The Unquenchable Worshipper

The Unquenchable Worshipper by Matt Redman is about living a life in Gods presence. An Unquenchable Worshipper tells the world about the Lord through performing and entertaining.  An Unquenchable worshipper, performs only for God and cannot be distracted. This book gives guidance on how to connect to God through worshipping. One point is to be an undignified worshipper by reminding ourselves of Gods passionate heart and responding to Him through passionate, undignified worship. My second point is to be an unstoppable worshipper by having adventurous hearts and taking every opportunity to demonstrate the good news of God to this world. We should be bold evangelists and lift up the name of Jesus every chance we get.

Guiding Principles For Worship

1.     Worship is a time to explain God’s word and teachings. When we worship, we are there to tell His stories through the lyrics.

2.     Our way to praise God is through worship. Worship gives us the opportunity to focus and reflect on our relationship with Christ. When we worship we should shut out anything that isn’t focused on God.

3.     When picking our worship songs, we try to find songs that our audience can relate to.  A majority of our audience are teenagers that are always listening to the top Pop hits. In order to try to get them to appreciate this time with God, we make our songs as similar as we can to what they listen on the radio.

4.     As worship leaders, it is our job to get Gods message across to our audience. We take the traditions from the Bible and translate them into our worship songs.

5.     Worship is the time to connect every part of the body to the Lord. Worship doesn’t have to be just singing along to the songs. As long as our worship time is filled with our hearts, minds, and strengths, then you are fulfilling Jesus’s greatest commandment.

6.     Being a singer in the worship band, it is my job to encourage and motivate the people listening to connect with God. I am a leader and God is the audience I sing for.

7.     In a worship band, we choose our songs based on what the audience will connect best with. Our job is to explain Gods word for every kind of audiences.

8.     During worship, for many people, it is a time to feel Gods presence.

Why Aren't We Singing?

In the video, Why Aren't We Singing?, focuses on how to get people to worship and why people hesitate to do so. He says that we are blessed with a voice and we should use it to praise God. He also mentions that he notices people tend to worship more when popular and easy songs are played opposed to new and more difficult songs. We should not come to church to worship but we should already come worshiping.

I really enjoyed this video and the message he delivered. I like how he emphasized how we should be worshiping to praise God rather than impressing our peers. Being in Worship Band and coming from a vocalist point of view, I do agree that people are more involved during worship if we play the popular songs. This video really gives some good ideas for our Worship band and how to get people in our churches more involved during worship.

Living In Your Element

In the video, Are You Living In Your Element by Dan Wilt, he teaches us about how essential it is to live in our element. He begins by telling us how the Bible says we all a job to do here on earth. He illustrates different elements by comparing them to elements of the earth. The elements he used are wind, fire, and water. He ends it by telling us that by living in our element, it not only affects us, but the people around us as well.

            I really enjoyed learning about how I can make a difference by living in my element. After watching the video,  I realized that the element I aspire to be is fire. Fire is living an inspired life that lives passionately and devotionally. This life is involved in the community and I really enjoy doing community service. I am excited to live like fire and empower people around me.

Phil Wickham

Phil Wickham

           

            The songwriter I chose is Phil Wickham. He was born on April 5, 1984 in San Diego, California. His parents are John and Lisa Wickham who were members of the Christian band, Parable. He has an older brother and a younger sister.  Since his parents were in a band, he grew up around Christian music his whole life. He learned all the popular worship songs and then started to write his own music. All of this experience, led him to joining the worship band at his youth group at the age 12.  When he reached the age of 18, he recorded an independent project that caught the attention of many record labels. He decided to sign with Simple Records and then released his first album in 2006. He stayed with Simple Records for five more years and came out with his final cd with them in 2010. The year after that, he signed with Fair Trade Services, and he’s still with them to this day. Phil and his long time girlfriend, Mallory Plotnik, got married on November 2, 2008. They have two daughters, Penelope and Mabel Wickham. 

Some of Phil’s popular songs are At Your Name, This Is Amazing Grace, Your Love Awakens, and a whole bunch more. I think Phil Wickham is not only an amazing musician, but a great model for everyone. He has a strong relationship with God that reflects in his music. Even though he was surrounded by Christianity since he was born, he never lost his way in his faith and pursued worship as a career. 

Phil Wickham is someone that I can look up to because he is very passionate about using his talent to encourage others to have a strong relationship with Christ, which I hope I can continue to do. Phil once said, “God no longer dwells in the city or in the temple. But the Church has become the city. The Church has become his temple.” This quote relates to me because church and worship is where my relationship with Christ feels the strongest. I hope to follow Phil’s path and continue to use worship to teach people about Christ.

Get Off The Platform

This article is about how worship leaders should perform for the right audience and not for our personal desires. The right audience is God. We should be leading those who don't know God or who are afraid of opening themselves up to Him towards Jesus and hopefully help them grow in their relationship in Christ. We are to be leaders of Christ and be an example of Him. Worship leaders should not worry about what verse is next and be scared to mess up. We should be focused on our message and what God is trying to get across to our audience.

This article to me means that I should really focus on Gods message. I learned that my worries of messing up lyrics or hitting the wrong notes aren't the main fear. I will really work on being more into the music and try to help the audience enjoy it as much as my band do. I'm really looking forward to helping people grow with Christ. Worship time will be more effective if we all work together and focus on the message rather than our fears of performing.

What if worship was like an NBA game?

The video was entertaining. If worship was like an NBA game then the audience would be more engaged and excited to worship God.