Deeper: The Worship Sessions

The latest installment of Integrity Live’s Seminars4Worship is themed “Deeper: The Worship Sessions”. Two Depths were plumbed: the path the worship leader blazes for his congregation in public worship, and the path God carves out for the worship leader in his own heart. A major talking point was the inter-connectedness of these two paths, which most of the keynoters would conclude to be two sides of the same coin. In voyaging alongside the worship leader down both paths, Deeper strove to equip him with practical inter-disciplinary training in many aspects of public and private worship, from songwriting to instrumentation to lighting and sound, while creating an environment that fostered personal, spiritual intimacy. These provisions were met in a sequence of three kinds of structures: worship sessions, lectures, and workshops.

The worship sessions, led by Paul Baloche, the singer-songwriter of the prayerful anthem “Open the Eyes of My Heart” and the Dove award winning “A New Hallelujah”, and Brian Doerksen, another Dove award winner, most known for his “Come Now is the Time to Worship”, travelled scales of exuberant thanksgiving, intimate yearning, and calm and confident expectation. Baloche’s “Hosanna”, a Conference favorite, is a model representation of the Conference’s ideals. Its bouncy melody and kick-driven, straightforward rhythm burst open just as a chorus of invitation rings out: “Hosanna/Hosanna/You are the God who saves us/Worthy of all our praises/Come have Your way among us/We welcome you here, Lord Jesus.”

Though the musicians’ compositions are paragons of contemporary worship, they wouldn’t carry half as much presence if it weren’t for the lighting and sound technicians, who were quite unsung throughout. What was particularly enhancing about their displays was that they strove to aid you in worship, not dazzle you, a fine line to walk nowadays. For example, the sound level was exciting, but not blaring, and the video jockey was essentially complimentary, not innately impressive. The array of expression within the music truly encouraged the worshiper to respond freely, and left him feeling refreshed, refocused.

The keynotes covered general questions about the essence of worship, band practice do’s-and-don’ts, and what it means to be a worship leader in today’s church. They were both relevant and helpful. One of the lectures, dealing with effective band practice, was outlined in detail, providing scriptural references, and something called a “song map”. Arranged into columns and rows, the song map connects all the instruments in the band with specific parts of the song. This allows, Baloche explains, band members to understand their roles, not only more clearly, but in the greater context of the whole song. Practical shortcuts were balanced by truncated exegesis of passages addressing worship, including many psalms, the ‘living sacrifice’ passage found in Romans 12, and the ‘first love’ passage of Revelation 5. The overreaching message was the reality of a spiritual interconnectedness between the worship leader’s heart and hands, that love and sacrifice are spiritually tied to lungs and strings.

A selling point of Deeper was the intensive workshops. Leaders could receive hands-on training in some major fields of the industry, from songwriting to microphones to lighting – even in worship philosophy. Impressive. But were they effective? Definitely. Now, I don’t say this because I wrote a follow-up to Kathryn Scott’s “Hungry” ten minutes after songwriting workshop (It may take awhile), but because a handful of seasoned professionals nurtured my passion for worship and rooted it deeper, practically and spiritually. As Doersken principally stated, “Worship is an overflow of the heart.”

All in all, Deeper offered accompaniment welcomed by worship leaders across the region. In the worship leader’s spiritual walk and level of technical skill, Deeper provided the resources to discover deeper treasures. Thankfully, this comes at a time when more treasures need to be added to the riches of the ever-growing body of Christ.

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