fbpx
×

Log into your account

We have changed software providers for our subscription database. Old login credentials will no longer work. Please click the "Register" link below to create a new account. If you do not know your new account number you can contact [email protected]
Worship Week: More than performance
Polly House, Baptist Press
August 19, 2011
5 MIN READ TIME

Worship Week: More than performance

Worship Week: More than performance
Polly House, Baptist Press
August 19, 2011

RIDGECREST — Although the titles were many — minister of

music, minister of worship, worship pastor, music director, song leader and

even pastor — they came to be better equipped to usher people into the presence

of God.

Worship Week, sponsored by the LifeWay Worship area of LifeWay Christian

Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, offered worship times and

conferences to meet the spiritual and practical needs of nearly 700 church

worship leaders.

For some, it was a chance to learn about new technology that can help a small

church offer a quality music experience, even if they have no trained

musicians. For others, it was a step toward rejuvenating a children’s music

program after years of having none. Still others came to learn how to help

their congregations gain more of God’s truths through worship.

Worship Week pastor Mike Glenn, meanwhile, noted that the term “worship”

encompasses more than musical performance and excellence. It’s the total

experience of drawing closer to God.

Cliff Duren (seated at piano) leads the praise ensemble from First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., during a Worship Week session at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center. Duren is a popular author and composer of music published by LifeWay Worship.

The answer to every problem is worship, added Glenn, pastor of Brentwood

(Tenn.) Baptist

Church.

“You just have to stay with your prayer long enough to come out on the other

side,” he said.

“You have to pray long enough to reach your praise.”

Speaking about the culture’s disinterest, if not disdain, of Christianity,

Glenn said Christians have to be strong and rebellious, noting, “It’s a point

of ultimate rebellion when we stand in a church and declare to the world that

there is one God and His name is God and there is no other God.”

Glenn also served as a breakout leader during the week, speaking to a group

about Kairos, Brentwood Baptist’s ministry to young adults that draws hundreds

of college students and 20-somethings every week.

“Kairos is drawing all these young adults who know nothing about the Bible,”

Glenn marveled. “Nothing!”

When Kairos leaders learned that many attendees didn’t have a Bible, the church

began putting out Bibles on tables for attendees to take for free.

“We told them the Bibles were free, and they were welcome to take one. It still

seemed like some of them wanted to steal them,” Glenn recounted, laughing. “So

we just said if it felt better to stick one under your jacket as you left and

pretend to sneak out with it, that was fine. Just take one!”

Glenn spoke of one young man who said he’d gone to the local LifeWay Christian

Store to buy his first Bible.

“But, do you know how many Bibles there are in that store?” the young man said

in astonishment. “There were just way too many. I didn’t know what to get.”

Knowing that others might be in the same boat, Glenn arranged for the LifeWay

store to come to Kairos with a large selection of Bibles. He also brought in a

friend, Mike Duduit from Anderson University,

to explain the differences in the various Bible translations.

The young adults’ venture into Scripture became amusing when, for example,

Glenn began teaching about the story of Joseph in prison in Egypt.

The dialogue went something like this:

Young adult: “When does Joseph meet Mary? When he gets out of jail?”

Glenn: “Ah, he doesn’t. Different Joseph.”

Young adult: “Oh, dude! You mean there are two of them?”

Glenn: “Yeah, there are two of them.”

Travis Cottrell

Among the Worship Week’s music leaders: Travis Cottrell, worship minister at Englewood

Baptist Church

in Jackson, Tenn.,

and praise and worship leader for Beth Moore’s Living Proof Live and other

conferences.

“I was called to ministry right here in Spillman Auditorium, Dec. 31, 1985,” Cottrell said. “Great

memories at Ridgecrest. I just love to come in here and sniff the piano.”

Born and raised in nearby Boone, Cottrell voiced a love for North

Carolina’s mountains, saying they are “where God gets

His mail.”

Growing up in a gospel culture can cause a person to lose sight of the gospel,

Cottrell cautioned, and lose sight of the person of Jesus. Anyone who surrounds

himself with only other Christians, Cottrell said, is in danger of losing the

passion of the need for Jesus.

“Those of us in the culture can fake it,” he said. “We know the words, the way

to speak ‘church.’ We know words others don’t know — like vestibule!”

Twenty-eight conference leaders led more than 80 sessions during the June

25-July 1 gathering. Attendees also had the opportunity to view a pre-release

showing of “Courageous,” the newest movie from Sherwood Pictures set for

nationwide release Sept. 30.

Next year’s Worship Week will be July 16-20 at Ridgecrest.

For more information about LifeWay Worship, including events and resources, go

to LifeWay.com/Worship.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — House is a writer for LifeWay Christian Resources of the

Southern Baptist Convention.)