So What’s Up With Communion Anyway

by Matt Heerema | Posted in History, Theology | 3 Comments »

Communion. Holy Communion. The Lord’s Supper. Breaking of Bread. The Eucharist. It’s something all Christians have done (or should be doing) for the past 2000 years. It is one of two “rituals” of a sort commanded and modeled by our Lord. But what’s it all about anyway.

Well, it’s a time to… umm… remember Jesus Sacrifice, you know, the wine grape juice representing his blood, and the bread wafers/wonderbread/croutons/whatever-is-easy-and-on-hand representing his… you know… body…

Is it just a symbol? (really?) Is there more to it than that? What does it all mean? (really?)

This is such a profound and meaningful experience. A wonderful gift that Christians have been given by Jesus to communicate so much! So much, indeed, that eventually Christians came to think of the bread and wine ACTUALLY BEING the body and blood of christ! (After all, he DID say “This IS my blood. This IS my body.” (didn’t he? (actually, no.. he didn’t.)) (triple parenthetical statement +15!)

My point here is that we evangelical types tend to take one of three stances on the issue:

  1. Happily mystified
  2. Completely confused
  3. Overly simplistic and naive

It’s an issue I’ve been studying out for about a year. Grappling with to try and gather a sense of peace about the issue. I’m starting to get there. I’ve recently read a book (recommended by our sound guru) that cleared a lot of air for me. I’d like to formally recommend it to you all.

The Meal Jesus Gave UsThe Meal Jesus Gave Us: Understanding Holy Communion by Tom (N.T.) Wright is a quick read and was tremendously helpful for me. Michael Green wrote in the forward of the book:

“Nothing is more central to Christian practice than Holy Communion. Yet, curiously enough, little attempt is made to explain it. So many outside the Christian community are just puzzled by it, and many within the church go to Communion from habit but know very little about how it arose and what it means. This is the ideal book for both thypes of reader. It is written by one of th foremost New Testament scholars in the world, who has the enviable ability to write with engaging charm.”

The back of the book gives a nice summary:

…Tom Wright explains in clear and vivid style the background to the Last Supper, the ways in which Christians have interpreted this event over the centuries, and what it all means for us today.

If you lead worship and communion, you should read this book.

Worship artists I keep an eye on

by Matt Heerema | Posted in Song Selection | 5 Comments »

Without a doubt, it is better if a band writes original music for its own church. However, that is simply not a reality for most churches out there, either because of lack of skill, time and availability, or myriad other factors. So, it is usually necessary that a church band is inherently a “cover band”. The second best thing to do in my opinion then is for each band to make each song its own. That is, that the band play its own arrangement of these songs.

Here are some worship artists that I keep a pretty consistent eye on for new music.

  • Passion (Matt Redman, David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, others)
  • Brian Doerksen
  • Delirious
  • Hillsong’s United
  • Jared Anderson (Desperation Band)
  • Matthew Smith / Indelible Grace
  • Tim Hughes
  • Red Mountain Church
  • Sovereign Grace Ministries

We have songs from a large variety of other sources and artists as well, but these seem to produce consistently excellent music. There are many other bands that produce consistently good music as well, but for whatever reason, I usually stick to the above, with a few exceptions.

Who do you go to for music? Do you write you own?

If could pick only ten: praise albums

by Matt Heerema | Posted in Song Selection | 3 Comments »

I thought about titling this post “Top ten greatest praise albums ever”, but could only think of three that fit the bill, and a few others that are great but their influence is extremely minimal. I also realized that subconsciously constrain myself to a genre when thinking through this (ROCK AND ROLL!). Thus, I declared myself completely unfit to write such a post and instead am opening it up a bit.

If I could pick only ten praise albums to choose songs for corporate worship from, they would be as follows:

  1. Illuminate - David Crowder Band
  2. The Cutting Edge - Delirious?
  3. Sonicflood - Sonicflood (Jeff Deyo, really)
  4. Offerings - Third Day
  5. Live From Austin - Chris Tomlin
  6. Blessed Be Your Name - Matt Redman
  7. Enter The Worship Circle: First Circle - Waterdeep and 100 Portraits
  8. The Best of Passion So Far - Passion Bands
  9. ??
  10. ??

See what I did there? I condensed what would have been about 6 other albums into a few best-ofs :) I also couldn’t come up with a 9 or 10 off the top of my head (that is to say, I couldn’t pick two from the 15 or so that came to mind… each with one or two songs on them.)

How about you?

New Forums and a Rebrand

by The management | Posted in Announcments | No Comments »

Due to a resurgence of interest in discussion over production issues as they pertain to ministry, we have started a few new sections of our forum. Head on in and check them out. For those of you scared away (rightfully so) by the nasty spam onslaught, it has been cleared out and security has been tightened.

You can see that we’ve re-branded from rockworship.com to gcworship.com. This is due to a broadening of focus away from “Rock and Roll” worship services and to more general worship services of all styles. However, it should be noted that the site admins primarily come from alternative style churches that have REALLY loud music, and that is our preference. Personal preference alone, however, it has nothing to do with a judgmental attitude toward other service styles. So long as the predominant culture of your area is considered when selecting your service style, it’s all good.

Also, don’t forget to join our Google Group!

Site Changes and New Google Group

by The management | Posted in Announcments | 1 Comment »

We have started a new Google Group: GCWorship, to aid in discussion over technical, philosophical, and other issues. Join up and join the convo!

As you can see I have re-activated the forums, as there has been some renewed interest. Stay tuned for a potential new direction for the site!

Response to a question: Guitar Amp Wattage

by Travis Swan | Posted in Gear, Production | 5 Comments »

Jeff wrote: I’ve been online researching different amps to use for worship. But there are so many opinions out there, I can’t decide. If money isn’t an issue, what do you reccomend? I saw that he reccomended the smaller wattage amps. What does Travis use when he plays live?

I use a Peavey Classic 50/50 amp. It’s all tube, 50 watts per channel if I’m running in stereo. I run it into two Mesa 1/12″ speaker cabinets and mic them with two Sennheiser e906 mics (the BEST guitar amp mic I’ve ever used!). I absolutely love how this amp sounds, but it’s gotta be cranked up pretty loud to take advantage of the tube sound, which creates too much sound for our stage.

Continue ‘Response to a question: Guitar Amp Wattage’ »

Before the Throne of God Above music by Vikki Cook

by Matt Heerema | Posted in New Music, Song Selection | 1 Comment »

Bob Kauflin has an insightful post on his blog: Worship Matters about the song “Before the Throne of God Above. I think it’s worth a read on a couple levels.

  1. The song is not public domain!
  2. Some good thoughts on the flow of music in worship
  3. Good thoughts about instrumentation and arrangements in music for worship.

Give it a read.

My musical journey…

by Justin Meyer | Posted in Announcments, Features | 8 Comments »

I have been calling a bunch of other worship leaders and asking some of the guys in my bands about their musical journey. Here is mine…

Worship/Christian Music

  1. Jars of Clay - self-titled: This album is the reason I play acoustic guitar now.

  2. Darrell Evans - Let the River Flow & Deleriou5? - Cutting Edge: These albums made me want to praise God passionately. I spent alot of high school Bible studies singing songs from these albums.

  3. Chris Tomlin - Not to Us: This album was the first album in the Christian market that I feel was produced really well and was similar to the production of pop on the radio. The writing is concise and we have ended up playing almost every song on the album at church.

  4. United Live - My Best Friend: This album came out at the same time all my friends were listening to Blink 182 and the begining of the alternative to indie transition. This album showed me that “praise” music could be punk or more rock and roll.

  5. Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown: This album really spoke to me in some difficult times and ended up being the force behind me and my college girlfriend breaking up. The entire album is written so well and lyrically can be summerized in a simple phrase, “this is your life, are you who you want to be?”

  6. Emery - The Question: This album was the first ‘harder’ Christian music that I listened to because it was so well written and so melodic. It has opened the door for Underoath and other harder bands which I really enjoy now. Also lyrically, they craft alot of spiritual lyrics using sarcasm that I can appreciate.

    Continue ‘My musical journey…’ »

Worship Leader or Rock Star

by Matt Heerema | Posted in Ministry Philosophy | No Comments »

Bob Kauflin just had a great post on his blog about the difference between a Rockstar and a Worship Leader, some reflections on a 60 minutes interview with Bruce Springsteen. It’s worth the read. Check it out: Bruce Springsteen on Meaning and Purpose.

Tom Potter said…

by Justin Meyer | Posted in Announcments | No Comments »

A buddy of mine used to quote Tom Potter from Morningside School of Worship (or something like that) in KC, “We practice our instruments so that when the spirit leads, there is less resistance.” I think that is a pretty cool quote.

Have a good holiday.