Worship Music around the Globe

For us who live in the US its very easy to form the misconception that the center of the Worship music world is right here in America. The reality is that some of the most talented Worship bands on the rise are from all over the world.

Check out Hillsong (Australia) and Delirious?(UK)


And then there is Tree63 (South Africa)


For Worship Leaders and Worship enthusiasts its important to stay on top of these bands and other emerging talent that have so much to offer the Worship music community.

More about Hillsong (click here)
More about Delirious? (click here)
More about Tree63 (click here)

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Doxas Dialos: Episode 003 - Is Modern Worship Musical Mush?

Once again Dave, Jeff, and Jon come together to discuss relevant issues in the world of Worship Music and have some fun along the way. Shout outs go to Liz, Executive Man Brand, Steve Garrett, Pastor Dave, and Something like Silas. They also take some time to sample some of the hottest Gospel Music coming out of South Africa with the Soweto Gospel Choir. Finally, they tackle Chuck Colson’s indictment against modern Worship music that he claims is nothing more then musical mush. It gets pretty heated but all sides come together in the end to agree on some fundamental truths about Worship music.

Download Episode 003 (.mp3)

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Worship for the Nations

Christ for the Nations Institute has a rich and extensive history in the realm of Musical Worship. Even though they are first and foremost a Bible College, they have many Alumni that have gone on to minister through Worship music.

"Alumni include Marty Nystrom, a major figure in contemporary Christian music who wrote his much-loved Christian song 'As the Deer'... Sondra Corbett Wood, whose compositions include the widely performed 'I Worship You Almighty God,'...So did Nicole C. Mullen, who has sung in Billy Graham's crusades and done her own recordings. Yet another alum, Ana Paula Valadao Bessa, is one the most popular singers in Brazil – Christian or secular. The Jonas Brothers, a teen trio, are the sons of Kevin Jonas, a former worship leader at Christ for the Nations." Dallas Morning News

With new schools focused on Worship and the performance of Worship music popping up all over the World, it's important to recognize an institute that's been doing it for awhile. Its exciting to witness the new levels of creativity and excellence that have followed these schools of Worship who are not only focused on execution but who have emphasized the true attitude and heart of leading God's children in Worship.

More about Christ for The Nations (click here)
One of the 'New Schools' of Worship (click here)

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If you needed any more Proof...

For those of you who don't believe that Worship music is in the midst of a popularity surge, just check out this article:

"sixstepsrecords' ninth Passion project, Passion: Everything Glorious, released April 4 to wide critical acclaim and became an immediate best seller. Recording the highest street week sales ever for a Passion recording, the album claimed the No. 1 position on the SoundScan Christian Retail sales chart. The album also landed at No. 69 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart and became the second highest full album debut in the history of EMI CMG digital releases."top40-charts.com

Get the rest of the scoop (click here)

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Doxas Dialos: Episode 002 - Sins of a Worship Leader

Welcome to another week of Doxas Dialos. This week we give a shout out to our MySpace friends Gia Lucid, Relevant, Chris Tomlin, Tom Curren, Lauren James, and Phil Wickham, we sample the amazing Worship music of ‘The Bridge Band’, and we spend some time discussing the unique spiritual and moral challenges that Worship Leaders/Musicians face in their very public positions.

Download Episode 002 (.mp3)

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Youth Find Their Form of Worship in the Cayman Islands

Recently the Christian Youth of the Cayman Islands gathered together to Worship the Lord in the best way they knew how. There was definitely Worship music present, but the music was playing support act for the vibrant and Worshipful dancing on center stage.

"The first group to perform was a worship dance group from the New Testament Church of God, called ‘Expressions of Praise’. Using dance, they interpreted the gospel song, ‘Always.’ Seventeen-year old group leader, Kimone Fraser, explained why she felt it was a good idea to form a dance group for worship: 'In church everyone is trying to find a role to play.'

'Not everyone can sing; I realized that my form of worship is dance,' she said. 'We chose the song ‘Always,’ to dance to because it is like you are making a promise to God. ‘Always’ means that no matter what we are going through or what He is bringing us through He is our everything, and we’ll spend our ‘always’ with Him,' she said.

Next came the worship dance group from Elmslie Memorial United Church, who danced using brightly coloured scarves as streamers as they interpreted the song, ‘I can only imagine.’ Dance group leader, Lyn Ramoon, said: 'We use the scarves as a way of being led by the Holy Spirit in interpreting the words and music of the song. The different colours express the beauty of God shining in and through us.' Explaining why dance was such an important aspect of worship, she added: 'Psalm 150 is the main scripture that tells us to praise God through dance. I believe that dance was created by and for God. We want to be able to thank God for all He has done for us." The Cayman Net News

Its refreshing to see people so abandoned in thier Worship, using thier whole being to glorify the Lord who obviously means so much to them. Its interesting to juxtapose this vibrant Worship service with those found in most Church's across the U.S. How many concerts/services have you been to where people were so into what they were singing that they couldn't sit still? It defenitely happens but I would stick my neck out and say its not common. Why not? Why have we become so rigid in Worship?"

Cayman Net News Article: Worship Music brings the Caymans together

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Chuck no Likie Kelly

Back in February the prolific theologian Chuck Colson wrote a critical article on modern Worship music entitled 'Musical Mush'. Admitting that he is partial to hymns, Chuck takes specific issue with the Worship song 'Draw Me Close to You' by Kelly Carpenter, pointing out what he calls a total lack of Theological value. He then goes on to make the argument that Worship written for the church today has become more entertainment then Worship. He's worried that this emotional Worship music is replacing all intellect in the church, while he quickly notes that one of his radio shows was dropped by a radio station in order to make room for more Worship music.

Read his original article (here).
Hear the radio reading of the article (here).

Evidently there was a lot of backlash from the radio stations that distribute some of his audio teachings. It seems they didn't appreciate the fact that he was degrading their most popular music format, Worship music. In a small step to appease these distributors Chuck 'clarifies' the situation with an apology letter.

Read his apology letter (here)

Now I respect Chuck Colson and his opinion, but I totally disagree with his conclusions on modern Worship music and his attitude toward Worship styles outside his traditional experience. Obviously this is a debate that has been going on for some years and is a primary reason that this entire Blog is devoted to the defense and promotion of all styles of true Worship music. While Chuck apologizes to the Christian Broadcasters for offending them, in a not to discreet move to prevent his programing from being pulled any further, he never apologizes for his indictment of modern Worship music and his accusations against the sincere Christians who perform and write it. In the end Chuck is entitled to have his opinion and even preferences in the style of Worship music he practices, but he must also acknowledge that his preferences and opinions are based on his personal taste, aesthetic inclination, and not on established theological or biblical truth.

More about Chuck (here)

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Doxas Dialos: Episode 001 - Protholics and Catestants

Jeff, Jon, and I give shout outs to some of our Myspace friends (maybe you), sample the up and coming Worship artist David Childs, and really dissect the influence that different worship styles and denominations have on each other. If you love Worship music and care about where its going, you need to listen (dont miss the bonus song at the end).

Download Episode 001 (.mp3)

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Shut up! Shut up! Just shut up!

By Jon Carlson of Club Worship

"Shut up! Shut up! Just shut up!"
What would you do if someone stormed in during your church's worship service, shouting that at the top of his lungs? Would you try to silence him? Would the worship team just crank it up a notch, trying to drown him out? Would you let him take the pulpit? What if he said something like this: "Thus Saith the Lord! 'I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice offerings I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your guitars. Is this the kind of worship I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a church service, a day acceptable to the LORD?'"
Maybe now you'd start to sit up and take notice. What if this walking interruption continued, proclaiming something like this: "Is not this the kind of worship I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? You hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth. You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain (or make your sneakers.) But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"
What would your response be? In case you're wondering, those quotes are taken almost directly from Amos 5 and Isaiah 58.
I don't think I would get much opposition if I made a statement to the effect of this: God's highest purpose for your life is that you would worship him. God created humans solely to receive their worship. We were created for God's pleasure. We would all agree with that, right?
So how intense, how zealous, must God be for the marginalized people he rebukes His children for ignoring and mistreating? How much must God care about the hungry, the poor wanderer, those who cannot find justice in the courts, that he would tell His people to cease their religious ritual (to cease their worship, if you will) until they have dealt with these things?
So next time you're worshipping, listening to the worship team jam out to the latest popular song, ask yourself if you've trampled the poor lately. Ask yourself, when was the last time you worked to maintain justice in the courts? When was the last time you shared your food with the hungry, or provided the poor wanderer with shelter? I think we better start paying more attention to this, before God starts sending radical prophets our way again, telling us to shut up.

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Jeff, John, and Yours Truly talk about DJ Led Worship

I was recently a guest on the Podcast of our friends at Club Worship where we talked a lot about growth of DJ Led Worship and the good old days when I was on staff at Club Worship. Check It Out

Club Worship Pod Cast

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