I’m a life-long Presbyterian. (Well, except for the first couple of years when I belonged to a Congregational church, which then merged with a Presbyterian church.) I grew up with the organ and hymns and traditional worship.
And then I went to camp.
Camp Calvin Crest, outside Fremont, Nebraska. The first year I went to WAM Camp (Worship, Arts, and Music). They sent us out with cameras to take photographs, and then did a slideshow of them during worship to “Morning Has Broken.” We sang camp songs around a campfire with a guitar accompaniment. And my love for “contemporary worship” began (although we can’t call it that).
In college I went to the Compline service, which was Wednesday nights at 10pm, with candles, and guitar music, and darkness. In seminary at Friday worship everyone gathered in the chancel as we received communion by intinction and sang “Let Us Break Bread Together.”
My first call was in a small, traditional congregation. My second call was as associate in a larger church. Several years into that call we started an alternative worship service on Sunday evenings. We had a projector and a band and moveable chairs. And people expected us to do things differently. Doing another worship service, especially an alternative service, was a ton of extra work, but I loved it. I learned so much about what to do and what not to do. I learned the technology. I learned the songs. I learned where to find the resources. I worked with a worship design team. But we never got that many people to attend, so we stopped having it. A few years later I left the church. When they were re-doing the chapel they put in an automatic screen and projector. I helped plant the seeds, but I was sorry I didn’t get to enjoy the fruits.
For a break, I worked at Starbucks for a couple of years and did pulpit supply, sharing alternative worship with other churches.
Now I’m again at a small, traditional church in rural Iowa. We have traditional worship with the organ and the hymnbook and printed prayers. But every once in a while we add a creative element to worship, sometimes high-tech and sometimes low-tech. We’ll continue to add fresh elements to worship so that we can all worship and experience God in a powerful way.
Not only do I love to lead creative/alternative/contemporary/emerging/fresh worship, but I love to teach it. I hope this blog can be a place where I can share my experience and knowledge, and you can ask questions and share your experience and knowledge, as well.
