I asked a friend (John Holborn from Southern California) what were the secrets of the "worship success" in his church. Here is his answer - I thought it was worth sharing:
Why are we getting into the heavenly atmosphere?
1. No religious spirits allowed. If you want to be religious- there are plenty of places that can accommodate you.
2. Surround yourself with hungry young people- if they are not hungry- convince them that they are starving.
3. Top notch cracker-jack musicians, who know how to flow, play and sing out. Boldness, no wall flowers here-
4. A pastor who gets it- worship, dance, creativity, and fosters deep relationship and community with his/her people- friendliness.
5. A worship leader who gets it- if we are not pulling the congregation into the experience then go get another worship leader. This is not a gig, look at how hot I am- how do you like my hot little riffs- no. The leader knows their team and is responsible for a vibrant exciting encounter- when things get worshipful- change the gears- don't go through your whole set- stay with where the anointing is- if it is not on the next song- go back to where you left it. Loiter in the pools of anointing- non linear approach.
6. Sure helps to have a bowed stringed instrument- you can sustain the notes- and draw the bow to create a pallet of expression. Or at least a keyboard player who can manipulate the instrument with pads inducing a worshipful feel. Most players use two or three of the hundreds preset combinations. The really talented ones like Steve Swanson- have a laptop filled with pads and sounds- and use an interface to export them to the sound board.
7. Song selection is important - I spend hours on iTunes listening to demos.
Our goal is to create the atmosphere for encounter - people get saved and healed in this stuff. Of course this is LA. Yet I know only a handful of churches that even come close, let alone are in it - we want the presence badly, and very hard (in rest) to obtain it.
Thanks John for sharing this with us - I know that we are hungry (starving) for more of God. These are some great thoughts.
Our goal is to create the atmosphere for encounter - people get saved and healed in this stuff. Of course this is LA. Yet I know only a handful of churches that even come close, let alone are in it - we want the presence badly, and very hard (in rest) to obtain it.
Thanks John for sharing this with us - I know that we are hungry (starving) for more of God. These are some great thoughts.
This is what John told me about the worship in his church that got me interested:
ReplyDeleteWe can barely run a song through w/o a prophetic the song of the Lord coming from one of the vocalists. Some were trained in Kansas City. The Presence in the room is reminiscent of the 70's yet the congregation weeps and kneels down rather than singing in waves of the Spirit as we used to... Many respond by putting/pressing their hand over their heart when I play. It is hard to watch... as I often break down as well.
BTW, the church John is talking about is Expression 58 (Shawn Boltz Pastor)
ReplyDeletehttp://expression58.org/