Still, Small Worship Time

The Spirit of God was very real at The Mix last night (our 9-12th grades), not that He isn't every time we gather - but last night was different.  Why?  We totally changed our praise and worship time.  Normally, we have a band that rocks out as loud as it can with "in-your-face" music.  And I love that.  There is nothing like an upbeat, exciting, rock song to kick off a student gathering.

But last night, we pulled the band off the stage.  Cameron, our student worship leader, came out with a stool and a guitar.  I liked what we told them - "it's just me, and you and God!  I want to hear your beautiful voices as we worship without all the noise and lights."  Then he quietly played and sang some worship songs, and students all over the room began to sing and worship together.  The lack of loud music made that time so much more special.  The students were quieter than normal, they responded more than normal and that time set up a power talk by Chris about pride and the blessed place.  It was awesome.

I learned something about worship.  Maybe you know this already, but here are a few things I noticed:

*    Change is good.  I had more students tell me how much they enjoyed the program last night.  We will stay rock it out from time to time, but I've realized how important change is.

*    Quiet and stillness is good.  Not every week, but I think we need to work it more into our weekly programs.

*    Transitions are huge when you have one person on the stage.  I thought our worship leader did a great job of taking students on a journey to the throne of God.  It takes a talented worship leader with a strong stage presence combined with a lack of pride to draw students to worship.  

*    As students walked in and looked at the stage, they were already wondering what was happening.  The stage was clear with no instruments on it. Their curiosity was peaked and we hadn't even started yet.

I can promise you that we will use this element more than we have.  But we will also change it.  We may add another singer for harmony, another guitar for musical depth, candles, etc.  The possibilities are endless.  We are also going to do this element at camp for one night.  It was that powerful.