A Waste Of Time
This was quoted of my churches Ladies and Gentlemen opener…
I wonder if there is a better use for it, than a church service. It seems such a waste to me.
I would disagree. I can not think of anywhere where it would be put to better use than a church service. Anywhere else you are drawing people into something other than God.
After something like that you that we have found that people are drawn so close into your service that everything they hear from then on out is 100 times louder..
It is an opener. The purpose of an opener is not always to have a time of worship. It is to draw people in. Once they are close, in, tight, then their worship is that much louder.
And yea. The crowd did not know what to do when it was over. There is nothing better than throwing a fastball in traditions face.
This is why there are different churches for different peeps.
Just wait and see what we have coming soon.
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
Los,
I’m with you brother. I just watched the Ladies and Gentlemen opener and, with my understanding of the context, was primed for a message even though I was just sitting at my desk. If I lived within 50 miles of you guys, I’d be there on Sunday. Keep up the amazing and engaging work!
- Brandon
i’ve seen a lot of church openers… and i don’t think i’ve EVER seen a better one than the “Ladies and Gentleman” opener. totally relevant. particularly because of the series and what it was all about. this opener melted my face off. and yeah, if i didn’t leave in kansas… i’d be there and i would have been at every service.
What was the series about?
The series was called Illusions and all the media had a theme of a magic show…hence the “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the show”
pretty powerful opening. Sounds like it tied in well with the series. Would never fly at my church. But we’re working on that…
Thanks for moving forward…past tradition.
I watched the video a while back when you first posted it and I still can’t get it out of my head.
I live in San Antonio and had that video and intensity of an opening makes me long to live in Atlanta.
Also I can’t help but think of it everytime I see the Playstation commerical.
back when you first posted the video, I showed it to some others on staff at our church (I LOVE THIS STUFF). as i figured, it was almost split right down the middle – 4 or 5 loved it and 4 or 5 looked at me like i needed to be horse-collared and just walked away.
then, i showed them the 10B4 clips, and they were in awe.
I’m with Trevor – when I see the commercial I think of this video.
It’s hard to really get a sense of why you guys used the video without knowing the context of the rest of the service but I trust that you guys know what you are doing and that it set up the rest of the morning really well.
The opener was off the charts!
When you are ministering to this generation the first thing you have to do is find some common ground. When outsiders come in and hear a song that they know and love from the radio it allows them to join in to the experience.
They let their guard down, and that is when the Holy Spirit does a flying roundhouse kick straight to the heart!
Jesus used his saliva and mixed it with dirt to heal a man’s eyes. Los used the band saliva and mixed it with faith to create an awesome worship experience.
Keep it up, Los!
I seem to remember making a comment that was similar to this (or maybe I just thought it?) on your YouTube comment page for the vid. It wasn’t there, so maybe it was deleted (sorry, Los, wasn’t intending on being offensive or controversial).
If it was my comment, or whether I just thought it in my head, my thinking was that I thought it was strange that in all aspects of the production there was nothing related to God (that I could see).
I think I felt that it would have appeared to be a bit more appropriate (to me) if the accompanying video, surrounding the performance presented symbols/words of/from Christ.
Believe me, I am not a stickler for this kind of stuff (and generally, as a member of the worship team of my church, I get bothered when we present what we feel is a very God-focused worship, but still have a few members of the congregation who make some kind of complaint — the last complaint, fyi, was an older member of the congregation was upset that a few worship team members were drinking coffee before the service)… I am probably one of the most “liberal-minded” Christians you are likely to meet… it was just a thought I had as I was watching the vid.
Keep in mind that (let me admit here that I am a late 30 something and therefore becoming more and more unhip by the second) I had never heard the song before, so I suppose I was expecting Christ/God references.
I thought the production was incredible… but I was pumped up for more music after watching, and not necessarily the Word. That is all I was thinking.
Ultimately, I was thinking this would be an awesome start for a night of exclusively worship music, which is what I meant when saying (if this was me, lol) “I wonder if there is a better use for it.”
Peace, Los, and keep on keeping on!
if you were trying to make statement…you made it.
Takes some nuggets to have the vison to put that in. Got to think outside of the box, that’s where the people you are trying to reach are, RIGHT?
I thought it was stupid
I thought it was stupid. No i didnt
Maybe, it’s my mood but I have been on the opposite side of quite a few post lately.
It seems like one is stepping on sketchy ground when one thinks that anything other than God’s Spirit brings one into worship.
To me that quote may be true when we are talking about a concert, or a sporting event and we replace the word “worship” with noise, but I see worship differently. I see worship as our response to who God is and what He has done in our lives, not a response to a “cool” idea some creative team has done.
I really get worried when I hear about committees formed at churches in my area to figure out what they can do to increase numbers. We can do Nothing. Nothing we do is attractive. Christ is attractive. When he is lifted up, we are drawn to Him, and as a result together. I think anything we try to do stinks up the attractive aroma of Christ that Paul talks about.
Sorry that last comment was intended to be anonymous, its was me, Tim, http://www.truthisntsexy.com
*not to be anonymous
If you think that God’s spirit can only be brought into worship by Christian songs, you’re boxing God in.
Can you imagine if there was a first time visitor that day? We’ll call him Dan. He’s 22, in college, and he was at Buckhead for the first time when they did that opener. He’s not a churchy guy, but maybe his girlfriend’s parents were in town and she asked him to go, so he tagged along (she told him he could wear jeans…that was the kicker). Now every time he hears that song on the radio, he thinks about what happened that morning, what he heard and how he felt.
It brought his guard down at church, and now it reminds him of the message every time he hears it.
Isn’t that hijacking culture and using it for God’s glory? Isn’t that worth a high five??!!
Yea. Tim. If you think God only lives in “worship music” written by guys as screwed up as Saliva you are wrong. No one said that Ladies and Gentlemen was a worship song. It wasn’t.
It was a song that “Dan” and “Carlos” got into and let it be what it was.
A song.
I totally agree Los. In just WATCHING it, I was drawn in closer. In fact, I went and listened to the podcast of the sermon from that morning.
Keep it up man, you’re doing great work.
Be encouraged.
So, I think I did a poor job at conveying what I was meaning, as it seems that Los and Emily both missed what I was saying. Maybe it was because it was late or maybe it was because it was the end of my first week back to school, or quite maybe it was because I, if I dare say, questioned Los
.
With that said, I did not say anything about the music, type of music, or whether or not it was “christian”. I don’t believe I have used the phrase “worship music” in years. I got no problem with that song being played in a church. I actually dig it. I have had many spiritual moments in places and or songs that I don’t believe were ever intended to bring me close to God. God and His Spirit work in mysterious ways.
Los, I would have left it a song as I didn’t have a problem with it nor did I comment on the original posting of it. It was merely the statement in the post I was questioning. (I used some HTML, “blockquote”, to make it stand out, however it didn’t seem to do anything.) The statement I quoted was “It is to draw people in. Once they are close, in, tight, then their worship is that much louder.” My only point was that I just don’t believe that anything we do has an outcome on our worship. We lift His name up, and He does the rest.
So in closing, Do I believe God can use that song to bring people into Worship, “Yes”. Do I believe that someone choosing a cool opener for a service automatically results in us being brought into worship, “No”.
Tim – I’m kinda hoping you were joking with the “because I questioned Los” part. I’ve been around this blog for a while, and have at times disagreed with Los, and have found that differing thoughts and opinions are usually welcomed and respected.
I think they may have misunderstood your post because the vibe of it seemed to lead one in the direction of Christian or Worship music. But regardless, I still have to disagree with some of what you said.
I think most of us here would agree that only God’s spirit ultimately brings people to that place of facedown worship. But it goes way too far, in my opinion, to say that nothing “we do has an outcome on our worship.” The fact is, God uses us to do that. Otherwise, why put any effort at all into how we present our worship. And where is the line of what we do and don’t do? Should we stop using video projectors and go back to transparencies? Or are projectors ok when we don’t use video backgrounds, because those are trying too much to be “attractional.”
I understand that a cool opener doesn’t “automatically” bring people into worship. NOTHING “automatically” brings people into worship. Let’s be honest…there’s been times where God’s presence is thick in a room for everybody but me, and I resist even Him drawing me into worship. But I would go so far as to say that a cool opener can draw many into worship. In our human state it creates an atmosphere that opens us up or allows us to focus more fully on Christ.
so I am sarcastic about the question Los, but here are my thoughts…
Here is what I mean in clean and concise language so that nothing said here will get twisted.
Worship is our response to God. God can use whatever he wants to bring about it. Nothing we can do will either help or hinder that process. And if I may use scripture to provide some context;
Acts 17:25
25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
ohhh, one last thing.
I am not for transparencies, they are of the devil too. I think we should sing only from a hymnal and the only translation that should be used to read the word is the King James.
Not sure where you saw in my argument that I was against the means of expression in anyway. My only argument was against the statement “It is to draw people in. Once they are close, in, tight, then their worship is that much louder.”
Must I say it again, I liked the video. I got no problem with them playing that in my church either. Heck they could play Coldplay for all I care. I was only questioning that one statement.
All I can say is that I was there that day, I’m soon to be a 40-something guy, and that me & the 60-something gentleman next to me were rockin’ out to this opening. Totally primed us for the message. Well done, LosWhit. Well done.
That’s fair Tim. I’ll just leave it at agreeing to disagree. We agree that the song was sweet. We disagree on the statement Los made. In this case, I choose to agree with him. That opener has the ability to draw people in, and to prepare them in a way that they will worship even louder. Hopefully that speaks directly to the statement you disagree with.
I guess I thought all the other stuff you wrote and we were responding to had to do with why you felt that way.
I didn’t suggest that YOU wanted transparencies. Just asking where the line is of what we should or shouldn’t do if we have nothing to do with drawing people in, close, tight. I don’t know about you, but that’s the only reason I do all the things I do. To draw people in, close, tight, so their worship will be amplified. Creating an atmosphere that breaks down the walls around people so they are more open to God’s spirit and their worship becomes that much louder.
Did I twist anything? Was that too far away from that one statement?
I was there, and it was one of the best (if not the best) performances I have ever seen at Buckhead Church. Loved it. Hands down.