As I contemplated all of the materials, class discussions, and learning experiences of this course, I had to chuckle to myself, because what I learned was not at all what I had anticipated when I registered for it. I had in my mind some picture of Doc bringing in his guitar, and us dragging our instruments to the fourth floor, and learning different worship leading techniques or something. What I found in this class, however, was quite different.
I eventually learned that my high hopes of worship leading techniques, were actually spoken against in this class -that my worship of the waiter, rather than the meal was actually idolatry.
Instead of techiniques and steps and things, I learned something that quite transcends instruments, and musical notes, and so on. Instead I learned about the Centrality of the Gospel, the Authority of Scripture, and the Supremacy of Christ. I learned that God the Father has outlined in Scripture, specifics about how He is to be worshipped, and that this is all much bigger than whether you have guitars or an organ on sunday morning.
Through reading of authors dating back to the Puritan era, and up to the past few years, we were able to observe the earnest effort of godly men to keep the Scripture, and the Trinity present in Worship. We are saved for the glory of God alone.
I have now learned that the texts of worship ought to contain, or atleast mirror the language of Scripture. I have commited to seek to worship as Scriture outlines, that my worship be Logo-centric, Christo-centric and FOR HIS GLORY ALONE! I have not yet arrived but I know where I am heading!

What I learned

Biblically there is a difference between corporate worship and worship in daily life. The Bible specifically calls for certain elements in our corporate worship gatherings such as, prayer, singing, and preaching. We could be freer from people’s opinions in defining how a church service should be run if we focused on what the Bible calls for.

Choose meaningful text for songs, where you read the lyrics before you hear the tune of the song. I found the exercises on studying texts that we did in class were very helpful it caused me to start evaluation text more than before. I realized that many of the songs I enjoyed really didn’t have much to say. A focus on text in our churches would revolutionize the worship wars we face today.

The goal of church is not to be seeker friendly, but to nourish the body. Of course the church should seek to reach the lost, but its primary goal is not to be cool and modern in order to attract the unchurched and get them ‘saved’. Its primary goal is to develop mature Christians who are able to reach their world for Christ.

Final Blog

After thinking back about what we have read and discussed in class I feel that there is one issue that we have been trying to solve. I think that every one is trying to figure out what our worship should consist of when it comes to Sunday morning services. It can be a very contoversial subject between churches and the mind set, I feel, has become, "Whatever works for you." I think that this in a way allows people to make they're own interpretation of the Bible and what is important and that is how so many different worship services have come to be. Many worsip services have gotten away from what true worsip looks like. They have become entertainment that plays with your emotion. The worship leader is put up on a pedestal and becomes more than just your normal sinner. The book Worship Matters gives an example of what a worship leaders llife should be like: "A faithful worship leader magnnifies the greatness of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit by skillfully combining God's Word with music, thereby motivating the gathered church to proclaim the gospel, to chersih God's oresence, and to live for God's glory." Instead of glorifying himself the worship leader needs to be focusing everything on God's glory. The service needs to consist of truth. We need to be reading, singing and praying truth to the people in the congregation. This is how God's glory is shown, throuhg the truth in his Word, not the greatness of the musicians or songs. We need to be calling the church to the Bible. Our call isn ot to give the church something culturally relevant that will move us emotionally but leave us once we leave the service. We need to be calling the church to the truth found is the scripture by choosing music full of God's truth and reading passages of scripture, the source of truth. Through everything we have looked at I feel challenged to always make sure that my worship consists of truth and so that I know exactly who I am worshiping.

As a result of our reading, I have been thinking alot about the manipulation of emotions during worship. The more I think about it the more I realize that part of being a worship leader must be being sensitive to the emotions of the congregation, with out taking advantage of them. What I mean by that is that in our endeavour to be faithful stewards, there must be an awareness of the Spirits work, and we must not try to be the Spirit for believers. So what I am wondering is, is it safe to say we are facilitators as worship leaders? I am still thinking this through...

"Spontaneous" Worship

I loved page 370 in Give Praise to God so much that I would almost cut it out and put it on my wall. I loved the statement "It is surely ironic that those who criticize the traditional forms of worship... Often become the most careful planners of emotion." I had never thought of it that way before. Even the most "spontaneous" worship services are carefully planned to get a desired effect. This makes me realize that I need to have specific goals in mind when preparing a worship service. If I'm not aiming at helping people understand God better I will probably just end up making them have spiritual feelings.

The Spirit in Worship

Kaufflin talks about how the goal in worship is to "gathered and to be changed" and then he talks about the Spirit's work in the worship service. Sometimes I think that in our circles we get scared of attributing different things to the Spirit especially in the worship service, and I am still not sure what to think.

Something that caught my attention as I was reading Worship Matters was when the author was telling us how when C.J. Mahaney is asked how he is doing he replies, "Better than I deserve." This is to remind him of the gospel and how he deserves to go to hell for his sins but God's grace has granted him life and forgiveness and also many other gifts he does not deserve. The author also adopted this phrase into some of his conversations and noticed some negative responses. Some people thought he had a case of low self-esteem because his response was one that didn't speak highly of himself. It caught my attention that in our culture when we make less of ourselves or humble ourselves in front of others, people assume there is something wrong with us. Our culture is so self-focused that when we purposefully point attention away from ourselves it is viewed as not normal and people don't understand what we are doing. Yet this is the kind of attitude we should have in view of God's grace. We all are sinners and deserve hell so no matter what is happening in our lives we are always doing "better than we deserve."

Thoughtful Analogies

Burroughs caught my attention with his descriptive analogies in today's reading. For instance his reference to the knife that cut the throat of a father's child got me thinking as to what sin really is and how much I should hate it. I also loved his illustration of the warmth of a fire. I find both of this illustrations very helpful as I consider communion and how little communion means if I don't seriously consider the cross and view it in faith.

I thought the "Plan Peaceably" principle on page 110 was really awesome and encouraging. It sometimes can be stressful to pick songs for a worship service and to want to have everything right and new and cool. God doesn't care about that though. As long as we plan prayerfully God will show us the songs that will make the difference in our worship service. We can worry and stress and change anything we want but ultimately God's songs will be used. I thought this chapter in general was very clear and helpful in giving principles for putting together a worship service. The ideas presented can take a lot of stress of of the planning.

I picked out two major things in today's reading. First i've been thinking about what it says in Worship Matters concerning using music to support what goes on in a service. I used to be uneasy about this practice because i felt like people only used it to manipulate people's emotions. However, I'm beginning to agree with Kauflin that music can be rightly used to carry truth and increase it's impact. Second, I was very convicted by our reading in Give Praise to God because I realized that my personal devotions aren't what they should be. And I was reminded of how much my spiritual life depends on it.

Singing the Psalms

I've been thinking a lot about give praise to God, and it's discussion of singing the Psalms. This book seems to be a massive untapped asset to our music ministries. Why not sing the songs the Bible already gave us? I've also been considering about what the author had to say about choosing appropriate tunes. He says they need to carry weight and majesty(273). I've been struggling what the author means by this. He calls many tunes prissy and frivolous and I'm not sure exactly what he means. I think that the style of music should appropriately carry the text. Does weight and majesty mean everything has to sound like a mighty fortress is our God?

Practice, practice, practice

I loved the fourth chapter of Worship Matters. So often I struggle with giving God credit for what I practice so hard for, or I wonder why I practice when God looks at your heart more than your ability. According to Kauflin, there is a correct balance between worshiping technique and lazy leading. In order to focus on God while leading and keep others focused, we need to hone our strengths as musicians, but we also need to have worship in our hearts to express by our music.

The Language of Scripture in Our Prayers

On page 162 of GPTG, the author encourages us to pray the language of scripture. I began to think about what a difference it would make in the lives of other believers if when I prayed for them I was also reassuring them with truths and promises that God Himself has offered. We talk alot about how as Christians we need to look to something beyond ourselves, God's Revelation, to establish truth and find ways to live and so on. If this is truly our desire, why aren't we praying that same Revalation as a way to communicate back with God?

I thought it was interesting how on page 166 the author encouraged the leading of the congregation in confessing sins during corporate prayer. I had never thought about that before and it was eye opening for me. I haven't had much experience with a Pastor who leads their congragation in confessing sin or thought about it enough to even notice if a Pastor was leading us in confession. Confession to me is something that is done privately. This can cause frustration for some people because they may have confessed their sin but they do not feel any relief. For this reason it is important for a Pastor to lead his congregation in confession so that they can be reminded of God's promise, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Great Expectations

On page 120 Burroughs talked about coming to worship with great expectations of a merciful God. It contrasts our relationships because people get upset with us for asking to much, however God is pleased the more we ask of Him. He also pointed out that we need to come with merciful hearts to a merciful God. I was thinking about that because I tend to have a very judgmental spirit, how can I ask for God's mercy when I'm not willing to give it?

On pages 140-148 in GPTG much length and detail is given on the reading of the Word in corporate worship. It is something that is very important yet has been forsaken in most churches. It made me wonder why so many churches don't believe the Bible important enough to read a chapter from in corporate worship. It is often replaced by a short story with a few Bible verses thrown in here and there, as if our words mean more than those of God. Are we really just that bpred with scripture? Or that unaware of it's significance in our worship?

Biblical Knowledge

On the very first page of today's reading for GPTG p. 129, something that really stood out to me was this quote "Another result of such gospel-oriented evangelistic preaching in the lives of hearers should be an increasing integration of biblical knowledge with their everyday lives." I have heard it said often that these days biblical literacy is at an all time low. But for so long I never thought that had anything to do with me or how I view worship. Instead I thought well "the world" and "the weaker christians" they are the ones with the problem, and I just decided it was really sad and I hoped that they would get it together someday. How foolish! And how convicting, now! So often I had looked at others and thought I some how had figured out how to worship God and have this "experience" with Him and they were just missing out... the truth of the matter is I was missing out! In regards to worship I was biblically illiterate! This problem that I thought others had was something that was reigning in my own life. I realize now that the more I look toward God and His program of redemption and His act of Divine Love in allowing Christ to stand in my place, then I begin to understand how worthy He is of my worship. Furthermore, I see how I must worship as He has commanded us to worship, and the more I grasp the truths of His Word, the more they will take control in my everday life.

Page 132 of Give Praise to God makes a great observation when it states "Our services can be properly sensitive and friendly to non-Christians without calibrating everything to the level of a first-time visitor." I have always seen evangelistic events as being totally separate from the sermons that are for building up the body of Christ. Certain sermons were just expected not to apply to me, because they were geared for the lost (i.e., Easter morning and Christmas), and certain sermons would be over the head of someone who had just walked in for the first time that day. But if the whole Bible points to the Gospel, it's not hard to give the Gospel when you are teaching Bible passages the way they were intended to be interpreted. Likewise, focusing on the Gospel is indispensable for every believer.

The Two Beat Rhythm, As It Applies in My Life

As I continued to think on some of the concepts that were discussed in class, I began to realize just how careless much of our thinking is in regards to worship. I am becoming continually aware of just how unbiblical our "worship" can be. I realize now that we must faithfully endeavor to keep the "two beat rhythm" discussed in GPTG. Our worship MUST flow out of what God has revealed to us in His Word, or else we are in big trouble. Otherwise our feelings and emotions will dominate, and then cheat us out of truly giving reverence to God. What I mean is that if I base my worship solely off of how I am feeling, then on bad days, I will treat God as if He is not worthy of worship, simply because I don't feel "worshipful". These are just somethings that have struck me and that I am trying to apply to my own heart that I might in turn share with others.

Coming prepared

I've been thinking a lot about what Burroughs says about preparing for worship and prayer. Most of the time, I head into chapel, church, and Bible studies without at all thinking about them until I get there. I expect them to change me. While this is true, if I really expect to give to God, I should consider preparing myself so that I will be in the best condition to give Him an offering. How awesome it would be if the first 15 minutes of chapel weren't just me trying to get my heart right while I sing, but that I went straight into singing without having anything else on my mind but praising God and encouraging my brothers and sisters?