|
One of Dave Andrew's many interests is a congregation of marginalised people in South Brisbane (Australia), many of whom live tough lives involving mental illness, drug dependencies, homelessness, prostitution and long-term unemployment. These are songs stripped of jargon and church tradition - positive songs of faith that are easy to play and sing out loud.
Below are this month's featured songs. Click here to hear all the featured songs (streaming playlist).
And it's exciting to announce that we've crashed through to more than 3,500 songs in the database. Lots of great new music for you to use freely for God's glory!
A good place to get started into all these songs, other than the featured songs page, is http://www.sharesong.org/top100songs.htm where you can see what other people have been voting for. If you're a ShareSong.org regular you can just go to http://www.sharesong.org/most_recent.htm to see what's been uploaded recently.
We'll leave you with Rick Muchow's discussion on what makes music "Christian", and how to develop a stage presence that helps your congregation worship.
Blessings... until next time.
Marty Kendall ShareSong.org Coordinator
from Zac serving in Nigeria
“What Makes Music Sacred or Secular? Is it the text/lyric or the musical idiom/style?”
RICK MUCHOW:
What makes a song sacred or secular is how the song it is used.
With that in mind, let’s define a sacred song as a song that can be used in church. A guitar solo, piano solo, sax solo or a completely instrumental song can be powerfully used to communicate about and worship God.
Words and lyrics indicate the message of a song, and many songs don’t have a message that can be put to use in the church environment, but there are songs that can be used in church to help direct the congregation’s attention to God. Most people can tell whether the song is appropriate or not from the lyrics and content of the song. Be sure not to rule out a song solely based on the artist who wrote or recorded it.
An otherwise secular song can be sacred if used for the purposes of God in exactly the same way that nature can be used to point to God. Music is a gift from God and was intended to be used for His purposes. For many people, a flower is just a pretty thing to put in a vase, a sunset is just the sun going down, and the beach is just a place where the water meets the land, but God can touch our hearts with the beauty and fragrance of that flower, the intricacy of His creation exemplified by that sunset, or by the immense power released in the sound of those waves and the vast size of the ocean. In the same way, God can use songs that have profound spiritual implications because ultimately He is the one who has created us all. He put the talent in the songwriter. He put the God shaped hole in each of us.
Whether a songwriter has realized the hole is there and let God into his or her life or not is irrelevant in terms of the spiritual usefulness of a song. “Secular songs” such as Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes,” Lou Graham’s “I Want To Know What Love Is” or songs from U2 and Sister Hazel are just a few examples of songs with profound spiritual messages that we’ve seen God use to touch people during our services at Saddleback.
Moses, one of the great leaders mentioned in the Bible, used a staff. We don’t know who made the staff. Moses used that staff for his own purposes: to guide herds and to help him travel, until a day when God decided to use it. We read in Exodus 4 that God had a purpose for that common staff. God asked Moses to give the staff to Him, and from that day forward that staff became a sacred staff, the Bible calls it “the rod of God” used for His purposes. It was an ordinary staff that God used for His sacred purposes.
Things are sacred or secular based on their use in light of God’s purposes. God is the only true creator. He redeems that which is secular and makes it sacred according to His purposes, even you and me. I once was lost, but now I am found… Praise God!
QUESTION: Addressing Stage Presence? from Dan Ferguson serving in Titusville, FL
“How do you address the issue of stage presence without coming across as though you are more concerned about the way things look on stage than authentic worship?”
RICK MUCHOW:
The Worship Leader exists to support the function of worship and guide the worship team. Stage presence during worship is very important to address. We need to teach our worship teams how to be seen in order to encourage the congregation to engage in worship. There are three core areas to focus on in addressing stage presence: 1) casting vision, 2) eliminating distractions, and 3) being authentic.
CAST VISION To address the issue of stage presence is to be clear about the purpose of our lead worshippers in congregational worship. Our role as a worship team is to connect the congregation to God, then stay out of their way. The philosophy of ministry of your church, including the role of worship, should be taught and reinforced at every worship team meeting, rehearsal, prayer, before services and at opportunities between services. Constant, gentle but clear reminders are necessary to keep the team on track. It’s not something that can be communicated and established in a single one-time meeting and then forgotten about.
ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS There are many possible distractions that can occur on the stage. Inappropriate movement can be a distraction. Natural movement is the goal. The best policy for movement is to move only as needed. For example, looking directly into people’s eyes when we are singing to God is unnecessary movement. Nervous movement is also very distracting. Address the nervous causes to remove the issue. Look at movement that doesn’t match the mood on stage. Coordinate movement to avoid distracting situations like having three vocalists on stage with one vocalist jumping while the other two are standing still.
Rehearse entrances and exits. Make sure people know when to walk on/off, and do so as a group. Be sure the team members know where to go, how to get there, and when/how to get off stage. Be quick and avoid stage wandering. I have someone cue the singers about when and where to go. Tape on the stage to “mark” team member’s spots is helpful when there are many entrances and exits during one service. When a song has ended, I have asked my soloists to quickly acknowledge the audience, but not to stand and wait for response. Bowing, however common, is inappropriate for a worship service.
For churches that broadcast or tape the service, the director/producer needs to visualize the movement and instruct anyone that will be on the platform. No one on stage should ever cross a camera angle while entering. For example, never cross behind the pastor while he is speaking.
Personal appearance can be a distraction. Every member of the worship team should be putting the focus on God through their personal appearance. The worship team should appear as an ensemble with a uniformed look. It doesn’t matter if that is achieved by choir robes or with clothing that blends in. Personal appearance should not draw attention to any individual on the platform. At Saddleback, the choir wears black, and for special occasions we vary the color such as jewel tones or Earth tones. As I write this, for this week’s services our singers have been asked to wear solids, no jeans, nice casual but not too casual.
Lack of confidence can be a distraction. Lack of confidence can spring from several causes including being unprepared, a lack of skill, or from a fear of being in front of people. Singers and musicians MUST know their words and learn their music. Many singers struggle with words. The worship team members need to be free to express their hearts of worship, which can only happen after they know the songs. The music itself can get in the way if the worship team member isn’t comfortable with the music. David putting on Saul’s armor comes to mind. Saul’s armor served Saul very well, but there was no way that little David the shepherd boy could use it. He just was not prepared to wear it, physically by size or by strength and had he tried, the armor would have hurt David rather than protected him in his efforts against Goliath. Songs not well rehearsed are uncomfortable to sing and equally a hindrance to team members trying to lead a congregation in worship.
BE AUTHENTIC Forced emotion contributes to poor stage presence. We’ve all seen a faked smile. We’ve probably all faked a smile… Don’t force emotion. Emotion is a powerful communicator, and forced emotion is likewise a powerful detractor from your communication. Ask the singers and the band to think about their relationship with God and let the music filter through. Ask them “How has God changed your life? What does this message mean to you?” As opposed to performing a song, we need to make the song a vehicle for us to express our personal relationships with and to God. Think about those who are receiving the message and how important it is that they understand how much God loves them, how the Holy Spirit can change their lives, how God has changed yours and most importantly that He is worthy of our worship and we are commanded to worship Him.
Christ’s presence in someone’s life will be their greatest treasure, nothing else compares to that. An effective Worship Leader spends more time worshipping off the stage then on it. There is a great verse in The Message that helps us to focus on the motivation for being a lead worshipper. In 2 Cor. 3:16-18 it says, “Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are--face to face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiselled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Dave
Andrews
