Truth Magazine

I believe that the five parts of a worship service are of equal importance. We tend to put greater effort to- ward the teaching of a lesson than the breaking of bread, praying, giving, and singing. I have observed that in some congregations the part of the worship service given to singing has a lack of forethought. Some congregations are selecting songs in the last few minutes before the start of the worship service.

Singing of hymns during a worship service is required by God. As we sing praises to God, we teach and admonish each other (Col. 3:16). To best use the song service it should complement the lesson given by the evangelist. The use of songs to complement the thoughts of the lesson requires pre-planning by the evangelist and the song leader. The two confer during the week and select songs that lead one’s thoughts to those to be presented by the evangelist.

After the songs have been selected, the song leader reviews the words in each song. The words used by the poet will establish the tempo that the song is to be sung in. Some songs are to be sung as an anthem, some as reflecting joy and gladness, and some as serious. Some songs are written to have more than one tempo to express the thought being portrayed. I have in mind the song “Did You Think To Pray.” This song starts with somber and serious thoughts. The chorus changes to thankful thoughts and the last four words put forth a strong remembrance. A properly sung song will lead the congregation to sing from the heart to the Lord (Eph. 5:19).

Another point that a song leader must consider is to determine if the songs selected meet the singing capabilities of the congregation. If selected songs have leading parts done by the alto, bass, or tenor voices, the congregation must have the capability to sing the parts. Selecting songs that the congregation cannot sing properly has a negative effect on the worship service.

The evangelist studies how that he may best present the lesson to the congregation to achieve the best results. A song leader must work toward the same end results in the song service. A song leader must use expression in his voice to match the words of the song. Good eye contact is necessary to lead the congregation in the thoughts expressed. Beside having a complementary facial expression, the song book should be on the podium so that, when necessary, both hands and arms can be used in directing the song. At times alto, tenor, or bass parts need to be brought in on time. The director should be well enough known by the congregation that he can use his left hand to bring in whatever part is required. The words of a song can, at times, be better expressed by singing softly or mid-voice or loudly which requires a director to give the proper arm and hand motions to the congregation. This is another reason for the song book to be on the podium and not held by the director.

To be able to start a song on the proper pitch can best be accomplished by a pitch pipe. Each member of the congregation should hear the pitch whether it comes from the pitch pipe or the director. When a song leader pitches a song so that he is the only one who hears the pitch and starts the song, it may be several words into the song before the congregation can find their note and start to sing.

Some song leaders do not have a voice strong enough to lead a congregation in a song service. The song leader must start strong and be able to be heard by the congregation throughout the song. Usually, a song leader not heard by the congregation will allow the congregation to pull the tempo down to a funeral dirge which detracts from the meaning of the song.

Today’s attitude towards dress is of a casual nature. This is an area that we need to seriously consider. In the Old Testament, God required the priests that served in the temple to wash and clean themselves and dress as prescribed by God. When you attend a wedding or a funeral, the accepted dress is a suit for men and a dress for women. Here you are only honoring a human being. It is of far greater importance to dress in clothing that is the best that we have for a worship service. I say the best that we have because during the Great Depression some people owned only work clothes. These people would be clean when they came to worship. I have never seen a preacher get up to deliver a worship service lesson dressed in anything other than a suit. My feeling is that a song leader is as important to the worship service as a preacher; therefore, a suit is appropriate for the song leader during a worship service. Some people today dress for the Sunday morning service in a suit or dress and then come to the evening and Wednesday worship services dressed for some casual sporting event. My understanding is that all worship services are of equal importance. By dressing in a casual manner we automatically establish that one worship service has more importance than the other.

One other thought that is necessary to consider. An evangelist spends hours preparing a lesson that will hopefully cause a person to become a child of God. The evangelist will bring the congregation’s thoughts to a point where someone may be encouraged to answer the invitation. The song leader should be on the front row so that he may take only a few steps and start the song with a minimum of delay. Some song leaders want to sit with their families in the rear of the building. This requires some bit of a delay to walk to the front of the building to start the song. This delay could cause a negative effect on some who may have been considering answering the call.

Two men, good friends, decided to build homes on the ocean front. The first man consulted an engineer, who advised him to build back about a block on a good rock foundation. This required a road to be made to deliver the materials, the clearing of the land, and not quite as pretty a view as he had hoped for. Nevertheless, taking the experience of the engineer into consideration, he followed his instructions. Finally his house was finished, and he moved in.

The second man looked at all the “extras” the first had incurred, and decided he had learned from the first man’s “mistakes.” He built his house much closer to the beach. And since he did not have to hire a special engineer, clear the land, and build a special road, he was able to build an even nicer home than the first man. Indeed he was proud of his fine home and happily moved into it.

As the summer came, the second man enjoyed many advantages. He had a nice beach for his kids to play on right by the house. Friends flocked in, admiring the view, the sunset over the ocean, and the convenience. “Why one could almost fish from the front porch and not have to sit in the hot sun,” they said. And he would point out his friend’s house and openly wonder why anyone would want to build so far from such beauty.

Even his friend began to have second thoughts. If he had not spent so much on the “extras,” he could have had an even bigger, nicer home. And he grew tired of lugging all his fishing gear down to the beach. Friends seemed to flock to his friend’s house, but not nearly as many came to his. He even began to question if perhaps he had made a mistake since his friend was doing so well. Maybe he ought to put his house up for sale, and build one down on the beach like his friend had done. After all, his friend had lived there for several years and was having great fun. His friend’s house was bigger and nicer. It was certainly more convenient. And his friend was a good man, well informed and practical; and in this case, maybe had shown the greater wisdom. “Why had he listened to that engineer in the first place?” he wondered.

Then one year an “E1 Nina” developed. The weather began to change and storms became more frequent. As the storms increased in intensity, so did the size of the waves. Soon the beach began to erode and disappear. Before long, the house of his friend was endangered. They tried to stop the erosion, but to no avail. The sand began vanishing, and the house began to totter. Finally it cracked in half and fell into the ocean. The waves soon moved up and the rest of the house collapsed. His friend was ruined. All that he had was tied up in that home. His furniture was gone. The insurance did not cover this type of storm. It was a total loss!

However, since his own house was further away and on a solid foundation, it was not affected. “How thankful I am,” said his wife, “that we hired that engineer. Our house may not have been as big and convenient as his, but at least we still have a home.”

So is he that hears the word of the Lord and does it. Others may evaluate both houses, and maybe even pro- claiming the one bigger, better, and nicer than the other. They may regard the character of both contractors to be equally as good. You may even begin to question of what value is it to be a Christian — he has all of the advantages! But watch and wait . . . wait . . . wait! When the storms of life do come — and they will come — when the storms of grief, of bereavement, and of temptations, etc. come; the house built solidly on the word of God will be the house standing strong after the sweeping storms are passed. It will be able to weather the storms because it had God as its engineer! It had God as a sure foundation! And it had God in its future!

Now, what kind of a foundation are you building on? Go back and read Matthew 7:24-27 and Psalm 73!

By Connie W. Adams

Holes in the Floor of Heaven

Steve Warriner, a country singer and guitarist, won a CMA award recently for his recording of “Holes in the Floor of Heaven,” a nostalgic piece about departed loved ones who, on special occasions shed tears which leaked through these holes in the form of rain. I must admit I liked it better than songs about drinking and cheating. But Bill Anderson interviewed Steve later and good-naturedly asked how could tears fall down from Heaven when there are not supposed to be any tears in heaven. Good question. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4). The Preacher said of the dead: “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun” (Eccl. 9:6). I guess it must be poetic license. At least that is how we explain some of the unscriptural songs we offer in worship to God.

Blue John Preaching

In recent years I have taken to drinking skim milk, something I would never have thought of doing during my younger years. Back then such milk was considered fit only for the pigs. We called it “blue John.” All the good stuff was removed. I believe we have too much blue John preaching. We have extracted anything which might possibly offend or mess up someone’s “self-esteem.” We have deleted doctrinal teaching with any teeth for fear that our denominational friends might get the idea that we think they are wrong and need to change. We have watered sin down to the point where it does not seem so bad after all. We must not be judgmental. Anything but that! Even our nation is divided over whether or not it is as bad to lie under oath about immoral behavior as it would be on other things. There are congregations that have never practiced corrective discipline on the disorderly. Well, maybe we will just leave their name off the next directory. Some discipline! We have had to strip away preaching that identifies error among brethren and goes so far as to name those who have promoted it. I hope you understand that the “we” of this article is used accommodatively and is not meant to indicate that every single preacher has succumbed to “blue john” preaching. Could that be more “poetic license”? By the way, who issues these licenses? “Let your Yea be Yea and your Nay, Nay” (Jas. 5:12).

As Others See Us

A brother in Texas has taken a special liking to me. He regularly consigns me to Hell. He thinks I am some sort of clergyman. Recently I wrote a little piece in this column about preaching in the dark and commented that much of the preaching done these days is in the dark. He wrote me a note that said if I wanted to see a perfect example of one who preaches in the dark, “just look in the mirror.” Critics are good for us. I am blessed.

Refreshing Christians

Paul said of Onesiphorus, “for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain” (2 Tim. 1:16). We get to meet and spend some time with people who truly love the Lord and whose zeal and dedication, often amid great trials in their own lives, indeed refreshes us. For starters, we meet many fine young people who have their heads on straight and are not ashamed of the Lord. Many of these come to our meetings. They have to work after school, late at night, early the next morning, to complete homework assignments. Many of these sit near the front, often in a group, listen attentively, take notes and many of them bring friends. Then we have parents with small children who never miss a time. There are young mothers (and fathers) who cope with restless children whose routine has been interrupted, or are cutting teeth, or who are disturbed for who knows what. Still they come. I have had young mothers say to me: “That sounded good, what little I was able to hear.” Then there are people who have worked late (some starting very early in the day) who come straight to an evening meeting without eating. Others have rushed home just in time to grab something to eat quickly, changed clothes,  rushed through traffic, and still manage to stay awake. Then there are the older members whose gait is slow, some with canes or walkers. But you can set your watch by them. They will be there. They not only listen well, but they often say the most encouraging things. Many of them have quick wits and I love to banter with them. They have not given up or given in to the ravages of time. These folks don’t do all this to impress anyone. They would be surprised that a visiting preacher in a meeting would even notice. But in moments of discouragement (even preachers get the blues) these Christians are there to refresh our spirits and make us want to keep on trying. Thank you folks for the refreshments.

An Interesting Event

Recently, while in a meeting at Mooresville, Indiana, Bill Cavender was also in a meeting the same week at Lafayette Heights in Indianapolis. They asked brother Cavender and me to speak and briefly review our experiences in preaching and impressions of the present state of affairs as we see them. They advertised this as “Over 100 Years of Gospel Preaching.” Brother Cavender has been at it for 52 years and I am now in my 53rd year of trying to declare the unsearchable riches of Christ. Our experiences have often run along parallel lines and our assessment of the present state of affairs is very much alike. After both of us spoke, we fielded questions for about an hour. We had a good turnout with good interest and good questions. A number of preachers and elders and their wives, along with others were present.