Don’t play long intros

Well intentioned as it may be, it’s completely arbitrary and unhelpful and here’s why.

1. It presumes every song’s story is best served the exact same way, and that’s to quickly get to the point.

This is the primary reason this dumb rule is arbitrary. It’s an attempt to apply a stylistic preference and particular arrangement utility to every song in every context. Futile.

2. It presumes that your instrumentation is at the minimum a distraction and disservice to the song and at worst worthless.

Now this may very well be true for terrible bands, but shorter intros aren’t going to do anything to help this. Which is why I’m much more a fan of a good worship rule that many churches don’t observe and that is: “Don’t suck” . But for bands that don’t suck and are actually thinking about their arrangements, their sets, their songwriting and the story they all fit in, can we agree that perhaps a long intro could quite possibly actually make a song better? If not we might as well just have a hand full of songwriters all arranging for us and us all play the same songs the same way across the country….oh wait…that sounds a lot like what’s happening. Bummer.

3. The rule doesn’t acknowledge that space in songs is as important if not more important than the notes you play or sing.

If you think of a song as a canvas, and a selection of paints as your different instruments and voices. If you start painting it with every color you have all over, it’s going to look a lot like a big black piece of paper. Nothing anyone would find very interesting or good. But if you want a color to stand out, you accomplish it through providing it negative space and complimenting it with other colors that work with it.

Song intros and instrumentals are negative space, they aren’t the subject of the song, but that space exists to amplify the subject, to make it more attractive and for it to be heard more clearly. Use it wisely, but please, don’t listen to folks who think they’ve found the worship formula that all should follow. It’s paint by the numbers and it sucks.

Big Idea: We are called to lively and powerful affection.

It’s not sufficient or acceptable to God that we merely believe these to be good and true or be moved in spirit in such a minor degree that we’re barely beyond indifferent.

Marks of a true Christian

“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:11-12 ESV) <- this is a powerfully affected heart

Fruit of new birth/circumcision

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12 ESV)

“And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6 ESV)

“The Spirit of God, in those that have sound and solid religion, is a spirit of powerful holy affection; and therefore, God is said ‘to have given the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,’ 2 Tim. 1:7. And such, when they receive the Spirit of God, in his sanctifying and saving influences are said to be ‘baptized with the Holy Ghost, and with fire;’ by reason of the power and fervor of those exercises the Spirit of God excited in their hearts, whereby their hearts, when grace is in exercise, may be said to ‘burn within them;’ as is said of the disciples, Luke 24:32.” -J. Edwards

The scriptures make it clear if our holy affections are weak, are not fervent, are not exhaustive, are not burning in our heart that we not alive in Christ.

5 qualities of worship with powerful holy affection

1. We sing like people who were formed and knitted together in the womb and predestined for adoption and now whose every breath is sustained by the hand of God.
2. We sing like people who’ve had the noose taken off their neck, who’ve been brought to life all the while mocking their Savior.
3. We sing like people who’ve had their darkest sins blotted out, our wickedness removed as far as the east is from the west and received imputed righteousness from our perfect Savior.
4. We sing like people who share in the power of the resurrected Christ who placed and names the stars in the heavens.
5. We sing like people who believe our Christ to soon be returning as he promised us.

We have 1 service at 10:15 am and we basically start practicing at 6:30am for that service. After setup we typically get in about 2.5hrs of practice over 4 songs before service. We’ve been operating like this for a few years and it works for us. Here’s a 4 part vine diary of what the morning looks like. (Would have be 5 parts had Vine not crashed right before service start time)

1. Hit the road, pickup my bass player who was surprised to have a camera in his face, then stop at Copper Star Coffee around the corner from the church and hang with the band. Usual topics include last night’s best SNL skits, recent concert attendances, best of the social web from the week.

2. Arrive at church and fire up the musical and visual robots

3. Sound check

4. Pre-service walkthrough, prayer, clear stage of junk, grab some holy water.

Step 5 which you’ll have to imagine(fun!), final tune-ups, final arrangement walk throughs, wait for the bell to ring.

I’m super happy for my dear friends, take a listen and support their stuff if you dig it.

1. Share this post (click on the like or tweet buttons)
2. Leave a comment with either your favorite Chandler/Patterson/Geiger video clip and/or why you want this book.

That’s it. I’ll pick someone a couple folks at random and send ya the book. Here’s a the trailer for the book to wet your appetite.

Remember to vote on the loop below, this really helps me get a sense of what folks find useful. Also it is used to calculate top loops widget in sidebar for people to quickly see the better loops.

Song: Made Alive by Citizen
Key: C
Bpm: 192 (4/4)

Section: Time (bar)

• Intro: 0:00 (1)
• All In: 0:20 (17)
• Verse 1: 0:40 (33)
• Chorus: 1:20 (65)
• Instrumental: 1:40 (81)
• Verse 2: 2:00 (97)
• Chorus: 2:30 (121)
• Bridge: 3:10 (153)
• Chorus: 3:40 (177)
• Ending: 4:37 (223)

If you download this loop or you’ve benefited in any way or are appreciative of the service, I’d ask that you please consider donating whatever you feel the loop is worth. The amount (including $0) I leave up to you. If you don’t have Reason and would like changes made to the mix (instruments muted etc…) just request it in the comments and I’ll respond. Note: If a donation is made then I may respond to the request much faster

Download: aif / mp3 / mid / rns (Reason 6) / chords

How Long (Love Constraining To Obedience) from Wayfarer: Repurposed Hymns on Vimeo.

“Are you saying that we should be uncomfortable during worship?”

My answer: Great comfort should come in worship through extremely uncomfortable means. The gospel is full of these seemingly paradoxical situations. Hope through hopelessness. joy through despair, wholeness through brokeness, life through death and comfort through discomfort.

I’m primarily speaking of the “what” and not the “how”, in other words, what we are singing should be uncomfortable but not necessarily the how we’re singing it. Though I would argue the how should support the what, it starts to rely a lot on preference so there’s no point in pressing that issue too much. I don’t like the cheery makeover every worship song gets regardless of content just so people can sound happy, but that’s just me.

If we’re singing the gospel story there are going to be many uncomfortable themes, of course the death of Jesus being the central one. I’m reminded of the lyric from Stuart Townend’s How Deep the Father’s Love For Us

Behold the man upon the cross
My sin upon his shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

That is some beautiful truth that brings us hope and comfort, but man is it difficult. If you can comfortably sing about your sin holding Jesus on the cross, well then I’m not sure the weight of sin and miracle of grace through God sending his Son to die has been rightly or deeply understood.

We have eternal comfort in Jesus, but it comes with a cost of much discomfort to ourselves. Our worship should reflect that.

I hear a lot of worship leaders complain, a lot of pastors complain about worship music, how it all sounds the same etc… But few actually have the guts to do anything different in their congregation. After the laughs die down and you ask a worship leader,

What are you really prepared to do in your congregation to stay clear of the homogenized christian music culture which you claim to dislike?

Well, answers are hard to come by. I hear a lot of, “well I wish I could do this” or “if I had a few more talented musicians I’d change _____“. But the truth is, even if all your wishes came true, when faced with the reality that most of your church is used to the way you’ve been doing it and lots of them won’t be happy if you do something radically different, you end up compromising. Are you prepared to defend the change when people start leaving? Few are. Few think it’s worth it and that’s exactly why most our churches are filled with very safe, offend the least amount of people possible, type of music.

I walked through this. We radically shifted the direction of our artistic expression and it was not a pain free experience. There’s much to be said about that journey, what theological convictions guide it and the humility required to survive it. But that’s another post. For now, I’d just like to ask my fellow worship leaders…don’t complain, whine or make fun of Xian worship music if you don’t have the guts to do something about it.

Wow! I have not been able to stop listening to the Local Natives “Hummingbird” since they released it in late January. Truly great music is enjoyed more as you listen more and some great music takes multiple listens to start enjoying, but not so with this record. First listen I was hooked.

You  & I opens the record with warm pads, rich chorus guitars and haunting vocals that reminded me a lot of Other Lives. The song explores a lot of great instrumentation but the vocals keep the song holding together with a killer hook. As Heavy Feet begins I can sense that these complex drum patterns are going to be one of my favorite things about this record. Wooly Mammoth drives home the point with a killer opening drum sequence that opens up and soars and in a beautiful chorus. The drumming on this record is incredible and contributes much to the great feel this record has.

These songs feel good and to me that’s what keeps me coming back to a record. There’s plenty of good songs that I don’t listen to a lot because they don’t make me feel much. This record has such a great feel through and through, the lyrics are captivating at moments.

Mt. Washington :

Digging like you can bury
Something that cannot die
We could wash the dirt off our hands now
Keep it from living underground

Lazy summer goddess
You can tell a whole empire
I don’t have to see you right now
I don’t have to see you right now

Columbia :

Patricia, every night I’ll ask myself
Am I giving enough, Am I giving enough, Am I giving enough
Am I?

Patricia, every night I’ll ask myself
Am I loving enough, Am I loving enough, Am I loving enough
Am I?

This is hands down one of my favorite albums in the last few years, top tracks for me are Heavy Feet, Black Balloons, Wooly Mammoth, Mt. Washington and Columbia. Grab the whole record though, don’t be dumb.

He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.
(2 Kings 2:23-24 ESV)

What did you call me punk? Baldhead??? Let’s see how your mouth likes a pack of she-bears!

Let this be a lesson to you kids, you see a bald prophet wandering through town, you best pick another geezer to pick on, because they don’t play games.

It’s better to feel pain, than nothing at all

The opposite of love is indifference.

You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. (Haggai 1:9)

I don’t know about you but I need constant reminder of where I’ve been, of what I’ve looked for, found, stored and lost. Much in vain. Not only is the pursuit of false treasures vanity, but so too is the discovery and keeping. Haggai describes it as storing your treasures in bags with holes.

Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. (Haggai 1:5-6)

For me it’s not only a needed reminder, it’s a loving reminder of what does bring my fill. Jesus. Only Jesus.

Men you’ve poured your life into for years will pickup drugs again and leave their family, you’ll see divorce in previously restored marriages, you’ll see adultery, greed, all kinds of sinful avenues of escape from the inner city life explored…the sin isn’t magnified but the weight and effect of sin on men, women and family in the inner city is perhaps seen more clearly than suburban church context. There is very little pretense in the inner city church, not a lot of keeping up appearances to maintain community status and that’s good. But man can it get discouraging seeing your church body struggling under the weight of sin.

Due to the reasons above and many others, corporate momentum is very difficult to develop and that can get very discouraging and tiring. Consistently throughout the last 10 years our elder team has had to encourage each other to say faithful to the call, stay gospel centered and mission minded.

I was reminded of this as I listened to a song by the Walkmen called, somewhat ironically, Heaven.

“Remember, remember

All we fight for!”

Don’t ever forget and don’t be swayed by other treasures. The world will present their treasures and other ministries will present there’s as well. We need no reward beyond Jesus, and faithfulness to the call of Jesus is the only measuring stick we can use for success.

Other posts in series:

• Why it’s a lonely place for church plants

Listen to advice and accept instruction,
that you may gain wisdom in the future.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
(Proverbs 19:20-21 ESV)

I can’t think of many words that have been more unhelpful to our cultural development than “hater”. It’s become the convenient license people uses to ignore critique, wisdom and challenge from anyone and everyone that doesn’t sprinkle fairy dust on their dream or massage their ego. Stop it already.

If you have a dream and/or talent that you want to pursue, the best thing you can do for yourself is to surround yourself with Godly people who aren’t afraid to challenge the passion or you. If it’s a God given dream then testing it will yield Godly perseverance and increased faith. If you don’t test it, you’ll be so fragile and delicate that any time someone boos you your earth will be shattered and you’ll be shouting down “haters” left and right on twitter. That’s a good sign that your passion has been idolized and it’s a fruitless dream instead of a fruitful calling.

Granted there are jerks, who are complete strangers that will share their unsolicited opinion. Be a grown up and let that bounce off ya, don’t add their name to a list of haters and fuel bitterness.

[via BoingBoing]

[via Scot Longyear]

• Alt-J: An Awesome Wave
• Lost in the Trees: A Church That Fits Our Needs

In addition to Steve’s list here are some of my other favorites:

1. Helio Sequence: Negotiations

My favorite album of 2012, I love these guys, flawless album that stands up to many many repeat listens…trust me on that Every song is fantastic making this a prime candidate for a vinyl purchase. Speaking of that since I preordered the vinyl I also got the accompanying quadraphonic cd, that was fun.

2. Citizens: Already / Not Yet

A new band from Mars Hill whose sound was so refreshing. Punk vocals layered with an alt-rock feel and a great live recording. Awesome job on the fresh arrangements of the hymns they chose, especially In Tenderness. Also the original Oh God was one of my favorite worship songs of the year.

3. Kings Kaleidoscope: Asaph’s Arrows

Nobody is putting together the kind of arrangements these guys are consistently putting out. It’s really quite incredible what Chad Gardner has been able to accomplish with his band. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Their Christmas album recently release, Joy Has Dawned, also deserves mention in this list. Absolutely brilliant.

4. Band of Horses: Mirage Rock

I’ve seen a lot of mixed reviews of this album and I can understand why, they certainly shifted directions with this album. Gone are the melodic, blending of guitar riffs, enter a more traditional alt-country feel. While I certainly loved their previous sound, over time I found myself really enjoying this one as well. One of my favorite songs of the year comes off this record, Everything’s Gonna Be Undone.

1. A church planting business plan will never place you in the inner city.

It’s a stupid idea if you are trying to grow a church. I’ve seen numerous churches (a few per year about) come into our neighborhood and then leave when the reality of poor urban ministry smacks them in the face, heart and perhaps most significantly…wallet. Demographics research will necessarily lead you elsewhere, that is unless your research is looking for the lost, hurting and destitute.

2. It’s a terrible place to start a vocational ministry career

If your goal is to have vocational ministry success you don’t want to start in the poor urban area. All the fancy church growth models you attended all those conferences to hear about and strategize over, they don’t play here. This isn’t a good place to be seen by ministry god fathers. You aren’t going to have the impressive growth metrics that get you conference invites.

3. Conventional church planting wisdom will have you try and export the suburban experience into the urban

Whether it’s spoken or unspoken, conventional “wisdom” says you can impact the poor urban areas in greater(read safer) ways by staying on the periphery and exporting your goods, whether they be service related or financial, rather than investing your heart, life and church in the area. As my pastor wisely noted, this perspective turns these people into projects, charity beneficiaries, not brothers and sisters in Christ who need a church family to do life with and an environment to grow and minister in. Weekend getaways and programs may convince those of the need to change and maybe even some practical techniques to address sin behaviors, but a church family gets in the trenches in every day life and administers the gospel in the dark and mundane where the deep work of the Holy Spirit happens.

Church planter, if you ignore the conventional wisdom and plant here, beware, it will expose you and test you in ways you never thought. You’ll fail at many things and want to give up. But if God’s called you and your heart is here, you’ll see victory and success in ways you didn’t imagine. It probably won’t be meeting a fundraising goal for your next big building, but it might be spending all you have to minister to a family across the street. And by the grace of God maybe 5 years later they are serving the church in unseen ways and reflecting the gospel and genuine love for the lost. Victory. Success.

You can read more about the story behind the song on MarsHill.

“There’s nothing in my life that I’ve aspired toward that hasn’t come through for me. But despite all these lucky breaks why do I feel that I got screwed somehow.” -Woody Allen

It doesn’t matter how much gain or success we are showered with or how many miracles that we benefit from…apart from Jesus our hearts are inclined to disbelieve(Psalm 78:32), to demand and expect more(Psalm 78:18-20).