I’m not sure who coined the phrase “Worship Confessional.” Whoever you are, I hope you don’t mind me jumping on the bandwagon.
So it appears that quite a few folks appreciated my honesty last Sunday. I don’t have any embarrassing stories to tell this go round. (Unless you count my breaking my own rule and wearing an almost white shirt. The result was lyrics that were washed out on screen leaving me tongue tied during the first service.)
Sunday was phenomenal. There is a huge sense of anticipation at West Ridge and throughout our community for Community Makeover Weekend. (read this and this for more info.)
We filled the stage again this week. I know it’s cool to have a small band with just one or two really good singers downstage. But I am a firm believer in MULTIPLE SINGERS! Now, I’m not talking a line of singers across downstage. (there’s nothing wrong with that AT ALL, but it doesn’t fly in our neck of the woods for some reason) And I’m also not talking typical 3-part harmony. I’m talking well-thought-out vocal parts coming from all over the stage. It’s as much visual as it is audible. And at many points throughout the service, the singers may just be singing unison while your audio engineer controls how they sit in the mix. The effect? It’s like having the crowd miked. I think the benefits of that are pretty obvious… When the folks in your crowd feel like they can hear the people around them singing, then they are less intimidated to sing along themselves. And a full crowd of singers pouring their voice out to God is the goal, right?
From time to time, we like to reverse the order of the service a bit (not arbitrarily… but specifically when we know there’s something being taught that could fuel a genuine response from the crowd. Think Matt Redman’s thoughts on worship being a response to revelation…good stuff).
This Sunday, the service looked like this:
Baptisms (~20 this week…since this week a year ago, we have seen over 330 folks baptized at West Ridge!)
“Let God Arise” [Tomlin]
“Knocking On the Door of Heaven” [Redman] (we’ve been in a series about prayer, and Jake wrote a new arrangement of the tune… AWESOME. I had a blast singing it.)
Then we dedicated a team we’re sending off to Cuba this weekend.
Then Brian concluded the Prayer miniseries and led the crowd in a time of prayer.
Then we opened the gates…
Chasity Tibbits sang “Hosanna” [Hillsong] (Chasity’s new to our team… She nailed the heart of this song. Powerful)
“The Time Has Come” [Hillsong United] (this was new to our crowd, but the point was to get the lyrics into their mind as we went out to gear up for CMW…)
And then we prayed together by singing “God Of This City” [Bluetree b. w. o. Tomlin]
We almost got a little crazy there at the end. I try not to use the saying “God moved” unless I REALLY believe He did…and God moved.
It was turning point kind of morning. (and I don’t use that phrase flippantly, either.) God is doing incredible things through the West Ridge family these days. I know a blog can often be nothing more than a place to brag or to make our lives sound more interesting than they really are…but it’s a thrill to be able to say that God really is doing something specifically intended to bring Himself glory on a pretty decent scale right here in our own neighborhood.
It’s going to be an amazing few days… I can’t wait to hear the stories that will be written by this time next week!
