When I was much younger, my church was really into a song called "Draw Me Close." It was written by a guy named Kelly Carpenter and was first made famous by a worship leader named Lindell Cooley who led worship at the Brownsville Revival.
Soon after that, the song was recorded a CCM group called the Katinas and was played on Christian radio. At that point, the worship leader at my church started doing the song during worship. It went well...after a few weeks, we were all singing it, enjoying it, finally getting it memorized where we didn't even need to look at our songsheets or the screen.
And then, a few weeks later, the worship leader had a moment of genius. It happened on Sunday morning as we were nearing the end of "Draw Me Close." The tune was nice and big, having reached the end of its dynamic capabilities when, all of sudden, the band launched into a chorus of "Shout To The Lord."
It was great. Our church was fairly nuts about "Shout To The Lord" at the time. (What church wasn't, right?) It was a cool moment - it was necessarily spontaneous, the band had definitely worked the transition to maximize the flow of songs since the tunes were in slightly different tempos. In retrospect, the songs weren't even linked that well thematically, but they were in the same key and it felt GOOD to do those songs together.
And from then on, that's how we did it. "Shout To The Lord" became the ending of "Draw Me Close." It
Building those kind of moments is a cool thing. It's so much fun to figure out two songs that work well together thematically or musically (or even both! Egads!) But we've got to be careful that we don't take those moments of creativity and turn them into systems.
I don't think my church should have stopped doing those two songs together. I just think they should have realized they didn't have to always do those songs together. When we latch onto those moments and make them staples of our setlists, I think we run a few risks:
1. We risk the appearance of laziness.
When we continue to use the same mini-medleys over and over, we look lazy. I think it speaks something to our people about our work ethic. Now, laziness may not even be an issue, but I for one never want my people to think I just dialed in a service. When I step up and lead, I want my people to know that they trust me and follow me and pay me for good reason - that I work hard to give them a quality opportunity to worship God every single week. I think too many mini-medleys kill that. I think they make us look like we didn't care enough to change anything since last time. (We're not cool when our pastors do that, are we?)
2. We risk our congregations becoming too comfortable.
I think the best, healthiest, most effective churches are ones that surprise their people. No, I'm not talking confetti guns or lights shows or a different stage design every week. I'm talking about people leaving a service remembering what they've heard or seen. Sometimes that happens with a sermon - folks leave thinking about scripture in a way they've never heard, or someone unchurched coming away having his or her misconceptions blown away by a powerful and honest look into God's Word. Sometimes in happens with art - a song takes folks to a place they weren't expecting or a video breaks through some defense of theirs or the sunlight through a stained glass causes someone to look at the cross for the first time in months. Mini-medleys kill that, too. We drop into that song and our congregants turn off...we're all set for that giant, jamming transition and our people just mindlessly sing along, not too excited and not too bored. Just...there.
It's a balance, I get that. We want our people to feel comfortable in worship and know what's going on, but I don't think it's necessary for them to always know exactly what's coming next.
Soon after that, the song was recorded a CCM group called the Katinas and was played on Christian radio. At that point, the worship leader at my church started doing the song during worship. It went well...after a few weeks, we were all singing it, enjoying it, finally getting it memorized where we didn't even need to look at our songsheets or the screen.
And then, a few weeks later, the worship leader had a moment of genius. It happened on Sunday morning as we were nearing the end of "Draw Me Close." The tune was nice and big, having reached the end of its dynamic capabilities when, all of sudden, the band launched into a chorus of "Shout To The Lord."
It was great. Our church was fairly nuts about "Shout To The Lord" at the time. (What church wasn't, right?) It was a cool moment - it was necessarily spontaneous, the band had definitely worked the transition to maximize the flow of songs since the tunes were in slightly different tempos. In retrospect, the songs weren't even linked that well thematically, but they were in the same key and it felt GOOD to do those songs together.
And from then on, that's how we did it. "Shout To The Lord" became the ending of "Draw Me Close." It
Building those kind of moments is a cool thing. It's so much fun to figure out two songs that work well together thematically or musically (or even both! Egads!) But we've got to be careful that we don't take those moments of creativity and turn them into systems.
I don't think my church should have stopped doing those two songs together. I just think they should have realized they didn't have to always do those songs together. When we latch onto those moments and make them staples of our setlists, I think we run a few risks:
1. We risk the appearance of laziness.
When we continue to use the same mini-medleys over and over, we look lazy. I think it speaks something to our people about our work ethic. Now, laziness may not even be an issue, but I for one never want my people to think I just dialed in a service. When I step up and lead, I want my people to know that they trust me and follow me and pay me for good reason - that I work hard to give them a quality opportunity to worship God every single week. I think too many mini-medleys kill that. I think they make us look like we didn't care enough to change anything since last time. (We're not cool when our pastors do that, are we?)
2. We risk our congregations becoming too comfortable.
I think the best, healthiest, most effective churches are ones that surprise their people. No, I'm not talking confetti guns or lights shows or a different stage design every week. I'm talking about people leaving a service remembering what they've heard or seen. Sometimes that happens with a sermon - folks leave thinking about scripture in a way they've never heard, or someone unchurched coming away having his or her misconceptions blown away by a powerful and honest look into God's Word. Sometimes in happens with art - a song takes folks to a place they weren't expecting or a video breaks through some defense of theirs or the sunlight through a stained glass causes someone to look at the cross for the first time in months. Mini-medleys kill that, too. We drop into that song and our congregants turn off...we're all set for that giant, jamming transition and our people just mindlessly sing along, not too excited and not too bored. Just...there.
It's a balance, I get that. We want our people to feel comfortable in worship and know what's going on, but I don't think it's necessary for them to always know exactly what's coming next.
3. We risk making our job into something it shouldn't be.
Too much of this "arranging" changes our job because it allows to move away from truly pastoring our people in worship. If I'm always going to transition from "Everlasting God" into "Salvation Is Here," then I don't have to plan something new or needed for my people and I certainly don't have to work at listening to God while I'm on stage. Yes, ours is a job of planning and preparation, but it's always one of watching and listening and obeying what God tells us to do. I know not every church is spontaneous in nature...but too many of these tidy little song collections and we make our job one of showmanship and not one of waiting on God's leading.
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I'm not against cool song combinations. I have some that I really like. But I have to be careful because not every time calls for those songs in that way. It can't..two or three completely different songs that are probably full and rich enough to stand on their own can't be demoted to medley material indefinitely.
Watch out for this very tempting aspect of leading worship. Don't be afraid of creativity...use what works, but try lots of stuff...not just the thing that worked that one time.
Too much of this "arranging" changes our job because it allows to move away from truly pastoring our people in worship. If I'm always going to transition from "Everlasting God" into "Salvation Is Here," then I don't have to plan something new or needed for my people and I certainly don't have to work at listening to God while I'm on stage. Yes, ours is a job of planning and preparation, but it's always one of watching and listening and obeying what God tells us to do. I know not every church is spontaneous in nature...but too many of these tidy little song collections and we make our job one of showmanship and not one of waiting on God's leading.
___________________________________________________________________________
I'm not against cool song combinations. I have some that I really like. But I have to be careful because not every time calls for those songs in that way. It can't..two or three completely different songs that are probably full and rich enough to stand on their own can't be demoted to medley material indefinitely.
Watch out for this very tempting aspect of leading worship. Don't be afraid of creativity...use what works, but try lots of stuff...not just the thing that worked that one time.
2 comments:
You are correct sir on all points. I never thought of the "lazy" aspect but I think it is true in all things we might do in worship. That is the tension we live in as we organize and develop worship services.
The magical moment that we had whet we brought the cross in to the congregation and they passed it around at easter.
The drama that was done that blew people away.
No doubt I have put together a few medleys and I have done as you mentioned. Made sure that those songs also stood on their own.
The ignition of the Holy Spirit in our service is not done by doing the same thing we did the last time it happened. It occurs by truly seeking God and God's leadings.
I tend to shy away from formulas but am also confined by some as well. We have to do what we can in the context we lead in.
I have to say that I still like to do Every Move/Lord I lift Your Name/Every Move just because... I know they are old... they are like old hymns that people know and like and throwing those two together in a festive atmosphere is pretty fun. Haven't done that on Sunday morning in years but have done them in other venues though..again mostly in a festive way. Heck the chord structure is way to easy to flow.. I can't help myself but to do it once a year or so somewhere.
How easy it is for churches to get stuck in that moment or movement . Its kinda like seeing glenn campbell and he is still singing rhinstone cowboy. Hey church , its time to move on . Todd thats a great thought provoker( if thats a word ) Too many times we go thru things and never think or allow the Holy Spirit to lead us . We want to tell Him how we should , or shall i say how we will do it . Great post
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