Life Recaptured » worship

Amazing Worship Album

Jason — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:16:06 +0000

Over a year ago, I posted some thoughts about 12 years (now 13) of listening to worship music. One of my issues was that not much has been out recently that really grabbed me or moved me in ways new worship music used to. After that post, I ended up finding all of Tim Hughes solo stuff at McKay’s. Good, not great. Hillsong United was another suggestion, but I could never find them used, and I haven’t spent the dough for a new CD in a long time (not too mention I’m not a hip member of the IPod / ITunes revolution), so I just haven’t gotten to listen to them yet. I know the handful of songs we do at Crossings, which I really like, but that was it.

Then, last week, I borrowed the live 2 CD Hillsong United “I Heart Revolution” album from Greg. Over the last 3 days, I’ve been able to listen to all 30 songs. And I’ve been blown away. Out of 30 songs, there are probably only 6 I didn’t really care for. And, although the other 24 are not all necessarily that singable on a Sunday morning, they are all really great. Great lyrics, great musical quality, great rhythm and tempo changes, powerful builds, songs of adoration, songs of action, songs of reflection. Most of the songs just have such a powerful feel and are so easy to worship to. I will say that the music sounds very similar on a lot of songs. They’re really into the smooth, almost U2 like electric guitar rhythms, which has really infiltrated the sound of a lot of popular worship today. Regardless. It’s still amazing.

Disclaimer: Hillsong United may may not be quite as good as Jeff Moody, circa mid-90’s, but it’s VERY VERY good.

Disclaimer II: If you link to the 12 years of woship post, notice that Tony from Tony & Donny actually commented on the post. I emailed him after receiving the comment, but never heard anything back. So, Tony, if you happen to be Googling your name again and come across THIS post, feel free to comment again. If you do, I promise to email you again. And you better respond. If you don’t, I’ll never sing “I Oh I” in the shower ever again.

can you count?

Jason — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:32:00 +0000

Can you count the piercings?

I’m hearing this may be the new look for “contemporary” worship leaders in the next 7-10 years.

what do you really KNOW?

Jason — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:12:00 +0000

I had a great conversation with Greg & Daniel the other night at Spicy’s. We were there to watch the utter spanking of Tenneseee by Louisville in the Sweet 16. It as an excellent opportunity for engaging coversation, since the entertainment was clearly lacking.

The basic point of the discussion was this: way too many Christians claim to KNOW way too much about God, the Bible, faith, and the appropriate way to flesh out a Christian lifestyle.

This may be the very foundation of Christian division – both personally and denominationally. One person/group says, “I KNOW (this) is true and should be done this way.” The other person/group says “No, you’re wrong. I KNOW (this) is true and should be done this way.” Emotion, bickering, hurt feelings, and anger ensue. They are unable to resolve differences in a peaceful and open minded way. And a split of some kind occurs.

You can simply fill in the blank for (this) …. communion, baptism, faith alone, faith and works, tongues, spiritual gifts, pastoral roles, financial stewardship, worship music, preaching styles, evangelistic methods, salvation, tithing, role of women, the Holy Spirit, physical attire or appearance, care for the earth, treatment of animals, dealing with sin in the church community, medical practices, healing by the Spirit, confession to a priest, vanity, child rearing, home schooling, involvement in political matters, role of the husband or wife, dating, legalism, care for the poor, abortion, age of accountability, liturgy of the service, and on and on and on.

But really … what do we really, truly, KNOW about all of these matters? For instance, I know that murder is wrong. God specifically and undeniably says it is unacceptable. He also never says anything that might refute that fact. However, He does not clearly and precisely tell me how to dress. I can “infer” from Jesus’ teachings and from understanding the character of God that there is a line in which my physical attire could be considered sinful, but I don’t KNOW what that line is, do I? Nor does God tell me the exact rules regarding the use of music in church worship. He certainly does not specifically say that it is sinful to either use music or not use music. And He shares no preferences on whether he likes rock, folk, pop, or hymnal styles the best.

There is so little that I know and SO much that I don’t. I know God created the heavens, the earth, animals, and people. I know He loves me. I know He sent Jesus to die for me so I could live forever with Him. I know He wants me to love Him more than anything else. And I know He wants me to love my fellow man as much, if not more, than I could ever love myself. I know that Jesus was baptised, so it’s both important and meaningful to follow that example. But I don’t know if baptism is absolutely 100% necessary for salvation. I know that the disciples and the early church met together to break bread and partake in “communion” to remember Christ. But I don’t know exactly how often they did so, whether they ONLY did it on Sundays or Wednesdays, whether they had a “communion prayer” every time before taking it, or whether they took it all at the same time or took it as they felt led. I know that the early church met to worship the Lord, but I don’t know how long that lasted, what instruments they did or didn’t use, what lyrics their songs consisted of, or whether they were more “pentacostal” or “lutheran” or “methodist” in their emotional and physical reactions to worship. I know that I’ve sinned and am doomed to eternal death without believing in Christ. But I don’t know whether or not someone in the Amazon jungle – who’s never been told about Jesus Christ, but who sees the amazing beauty of creation, realizes it has to come from a higher power or supreme being, and cares for the earth and for his fellow man – is saved or not. I can’t possibly know.

What I am coming to know the older I get is that God’s love and grace is far bigger and wider and greater and more encompassing than you or I could ever imagine. I do know that throughout history He has used people to accomplish His purposes that, if we knew them personally, we probably could not imagine how they could have been chosen by God. I also know that most of the issues listed above (and so many more) have very little to do with our salvation and with God’s intense love for His people, and much more so to do with our small mindedness, our inability to put God in a box, our emotional insecurities, our lack of love for others, our desire for power and to be “right”.

And, in some backwards way, all of those things are simply another reminder of how sinful we are, how incapable we are of saving ourselves, and just how much we needed Jesus to come to earth, die on a cross, rise from the grave, take away the sins of the world, and be our best friend, our Lord, and our Savior. Is it possible that we could all spend a lot more time focusing on that…and much less time focusing on almost everything else?

guitar separation blues

Jason — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:53:00 +0000

My guitar is pictured to the right. I bought it in the fall of 1999. It’s a limited edition, Takamine Santa Fe model. Each year, Takamine makes a Santa Fe style that is exclusive to that year. Mine is a 1999 exclusive. If I remember right, it cost me about $1100.00. I got about $400.00 out of a Yamaha (my first guitar) that I sold to a friend of a friend, so my net expenditure was really only $700.00. Still. A lot of money.

This guitar is sweet. The design is beautiful, it’s got a fully digital pick-up with a built in tuner, reverb, and pre-settable EQ levels. And it sounds awesome. All Takamine’s do.

The problem is, over the last 5 years, I’ve BARELY touched my guitar. Seriously. I think I’ve played it about 4 times in 5 years. I used to play all the time when I was involved in the worship ministries at previous churches. That basically ended in 2002. And I’ve never enjoyed playing just for the sake of playing. The whole reason I taught myself to play back in the mid-90’s was to play for youth groups, church camp, and in worship services within the church. Once that opportunity ended, so did my motivation to play music.

I toyed with selling it. This picture, taken back in May 2007, was one of several I took to put a flyer together to try and sell the guitar, case, cords, stand, and pedals as a package deal. I didn’t really try that hard to advertise it, and it did not sell.

So now I’m struggling with whether or not to pick it back up again. I’ll be extremely rusty. Any callouses my fingers ever developed are long gone. I wonder if I’ll even have the time to devote to practicing again. Yet, somewhere deep down, I know I want to. I want to play all the great worship songs that have impacted me over the last few years. I want to play during my quiet times, even singing spontaneous songs of worship to God. I want to spike my hair, put on some cool glasses, and play while standing on my bed, imagining that I’m David Crowder, leading worship under disco strobe lights with some funky record scratching going on in the background. I’d like to think that if I devote myself again, that in a couple of years I could play better than I ever had before. We shall see. I just don’t know. But I’ll make sure and update you if I do.

12 years of worship music

Jason — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:58:00 +0000

In 1995, a guy named Chris in my dorm let me borrow a Vineyard worship album entitled “Glory and Honor”. It’s pictured here. That album includes in the original release of the song “We Will Dance” by David Ruis…a popular song for several years. The song is over 10 minutes long on the album, which I loved. If you’ve been in church or around any type of contemporary worship over the last 10 years, there are probably 4-5 songs on the album that you would know.

For me, this borrowed album was the beginning of my love of worship music. I began buying almost every new Vineyard album that came out…and they use to release a new one every 3 months. Soon I was buying/listen to Davis Ruis, Brian Doerkson, Sonic Flood, Hillsong, Tony & Donny, and Matt Redmon.

Then, in 1998, the Passion series began. Amazing stuff. I have every Passion CD and love every one. David Crowder and Chris Tomlin, two of the core Passion members, have gone on to sell millions of their own worship albums. Worship music subscription companies formed, sending out new CD’s every so often to minister who signed up. Contemporary Christian artists all began releasing their own worship albums…mostly made up of songs written by other worship artists. By the early 2000’s, Vineyard Worship – which was really the best stuff coming out in the 1990’s – was hardly relevant anymore. Other styles began to grow…grunge worship, rock worship, ska worship. Labels like Wow and Worship Together began releasing worship albums with 20-30 songs, all the most popular songs of that particular time or place.

Here’s the weird part for me. In the last couple of years, other than Chris Tomlin and David Crowder, I don’t know of any new worship music that’s caught my attention. I’ve not really heard, seen, or bought anything new that’s really pulled me in the way Vineyard and Passion did. Maybe I’m just not paying attention. Maybe the worship music craze that seemed to last about 10 years has faded a bit. Maybe the style is headed in a different direction – back to more traditional sounding stuff (?) – and I just haven’t noticed it. What I know is that the worship music I’ve been belting out in my car (I’m a pretty enthusiastic worship driver) is the same stuff I’ve been listening to for quite a long time.

So help me, if you will. If you’re a fan of worship music, what are you listening to? What’s worth buying and listening to again and again? What album or artist first got you listening to worship music? What song do you love to sing loudly in your car? Who, if they were leading worship somewhere, would you drive 3 or 4 hours just to be a part of it?