Worship Review 200408

Hi all!

Here's the link to this week's worship led by William:

http://www.lkyouths.com/Purpose_Worship/080420%20Worship(William).mp3

Here's an article on "What's your foundation in leading worship?". I hope you will find this article helpful in anchoring us upon the ROCK in the midst of all our busy-ness (or business?).

It's written by Tom Kraeuter.

Tom Kraeuter (pronounced Kroyter) has a heart for God and for God’s people. He is a gifted communicator who has been face-to-face with thousands of believers from all walks of the Body of Christ. People of all ages receive new insights from his straight-forward, humorous style.
One of the real hallmarks of Tom’s ministry is practical, biblical teaching that can be immediately applied to life. One pastor said it this way, “Tom has a deep and obvious love for the Lord Jesus Christ, a passion for knowing God in a deeper way, and a wonderful ability to communicate those qualities.”


"Some time ago I heard an elderly gentleman discussing how his priorities had changed over the years. As a youth he had been taught that certain things were important. Over time he had abandoned many of those values and embraced new ideals. But as he grew in years and wisdom, he found himself doing another reversal. Those things which he had left behind were once again becoming top priority. He had realized that the standards he had learned as a youngster really contained lasting value.

I have gone through much the same process in my years of leading worship. I first began leading worship mostly out of a deep, intense gratitude to the Lord. He had redeemed me! He had, as the psalmist said, "brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm" (Psalm 40:2). I wanted to verbalize my appreciation. Beyond saving me, He had become my friend and constant companion. To this day I still have trouble grasping that the almighty God of all creation would desire me. But I had accepted the truth of His Word and my heart was filled with unending gratitude toward God.

From the beginning of my walk with the Lord it was obvious to me and others that He had called me to leadership. Therefore, it was only natural that my gratitude would spill over onto others and I would end up leading others into this same expression of appreciation, or worship. But the expression itself was more important to me than leading others in it. I just wanted to love and honor God.

As time went on, however, I began to realize that other dynamics played into the worship leading process. My musical abilities and understanding became increasingly important. I looked at the type and style of music being used and its affect on the song service. I began to grasp how people's relationships affected their worship. Even the other musicians and their abilities came to play a more important role in my understanding of how worship "works." I began more and more to take my cues from people's reactions to the "worship" instead of from the Lord. I had almost completely abandoned the once simple gratitude based relationship I had with God. Concepts effecting worship leading had become my focus more than the Lord Himself. I was more in touch with the process than I was with God. I was not spending time with the Lord developing our relationship. In fact, the only real quality time I was spending with God was while I was leading.

At first I was able to fool most of the people while I went through the above scenario, due at least in part, to the strong gifts which God had given me. No one really knew that I was more conscious of the techniques than I was of the Lord. Still, as time went on, my drifting from God became more obvious and had the potential for getting much worse.

I had reached bottom. I was not leading worship from a heart full of worship; I was leading using techniques alone. The tools which God had provided to be effective in leading worship had become an end in themselves. The reactions of people had become more important to me than having a heart which desired to please God. I was not really leading worship. In reality I was only toying with people's emotions, including my own.

Fortunately, I once more experienced the rescuing, redeeming power of the Lord. His unending mercies touched me where I needed them most and I saw the falsehood of what I was doing. By His grace I was able to recognize that the path I was on was quite a distance from the one I should have been on. The Lord graciously brought me back into that simple grateful relationship we had before. There were no lightning bolts from heaven or earth shaking revelations, just a simple understanding of His new every morning mercies. I could once again lead worship out of a heart which radiated true worship.

In going through this process I learned some lasting principles. The most obvious was this: the only way to be effective long term as a worship leader is to maintain a close relationship with the Lord.

If I am not in constant pursuit of a close relationship with the Lord, if I am not continually allowing Him to fill this empty vessel, then I will have nothing to give. I may have some nifty tricks that will "pull me through a few services" but beyond that, I'm empty. I need to be daily renewed and refreshed by Jesus, the living water. If I forego this ongoing relationship with Him, I have really missed the fullness of His calling on my life.

Anyone aspiring to be an effective worship leader must have as their main anchor point maintaining a relationship with the object of their worship, Almighty God. Throughout this book I will discuss other ideas and concepts to help you on your path to becoming the most effective leader of worship you can be. However, maintaining your relationship with the Lord is foundational to it all. You would not expect to be a close friend of a person with whom you never spend time. Relationships take time, and lots of it, to develop. In the same way, it is essential to spend time with the Lord, just as you would spend time cultivating an earthly friendship. Nothing--absolutely nothing--is more important.

This article is excerpted from the book, Keys to Becoming an Effective Worship Leader

For its Christ ( & only HIM) we serve,
Yg

Worship Review 130408

Hi all,

Click on the link below

http://www.lkyouths.com/Purpose_Worship/080413_Worship(John).mp3

hi John,

I'm encouraged @ your faithful service to our Lord even in the midst of demanding scout training. "Rock (Jesus) -On"!!

Yg

Worship Review 060408

Hi all,

Click on the link below & dun forget to read the article on "100% rule" below.

http://www.lkyouths.com/Purpose_Worship/06042008-Worship%20by%20Mark%20Lim.mp3

Yg

Playing Together: The 100% Rule - By Ed Kerr

Hi Everyone!

Chanced upon this article on http://www.worshipministryu.com/ . This article may help answer some of those doubts and perhaps throw a fresh perspective to playing together as a band.
Author - Ed Kerr.

Ed Kerr has been a professional songwriter and recording artist for over two decades. For 13 years he was a lead vocalist and keyboard player for Harvest, a popular contemporary Christian music band. In the past 10 years he has written more than 100 songs recorded by Integrity Music. His playing is featured on "Rock of Ages", "I Walk By Faith", and "Forever", recordings in Maranatha!Music's popular Praise Band series. Ed also is the creator of two excellent worship keyboard training DVDs, is a instructor for the Christian Musician's Summit, and serves as worship pastor for Newlife Church in Silverdale, WA.

"One helpful concept in learning to play together as a worship band is "The 100% Rule." Think of the rhythm section as a pie. If the band's final sound is 100% of the contributions of the players, then each player contributes only a portion of that total. So if there are four of us, each of us gets a quarter of the pie. If there are two of us, we split it in half.

With a song like "Lord, I Lift Your Name On High," which is so acoustic guitar oriented, the whole song could be played with just an acoustic guitar. But if you have a rhythm section, you'd need to involve the other players so that they complement what the guitarist is playing, while at the same time, they build the arrangement as it progresses throughout the song.

Now, let's say you're in a band where your guitar player doesn't have technical skill or is not comfortable carrying the song with finger-picking. In that case, the keyboard player might take a more acoustic approach. The keyboardist would imitate that finger-picking style and the guitarist could just strum the acoustic guitar.

And, since "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" consists of basically a G chord, a C chord, and a D chord, most guitarists are going to be able to comfortably strum it. So, the keyboardist and guitarist can easily exchange roles. Just because the recording of the song started with a guitar doesn't mean that in your context you have to do it that way.

If you have more than one keyboardist, one of the keyboards might play a pad sound that sounds like a string section. The pad sound doesn't contribute any movement, but is a backdrop to what the rest of the band is doing. It fills in the sound beautifully and doesn't draw away from the other more rhythmic sounds.

The drummer may start with just a shaker or light percussion, then move on to the whole kit as the song builds in energy. And as far as the bass is concerned, because he is in his own frequency range, his part speaks clearly.

Now, obviously at some point the singers are going to join us. When the vocals come in, the players will change some of what they're playing. If the players maintain as much movement when the vocals come in, the sound might get a little too busy.

Ideally the music will be like a conversation. When the singers are making their statement, the band tries to back out of the way and accompany the vocals. When the singers finish a phrase, the band might choose to answer a little bit on their instruments with the melodic pattern.
You may at times feel like your part is not conspicuous, busy or virtuosic enough, especially if you're a classically-trained piano player. But many times what is called for is the discipline to know how little to play. I don't mean that we ought to think how little we can get away with, but rather what is going to really work.

So don't be disturbed if your individual contribution on a particular song would not sound wonderful if recorded on its own; that would only be the case if your part were 100% of the sound. What makes your part great in a band context is what it contributes to the whole, so it allows the rest of the band's contributions to be heard.

(Excerpts from the Worship Leader Workshop video and handbook) "

Lets have BIG ears & OPEN hearts as we approach the throne every Sunday,
Yg

Worship Review (020308) & New Song (Rescue the Perishing)

Hi all

Here the link to download today's worship session led by Augustus.

http://www.lkyouths.com/Purpose_Worship/080302_Worship(Aug).mp3

Thanks for leading the new song "Rescue the Perishing". It's a pretty Intense (a capital "I") one. From a web-search, I realised that it was adapted from an old hymn written by Fanny Crosby, a blind American poetess, often known as the queen of gospel song writers. The original hymn was penned in 1869. This was her moving account of writting this hymn:

http://www.joyfulministry.com/rescuef.htm

Other hymns by Fannie J. Crosby include "All the Way My Saviour Leads Me" , "Blessed Assurance"

Wow! When I heard the contemporary version by Billy Foote (praise the Lord that he kept 90% of Fanny's original lyrics!), I was close to tears as I'm reminded of this Holy calling by God to all who have believed in Christ, this calling that is popularly known as the "Great Commission". Have we heard this label so too often that we've forgotten it's true significance and our responsibility?

As I'm writting this entry my eyes wander to my unsaved Mum, Sis & boyfriend who are playing with Shalom in the hall. My thoughts on my Dad who's heart has been hardened by bad experiences. "Dear God, use me to lead them to you."

From the above dated accounts, I'm also reminded how God has and continues to use Worship leaders/songs/ music as vessels to knock on "doors" of hardened hearts, to call on significant ones amongst the congregation that HE has chosen to heal & save. So, lets not take our roles as Lead Worshippers/Musicians lightly.

Here's the contemporary version that is beautifully sung by Rebecca St James. Enjoy ....
(I've included the other verse from the original hymn in "white")

Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.

Chorus (refrain)
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
Church open your eyes once more,
And see what Christ died for,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save!

Though they are slighting Him, still He is waiting,
Waiting the penitent child to receive;
Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently;
He will forgive if they only believe.

Refrain

Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.

Refrain

Rescue the perishing, duty demands it;
Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide;
Back to the narrow way patiently win them;
Tell the poor wand’rer a Savior has died.

Refrain

Bridge
As we playing our songs, while we singing them well
Have we forgotten the lost, the reality of hell?
If we say we love God, wanna see His will done,
Will we offer our lives, or just the songs we have sung?
Do we even care, when will we care?




My Utmost for His Highest
Yg