Blog Archives
The Top Ten Most Read Posts of 2011 from Not For Itching Ears
That’s right, my friends. The following post contains our own version of the Top 10 list: The most read posts from Not For Itching Ears this year. You may be very surprised at the#1 post. It is not only our number one post for the year, it is #1 of ALL TIME. Far surpassing anything else! It is clearly out of character with the rest of the blog and reveals a spicy secret about me… I dare you to try it out. You won’t be disappointed. Read the rest of this entry
The Bottom 5: Our LEAST Read Posts from 2011
Yes, it is that time again. The “Best of” posts are all coming out. Tomorrow we will have our top 5 posts of the year. Today, as an act of humility, we present our Bottom 5. They are our least read posts of 2011. Go ahead and read one. They can’t be all bad!
Merry Christmas Everyone! Read the rest of this entry
Looking for Cross-Centered Christmas Song ideas for Worship? Check this out
Break out the peppermint lattes and your Bing Crosby CD’s. It is that time of year again: Christmas! As a worship leader, you know what I am talking about. While everyone else was busy getting ready for Halloween (or whatever you call it) you were thinking about worship music for the upcoming Christmas season. Or at least you should have been. Waiting till Thanksgiving to start planning, is a little too late!
As one who has been responsible for leading corporate singing for years, I can attest to how hard it can be to plan for Christmas worship. Four weeks of December singing! At Christmas time, I always want to have a song that wraps the message of the Cross around the Christmas message. I like to have one new song that people aren’t familiar with so they have to think about the words as they sing. I think this is helpful for believers as well as all those people who only come on Christmas and Easter. Here’s a song that I have liked. It is called “The Son of God Came Down.” It is a slow, meditative song that mixes the Christmas story with Easter. Listen to it below. You will find it and many other “Christmas songs” on the album Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
Words and music by Doug Plank
As recorded on Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
THE SON OF GOD CAME DOWN
The Son of God came down and laid aside His crown
Born without great renown, this Sovereign One
All holiness and might, all glory shining bright
Have come to earth this night in Mary’s son
O come, let us adore
O Christ the Lord, our hope and Savior
Son of God yet made like us
O Christ the Lord, our King adored
Born a child, our Lord Jesus
Messiah born so small, asleep in cattle stall
Come to redeem our fall, nailed to a tree
This tiny, helpless child through death would reconcile
The holy God and vile, His grace so free
O come, let us adore
© 2004 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).
Follow this link for the official free Guitar Chart: The Son of God Came Down Chord Chart
Follow this link for the official free LEAD CHART: The Son of God Came Down Lead Chart
Looking for Cross-Centered Christmas Song ideas for Worship? Check this out
As one who has been responsible for leading corporate singing for years, I can attest to how frustrating it has become to find songs that are worth singing! At Christmas time, I always want to have a song that wraps the message of the Cross around the Christmas message. I like to have one new song that people aren’t familiar with so they have to think about the words as they sing. I think this is helpful for believers as well as all those people who only come on Christmas and Easter. It is harder to find these types of songs, and if you are thinking ahead, the Christmas season is upon you and you are unprepared! Here’s a song that I have liked. It is called “Christ the Lord Is Born Today.” It is an exuberant song, calling us to celebrate the incarnation and pointing us towards the cross. Listen to it below. You will find it and many other “Christmas songs” on the album Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
Words and music by Mark Altrogge
As recorded on Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
Christ the Lord is Born Today
How my happy heart rejoices
I can hear the angel voices
“Christ is born” they all are singing
From the sky this good news bringing
Let the earth rejoice
O come and lift your voices
Christ the Lord is born today
He came from heaven’s throne
God is born a man today
To bring His children home
To bring His children home
Death and darkness surely tremble
Light has come to all the people
The Lion comes to crush the serpent
He comes a Lamb, a lowly servant
Let the earth rejoice
O come and lift your voices
God has sent His greatest treasure
Shown His love in greatest measure
Sending Christ to bleed and suffer
Purchasing our joy forever
Let the earth rejoice
O come and lift your voices
© 2006 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).
Follow this link for the official free Guitar Chart: Christ the Lord is Born Today
Follow this link for the official free LEAD CHART: Christ the Lord is Born Todaleadsheet
Cross-Centered Worship Songs: “You Are the Way”
This column, “Cross-Centered Worship Songs”, was started as a way to serve the church at large. I wanted to introduce some of the lesser known songs out there so that the corporate singing of the church might be enriched. I have been posting songs from different genres: hymns, a capella, contemporary rock, etc. I try to post a chord chart when possible. I hope you find it helpful. If you do, please let us know! Today’s song is called “You Are the Way” written by Pat Sczebel. It is a simple, easy to sing, gospel proclamation. Read the rest of this entry
Cross-Centered Worship Songs: “Let Your Kingdom Come!”
I have been responsible for leading corporate singing in the church for years. 
I know how frustrating it can be to find songs that are worth singing. Many of the newer songs never mention or even allude to the most important aspect of Christianity: The message of The Cross! To be sure, there are songs out there, but it takes time to find them. I often sift through 40 songs, just to find one new song. (Worship team members have affectionately, and some times derogatorily, nick-named me “The Lyric Police”. Call me old school if you like, but If we are going to sing in church, I think the songs we sing to our Savior should be worthy of Him and His work on the cross!
This column, “Cross-Centered Worship Songs”, was started as a way to serve my many worship leading friends. I hope to introduce some of the lesser known songs out there that you may not have heard. Today’s song, “Let Your Kingdom Come”, is an Read the rest of this entry
Has The Church Become the Newest Contestant on “American Idolatry”
“If it feels good, do it!”
This catch phrase, introduced in the 1960’s, has become a well established creed in American culture. It now appears that the American church has adopted a similar slogan: “If it makes people feel good, we should use it.” And are we ever! Today church leaders of every persuasion are trying all kinds of new methods in order to fill the pews. If something we do succeeds in drawing more people into services then it “works” and is therefore good, right, and stamped with the very approval of God Himself. Because as we all know, God wants people in pews. Or so the story goes. But are these new methods approved by God himself?
One of the things we should be clear about… Read the rest of this entry
Forget About Singing, God Wants Us to Worship Him HIS Way – Part II
What does God consider worship and how can we offer it to Him? I think that is the best place to start a series on worship. Earlier we talked about this in “Forget About Singing, God Wants Us to Worship Him HIS Way – Part 1”. God is the one who is worshipped, so he gets to define how that looks. He does this for us in the Bible. A biblical definition of worship is where God tells us what worship means to Him. One of the places He does that is in Read the rest of this entry
Forget About Singing, God Wants Us to Worship Him HIS way
What is worship and how do we as christians go about doing it? Is it the 30-45 minutes we spend singing at church with others each week? Is it the 20-35 minutes we spend listening to a sermon at that same gathering? Is it the money we contribute to our congregations to keep the doors open? Is worship the time we give to volunteer in the parking ministry or Children’s church?
Let me state as clearly as I can, so that there is no misunderstanding: I think that all the things I just mentioned can unequivocally be considered acts by which people worship God. I just don’t think that doing them necessarily equals worship. I am not advocating that we stop singing, even though the title of this post might lead to that conclusion.
My friends, I have been giving this a lot of thought lately. In part, because I have become so disillusioned with the contemporary church model that claims to be all about worship. I’ve been to 30+ different congregations, all focused on “worship”. It seems that all we are doing is singing songs and calling that worship. Worship appears to have become an event that we grade or a product we consume. Does anyone else find that troubling?
People are always defining worship. Most start off their definition with Read the rest of this entry
We’ve Come to Worship, but Will We Worship God or Ourselves?
Dan Lucarini’s, in his book Why I Left the Christian Contemporary Music Movement, has some thought-provoking and counter-cultural takes on contemporary worship. One that gets right to the heart of the issue is this one:
“When we try to feel an experience of affirmation from worship, we are not worshiping God. We are worshiping our own egos.” (pp. 56-57)
In other words, when we come to “worship”, if our goal is to get some type of positive experience out of it for ourselves, we are not really coming for Him. In essence, we are “worshipping” our own egos. If our motivation in coming to worship is for what we will get out of it, then we are worshiping. We are just worshipping ourselves, and not the Savior.
Whoa there fella, that is a huge statement. Practically everyone I have ever served on a worship team with or led, Read the rest of this entry
Worship Leading Gone Wild: What Can Happen When Worship Becomes A Song…..
Sometimes the truth contained in satire can pierce like a sword. The scene this video portrays about worship leading gone bad is one of those times. After I stopped laughing, I began to ache. This is how things truly are in some circles. In many churches that I have visited over the past 3 years, it seems that simply getting people to sing is the goal. It doesn’t matter what we actually sing about, Read the rest of this entry
Does Worship Really Need To Be Exciting?
Over here at Not For Itching Ears, we don’t often repost what others have written. Today is an exception. Andrew, over at The Reformed Reader, wrote an excellent article called “Does Worship Really Need To Be Exciting?” I wanted our readers to get the opportunity to consider that very question. I have included an excerpt of Andrew’s post along with a link back to the entire post. And now, our featured presentation:
“I’ve been reading through Kevin Roose’s book The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University. If you have an interest in learning about evangelicalism and fundamentalism, this book, written by a Brown University student who enrolled at Liberty University for a semester, is a great volume to read. Informed by George Marsden’s more historical Fundamentalism and American Culture, this is a fun and witty memoir of someone who decided to “act the part” of a Christian fundamentalist for a semester.
I was especially struck by Roose’s contrast between the simple, Quaker worship meetings of his youth and the contemporary worship at a local megachurch. He writes:
You can see why I didn’t go to [Quaker worship] meeting[s] much. As a kid groomed on cartoons and video games and Little League, an hour of motionless silence was excruciating. At Thomas Road, on the other hand, there’s almost too much stimulation. The stage lights, the one hundred-decibel praise songs, the bright purple choir robes, the tempestuous bellowing of Dr. Falwell – it’s an hour-long assault on the senses. And all you have to do is sit back in your plush, reclining seat, latte and cranberry scone in hand, and take it all in. It’s Church Lite – entertaining but unsubstantial, the religious equivalent of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. And once the novelty wears off, once the music becomes familiar and the motions of praise become pro forma and mechanized, you start to realize that all the technological glitz and material extravagance doesn’t necessarily add up to a spiritual experience. [emphasis added]
Today, from my perch in the Thomas Road choir loft, my mind wandered back to the little brown house with stone steps. I think I’d appreciate the minimalist Quaker worship more now than I did as a kid. It didn’t have Jumbotron screens or a five thousand-watt sound system or a cafe in….” To read the rest of this great post, follow the link below.
http://reformedreader.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/does-worship-really-need-to-be-exciting/
This Worship Service is About……..YOU baby!
Regular readers of this blog should be familiar with my view of today’s “worship” “service.” In a nutshell, I think many good-hearted and well-meaning leaders have taken the church down the wrong road. I have written on it extensively in articles like: Whatever Happened to the Message of Christianity?, Rethinking Contemporary Worship: Can We “Bring Him More Than a Song?”, George Barna: The Seeker-Sensitive Church Model: Dumbing Down Disciples , or Does God Give Us Freedom To Worship Him Anyway WE Want to? and many other posts. Today’s post is more of a satirical and humours look at the issue of the songs we are singing in church. What makes satire funny is that there is often a little truth in it. That’s why I find this re-wording of the famous Carly Simon song “You’re So Vain” so funny. There is a Read the rest of this entry
Blasphemy! If You Want the Congregation to Worship More, Try Singing Less
Worship is fast becoming a topic we avoid at all costs. Much like discussing politics, discussing worship preferences and style, the should and should nots, the rights and wrongs, is not polite conversation. It can and has led to all out war. Challenge the status quo and you may have the same charges leveled against you that they leveled against Jesus: “Blasphemy…He is worthy of death!” Read the rest of this entry
A Worship Song for the Hard Times: “As Long As You Are Glorified”
Does your worship service look more like a High School pep rally?
You remember those days, don’t you? The cheerleaders and the band would work us up into a frenzy, trying to fire us up for the Friday night game. Much of today’s corporate worship reminds me of those days. everything is so upbeat and wonderful. Week after week, upbeat and wonderful, life is one victory after another, aint it all great type of stuff. Don’t misunderstand me. I am not advocating that everything be the exact opposite.
However, sometimes we are living on the other side, aren’t we? Life is hard, you’ve lost a loved one, a job, your kids are making horrible choices, the doctor just gave you the bad news, your worried about the future, your __________________ (fill in the blank). Sometimes, as we gather with other believers, we are not feeling upbeat, wonderful or victorious. Those type of songs, don’t always help pull us out of that.
That is why I like this weeks song, “As Long As You Are Glorified”, by Mark Altrogge. It reminds us that God is control of all things, and that no matter what I am going through in my life, Read the rest of this entry
Our Top 5 Most Read, Most Interesting and Most Debated Posts of the Year
It is hard to believe that August is fast approaching, and that 2011 is more than half in the tank already. We have had some very interesting debates and discussions here at Not For Itching Ears. In case you missed them (how is that even possible) I have posted their links here.
Our Top 5 Most Read, Most Interesting and Most Debated Posts of the Year…. Read the rest of this entry
What is Your Favorite Part of the Sunday Morning Church Service? Take the Poll
Over the past few days, hundreds of people have read and commented on our post “Does God Care How We Worship?” As a follow-up to that post, we have created an online poll asking the question: “What is the Most Important Element of Corporate Worship for you Personally?” We hope you will take the time to vote. About the poll: We understand that we are asking you to make a choice that Read the rest of this entry
Christ Centered Worship Songs: “What A Savior”
This column, “Cross-Centered Worship Songs”, was started as a way to serve my many worship leading friends. I hope to introduce some of the lesser known songs out there that you may not have heard. We will be posting songs from different genres: hymns, a capella, contemporary rock, etc. We will post the lyrics as well as the Mp3 along with a chord chart when possible. I hope you find it helpful. If you do, please let us know! This weeks selection “What A Savior” is a remake of the old hymn (1875) with an updated chorus. Musically, it is very stripped down, with a lot of potential to put your congregations own touch on it. A Gospel saturated song that calls us to rejoice in what God accomplished at Calvary.
Does God Give Us Freedom To Worship Him Anyway WE Want to?
“If it feels good, do it!”
This has been one of the mottos of our culture since the 1960’s. Now it seems that the American church has adopted a similar pragmatic motto: “If it makes people feel good, we should use it.” Today we see church leaders of every persuasion trying all kinds of new things. Even in corporate worship. If it works in drawing more people into services then it “works” and must be stamped with the very approval of God Himself. It appears that many church leaders are acting under the premise that we can worship God anyway we want to, as long as it is in spirit and truth. This is often just a code word for “Our way of worshipping God is acceptable to Him. It must be, we love it and so do all the unbelievers who come and enjoy it.” But are they right? Can we worship God anyway that WE want to? Is there any possibility, at all, that the way we worship Him could be unacceptable to HIM?
One of the things we should remind ourselves… Read the rest of this entry
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