Jamie Brown

What is Happening Right Now?

Last night I had the joy of leading the music for our men’s ministry meeting. This happens once a month in our church’s fellowship hall, and includes some good food (Italian subs!), some announcements, a time of singing, teaching, prayer ministry, and fellowship.

Last night we sang “Blessed Be Your Name”, “It is Well with My Soul”, read Psalm 130:1-6 together, and then sang “Everlasting God” and “Be Thou My Vision”. I led from guitar and had a piano player from the worship team lead with me. There was a tangible sense of the Holy Spirit being at work as we sang, and after the last song we just spent several minutes being still before the Lord together.

Before we went into those few minutes of stillness, a few moments after “Be Thou My Vision” ended, I just said something very simple like “what we’re doing right now is just leaving some space for God to speak to each one of us individually. This is a chance for us either to listen to him speaking to us, or to articulate our own words of prayer or praise to God. Let’s wait on the Lord together and commune with him.”

It took about 15 seconds to say all of that. It wasn’t the most articulate explanation in the world, and for some men there, it might not have been totally necessary. But once in a while it can be helpful to simply explain what’s going on.

Try to be aware, as you lead worship, of points during corporate worship that might need some explanation. Pick one area every once in a while, and explain “here’s what is happening right now”.

Worship leaders can wrongly assume that, because they know what’s happening, everyone else does too. While we don’t need to go overboard and explain every little thing every single time we lead – (and oftentimes the best thing we can do is just be quiet!) – if we are to be effective worship “leaders”, we need to make it as easy as possible for people to follow along.

Praying for Unction

Unction isn’t a word you hear very often these days, but maybe that’s not such a good thing.

Tullian Tchividjian, the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, recently shared on his blog about how his “heart burns” for God’s “sacred anointing”, or “unction”.

While his post is written for preachers, I wanted to share it here because worship leading is another form of preaching. Every week, worship leaders have 15, 20, 30, or more minutes to point their congregations to the greatness and glory of God in Jesus Christ through music. So, read this post and where you see the words “preaching” or “preachers” – insert “worship leading” or “worship leaders”. May we all pray for God’s sacred anointing, his unction, every single time we get up to lead.

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I’m a die-hard believer in unction. Unction is an old fashioned word which describes an effusion of power from the Holy Spirit as one preaches. It is the one thing preachers need above everything else. It is the accompanying power of the Spirit. This is what Charles Spurgeon dubbed “the sacred annointing.” It is power from on high.

In his book on the preaching of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Sacred Annointing, Tony Sargent describes unction well. He writes:

[Unction] is the afflatus of the Spirit resting on the speaker. It is the preacher gliding on eagles’ wings, soaring high, swooping low, carrying and being carried along by a dynamic other than his own. His consciousness of what is happening is not obliterated. He is not in a trance. He is being worked on but is aware that he is still working. He is being spoken through but he knows he is still speaking. The words are his but the facility with which they come compels him to realise that the source is beyond himself. The man is overwhelmed. He is on fire.

Oh how my heart burns for this sacred annointing, this unction! I hope and pray that preachers all over the world would spend much of their sermon preparation time begging God for this power on high. For, it is preachers who are borne along by the Holy Spirit that are used to effect a deep and sobering awareness of God and his truth that transforms.

In his book Lloyd-Jones: Messenger of Grace, Iain Murray writes:

Preaching under the annointing of the Holy Spirit is preaching which brings with it a consciousness of God. It produces an impression upon the hearer that is altogether stronger than anything belonging to the circumstances of the occasion. Visible things fall into the background; the surroundings, the fellow worshippers, even the speaker himself, all become secondary to an awareness of God himself. Instead of witnessing a public gathering, the hearer receives the conviction that he is being addressed personally, and with an authority greater than that of a human messenger.

Given the fact that the ultimate factor in the church’s engagement with society is the church’s engagement with God, my earnest prayer is that, for the sake of the world, more preachers would come to know and understand what Andrew Bonar meant when he wrote: “It is one thing to bring truth from the Bible, and another to bring it from God himself through the Bible.”

Please pray, dear friends, that God would annoint my mind and mouth on Sunday as I preach so that God’s people would hear from God. Please pray that God’s Spirit would so inhabit my words that everyone would leave worship tomorrow being able to say, “God was surely in that place.”

I can’t manufacture unction regardless of how well crafted my sermon is and how well prepared I may be. The biggest work must come from God.

So, come thou fount of every blessing and do for your people what I cannot. Amen.

Read Tullian’s post here.

Ten Challenges for My Worship Team – Pt. 2

Yesterday I shared the first five of ten challenges I shared with my worship team a few months ago to get us all thinking about how we can serve our congregation in our specific setting as skillfully and humbly as we can. It’s good to talk principles with your team, but is also good to talk practicalities – often different for each team and each church.

Here are the last five challenges I shared.

6. We use a style of music that is new to many members of the congregation
“…The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” (Galatians 5:22-23a). We need to show love for those who might find our style of music offensive. If we’re asked to pull back at a certain service we should do it with joy. If we hear a critical comment we need to have peace. If we want to see change happen overnight we need to be patient. A humble and Christ-like kindness should be how people, from all the different worship services, describe the worship team. A genuine and Spirit-enabled goodness should permeate our attitude. We need to be faithful to Christ and his church – not just the one service we might prefer. We should avoid sending any signal of forcing a style of music on anyone, but instead display a servant-like gentleness. Finally, we should be people who are self-controlled, not allowing for condescension, pride, or arrogance towards anyone or any service. May the fruit of the Spirit be abundantly evident in this worship team.

7. We live in a city that values intellect and suspects emotion
Think of all the “think-tanks” in this city. Now how many “emotion-tanks” have you ever heard of? It’s a silly question, of course, but it shows how much this culture values the intellect and marginalizes emotion. This mindset can creep into the church, resulting in congregations whose church services are cerebral and intellectual exercises with little freedom or biblical understanding of the place of emotion.

Of course there are churches that have the opposite problem. Emotionalism is just as unbalanced and incomplete as intellectualism. A kite needs a string in order to fly. A string needs a kite in order to be useful. Likewise, the head needs the heart and the heart needs the head. In our context at The Falls Church, we seek to model a head-and-heart balance in our corporate worship. We sing great, bible saturated, Gospel centered truth – truths that have changed our lives, and still affect our hearts to this day.

8. We are all volunteers
I get my paycheck from this church, but you all give of your time freely and sacrificially. You aren’t professional musicians so I don’t expect you to play or sing like them. Yes, we seek to play and sing as well and skillfully as we can, but we’re comfortable with our lack of studio-quality polish. You have jobs, family commitments, and commutes so I don’t expect you to spend a burdensome number of evenings or weekends here for meetings and/or rehearsals. One meeting every fourth Monday night of the month, and one or two weekends based on the need, and worked around your availability is a high bar of commitment but designed to be reachable.

9. We have a large worship team
We have 25 – 30 instrumentalists and singers on the worship team. This presents several different challenges. First, we need to make an effort at staying connected. Our monthly tune-up nights are crucial to this, which is one reason why everyone’s regular attendance is vital. There may be occasions when you have to miss, but regular “missing” may be a sign that you’re too busy to stay connected with the team during this season.

Second, there are some positions in which a limited number of people are suited to serve. These people may be called upon to serve more frequently than others. Conversely, there are other positions in which a greater number of people are suited to serve. These people may be called upon to serve less frequently. This is how the body works – with equally important members, but all with different roles. Different gifts, different levels of gifting, and different numbers of reinforcements are all part of how God has designed this body. For those members who serve more regularly, you are not more important than anyone else. For those members who serve less regularly, you are not less important than anyone else. You’re all part of a body which God is arranging.

10. We seek a healthy tension between humility and excellence
It is possible to seek after excellence without becoming proud. And it is possible to seek after humility without becoming mediocre. Only God will help us maintain a humble excellence. When our humility grows out of a deep awareness of our sin, awe of God’s holiness, and gratefulness for the finished work of the cross – then it will produce a skillfulness and excellence that seeks to proclaim the greatness of God in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ten Challenges for My Worship Team – Pt. 1

A few months ago, I shared ten questions (pt.1, pt. 2) I asked my worship team at our monthly “tune-up night”. These questions were meant to get us all thinking about ways we can grow, keep maturing, and keep serving our church as skillfully and humbly as we can.

At our next meeting, I shared ten challenges for the worship team. These are challenges that are unique to our team at our specific church, but I thought it might be helpful for you to read a bit of what I shared.

It’s important for worship leaders to make sure their worship teams are growing in skill and humility. That was the goal of the ten questions.

It’s also important for worship leaders to help their worship teams grow in a love for their specific congregation, and think intentionally and wisely about the unique challenges they face. That was the goal of these ten challenges.

I encourage you to think about the unique challenges your worship team faces in the setting God has placed you, and help your team see how they are actually great opportunities to grow and give God glory.

1. We lead music at the largest service of the church (Sunday morning 11:00am)
This is a privilege and a responsibility which places us in a leadership position in front of a large portion of the congregation. We are being held up as examples, whether we like it or not, so it matters what kind of example we set. Are we living the life of a worshipper? Are we modeling genuine, God-centered worship when we’re scheduled on the team and when we aren’t? Are we growing in our areas of gifting? Do we feel the weight of this responsibility?

2. We lead music at the smallest service of the church (Saturday night 5:00pm)
This is also a privilege and a responsibility. Our level of enthusiasm and eagerness to serve should not depend upon the number of people attending a service. Leading at a small service helps keep us humble and protects us from thinking that any service in which we lead the music will be packed. Our job is to be prepared, to be faithful, and to be expectant whenever we stand before a congregation of any size. Finally, leading at a small service and a large service can guard us from thinking that the Holy Spirit is at work more powerfully in a crowded service and less powerfully in a small service. Neither is the case.

3. We have relatively short rehearsals
Some worship teams rehearse for hours and hours every week. Long rehearsals are usually inefficient, disrespectful of musicians’ time, and tiring. We aim for short rehearsals that are efficient, respectful of musicians’ time, and worshipful. In order to have short rehearsals, worship team members are expected to devote time to rehearse at home before they come to rehearsal. (Songs for the weekend are usually posted on Thursday afternoon.) It’s also helpful when everyone arrives early to set up so that we can start on time.

4. We arrange songs loosely
Arranged? Yes. Scripted? No. We will rarely decide ahead of time exactly how we will do a certain song. Most of the time, we will talk about the general outline of a song, how the song should be arranged, how we’ll transition from one part to the next, cues, how we’ll come out of a verse, etc., trusting that the Holy Spirit is leading us in our rehearsing. But in order to have the freedom to respond to the spontaneous direction of the Holy Spirit during a service, our songs are arranged loosely so that we all feel comfortable making last-second changes. In order to be comfortable with this, keep an eye on the worship leader, keep an ear out for his cues, pray for sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and don’t stress out.

5. We step into a whirlwind on Sunday mornings
It is not uncommon for the 9:00am service to end at 10:30am, giving us 15 minutes to set-up, re-arrange a few things, tune, get monitor levels set, and get a quick sound check before our cut-off time of 10:45am. If we’re not careful, we will get stressed out and frazzled. Pray for God’s peace on Sunday mornings as we have limited rehearsal time. Allow this to be a reminder that we really need the power of the Holy Spirit if we hope to have any degree of real effectiveness as worship leaders.

Tomorrow I’ll share the last five challenges.

Drumese for Dummies – Lesson 1

I am not a drummer. I don’t even play one on TV.

I can play the guitar, piano, and a bit of the trombone, but when I sit behind a drum set, it’s dangerous. A cacophony of noise arises that could most accurately be compared to an explosion at a bomb factory – a bomb factory that also makes cymbals.

So I would never attempt to play drums for any reason, especially not on a worship team or during a worship service. However, I’ve had to learn how to listen to a recording and know what the drummer is playing, how to arrange (in my head) what I’m looking for my drummer to play on a certain song, and how to speak “drum-ese” to be able to communicate this in an understandable way to a drummer who knows what he’s doing. Since I don’t.

So I would like to share my basic language of drumese with you, in the event that it’s helpful. You might find it more humorous than helpful, and that’s fine. I’m sure any drummer who reads this will immediately know that the dummy is me. And I would agree with that.

So with that out of the way, I’ll begin with how to hear different bass drum (or “kick” drum) patterns, how changing up a bass drum pattern can change the dynamic of a song, and then how to ask a drummer to play a certain pattern without sounding like a complete idiot (that last part is always difficult to judge).

“Beautiful One”
Listen to the chorus of “Beautiful One” (written by Tim Hughes), as recorded by Stuart Townend on The Mandate: O Church Arise.

Now listen to the same part of the song as recorded by Tim Hughes on When Silence Falls.

Notice a difference in the groove? A lot of it has to do with the bass drum pattern.

In Stuart’s version, the drummer plays something like “doom-do-do-do-doom-do / doom-do-do-do-doom-do”.

(Remember, I’m not a drummer, attempting to speak drumese.)

In Tim’s version, the drummer plays something like “dooooom – do – do -, dooooom – do – do -….”

That’s how I would speak it to a drummer. I would hope he would understand. If he didn’t, I could tap it on my guitar or something. Yes, he would probably laugh at me. But at least I’m trying. It helps keeps me humble.

I think the Tim Hughes version has a better bass drum pattern because: it’s tighter and a bit more aggressive. In Stuart’s version, the chorus feels more relaxed and predictable.

“How Great is Our God”
Listen to verse two of “How Great is Our God” (written by Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves and Ed Cash) as recorded by Chris on Arriving.

Now the same version as recorded by Leigh Barnard on One God.

The studio recording (by Chris Tomlin) has a kick drum pattern that sounds like “doom-doom — do dooo do do”. Leigh Barnard’s version sounds like “do-do — do doom.”

I actually think both bass drum patterns work well. Depending on how I felt on a given weekend, I might suggest we switch it up and try Leigh’s pattern.

The bass drum pattern can make a huge difference to the dynamic of a song. Figure out what pattern would work best, use the “doom-doom-do-doooo” drumese language if you must, and make sure your bass player is speaking the language too.

So, in summary, to speak bass drum in “drumese” just fiddle around with “do”, “dooo”, “do-d0”, etc., etc. You’ll feel silly (rightfully so), but it’s good for you.