worship in the city

June 6, 2008

Dancers Delight

In my high school, we were not allowed to have any organized "dance" type event until my freshmen year. I was on the student council and I got to help plan the dance. I love planning big parties, so this was a great time for me. The dance itself was a little bit like the movie "Footloose" except that in that movie, the teens all of a sudden know all these complex break-dancing moves even though they've never danced before. At my school, we just flopped around with glee at the freedom we were given. (By the time I was graduating, I started to wonder if the ban on organized dances was not such a bad idea. Our "Christian" student body quickly learned how to bump and grind as if it was MTV Spring Break.)

Even though in our brokenness, we often abuse the freedom to dance, I believe that dancing is a good gift from the Lord that can even be used in worship. I have challenged the NCF Music Team to memorize some scripture every weekend and this weekend's verse gives a specific call to get on the floor and move your body.

Psalm 149:3-4 3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp. 4 For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.

There are two classic narratives (that I can think of) that refer to dancing in the bible. One is the story of David dancing before the Lord, making himself undignified in fear of the awesome power of the Lord's holy presence. The other is Miriam taking up a tambourine and dancing after the Egyptian army was swallowed up by the Red Sea. In both stories, their dance was a response of reverence mixed with joy (see John Frame's "Worship in Spirit and in Truth" for a discussion of reverence and joy). This is a great way to tell what kind of dancing is appropriate in worship. Does it reflect reverence? Does it reflect joy?

Let me explain what I mean by dancing. Dancing is any thing you do to move your body in time with the music. Swaying is dancing. Clapping and tapping your feet are dancing. Moving your shoulders or your hips is dancing. Hand movements that demonstrate the meaning of the song like in "Ain't No Rock" are dancing. Dancing can be organized like a praise dancing or mime; it can also be spontaneous.

Psalm 149:4 gives us a reason to dance. First of all the Lord delights in you. I love that word, "delight". (Not just because it's the name of the early '90s classic dance group that gave the world, "Groove Is In The Heart.") Delight is a word that is very strong. I might appreciate time alone, but I delight in my wife. I might enjoy the company of friends, but I delight in my children. The Lord delights in His people, and that means that we can get undignified when we dance.

It also says that the Lord crowns the humble with salvation. He delights in us, but he also was to see us embrace the same humble heart that the Man of Sorrows had. As we worship with celebration and gladness, we do it with humble hearts before the Lord knowing that we have been blessed beyond what we could ever earn or deserve.

Sometimes, when I am leading worship at New City Fellowship, I can see somebody who looks like they would never move an inch in a million years start to twitch and then start to sway a little. Sometimes, they start to bob their head with the music (doing the "white man's overbite.") Sometimes that person completely forgets about the fact that they would never stand a chance on "So You Think You Can Dance?" Sometimes, they are filled with a kind of reverence and joy that envelops them in such a powerful way that their whole body starts to praise His name with dancing.

Groove is in the heart indeed.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 10:03 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 8, 2008

New Song: New Creation

I have tamed the Cakewalk beast and finally completed my first ever demo. It's pretty rough, but it gives a decent idea of how the tune goes.

The song was written as an obvious nod to the African gospel music that I have spent the past 3+ years trying to understand. It is intended for corporate worship and so it has pretty simple form, but I think it would be great with horns and full percussion and 3 guitars. Yes, Paul Simon did it first, but Africa is the wave of the future as far as the Christian church goes, so we should get used to it, right?

The message of "New Creation" is that faith in Jesus comes with a promise: the old is gone and the new has come. So it's a promise that can encourage us when we feel defeated, but it can also be a warning for us to examine our hearts. The ending vamp goes through a long list of old/new characteristics. It will play a lot better live as it builds and builds to a climax.

You can check out the demo on my myspace page.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 12:58 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

May 7, 2008

YXL East this Summer!

I will be the worship leader at YXL East this summer at Covenant College. I was a conferee at this when I was in high school (back then it was called PYA). It's nice to come full circle. I actually led worship for the west camp a few years ago, so it won't be my first time. Danny Mitchell will be the camp director, so I am psyched.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 12:20 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 26, 2008

Isaiah 29: What's the cure for phony worship?

Jesus quoted Isaiah 29:13 to the Pharisees in Matthew 15:8-9. He was rebuking them for missing the whole point of the law. As worship leaders (servants) called to prepare the music for the meeting together of God’s people, we are vulnerable to the temptation to honor God with our lips while our hearts remain far from him. It’s too easy to use our skill and experience to create a worshipy atmosphere and attitude while being completely void of a broken and contrite heart before the Lord. Read Isaiah 29 and meditate on what the prophet was trying to communicate with his warning to the city of David.

Isaiah 29:9-12
The Lord in His judgment blinds them and deafens them to the prophets.
Sometimes the word of God, the songs we sing, the preaching, the friendly encouragement of another follower of Christ will be meaningless and hollow. Our eyes will be shut to see God’s glory; our ears will be closed to listen to His voice. We usually get down on ourselves when we feel “dry” but maybe the Lord is taking us into that desert in order to bring back to the cross.

Isaiah 29:13
Their worship is a charade. It is a religious show. Their hearts are far from God.
This is the verse that Jesus quotes and it fits the Pharisees well. It also fits many of us well. This is an excellent verse for worship leaders to memorize.

Isaiah 29:14
So the Lord will mess up their perspective, He will screw up their misconceptions, He will blow their minds.
The Pharisees in the gospels are always getting thrown into a tizzy by Jesus’ words and actions. He really messes with their heads. Do you ever get completely confused by what God is doing around you? Do you ever get your brain messed up by the words or actions of Christ’s representatives with whom you come in contact?

Isaiah 29:15
Woe to people who come to church with their dirty little secrets hidden away who arrogantly think that God cannot see them.
We all have struggles with sin, and we often feel like sin is constantly beating us up. However, sometimes we get comfortable with our sin and we flirt with it, invite it, and eventually pursue it passionately. Watch out.

Isaiah 29:16
They act like they can tell God how it is, they can make God in their image, and they can twist the truth into justifying their evil deeds.
What happens when the clay tries to move the potter? It still gets smushed. Think of the Pharisees telling Jesus that his disciples didn’t wash their hands. Do we come to worship in the perspective of clay to be molded or as clay that wants to manipulate the potter?

Isaiah 29:17-21
The Lord brings His justice, righteousness, blessings, joy. He opens up the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf. When he kick starts His glorious kingdom it will undo the judgment of 29:9-12.
Regardless of whether we want it or not, the Lord’s kingdom breaks loose and his glory opens up our eyes. Paul was on his way to kill some more heretics when Jesus blew his mind open and opened up his eyes. Praise God that there were a lot of ex-Pharisees in the early church. What a gracious, loving God to open our eyes even when we don’t expect it. He humbles us to open our eyes so that we can truly rejoice. It’s a promise.

Isaiah 29:22a
The Lord who redeemed Abraham- the one who called you, fixed you, blessed you freely by grace…
Says to the house of Jacob- the people who received the covenant despite their tricksy ways and conniving deceptions

Isaiah 29:22b-23
Your shame and fear will be healed when you
1) See, behold, get a grip on the Lord’s glory being revealed in the gospel of grace and then
2) Stand in awe of the God of Israel
No one likes the feeling of false worship. It makes you feel ashamed and fearful. I know when I am being a phony and it is scary. The cure for shame and fear is faith in the promises of God, the gospel.

Isaiah 29:24
All your jacked-up ideas of wisdom and coolness (vs 13, 15, 16) will be recalibrated and set right by processing again the gospel (God’s glory, man’s brokenness, God’s loving redemption as a gift.)

Conclusion:
Phony worship is a disease, but there is a cure:
• Start by opening up your eyes in order to own up to your sin and your clayish status. Are you dry? Ask the Lord to open your eyes.
• Remember the promises of God, The Potter, to redeem you and restore you in the gospel.
• Stand in awe of the God of Israel (if you really meditate on those first two statements then “standing in awe” comes very naturally.)
• As you are humbled, rejoice. As you are needy, rejoice. (vs.19)

Posted by Kirk Ward at 11:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 24, 2008

Paul Beloche responds to "Why won't my worship team practice?"

I dig Paul Beloche's training DVD's. This clip is from a website I just discovered that has tons of articles and clips and cool stuff. Watch this and then think about what is the motivation for excellence that Beloche is talking about? Is this gospel driven? Performance (guilt/fear/orphan) driven? Is Psalm 33 a legit scripture to cite as a justification for our music team to "take it up a notch"?

Posted by Kirk Ward at 11:35 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 23, 2008

Missional Worship

I had this talk from Doxologist streaming while I worked today. It got me thinking about how is our worship at New City Fellowship missional? How are we engaging with the culture around us instead of just being a Christian ghetto?

We might seem pretty out there to some people, but our worship is fundamentally made up of Christian traditional styles. Yes, traditional. Black tradition, African tradition, Praise and worship tradition, New City tradition, etc. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with Christian traditions, but how are we as disciples of Christ making our worship understandable by non-churched people?

Are we engaging with 18-30 year old males who are mostly absent from the American church in general? Is our worship music feminized and touchy-feely? Do gang members, video gamers, indie kids, goths, gays, facebookers, bloggers hear our music, do they hear our worship and not get blinded by cultural and religious idols that we have given more real estate in our worship service than The Gospel?

Am I over analyzing? It can at least drive us to prayer. Can we just pray about being contextually relevant with grace without compromising the gospel? Lord, when will our church explode with a wave of people who never darkened the door of a church before who suddenly receive the gospel with power?

Posted by Kirk Ward at 4:13 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 12, 2008

More on American Idol's "Shout..."

Laini asked some good questions in the comments to my last post about my rather emotional response to American Idol's use of "Shout To The Lord." Do I have a double standard? Probably.

I read a great blog this morning that expressed in much better ways than I could why it is so disturbing to me. The blog is "here's the post about American Idol.

Here's the heart of the problem in Kauflin's words:

when a Christian song receives national attention or reaches number 1 on the charts, it’s no clear sign one way or the other that the Gospel is advancing or the church is having more of an influence on our culture. It can just as easily be a sign that the church is being swallowed up by the culture because it’s indistinct from the world.

Here's his response to the problem:

First, we need to do everything we can to sing and promote songs in the church that clearly, biblically, passionately, and faithfully proclaim the one and only Savior...Second, we we need to live in such a way that it’s clear being a Christian is more than giving money to worthy causes and being emotionally moved as we sing songs of every genre together. We want to do all we can to ensure that those who walk into our meetings see clearly that we’re not a local version of American Idol.

His first point refers to the generic meaning of the song. What would it have been like if they had sung "In Christ Alone" or "When I Survey The Wondrous Cross" or even "You Are My King"? "Shout To The Lord" (and "Amazing Grace") are a little too vague to make a real statement about the gospel. They're not bad songs; they just can't be the only thing we sing.

The second point he makes hits a little closer to home. How much does our worship service look like American Idol? I don't mean smoke and lights and funky hair. I mean do our singers reflect the heart of worship (humility, fear of the Lord, reverent joy, broken and contrite heart, etc.)? I won't hide the fact that I am not a fan of American Idol (or most other reality shows) but I think that fans of the show would even agree that American Idol has as much to do with true worship as Babylon.

Kauflin also encourages everybody to pray that God will use this whole thing to bring people into the church, to open doors to the gospel, to bring true glory to the name of Jesus Christ, to bring more and more people to confess that Jesus (not just 'the Shepherd') is Lord. Ditto, Bob.

Read Bob's post, it's a lot better that mine.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 8:09 AM | TrackBack

April 11, 2008

This Song Is Offically Retired

I felt a little sick after watching this. Why in the world...who do they think...what is the...how in the name of all...I can't even...ugggg. Are there any "Idol" fans out there that can explain this to me?

Posted by Kirk Ward at 2:16 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

March 23, 2008

I topped off Easter morning with wacking myself in the head.

So we made it through Easter without being interrupted by a baby being born. I guess that's a good thing. We had a blast this morning celebrating the Resurrection.

Here's a funny story to go in the embarrassing worship leading moments file:

I had to hop down off the risers and over to my guitar for the final choir song, Death Is Ended. In a rush, I picked up my guitar off the stand quickly, but I was standing on the guitar's strap. The strap pulled the guitar's head toward me and I hit myself in the forehead right on one of the tunning keys. It was a similar sensation to being punched in the head by someone wearing a large pinky ring or something. A bunch of folks in the front row saw it and started saying stuff like, "shake it off!" I'm just glad that blood didn't start gushing down my face like bad prog rock theatrics. Here's a pic of the damage:

Posted by Kirk Ward at 2:12 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

March 22, 2008

How The Resurrection Affects Worship

This morning I was pondering this topic and I came up with three things that the resurrection has changed about worship. There is probably a lot more things that better bible scholars could share, but this is what come to me in the shower.

God's presence.
Before the resurrection, worship was done in God's unique presence which was tied to specific times and places. Mt. Sinai, the pillar of cloud and flame, the tabernacle, and finally the temple. In John, Jesus tells the woman at the well that a time is coming when you won't need to go to the temple to worship. Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus proclaims that he will destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. Through the resurrection, the presence of God is now tied to the Holy Spirit that lives in the hearts of His redeemed people. We can be in the presence of God anytime, anywhere to worship.

The Sacrifice.
Before the resurrection, a sacrifice was required to atone for the sins of the worshiper before they could enter into worship. Through the resurrection, Jesus becomes the great high priest who offers His own blood to atone for our sins so that we can approach the throne of mercy with confidence. Jesus can fulfill this role because He lives. Read the book of Hebrews to get this concept fully fleshed out. (by the way, this is why we're singing my new arrangement for Watt's "Jesus My Great High Priest" tomorrow.)

The Song.
Jesus is our singing savior (see Reggie Kidd's book "With One Voice"). He lives to stand before the Father and in the midst of the assembly of worshipers to lead us in the song. Again, read Hebrews and Psalm 22.

Please share any more thoughts you have on how the resurrection affects worship.

(still no baby...)

Posted by Kirk Ward at 11:23 AM | TrackBack

March 21, 2008

Good Friday

I'm hanging out at home on Good Friday enjoying a day off. You might wonder why a church musician would be free on Good Friday and not running around like crazy trying to tie up last minute details. Well, I have been blessed with an extreme distaste for last minute detailery. As much as I'm able, I try to get things wrapped up and good to go in advance. Then I can just sit back and enjoy the ride. Did I mention that today is my wife's due date as well? Not only did I have to get things ready, but I had to get things ready to the point that my wonderful volunteer team could relax and enjoy the weekend even without their captain. Fortunately for me, the Holy Spirit is the true captain of worship through the atoning blood of Christ, so if the Holy Spirit shows up, then we're good to go for Easter.

Some highlights to look forward to this weekend:

Good Friday Service- the music is all focused on the cross, full of encouragement, drenched in grace and mercy. I'm especially looking forward to the excellent resetting of When I Survey the Wondrous Cross that Chris Tomlin did (The Wonderful Cross). Isaac Watts is my hero.

Rehearsals galore tomorrow. Music Team at 1:00 and choir at 5:00. Let the good times role!

Easter- There are a few moments that I look forward to every Easter Sunday. The extended "Death" toward the end of Death Is Ended. The trumpet trill on Christ The Lord Is Risen Today. The drum fill into to New Resurrection Life immortalized by Rick Dickerson. Not to mention greeting people with "He is risen", the resurrection of nature during springtime, the cute little kids in their new Easter outfits, etc. All of this just gives me a deep longing for the ultimate resurrection celebration at the end of time. Come Lord Jesus!

The possible highlight of the weekend is the birth of my son. He could decide to come any minute now, so everything we do this weekend will have a little bit of a sense of anticipation and excitement. Come little son!

Posted by Kirk Ward at 2:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 8, 2008

Consumer Church Video

Our church is going through the process of trying to decide what to do about Sunday School so they are doing a lot of surveys to find out what everybody wants. When I watched this video, I could instantly relate.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 9:21 AM | TrackBack

March 7, 2008

Great Worship Resources

I was sick last week. That is pretty typical for me after a big weekend like the Black History Program. So, I was basically in survival mode for a while. As a result I feel behind in blog stuff because I actually have a lot to write about. I'll give you a summary of what I might write about as I have time.

The Art Of Worship by Greg Sheer
This was a really excellent book. It's incredibly practical. It basically teaches everything you would have to do to set up and maintain a modern worship band ministry. I've read a couple of other books similar to this one, but I must say The Art of Worship is my new favorite. I would not recommend it as a devotional or theological text on worship; it's not written for those purposes.

www.planningcenteronline.com
This is a new website that my dad told me about that I am little obsessed with right now. Basically, it has taken all of my Excel, Access, and web resources and combined them into one easy and customizable service. I hope it will open up my schedule to do more flesh and blood ministry and less logistical busy-work.

South City Delegation
I'm currently in the process of working with our South City team to get them into a self-sustaining system. Delegation! Empowerment! Freedom!

By the way, my wife is 2.5 cm dilated. The baby is full-term, and we have about 2 weeks till the predicted due date.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 7:38 AM | TrackBack

February 25, 2008

Black History Program Wrap-up

Well all is said and done. Months of preparation came to it's fruition this weekend. Here's a few thoughts that I have had about it:

Amanda Salmond is my hero. She was the coordinator of the dress rehearsal and the program. She created a rehearsal plan and then made sure that everything happened at the right time, fielded questions, and solved problems. It was so nice me to just stay with the band and oversee the actually performance elements in the rehearsal and not have to worry about shouting at someone on the other side of the gym to go find somebody else who is supposed to be doing something...anyway, it was a HUGE relief.

Planning ahead is really good. This year I had the date picked very early and the appropriate spaces reserved. Last year, I couldn't have a Friday night rehearsal because I failed to check the church activities calendar to make sure that I could use the space. Next year, I want to have even more planned as early as possible. I'm going to a have our first choir planning meeting in August this year.

Let people use their gifts! I was able to play guitar and lead the band...that is my strongest gift, not conducting. I can do a passable job at conducting a choir, but I much prefer to find people who are excellent conductors who can do it for me. Next year, I don't want to conduct anything!

There were a lot of people offering help the week of the event, but the real work happened in January. Choirs take a lot of advance planning. A lot more that a worship service. They involved lots of people and lots of communication, and very specific music to work with. This year, I want to find people who are willing to do the January work too.

On Sunday, I sat in on a pot-luck lunch for African Americans so that they could share with the leadership thoughts on how we're doing in loving their community. One the things brought up was how important and valuable it is to remember the history of Black people in the USA. They expressed a desire for the next generation to not be ignorant of the road they have traveled. It was very affirming to me that our program is a very important part of the ministry of reconciliation at our church.

I hope next year that a committee will form to plan more events in Black History month that are not musically related. Sunday School classes about Dr. King or about the role of the church in American Slavery or an overview of Gospel or other topics that would be more than a chronological recitation of events.

Maybe by this time next year, we'll have an African American pastor who can help give some much needed leadership in this area.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 12:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 18, 2008

Book Review: The Worshiping Artist

About a week ago I finished another book by Rory Noland that is a follow up to "The Heart Of The Artist" called, "The Worshiping Artist." My wife gave it to me for Christmas because it was on my list, (so she is exempt from any negative response I have to the book.)

If you've read "The Heart Of The Artist" you can expect some of the same good things. Excellent opening illustrations for each chapter that are so real it makes you wonder if he's been tapping your phone. A lot of good practical advice to artists who are involved in the church. In this book, his goal is to give a kind of orientation to artists who are entering into a worship leadership role. As such it was kind of a review of a lot of stuff for me. I would recommend it for maybe a group of college music interns who are starting out in worship leading. It gives a good solid ground work for what it really means to worship God, but honestly, I skimmed about 2/3rds of the book because it was nothing extremely new to me.

The last 3rd was kind of cool because he fleshed out some examples from scripture (and church history) of worship leaders and made some cool biblical applications. He did a chapter each on the Levites, Asaph, and the iconographers. (I was a little wary of the icon stuff. I can't say I get it, but the main points were good.)

Over-all, I would not recommend it to anyone whose been leading worship for more than a few years and has already wrestled through a biblical understanding of worship. "The Heart Of the Artist" was a much better book that had a lot of original things to say about the particular struggles of being an artist.

I have at least 4 more books on worship and art that I am reading, so stay tuned...

Posted by Kirk Ward at 8:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 13, 2008

Leadership Training

Our staff here at the church has begun a phase of leadership training. All of us are leaders of our various ministries, but few of us have had any specific training in how to lead from our pastors. I am really excited about it because I feel pretty helpless and clueless most of the time. Some of you who know me might find that surprising because I come to practice and try to be very assertive with how things should happen. However most of the week, I feel like I'm drowning a lot of the time. I can't seem to figure out how to use my time well. I feel overwhelmed with details and busy work. I loose focus on the big picture and start to get perfectionist and picky about little things (I've spent hours working on one chart to get everything just right.) I can spend all week staring at the computer and never speak to one member of my team. I can get bogged down in emails that never seem to have any real point. I can waste my work time writing blog posts...

Anyway, I have a lot of questions but it feels good. Like I'm on the verge of something big.

Here's one thing that has kind of blown my mind. I realized yesterday that I have a real victim mentality when it comes to leadership. Like I am this martyr who is put into the position of having to take care of everyone and to be the person who attends to all the details. I told the staff yesterday that sometimes I feel like there's a giant funnel of stuff dangling over my shoulders and every little thing drops into the funnel and onto me to take care of it because I'm the one with the keys, the skills, the contacts, the authority, etc.

Then after I shared it, Barry told me that other way to look at it was that I am a bottleneck.

Because I am trying to sinfully control everything, I am not allowing the work and the details to flow smoothly, so it's just a huge bottle neck of progress. I definitely feel that way about my leadership in South City. Its seems like there is always a dump truck load of little things that have to be taken care of by me and yet I am failing to get any done efficiently or well.

Control verses Empowerment is root issue. How do I let go of the dictatorial drive to control everything and how do I get into the process of empowerment?

Posted by Kirk Ward at 3:42 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 8, 2008

Weekend Preview

Friday:
-tie up loose ends at the office
-try out Jim Ward's amp and hot pink guitar to see if they work.
-hang out with the fam at home

Saturday:
-play with Joanna in the morning
-music team rehearsal
-choral leadership meeting
-choir practice

Sunday:
-warm-up at 8
-church
-going away luncheon for "the other Wards"

Monday (it's part of my weekend):
-meeting with potential studio/producer Jacob
-hang with the fam
-watch Joanna in the evening while Sarah goes to bible study

Posted by Kirk Ward at 7:23 AM | TrackBack

February 6, 2008

How To Wrap Cables

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February 1, 2008

What Full-time Church Music Directors Do With Their Time...

People are always asking me this and this interview really nails it on the head.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 10:30 AM | TrackBack

January 31, 2008

Calvin College: Institutional Racism?

Here's a post I read this morning from Reconciliation Blog.

My dad just came back from Calvin College this weekend where he was attending the symposium on Worship. Calvin (and the CRC in general) strikes me as an institution that is into the idea of cultural diversity in the church (more than my own denomination's college perhaps). Some of their worship resources have that scholarly vibe of the patchwork quilt of diversity. So it seems odd to me that they would be so off the mark on this issue, and so apparently clueless about racial dynamics.

I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they probably see the issue as "one of our faculty members wants to worship at a BAPTIST (gasp!) church." But, of course, the reality is that this woman just wants to be in a church where she does not experience alienation on a weekly basis.

Lord, if only their were reformed churches in Grand Rapids that had anything to offer this African American woman. Lead us, Jesus!

-I'm interested to here Heidi's thoughts as an alumni of Calvin.
-I'm also interested to here my dad's take on the symposium.
-I'm surprised that Anthony over at the Institute hasn't written a post about it yet.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 7:39 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 30, 2008

New City Fellowship Music Team Ministry Report for 2007

New City Fellowship Choirs
2007 was the year that we saw the dream of a choir program realized. In the spring, the choirs were organized around the Black History Program and Resurrection Sunday. When the fall came around, there were enough singers to make the choir a more established team including a group of committed leaders.

Black History Program
In February, we had an amazing experience when we came together to worship Jesus through the voice and experience of African-Americans. This was a challenge to organize, but it was incredibly encouraging to all who came as well as a wonderful offering of worship.

Growth in South City
God answered many of my prayers when the South City service was blessed with two committed and visionary pastors and with being able to meet in a better facility. The musicians in South City are very thankful to be done with all of the frustrating circumstances surrounding our former location. We are also thankful for how the passionate and focused leadership of Kevin VandenBrink and Macklann Basse has given the entire worship service a boost.

London
I had the pleasure of taking a team of Music Team members to the London Evangelism and Prayer Conference in July. We were given the responsibility of leading the other conferees in worship sessions, and in addition to what we learned and experienced in evangelism, we all came back with a more confident approach to worship leading and greater appreciation for the fellowship of musicians who lead worship together.

Music Team Leadership
This year, I was finally able to get a better taste for team ministry by forming the Music Team Leadership. The Music Team is made up of over 50 volunteers including worship leaders, singers, instrumentalists, sound techs, and text operators. The Music Team Leadership is a small group of people from the Music Team who feel a more committed calling to serve the whole Music Team through leadership.

What to expect in 2008
• South City will develop a more localized music administration and worship planning.
• The choirs will continue to cast a vision for how they can be used for the Kingdom.
• More intentional and relational development of musically gifted leadership.
• Encouraging songwriters, artists, and musicians in our congregation to develop unique expressions of worship that reflect the kaleidoscope of sounds and images that represent New City Fellowship.
• Ward baby #2!

Posted by Kirk Ward at 9:19 AM | TrackBack

January 27, 2008

2 New Songs on One Sunday!

I went with a risky decision to introduce 2 new songs on one Sunday. Actually, one of the two is the Chris Tomlin version of "When I Survey The Wondrous Cross" which is not really new. It just adds a new refrain that's really easy to pick up. Plus anyone under 40 in the church will probably know it already (at least the white folks).

The other new song is one I wrote back in 2003 that has been on the back burner until now. It is one from my post college period that was an extremely creative time for me because I was living on an extremely small income thanks to having connections in Chattanooga, and so most of my days were spent reading stimulating books, playing guitar, and writing songs. Having just completed my jazz studies, I wrote several songs that were more complex than the average worship tune including "Before I Knew", "Search Me", "Greater Is He Who Is In Us", and this morning's song "Rejoice In The Lord" which is based on Philippians 4:4,8,9. Here's the lyrics:

Whatever is true
Whatever is noble
Whatever is right
Whatever is pure
Whatever is lovely
Whatever is admirable
If anything is excellent
Or praiseworthy
Think about such things
Put 'em in to practice
And the God of peace
The God of peace
Will be with you.

Rejoice in the Lord always 4X

The groove is a kind of Steely Dan thing. If only St. Louis' own Michael McDonald could be here to sing back up!

Update: I just got back from church. The 2 songs went great! Sometimes I begrudge Tomlin for his success, but the refrain he wrote is really good. And my song went over pretty well despite not having Michael McDonald. That song might take a few more performances to really hit the congregation.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 7:15 AM | TrackBack

December 13, 2007

Christmas Songs that I wish we could have done this year

We just didn't have enough time in Advent to introduce new songs.

Lo How A Rose Ere Blooming
Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright, she bore to men a Savior,
When half spent was the night.

The shepherds heard the story proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of glory was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped and in the manger found Him,
As angel heralds said.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere;
True Man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us,
And lightens every load.

O Savior, Child of Mary, who felt our human woe,
O Savior, King of glory, who dost our weakness know;
Bring us at length we pray, to the bright courts of Heaven,
And to the endless day!

In The Bleak Mid Winter
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Rise Up Shepherd and Follow
There’s a star in the East on Christmas morn,
Rise up, shepherd, and follow.
It will lead to the place where the Christ was born,
Rise up, shepherd, and follow.

Refrain
Follow, follow, rise up, shepherd, and follow.
Follow the Star of Bethlehem,
Rise up, shepherd, and follow.

If you take good heed to the angel’s words,
Rise up, shepherd, and follow.
You’ll forget your flocks, you’ll forget your herds,
Rise up, shepherd, and follow.

Refrain
Follow, follow, rise up, shepherd, and follow.
Follow the Star of Bethlehem,
Rise up, shepherd, and follow.

Poor Little Jesus
It was poor little Jesus, yes, yes;
he was born on Christmas, yes, yes;
and laid in a manger, yes, yes;
wasn't that a pity and a shame, Lord, Lord,
wasn't that a pity and shame?

It was poor little Jesus, yes, yes;
child of Mary, yes, yes;
didn't have a cradle, yes, yes;
wasn't that a pity and a shame, Lord, Lord,
wasn't that a pity and shame?

It was poor little Jesus, yes, yes;
they nailed him to the cross, Lord, yes, yes;
they hung him with a robber, yes, yes;
wasn't that a pity and a shame, Lord, Lord,
wasn't that a pity and shame?

It was poor little Jesus, yes, yes;
he's risen from darkness, yes, yes;
he's 'scended into glory, yes, yes;
no more a pity and a shame, Lord, Lord,
no more a pity and shame?

Posted by Kirk Ward at 4:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 6, 2007

Thoughts on Volunteer Musicians

Here's something I wrote yesterday for the Worship Reformed Network to describe how our Music Team functions without paying musicians for their services. It might seem a little incomplete without reading the other posts that I was responding to and many of you might be more intent on hearing Tom Jennings thoughts on why they always pay their musicians and singers. But it would be inappropriate to post his words on my blog.

We have a bunch of ministries that our church supports including tutoring, a free store, work days, single mom's ministry, ministry to immigrants and refugees in our community, and so on. So the music budget is pretty meager. We have never paid any of our musicians because we have prioritized the budget toward staff (whose job is to administrate, disciple, and equip the volunteers) and toward the basic physical needs of the community (food, shelter, clothing). When I dropped out of seminary two years ago, I became the first full time music director our church ever had. We only have one service, so it is not as taxing on the musicians as other churches.

I really like reading Tom Jenning's defense for paying their musicians, and as a product of the New City Fellowship Chattanooga music program, I'm on board with my dad's thoughts as well. However, I feel like our team has a really good thing going on with just volunteers. Here's a few things that I think have helped keep us afloat and have help us avoid some the pitfalls:

1. I don't really ever recruit musicians. In other words, I never ask someone to play for free because as a trained musician, I hate being asked to play for free. When I get asked to do a wedding by people in our church, I quote them a fee that I almost always expect to get turned down, because I hate to go into a gig angry that I am being exploited. So, I throw out an open invitation to our congregation on a regular basis to anyone who wants to serve and then I see who calls me. That way, nobody ever ends up playing in church because I gave them a guilt trip; my hope is that the Holy Spirit will call those people whom he
wants to serve. Sometimes the Holy Spirit has different ideas about who should volunteer than me, but isn't that often the case. I have also seen God consistently answer my prayers when I tell him that we need a specific musician, and then in time that musician emails me and tells me that they can't stop thinking about joining the team.

2. Our church has a strong over-all vibe of volunteerism. Whether it's
serving in our auto ministry, our free store, teaching Sunday School,
medical ministry or playing guitar people are asked to serve as a
response to call of the gospel of the kingdom. As a result, our
musicians don't get the feeling of being exploited, because they can't
look at someone else in church and say, "how come they get paid?" Like I
said before, the staff is paid, but the point is that everyone on the
staff has the job of providing leadership to a team of volunteers. I'm
not paid to lead the worship music; I'm paid to help a group of
volunteers to lead worship music.

3. Serving on the music team is an opportunity for personal
discipleship. I hope that musicians on our team are not just giving, but
they are also getting something in return. There are people on the team
that can't stay away because they love how the rehearsals and the
participation on Sunday morning enrich their experience of worship. If a
musician comes to practice with the idea that they are going to
graciously bestow on the rest of us their glorious talents, then we'd
rather not have them.

4. I never discourage pros in our congregation from taking work or give
them a guilt trip for not serving. There's several highly qualified
musicians in our church (including the pianist for the St Louis
Orchestra) who do not play for us on Sunday. Do I wish they would? Of
course! But they've got to make a living and use their gifts in the
sphere that they have been called to. Sometimes they have an open
weekend and they call me and ask to be able to participate. What a
blessing!

I don't think our situation is the universal way of doing things, and I
am definitely not trying to judge anybody. I miss being able to pay our
musicians like they do in Chattanooga, and the Lord knows that I have
prayed for more money for our music budget. I'm sure He's got something
else in mind for now.

We deal with a lot of issues related to volunteerism (tardiness,
inexperience, lack of preparation, burnout, etc.) and we just have to
address those issues as they come up by preaching the gospel to
ourselves to respond in love (Romans 12:1). I'm sure that paid musicians
have their own issues that have to be dealt with in the same fashion.

Making live music together is a wonderful opportunity that is quickly
vanishing from the world, and I love to provide amateurs with that
opportunity. I miss the excitement of playing with musicians of a higher
skill level, but I love the volunteers that I have been entrusted to
lead.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 12:03 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 29, 2007

Gary Smith's Funeral

There are certain aspects of ministry that are never fun. Today, I had to lead a group of musicians at the funeral of Gary Smith. Gary was the 21 year old son of a woman who sings with our team at church. He was shot on Thanksgiving night by someone who thought he was someone else.

There are few times when a musician has the undivided attention of an audience. One of those times is a funeral. It makes me feel like David when he played the harp for Saul. It's an incredibly intimate experience between a musician and the audience. Especially when I know that every note I play has significance in that moment to the people who were the most affected by the loss.

Don't mistake my language; there is nothing that I like about playing at a funeral. There is nothing good about a young man being murdered.

O come O come Emanuel.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 2:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

November 7, 2007

Mega Church Worship

Here's a video from NY Times website about a church that's practicing a classic mega-church worship format. They have three different services that are distinguished by the generational demographic that they are targeted to: Boomers+, Gen x, and Millennials.

There are advantages to this style of worship. It is very "seeker-sensitive" which means it is easy for someone to attend one service and immediately understand the worship and be able to feel like they fit in. It is also easy for the regulars to be able to worship in which ever style they prefer.

However, these advantages are the exact things that I believe make it so unlike what the bible describes the church to be like. In Acts, you get a picture of young and old, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, all worshiping and living in community. This is the worst kind of pragmatism that can fracture a church and really deprive each demographic from the strengths of the others. Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials all need each other.

At NCF, we've extended that concept beyond generation into ethnicity and class. We want people to rub up against other disciples of Jesus who are radically different from each other. We need each other!

Let me know what you think...

Posted by Kirk Ward at 9:34 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

October 29, 2007

Weekend Wrap-Up

I lost my voice this weekend. I picked up a cold during the week and took a sick day to try to nip it in the bud. However, by Saturday my voice was hurting and I barely got through my two rehearsals. The killer was that I went out to a party at our friend's house. Trying to have a conversation over the loud sounds of a party was a bad idea. When I got up Sunday I didn't have much of a voice to speak of (pun). My daughter called me "Bruce the Shark" either from my gnarly teeth or my raspy voice.

I had a lot of details to keep track of this weekend. I had to remember to make the London Bridge Team announcement (Heidi had to do it for me due to my non-voice). I had to remember to test and diagnose the problems with our projector as well as prepare the back-up in case it went out on Sunday morning again. I had to remember to prepare and bring the handout to advertise the start of choir season. I had to remember that the youth choir needed to have the gym unlocked and equipment fired up for their rehearsal on Saturday. I had to remember to bring the Missions booklets to South City and set them out for people to pick up. I had to remember to bring the amp modeler with me to South City.

Somehow, as my brain attempted to keep track of all these details, I forgot to bring my guitar to rehearsal in South City. D'oh! Fortunately, Nathanael had a guitar that I could use at his home close by.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 2:47 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

October 4, 2007

In Chattanooga

I'm hanging out with my family this week and preparing for a concert that I will be playing in with my dad. He is a Covenant College grad, and his college class is celebrating 5th Homecoming so he's doing a retrospective concert this Saturday night.

It's always nice to hang out with my dad and to talk shop. How do we faithfully fulfill our roles as church musicians? How do we work with church leadership? How do we serve the community of musicians? What do we do about our own sin? We also get to share music that we're listening to, songs we've written, or working on.

We’ll also spend some time with my wife’s kin up in the back woods of North Carolina. I’m looking forwards to getting back to the woods and spending time with Wil and Amy.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 7:11 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 22, 2007

Bad Blackout Date Emails

Every month, I ask the members of the Music Team to share their blackout dates. I do this so that if someone knows ahead of time that they will be unavailable on a specific date then they can avoid the hassle of having to find a sub. So, for the benefit of anyone on the Music Team, here's a little tutorial on how to write a good blackout date email.

GOOD
I am unavailable Sept 2 and 9

BAD
Kirk, my brother is coming in town and I really want to spend time with him so would it be ok if the first week was a blackout for me. The last weekend is fine for me but there is a remote chance that I might have to work. I will let you know about October, but it might be that on the 17th I will be going out of town, and I might not get back into town until the evening of the 20th, so I might not be able to do that weekend. Oh yeah! the 9th, too.

These emails end up being like a logic puzzle. Sometimes I have to read it a few times, taking notes just to discern what dates they are talking about.

I love you people, but you're driving me crazy with stuff like this!!!

Posted by Kirk Ward at 4:40 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

May 3, 2007

The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God’s Call to Justice

I just got a book this morning from Gerry Chapeau, director of CityLights. It was a timely gift because I have been going through a period of disillusionment about playing music in the church.

I have been wrestling with feelings of disconnect between the nuts and bolts of weekly music performance and battle raging for the gospel, justice, and the kingdom. Why are we striving every week to put together a set of songs? Are we just serving our own desires for entertainment, creative stimulation, rockin’ out, getting happy, etc?

I’ve had very encouraging conversations lately and in the past few weeks I have tasted the gospel in a fresh way. Reading an essay on Sonship by C. John Miller, I saw areas of sin exposed and was able to go back to the well of living water to be refreshed. The gospel has restored joy in leading worship again.

This book is something I have needed as well. I began to covet the other ministry leaders jobs in our church. Not that I am at all qualified to replace them, but I began to long for a more tangible connection with justice and mercy. This book is a call for the church to wake up from its slumber and to be restored to true worship (see Isaiah 58).

I can’t say that I recommend it yet (having only read the first two chapters) but I can say that Gerry HIGHLY recommended it to me. Sometimes, I wish that I could take our musicians through a book together so that everyone could really soak up these ideas and try to apply them in the laboratory of our weekly services as well as “on the streets.”

By the way, I discovered this article on InterVarsity’s website featuring a familiar face to folks from NCF-STL.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 12:21 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

September 11, 2006

Ain’t No Party Like A Holy Ghost Party!

We had a blast this past Sunday during worship. We had the largest group ever; it was a 12 piece group. There were six vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keys, percussion, trombone and trumpet (if you think my math is wrong, it’s because I played guitar and sang tenor). The doubled vocal parts sounded awesome! It also gave the singers a lot more freedom to worship without feeling like they had concentrate so much on their parts and they fed a lot off each other’s emotions and intensity. The horns sounded great, too, thanks in a large part to praisecharts.com where I purchased a complete arrangement of Israel Houghton’s “You Are Good.” It was a bit more challenging than the arrangements I write, but the players rose to the challenge and seemed to exude so much joy. Miss Mark on the trumpet made an especially impressive effort to play in F# and to play a lot of high parts-one gold star for the science teacher! It was such a fun time, and everyone in the group played with excitement and spirit.

So, is it irreverent to have so much fun in worship? Should we be solemn and stoic when approaching a holy God? I don’t think so at all. God’s grace is a gift that brings joy to those who receive it. Jesus characterizes the kingdom of God as a place where they “kill the fatted calf” to celebrate that those who were lost have now been found. Are there times when worship is quiet, meditative, and sober? Of course, but the quality of a person’s worship is not measured by how serious they get (or how happy). In fact, the quality of our worship is not measured by anything we do or feel, it is measured by the infinite merits of Christ. But, regardless of whether we leave worship with a quiet heart or a festive heart, the Bible says that Christians are characterized by righteousness, peace, and joy.

So, have a party on Sunday because God is good and his mercy endures forever!

Posted by Kirk Ward at 10:51 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

August 29, 2006

Those Autumn Leaves…

My favorite things about fall:

College Football (Go Vols!)
The smell of fallen leaves
Wearing long sleeves (especially my faithful hooded sweatshirt)
Not constantly sweating

This year, Fall also means a lot of crazy stuff for the Music Team:

Church Retreat- the challenge of the retreat is not so much the actual retreat music; it’s the two worship services that still need musicians at home. Music Team members tend to be the same folks who love going to the retreat, so we have a blast at the retreat, but it is a real challenge to get the normal services organized.

Special Holidays and Events - In addition to Thanksgiving and Christmas, we also have a special Reformation Day service that we will be involved with. My dad will be coming up to lead a mass choir singing two of his songs, “Death Is Ended” and “Rock of Ages” at the Kirk of the Hills, and NCF-STL’s music team will be leading a set of worship songs. Add in two special concerts with other churches and the fall starts to look pretty crazy.

Leadership Development- Our church will be starting a pretty active campaign to develop leadership in our various teams. What that exactly means, I’m not too sure. But, I know that it will be a real challenge for me. I tend to complain a lot about lack of leaders, but when it comes to delegating or asking more from people I get cold feet.

When I scan across the giant wall calendar hanging in my office, I get a little fearful about all these things. I begin to doubt my leadership abilities and my decisions. I get a strong procrastination feeling that makes me want to sit here and write blog entries or add CDs to my Amazon wish list instead of do my job. I need to remember the song we sang a few weeks back that says, “Be still, God will fight your battles.”

Being still does not mean that I sit in my office and play solitaire until something amazing happens. Being still means that I cast these burdens onto Jesus and bring my anxiety to him and rest in his faithfulness to empower and equip his people to do what they need to do in the time they are given. Then I go out onto the battlefield with confidence that I am not alone and that the victory is already won.

So bring it on, Fall!

Posted by Kirk Ward at 1:23 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

June 21, 2006

New Song Worship

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. -Psalm 40:3

Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. -Psalm 33:3

Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them. -Isaiah 42:10

And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” -Revelation 5:9

This weekend, the NCF music team will get to have a jam session/dry run of a bunch of new songs that I have collected and that we will be sharing in worship over the next year. I am really excited because new songs help us see new things about the God we serve. I love having roots in a tradition and cultural expression, but I also love the way that new generations and new cultures bring out fresh pictures of God. A diamond becomes more and more brilliant as there are more and more cuts to refract the light in different directions. That’s what new songs bring to worship.

Novelty can become idolatrous. I once knew a worship leader who was so focused on being “new” that she would reject singing songs that we sang last year. She would say, “The Spirit has gone out of that song.” (She was a Pentecostal.) In her defense, she was an InterVaristy staff so she was probably trying to stay relevant to her students. But, singing classic songs from generations past or from the early phases of our life emphasizes the permanence and faithfulness of God.

Some people have told me that the meaning of “new song” as it’s used in scripture is not so much that the song was composed recently, but that the song is forever new, timeless, unchanged, as if it still has that “new car smell.” I think that is a good way to think about it; after all, we do worship the God who is timeless and faithful, radiant and spotless. But, I also believe that God’s faithfulness is made more amazing by his infinite nature. He cannot be completely contained, described or imagined. If this is true than there can be no end to the creation of songs to praise him. The more we draw near to God the more we see how expansive his glory is. Like the picture of heaven in “The Last Battle,” the deeper you go toward it’s center the larger it becomes. “Further up; further in!”

If we try to end the creation of songs, it is as if we are saying that all the glory of God has been finally captured in this particular collection. So, I say bring on the new songs!!

Posted by Kirk Ward at 10:57 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

May 23, 2006

Big Weekend

I can’t take too much time to blog this week due to a big event we are preparing for this weekend. The Congo Prayer Conference is meeting at our church and it will include Congolese Christians from all over the US and a guest Congolese band from Atlanta. Please pray for the conference and pray for me not to become a gigantic “Martha” this week. I have a sinful disposition to have an attitude like a martyr when the pressure gets increased in my ministry. So, if you are reading this because you have a relationship with me, I will borrow an acronym from my friends the Tallys and ask you to S.N.A.P. (Stop Now And Pray) for my attitude and for the success of the Conference.

Merci!

Posted by Kirk Ward at 12:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 26, 2006

Prayer Requests

The business of the past month has conspired to keep me from blogging, and so I will simply share some prayer requests that I have:

1. Pray for the Lord to provide a new location for our South City worship service. On Easter morning, our landlord decided to move his 10am-11am service back up into the sanctuary where we meet at 11am. The music team needs a place where we can have the time to set up our equipment and warm-up.

2. Pray for the Lord to call instrumentalists to serve the worship in South City.

3. Pray for the Congo Prayer Conference on May 25-26. There will be guest musicians, special technical needs, and a NCF led worship time. This means a lot of extra time and energy invested by the team.

4. Pray for the Music Team to receive a growing awareness of the holiness of God, a growing awareness of our own sin, and as a result a growing awareness of the glory of the cross of Christ.

Please share any other pray needs in the comments.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 2:49 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 29, 2006

Music Team Leadership

I met with the NCF Music Team this weekend and made a proposition for the future. In view of the consistent growth of the team, I have come to the conclusion that I need to extend some of my responsibilities to a core leadership group within the music team. Greater and greater demands are made on my 40 hours a week that are just being left unmet. Relationships are sacrificed to tasks. Quality is sacrificed to quantity.

As I imagine it, here are some roles that a leadership team could fill:
· Decision makers- I am not confident that I can make the best decisions about spending money, planning for the future, pursuing external ministry opportunities, organizing special events, etc.
· Shepherds- I can’t be “best friends” with everybody on the team. A group of leaders would help to disciple, encourage, and pastor the team members.
· Quarterbacks- I can’t be at both services every week. I need people who are being trained to count off tempos, conduct the singing, cue the band, and make those split-second decisions that make people feel safe when they are playing music.
· Administrators- a huge part of my job is managing all the resources, personnel, schedules, and communication that are involved in a weekly worship music ministry.

Notice that these jobs don’t necessarily require trained musicians or much more than five or six people. What they do require are people who are extremely committed to serving. It will demand time, energy, and humility to be on the leadership team.

What do you think?

WWVD?

Posted by Kirk Ward at 12:52 PM | TrackBack

March 21, 2006

Name That Worship Music Composer!

Can you name that worship music composer? Be the first to enter the correct answers in the comments, and I will personally shake your hand and give you the honorary high five of...uh...honor.

Get your pencils ready....

1_____He was called the “prince of Scottish hymn writers” and is best known for the lyrics of “Not What My Hands Have Done.”

2_____This composers is a Texas-born missionary kid who founded CanZion Producciones in 1987; at NCF we sing his song “Mas Que Palabras.”

3_____A former vaudeville/blues musician, who teamed up with Mahalia Jackson to usher in the “Golden Age of Gospel Music” with songs like “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.”

4_____Depite being blinded as an infant, this composer produced 8,000 hymns! Highlights include, “To God Be The Glory,” “Near The Cross,” and “Blessed Assurance.”

5_____A Brit who has given us “Better Is One Day” and “Heart of Worship.”

6_____A gospel music trailblazer who composed “Bless the Lord, O My Soul,” “The Blood Will Never Loose Its Power,” and “My Tribute (To God Be The Glory).”

Answer Key:
A. Frances (Fanny) Crosby
B. Andraé Crouch
C. Horatius Bonar
D. Marcos Witt
E. Matt Redmann
F. Thomas Dorsey

Posted by Kirk Ward at 2:14 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

March 16, 2006

Worthy Is The Lamb Conference

Monday night through Wednesday afternoon, I attended a conference sponsored by Covenant Seminary for worship leaders. It was a very encouraging experience. The speakers (Scotty Smith, Bryan Chapel, and Mark Dalbey) and the musicians (Ryan McMillen, Claudia Wootten, and a group of seminary folks) did an excellent job, but the Lord had me there for a specific reason that was not a programmatic feature of the conference. He had me there to fellowship and meet several music directors like myself.

I was in a small group that included Jeffery Heyl. Jeffery is the director of worship music at a gigantic PCA church here in St. Louis called “The Kirk of the Hills” that everyone just refers to as “The Kirk.” It took me a while to figure out that they were not talking about me. The Kirk has a very traditional Southern Presbyterian style of worship that is a million miles from what my church does stylistically. Jeffery and I had some really cool conversations about some of our common struggles. It was really nice to sit with someone (other than my dad) who has been in this line of work for many years and to find areas of commonality and to encourage each other. He invited me to bring the NCF music team to the Reformation Day service in October. That was really exciting.

I also connected with the music director from Chesterfield Pres, Ryan McMillen. Chesterfield is a large suburban church that has a contemporary style of worship. Ryan has been there for four years and is closer to my age than Jeffery. NCF and Chesterfield are developing a very close relationship because of our common desire to do mercy ministry in the city. I told Ryan that we aught to have our worship teams interact together sometime. We are going to “do lunch” next week.

There were several other music directors that I had good conversations with and got a lot of encouragement. I went into the conference feeling very much like the outsider because of my youth and because…well…I’m from New City. However, by the end of the conference I was so encouraged.

Posted by Kirk Ward at 1:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 7, 2006

Chris Tomlin’s “Arriving”

I am on the look out for new music to add to our repertoire for 2006. I was looking around on a few websites and reading magazines to see what the most popular thing coming out of the CCM world has been lately. I was not attempting to judge the merit of the songs based on their popularity, but it is always nice to find a good song that happens to also be popular because it guarantees that there will be a sprinkling of people in the congregation who can already sing the song with gusto.

So, on the top of most people’s list was Chris Tomlin’s album “Arriving.” In fact Worshipmusic.com named this recording their “Editor’s Pick” for 2005, and the review on their site proclaimed that most of the songs on the CD leapt out as congregationally friendly. After reading that, I got out my credit card and a few days later I got to see for myself what all the hubbub was about.

My initial impressions were that these songs were extremely catchy, sing-able and simple. Being a music director, I go through the process every week of performing congregational music, and simplicity is extremely important to the song’s accessibility to worship. It would be very easy to take Arriving’s songs, hand them out to my team and be playing and jamming on them in no-time. The first four songs, Indescribable, Holy Is The Lord, How Great Is Our God and Your Grace Is Enough are all rockin’ and fun as well as reverent and anthem-ish.

However, the more I chew on these songs, I realize the flavor is gone. The content is true, but a bit one-dimensional. I hate to hear myself saying that because I have heard that criticism tossed at contemporary worship for years. But, these songs are pretty generic. The big hit from the CD is Indescribable, which is a song that meditates on the works of God in his creation as well as his transcendence. Musically, it is a great song and worthy of all it’s success. But, after listening to this song several times, and playing and singing it myself, I got out a musically similar song to compair, Stewart Townend’s “Beautiful Saviour” (notice the British spelling.) Singing Townend’s song, I was immediately struck with the Gospel, the grace and mercy of our Lord, as well as his awesome transcendence.

I will probably use these songs from Arriving and if you have heard the CD and have any favorites, let me know. But, I am glad that at NCF we don’t exclusively sing simple songs, and that combining simple songs with richer songs makes for a more enjoyable worship experience for everybody.

Have any of you readers bought any worship CD’s that have really impressed you?

Posted by Kirk Ward at 4:28 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

February 22, 2006

NCF Worship Cliché Endings

I have to confess that there are some clichés that our music team relies heavily on that are beginning to annoy me. Also, I confess that I am the biggest offender in using these clichés to cut corners because it takes too much time and energy to be creative. The reason I bring them up is that I would love to replace these or at least mix it up a bit so that they don’t feel so predictable and stale.

1. The Plagal Cadence. This is the IV-I cadence that we play at the end of just about every single traditional black gospel tune we have. Non-theory people would instantly recognize this by ear in the “Amen” at the end of the doxology. I don’t think there has been a single Sunday in which some song didn’t have one of these.
2. The Fermata/Ritard. Every song ends with slowing down and then the last one or two chords are conducted. It gets used so much because it is the easiest way to end a song. The combined plagal cadence and fermata/ritard is also used every Sunday.
3. The Three Times Tag. A tag is when you end a song by repeating the last phrase. At NCF, tags always come in