Blogs By Benjamin

To truly worship God, one must properly define worship. Bob Kauflin describes worship in "The Bethlehem Conversation". He begins by pointing out that worship is not only a spiritual thing. All people choose to exalt something higher than themselves because they believe it will bring them satisfaction, whether it be reputation, money, or other people. Spiritual worship, however, is directed towards God. It is the believer's response to the grace of God poured out. Kauflin mentions Hebrews 13 and Romans 12 where it equates worship to the sacrifice of ourselves to the Lord whether it be in the form of time, desires, or money. He emphasizes the need to stray away from the limited definition of worship which pertains only to music, and to live in the truth of true Biblical worship. We worship to exalt Christ's name. In Phillipians chapter 1, Paul describes his eagerness to exalt Christ's name regardless of in "death or life". In order to truly worship our Hea...

Paul Baloche highlights the importance of dynamics and arranging in this episode of his Worship Band Workshop. He defines dynamics as the "energy range" of the song, which often peaks at the chorus and rescinds at the verses and bridges. The challenge for the worship leader is to play expressively and precisely so that these changes in energy are distinctive and effective. In relation to timing, however, Baloche makes it clear that changes in dynamics should never change timing. The "steel rod" that is the timing of a song remains firm and steady amidst changes in dynamics. Baloche also makes an interesting point about "restraint". Often times, each member of the band has to demonstrate this so that one person/instrument doesn't dominate the song, but rather there is a cohesive flow to it. Dynamics is like telling a story. I like how Baloche uses the analogy of a mountain, but I'd even go as far as comparing dynamics to a plot hill. Perhaps the beg...