I am overwhelmed by the fact that I get to do what I love on a regular basis. I’m living in a situation where my job doesn’t feel so job-like because I’m just having so much fun. But when I’m doing this job, I can’t help but think about the people who could be walking in the door for the first time. I don’t know where they’ve come from or what kind of life they have lived before the time that I meet them. I immediately think about how I can engage people without creating a divide. I have come to a shocking conclusion. Okay, it’s not really shocking, but it’s a very solid thought. I could sing anything I want to on the stage at any time and engage the whole city if I wanted to but if I don’t connect with them on a personal level then I’m not doing anything. I guess what I’m saying is that we could discuss and argue about the relevancy of Christian music or traditional as opposed to contemporary, but the thing that is going to grab people is how we connect with their hearts and lives on a personal level.

Starting in February we are going to be starting a series on the First Century Church. There are 4 things that people devoted themselves to in Acts 2:42. NONE of them had anything to do with music. I have to keep that in mind. We all need to keep that in mind. At the end of the day, we have to engage hearts with things like fellowship and prayer. Is music important? Yes, I believe it is. I wouldn’t devote my life to what I do if I didn’t think was important. Is it most important? No. The end.

Here’s a challenge. What if we were to at least keep in mind that we want to reach people for the kingdom regardless of what the music? Would we be able to work past our musical differences? Or would they just not matter as much? I’m gonna try it. I’m going to not make my musical preferences the main issue. Wanna join me?

Before I forget, I want to say that I have more ideas about worship and Christian music. I’ll bring them back tomorrow with my own personal answer to the question from earlier this week on coincidence or epidemic.

After yesterday’s blog and the wonderful comments that came as a result, I decided to continue this conversation from another front. My goal at the end of this week is to take all of the comments and thoughts from now and write a response to what I feel has been said and where I feel things are. But today I want to take the conversation a bit further. There are many thoughts as to why people don’t listen to CCM. I also believe that it is possible that we throw a whole lot of music under the umbrella of CCM that may not fit there, but that’s another thought entirely. But taking the worship side of CCM and not so much the pop side of CCM a question comes to mind. If we aren’t spending time listening to this music outside of Sunday, and non-Christians wouldn’t even know to listen to this music at all, who in the world knows the songs that we are singing on Sunday morning?

Now I will make it plain now that I’m asking this question from the worship leader position. From a position that looks out on Sunday morning and asks people to sing along with a song that they quite possibly have never heard. And because they have never heard it, they spend the whole 4 minutes staring at the screen and then looking at you as if your face is covered with remnants of Lady Gaga’s meat dress. And before I go on, yes, people stare at me like that on a weekly basis. But back to the question. Am I to gather that most of the people out in the congregation have no idea what I’m singing? Let’s take into account that there are songs that have been sung for a few years or that is in a heavy rotation in your worship team’s list of songs. Let’s also take into account that I as a worship leader am always listening for music that can be sung in my worship service on Sunday mornings. But should I stop patronizing people by say things like, “I know some of you may not have heard this song before…” knowing that it’s highly possible that no one has actually heard it before?

I think there is even a deeper question or concern that has surfaced as well. If we say that we don’t really listen to CCM or worship music or whatever we want to call it during the week for WHATEVER reason, we are saying that this music is not worth our time and it doesn’t deserve the energy we give to listening to music. If that is truly the case, then I have a couple questions. Why do we listen to and sing and even lead others in singing it on Sunday? What are we expecting during the Sunday morning worship time?  What are we inviting non-believers to? Are we saying that, for instance, “Your Grace is Enough” is a good thought for Sunday morning but not really something to listen to or dwell on during the week?

I want to tread lightly even I blow through all of these thoughts. But I know a big problem that we have today with Christian music is the relevancy to the rest of the world. I will agree that we have created a wall in the way Christian music is portrayed and marketed and broadcasted. However, I feel that even in today’s world there is still relevancy in the music that Christian musicians write. I tend to believe that we as Christians are diminishing the relevancy of Christian music for the sake of trying to connect with the rest of the world. We are treating Christian music like that drunk uncle at the wedding. We all know who he is and see that he is there, but we don’t really want to introduce anyone to him because he might say something to embarrass us or offend our friends. Maybe without trying to, we are sort of saying that Christian music has NO validity to the rest of the world therefore we won’t present it to anyone and we won’t listen to it ourselves. Could it be…could it POSSIBLY be…that in trying to be relevant to the rest of the world we are further creating a disconnect between the world and Christ? I mean, we’re saying, “we want to love on you like Christ would love on you and invite you into this life and relationship, but we won’t share the stuff that goes along with it.”

Again, let me reiterate that I agree that some of the Christian music today is not the best out there, but I put it in the same category as some other music that I don’t like. I mean, I listen to, say, Kerrie Roberts as much as I listen to Taylor Swift. Not much. That’s not because Kerrie Roberts music message is cheesy and is sung through a ‘filter’ that doesn’t portray the world as it is today.  I think they both have something to say. And I think they both say that pretty well. I just look for that to be said in a different way.

To try and bring all this back to the subject for today, I kinda feel that we are selling our churches short by only connecting with the music once a week. We are saying that our Sunday morning music is good for Sunday but not really good for any other time. If that’s the case, then why even sing it then? Why are we inviting people to come be a part of what our church is doing? Are we asking them to connect with the Word but not the music because it’s not really good enough to connect with during the week? I know I’ve swung the pendulum out real far, but I think it needs to be put way out there so we can talk it back. So let’s talk it back. Ready……GO!

Man, it actually physically hurt to type that title. I know part of it may be the fact that I severely bruised my shoulder yesterday sliding down Art Hill with my kids. Even more than that is the thought that the music that so many people, including myself, spend their lives writing might not be actually reaching people. I’m asking this question for a reason, so let me give you my reasoning before I try to defend it.

Over that past few weeks, I have been noticing something quite interesting and I don’t know what to attribute it to. As a musician and a worship leader, it is my job to bring music and the opportunity for worship through song to my congregation. So over the past few weeks since The Word at Shaw I have been in the position of trying to ease people into what worship will look like at this church. The big picture and vision for this church is rather huge in my brain. As of right now, I’m just trying to nail down a consistent stable of musicians that I can pool from, but that’s another story. During my time of putting music together and planning worship services I’ve repeatedly heard two phrases from people in my church and outside of my church as well.  One of them is “I don’t know that song”. That one I can go with. There is a lot of music out there. However the statement “I don’t listen to Christian music” is starting to become as common as the phrase “what’s for dinner”. That has been blowing my mind for months now. I have spent time with countless people, musicians in church even, that say that same thing.  At first I didn’t really have a response to that statement because it caught me off guard. After a few months of hearing that statement I can say that…I still don’t have a response when I hear people say that. So here are my two sides about this and I’d love for you to weigh in.

Position 1: Coincidence

There is a lot of music out there and people, including myself, have varying tastes. I listen to all types of music because they all strike me in different ways. However, as a Christian I make sure that I’m listening to Christian music to edify me and pour Christ into my life. There are  many Christian artists out there as there are many secular and it’s hard to keep up with them all even for someone who loves music. So it could be possible that there are some Christian artists that may not quite be in the mainstream that someone may not know. I also realize that as a worship leader I am listening to Christian music a lot because that’s what I use for my job if I’m not writing it myself. So maybe it was just a coincidence that these people just aren’t listening to AS MUCH of the Christian music that’s out there today. Or it could be…

Position 2: Epidemic

More and more over the past few months and even years I’ve noticed that people that I talk to and some that I look up to will say to me that they don’t really listen to Christian music today. Again, I know we all have different tastes in music, but as a musician who plays in church pretty regularly, I think it’s interesting that you can say that you don’t really listen to the music that you play. Or if this is the life you say you’re called to, you don’t listen to the music that can help reinforce that calling in your life. The other part of this is from the artist side that I also sit on. Is CCM music becoming so plain or distasteful that we as Christians are just walking, almost running away from it? And if that’s the case how in the world are we going to get non-Christians to listen to it? Is the reason we look outside of the body for songs that fit in a particular space because nothing good is written ‘in house’?  If Christian music continues on this road will it be obsolete soon? Or are we just turning our back on it because of where it has come from and we have decided not to give it another chance? Either way, I see this mindset taking over in the body and I don’t know what to do about it… If it continues I think we will continue to see situations where people are continuing to not participate in worship not because the music is bad in their churches, but because they don’t listen to the music. Then we continue to have people write and talk about how worship is becoming more like a concert and not participatory. It could be because worship has turned a little more performance-like. Or it could be because the only time we hear this music is on Sunday morning for about twenty minutes maybe less. I’m just sayin’…

Now, what do YOU say?

On Saturdays I generally like to prepare my heart and mind for the upcoming Sunday. I try to relax with the family, but I also like to sing through my worship set to myself to make sure I still like it. Sometimes I will get inspired and change a few things around and then it becomes something that I never could have put together myself. Then I’m just amazed at what God does through me. Then there are some other times…

There are some times when nothing is working right for me and I can’t seem to make it work at all. My concentration is shot and everything I attempt to put together comes out just completely messy. Then I end up using the crutch. I know there are many people out here that use this, but I don’t know who uses it like I do sometimes. There have been times when I use the beloved CCLI to pick for me. How you ask? Well, I would imagine that anyone asking that is either not a worship leader or just so holy and amazing that they never do this. But to answer the question I have to explain a little. CCLI has this nifty little top 100 section on the front page. Sometimes when I’m really struggling I’ve been known a couple times (not even enough to count on one hand, honestly, but more than I’m okay with) to just pick my whole set by scrolling down the top 100 list. It gets my set list picked quickly and then I’m done. No where will you hear me say that I’m proud of this, but I have done this to get out of jams before. Sometimes the ‘ol brain just doesn’t work. And then this is my remedy for it.

There is no real message at the end of this one like I try to have at the end of my blogs so I hope you’re not looking for one. I just wanted to take some time and let you know that I’m not perfect (because I know you ALL think I am…LOL). That, is my worship leader confession for today. Have a great weekend and an even better Sunday worshiping the King. You shall hear from me soon. Promise.

I know that the very thought of this question will send some people reeling. I know that this question will excite some people. I know some people have already turned me off. I know some people’s wheels may already be turning. To all of these I say yay. I know that this isn’t new or revolutionary to a lot of people. I know there are some that probably haven’t even thought about it yet. I’m not really trying to be revolutionary with this one. But I do want to spark some conversation if possible. I know a lot of people that sit far spread on the wide spectrum that is worship in the church. So I’m hoping to hit many different places and hope that people will read this and be inspired to share with each other.

Why am I even writing about this now? Well, I think it’s because of some of the things that we are getting ready to do in our church in the near future. We have a facebook page as well as a twitter account for our church. We are pretty active there and give lots of updates and notices for upcoming events. We are thinking of launching an interactive site through the online Bible at YouVersion.com. With this we can post poll questions and have live discussion based on the scripture for a particular Sunday. It will also be available during the week for people to be able to interact with the sermon and other people as well. I personally am really excited about this concept and can’t wait to see what may happen as a result. But I know that this concept could be a bit much for people to handle or even conceive.

We are also in the process of starting text questions at the end of our service. This is something that is being brought over from the church that planted us and it is quite effective there. People in the congregation have the ability to text questions based on the sermon that was just preached and have the possibility of having their question answered as a way to wrap up the sermon.

All of this is heavily driven by technology and I, being one who loves technology thinks these things could be really cool. I’m excited to see just how these things will be incorporated into our weekly worship experience. I also know that there will be some people who just won’t get it. I also realize that some people will despise it altogether. With all of these things getting ready to take place in my own church, I decided to pick up a book that I saw at a bookstore recently. It was called The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected are Redefining Community. I realize as I just typed that I think I’ve mentioned this book in a blog FAIRLY recently. But I wanted to mention it again because it’s sort of the reason I’m writing this blog now. I want to know what the people around me think. I’ve known for years that churches on the coast are doing things like this already and that there are many churches that have online campuses and things like that. However, I know that things like this take a while to reach the Midwest if they ever truly get here. So I wanted to spark some conversation and see what people are thinking. If you happen to actually read this, feel free to weigh in. I’m curious to hear from you…

Lately, this blog has taken an “updates on Harry’s crazy life” approach. Even though there is much to update you on because so many cool things keep happening as of late, that’s not what I originally created this to be. This was to be my forum to share thoughts and ideas about worship that I have learned over the past few years as well as being a place where others can share as well. I’m in the process of getting back there and it’s exciting. I’m finally starting to see my life fall back into place and things are taking shape in a way that I couldn’t have planned on my own. I am not a person who likes to see things stay the same for too long. I start to get bogged down and bored really easily. I was beginning to get bored with my own writing, which is part of the reason why I had stopped writing so frequently. I thought that I had gotten to a point where I had nothing else to say and had reached the end of this road. But I’ve started reading a lot of blogs from other people and realized that they continue to have things to say because they are continuing to learn. Somewhere along the line I stopped trying to learn. I stopped running the race. For some reason I have decided that I’ve arrived somewhere. Who am I to think that? Especially when there are verses written like this one:

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

That was really a smack in the face for me already this week. Who am I to believe that I’m already done? In reality, I’m just getting started. I’ve had to take a step back and think about some hard topics in my own life. Maybe I’m not as mature as I think I am. Maybe the things I’ve based my life on are a little bit shallow. At the point I started to take these things into consideration, my thoughts and my mind started to change. I’m starting to carve a new path and let me tell you, that’s not easy. But the more you start to push, the more momentum you gain. That makes the job a little easier. It sort of reminds me of when I was first learning how to drive. My dad had a 1994 Ford Festiva. It was yellow. We called it The Banana. What was even crazier was that this was just a car. Nothing special about it. No fancy power buttons. It was a 5 speed. It had no power steering. For those of you that think that’s the worst ever, it kinda was. But it gave me an AWESOME  illustration 14 years later (that’s right now if you were wondering…). When that car was off or at a standstill, you couldn’t turn that wheel if you wanted to. No matter what you did, you weren’t gonna get that puppy to turn. However, as soon as you got the car moving just a little, the wheel became much easier to turn. Then you could guide the car and it would go wherever you wanted it to go. I’ve been that power steering-less Festiva for some time now. The only difference is that God can still move me when he wants to, but it hurts. But if I’m willing to stop fighting him and trying to go where I think I’m supposed to go, I flow more fluidly with Him behind the wheel.

I thought I’d leave you all with a little bit of old school that popped in my head as I was writing this. Pretty much has nothing to do with what I just wrote, but the titles are the same. Enjoy that.

Since I’ve been working for The Word At Shaw, I’ve been quite busy. I must say that I completely love it. One of things that I’ve been busy doing, however, is explaining what it is I actually do. I didn’t realize that my job was so confusing to people. So I have spent a lot of time hanging out with people and telling them what I do. The cool thing about it is that I love my job and I don’t mind sharing it with people. I understand that when I take the time to share what I do and who I am they understand more and can get behind it and support me and pray for me and in some cases, decide to join in what I am a part of. It’s a pretty interesting situation.

That got me to thinking…how many times do we leave the interpretation of who we are and what we do to people’s imagination? How many times do we leave the character of God to the imagination of people who don’t know him? And then we get upset when they don’t get it like we do. What else can we expect from people who don’t know him? They are looking for us to give them some sort of idea of who God is by word and action and we spend so much time being ambiguous with our lifestyles and it confuses people.

How effective are we at defining our roles as Christians? Are we leaving too much to chance? Is it possible that those around you aren’t buying in to the ‘God thing’ because you’re doing a bad job of sharing? I know I’m guilty of it. Think about it…

I can’t believe I’m able to say this right now, but The Word at Shaw is officially a church!!! We had our first  service this past Sunday. It was quite a glorious time and it has taken me this long to be able to process the whole day in my brain. I still can’t say that I’ve completed the process, but I’m a lot further than I was yesterday.

There were some really cool things that happened on Sunday. First off, we had 120 people there for our first service! Sure, some of them came from the mother church of Morning Star, but still, that was a good opening Sunday. There was so much energy in that place and there were times that I couldn’t really believe that we were there. Now that I’ve gone through with the service, it is now my job to take a part this past service and put it together again for the upcoming week. Yay…

Something else REALLY cool that happened was truly a God thing. During the service I was able to share that since we were a new church I didn’t really have a band but I had some friends who had come to help me. Right after the service a guy came up to me and said that he has played drums for years and taught them as well. He is willing and ready to be a part of what’s going on at this church. Right after that, another lady came to me and said that she has sung on worship teams at her previous churches. She wanted to know what she had to do to audition. I was overwhelmed by the response after just one Sunday. I pray that God continues to bring people to this church to help us grow and become more and more effective in this community.

I hope to continue to chronicle the things that happen on this amazing journey. Stay tuned in because it’s gonna be fun.

Lastly, I started working on some new tracks. The music is coming back to me. And I’m writing it down.

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE the Black Eyed Peas. Anyone who REALLY knows me knows that I live my life making random and sarcastic comments. Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, I thought I’d use this as a title for the new year. It just seems to work.

I’m really excited about this new year. And not necessarily for the same reason that my good friend Bryanna Hampton is, but I’m excited. There are a lot of really cool things on the horizon and I’m ready to see what God is gonna do with 2011. He did some pretty awesome things with 2010 (and every year before that too, but you know…) and given His amazing track record, I don’t see any real changes in the future. I’ve been thinking about how much we get excited about the new year and new beginnings and I think that’s good. I have also been thinking about those who act like New Year’s Resolutions are the most idiotic, immature thing ever and that’s why they don’t do them and I think that’s interesting. Sometimes we try so hard to be different that we end up looking kinda goofy. But that’s another blog for another time…

I think about all the things that have started in my life, new school year. New job. New marriage. New child. Other new things. All of these things were stinking cool. I can remember all of those days vividly in my mind. They all bring back great memories that I cherish greatly. The question that I always go back to is, “What did I do with those new starts?” What happened after the new start smell wore off? Did I dig in and stick with whatever it was I started? Or did I fade like the Wii exercise program I started last year? Did I just tell on myself? Oh well…

I guess what I’m saying is this. It was okay to get excited about something new. I already said that I’m excited about 2011. But my challenge for myself and for you my beloved readers (even though I don’t know who you are because my stat tracker has been broken for a year…) is what happens when that new start smell wears off? You know, around March 3rd or 4th? Will you keep pushing through? How will that resolution look? How will your walk with Christ look different than last year? I encourage you friends to be consistent in the choices that you make. Make good choices day in and day out and before you know it, we’ll be talking about real changes at the end of this year. Who’s with me?