Overseers Adam Diehl & Jon Paul Robles

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Does the Music Style Matter?

Posted on January 27th, 2010 by adamdiehl

Does the style of music we use in a church worship service matter? Yes – I DO think it matters. Absolutely, no doubt about it. Don’t misquote my motives though – read my explanation. :)

Firstly, I think we need to consider what matters to God since its for Him anyhow. Does our style matter to God? Nope. I don’t think he gives a hoot. I don’t think so. God will hear our hearts (and specifically our attitude of excellence, for those of us with the specific Call to play skillfully (Ps. 33:3)).

So if it doesn’t matter to God, why should it matter to a worship leader? That’s a great question. Let’s consider what does matter. Emotions towards God matter. Devoted lives to Him matter. Our expression of worship to God matters (worship cannot exist without an expression of some sort, otherwise its just music). An assembly worshiping together matters to God (Unity), which is a great reason we use music in the first place. So if those things matter to God, how can our music meet that goal? Wouldn’t the style choices help us meet these goals?

Consider this lyric: “No hay nadie como nuestro Dios.” For most of you, it will be impossible for this lyric to help you encounter God. But when I translate it into English, “There is no one like our God,” that changes everything. With this lyric you understand the meaning and actually stand a chance at joining me in magnifying God. It works this way because I’m speaking your language.

Can you imagine a church in inner city Los Angeles hee-hawing in a worship set with a banjo, mandolin, jug, and spoons? Can you imagine a church in the back hills of Kentucky connecting to God with an Urban-Jazz Black Gospel style like Yolanda Adams? Can you imagine any church in the Western World doing a worship service using the Asian “Gamelon” style of music; which has absolutely no regard for the 12 tone system (throw your “scales” out the window). Is it possible for people to connect with God with a musical style they’re not used to? OF COURSE IT IS! And the spiritually mature should be able to handle it. But as a worship leader I’m trying to HELP PEOPLE experience God, not make it more difficult for them because “they should be able to handle it.” In an assembly I have to consider that people are at different spiritual levels; I’d be irresponsible if I constantly use artistic styles that don’t connect with my group. Can you imagine a missionary being so dense as to go to a foreign country and require their church to sing all worship songs in English?

So at this point, I think its pretty obvious that style does matter. It is something to consider. Now comes the messy part.

Musical styles are subjective. People come and go to church every weekend. Only SOME of them have a specific opinion of the carpet, chairs, paint, lighting, or even the sermon. But EVERYONE has a different opinion of the musical style. Which one is the right one? Which opinion is the one the worship leader needs to listen to?

See why its messy? There’s no good answer for this. The worship leader must consider the direction and goals of their local church (as directed by their senior pastor), the needs and demographic of their congregation, and the voice of the Holy Spirit. I’ve learned that the voice of the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS right and is ALWAYS going to work (isn’t it sad that I had to learn that? lol). Don’t use that as a license to be subordinate to your senior pastor, though. Your leadership will always confirm the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Does our music style matter? Yea, I think it does. It doesn’t matter to God, but our styles can help us accomplish the things that DO matter to God.

Cheap Arts Conference!

Posted on January 22nd, 2010 by adamdiehl

The most popular, and arguably the best Arts Ministry conference in America is the Willow Creek Arts Conference held every year in Chicago. I attended for the first time last year (after years of nudging from my mentor and uncle, Mike Harris). I came away blessed, encouraged, challenged, and inspired all at the same time.

Willow Creek is holding a “mid-year” arts training event in February — called “The Green Room” — available by Satellite Simulcast only (everyone is getting the same conference). Some of the speakers are Nancy Ortberg, Ross Parsley, Efrem Smith, and a new session JUST added with Jon Foreman (of Switchfoot). Some of the topics include Bringing the Team Your Best, The Philosophy of Multigenerational Worship (I talk about this a lot – I completely adhere to this biblical and often ignored philosophy) and Worship of the Beloved.

The arts conference is probably $49 for your location, and is on February 19th at a satallite location near you. Most of these things cost a lot more than $49. This is actually a conference we can all go to together without traveling a far distance – locations are EVERYWHERE! Get your worship leader, teaching pastor, drama, and arts leaders together and head to this conference! You won’t regret it. www.artsgreenroom.com.

If you’re in the Northeast Indiana area, I’d love to meet with you at the Fellowship Missionary Church (in Fort Wayne) satallite location with my team! Let me know if you’ll be there and we’ll join up for lunch!

Why Music?

Posted on January 18th, 2010 by adamdiehl

We all know (or you’re at least learning right now) that worship is not “music.” There’s a lot more to it. Worship is your entire life as a sacrifice to God. This is ultimate worship (Romans 12:1-2). Worship is doing the right thing when nobody is looking. Worship is connecting with God. Worship is carrying out God’s will on the earth.

If that’s the case, then why do we use music (mostly) in church “worship” services? I think that’s a good question.

Let me answer with another question: what else would we do?

Can you imagine a large group of people getting together in one assembly, and having a “non-music” worship service? What would it look like? Maybe hundreds of people raking a lawn — one leaf per person! Or we can all go down to the soup kitchen and serve food to the needy — the line to serve the food would be longer than the line to receive. Or maybe we can all assemble together and have a worship service by choosing NOT to look at bad stuff on the internet simultaneously. Now all these things are good – and all these things are worship. But we can’t do things things corporately very easily – you may have even laughed at my sarcastic examples.

What could the church do to worship God corporately in an assembly?

Music. THAT’S something we can do all together to worship.

Church history supports this, even back into the Jewish roots. There was a period of Church Music where all worship music was written for professional singers, and the choir sang with lots of polyphony (every part singing a totally different line, often with different lyrics). It was beautiful, but totally NOT intended for everyone to join in singing, it was meant for the general people to worship in their heart while listening. Bach wrote lots of that busy junk, and of music he said something like, “Music has no other purpose than to glorify God and for the enlightenment of the human spirit.” I don’t want to bother looking for exact references (and you probably don’t care), but there was one dude who started changing that trend and began writing music so people could sing along together. It was “congregational.” (There have always been congregational songs in Church history – I’m referring to the MAIN movement of music history.

This isn’t exclusive to the church either. In fact, MUSIC as a means of DOING SOMETHING TOGETHER transcends religion and culture. Take Indians for example – we have all heard of a rain dance, where they danced/prayed for rain. But the Indians also had songs and dance for no purpose except to build community – to be doing something TOGETHER.

Music needs to bring the church together to help the Body experience God together. Let’s worship God with our entire lives, including our thoughts and actions. Let’s worship God together in smaller groups with community building and accountability. Let’s worship God together in a large assembly with music.

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