J.D. GREEAR

A group of our Summit worship leaders recently released an album of original music entitled ”Jesus in My Place.” Here is what I love about this CD:

1.     Gospel-centrality:  The gospel is the center of this project, the center of literally every song in this project.  What leads us to worship is the glory of the Lord revealed in the gospel.  What makes passionate worshippers is realizing how much we’ve been forgiven of.  This CD took me back over and over again to the gospel and left me in awe of God’s grace.  I find myself singing these songs over and over in my head, primarily because they have cultivated in me a spirit of worship.

2.     Musical excellence: The songs on this CD are sing-able.  That’s probably because they were birthed out of congregational worship.  These songs were not written in the spirit of an artist trying to find himself or trying to express deep inner groanings of his heart.  They were written to lead a people in worshiping joyfully and exuberantly.

3.     Theology-rich: The lyrics are not mundane reflections that merely repeat cliché Christian phrases. Sometimes I get nauseous listening to Christian radio and how it’s the same handful of phrases that are just repeated in new forms over and over again.  I guess there is something to be said for the simplicity of the gospel but, that said, I love to hear someone explore and apply the gospel in new areas.

4.     A mixture of new and old: This CD contains a lot of brand new lyrics and a lot of new musical sound interwoven with old lyrics and old sound.  The rendition of “Revive Us Again” is a great example. That’s an upbeat version of an old revival hymn. Another is “Gospel Song/Worthy is the Lamb.”  While the words of that song are not an old hymn, they’re also from a different musical genre but they’ve been updated with an explosive sound.

These are some of the many things that I love about this CD.  It plays in my car and in my house and on my iPod frequently.  I commend it to you with the hopes that it will enrich your walk with Jesus the way that it has mine.

(SUMMITEERS: HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR WEEK OF HOPE YET?  WEEK OF HOPE IS OUR CHURCH'S OUTREACH TO ALL OF OUR COMMUNITIES.  WE ARE TRYING TO SERVE THE WHOLE COMMUNITY IN JESUS' NAME!  http://hopeforrdu.org/week-of-hope/)

I recently encountered something on worship by Kierkegaard that I thought was quite poignant (K is one of my favorite thinkers, i.e. when I can understand him–being in the backyard of Duke Univ, I affectionately refer to him as "Sage K").  Sage K said that most of us think of "the worship service" at church wrongly…we tend to think of the pastor and worship leaders as the "performers" on stage in the church service and the congregation as the audience. If the pastor/worship leaders are "good," then the audience is blessed and edified.

This is completely wrong… if you did think of the church service in terms of a stage and performance, it is the congregation itself that would be on stage, and God Himself is the audience. The pastor/worship leaders are people who simply "prompt" the congregation so that they can "perform" their worship for God, who is "blessed" and "edified."

I have often been concerned about how big the "audience" is each Sunday. In reality, the audience for each church service is only One.

Guest Post, by Jonathan Welch, Summit Worship Team

Calling all music addicts!  If you listen to the radio, frequent various shows, enjoy open mic nights, buy music of any sort, or if your iPod is now a part of your physical body. listen up!  I need your help.



Here's my question:  How would you describe the music of Raleigh-Durham? Let me briefly explain why this question is significant.



Scripture teaches us that we should use music to worship God.  Yet, God's Word does not include specific instructions about what type and style of
music to use in the church.  So, churches around the world put their worship on display with different instruments and various styles.  Music is an integral part of culture, and I think that the musical style of Christian worship should be a reflection of one's particular cultural climate.  This is directly related to God's commands for humankind to subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28) and cultivate Eden (Genesis 2:15).



Out of this (and as a result of the creative music from Advance 09), I've been stuck on the question-What is our music?  I've had a few conversations about this recently, and no one has given me a clear description.  I've lived in Durham for seven years, and even I have trouble describing the music of RDU.  Now, let's get this straight, I'm not necessarily asking for your individual music preference.  I'm also not asking all of the theological geniuses out there to give me theories about what style of music is most biblical or godly.



Here's what I want. Think about the popular concerts that hit the Triangle every year.  When you talk about music with your friends, what bands dominate the conversation?  What local artists best exemplify the music culture of Raleigh-Durham?  After considering such questions, post some comments with your answers!



Alright. Here's your chance, RDU. let's hear it!  How would you describe OUR music?  The worship staff at the Summit will undoubtedly benefit from what YOU have to say.  I'm looking forward to reading your comments!