There are stages of every Christian life: Justification (salvation), Sanctification (working out our salvation) and Glorification (heaven).

Working with worship songs and songwriters, I hear a lot of songs about salvation and heaven, but not as many about sanctification. I believe there is certainly a need for songs that address all three. We need to praise God for salvation, even singing to the lost how God has saved us. We also need to look ahead at times to heaven when we will finally worship Jesus face to face.

Yes!

Okay, that would a pretty boring blog post, so allow me to digress. I've been in church pretty much my whole life. Admittedly, my church experience, as with most of us, is limited to a pretty narrow stream. But why is it that most of the time when I worship at church, the band looks like they are either mad or bored?

Now I don't believe for a minute that most of the people in the band are mad or bored. My hypothesis is that we have issues with having fun while playing church music. That somehow we are more "spiritual" by appearing melancholy. I also think 50% to 75% of the people on stage are scared out of their minds to be in front of people, but that's a different discussion.

There are big differences in starting a band and building a worship team:

• A band picks members that all fit together. A worship team picks members to represent the body.
• Image is really important in a band. Image is not important on a worship team.
• A band is typically the same people all the time. A worship team should be different people a lot of the time.
• Bands pick songs that make them sound good. Worship teams pick songs that the church needs to sing.
• A band always works toward the better gig. A worship team serves faithfully every week regardless of attendance.
• Bands pick songs that they know will get a response. Worship teams pick songs that sometimes say things we don't want to hear.
• Success to a band is the applause of the crowd. Success to a worship team is the applause of one.

What are you building?

Jonah couldn’t do it. Nor could Moses nor David nor Paul. They couldn’t escape God’s call. Jonah literally jumped ship and still wound up in the will of God in Nineveh. Moses protested when God called him to deliver His people from slavery yet became one of the greatest leaders in Israel’s history. David was initially overlooked by everyone to be the next king, everyone but the Lord. And Paul killed and convicted the ones he eventually became like after an encounter with God on a road.

I couldn’t run, couldn’t run from His presence

I couldn’t run, couldn’t run from His arms

This question was asked at a conference where I was a guest on a panel on worship music. Honestly, at the moment I had a bit of a loss for words. The flow of new worship songs is essentially endless. I chuckle when I hear people say, "There's just not any great new worship songs!" Depending on your definition of great that may be true, but there certainly isn't a shortage of contenders.

So when the guy asked, "Should I be writing songs for my church?", my first impulse was to shout, "No! Please don't! We have plenty already!" But after thinking about it for a few moments, I said, "Maybe."

Non-committal, right? Well, the answer to this question does require some thought and a little self inspection. Here are some probing questions to consider that will help you answer this for yourself: