For those that don’t know I work at a church as the Director of Media and Technical Ministries and one of my main responsibilities is for the creative elements of the Sunday Morning worship service. Well I was having a talk with a friend about some of the things we do in our service. We have a very contemporary service with some very good worship bands, dramas, videos and special music. Some of my favorite work is when I get to be creative in the worship part of our service. I meet with the worship pastor every week and discuss what the band will be doing that week. I then get to take that info and create elements with the worship. My main tools are lighting, video and sound.
I asked someone recently what they thought of the creative elements in worship. He told me for him additional elements on top of the musical worship can become distracting for him. He said what we do at church is not usually distracting but many times at other places he has been to it has. And this got me thinking about why I value these elements so much. And although it is not greatly profound I thought of the beauty and power of a thunderstorm. The clouds, the wind, the rain, the lightening, and the thunder are all powerful images of what all entails a great thunderstorm. All of us have been in one and most that I talk to have a love of them, at least the experience that comes with them. I think of sitting on my front porch and seeing the trees blowing in the wind and hearing the swooshing of the powerful gusts. Seeing the lighting and then almost immediately hearing the rattling roar of the thunder as it shook my house. And the sound and smell of the rain as it hit the roof and the ground around me. When I put all these elements together I know I have experienced a powerful thunderstorm. The same is for me with worship. It is the combination of all the elements that make a worship service powerful to me. I like it when it rains, but just because there is rain does not make it a powerful thunderstorm. For me the power comes when we bring it all together, as God does in the thunderstorms he creates. I want to follow the example from my creator. I want to be a part of using all the tools God has laid before to combine them together as a beautiful canvas of worship to him and in turn also provide a powerful tool for him communicate with me.
4 comments:
This is a good. I appreciate your holistic approach to the arts.
How do you see yourself relating to the congregation, and the "up-front" worship team? Are you a secondary worship leader?, part of the worship team?, a supporter but not part of the team?
And what of the congregation. Are you creating something for them to use, or are you working with the congregation and if so, how?
I see myself kind of like John the Baptist; I must decrease so that the other things can increase. Although I would also say that whoever is in a position like mine must be a worshiper/worship leader at heart. I have found that the worship leader heart is what many times separates the elements from worship or a performance show.
As far as the congregation, it is both. Sadly the arts are not a big part of regular church worship so many come in not knowing what to do with it. I desire to help them learn how to engage with God through the elements. However once they start to learn how to encounter God through those elements it becomes a teaming up to seek God in worship.
Baxley:
I love your heart. I too agree that worship with the full power of the arts is amazing. As I'm currently in a church which elects to minimize musical worship in place of more lengthy preaching, it is like a breath of fresh air when I get to make it to First Free to worship. I'm very grateful for the elements of artistic worship at First Free.
To me, I think a lot of the issue comes to artistic elements done right vs. artistic elements that are just done. I think the key to the artistic elements in worship is that they should be almost transparent to the congregation. If your lighting is similar to a rock band (i.e. the bright lights illuminating the crowd, etc) then you're not adding to worship but merely distracting. However, if you are using lighting to emphasize certain moods in the music, I think the power you help emphasize is amazing - or if your video is very flashy during worship it's probably not the best (with exceptions) vs. video that helps people get on track (i.e. when "God of Wonders" is being sung and your showing marvels of the universe, etc).
Ultimately, no matter what you do there will be those that are distracted and those who want more. The bottom line, however, is that if God is worshiped, can there be a wrong way?
Exactly, Can there a wrong way?
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