simple songs at a high skill level . And that ' s how we pull off 23 locations for service . But then , you come into what we would call these heightened music events , Christmas , Easter , and music specials , then there ' s a little bit of a place to stretch out .
And a lot of times that ' s because that particular music piece does not have to be performed at 23 locations . It can be performed at one location and then streamed out to all the other locations via video . And that ' s an opportunity for your higher-level kind of musicians to explore some different areas .
Regarding the song you ' re referring to , “ Carol of the Bells ”, yes , that was an opportunity to provide a wow factor . And we thought the ability to start the song with acoustic instruments and then cross over to the electric guitar kind of halfway through and create that imagery . That was for a streamed element that is piped out to every case .
[ WM ] And your arrangement of “ Away in a Manger ” is breathtaking . It gave me goosebumps . Tell us about it .
[ Chris ] Yeah . Again , we ' re a very diverse church . We are constantly thinking about the attender that ' s coming into the church and we are looking for ways to resonate with black , white , young , old , and all the different demographics . And so , that was kind of a gospel feature last year . And we love harmony . Our entire goal with music is literally focused at this .
Away in a Manger
We want to try to do something that could prepare your heart to hear the message , and then increase your relationship with the Lord . That ' s our whole goal . Usually , the music comes before the message . We ' re thinking of , how can we reach as many people as possible through music to prepare their hearts , to hear the message . And so , that song was just another way to do that .
[ WM ] Church of the Highlands is blessed with some exceptional vocal , instrumental , technical , and artistic leadership talent . The vocal on the song “ Control ” is superb ! You ’ re on a “ long leash ” as I say . Many worship teams are not so fortunate to have that extended freedom . What can you tell us about this ?
[ Chris ] You bring up an interesting segue , which is the song , “ Control ”. Our church is based on prayer . We have two , 21 Day of Prayer , experiences that we do in every year , in August and January , from 6:00 to 7:00