Archives For Songs

Set List: Faith Community Church Sunday Service (28 April 2013)

May 7, 2013 — Leave a comment

I had the privilege of leading worship with Faith Community Church’s Team 4 recently. The theme of the set was “Transcendence”. In Exodus 33, Moses asked God a rhetorical question: “what would distinguish God’s people from the rest of the nations if it were not His presence?” God has set eternity in the hearts of men. We long for transcendence – for something that is beyond ourselves. God’s provision for that longing is His glory!

Here is the songlist:

// Today is the Day (C)

// I Am Free (C)

// Magnificent (Darlene Zschech’s version) (G)

// I Stand in Awe (A)

// The Stand (chorus only) (A)

Thanks to Joe Wee Chuah our music director for the awesome arrangements!

Reference

Check out Darlene Zschech’s version of Magnificent from her new album Revealing Jesus.

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Epochal Song 6: Power of Your Love (Geoff Bullock, 1992)

June 19, 2012 — Leave a comment

I’ve been inspired since reading Worship Leader magazine’s Top 20 Songs in the Last 20 Years to continue my series on the Epochal Songs of the Praise and Worship Movement.

So we go to the year 1992…

Geoff Bullock’s “Power of Your Love” in my opinion, was one of the defining songs for the Australian praise and worship scene. Even though there had already been some notable contributors from Australia on the worldwide stage (Phil Pringle and Mal Fletcher come to mind), this song put Hillsong (then Hills Christian Life Centre) on the map. Within a short number of years, Hillsong would not only greatly impact the praise and worship movement, it would also be one of the leading shapers of the movement.

In fact, I remember in 1992 at the age of 15 going to a powerful youth camp where “Power of Your Love” was sung as the theme song. I think my friend Daryl Tan and some others led the worship each session. And each session, we sang “Power of Your Love”. On the last night, Russell Sage described in gruesome detail how Christ suffered on the cross. Before the days of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, you’d be surprised how powerfully words can paint a picture when coupled with a fertile imagination! As we sang this song to close the meeting, tears just streamed down my face as I was captured by the agony of Christ’s sacrifice. I was being changed by the power of His love.

That camp was a milestone in my Christian walk. I came away deeply impacted knowing that I would serve and love God the best I could no matter what.


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Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

June 14, 2012 — Leave a comment

Have you ever had that scary moment when your pastor comes up to you and says “Can we have a quick chat?” You hesitate but then say, “uh, okay” and then you both translate five steps towards the side of the room where he clears his throat a little, narrows his eyes ever so slightly and then says to you in a hushed tone: “Do you think we can do more hymns?”

This happened to a friend of mine lately. And I could sympathise with the dread he (my friend) felt.

Not because I don’t like hymns, mind you. By hymns, I assume that this pastor was talking about some of the older songs like “Amazing Grace”, “I Surrender All” and “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name”. I love those songs. I love their richness and their theological depth. But as an unskilled musician (should I even admit that?), I find these types of songs incredibly difficult to arrange successfully.

Even when skilled musicians do them, I don’t always like them. An example a few years back was the Passion album, Hymns Ancient and Modern. I felt that all the use of electric guitars and simplified power chords really took away some of the beauty and majesty of those “hymns”.

And actually, what are “hymns” anyway?

So this got me thinking and today, I want to begin a series on “Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs” using as my texts the following key verses.

Firstly, Ephesians 5:18-20:

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The second passage is Colossians 3:16:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

These passages seem to characterise the songs of the church into three distinct types: psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

In this series, I want to explore this triptych and ask some of the following questions: are these three different types of songs or is Paul just using telescopic language to describe the same type of song expressed in three ways? Can we read these songs (as some often do) as representing historical eras in the church and if so, what of their significance? Should we go back to singing those old songs that my friend’s pastor was talking about?

Before I launch into some of these issues in my next few posts, I want to end this introductory post by sharing something which a friend of mine had posted on Facebook and I found quite amusing. It was about the difference between a “chorus” (which apparently those of us in charismatic circles like to sing) and “hymns” which are the staple of mainline churches. I found it pretty insightful. Enjoy!

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Worship Leader Magazine’s Top 20

June 10, 2012 — Leave a comment

I am an avid student of the history of the so-called “praise and worship” movement. I believe that if we are going to revolutionise the way we “do” church and worship, we have a lot to learn from the past so that at the very least, we don’t repeat its mistakes.

So when I first started this blog, one of the earlier posts which I wrote in January of this year was what I called The Epochal Songs of the Praise and Worship Movement, being a catalogue of songs which have either captured the heartbeat of the church in a particular season or songs which have propelled the church in a new prophetic direction.

Last week, my wonderful wife bought me an iPad for my birthday. One of the first things I did was to subscribe to the online version of Worship Leader magazine.

Years ago, my old church used to receive hard copies of Worship Leader magazine, and we used to circulate it amongst the various worship leaders in the ministry. Sometimes, the hard copy made its way to everyone; many times, it’d get lost in someone’s pile of papers and disappear into the abyss of their (my) study. But whenever the magazine would get to me, I would love reading the thoughts and insights of some of the leading voices of the worship movement. It was a gateway into the wider body of Christ (more correctly, the body of Christ in North America!) and how it was “doing” worship.

So I quickly devoured my May 2012 online back-copy in a couple of days.

Two things struck me. First, it dawned on me just how commercialised the worship leading industry (I mean, ministry) had become. Reading through the magazine (after such a long hiatus), I was confronted with the Job Board (“looking for the right fit for your worship ministry?”), ExaltNow worship software (“use PowerPoint in worship like never before! Now also for Mac”) and worshipplanning.com (“let worshipplanning.com shoulder the administrative stress of planning, communicating and coordinating with your ministry teams and volunteers”).

This commercialism, whilst it grates on my orthodox sentiments of keeping worship ministry holy and pure, also has an upside. It is probably one of the most significant factors that has increased the reach and influence of worship ministry around the world, not only in church circles, but also in secular cross-overs. So in that sense, we should celebrate the good that has come from that phenomenon.

Second, what Worship Leader magazine does is to keep worship ministers on the pulse of the new things God is doing. New personalities, new music, new technology, new theologies and thoughts on worship. It helps keep our ministries fresh. And for that, the publication should also be applauded.

Anyway, I digress.

What was really interesting was that I found out that in March, Worship Leader celebrated its 20th anniversary. And quite unbeknownst to me, it had also constructed its own list of top songs called the “Top 20 Worship Songs of the Past 20 Years”. I was immediately inspired to get back to finishing my series on the Epochal Songs (whilst I have already catalogued my list of 20, I haven’t yet finished explaining why I chose them, which I hope to do really soon), but I was curious to see how Worship Leader‘s list compared to mine.

So here is Worship Leader magazine’s top 20 worship songs of the past 20 years:

20. Days of Elijah (Robin Mark)

19. Heart of Worship (Matt Redman)*

18. Revelation Song (Jenny Lee Riddle)

17. He Knows My Name (Tommy Walker)

16. Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble (Delirious)*

15. Holy is the Lord (Chris Tomlin)

14. How He Loves (John Mark McMillan)*

13. O Praise Him (All This For A King) (David Crowder)

12. Breathe (Marie Barnett)*

11. Everlasting God

10. Friend of God (Israel Houghton/Michael Gungor)

09. Majesty (Delirious)

08. In Christ Alone (Stuart Townend/Keith Getty)

07. Open the Eyes of My Heart (Paul Baloche)

06. Blessed Be Your Name (Matt and Beth Redman)

05. Beautiful Things (Michael Gungor)

04. Here I Am to Worship (Tim Hughes)

03. Shout to the Lord (Darlene Zschech)*

02. How Great is Our God (Chris Tomlin)*

01. Mighty to Save (Reuben Morgan/Ben Fielding)

I have put asterisks where my list and Worship Leader‘s list intersect. Granted, their list is based on songs which the editors considered their favourites; my list is based on what I believe to have been significant songs in the worship landscape, not merely popular songs. Their list is presumably centred on the North American scene; mine is based on my experiences in the church in Australia. Their list covers the last 20 years; my list goes back the last 40 years.

But it’s been interesting to see the similarities. On reflection, there are certainly many important songs which I’m sure I’ve missed out. “Open the Eyes of My Heart” was one clear omission from my list.

So there you have it. What do you think of this list? What do you think of my list? What other songs should go down into the annals of praise and worship history as groundbreaking or a favourite?

In Church History, Songs, Worship Leadership , , , , , , ,
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Another Awesome Rehearsal

May 24, 2012 — 1 Comment

I just got back this evening rehearsing with the band for Converge “Hear the Nations Worship” night. It was another time of refreshing in God’s presence.

I came to the rehearsal with quite a great deal of stress. I was busy at work, but also busy trying to finalise everything for Converge and my mind was in a million different places. And then I caught a cold. So I took today off work (it should have been sick leave!) to try to organise the songlist for our rehearsal. I also thought I would spend some time with the dog as well as she was starting to feel neglected with all our busyness and filled-out schedules.

But it was like all the stress melted away as we worshipped. We began just by simply praying together which really helped us maintain our focus. After a couple of tricky fast songs (which required a good deal of concentration) we came to the turning point when we started Stephanie Truscott’s gospel worship set. There’s something about gospel music that just gets your toe tapping and body moving. And I sensed that God began to imbue us with a sense of freedom as we sang “I’m So Glad, Jesus Set Me Free”.

As we started worshipping to “Beautiful Saviour” there was just a wonderful overlay of vocals singing the names of God and I just felt like I was spirited away into another realm. It felt like the song that never ends. As we went back into the bridge “I could sing forever, Jesus I love You”, we’d be hit a with a new wave of praise bubbling over.

It was such a beautiful time.

I really am blessed to be serving with such a wonderful and anointed team.

So let me introduce you to the team facilitating the Converge Day of Worship Finale (sorry I forgot to take a photo this time):

// Worship leaders: Me, Pastor Yoy Alberastine (Faith Community Church/Sonlife Church), Shaw Cheong and Stephanie Truscott MOSAIC Church)
// Vocals: Me, Pastor Yoy, Shaw, Stephanie, Ling, Wai Kin Wong (Full Gospel Assembly)
// Bass: Jon Teoh (FCC) (he just joined us tonight and he’s awesome!)
// MD and keys: Daryl Tan (Firstlight)
// Electric Guitar: Chris Mayne (Lifestreams Church)
// Drums: Ash Tie (New Covenant Community)

And here is the mega songlist in case you are preparing:

// Ancient of Days
// You are Good (Israel Houghton)
// Hosanna (Brooke Fraser)
// You’ll Come
// I See the Lord
// I Exalt Thee
// Gospel Worship with Stephanie Truscott
// Messianic Worship with Kathy Susnjar
// Beautiful Saviour
// Worthy is the Lamb
// You Deserve the Glory
// Shout to the Lord
// African Worship with Arlene Gregory
// We Speak to Nations
// How Great is Our God World Edition (in English, Mandarin, Malay, Tagalog and Zulu)

I think the last song is a significant prophetic enactment and prefigurement of what will happen at the end of time when the nations gather before the worthy Lamb who was slain, giving Him glory, honour, power, wisdom, strength and blessing.

I’m really looking forward to Saturday!

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