Vacation Reading

Just finished reading My 2nd Chapter: The Matthew Ward Story. It's Matthew's autobiography about his seventeen years on the road with The Second Chapter of Acts, one of contemporary Christian music's first big groups birthed out of the Jesus Movement. It also recounts his unbelievable battle with cancer among other things. There were several great takeaways for me as a songwriter and worship leader. Here are a few:

• "Many of the songs we sing in church today are good songs but there's something missing in them ... The songs are often well crafted...but in the end they lack real emotion and the ability to affect us any longer than it takes to sing the song ... This gets back to being called to do music ministry, not doing it just because we can. Our writing or performing of music for the Lord should be accompanied by His favor, His anointing, and not simply done through our own strength and natural talent." (p. 211)
• "Look at the early Jesus movement years. The songs back then were largely written with the idea of 'we' instead of 'I.' They were much more focused on the collective community aspects of worship and not so focused on making it an individual endeavor ... Back in the Jesus-movement period, we had a strong sense that we were in this Christian thing together, brothers and sisters." (p. 212-213)
  
• "The Christian life in general and worship, particularly, is for the most part a group activity for the family of Christ. If worship is all about me and God, then I've got my blinders on." (p. 213)
  
• "As churches grow and become centers for what some would call huge clubs, the tendency is for us to allow ourselves to view worship as a sort of spectator sport. We gather on Sunday mornings and find ourselves caught up in a slick, professional kind of experience. We appreciate the level of professionalism while allowing ourselves the liberty not to become involved personally in the worship experience ... I'm not just criticizing others. I have been guilty of the same thing myself. Over the years, I've found that as a worship band is doing its thing, one of two problems can occur for me: either the band is so good that I sit and listen without entering into worship (my producer brain takes over), or the band is so horrible that I'm distracted from worship. But I have found something that can cut through every issue of musical performance, and that is the attitude of the people who are leading worship. For me, the best worship bands are the ones whose hearts are in the right place. This is an intangible thing, one that is difficult to explain ... It doesn't seem to matter what style of music they play or how loud or soft it is; there just seems to be an intangible ingredient that makes whatever they do carry the weight of God's presence." (p. 214-215)

This book is one of those that I recommend to anyone involved in music and worship ministry. It'll challenge you in many areas.