New Song by Chris Tomlin - "Jesus Messiah"

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last decade or so you know Chris Tomlin's songs have had a significant influence on contemporary evangelical worship services. He has a God-given knack for writing catchy, melodic, God-glorifying songs that soar when sung congregationally ("Forever," "Holy is the Lord," "How Great is Our God"). One look at the top songs from CCLI (the Christian copyright organization) will confirm that Tomlin has rightfully earned a place among the top songwriters of our generation.

The other phenomenon that has propelled Tomlin (and his songs) to the forefront is the huge shift in Christian music from "message" songs to "worship" songs. In other words, over the last decade the top Christian artists & albums (both in sales and awards) have been more and more in the "worship" genre - for example, bedrock artists like Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant and Third Day have released multiple worship albums to critical and commercial acclaim. At the same time evangelical churches have been focusing more and more on the quality and relevancy of their musical repetoire - it's not uncommon for the music to occupy half of a modern worship service. So it's no surprise to me that Chris Tomlin is one of the hottest commodities in the Christian music industry given the convergence of multiple phenomena.

However, in spite of (or maybe because of) his popularity Tomlin's music has not been without criticism. Some have noted that Tomlin tends to write rather generically and (at times) simplistically. Many have rightly said that the keys in which he records his songs are not congregationally-friendly - but that can easily be addressed through services like SongSelect. I will say that a lot Tomlin's songs have the same feel and the same four chords - but then again a lot of contemporary worship songs are guilty of the same thing. What we have to keep in mind is that Tomlin is writing for the church and the primary concerns are 1) is it theologically sound, 2) is it singable for the average Joe & Mary, and 3) can most worship bands play it? I think on those accounts a good many of Tomlin's songs are worthy candidates for congregational singing.

And such is the case with Chris' new song entitled "Jesus Messiah". The focus of the song is on Jesus' substitionary death ("He became sin who knew no sin" - from 2 Cor. 5:21) and the various titles of Jesus. Musically it's nothing specatular but it is singable (when you lower the key a couple whole steps) and it addresses the HEART of the gospel and our worship - Jesus' death and life on our behalf. Take a listen and see what you think...I say, thanks Chris for another song that magnifies the greatness of Jesus' sacrifice and beauty.

Being a Servant

Lately I have been thinking about what it means to be a worshipper - not only in the context of Sunday morning services - but with the entirety of our lives. As Harold Best puts it in his book Unceasing Worship, worship is "the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I do and all that I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing God." So if we are worshipping something at all times - and hopefully that something, or, namely Someone, is the Triune God (the only worthy Object of our affections) then what distinguishes a genuine, Christ-exalting worshipper from the millions who worship other gods? In other words, what are the marks of a bonafide worshipper of the triune God?

I think one of the defining marks of a genuine worshipper is possessing and exuding a servant's heart. In being servant-minded we are following in the footsteps of the Suffering Servant:

Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death,
even death on a cross!

-the Apostle Paul, Philippians 2:4-8

By becoming like us and by submitting to His Father's plan and the cross ("not my will but yours be done") Jesus exemplifies the HEART of a servant. He didn't put himself first - He put others first. He wasn't looking for the star treatment - although He is certainly entitled to it! He exuded a humility, looking for ways to serve the lowliest and least.

How does being a servant play out for us as worshippers? In the big picture we look to become more and more like Christ - to become, first and foremost, God-centered. But the natural overflow of being God-centered is to be others-centered. Do you remember the Greatest Commandments that Jesus spoke of in the gospels? "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matt. 22:37-40). As servants we serve both God and then others. In fact, if we claim to love God and don't love others we invalidate our claim to love God (1 John 4:20-21). So being a servant means loving and serving our brothers and sisters.

Now let's really narrow this down - what does it look like to be a servant in the context of the worship arts ministry, specifically as vocalists & instrumentalists? Well, here are some preliminary thoughts...

• If you are on the worship team, it means being considerate to fellow ministry partners serving on the video and audio teams. We should make the effort to not just the know the name of whoever is serving "behind the scenes" but also their story. If we ask for a change to a slide, or for more of this instrument in our mix, we do it not in a demanding tone but with grace. If they need us to run through a song again, or to go a little lighter on the drums (had to get a poke in at them!) then we strive to honor their requests.
• Each of us arrives on time for rehearsal and comes prepared - having already organized and looked over the arrangements, listened to the rehearsal CD and - as vocalists - warmed up our voices.
• As instrumentalists we understand that we are primarily accompanying the vocals. The major emphasis in Scripture is on singing, so as guitar players, keyboardists, etc., we want to play in such a way as to not overpower the vocals but support. It also means that if we need to go over vocal parts at rehearsal we don't roll our eyes or wish we would move things along!
• As vocalists we respect that getting all of the instruments to blend and play together takes practice, so there may be times where we have to wait until things are smoothed out. We recognize that the MELODY always takes precedence over harmony parts and we are OK if we don't get to sing that awesome harmony part we really wanted to nail
• We LISTEN to one another during rehearsal and on Sundays. We make sure we have enough of each vocal/instrument in our Aviom mix so that we can actually hear what others are singing/playing. We don't just play whatever and whenever we want to but rather play with a sensitivity towards what the song needs and how we can best contribute. Sometimes it means singing/playing very little or not at all. We are OK with that, because the song/service is always bigger than my individual needs/demands.

Those are just initial thoughts on how having a servant's heart would play out as worship team musicians. One of the defining characteristics of a genuine worshipper is a servant's heart.