The Power of One Worship Leader Edition [Israel Houghton]: Integrity Music

I was pretty excited to be notified by a dm on twitter that I had been selected to review Iz’s latest offering. Probably more excited because I had already purchased The Power of One and was very familiar with the music. I knew there was going to be more behind the scenes, in-depth information geared towards worship leaders and worship teams (which is my heart) so I eagerly tore into the package the day it arrived.

From the get-go I was impressed by the packaging. I hadn’t quite known what to expect, but it made sense to me that Iz and the gang at Integrity would include a bunch of very useful goodies.

DVD

The DVD is very informative and is a GREAT resource for teams. One of my biggest desires is to see music for worship becoming more accessible to everyone, from megachurch bands to small church bands, and including stripped down, casual performances and tutorials of most of these songs is definitely an epic win.

You’ll also enjoy the stories behind the songs and some of the behinds the scenes stuff from the making of the album.

ENHANCED CD

What’s not to love about chord charts, lead sheets, and lyrics? You’ll hear some of the stripped down arrangements from the dvd recording, which are a lot less complex than the original album recording, which is handy if you’re looking for a place to start building arrangements. A lot of times it can be a pretty daunting task to pick up the latest Iz release which comes with a full choir, horn section, and amazing rhythm and lead sections, and arrange it for your piano and flute led worship band, but Integrity does an amazing job of packaging together a great set of tools to give worship leaders and teams a head start.

CD

This is the original recording, and although I had already purchased it for our church, I think it is a great move to package them all together. I would personally love to see Integrity (and others) actually pre-release worship leader editions BEFORE albums hit the streets, say by maybe 2 weeks or something.

MY THOUGHTS

Overall, I love this concept. I believe that any church that would possibly interested in using Israel’s music for worship times, but has been overwhelmed by the funky, soulful goodness of IZ and New Breed can approach the songs on this album armed with the knowledge that Iz will meet you half way and provide you with an amazing resource to get you started.

For people that already rock Iz, this is still a very useful tool. At our church we love to remix songs. Breathe new life into them. So, even though the stripped down sets are a little too casual for our Sunday morning sets, it’s nice to see the same songs in a different setting. It can be a tremendous teaching tool in helping our band members see that variety is a GOOD thing, and that we don’t have to do every song exactly the same way each time.

Like I said earlier, I hope Integrity carries on this offering, and sees the tremendous education, training, and equipping potential in this type of packaging. I’d love to see every major release get this sort of treatment.

If you’re a worship leader, worship band member, or even just a church goer and you love a little bit of funky, soul/gospel infused musical worship, Israel is one of the prime leaders in this genre. Buy this for your church you won’t regret it.

The Power of One Worship Leader Edition [Israel Houghton]: Integrity Music

And in case you’re wondering there is not an owl hooting in this remix.

This is a song originally from my band, Blind Men See (2003-2006). The original version can be listened to here, it’s a little more pop rocky and less dirty south, but you can see how different the remix is.

To The Sky 2003 Russ Hutto

So I turn to the sky, lift my face to the sky
From the clouds comes a drip and I can fill it on my lips

We know the word. It conjures up images of cathedrals and sanctuaries; pipe organs and pianos; guitars and choirs; heavy, musty hymnals and lyrics plastered on screens or walls. In this day and age the term worship has become almost synonymous with the time of music we share on Sunday gatherings at church, or at the very least the actual Sunday gathering itself.

I believe there are 2 general categories of worship: Vertical and Horizontal.

Vertical is easy. It’s just loving God with everything we’ve got. Singing, praying, studying, living our individual lives in a manner that brings HIM honor and glory. It’s the response to who God is and what’s He’s done.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

Jesus reiterates this kind of worship when He quotes the verse in Deuteronomy, when asked what the greatest commandment was. Jesus says, in Matthew 22:37:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

When we sing a song of worship to God, we’re worshiping vertically. It’s to God and for God. It’s pretty simple. I think, in general, the church at large has this one down. We come in to our church buildings, Sunday after Sunday and sing our songs of worship to Him. I think that once a week, God is pleased with our songs, but also experiences a bit of bittersweet sorrow, because for 99% of us, it stops there.

After the last song is sung on Sunday, and we head out the doors, making a beeline for the nearest all you can eat buffet, we typically rush right back into our weekly routines and keep God (and our worship for Him) on the back burner until next week.

Stealth Worship

This is actually my favorite “form” of worship, if you could call it that. I love teaching on it. Sharing about it. And trying my hardest to live it out. I’m not perfect, but it is definitely an adventure!

Stealth Worship is worship that happens underground, behind the scenes. But at the same time, it can happen every day and in the middle of a crowd. It is worship that should be unseen, yet seen by all. Ok, ok…I’m speaking in paradox now, but it’s actually a very simple concept when you think about it…yet maybe a bit harder to implement.

Stealth Worship is also known as Horizontal Worship. An offering of worship (a response to God) that includes other people. No, I’m not just talking about standing next to someone and singing a worship song. I’m talking about SERVING.

Serving.

Service.

Servant.

These are words that convey what stealth worship is all about.

Think about it. In Mark 9:35 Jesus teaches that if we wanted to be great we should strive to be the servant of all. Jesus came to serve. His very life was an act of serving, even in His death. He put others before Himself. So should we. Our aim shouldn’t be to draw attention to ourselves, yet Jesus said so himself that we should let our lights shine before men so that they would see our good deeds and give glory to God! So, in a sense, it’s about deflecting the focus from ourselves to others, which ultimately brings honor to God.

When we serve others, when our focus on LIVING out a whole life worship includes putting others before ourselves, we’re actually worshiping God. It’s called horizontal worship because AS we’re worshiping God vertically, we are serving others horizontally, which IS indeed an offering of worship.

Stealth worship is a response to who God is (in the same way that vertical worship is) except that it is expressed by loving others, serving others.

A big component of stealth worship can be found in Matthew 5-7, when Jesus turns everything upside down and basically takes the religious elite to school. Stealth worship is what we do when no one is looking. It’s what happens the other 6 days of the week. When no one but our Father in Heaven sees us. It’s when we’re alone, pursuing God in our “prayer closets.”

If that’s the case then how can Stealth Worship also be serving others out in the open?

Because it’s not about being seen by people, though we will be if we choose to serve others. It’s all about the posture of our hearts. When I lead worship from the front of a church, my prayer every week is that I’m there to help someone express their worship with the collective group in such a way that they don’t get to during the week. My prayer is that they learn about a worship expression they might not be familiar with, but that allows them to express their worship alongside others freely. My prayer is that our time of musical worship is like a redbull for the congregation, that it gives their worship “wings.”

I don’t pray that it would be the most intense, deep, radical, earth shattering worship experience for myself. I don’t pray that I could “feel” God in a way that I’ve never felt, so that I can have an experience I’ve never felt. I don’t pray that God would come and speak to me and teach me every revelation in His Scripture, so that I can grow in leaps and bounds from one Sunday to the next (though those prayers aren’t necessarily bad things).

My focus is on OTHERS.

As a worship leader, I find that my primary act (offering) of worship on Sundays is not the actual Vertical Worship that I’m offering to God, though at times, it can be sweet. My primary offering of worship on Sunday mornings is SERVING. I’m there to serve others. I’m there to worship Horizontally. That doesn’t mean that I don’t worship individually at all. Of course, I do. But it’s my focus that matters.

The other 6 days of the week is when I, personally, dig into the things of God. During the week is when I lock myself into a quiet place (a room, the shower, etc) and sing my guts out in praise to Him. The bulk of my spiritual worship expression happens BEHIND THE SCENES.

Which is Better?

They both are. Better. Whaaa?

Yep. I think God created us to respond to him in both ways. So both of these “forms” of worship are necessary for us to live WHOLE LIFE WORSHIP. The fact that Jesus goes on to say that we should love our neighbors as ourselves (and that that commandment is the same as Loving God with everything we’ve got) proves that God wants our focus to be in 2 places (for the same purpose).

The expressions of our worship should happen in two different directions (but both ultimately ending on glorifying God).

1. Vertical: our individual direct worship to God.
2. Horizontal: serving others, which IS direct worship to God.

The President, Zelaya, was ousted in a so called coup in the last few days. The Congress and Supreme Court of Honduras ousted him basically for trying to rewrite the Constitution of the nation to allow him to occupy the presidency indefinitely (the current law gives a president one term of 4 years).

Our sources on the ground in Honduras, are saying that Hugo Chavez, the leftist dictator of Venezuela, basically is pulling Zelaya’s strings, and that most of the nation 80-90 percent actually support his ousting. Of course, from the American media you will only see Obama and most of the International Community denouncing the “coup.” Chavez is threatening to bring the Venezuelan Army into the mix to try and reinstate Zelaya.

Our Honduran brothers and sisters in Christ are saying that Zelaya is not good for the country and that they actually support Zelaya’s ousting. One of our pastor friends says in an email:

“It looks like an uncertain situation, and I believe it will take time and a lot of work to really know what the future of Honduras will be, what we really need now is the intervention of our Sovereign GOD making a miracle in favor of Honduras bringing peace, prosperity and security toward our country. Please pray for that.

So for us, we’ve been coached by the team there inTegulcigalpa that it might not be the best time for us to make this trip. Taking into consideration the U.S. State Department’s advisory not to travel to Honduras, and the safety of our team, we’ve decided to postpone our trip to Honduras until later this year or early next year.

To those who have donated so generously to this ministry trip, fret not, we’ll be setting aside EVERY PENNY of the money raised to make the trip happen at a later date. We have up to a year to re-schedule our non-refundable airline tickets.

So if you don’t mind, please lift a prayer for our friends in Tegucigalpa at the Iglesia Filadelfia Bautista (church). And I’ll keep you posted as things happen and as we reschedule this trip.

2) Revelation Song (Riddle): Key C. Yet another HOJ remix. Nothing major, just kind of changed up some rhythmic stuff. We’ve always kind of rocked this one out (way more than the recorded version) so we didn’t change the vibe of this song as much as we just freshened it up a bit. Worked out well.

Pardon my bad harmonies and lame guitar playing…just goes to show (maybe) that my strength is coordinating, writing and arranging and not necessarily performing. Haha.

3) All We Want is You (Evans): Key E. I love this song. The verses are a little wordy, but the simple chorus makes up for it. This is one that can be done at a moderate mellow tempo, or for us, a moderate rocking tempo. Driving 8ths in the bass, simple straightforward on the drums, and the chunk chunk sound on the guitars (palm mutes, top 3 strings[E-A-D strings]).

We did more of an acoustic set this week. Since we didn’t have electric guitar again this week. We just cranked up the 2 acoustics, put the drummer on rods (and cranked up the drum mic volumes a little) and rocked it out “unplugged” style. Went very well. For vocals, we had 4 total, but only featured 2 each song. It was a nice sonic variation from the regular 3-4 vocals always on sound that we usually rock.

***

The reality of our move is beginning to sink in (for me and for members of the team). We chatted for a few minutes before first service about the “next” person coming in. I’m trying to be as encouraging as I can. I know that God has the perfect fit to take the Music at HOJ to the next level. It’s just a little bittersweet knowing that we’ll be leaving all these WONDERFUL folks behind.

***

Part of Sunday Setlists at Fred McKinnon’s place. Come join and share yours!

UN-Together-ness

However, there are times when the only time we see the people in our worship band is when we are in church. What happens when rehearsal is really the only opportunity to connect with others but there’s just not enough time set aside to go any deeper than just sharing a few songs together (while serving the congregation)?

Nothing can be more disheartening than hearing about other bands or groups who have amazing connections and friendships and then looking at your own situation and not seeing those happening. I’ve been there myself.

Read the full article over at The Worship Community.

We used a video story to bring home the message from Sunday. It was pretty powerful. I won’t bore you with all the details, but I was blessed near the last minute to be able to use some instrumental music from Fred McKinnon instead of having to whip some up myself. Thanks, Fred, the music worked perfectly!

Setlist:

1) Everlasting God (Brown):
Key A. Lincoln Brewster arrangement. We had no electric guitar this week. But we still had a good full sound with 2 acoustics, bass, and drums.

2) My Best Friend (Hillsong):
Key C. This is always a fun one. Pretty standard arrangement.

3) My Savior Lives (New Life Worship):
Key B. Pretty straight forward arrangement. I think I blew out my voice on this one though. I should probably do it in A next time

Part of Sunday Setlists: where worship leaders and worshipers get crunk and share their experiences from Sunday worship gatherings!

2) Blessed Be Your Name (Redman):
Key G. We key it down just a bit when our female lead vocalists lead this one. It always comes out nicely! Our arrangement is pretty standard.

3) Shackles – with Cool King G-O-D rap intro (Mary Mary/Hutto):
Key Em. We love this song, but wanted to do something fun with it. I created a simple loop and ran it from my iphone (got off the drums and we just did this whole song sans live drums). “Cool King G-O-D” is a rap song I wrote a little over 15 years ago (I was 16 or 17 when I wrote it – I’m 32 now). Admittedly it’s not the greatest hip hop tune of all time, but it’s a fun one to do. I took 2 of the verses from it and used it as a kind of rap “pre-tag” before shackles. We actually could have used some male vocals on the “He’s the Kiiiiing” part on the chorus, but our girls did a good job of trying to sound gangsta. Ha.

Our shackles arrangement pretty much stayed the same structurally. We kind of changed the groove a bit. Added a little “breakdown” in the middle (repeated at the end).

Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance dance
Everybody in the House lift your hands hands
Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance dance
Everybody in the House lift your hands

“House” is capitalized because our church name is House of Joy.

It was fun. Here’s an actual video. The mix is not quite where I’d want it to be. The drum loop is almost non-existent but live it was thumping and for some reason the bass guitar all but disappears when shackles starts. Video is not usually on my mind on Sunday mornings so I didn’t think about the mix for this one. Anyways, besides those issues you can at least see what we did.

Shackles – HipHop – 2nd service from Jimmy Linville on Vimeo.

As always Sunday Setlists are a part of a great gathering of worship leaders and worshipers from all over the world sharing their Sunday worship experiences.

http://www.praisecharts.com/live/articles/582/1/Freebie-Wallpaper-June-2009-Psalm-6410/Page1.html