Back to the point. On 11/19, hacked emails were leaked from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit in the U.K. which indicated that research findings were falsified “in order to exaggerate the possible threat of man-made global warming.” Of course, extreme views on either side abound. On the one hand, this is being considered “the scandal of the century,” and on the other the whole thing is dismissed as utterly irrelevant to the debate. Both extremes are unnecessary.

That being said, it is disturbing to find that data was modified in order to present a more favorable outcome. Without question, falsification of graphical/statistical data is something we are familiar with. Graphs and statistics are always met with an air of skepticism due to their malliable nature. But we’re talking about scientists here! These are not businessmen trying to soften the blow of a down profit quarter. These are men of science, men of truth, men whom public opinion holds in high regard due to the perceived sacredness of their mission. Scientists are the priests of Secular Religion – they are the new purveyors of absolute truth. Thus, the falsification of research findings is (or ought to be) for the world of Science as transgressive as the recent moral scandals among Catholic priests! Furthermore, due to the grave and serious claims of Climate Change proponents and the drastic measures which their science necessarily dictates, shouldn’t they be held to an even higher scrutiny?

I don’t think these findings destroy all of the research behind climate change, nor should they. But it has called into question the motives behind the science. Why would someone falsify data? What benefit are they gaining by doing so? It seems (surprise, surprise) that the whole thing has become a political animal, rather than a scientific one, and herein lies my frustration. Anyone with me??

Without question simple preference comes into it sometimes, but that’s not what I’m talking about. What I want to do, is analyze the various elements of a ‘good’ worship song. I’m looking to establish some empirical, observable, rational, objective rules and guidelines for determining what constitutes a ‘good’ worship song. This of course may be impossible. But I’m gonna’ try anyway.

Before we even get into it, let’s talk about why we even have to talk about this at all. We need to talk about it because there are some really awful worship songs out there! I mean bad!! And many of them we sing in church on a near weekly basis. Part of the difficulty has come due to a shift in the focus of congregational music in general over the past 30 or so years. Congregational music has gone from being primarily instructional to being primarily personal. That is, it is no longer the intent of most congregational worship songs to teach some Biblical principle, but rather to move us, to inspire the feelings of praise, adoration, love, etc. I actually think this is a good thing, though often poorly executed. After all, the Psalms are intensely personal! However, this shift has given way to a lax attitude toward the theological necessity of worship music. I find that many of the ‘bad’ worship songs out there fall into one of two categories – either they have poor theology or they have no theology. A song I like to pick on is the following – you’ve probably heard it in your church.

Your love is extravagant
Your friendship, it is intimate
I feel I’m moving to the rhythm of your grace
Your fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place

So what’s my issue with this song? First of all, and forgive me for being crude, but this song sounds like foreplay. Use of words like ‘extravagant,’ ‘intimate,’  ‘moving to the rhythm,’ ‘fragrance,’ ‘intoxicating,’ and ‘secret place’ (basically, every word in the verse), lends itself to this unfortunate association. I actually have a hunch that it was written with this very thing in mind. What’s worse, originally the line, ‘Your friendship, it is intimate,’ was ‘Your friendship, mm-mm intimate.’ I’m not even kidding. Groaning was written into the song. When Casting Crowns remade the song, they changed the ‘lyrics’ to what it is now.

Frankly, I’m not sure whether this song has bad theology or no theology. It’s hard to determine. I certainly am unable to figure out what truth is being alluded to, other than possibly that the writer finds Jesus sexy (forgive me, Lord). I get that it is an expression of love to Jesus, but honestly, I never saw anywhere in the Bible where a person expressed their worship to God or Jesus in this way. What’s worse, I don’t know anyone who talks this way today, whether to God or anyone else?! The ONLY – and I mean ONLY – time I can ever see this kind of language being used, is in the bedroom – and even then it’s creepy.

The more I think about it, I think this song is more non-theological than un-theological. It really doesn’t have a message. It doesn’t really say anything. It’s like telling a story with no point. It’s just plain annoying. I remember once in high school, I had slept over at a friend’s house, and we had, of course, stayed up till around 2 or 3am. At somewhere around 6:30 that morning, my friend’s little sister barged into the room, woke us both up and said to my friend, “Hey Rob, do you remember that time that Erin (an ex-girlfriend) came over and we had pizza and she cut it up into little pieces for me and I ate it?” The near unconscious response came from across the room, “Yeah, I remember.” She says, “Oh.” And promptly closes the door and walks away……Yeah, I get the same feeling from this song. I frankly don’t even know what the heck the song is trying to say. It’s a lot of flowery language with little to no content. It’s like eating cotton candy. This brings me to my first point:

1) A GOOD WORSHIP SONG HAS GOOD THEOLOGY

Having ‘good’ theology implies that it must actually have some theological content. There’s a whole host of worship songs out there that are actually about worshiping God. Maybe you missed the subtlety there. These songs are not about God or His greatness, they are actually about the activity of worship. Such as “Come, now is the time to worship; come, now is the time to give your heart; come, just as you are to worship; come, just as you are before your God.” To be fair, there is a line in that song which is a near quote of “Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” But this song isn’t about the reality of Jesus’ Lordship over all creation, it’s about worshiping. I’m glad there is some theology in this song, but the theology is more of a side-note than the focus. The overal message of the song is, “Hey, let’s worship!” These ‘response,’ songs emphasize the activity of worship, without ever really giving us a reason to worship.

Theology is essential to inspire worship. Even if the theological principle is something simple like, “God is good.” If a song effectively communicates to me the goodness of God, if I become convinced again of the goodness of God while I sing, I will naturally fall into a state of worship based on the truth I am singing about in the song. If the theology is bad, then I may come to believe something that is untrue about God. And if the theology is non-existent, then I might not be moved to true worship at all.

2) A GOOD WORSHIP SONG HAS A CLEAR MESSAGE

When I’m singing a song in church, I want to know exactly what I’m singing about from start to finish. This would seem obvious, but many songs fail to meet this simple criterion. As much as I love Hillsong, this is their great weakness. Their songs have good theology, but they are usually a long string of statements about God that have little affiliation with each other. Take the song, “All Things Are Possible”:

Almighty God, my Redeemer; My hiding place, my safe refuge
No other name like Jesus; no power can stand against You
My feet are planted on this Rock; And I will not be shaken
My hope it comes from You alone; My Lord and my Salvation

Though each line says something good about God, each line is a brand new thought, and does not follow the line before it. Though perhaps there is something beneficial about worshiping God through these various truths, you also necessarily get to the end of this song not really knowing what you just sang about. The chorus of this song simply repeats, “All things are possible.” That’s a great message! But again, it is a thought independent from the rest of the song. Though I like this song, and though what it does say is worth saying, it doesn’t really have a clear message.

3) A GOOD WORSHIP SONG HAS MUSIC THAT MATCHES THE MESSAGE

I remember a song I used to sing back in my Methodist days: “They will know we are Christians by our love.” It was a two-chord song: E minor, and A minor, and had a haunting, sad melody. Something tells me that a song about unity and love should probably be upbeat. Another great example is “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever.” The bridge says, “O I feel like dancing,” and then later says, “…like we’re dancing now.” I have never seen anyone dance to this song, and I don’t actually think it would be possible due to the slow tempo. The message of the song has to make sense with the music.

4) A GOOD WORSHIP SONG IS EASY TO SING

If you are an aspiring worship leader, and you’ve written a song that sounds like R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It,” you might want to consider a new profession. I refer back to Hillsong, who have an unfortunate tendency of simply putting too many words in their songs. It is very hard to memorize most Hillsong songs, and so it is near impossible to just close your eyes and sing along. Chris Tomlin also has a wonderful habit: writing songs several keys higher than most anyone can sing (except maybe Whitney Houston). If a song is being written for congregational worship, people should be able to sing it.

5) A GOOD WORSHIP SONG IS FUN TO SING

I know. This one isn’t very spiritual. But let’s just be real. We’ve all had experiences where we were hanging out with friends, and some song comes on the radio, and we all spontaneously begin to sing along at the top of our lungs. Why? Because it was fun to sing! Songs like, ‘Hey Jude,’ by the Beatles or ‘How Could I Live?’ by LeeAnn Rimes, Santana’s ‘Smooth,’ or pretty much anything by the Beach Boys, are songs we’ve all sung at the top of our lungs, even if only in the shower or in the car (though I officially deny ever singing along to ‘How Do I Live?’). There are some good church songs like this, (many of them kid’s songs). But there are some worship songs out there that are just fun to sing. One of the reasons Amazing Grace is so famous, is because it’s got a great, singable melody. I looked up “top worship songs,” and the list I got turned up these results: 1) How Great is Our God; 2) Mighty to Save; 3) Blessed be Your Name; 4) Here I Am to Worship; 5) Everlasting God. I’m betting you know all of these and can sing them by heart. Ignoring everything else, these songs are fun to sing. They’ve got great melodies. A good worship song should stick with you

On a positive note, I recently learned a new song by Fee called Beautiful the Blood. It’s not the best song I’ve ever heard, but it is what I would consider a good worship song. The message is clear. Jesus blood heals, forgives and sets free. It uses a very clear and consistent poetic device in the verses, i.e. contrasting the simultaneous horror and beauty of the crucifixion. And last, it makes a declaration, consistent with scripture, based on the reality of the cross: “Victorious are we now!” I believe this song does everything a good worship song should.

Any other examples of great worship songs out there? Bad ones?

My name is Jeff. I am one of two electric/lead guitarists on our team. We tend to have a very modern/rock feel to our worship (hence two electric guitars), which I absolutely love! We do lots of Hillsong United, Desperation Band, etc.

For the past couple of weeks, our youth have decided to come up to the front to worship, and since many of them are very exuberant worshippers, it has been great for our church!

Here’s the set…

Revolution – Hillsong United
This song is big. And fast. And I love it. It’s a great, high-energy song to kick things off.

Break Free – Hillsong United
Always good. The team was doing this before I came on board, and so I’m still sort of figuring out what to do, I think I’m almost there.

I Am Free – Newsboys
This song is almost an anthem at our church and it is always a hit with the congregation. Our freedom in Christ is basically our Pastor’s main message week after week.

You Never Let Go – Matt Redman
This is another that is quickly become anthemic (did I just make up a word?). The faithfulness of God is another theme that runs through just about every message our pastor preaches.

Deeper – Hillsong United
This one is a lot of fun to play. However, it took us a long time to get to where we are. I’ve only enjoyed it the past couple of times we’ve played it.

To the Ends of the Earth – Hillsong United
We tried a slightly new arrangement on this one, and even though I suggested it, I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Offering:

Shine – Matt Redman

That’s it.

This Sunday was absolutely awesome! We’ve recently made a change to our Sunday morning rehearsal in which we spend the first 20-30 minutes just worshiping as a team, usually with just one person on acoustaic guitar or keys, and everyone else singing.  It has made a real difference. As it has been said, “You can’t lead people to a place you’ve never been.” Going into the presence of God ahead of the congregation (so to speak) makes it that much easier to lead them there when the service starts.

The Time Has Come – Hillsong United

Dancing Generation – Matt Redman
At the beginning of the service, a bunch of the youth came to the front to worship/dance, and it totally electrified the atmosphere, and when we started this song, the church just flew off the handle! It was great. I’ve NEVER seen that many people dancing in our church! In fact, it startled me a little. For the first few measures I was focusing on the guitar part and so didn’t look up, but then when I did, the whole church was bouncing up and down. It was awesome to see the church cutting loose!

Salvation is Here – Hillsong United

Greatest Gift – Matt Redman

Here in Your Presence – New Life Worship
This is the second Sunday we played this song. Last time, we didn’t really play it well, I don’t think, but this Sunday we nailed it. And what was even better, the congregation really entered in. I mean REALLY! It was truly a breakthrough Sunday, and it was awesome to be a part of it. Without question, this will become a favorite.

You Never Let Go – Matt Redman

Offering:

Revolution – Hillsong United
Fast, fast, fast. But tons of fun to play!

I recently read a little bit of an article about the use of technology in worship – I only read a little bit because it made me angry. Here’s what I read:

“The importance of any technology is found in its utility. This is especially true in our worship communities and events. What can it do to solve a problem or meet a need? If you have technology being used without this focus, you have given way to gadgetry.” (see it in context)

Let me say this up front – I wholeheartedly disagree. That being said, I also understand where the author of this article is coming from. It is possible to get sidetracked with technology. But isn’t it also possible to get sidetracked with the music? Or the preaching? Or any individual element of the service? The reality is that whenever we lose focus on the only worthy Object of our worship, we have become sidetracked, and thus that emphasis, wherever it is placed, becomes a distraction. Be it technology or otherwise.

So what exactly was the problem I had with the above statement? The problem I have with it is that it utterly left out the immense potential of using technology as a creative outlet. The article wasn’t all bad, but to reduce technology to its “utility” is a gross underestimation of its potential. What is the utility of a painting? Or a sonnet? Or a piece of music? None of these have any sort of utility or practical use whatsoever, because art exists on a non-utilitarian plane. Art is an expression of the soul, and our soulish/spiritual impulses are rarely utilitarian. In fact, often those impulses defy utility! I’m a musician, and every now and then I try my hand (and usually fail) at writing a song. I will spend hours hammering out the chords, the lyrics, the melody, and then go back and make minor adjustments, and then major ones, and then I scrap it all and try it from a completely different angle, and so on. From a utilitarian viewpoint, those hours were lost (especially since I rarely come out of that time with anything good). The rational part of me screams about what a waste of time it was to try and write a song, “Think of all the other useful things you could have been doing!” And yet something else in me feels strangely fulfilled and happy, despite my apparent failure. I actually ENJOYED the process! So, technology has the same potential.

If technology is ONLY permissible in worship if it is utilitarian, then why do we put pretty background images behind the lyrics displayed on the screen? It is because we acknowledge that on some level, “pretty” is better than “boring.” However, utility is rarely, if ever, beautified – because beauty serves no function. Art has no practical purpose.

I personally believe that if we could get the people who run our sound systems, and operate the lights, and who run the lyrics, to begin to view themselves as artists, adding beauty and artistry to the worship experience through their several duties – rather than automatons fulfilling some utilitarian function, we might actually get better results out of them. When you view someone’s job as little more than an unfortunate necessity, they will probably feel the same about it.

Someone once said that our projector screens are the modern day “stained-glass windows.” Most people scoff at that idea, but imagine the possibilities!

Someone once insinuated that the sound system is as much an instrument as a guitar, or keyboard, and the sound person is putting on a performance just as much as the people up front. What if we chose to really believe that, and what if our sound technicians really started to believe that?

What if we viewed the lights in our sanctuary as serving a function other than simply illuminating the darkness. After all, the whole idea of the stained glass window was to change the color and shape of the light that came into the sanctuary – now we have almost unlimited capability to do the same with modern lighting equipment.

All of these things are utterly un-utilitarian, and yet they all have incredible potential to enhance the worship experience for those who attend our churches. And that’s my two cents.

I’m Jeff Rossman, I play electric guitar for my worship team (usually) at Living Hope Family Church in Tucson, AZ. I’m not the worship leader, but I believe I have as much of a responsibility within the band to be actively engaged inthe refining process, I believe in “honing my craft,” and I believe Psalm 33:3 is a mandate to me and to all worship musicans.

This Sunday both our bassist, and our other electric guitarist were out, and so I played bass instead of guitar. Electric guitar is kind of a staple in our worship diet, and so we were a bit thin this Sunday, but still did well, considering. I can hold my own on the bass, but that’s about all. My right-hand pointer and middle fingers are still raw from yesterday…Anyway, on with the list!

I’m Not Ashamed – Hillsong
I love this song. It’s currently one of my favorites among the songs out team does. It’s very fun to play, it has a great message and it always goes over well with the congregation. However, it is very guitar driven, and so the lack of an electric guitar made the song a little thin.

The Time Has Come – Hillsong United
So this one is very bass heavy, including a bass solo (watch/listen here at 4:08). I just barely made it through the solo. The problem is not that the solo (as is) is overly difficult, but we play it in a different key. Thus, part of the solo uses an open string which was unavailable to me. But, it was still fun to play.

I am Free – Newsboys
This one is always good. It very much gels with the message our church preaches, and thus the congregation connects with it. We play it often, but we have yet to get sick of it.

You are My Strength – Hillsong
This is another one our congregation just seems to love. It’s simple, straightforward and beautiful, which is a good combination.

He Reigns – Newsboys
Even though I like this song, it felt strangely placed in the set. I have no problem with ending a set with a fast, high-energy song, but this song just didn’t seem the right choice. Once we got to the first chorus, it was okay, but it felt awkward until then. (Ramble alert) I guess my thought is that if you want to end the set with a high-energy song, you have go big immediately – otherwise it just feels awkward. It has to hit people quick. Luckily, I attend a church full of people who know how to worship, and they will worship whether it feels awkward or not (Besides, it’s entirely possible that I’m the only one who felt awkward)

PS – There was a song between “You Are My Strength” and “He Reigns,” but for the life of me I can’t remember it.

All in all it was a good Sunday. God was praised, and I had a blast (as usual).

Recently, however, I feel I have had an epiphany of sorts. I have pretty much decided that I will be moving back to Phoenix, re-enrolling at Phoenix Seminary, and finishing my education there. On top of that, for the first time in the past year-and-a-half, I feel “released” (for lack of a better term) to pursue ministry vocationally. I honestly don’t know whether the recent reluctance to pursue ministry was from the Holy Spirit, or from my own insecurity. Despite feeling somewhat “stuck,” this has been a very positive season for me. I have experienced a measure of financial stability (at least moreso than when I was a youth pastor), I have had some soul-searching time, and I realize now how much I had neglected my own spiritual health while tending to the spiritual needs of others. This has been a wonderful time of rejuvination! My church is great, and the teaching from the pastor is phenomenal! I am truly being transformed by the Word, and it is an awesome experience. I have established a wonderful network of close Christian friends – something I lacked during the whole time I was in Phoenix.

So my friends, I covet your prayers, and I will keep you updated!

But seriously! Shouldn’t our worship be creative? Why are we so afraid to break the mold, to take “the road less traveled,” to be daring, even at the risk of failing!? I’m not talking about worship “styles” either. I don’t care if you attend a very modern/contemporary church or a traditional/liturgical church – and frankly, I don’t think God cares either. “Contemporary” can be just as much of a rut as “traditional.” In fact, I believe that the recent trend in Christian music to revisit the hymns and traditional music of the Church is an attempt to get out of the “contemporary” rut! We’re beginning to realize that that “modern” doesn’t equal “anointed.” The anointing flows where the name of Jesus Christ is lifted up!

So how can we bring creativity into our worship? I’m trying to think outside of the box here…I’m realizing that I have a tendency to limit creativity to the platform – what is the worship team doing? What is the pastor preaching? What is being projected onto the screen? Can creativity be used elsewhere? How about the seating arrangement? What if everyone got down off the platform for a Sunday, and the whole thing happened on ground level? What if the pastor preached first, then you ended with worship? What if you decided not to have a Sunday service one week at the church, and decided to meet at a local park instead? What if you had a few people do live announcements from a street corner somewhere? Or what if you wanted to do a lesson on evangelism, and so one Sunday you sent some people out with a camera, and a live feed back to the church, and had the church observe real-time street evangelism, with real-time responses from real people? No editing! What if you had a Sunday of silence? No preaching. No music. Just silent meditation and prayer?

God is creative. He made this world, and thought up all the cool stuff in it. Every rock, tree, insect, and animal. And I am continually amazed by the way God works His will in my life. I NEVER see it coming - at least not it the way He does it. God is FULL of unique and creative ideas, and we should be too! Any other radical or ridiculous ideas out there about how to worship our creative God??

I am not the worship leader at my church, but I do have a significant amount of experience leading worship and in worship ministry in general. Currently, I am one of two electric guitar players on our team, and this was actually only my second Sunday playing. Personally, I have a lot more experience (and talent) with the acoustic guitar, so this has been a really great opportunity to grow in my ability on the electric guitar, and I must say, I’m having an absolute blast!

This is a great Sunday to start blogging on this because I think we rocked the house this Sunday – no glaring mistakes, a lot of energy, and the congregation was really feeling it today. It was awesome to be in God’s house this morning!

Now for the review:

Love the Lord Your God:
This was probably my least favorite song in the set, honestly. It was difficult to figure out exactly what the electric guitar should be doing, and so it was very difficult for me, both services, to really just relax and worship while I played. However, I think we played it well, and it had a good energy to kick things off, but it was also a kind of mellow energy which allowed us to comfortably ease into the service.

Break Free – Hillsong United:
Nothing mellow about this song. It honestly amazes me that our worship team can pull this song off congregationally. I love Hillsong United, but they have a lot of songs that I feel are just unreasonable for normal congregational worship. This is one of them…or so I thought. The amazing thing is that not only do we play this song well, our congregation LOVES IT! People were dancing and shouting all over the place during this song – it’s truly an honor to be a part of a church full of worshipers who worship with abandon! I especially enjoyed the instrumental bridge.

I Am Free – Newsboys:
This is another song that our congregation just really seems to connect with. Our pastor preaches a lot on our identity and position in Christ, and I think this song speaks to that profoundly. At one point a couple of the youth started running around the sanctuary at the “I am free to run” part. It was a flashback to my Bible School days – we used to do that all the time. Even though for most churches, people running around during worship would be kind of weird, maybe even distracting, I felt that it was a beautiful expression of worship from these young people – and the energy was high enough that I don’t think it was a distraction at all.

Musically, I think we nailed this one both services. It’s pretty straightforward, but we have some dynamic changes throughout the song that just really make it work well. I don’t know where it came from, but we add a repetitious intro part to this song where we just sing “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom,” over and over. We slowly build it from just acoustic and some light cymbals to full band, full throttle, and then quickly scale it back to start the verse. Very fun!

From the Inside Out – Hillsong United:
This is absolutely one of my favorite worship songs of late, and even though I think we do this song well, I also think we could do it a lot better. The various parts of this song are not very well defined, and we all just kind of improv our way through it. We’ve got a talented team of musicians, so we pull it off, but I think we could give some more attention to the song, do some fine tuning, and really do it with excellence.

Came to My Rescue – Hillsong United:
Another favorite, and again another song I think we could/should spend some time on working the kinks out. In fact as I think about our team in general, I think we are really good at the upbeat/praise songs, and less good at the slower/worship songs. We have a tendency to pick out worship songs that have  some section of high intensity somewhere in the middle (both From the Inside Out and Came to My Rescue have full band, full throttle sections). I don’t think our team does quiet worship well…

The Enemy has been Defeated/Shout Unto God – Hillsong United:
(As you can see, we like Hillsong United). This was our song for offering. Honestly, this one felt a little awkward – I think we all felt that way on the worship team. We never really got it right in practice, and we didn’t really do it well in service. In my mind, it’s really not a stand-alone song – it needs to be tagged onto the end of another song.