The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

Most agreed with this article I posted on my FB page this week, including a Sectional Presbyter who shared it to his page and urged all in leadership to read it. A few agreed with some parts and disagreed with others. But one "friend" in particular, who leads a "praise team", personally attacked me publically just for posting this......


http://holysoup.com/2014/05/21/why-t...unday-anymore/

What was his disagreement?

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

Yeah, give us the juicy details.......

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

I hear about this sad decline in churches all across the nation. People no longer sing, no longer pray, no more altar calls, no more altar service, no more preaching with conviction and passion, no more solid teaching from the Word of God, bored pew warmers, people dropping out, fading away, scandal, blah blah blah.

I notice most of these complaints from 'evangelical' or 'mainline' churches, or else from the now drying up 'charismatic' or 'pentecostal' churches.

Thankfully, God still has a people, so no matter what others do, we will just keep on praising the Lord, praying, singing, preaching, teaching, witnessing, and otherwise just keep on keeping on and pressing on to a higher level.

:)

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

While it is difficult to sing behind a camera and with a headset on I still manage to do it... sometimes.... not usually looking at others, so can't speak for them.

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[B]Mickee likes it!/B]

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I like the article. Repetitive lyrics or repeated chorus singing shuts my mouth.

The very worst part of Sunday morning is when the worship leader stops singing to exhort the congregation. During those times, I wish a trap door behind the pulpit would open and the worship leader would disappear.

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

The JD shows he/she should never be in leadership
He or she is shallow and lacks understanding and is nothing but a person who appeals to people of majority .

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

Who is the JD? ty
Great article, imo.

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Please explain what "JD" means. Thanks.

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Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

He or she is one of the people who posted a comment on the link you gave.

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What did I say or do now??? :)

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I'd like to have that trap door when I hear, "For the next 30 seconds, let's worship God."

What does that mean? One Mississippi, two Mississippi..... LOL!

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Yeah, you're like......

Just what have we been doing for the last 15 to 20 minutes?

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Thank you!!! :highfive

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After I posted the article, several of my friends began to comment. Some totally agreed while others partially agreed with the author's views. But this one friend who is the "praise team leader" at a church I attended for 17 years came after me personally just for posting it. To her, I am "bitter and rebellious" for agreeing with the author and that this was also proof that I have "issues" to deal with. Of course she refused to dialog, express where specifically she felt the author was wrong, or to acknowledge that my other friends at least partially agreed with the article. It was rather amusing having this brainwashed "company gal" tell me I have issues.

:lol

It has been one year. After a little over 15 years of being a worship leader, I "retired" at the beginning of last year.

The majority of WLs are sincere and want to use their gift for God. I've met and known dozens of WLs from UPCI, PAW, Non-Denom and Indie churches who struggle with how to lead the congregation to worship.

When I was growing up, there was no "praise team." There was certainly no large band with a front singer in pegged skinny jeans and boots. In the church my father pastored, there was a man - in his 60s - who led songs. He didn't have a great voice. It was gravely and raspy, and sometimes he didn't even sing. Almost every time, though, he had tears running down his cheeks as he worshipped God in a way I spent every service those 15+ years trying to model.

Years have passed and now there are so many workshops and conferences for WLs, which have caused WLs to lose focus on what matters.

The church is filled with commercialism - from the pre-service videos to the final prayer. There are multiplied dozens of companies just for WLs alone, not to mention products for membership, ministry, teaching, preaching, music, finances, etc.

Being a WL, there were products for audio and video, processors and video backgrounds with text overlays; group messaging/contact; products that stream live set lists - lyrics and chords to singers/musicians - and include messaging systems for everyone to text to each other.

It's hard not to get caught up in the commercialization.

It's also not an easy thing to do, although, I believe it's become more complicated than it needs to be.

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

How about this?

If you want to sing a song, stand up and sing the song. If you have a 'word from God', stand up and give it. If you want to 'worship God' then get busy and worship God. And if you just can't do that without some 'leader' or 'praise band' then you are probably not pentecostal.

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

God is not the author of confusion. No thanks.

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

I think you must have accidently drank the spiked eggnog!

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I don't think he means for everyone to do all of those things at the same time.

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:yourock

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We disagree on many thing, but this one was great.

:thumbsup

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This thread reminds me of this cartoon...

https://youthandworship.files.wordpr...54081885_n.jpg

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

anyone taking shots at you over this is likely the one that got hit by the article.

LOL


I gotta say our church aint like this. That is because our pastor is more concerned about worship than professionalism. and our Music Director is vastly more interested in prayer than practice.... although practice is very high on the list.

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

Now this is funny! My big gripe with the vast majority of modern praise and worship songs is that they try to cram way too many lyrics into a song and that most songs have very little melody.

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

nice. Mennonites seem able to do this without any confusion!

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

Apples and oranges.
Mennonites are also basically a culture.
Very, very few convert.
And those that do either come from another Mennonite group or the Amish.
Not many new converts in those groups.

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

This is a great post, NDavid.

Per this discussion, I think what happens is that worship leaders are trying to mimic the genuine moving of the spirit by evoking emotions through their music. However... the spirit of the Lord isn't subject to that at all. I've seen the spirit move during a simple song in a beautiful way... and then seen that same song sung a dozen times since, in an effort to reproduce the moving of the spirit it once had, and ... nothing. That is just it. You can't imitate, mimic, overproduce, and reproduce the moving of the spirit.

Human emotion and efforts can be given 150% but... it is up to the Lord to move and touch lives in a genuine way. I've seen worship leaders try to play "God", and try to "make" the spirit move, but yet... no one can imitate or reproduce the genuine moving of the spirit that can come in the most unique and unusual ways.

Perhaps all those worship leaders who are trying to pull off an emotional performance would be better off just pouring their heart into worshiping the Lord, and forget about trying to pull off some emotional performance, and let the spirit of God work as it will, when and how it will.

Like NDavid said... the man who genuinely worshipped the Lord without trying to pull off a spiritual performance, actually allowed the spirit to move more without his human efforts trying to make the spirit move.

In the days when we were part of a large church congregation and in places where I found the music rather abrasive... I have just closed my eyes, blocked all the noise and nonsense out, and just praised and worshipped the Lord regardless of how I hated hearing the same 5 words sung a dozen times... and just began to praise the Lord, and sing my own song, or repeat scriptures psalms to Him... I would find a special blessing in that, and oftentimes when I have done that, people around have responded because of my worship, and the Lord was able to move. Sometimes you just have to block out the stuff around you and just worship Him. I think MTD might have mentioned doing that as well.

If you are part of a congregation where the music being sung is difficult for you to worship to.. then perhaps the best option you have is to worship the Lord by closing your eyes, and just praising Him, and then see what the Lord can do through your genuine praise! I believe that is about the only viable alternative from a pew point of view... :)

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

hmm, or you could see it as your being driven into the wilderness, and run :D

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To explain this video I posted - This is a new song written by our music director.This live recording was done about a week ago and done as a music video also.

I know that one of the complaints of modern praise and worship songs is that not many if any have lyrics that talk about the blood of Jesus. This song is kind of a throwback song that does.

Re: The Article That Got Me In Trouble (L)
 

Hey, CC, that's actually a pretty good song.
Not my personal style of music, but still a good song. Excellent video production, too.