Christmas at Christ Church!

Don't miss our Christmas Carol Services:

Christmas @ 7

When: 29 Nov 2009, 7pm

What: our usual 7pm service with a Christmas twist

Traditional Family Christmas Service

When: 06 December 2009, 7pm

What: Something for the whole family - choirs, carols, candles and mince pies!

For directions and contact details, please see the Christ Church website

Worship Central - Band Dynamics

For a very good, very concise presentation on how to work with different instruments in a worship band (guitars, bass, drums, bgv's, keys and pipe organ!), check out this talk from the Equip Seminar at HTB in London.

http://www.worshipcentral.org/video/equip-band-dynamics-seminar-14mar09

Amp Wars: A New Hope

I am part of an online community for sharing knowledge and resources about music and media in churches (see www.churchmedia.net).

What has troubled me lately is the number of posts about uncooperative guitarists and bassists and drummers and stuff who have to be 'louder than everything else' in order to be heard. On one level, this is a spiritual problem -a problem of humility and servant-heartedness that must be dealt with pastorally. On another level, there are ways around this problem which negate the temptation to sin.

Monitor Mix

Make sure your onstage monitor mix is relatively quiet. You should be able to talk over it. If not, you need to review your setup. Try and get a monitor setup that projects directly a each band member. This allows you to lower the volume to a level where they are not in competition with it.

Drummers

Need their own monitor. Beyond this, cost effective options are to angle the kit so it doesn't point straight out at the pews and for your drummer to use the lightest stick he can get away with. Drum screens and mic'ed setups are the perfect solution, but they cost a kidney.

Bassists

Most bassists will be happy going through a DI to the desk. Give them a little compression if your desk has that option, or if you have outboard effects. If they have an amp, like me, the best way is to go into a DI and split one send to the amp and the other to the desk. The amp is then turned up to be heard from out front, and the desk sends a monitor signal for the bass player to hear himself. Bass has some funky frequencies: very low frequencies take distance to form, so the bass player often can't hear how loud he is standing next to his amp. The sound will be great 20m away, so rather use that sound and give the bass a monitor mix. The bass amp is also probably better suited to producing and projecting these frequencies, so best use it and give your system a break. A thing to note is that lower frequencies have greater spread than higher ones, so you don't really have to worry too much about balancing around the room, and if there are problems you can always use the signal from the desk to even things out.

Guitarists

These guys can be the worst. I know cause I'm one too. Try these three hints: (1.) For any church setup, your guitar amp shouldn't be more than 50W, with a 1x12 or maybe a 2x12 cab. This allows the amp to be run at the sweet-spot, whilst giving good tonal rang and not blowing down the sanctuary. (2.) Aim the amp up at the guitarist, not at the pews. This way the guitarist will turn up his amp so he can hear it directly, instead of turning up the spill he hears from an amp pointing at the pews. I use an 80W Marshall in a church of about 100 people, and it is inaudible from the pews if it isn't pointing at them. (3.) Mic the amp. This is the only way to get good sound. A guitar into the desk will sound really pants for a number of reasons, and even your fancy speakers and amp and stuff won't reproduce a good guitar sound, because it isn't designed to. If this is impractical (feedback, etc.) then I suggest you get a Red Box DI from Hughes and Kettner (see your local music store or the HandK website) Used on countless recordings, it allows the amp to be routed to the desk for management and balancing through a speaker-emulated DI without the hassles of feedback, etc.

And above all, bear with each other in love. This isn't a time for you to jam, it is an opportunity to serve. Always ask the question, "Is what I'm doing really helping someone worship God sincerely?"

Making the Most of Rehearsals

Hey guys. It's been a while since the last post (no, not that last post - musical joke). I'm going to try and give some hints and ideas to make rehearsal times more productive.

Rehearsals are usually that limited time before the service, sometimes during the preceding week, sometimes right before the service, where the goal is to be 'ready' for the service. But what does it mean to be ready?

Being ready can really be broken down into two facets: being musically ready and being spiritually ready. Musical readiness is fairly simple. You will want to know how the songs go and what your part is, so that you can effectively lead the congregation. Spiritual readiness is more complex, but includes having the right attitude, the right focus of heart, the right love for those we serve and those we serve with, and a desire for God's glory.

This seems an awful lot to accomplish in an hour or hour and-a-half, but it is possible. Rehearsal time is more about quality than it is about quantity. Here are some bullet-points to help you have quality rehearsals.

Be Committed. No rehearsal is going to be worth it if everyone is not committed to being there, spending the time in hard work. Encourage your team to be regular and punctual.

Bible. It's always a good habit to let God have first word when Christians meet together, for whatever reason. Perhaps just a verse from the passage that the pastor is preaching on during the service, or maybe a text that one of the songs is based on. It's a great way to disarm all those other ideas and attitudes we come to rehearsal with.

Pray. This ministry only happens with God's help, so we should spend time before we begin and after we have finished. We should never forget that we are not just gathering to rehearse for a gig where we play the dots on the page and then we're done. Rather, we are Christians gathering to prepare our service to God. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 18, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

Fellowship. Build Christian relationships, so that you may minister more effectively. If music is all you have in common, it will quickly become the focus of your time together. If Jesus is what you have in common, the same follows.

Reflect. Talk and think about the songs you are rehearsing. What are they saying? What Bible texts are reflected in the lyrics? How does the song challenge your relationship with Jesus? Are you able to mean what you sing?

Prepare. Come to the rehearsal having warmed-up (this may mean arriving earlier). Having the song titles before the rehearsal enables the team to anticipate the rehearsal and be more engaging. Personally prepare your heart by praying before the rehearsal. If you are leading the rehearsal, come with a rough idea of how you want each song to run -starts, finishes, instruments, dynamics, etc. This gives a skeleton which can be finalised during the rehearsal. It avoids the, "How should we do this?" question that often wastes time.

Set-up. If you need to set up your gear (drummers, guitarists - you know what I mean), do it before the rehearsal. Same goes for sound system. "Go ahead and I'll catch up when I'm ready" is bad ministry.

Starts and finishes. The most important thing in leading songs is showing the congregation where to come in, and where they should stop singing. For this reason, if you can get your starts and finishes tight as a cyclist's shorts the middle of the songs often take care of themselves. By all means practice songs all the way through, but then spend time just doing the intro and outro of each song to get it spot-on.

Melody. Make absolutely sure that the singers know how the song goes. Singers who are confident with the melody will make them better leaders, and the band will be able to play to their lead and be more effective in supporting their lead. If they need tightening up, get your pianist to play the just melody slowly while the singers sing it. This will help them to hear exactly how it goes, and they will be able to hear immediately if they depart from it.

Music. Have the packs of the correct music ready, in the right key, ready to go straight into the hands of the musos and singers at the start of the rehearsal. The rehearsal time will be wasted scratching around in files and trying to decide on the best key for a song.

Sound Operator. Have your sound operator present at your rehearsals. This gives him time to set up the sound ready for the service in an unpressured environment, and avoids wasting rehearsal time with the leader running to the back to adjust your drummer's monitor mix after each song. Ensure that you include them in your times of fellowship and prayer so that you can all minister as a team.

Service Leader. If you have someone leading the service from the pulpit, encourage them to join the rehearsal. This will help them and the music team connect with each other, and lead the service better together. The service leader will know the songs and how they go, and the music team will get to know the guy whose directions they need to follow. It always helps a service to be more focussed if everyone involved has met together.

Lots of stuff, but if you get this right you will have more productive rehearsals.

Altar-call Alternatives

How [can we] uncover new talent without having a musical "altar call" ... volunteers are often very poor judges of their own ability!

This was a question in response to a recent post. I'll agree, it is very difficult to find musicians to join in serving in our churches. And once we find them, it is often even more difficult to get them in the ministry team! And precisely for that reason, because volunteers are very often poor judges of their own ability.

This runs both ways, however. Some volunteers with poor judgement of their musical abilities tend to overestimate themselves, and then become difficult to get rid of.

In a church music ministry team, the desire is often to create our idea of a good 'worship band' as quickly and easily as possible. This is why we might have 'musical altar-calls.'

Perhaps a better way is this: build personal, Christ-centred relationships with people. Basically, what I am suggesting is that we disciple people, which is what Jesus actually commands us to do (Matthew 28v19). Getting people into God's Kingdom is far important than getting them into the worsip team! This way you build into their lives and encourage them in their faith, which is far more valuable than standing before God saying, "I played tambourine in the worship band every second Sunday."

Now this approach is very slow. When you start discipling one or two people who you know are musicians, you might only have two new people in your music team in 6 months. But I can assure you that those people will find it easier to love Jesus first and their music second, and to see themsleves as humble servants of God. It will also help you to understand where a person is at with God. Perhaps they are a brilliant musician, but they wouldn't be the right person to be serving in this ministry.

So ask around and find out who the musicians are among the congregation. Then approach them and suggest you start reading the Bible and praying together regularly. Talk to them about their music. It will become obvious to you whether or not they would be a valuable addition to the music ministry team.

But even after you have brought them on board, continue to be concerned about their love for Jesus. Keep talking to them and praying with them, and reading the Bible with them, so that your relationship is based around Christ, rather than music. This also makes it much simpler to deal with issues in the music team, if everyone is there for God's glory first and music second.

This is a slow way to build a music ministry team. But the team that is built on Christ as a foundation will be the team that really serves the congregation by pointing them to Jesus, and truly serves God by giving their best for his glory. After all, that is what we're really here to do.

(for ideas on discipling and one-to-one ministry, check out Sophie de Witt's book One to One: A Discipleship Handbook)

South African Songs

In response to Nils' comment on What Do YOU Want?, I thought it would be a really good idea to get the ball rolling on collecting and transcribing a resource of South African songs in various languages, which contain good theology and good music, for use in our increasingly multi-cultural churches.

If you are interested, or if you know anyone who would be interested in such a project, please send an email to clint.lombard@gmail.com

We would need

• people who love Jesus,
• are concerned for the truth of God's Word,
• have experience of ministering in multicultural churches
• are African-langauge speakers,
• and are excited about such a project!

What do YOU want?

I suppose there's lots of opportunity to write about bunches of stuff. After all, the way music and the Bible relate is a broad landscape of varying categories.

But what do you want to discuss, or know more about, or bring the Bible to bear upon?

Let me know and I can direct my efforts in ways that would really help the readers of this blog. God has put us all in different places, with different circumstances and different challenges. I would love to know what those are, and at least attempt to tackle them.

So please give me your ideas!

(And perhaps give me some ideas for a future book on church music...?)

Know Christ and make Him known!

Hymns and Things

What is the mix of songs that your church sings? Do you sing hymns? Modern praise songs? 70's and 80's choruses? Mix of everything? What are your preferences?

When it comes to singing in church, we must always remember what we're doing. We are responding musically to God's revelation of himself in his word. As God speaks to us, and as we know him more, we sing his praises and declare his greatness.

This immediately puts a slant on what we're doing when we sing. We're not a chart show, where we have to keep up with the latest tunes. Neither are we a music museum, where we carefully maintain and preserve historic church music. Nor are we an appreciation group, who holds tightly to a certain era of Christian music because that is what we like.

John Frame very helpfully in his book Worship in Spirit and Truth speaks of peoples' "language of worship". What this means is that in the many and varied people that make up the church, there are found different expressions of sincere worship. For some, the latest Tomlin stuff might be the best way for them to worship God. For others, it was the classic hymns that they learnt as children. And Frame counsels us to be sensitive to this.

After all, God's people are many and varied. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2v19: "So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God."

The solution, then, is to sing everything. Don't create unnecessary categories in your worship. Our faith has a history, which makes older songs relevant, and God is active in the present, which makes modern songs relevant. There is no need to have one category at the expense of the other.

Of course, the difficulties present in this approach are twofold:

1. Though may need to be put into the arrangement of songs in order to make them accessible to a diverse congregation. This may mean playing the hymns in a traditional way, on the piano or organ, and slowing down to a stop after each verse. Or it may mean driving those hymns with a drum-beat and single chords for each bar, while keeping the same recognisable melody and traditional words. Perhaps more modern songs need to be played simpler to make them accessible, or they need to be rocked out. Know the people you're ministering to.
2. Love. This is probably the hardest thing to achieve when ministering to a diverse group of people. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4: "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." We need to love each other, humbly, gently and patiently. We have been joined by God's Spirit, in peace. If you are a musican, serve humbly by playing what is needed, and doing it well, rather than what you like. If you are in the pew and you don't like the songs being played, learn to love those for whom this is their sincere worship of God, and perhaps learn to worship with them, as you expect them to worship with you in the songs that mean something to you.

Jesus has loved us with an immeasurable, unending love. If we have been loved like that, how we can we not show love to those around us? It is a miracle that Jesus loves so many different people. In fact, it is a miracle that Jesus loves you.

Guitarists with GAS

The above is a great video on how to get different sounds from your guitar/amp/pedals rig. Loads of good ideas and funky combinations from the guys at Worship Central.

As I watched this video, though, I started to get a bit uncomfortable with the 'bit of funs' and 'kinda cools'. The more I thought about, I realised that the problem I had was with encouraging guitarists in a worship team to pursue a certain anorak-ism about guitaring that required the purchase of all sorts of fancy gadgets and gizmo's, notwithstanding the time and effort required to dial in settings, tap tempos, pump treadles, and then there's all the sticking on of little bits of velcro, the plugging in of little jack-to-jack-leads, arranging little cables... I can't tell the difference anymore between guitar players and guitar nerds! I think that the goal-posts for church music are being.

I am a guitarist, and one of the fun things about being a guitarist is the glittering treasure-trove of things you can buy - guitars, effects pedals, amps, slides, Ebows, pedal boards, power supplies... you end up with what's known as GAS - Gear Acquisition Syndrome - and no guitarist is truly immune. Macari's and Rose Morris in Denmark Street were like Santa's Grotto to me. I would spend afternoons in there just making puddles of saliva on the floor. For the record, I play a Tokai LoveRock (sycamore-topped beauty), through a Korg Pitchblack strobe tuner into an EHX LPB-1 '68 reissue booster set at 9 o'clock into a Boss Super Overdrive with a low gain and bit of treble boost into a vintage Boss CE-3 chorus(c. 1982) with low rate and high depth with the A out going into an EHX Holy Grail Plus reverb set to a wet-ish spring into the amp, and the B out going to a Samson S-Direct DI to the desk. I have a tendency for GAS - in spades.

But before I started building my rig, I was aware of the tendency to become like a child in a sweet shop, buying the latest gear, poring over magazines, and just generally believe satisfaction will come with next acquisition of gear. I wanted to use music to help people respond to God's Word sincerely in song. So I bought a good guitar that would be easy to use and play on stage, and a few basic effects to allow me the variety necessary to sit in the mix well. I dream about Giga-delays and Crybabys, but I am actually quite satisfied with what I have, and besides constantly improving my technique, there's enough sonic landscape to explore on my little pedalboard for a long time yet. I am a servant in ministry, so my brief is to serve, not to wow or make noises that are 'kinda cool'.

Maybe I can summarise what I'm trying to say in a few points:

• The simplest worship music is often the best. Trying to get too complicated will tend to narrow your field of view, causing you to disengage with those around you in corporate worship and to enagage more with the music you're creating. It's a small step from here to windfans in front of the stage...
• As a guitarist, don't overdo it. You're only there to point people to Jesus. Learn to ditch anything that might come in the way of that. If you like pedals, make sure that you are still being a good steward of the money God has given you, and keep them for private pleasure. Church is not an opportunity to play around with your latest Keeley-modified T-Rex Mudhoney. Effects pedals are not from the devil, but they are not the Holy Grail of music in church either (unless you're talking about my reverb unit).
• Don't lose the plot; be a servant; glorify Jesus.

Grumble.

The Leaner and Fitter Music Group

Evangelicals Now runs monthly magazine in the UK. The articles can be accessed online at http://www.e-n.org.uk. Of particular interest is the Music Exchange column, written by Richard Simpkin of St Helens church in London. Have a read of this month's article, entitled The Leaner and Fitter Music Group. I now have a piece of paper on the wall over my desk, reminding me to pray for the music team, and more specifically, what to pray for them.

iPod Oblivion = Gospel Oblivion?

I know, but this is still about Christians and music!

On Tuesday, I spent some time mowing the lawn. To make this unenviable task slightly more bearable, I took out my tiny (PRODUCT)RED iPod shuffle (social action at work here) that my lovely wife gave me as a graduation present, with our names laser-engraved on the back. I stuck the little white buds in my ears and I was in a happy place - shuffling through Velvet Revolver, Dido, Ben Harper, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Feist, Pearl Jam, Regina Spektor, The Fray...

I was in a state known commonly as iPod Oblivion. In New York City, legislation is under review that will make it illegal to use an iPod while crossing city streets. In 2007, two people were killed in Brooklyn and Manhattan after failing to notice cars bearing down on them as they crossed streets. In one instance, bystanders even screamed for the victim to "Watch out!", but she didn't hear.

But what if the little world I retreat into with my iPod wasn't just affecting my own safety, but that of others? As I mowed my lawn on that Tuesday, it drew nearer to 5 o' clock. I live in a complex, and that is just about the only time when you see people outside of their little boxes and on the streets and lawns of the complex. There are people getting out of the car to open the garage door, people taking the kids or the dogs for walks, people going on their after work run, people in their gardens spending some time in the green after working in the grey. What a wonderful opportunity to meet people and chat - and even try to have Gospel Conversations! Instead, the only contact I had really was the sight of some limply raised hands of greeting.

But here's the Christian with his loud lawn mower, bright white ear-buds firmly in his ears, and admittedly, not very approachable. It is probably quite an antisocial sight. But in this window of opportunity, I should be the one saying "Watch out!" to the unsuspecting victims of God's wrath. My iPod oblivion is nothing compared to their 'Christ Oblivion'.

As ambassadors for Christ, as those who have God's light in our hearts as treasures in jars of clay (2 Cor 4), as those whom God has chosen, we should be making the most of every opportunity. Whenever we are around other people, there is always the opportunity to chat and tell someone about Jesus.

When you are in the garden, out for a run, on the train or the bus or the taxi, at the gym, think twice about what opportunities you may have for the gospel, and don't put things in the way of that - because it really is the reason we're still here.

As for me, I'm going to mow the front lawn open-eared from now on, ready at every moment to switch off the motor and pass the time of day with my neighbours, get to know them and maybe even ask, "What church do you go to?"

Tutorial - Elements of Drumming in Church

Hey guys. Here's another tutorial, this time aimed squarely at drummers.

Having a drummer in the music ministry team is a great blessing. Besides keeping time, your instrument allows you the unique responsibility of directing dynamic expression in a song. If that sounds like university physics to you, what I mean is that you can help to build parts of song, bring down the power level and emphasise passages perhaps more obviously than other instruments.

I know drummers get a lot of flack. If you're not being rained on because you're too loud, you are left to yourself to tap along. Drummers are there to provide a tempo, emphasise the rhythms present in the songs, and keep the songs at the right power levels for the mood it creates.

As a result, there are a few things you should work on as a drummer:

• Practice with a metronome! This is something all musos should do, but particularly for drummers. Having a good intrinsic sense of timing covers a multitude of sins. Practice different simple beats at a very slow time (about 48bpm - gives a great workout and you can hear immediately when your beat is off.) Then practice fills at this tempo, aiming to always be on the beat.

• Learn to read drum notation. Whilst you may not use this in church, it helps you no end in understanding the rhythmic construction of your playing. If this sounds daunting, it took me one 30min lesson to teach a pupil to read notation, and already it has helped him to understand how the beat starts on the 1, and how quavers and semiquavers should sound in bar. Looka round on the web to find drum notation and start learning.

• Think rhythmically when you play a song. Don't just think, "The song is at this speed, so that's how I'll play it." What are the rhythms in the words? Say the words in time without singing them, and see what rhythms jump out at you, and then use these in your playing. This will help you to support the song and better serve those around you.

• Think like an orchestral percussionist. Think of your drums as playing a part in a song, rather than just keeping time. Some songs require the drums to drive the pulse, other songs may just require the drummer to accent certain sections with cymble washes or floor tom rolls. Don't be scared not to play - the best players are characterised more by what they don't play. Less is always more.

Drummers have a hard job, but are so vital to many church music teams. Be encouraged! But always think how your playing can glorify God and serve those around you as they worship.

The Sola Panel | Rightly handling the words

The Sola Panel | Rightly handling the words

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Having a Gift Makes it Tougher, Not Easier

I have decided to embark on a few short tutorials based around those fantastic Sovereign Grace ones, such as the keyboard one listed in the last post.

If we are using our gifts to glorify God and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ, and if we understand that God has given us those gifts in the first place, then we should be working hard at developing those gifts.

Do you ever spend time practicing your instrument? Do you consider it necessary to get better at playing the guitar or singing or whatever, or do you consider your ability adequate for what you do in the church music team?

Well, God has called us to be stewards of what he has given to us. Consider the parable of the talents from Matthew 25v14.

Now these are not literal talents, but what is clear here is that God doesn't give us anything that we may keep it locked in a strong-box. Instead, we must put God's blessings to work.

If God has given you a musical gift, then great! But what are you doing with it? Often in church music teams we become easily satisfied with little, when God has given us the potential for something really great. Not for the sake of musical excellence, but so that we may serve in the best way we possibly can.

Obviously practicing takes time, but if you are committed to this ministry, then that should be part of your commitment. And if you're time is limited (who I am kidding, everyone's time is limited) then make the most of those two or three 15min sessions in the living room with your guitar each week.

To make the most of your time, work on these things in particular:

• Timing. Even get a metronome to help you stay on the beat.
• Musical repertoire. For singers, work on improving your range and ability to sing intervals of two notes. Use a piano or keyboard to help. This will help you hit notes bang on. For tonal instruments, continue to improve your knowledge of chords and scales, so you always have the tools to draw from. For drummers, this continue building on your mental library of beats, so you can always play what compliments the music the best, rather than whatever your hands and feet end up doing
• Memory. Spend time actually learning songs so you can sing them and play them without reading the music. This will make you far more comfortable with a song, even when you have the music. And for instruments, it will help us engage with the words of songs, even when we're focused on the music.

Set goals for yourself. Spend time practicing and improving on what God has given you, in his strength, so that he may be glorified.

Having a Gift Makes it Tougher, Not Easier

I have decided to embark on a few short tutorials based around those fantastic Sovereign Grace ones, such as the keyboard one listed in the last post.

If we are using our gifts to glorify God and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ, and if we understand that God has given us those gifts in the first place, then we should be working hard at developing those gifts.

Do you ever spend time practicing your instrument? Do you consider it necessary to get better at playing the guitar or singing or whatever, or do you consider your ability adequate for what you do in the church music team?

Well, God has called us to be stewards of what he has given to us. Consider the following parable from Matthew 25:

¹⁴^{A)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} "For^{B)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} it will be like a man^{C)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} going on a journey, who called his servants^{a]" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} and entrusted to them his property. ¹⁵To one he gave five^{D)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} talents,^{b]" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} to another two, to another one,^{E)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} to each according to his ability. Then he^{F)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} went away. ¹⁶He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. ¹⁷So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. ¹⁸But he who had received the one talent went and^{G)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. ¹⁹Now^{H)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} after a long time the master of those servants came and^{I)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} settled accounts with them. ²⁰And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' ²¹His master said to him, 'Well done, good and^{J)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">}faithful servant.^{c]" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">}^{K)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} You have been faithful over a little;^{L)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} I will set you over much. Enter into^{M)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">}the joy of your master.' ²²And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.' ²³His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' ²⁴He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be^{N)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} a hard man, reaping^{O)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, ²⁵so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here^{P)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} you have what is yours.' ²⁶But his master answered him, 'You^{Q)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? ²⁷Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. ²⁹^{R)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰And^{S)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} cast^{T)" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">} the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

What is clear here is that God doesn't give us anything that we may keep it locked in a strong-box. Instead, we must put God's blessings to work.

If God has given you a musical gift, then great! But what are you doing with it? Often in church music teams we become easily satisfied with little, when God has given us the potential for something really great. Not for the sake of musical excellence, but so that we may serve in the best way we possibly can.

Obviously practicing takes time, but if you are committed to this ministry, then that should be part of your committment. And if you're time is limited (who I am kidding, everyone's time is limited) then make the most of those two or three 15min sessions in the living room with your guitar each week.

To make the most of your time, work on these things in particular:

• Timing. Even get a metronome to help you stay on the beat.
• Musical repertoire. For singers, work on improving your range and ability to sing intervals of two notes. Use a piano or keyboard to help. This will help you hit notes bang on. For tonal instruments, continue to improve your knowledge of chords and scales, so you always have the tools to draw from. For drummers, this continue building on your mental library of beats, so you can always play what compliments the music the best, rather than whatever your hands and feet end up doing
• Memory. Spend time actually learning songs so you can sing them and play them without reading the music. This will make you far more comfortable with a song, even when you have the music. And for instruments, it will help us engage with the words of songs, even when we're focussed on the music.

Set goals for yourself. Spend time practicing and improving on what God has given you, in his strength, so that he may be glorified.

Tutorial - Piano and Keyboard

Piano or keyboard players often provide the foundation to most church music teams. Most of the time, you have a very well-trained pianist and musician taking up residence at the keys.

However, it is often difficult for pianists to make space for other musicians in the team, purely because the piano or keyboard is able to handle melody, harmonic movement and rhythm all at once! And that is the way we are taught to play it. Or you may find some songs are actually difficult to lead effectively from the piano, because they are written for more of a guitar-oriented team, and then you are left wondering what to play.

This excellent tutorial from Sovereign Grace Ministries should be compulsory listening for all church pianists and keyboard players. In just over an hour, Jon Payne (pastor at Sovereign Grace Church, Gilbert, Arizona) teaches trained and untrained piano and keyboard players to make the most of their instrument as they serve both the congregation as well as their fellow musicians.

Topics covered include chord construction, inversions, scales, arrangement, left and right hand techniques, voicing, ranges and improvisation (melodic and harmonic). And the best part is that you can download the .mp3 and the .doc outline for free here

Foundations for Keyboardists - John Payne

WorshipGod 2008, Sovereign Grace Ministries

Prepping for Worship

Hey there! 

Here's a question: How do you prep for worship on a Sunday?

What about

1. Rehearse songs so everyone is comfortably confident with them
   
2. Tune your guitar!
   
3. Warm up your voice!
   
4. Sound check
   
5. Check with the pastor or service leader that you both know what the other is up to.
   

Obviously those things are all important. But what about what's on the inside? How do you prepare the heart for worship?

Here's my 'Puritan plug' again. These guys were amazing at stripping their faith back to the bare bones and working hard at the simple things - like praying, reading the Bible, and living for God's glory. George Swinnock (1627 - November 10, 1673), was a minister who was ejected from his pulpit for preaching the gospel.  He was one of many who saw the value of spending Saturday night in prayer, Bible reading and examining oneself, and meditating on God's Word in order to prepare the heart for worship the following day. Consider this quote:

"The oven of thine heart thus baked in, as it were, overnight, would be easily heated the next morning; the fire so well raked up when thou wentest to bed, would be sooner kindled when thou shouldst rise. If thou wouldst leave thy heart with God on the Saturday night, thou shouldst find it with him in the Lord's Day morning."

Remember those things I mentioned earlier? How quickly can those things occupy our attention before a church service? When we meet together as a body of believers to hear our God speak and to respond to him, how can we do that if our minds are elsewhere, or only hanging onto the immediate by a thread, ready to be snatched away when some other pressing thought pops up?

I know for myself, that Saturday night is often spent chilling out, or having a good time with friends, then going to bed late. Then I get up early (begrudgingly, because I'm tired), hop into the car and get annoyed with other road users, then stress about the things that need to happen for the church service to run smoothly. I often haven't prayed, or read my Bible, or even stopped to just take stock of why I'm there and what I'm doing.

Just imagine the difference between a church gathering where everyone arrives as I often do, and one where everyone has spent time out with God preparing their hearts for meeting with God's people and responding to His Word. I'm sure the difference would be remarkable, to God's glory.

Why not try this: this Saturday night, ensure that everything that needs to get done is done, then take some time out to sit quietly on your own. Pray to God, thanking him for his blessings, confessing your sins, asking for his help and guidance. Read your Bible, perhaps even the passage that is going to be preached on the next day if you know what it is. Spend some time reflecting on what the passage tells you about God, about Christ and about yourself and others. Reflect on your own life, identifying areas that need God to work on, and recognising your dependence upon God. Pray again, for the gathering the next day, for those who will hear the word, for your interaction with them, and for your response to the Word. If you have someone to talk to, perhaps talk about what you have read and prayed over and what you have examined in your life. 

This is perhaps obeying Jesus' command in Matthew 22v37:

³⁷And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

How can we love God with our whole being unless we work at it? And how can we worship God if our mind or heart or soul are elsewhere on a Sunday?

Message In Song - 5 days to go!

"Message in Song"

The Message Church is hosting an evening of presenting the message of the Bible through song.

Through an eclectic mix of musical styles from old hymns to contemporary songs, from African and Afrikaans songs to rap we will sing of God's plan from creation to new creation.

There will be "old favourties" as well as new songs for us to learn together that we can then take back to sing in our churches.

Come and join us to sing praises to God and truths to one another in a musical celebration of the greatest message man has ever heard. 

We hope the evening will be a great opportuity to unite togther in song from different backgrounds and cultures, enjoying each other's music and being a great visual picture of the gospel at work. 

There will be refreshments on sale and there will be a retiring collection for The Message Church Ministry Apprenticeship Program.

 

It will be held at Westerford School, on Main Road, Newlands,

 

Date:	Saturday, May 16, 2009
Time:	7:30pm - 10:00pm

Reply to icklebobster@cybersmart.co.za or call The Message Church office on 021 685 5700 for further details

or if you would like printed flyers or posters to distribute.

 

Please forward this invite to your friends and church family.

 

We hope to see you there!

Tim Hughes on Choosing Keys for Songs

Church - A Conversation with God?

We live in a fast-paced world, where real communication has been twisted so we no longer really understand it. I had a look recently at the Twitter phenomenon, and thought it was the craziest idea! The video said that Twitter helped you communicate in the space between emails and blogs.

But is this really communicating? It seems more like we all end up knowing a lot about people and them about us, but never really engaging with other humanoids, and our concept of what communication really is ends up blurred.

This isn't a Twitter-bashing session. If you use it and it helps you, great! But what if a distorted perception of communication crept into our churches?

What if as we went to church, we listened to the Bible being read and preached a bit like reading Facebook updates? What if as we prayed and sang, we did it as though we were tweeting on Twitter? What if we confessed our sins a bit like a blog, and then heard a word of encouragement from Scripture a bit like an RSS feed?

What would happen is that a chasm would exist between God and ourselves. God's people would be reduced to anonymous, casual passers-by. And God to us would become impersonal and small. Even the Word of God would become a thought for the day, reduced to whatever hot topic is up for discussion, and would get old in a few hours.

As A.W. Tozer would say, "No! No! No!". This is not what church is. When we come together as a body of believers, God meets with us. He dwells in our hearts by his Spirit. He knows us inside out, better than we know ourselves. And he chooses to reveal himself to us, by his Word and in the form of his Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.

In an age of casual communication, where even a phonecall takes effort, this might well be the most real relationship we could ever have - being known completely as God makes himself known to us.

This should inform our understanding of why we're at church. What if we went to church as though we were taking time out to meet up with a special friend and have a conversation? We shut out everything else and prioritise that time, without rushing, and with an aim to give ourselves as we are given to, transparently, without our own agenda.

We would hear God speak and would listen patiently. We would respond in prayer and song and in the way we live our lives. And we would build strong relationships both with our Father and our brothers and sisters. It would be a two-way conversation built on firm foundations, and all the time it would be developing and growing. But note that this is a corporate relationship that is growing - us and our Lord, not me and God - there are no solo Christians.

John Owen was an English pastor in the 17th century, a Puritan who rebelled against the Anglican church to seek to strengthen himself and others in simple faith in our Lord Jesus. He knew only knew communication face to face or in a letter, but he wrote these words:

"What do men come to hear the Word of God for? What do they pray for? What do they expect to receive from him? Do they come unto God as the fountain of living waters? As the God of all grace, peace and consolation? Or do they come unto his worship without any design as unto a dry and empty show?...Or do they think they bring something unto God, but receive nothing from him? To receive anything from him they expect not, nor do ever examine themselves whether they have done so or no?...From hence springs all that luke-warmness, coldness, and indifferancy unto the duties of holy worship, that are growing among us."

Do you aim to have a conversation with God when you go to church?