That Reminds Me Of Something

By Ed Kerr
From Worship Musician! Magazine March / April 2013

Ever done one of those plans where you read through the Bible in a year? Do you read the Proverb of the Day? Regardless of what your approach is to getting Scripture into your heart and your head, you’ve probably had moments like me when you’re reading part of the Bible and you remember another verse you’ve read or memorized that supports it. A few days ago I was reading Isaiah 40:28: Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God. That reminded me of Isaiah 50:7: Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. These verses combined to remind me to hold on tightly to what I know to be true of God. Sovereign. Everlasting. My Helper. I know this.

Ever find yourself singing a favorite worship song when another song comes to mind? Just as many Scriptures can shine light on the truth of another verse, the songs we sing can reinforce each other as well. Here’s an example.

Lots of you probably have your radar up for new songs from popular worship artists that might work well for your church. Something off of Chris Tomlin’s new project, that 3rd song from All Sons & Daughters, the Paul Baloche tune with banjo. Lately I’ve found myself stirred and encouraged by “Whom Shall I Fear” from Tomlin’s Burning Lights release. It’s written by Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash and Scott Cash. Statement after statement of confidence in God’s Presence and Protection and Power rise as we sing this as a church.

When teaching the song the first couple of times, I added a section of another very familiar song to give the church a chance to take off their “we’re learning a new song and have to really focus” caps and sing something well known. So, after singing “Whom Shall I Fear” in its entirety, we added the Chorus from “One Thing Remains”. It says “Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me”.

If you can’t imagine only doing part of a song, flip the page and stop reading this. If you’re willing, though, to experiment a little, the result can be really powerful. In my example using “Whom Shall I Fear”, keep playing the intro figure after completing the song. We played the song in G, so the intro was 2 bars of G then two bars of C. After a couple of repetitions of that progression we began singing “Your love never fails...”. We sang it over the intro chord progression though, not the original progression used in “One Thing Remains”. Like this:

        G

Your love never fails, it never gives up

   G                             

It never runs out on me

        C

Your love never fails, it never gives up

   C                             

It never runs out on me

Try this yourself. Play the intro a few times. Sing the lyric over the G   C intro chords twice. Then begin playing the actual chords from “One Thing Remains”.

         Em                          C

Your love never fails, it never gives up

   G                              D

It never runs out on me (Repeat)

Let your dynamics build into the moment when you use that Em  C  G  D progression. I know you’ll feel the musical momentum.

Sing that lyric with its usual chords a few time. Then cue the band and head back to a final chorus of “Whom Shall I Fear”. Suddenly the lyric you’ve just sung together about God’s love never failing or giving up or running out gives a new layer of meaning to the Tomlin/Cash lyric. “I know Who goes before me; I know Who stands behind.” Certainly the song doesn’t need any help in being a meaningful expression of faith. Certainly each verse of Scripture we read has weight of its own. But finding verses that illuminate each other can encourage us as Children of God, and weaving bits of worship songs together can invigorate our worship of God and our insight into His great love and power.

I’ll end with a couple more examples, since I’ve felt the impact of this in my church so strongly. Besides using the chorus of “One Thing Remains” as an added statement to “Whom Shall I Fear”, the chorus of Matt Redman’s “You Never Let Go” works powerfully, too. In another song, the bridge of “Glory To God” (Fee/Beecham) pairs powerfully with the chorus of Gungor’s “Beautiful Things”. Visit my website, kerrtunes.com, to find charts of these examples and other suggestions for such pairings.

The People Matter!

by Tom Lane

from Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Worship Musician Magazine
Since worship ministry is built on the backs of people serving faithfully with their gifts and talents, it's important that we consider the people more important than our plans and production. The more unhealthy or self centered we are, the more we manipulate others in order to achieve the end result 'we' desire. If we want to produce good fruit, we have to honor others as we move forward and build. Bad trees don’t make good fruit!

A saying my wife has quoted for years is, “Fish rots from the head down.”

Meaning, if something’s messed up it can usually be traced all the way to the top tier of leadership. That’s always where it starts and the buck stops. Good leaders strive to preserve the overall health of their team. Though we may coast for a while and even have some success in our programs, God won’t just overlook our dysfunction and sin. The more we attempt to grow something while tolerating sickness, the harder the surgery will be when He decides to cut it out. Because He truly loves us, He doesn’t leave sickness to fester and clutter our lives and relationships. Even if we choose to sweep things under the rug, at some point He will shine the light on darkness, rest assured.

Another saying I like is, “Fall on The Rock before He falls on you.” God is merciful, and responds favorably to humility and repentance. When we refuse or neglect to confess our mistakes and pursue holiness, then we all the more invite His correction and judgment. But if we cry for mercy He will surely give it! The hope is that our churches are safe havens of genuine community, where we can and do make mistakes, but are loved through the process of working out our salvation, and becoming holy. Because we are human, there are often competing wills at work. Though we are aiming to lift a unified voice of praise to God, sometimes there’s a huge pile of issues going on behind the scenes, maybe even on the platform itself. If there’s a tug of war going on in our midst, it is upon us as leaders to preserve relationships and the integrity of the worship we bring to God. I liken it to taking communion without first confessing the sins, righting wrongs, and doing all we can to be pure hearted before engaging in the sacrament.

There are teams and leaders that plow on week after week allowing hurt, bitterness, anger, unspoken expectation, division, etc., go unresolved. I do believe, and know from my own experience, that God does indeed work through imperfect and messy people in spite of our issues—because He is gracious and will not be mocked. But I also believe that a worship or ministry team of any kind is ultimately only as strong its relationships are. We don’t help relationships by blaming others and talking about them behind their backs, which happens all the time. Like any good marriage, we must find a way to be honest and communicate through the hard stuff.

Let me say that I’m not one who thinks worship needs to be perfected and ultra controlled so as to remove the messiness of our humanity. On the contrary, I feel we are fooling no one if we think any of our leadership are without problems and sins in their lives. The church is full of sick people and so are our teams. The beauty is, God is in the healing and restoration business. That’s what the gospel is about! To me, what’s important is that we are always aiming to worship in spirit and truth. What I know of God’s Spirit is He convicts our hearts when there’s junk piling up and sin going on that separates us from Him—polluting our offering to Him. So it is important to keep short accounts with God and others. Kindness, humility, and honesty go a long way. In the worst of relationships and situations we can’t go wrong by taking the higher road, even if we are right about something or have been wronged. If you’re on a team and you’re struggling with those you worship alongside, I challenge you to become the initiator in the restoration process. Don’t wait for them to come to you. Worship is communion, and what God asks us to do is; let go, let others go, make it right as far as we can within us. We can’t control all that goes on in leadership above and around us, but we can control our own actions and responses.

It saddens God when we overlook things that matter deeply to Him, and people matter!