FredMcKinnon.Com

Hey Everyone,

I’d like to invite you to checkout a new blog-carnival hosted by Dorothy Holland.  It’s called “Creative FuZion“, and is similar to the old “Creative Chaos” blog that Carlos did.

Today, Dorothy kicked it off talking about “packaged elements” – or creative elements in services.  In her example, she’s using bread … check it out.

I’d like to share something we did back during our “Night of Worship” (and have done since) … and I must confess, I got this idea from the Willow Creek Arts Conference last year.

We do the song “Everlasting God” … and rather than just play through the song, we’ve added the actual Scripture reading from where that song is taken.  If you’re familiar with that song, you’ll know there is the Verse (Strength will rise …) the Pre-Chorus (our God, You reign forever), and the Chorus (You are the Everlasting God …).

We have integrated Scripture Reading into the song – the arrangement goes like this:
Intro:
Verse:
Pre-Chorus:
Chorus:
Verse:
Pre-Chorus:
Chorus:
Instrumental Break (Guitar Solo, over the chords of the Chorus)

Then .. here’s where the creative element of Scripture reading comes in … after that solo, we end on the “I” chord (for us, that’s A), and just keep the groove going – the band brings the volume down, and we have this steady, pulsing bass line, and just lay back on that (I) chord.  During this, someone will read the Scripture from Isaiah 40:

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

(YouVersion.Com)

As soon as the  reading is completed, we move into the Pre-Chorus of the song – but not with full rhythm … we do a stop on “our God” … and just let the drummer keep time on the hi-hat.  The musicians strum only the major chord changes (ie. God – forever – hope – Deliverer), and by the time we get to the Chorus, we lay out and it’s acapella – only the voices.  You step back and just hear the people sing this song – and I’ve found that by reinfocing the song with the Scripture reading, people “get it” all that much more.

We’ll bring the band back in half way through that Chorus, and fill it up big to wrap it up.

This is a powerful but simple way to integrate something new in a song, and I’d encourage you to check it out.

Thanks!
Fred