Sometimes, you’re numbed to the worldly “feeling” of a song perhaps because of your personal music choices. If you have a history of listening to non-Christian music that is not in line with Scripture, you won’t even notice (or care!) about the subtle shift of recent Contemporary Christian music toward worldliness. “I mean… Come on! It’s only a feeling!” Hm.

Or, perhaps your church background is more rigid, liturgical, high church, or your church even had NO music at all! If that is the case, everything is worldly! If your foot taps… you’re devilish! If you hold a microphone… you’re in sin! It should be on a stand!

Both are extreme examples. Go to the Bible to determine your feelings. Let your feelings be based on truth.

Then, over time, God changes and eventually uses those feelings you get when you’re exposed to any level of worldliness. Rule of thumb: if a song makes you uneasy (like it’s sort of leaning toward CCM, for example), you’re probably better off without it. Some food for thought, anyway.   –Bro. Ryan

Please see the schedule below and turn in all bolded music.

430            Mother’s Day Song (Times and Seasons book)

455            May the Lord

505            They That Sow

515            Reach the World

I’m getting there, but I’m not done. In fact, I’ve barely started. I’m terrible.

But what about you? Don’t you look down your nose at me!

Regarding choir, I’m purposing to do a few things this year including (as I said) picking ALL the songs ahead of time, learning some new choir music and having another choir workshop. What’s your new year hold? If you’re in a special group, purpose to memorize your music. Purpose to choose all your songs for the whole year now. If you’re in choir, purpose to not be late. Purpose to take more notes. Purpose to not lose your music. Purpose to come to church Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. Purpose to be an example outside the choir loft.

I’m laying out my goals for you… the main one I’ve already failed at, so far. J What about you?

–Bro. Ryan

Please see the schedule below and turn in all bolded music.

430            Be Thou My Vision

445            May the Lord

500            They That Sow

515            Reach the World

525            Hallelujah

Okay, so I won’t go that far. We didn’t have any critics who turned in their reviews, but it was an excellent work last week.

People only see what they see, not always what goes on behind the scenes. For some of you, singing Christmas music before Thanksgiving is akin to breaking one of God’s 10 commandments, but you sacrificed for the good of the choir anyway. Bless you.

All of you put in hours of your time, and, for what it’s worth, I appreciate it very much. I received several kind comments of thanks to you for being a blessing to the congregation, both today and last week. I’m already looking forward to Christmas 2014! J (Honestly! We are kicking around some outreach ideas with a huge lights presentation and live outdoor choir… we’ll see.)

Keep up the good work.

–Bro. Ryan

Please see the schedule below and turn in all bolded music.

500            Be Thou My Vision

515            God has provided

I remember going to a competition event up in Lancaster and I was not prepared in advance. My “last chance” was the night before the event as I scrambled and crammed 8 months of practice into a 2-hour session. I was competing in guitar and played that dumb song over and over and over again.

Guess what we don’t have time for today… singing the whole cantata over and over and over again! However, we’ve put in the months of practice prior to today, so we should be okay. The last couple weeks’ practices have been very helpful, as they always are in “crunch time,” and God has been good to our voices thus far. Amen.

Now let’s make the most of today’s efforts and give it everything.

–Bro. Ryan

NO PRACTICE NEXT SUNDAY – Take next week off practice. You’ll have earned it after the cantata!

Please see the schedule below and turn in all bolded music.

430            Be Thou My Vision

445            Christmas

Church music is a little different from regular everyday music… but it shouldn’t be that different. The same principles that apply to church music should also apply to the music you listen to every day. Biblical principles apply to every area of life. That’s what is so cool about living by principles rather than “rules.” Principles are timeless. Rules change with culture.

The principles are the same as always: music—like everything else in life—should glorify God. Does your personal music meet the biblical standard of glorifying God.

Your personal music should be performed by holy vessels. Johnny Cash’s hymn album was nothing more than a money-making last ditch effort to get him out of a slump. He isn’t exactly a role model of the Christian faith!

The Bible describes music as Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. A lot of music can fall under those categories, but that’s when other principles come into play. Try out Phil. 4:8-9. Is your music true? Are the lyrics true? Does it speak truth to your soul? Is it honest and just? Is your music pure? Lots of worldly music is not pure. What about yours? Would God consider your music lovely or of good report? Virtuous? Praiseworthy? If so, think on those things… in your music. Let music be the medium that saturates your mind with truth, lovely thoughts and purity.

–Bro. Ryan

Please see the schedule below and turn in all bolded music.

500           

510            Fear Not

520            Be Thou My Vision

525            God Has Provided

With music, sometimes it’s hard to draw those lines, though. What is “right” and “wrong” in a medium that can be subjective?

Well, in a church setting, there are going to be rules. Guidelines. Standards. Rules are objective rather than subjective. Rules have a definite line. Sometimes, the line is drawn subjectively. (Now it’s just getting confusing!) But, there’s a line… which makes it an objective choice.

Pastor has drawn the line in much of our music ministry. What can sometimes be subjective—or, subject to interpretation—is now objective—yes or no. What will we sing for our congregational music? Subjectively, a case might be made for good song-writers who have no ulterior motives, writing truth-saturated songs for the edification of the saints. Objectively, though, we’ve just drawn the line and said that we will sing hymns from our hymnal. They are time-tested. They are truth-saturated. The writers were not trying to “bridge the gap” between contemporary and traditional music with a softened-but-edgy rhythm. Pastor has plenty of objective reasons to use hymns.

Subjectively we say, what’s the “feel” of this song I want to sing for a special? Pastor has delegated some authority to me to “draw lines” in our specials, turning the subjective “feeling” into an objective “yes or no.”

Tension comes when people are told “no,” because one opinion might be different than another if it is a subjective decision. However, regardless of how a person “feels” about rules, he or she has to admit that they are necessary.

The question remains, then, with subjective matters, who has the right to decide? In the case of Calvary Baptist Church, it is Pastor Rench. That’s relieving. The buck stops with him. He’ll answer to God for the music of Calvary Baptist Church.

That kind of turns the subjective things into objective decisions, doesn’t it?  –Bro. Ryan

PS: Thank God for Pastor in this Thanksgiving season. He has a lot of subjectivity to answer for!

Please see the schedule below and turn in all bolded music.
Please see the schedule below and turn in all bolded music.

500

Revival services are all about reviving Christians’ passion for God’s Word. They are about reigniting our hearts to desire God’s best through obedience to His Word. I love that Bro. Schwanke brought up over and over that Christians just ought to live in obedience to God’s Word. If we do that, we are living in revival!

So, praise God for revival. I am revived and invigorated by the preaching of God’s Word. The beauty of revival is that it affects every part of life. Since the Christian walk is not just something that is segmented to Sundays, it should be the lens through which we focus all of life.

The music that we sing and listen to is no exception. Our church has a particular philosophy about its music because we are seeking to be people who are living in revival – people who are obedient to Scripture. In your passion for our church’s music and in your personal music choices, are you living in light of the Bible? If not, get “revived.”

Also, if you missed any of the Revival services, they are on our website for you to be able to listen free. –Bro. Ryan

MUSIC – Pleas help us with the loads of sheet music we are trying to use, track, file and distribute each week.

1. Please do not share numbers. If you are missing a piece of music, let Mrs. Carla Colin know and she will get it to you.
2. Please turn in ALL old music. We cannot know what is in each folder. See the calendar below for our old music list.
3. Please check for accuracy. If your name or number is incorrect, please let Mrs. Carla know so we can change it.

Please see the schedule below and turn in all bolded music.

500            Freedom

510            Wait On the Lord

515            All That I Need  

525            At Calvary