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Providence News
Worship Milestone
I have heard several comments about how powerful worship was on Sunday. I was almost overwhelmed myself as we sang together—acknowledging his grace and expressing our desire to surrender all to him! From where I was sitting on the front row, it was moving beyond expression to hear you singing louder than the band’s volume! It affected me in a profound way and I thought it would be good to tell you why.
In addition to the emotion of celebrating God’s greatness, I was rejoicing in my heart at the realization of how far our church has come regarding our corporate worship in song. To my chagrin, we’ve never really been a church known for our collective participation in musical worship. I’ve heard kind critiques from Christians who have visited us throughout the years with comments like: “The people at Providence don’t really sing a lot during worship.” That perception is understandable for several reasons. We have many visitors and unbelievers each Sunday at church and much of our membership is made up of people who are fairly new to the faith. As good as those things are, it means congregational singing hasn’t been a life-long practice for a majority of our Sunday morning crowd. Add to this the well-known fact that church plants generally struggle in the area of musician volunteers, equipment, leadership, and other practical factors that contribute to excellence, and we are a 14-year-old church plant! From our very beginning we said one reason we did not have a choir was because we think the congregation should be the choir. Sunday I couldn’t help but go back in my mind to the Cedar Bluff Middle School gym days of moving chairs and plugging up portable sound equipment for the few people who gathered for worship. The space of the gym swallowed us up and the acoustics were horrible! We had a few dedicated leaders and volunteers who led our new little church as we expressed our love to Infinite God. And we worshiped! Since then we’ve seen much growth, experimentation with sound/volume/styles, different leaders, and many volunteers. You’ve been patient as we’ve gotten a better grasp on what works and what does not. For the last couple of years now, we’ve been blessed with leaders who have honed a vision and direction for worship at Providence that is God-honoring, culture-engaging, and participatory. Sunday’s corporate worship was—for me anyway—a milestone. The sound of your voices drowning out the band…I almost could not get over it! God was there! And he was pleased.
My hope and belief is that the bar is raised. Think of the joy we experience as we collectively lift our voices to proclaim God’s worthiness! Think of how those who don’t know Christ are affected by our genuine expression of devotion and love! And think of God. He enjoys the praise of his people!
Let’s do it more.
(For more on Providence’s unique worship vision and strategy, check out the Providence Worship Myspace page here.)
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