Worship According to Jesus

Kevin Schaal American worship is as fad-oriented as present American society. The slickly marketed, highenergy, fast-moving approach to worship, so popular in the 1980s and `90s, is giving way to the calmer, highly sensory, Montessori-style worship of the Emergent Church movement. The problem with all these worship styles—even traditional forms—is that worship and church leaders…

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What a Pastor Wants from the Music Ministry

Danny Sweatt Music in the church is often seen as either an end in itself or as merely a means to an end. Some people, particularly musicians, consider music the most important component of a church service. The modern, contemporary movement certainly seems to encourage that viewpoint, in practice if not in creed. It is…

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The Importance of Worship

Dennis L. Peterson Today’s world is characterized by hustle and bustle. Everyone, it seems, is in a hurry to get somewhere or do something. This is the age of the “instant.” Microwave ovens, personal computers, e-mail, the Internet, and other “get-it-quick” time-savers have only increased our desire for instant gratification. And when delays keep us…

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Thoughts about Preaching Styles

Thomas Overmiller Do you tend to appreciate one style of preaching over another? How do you respond to a methodical teaching approach? What about a more dramatic, high-energy approach with some pulpit pounding? Or how about a sermon filled with illustrations, stories, and testimonies to make a biblical point? Variety in the pulpit is a…

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Shut Your Door (Part Two)

Disable the Distractions that Destroy Your Time with God Rand Hummel Part One is here. Summarizing Part One: 1 But you . . . God wants to hear from you! 2 . . .when you pray . . . God assumes that you want to talk to Him! 3 . . . enter into your…

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Shut Your Door (Part One)

Disable the Distractions that Destroy Your Time with God Rand Hummel But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Matthew 6:6 But you . . . You is…

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Ministering in Music or Just Singing a Song?

Bonnie Oberg When I was 11 years old, the pastor of our very small church asked me to sing a solo for the evening service. I’m not sure why he took that chance on an 11- year-old girl, but he did. I squeaked through the song and started to sit down, feeling totally embarrassed. He…

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Sing unto the Lord a New Song

by John Vaughn Any discussion of praise and worship will be helped by a review of Psalm 96, which begins with the admonition, O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day. (vv. 1,…

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