[WM] Worship Influencer Buyer's Guide 2023 | Page 22

“ Maybe your next album should be a worship album ?”

Then , soon after PC3 broke up , I found myself playing bass guitar in a later incarnation of Sonicflood - a band that was called a “ worship band ”, recording and performing “ worship songs ” to give people a “ worship experience ”. In fact , Sonicflood was known as being one of the bands that “ broke the modern worship phenomenon ”. The “ forefathers of the worship revival .”

All that got me thinking - a lot - and seeking God about what it means to worship Him . Not only what it means to worship God , but also , what role music should play in The Church - in the lives of Believers . All that is what prepared me for what was next .

[ WM ] When did you see a need for what you are offering right now ? Tell us about the resource ( s ) you provide others in the worship community ?

[ Grant ] More Than Music Mentor - the training I do for worshipping musicians - was birthed out of a great need I saw . It seemed to me that there was a lot of confusion - even disagreement and , dare I say , ignorance - within the Christian Church about two hugely important issues :

• What ’ s the purpose of music in our Church gatherings ?

• What does it mean to worship God ? This at least in part , I believe , was brought on by the blurring of the distinction between musical performance and music for congregational singing that had been happening ( as far as I had observed ) since the late 1990s - since the “ modern worship revival ”. Or maybe the blurring of the lines was a symptom ( rather than a cause ) of a far deeper cultural and heart issue . I wasn ’ t sure . I ’ m still not sure .

I saw these changes happening while I was there and professionally involved . I had been on both sides of of the CCM coin : the “ listen to this song ” side ( with PC3 ) and the “ sing this song to God ” side ( with Sonicflood ). I watched as the word “ worship ” became more of an industry term - an adjective to describe a particular genre of music and a type of artist - rather than a verb to describe how a Follower of Jesus responds to all that God is in every aspect of life . ( Romans 12:1 )

I feel - in part - personally responsible for some of this . More Than Music Mentor was birthed out of , what I believe , is a prophetic call on my life from God to help bring clarity : To bring a fresh-yet-ancient perspective to worship . To reverse some of the confusion that , as a pro CCM musician , I may have helped create .

I believe that musical performance can be used to show the worth of ( ie . worship ) God . I also believe that we should invite our church congregations to sing together to show the worth of ( ie . worship ) God . I ’ m a BIG believer in the value of both ! But the problem I saw was when regular Sunday morning “ worship teams ” inadvertently copied a lot of what they saw and heard from “ worship artists ” who were quickly gaining popularity and exerting more influence on Sunday services . I saw more and more regular Sunday teams making ( or trying to make ) “ performance-like ” choices and leaving their congregations struggling to sing along .

It ’ s clear to me that we who are tasked with leading our regular Sunday morning congregation to worship God through songs should be making different vocal , instrumental , and technical choices from the recording , touring , pro “ worship artists ” that inspire us . If we don ’ t , our congregations will struggle , or even resist singing worshipfully to God . What works well in the “ worship artist ’ s ” context may not - or probably won ’ t - work in ours .

When I finished playing bass with Sonicflood in early 2008 , I had a strong sense that God wanted to do more through me than what I could do by just playing bass . Initially I just started accepting bookings as a guest speaker