One aspect of the Together for the Gospel conference has not been discussed adequately: the singing. It was downright powerful to hear 3000 pastors singing great hymns. I thank God that they included the songs in the conference and I thank God that there was not some band and large sound system like most conferences. I am beginning to realize the power in congregational singing as opposed to the "wall of music" as Dever calls it. You see, when professionals play worship songs as loud as they can, the voices of the people get drowned out. I can pop in a cd in my car and get a wall of music. However, I can only add my voice to the congregation in praise of God when I am with the people of God.
My 2 cents: I think there should be a whole lot more "congregational" singing on Sunday morning and less performance by professionals.
From Tim Challies' A La Carte:
"Kerry, a.k.a. BlackCalvinist, made a bootleg recording of one of the songs sung at the T4G Conference. He did not realize that he was not supposed to do this, but the organizers have generously allowed him to post it regardless. This is what it sounds like when 3000 men sing a hymn!"
8 comments:
Notice that when you listen to the bootlegged audio, you don't think: "Wow, what a great mucisian Bob is. He can sure play the pianio!"
No, when you listen to it you see that the pianio is only a help to the main thing: the voices.
There is nothing better than a hymnal, a piano, and pews full of people broken and overcome by the greatness of our God!
I agree that too much emphasis can be placed on the worship team, and they attain a kind of prestige even though it seems humility should be key. I am blessed by a person's musical gifts as much as anyone, but when worship becomes a performance I get turned off to it, or worse I fall into admiration of that person! It must be difficult for worship leaders to remain humble when so many people tend to compliment them on their talents, especially in a society where entertainment is such a huge priority.
Wow, that was awesome! Thanks so much for sharing that! I love hearing a large group of people singing praises to the Lord, because it's almost like a glimpse of what it will be like when we are all singing before the throne of God in glory!!!! Except that it may not all be in english!!!!! which will be even more amazing!
The way the Church functions in the states, by and large, it would be very difficult to be a leader and a person of no reputation.--Jesus balanced the two in a perfect manner.
awesome--however, can we not throw in some guitar and a jimbay drum?
We probably need to draw a distinction between the use of either a worship team or a choir which lead the people in worship AND an emphasis on special music and performance which encourages the people to be spectators.
You can be traditional or more modern and still encourage spectator worship.
Honestly, the recording didn't do it the justice of actually BEING THERE. :) It was an experience and a half.
And everyone really acted like long-lost brothers there. It was great. :)
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