I have a friend that lives in the mountains of Mexico and he text (or texts) like we do in the U.S., using texting shortcuts. I am in the process of learning Spanish and he isn’t helping at all. Not only do I have to figure out what the Spanish phrases mean (and by the way he doesn’t use periods) but I have to decipher “dtb” and “t” and “jeje” and many others.

But I guess the fact that he feels comfortable enough to communicate naturally, like he would with anyone else, is pretty cool –and for that I am greatly appreciative.

I think sometimes I look at other cultures and countries with so much mystery that I forget that deep down inside they are just like us. The language is different and even some of the everyday struggles are different but we all have a need to communicate as effectively as possible.

God has blessed me with some great Latino friends here in South Carolina as well and I look forward to church on Sunday where I get to spend time not only playing the guitar but worshipping with a culture that is different than mine. I am not just learning to appreciate the differences…I actually enjoy them. It is the differences between them and I that make it the most fun. I laugh at them when they say something ridiculous in English and they laugh at me when I say anything at all in Spanish.

But at the end of the day, it is what’s on the inside that counts. And what’s inside all of us at that little Hispanic Church service is a desire to worship the one, true, God that created all of us and put us on this planet for a reason……no matter what language we speak.

royb

With a group from Radius Church, I recently went to a part of Mexico that I’ve never been. We flew into Mexico City and drove 4+ hours to Rio Blanco and then an hour or so up the mountain to Atlahuilco, where we stayed each night for the remainder of the week. To say it was green and had many trees and farms would be an understatement. The parts of Mexico that I’ve visited in the past were in the far north and looked nothing like this, they were flat and barren in comparison.

But, from the get-go it started to grow on me and I ended up taking nearly a thousand pictures. And out of those thousand or so I chose four to share with you; these four were some of my favorites –as an aside, the main title picture at the top of the blog is also from that trip. Each one of these four pictures are from a different town in the area –Atlahuilco, Tepepa, Tequila and Xoxocotla.

This particular short-term missions trip was different from any of the others I’ve been a part of. We were there strictly as an evangelism team and from day to day our individual roles changed. Depending on the weather (rain, rain and more rain) and the amount of people in the towns, we may be going door-to-door or playing soccer in the town square for three hours. Each morning we split up into different teams and boarded a bus, knowing only one thing: today we would be sharing the love of Christ with people –where, when and with whom, was the unknown part.

If you’ve read any of my previous posts or my “about’ page then you know I have a heart, or a weakness, for playing the guitar. I take my guitar to every country I go to and pray that God will allow me to find like-hearted people to worship with. I played my guitar on this trip more than I ever have. We woke up playing, played on the bus to the town, played on the bus home from the town and then played again at night. We played for hours every day and it was great. I help lead worship at a Hispanic church in S.C. and I was able to bring back a whole bunch of new songs to play here in the states.

What I brought back from this trip was a sense of fulfillment; like I had been training for something that finally came to fruition. I felt more at home fumbling through Spanish and playing the guitar in the mountains of Mexico then I do at any church here in S.C. For the past year and a half I’ve been learning Spanish worship songs and the Spanish language, and for 8 straight days I was totally immersed in it. And I felt more comfortable then I could have imagined.

I don’t think the comfort I felt was because the churches I attend here are not any good, but it was because God has called me to be a part of a specific type of ministry and this trip allowed me to do what I I’ve been training to do.

Thanks for reading,

Roy Bauer

But….

Last night, while playing at the Hispanic ministry I help with, someone heard me playing that song (during prayer time) and asked me if that was such and such a song? He said it sounded like one he knew, and in fact, he had the chord sheet and words for it with him. After seeing the title and thinking back, it was the song. I played the song a couple of times years back when we were preparing to go to Panama for a Missions trip.

The song?  “Yo Te Busco”, which means I Search for You.

Irony or Divine Providence?

I had the privilege of going to a Hispanic church on Friday night. I say privilege because I was blessed to be there. Someone I consider a friend is the pastor and I hadn’t been to visit his church in a number of years. From the moment the service started, there wasn’t a word of English spoken and it was great. Why? because I was able to see God move even though I was outside of my comfort zone. I understand enough Spanish to get the gist of the songs and the sermon, but I by no means speak Spanish. What did I hear? The bass was too loud, there were no words to any of the songs (not on the screen or in a book), the Pastor couldn’t be heard while praying because the keyboard player was too loud and the singers were off key sometimes. And you know what? It was perfect. I looked around and saw people worshiping God with everything they had. I heard the guy next to me singing every word because he apparently had been there so many times he had them memorized. I watched the keyboard player lead worship with a warm and inviting smile that came from a heart overflowing with love for God. I heard a wonderful sound being lifted up to God despite things that could distract people like me. Don’t get me wrong, the musicians and singers were very talented and the worship was great, but if they had been playing at most of our churches, we’d have spent more time trying to fix the “sound” then we did actually worshipping.

We all need to get out of our comfort zone sometimes. We need a healthy dose of reality. Our normal church home can become a box that we get trapped in. If you feel yourself starting to get frustrated with worship, go to a worship service at a homeless shelter. If you have forgotten how to minister to people who aren’t like you, volunteer at a soup kitchen for a night. If you don’t feel like you are making a difference in someone’s life, begin mentoring a child or work with people at an assisted living facility.

David strived for excellence in worship. He used only trained and skilled musicians. He handmade instruments for them to use. But he never forgot what was most important. How do I know? Because despite all of his years of musical training, David still danced in his underwear before God and all of his people.

Luke 6:45 says, “…For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” I also believe that it is out of the overflow of our heart that we worship.

What is in your heart?

If you’ve been on the market for something different, try Kutlesss. Some of their songs are a little hard, but some aren’t. They also have some awesome acoustical songs on there.

This video is Strong Tower, enjoy.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NawddLbdqLA

Try it, you may like it.

royb

(verse 1)

Your word’s like a fire
Burning in my soul
Burn up the dross
Bring forth the gold

(verse 2)
You feel like a fire shut up in my bones
Consume me Lord
Make me Your own

For whatever reason, my personal worship time leans towards Messianic worship songs. I don’t know if it’s the words or the rhythm, but it stirs something in me that other types of music can’t.

And one of the most well known Messianic worship leaders is Paul Wilbur, who has been putting out great music for more than 20 years. He has a distinctive style and while I don’t necessarily like all of it, some of it is fantastic and I can’t get enough.

One the songs that I enjoy playing and worshiping to is Burn In Me. It is from his Holy Fire album released in ‘97. If you’ve never had the opportunity to hear Messianic music, this is a good place to start. The song is easy to follow, has a driving rhythm and very powerful lyrics. I have had the privilege of hearing and playing with some very anointed Messianic worship leaders, both here and abroad, and there is just something (I keep saying that) about that style of music.

Whether you are leading a congregation or just playing for and audience of One, Burn In me is powerful and should be in your repertoire.

We have all we need in You

And all we need is You

All we need is You

Simple Lyrics but a powerful song. All We Need, by Charlie Hall, came out a few years ago but has become one of my favorite worship songs of late. Like a Hallmark card, All We Need says something I feel but in a more eloquent way. If you have it, listen to it with a renewed energy. If you don’t have it, get it.

For free chord charts of Charlie Hall’s music check out his website, www.charliehall.com

What are your favorite worship songs? Let me know what they are.

The least known of these four is Charlie Hall. Even his iTunes page is less glamorous than the other three. His music is somewhat different than the others, more edgy. It is more from the soul, from inside. On his music he says he desires to be:

“honed into God, where I’m not part of a culture where I’m trying to make the people around me think, ‘Hey, that’s a good Christian.’ I’m just trying to pursue God and not pursue being accepted into a club…I’m more honed into my pursuit of God in Christ and how he’s forming me and changing and helping me love him and know him.” (from his wikipedia page)

In an interview with Matt Conner from Soul-Audio.com, Charlie Hall talks about his style of music:

I’ve just never been satisfied with singing something normal, or maybe I should say singing it in a normal way. I’ve always wanted to find words and turns that feel different as well as making normal words really come to life. So I just dig for that stuff, which is why I think it takes me longer to create a record. I want life to happen and I’m trying to process it with God and then really say some strong things in terms of prayer and life and adoration back to Him that would really be an authentic experience and have that be authentic for those that hear it as well.

Read these lyrics from the last verse and chorus of his song, Hookers and Robbers:

Who could accept all your pounding and screaming
Your raging, your freaking, cussing, and beating
All while He holds you and always forgiving
This is the story of love and of living
So wipe off your tears and laugh just a little
Come break this Bread, celebrate the Forgiver
Raise up a glass, a time to remember
Come break this Bread, celebrate the Forgiver

Chorus
Come as you are, as you are, as you are.
Come as you are, as you are, as you are.

There are thousands of gifted and anointed worship leaders out there, some are famous and some aren’t, but Charlie Hall is a voice that is over-flowing with compassion and love that can only come from our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Check out his newest album, Bright Sadness.

This a raw, unedited recording of “Trouble Won’t Go”, off of Enter The Worship Circle: Fourth Circle. You can listen to the rest of it and/or buy it here. You can download the mp3′s or order the disk.

Enter The Worship Circle is straight from the heart, folk, worship music good. It is a group of talented musicians who worship acoustically and most often, spontaneously. Enjoy.

After it is over, click on others. Some of them are interviews with the team.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuuOK7Y_iYM

Worship songs used to be a big involved ordeal. Songs were only written by those who had a penchant for writing and were coming out of only certain places. Today, worship songs are coming from everyone and everywhere. It seems, more so than ever, worship has grasped an entire generation or two. Where before you had congregations listening to giant choirs sing beautiful hymns written long ago, you now have congregations singing worship songs that very well could have been written by someone sitting near by.

Sometimes the “modern” worship songs are made fun of because they consist of only 3 chords. They are accused of being dumbed down musically to accommodate very mediocre musicians. It is brought out that the old hymns were difficult and required great skill at the piano or organ. That is true, I’ve seen the sheet music for a lot of them and I am impressed. But the problem is they can only be played by those who are very gifted musically. Modern worship music may be simpler to play but it opens itself up to a much greater percentage of people to play.

There seems to be a heart or pulse of worship going on. It isn’t relegated to a select few uber musicians, but is being brought forth by the multitudes. Worship songs and conferences are literally springing up everywhere, in every country. There is no way worship could have come from some of these places or countries a hundred years ago. But because of the simple 3-chord music you can have true heart-felt worship just about anytime and anyplace. All you need is an acoustic guitar or a keyboard.

I know music purists see this as a bad sign for musicians because they aren’t learning theory and stuff. But what they are learning may be more important; how to express their heart for God through song, no matter how simple.

I’m not implying that there has to be music in order to worship God, nor am I saying that the worship a 100 years ago was any less heart-felt. What I am saying is that God is doing something today through music that hasn’t been done before. He is using common, ordinary musicians and prayer leaders to lead the way in praising and honoring our God.

Look at even 10 years ago. All of the new music was coming out of the big record labels but now, churches are becoming their own label and recording music. It is harder than ever to keep up with what is new because there are hundreds of places and countries it is coming from.

I think that is encouraging and we need to grab hold of it and not let that heart of worship die. I know we all have that special “hymn” that we love, but don’t miss the forest for the trees. Don’t ignore what God is doing today, because He is up to something, and we need to join in.

So to answer the question of whether any “modern” worship songs will be around in 20 years, I’ll have to say yes, but not in the way you think. I believe the heart of the songs will be there; the pure, unadulterated, straight from the depth of their soul, worship will survive. At least for our sake, I hope so.