
Scripture for the Day (November 3, 2017)
Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 150)
(Nick Coetzee is a longtime personal friend of ours and is a producer and worship leader from South Africa. He has spent the past 30 years pouring into worship ministry and also developing and recording worship songs. He produced the first US release of ‘Shout to the Lord’ with Darlene Zschech, as well as many instrumental and vocal albums for artists and recording companies. He and his family are based in Wesley Chapel, FL where he owns and operates a recording studio (www.rainmusic.org). Nick also produces promotional videos for churches and secular companies.)
There is an alarming trend that has emerged in our modern church experience that seems to be catching on as it does seem to be producing results. What are the results? This trend seems to be drawing more people to church. Is that a bad thing? No, it’s great as many are coming to Christ and communities are being transformed.
Bill Hybels, the founder of Willow Creek in Chicago, has been linked to a style of church service we call “seeker sensitive”, in other words we are not a “holy huddle” with our own sub culture but rather a place where the unchurched will be accepted and comfortable.
All this is good, but what about the worship of the Living God. Apparently only 11% of all worship songs are sung to God. It was Tommy Tenney, the author of “God Chasers”, who said that worship is the only part of the service that God gets anything out of. It would seem like our worship is more horizontal than vertical.
In a recent conference I was at in Dallas, TX I heard Bill Hybels say that he started this “seeker” model for a specific purpose as his congregation of professionals were not engaging and so he tried something different (One song, then a short video, then two more songs very professionally presented, then a another break) In other words, it was not a typical time of praise and worship that is uninterrupted for 20 to 30 minutes. This was opposite to what I have seen and become accustomed to in South Africa and Australia but these professionals began engaging and committing their lives to Christ.
Bill went on to say that several years later he realized that worship needs to be a journey that the believer embarks on. A journey filled with faith, the Word of God, and yes words of worship directed to God. I’m so glad he shared that because I agree with him and have been training worship leaders for many years in that vein.
We need love songs to Him, songs of intimacy and adoration, where at some point we may even be silent as we gaze upon His face and welcome the King of Glory into our midst.
I’m not against excellence with sound, lighting and skilled musicianship. We need to combine the anointing of the Spirit with excellence in presentation but the real reason why an unbeliever will come to Christ is because they see our passion for our God, not because we have music that sounds professional. Our church services need to be full of love and also full of God, as that’s what the unchurched are expecting. As my Pastor Ed Russo once said, if we bear the label of Christian then we need to live on fire for God so the world can easily tell the difference.
