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ever mind his big victory over Goliath or his 30-year
reign as Israel’s king. David was a worship leader with
one rocking resumé.
As the Eric Clapton of his time, young David played
the harp so beautifully that he chased away the blues of
King Saul. He was a prolific lyricist, credited with writing approximately
half of the 150 psalms in the Bible. His dance moves, displayed on one
occasion while wearing a tight-fitting garment of questionable taste,
disgusted his status-conscious wife, who then received a stinging rebuke
from him: “In God’s presence I’ll dance all I want! I’ll become even more
undignified than this!”
With such a rich heritage of making a joyful noise to the Lord, it’s
no wonder that Christians place a king-size emphasis on worship. On
Sundays in American churches, a sizable portion of most services is
devoted to music, although the harpist/psalmist/mosher of old wouldn’t
recognize today’s tools: electric guitars and amplifiers, wireless
microphones, soundboards, computerized lighting, video screens,
PowerPoint software, social media and more.
“A lot of it nowadays is very technical,” says Tim Rahman, 27, a
worship pastor and percussionist at Christ’s Church of the Valley,
a megachurch with four campuses in metro Phoenix and weekly
attendance of about 22,000.
“As a worship pastor of any size of church, you need to know that —
and how it all works together. More times than not, people getting hired
can’t just play one instrument and sing.”
Grand Canyon University will plunge into this high-tech wonderland in
the fall with the introduction of the Center for Worship Arts, designed to
prepare undergraduate students for careers in worship ministry.
The program was rolled out recently with short video presentations at
all 22 cities on the Roadshow, one of the biggest Christian music tours in
the country. GCU has been a sponsor of the Roadshow, formerly known
as the Rock & Worship Roadshow, for four years and has built strong
ties in the music industry through Scott Fehrenbacher, the University’s
David and the whole company of Israel were in the parade,
singing at the top of their lungs and playing mandolins,
harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals.
— 2 Samuel 6:5 (Message translation)
The
Message
in the
Music
New worship arts program
to put Scripture before song
B Y D O U G C A R R O L L
