Worship, like Alice's Wonderland, is truly 'curiouser and curiouser'

We live in strange times in how we “do” church.

Many times I feel like I’m living in two worlds, one of contemporary worship and one of traditional. Personally I’m a kind of traditional kind of guy, preferring hymns to the more contemporary songs. In fact, one of my favorite books on music is titled Songs in the Night by Henry Gariepy. As the subtitle so adeptly reads, “Inspiring stories behind 100 hymns born in trial and suffering.”

One of my frequent criticisms about the new style of music is that few of the songs seem to be born out of either trial or suffering. Maybe I’m expecting too much; maybe contemporary songs focus more on praise than worship (a fine point, I admit) so they don’t deal with problems. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But I have to admit I had a real epiphany when I attended the North American Mission Board’s missionary commissioning service on October 8 in McDonough. It was more than just a commissioning service, it was a double-header event. That’s because it was also Geoff Hammonds’ installation – he preferred “commissioning” – as NAMB’s new president. The program described the evening as “A Commissioning Celebration” and it quickly lived up to its billing.

It was obvious that both the new president and the new missionaries were standing on level ground, equally sharing and enjoying the historic moment in each of their lives. The call to prayer and support of the missionaries permeated the evening; as the service progressed it was obvious that the crowd fully loved their missionaries and would do just that.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. As I walked into Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church I felt like it would be another nice contemporary service with some drums and upbeat music. I would be polite and silently wish some hymns were thrown in to appease folks like me struggling to fit in, but I planned to sing the choruses along with everyone else.

Then something wonderful happened. Worship Leader Michael Burt and the praise team began to lead the audience in a medley of contemporary songs, interspersed with some hymns sung to a new beat, with a style I had rarely encountered. It was not performance-driven, but worship. Tim Dowdy, NAMB trustee and pastor of the church, opened with some welcoming remarks and the service was underway.

I couldn’t believe how natural it all seemed and how all the songs flowed together. My inhibitions quickly fell away and I soon found myself so caught up in the spirit that I broke all personal restraints and called my wife on my Blackberry and asked her to listen. I’ve never done that before and would consider it to be the height of inconsideration to do so during a worship service, but I wanted to share the moment.

I’m sure she was just as shocked that I was calling for her to listen to contemporary music as I was to make the call. I told her how much I wished she could be there. She replied the same, but she was knee-deep in homework with our second and sixth graders. It didn’t seem fair, I thought, for her and my children to be missing out on such a wonderful experience. It also didn’t seem fair that I was “working” and was able to enjoy all of this for free.

The service, billed as a “commissioning celebration,” was truly the highlight of my year … and believe me, I don’t say that easily. I didn’t want the service to end; the music, the introduction and brief statement by each missionary and missionary couple, Geoff’s brief, heartfelt statement of his vision for NAMB and the important role the missionaries would play. It was even fun watching Debbie, his wife and a Baylor music graduate, as she joined in as part of the praise team.

I told my wife to crank up the computer (now that’s a phrase that certainly dates me) and watch it being streamed live by Eagle’s Landing via the internet, but she reminded me again that it was getting late, homework needed to be completed, and teeth needed to be brushed.

Two hours later the service ended, much to my regret. It’s dangerous to ever endorse a church service because you run the risk of offending those you don’t endorse. But I need to say this: If you are ever near Eagle’s Landing on a Sunday morning, be sure to drop in for the worship service. I plan to bring my family the first opportunity we have to take a rain check from own church. It will probably be a 50-minute drive just for a Sunday morning visit, but it will be worth it.

As founding pastor, Tim Dowdy is to be commended for being used of the Lord to grow a church from 40 to nearly 4,000 in about 17 years. Such growth doesn’t occur by accident but is carefully orchestrated. Georgia Baptists should be proud to have a congregation that is so effective in reaching the unchurched in such a fast-growing section of metropolitan Atlanta.

And, NAMB could not have launched the administration of its second president in any finer manner.