Merge Worship

This is the story behind the song "We Will" that is Worship Leader Magazine's free download of the month in October on their website at http://worshipleader.com

Since I was 18 I’ve had a fascination of sorts with people who were not only willing, but did give it all for their faith. Praying and thinking about these people helps me in my own commitment and worship of our Savior. Today it doesn’t take a long look around to see that the kingdom of God is under attack. My heart burns with a passion for the heroes of the faith that defy earthly logic and priorities and declare the name of Jesus in the face of persecution.

We Will was birthed out of a time of prayer for Iran where 9 church leaders have been killed for their faith and placed in prison. A friend of mine for the last 3 years, David Yeghnazar, is a leader at Elam Ministries. Elam is a mission focused on reaching Iran with the Gospel and they initiated and helped lead a project called 40 Days of Prayer for Iran. I have a passion for the people, and especially the church, of that controversial country so my wife and I jumped on board.

After my wife and I walked through this time of prayer, David called me one afternoon. He said he’d been listening to “Rain Down” by Martin Smith and Stuart Garrard and thought about having a song written to capture the heart of 40 Days of Prayer. I’ve learned that the church in Iran is growing fast, but this growth has come at a price with Fathers, brothers and sons martyred leaving behind wives and children. I was really humbled by his request and told him I would give it a shot.

The next day we were meeting with several leaders from the church in the Arab world in a small group setting at one of our church member’s homes. When I got to the party a few minutes early this song was on my heart. I made my way to their grand piano and immediately begin to play a chord progression that was unlike what I usually write.

I kept reviewing the chords in my head throughout the night all the while anxious to get home and type them into my laptop so I wouldn’t forget. In about 2 weeks I finally got time to sit down at my piano and try and match a melody with the chords.

When I sat down to play a melody began to come and the first words came easily.

“In a far off foreign land, Children are fathered, while brothers are martyred...”

As I continued with the verse it became evident that God was calling out to us to partner with those whose lives evidenced this ultimate walk of faith that captures my heart. Then the first chorus began to flow.

“Who will watch? Who will pray? Who will fall on their knees…”

The second half of the chorus came after contemplating the great commission and what Jesus has given us to do. After writing the first chorus, it felt like the only natural response was to answer and say “We Will”. The second verse was probably the hardest to write. Inspiration came easy on the first verse and chorus, but this one took some time to craft. I just began to consider what a call like that from Him would do in our hearts and what He might be calling us to. The Lord has been dealing with me about living a life of significance and substance. I think I have Him and John Piper’s great book, “Don’t Waste Your Life”, to thank for that. The ending line of the second verse was birthed out of a desire to in some small way live a life of sacrifice and intensity like those persecuted for their faith.

“Like those who’ve gone before, we will answer”,

The second chorus was pretty much writing itself by then. All that had to be done was to change some of the pronouns around and change out “who” for “we”. The song was flowing from my heart. Yes, I want to answer, “We Will”. Singing this for the first time was special for me. It felt as if the Lord was drawing something out of my heart that had been stirring for some time.

The bridge came at a later date. The producer I was working with to record this song, told me he felt it needed one more lift. After writing what we felt was a good bridge I spent some time in prayer and sought the advice of several friends. In many ways, my thought was that since this song came with such ease and inspiration I should just leave it alone. However, after listening through, it was evident that I needed to pursue excellence with the gift God had given me.

My encouragement for other writers would be to write from your passion and from a real place of what God is doing in your heart and life and in the life of your church. I am blessed to serve in a church filled with people who really want to do life God’s way. In my case, staying globally focused is easy as my pastor and his wife have served as missionaries and run their own mission’s organization.

What began as a song about one nation became a cry for all nations where our brothers and sisters are chasing after God through their persecution. They say in these countries that the church is built on the blood of the martyrs. My prayer is that this song would be useful in encouraging our congregations both corporately and individually to pray for these brave believers and the church family worldwide.

"Age to age He stands, and time is in His hands..." I know. I know. It's in your head now. This is a great song by Chris Tomlin called "How Great is Our God". The Parachute Band was doing this song at a concert that I was at last week and a great sense of worship filled the room. I bowed down and worshiped the Lord and heard Him speaking clearly to me. He was saying that the times of my life were in His hands. He had my timing and destiny in His hands, just as He has he held the times of the universe.

Psalms 31:15 says, "My times are in Your hands." So many times when we think of God's overall sovereignty and Him holding "time in His hands" we make it so ethereal and heavenly. While He controls the times of all things, I think we would serve ourselves well to be reminded that our personal destinies are with Him. To have something in your hands means you are in control of holding on to or releasing it.

The Bible has some awesome things to say about the hands of God.

"He fills His hands with lightning and commands it to strike it's mark." Job 36:32
"The skies declare the work of His hands." Psalms 19:1
"I sing for joy at the work of Your hands" Psalms 92:4
"In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;" Psalms 95:4-6
"The works of His hands are faithful and just..." Psalms 111:7a
"Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly."
Mark 8:25


These are the hands we are placed in. Jesus placed His life into the hands of His Father. In Luke 23:46 Jesus said" Into Your hands I commit my spirit". These are hands we can and should trust. He has said of us, "They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor," in Isaiah 60:21. Be encouraged that you are not only in His hands, but you were formed there and you were formed for the display of His splendor. Your timing and destiny are held by Him and He will release you when your time is right. Sometimes we need to just sit back, and as a friend of mine says, enjoy the ride.

A friend and mentor of mine was in town this weekend. He talked to my worship team about getting to know me and following my leadership. One of the ways he recommended doing this was by finding out what books I was reading and what was influencing my life. That started me thinking, what books would I recommend if asked? I thought I would try and come up with a list of some books, excluding the Bible, that helped shape me into who I am today. So here goes...


-The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer- I named my first dog after I got married Tozer. Nuff said.

-Glory by Ruth Ward Heflin-This book changed my understanding of worship. "Praise until the spirit of worship comes. Worship until the glory comes. Stand in the glory." I read this book 8 years ago and that phrase is as fresh today as it was back then.

-The Fear of the Lord by John Bevere-My reverence for God's presence is deeply rooted in the awe that this book helped to inspire.

-I Am & Rekindled Flame by Steve Fry-This guy is one of my favorite writers period. His understanding of worship and depth of communicating those truths is inspiring.

-Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper-This should be required reading. One of the most challenging books I've ever read. Ranks right up there with Leonard Ravenhill on the "wake up and do something with your life that matters" meter.

-Wild at Heart by John Eldredge-Saved me from being a safe Christian.

-The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning-So real. So raw. So true. I hope to one day let him know how much he means to my generation and to me. And if I ever get another dog, Brennan will be in the running for his name.


There are, of course, other books that I didn't mentioned that probably impacted me greatly, but those are the ones that I have a deep attachment to. I would love to hear what books have changed you, or your stories about any on my short list. Leave a comment and let me know, maybe next time I make this list, your recommendation will be on it. Peace.

adam

This is something I put together for our Keyboard in Worship class at our church's Summer of Worship. I thought I'd pass it along for any of you other worship leaders out there, or those who want to be. Hope you find this to be helpful. Feel free to comment with your best tips for band leaders and directors. Blessings...adam

D-Develop your own, comfortable, hand signals and cues-If you arenÂ’t comfortable giving cues, no one will be able to get them.
I-Instrumentation-Listen to music! Listen to how the parts of the bands come together for a complete sound. Train your ear to isolate other sounds and pieces of the musical puzzles.
A-Accept ownership- Walk into your setting with confidence to know what you are looking for and pray for spiritual sensitivity to lead your team in leading others into God’s presence. Prepare well and prepare for God to lead and surprise you. You must “own” the leadership, and enable others to lead out and be used by God in their callings. The Lord gives gifts to each one as He sees fit. Be prepared to support. Service is the way to successfully lead.
L-Learn how to communicate with your team members-Being able to effectively communicate with different musicians in rehearsal will greatly attribute to success at performance/worship leading time.


I-Increase your right hand strength and independence- In a band setting, your left hand has much less weight to carry as the bass player will be carrying the bottom end. Since that is the case, it is much easier to give signals with your left hand. Work to increase your ability to play with your right hand and give cues with your left.
N-Narrow your sights-After rehearsal, where your influence and attention has to be broad, narrow your sights for your worship times to the things that are necessary to direct. Concentrate only on things directly related to the worship experience. Ignore one-time wrong notes (including your own ;-), correct ongoing mistakes. Ignore one-time overplaying, correct continual overplaying or playing that distracts from the moment. Focus on where God is heading and what He is currently doing more than on technical excellence. God has a plan for your worship service and is counting on you to lead people into His presence. Narrowing your focus will allow you to concentrate on what is necessary and direct your attention to directing the band, and the people, on the journey.

This past week I have been studying the Hebrew word "tehillah" (te-heel-ah). It is defined as a new song of praise coming from the overflow of your heart. I had the opportunity to practice and teach this to our 4 year olds through 5th graders and to share this in our Sunday morning service.

The power of "tehillah" in my mind is that it offers everyone the opportunity to use music as the medium for their expression to God. As a songwriter, I strive to write lyrics that capture my own, and hopefully others, adoration/need for God. So I value highly great worship songs, but it seems that "tehillah" offers each one of us the opportunity to bypass someone else's creativity and find our own song of love for our Creator. The power and effectiveness of this song I think would be much like when your child begins to express love on their own terms. We teach our kids phrases like, "I love you", "You're the Best" and that sort of thing. But when your child breaks out the first "on their own" expression of love it means much more than parroted phrases. I remember my son saying "I love you big as the town". It was like he was trying to in his own way, quantify and express his heart of love for me. I'm not saying it affects God this way, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did. I wonder if He looks down with delight and smiles on His children's attempts to quantify and express their hearts of loves for Him on their own. Not just singing words on a screen, even great words:-) just letting their heart overflow with praise for who He is. One great example on the use of this word can be found in 2nd Chronicles 20.

May God overflow your heart with a "tehillah" praise and may you make a melody just for Him.