Scott Wesley Brown: Unified Worship

When I was in high school, one of my best friends was a huge fan of the popular touring band TRUTH. In the 70's the group was comprised of 6 vocalists (3 guys, 3 girls), full rhythm section (keyboard, guitar, bass, drums), and a full horn section (varied from just brass to the inclusion of a woodwind man). His enthusiasm for their music rolled over into the formation of a local band of high-school students attempting to do the same kind of thing. We were from a variety of churches in my hometown (mostly Baptist, but a few Methodists and a couple of Assembly of God / Pentecostal - types). We had the records and the published choral folios that went along with them, and a couple of us trumpet players stayed up until all hours transcribing the brass parts from the records. We borrowed sound equipment from my home church and pooled our resources to buy microphones and cables. Perhaps the highlight of our short career was getting to open for Scott Wesley Brown (he was just getting national recognition at the time).

Following a link from Don Chapman's site, I happened upon a recently published blog on on Unified Worship at http://www.worship.com. The subject caught my attention -- partly because it seems that it may resonate with the yearnings of my own heart for us to be less divided by superfluous issues (i.e. "style") in the local church, and also because our people will be led in ONE combined worship service this Sunday morning (7/29) while most of the leadership staff is away (pray for those that remain). It also caught my attention because it was written by none other than Scott Wesley Brown.

I only skimmed the article this morning because I don't have time to read it in depth (pastoral visits to make with the senior pastor out of town ... truckload of stuff to do before leaving for vacation myself) but I saw enough to know that it is likely good food for thought. He mentions South Africa ... a nation that holds a special place in my heart because of an experience I had there in the Fall of 1999 which also involved helping to moderate a conference session on worship at the BUSA meeting in Bloemfontein.

Anyhow, for my few readers (and you really are few, but I love every one of you) whose leadership DNA pushes you to wrestle with worship issues, I present this link. May it cause you to think deeply and grow. I look forward to reading the article myself, and perhaps commenting on it in the future. Meanwhile, I gotta go ...