Letter To Pastor Richard Barcellos on his resignation from our church to take up a post at Midwestern Reformed Theological Seminary.

I thought it would be best if I was to write this all down and read it since there have been many thoughts running through my mind since our meeting together with you and your wife the other day. I must say that I felt a great ache and loss in my heart when I first heard about your decision. This letter is a brief attempt on the part of my family to communicate to you and yours our love for you all. I also hope to encourage you with some thoughts as you prepare for this transition.

 

I am in debt to you personally in a great way since it is because of this church and it’s faithfulness to the gospel that I can count myself as being a part of the Kingdom of Heaven. I remember the first time that I met you; Tom had arranged for me to meet with you in your office for private counseling. I had a hard time believing that anyone could have so many books! The thing I remember from that meeting is that though I spoke to you about deep heart issues and my struggles with sin, you were very kind to me and listened thoroughly before giving your advice. It was here that I first heard of a guy named John Owen and the idea of “killing sin”. You taught me that I must kill sin or it will kill me. “Hamarteological Murder” was one of the phrases I remember from you over the last few years. I remember traveling back and forth with you when our church had the radio show back in 98'. I remember the first time that I had “boats” at your house. I can honestly say that I learned how to eat from you and your family, a tradition that has continued into my family. Garlic, salt, jalapenos cooked in olive oil, sausage cooked to well done levels...Your personal example of family worship is how I learned what that exactly is and how to do it in a practical way with children present, something that I hope to employ as my own son gets older. In retrospect I have much regret that I did not pay better attention to all of your teaching. I did not apprehend just how thorough it was. It was also through your example that I learned how men ought to sing during public worship. I am sure that I could multiply the lessons that I have learned from you by actual instruction or by the way you have lived in the midst of my life and the life of our church. I have seen in you a willingness to be challenged to change in areas that are not essential in the Christian life. I always tell Arlene that when I left our church and came back, I came back to a totally different Pastor B who was smiling and cracking jokes during his Sunday schools. I have continued to see this flexibility over the last few years and am very thankful for it. Now that you are being moved by the Master into a position of great strategic importance I have a number of encouragements to you. I encourage you to continue to do what you have been doing: faithful, simple devotion to Christ and His church. Don’t forget to be hospitable when you get there and feed everybody garlic as much as they can tolerate. I think that your moving to this position is simply a fulfillment of our church covenant in terms of the “global minded” section and it is a way for us as a people to be “other oriented” by giving you up to this great work. I personally consider it a privilege to be one of those who can give a “thumbs up” to your decision since I hope to see great fruit from your involvement in the seminary. You will be involved in training up many men who will go into many areas of the world and be used to further the gospel and kingdom of Christ on the earth. I can not go and do this; you have been particularly gifted to perform this service to the Church and I look forward to hearing reports of what God is doing through your ministry there. I also think that this will be a challenge to our church to grow in grace. Personally I feel as if my “training wheels” are being removed and now I have to ride by myself and I consider this a challenge to grow as a faithful church member and Christian man. Thank you for all your years of diligence in the ministry. Thank you for your friendship and all the clouds of smoke we have enjoyed together. Thank you for sharing your family with my family. We are going to miss you very much and hope that some of our vacations in the future will find us in Kentucky, if we can find it on the map, so that we can spend time with you. We have already been looking into how we can mail you your Trader Joe order utilizing dry ice, next day air, etc. Hopefully you can find a garlic dealer up there. We will pray for you and hope that you know that we always will have you in our hearts.

Analysis of what is right with the music in our church.

What is right with our music?

 

We strive to adhere to the regulative principle in our worship which keeps music in its place, subservient and secondary in importance to the preaching of Gods word.

 

We strive to have heartfelt worship, that is, singing from our hearts and engaging our emotions and will.

 

We attempt to play skillfully since we understand that what we are doing, we are doing before the face of God, in the presence of the risen Christ who has gathered to meet with His people.

 

We seek to avoid the error of many modern churches in dumbing down the music and words that are being sung.

 

We seek to preserve the rich history of music in the church. Therefore, we are big on singing hymns.

 

In short, most of what is right with our music is theoretical, not executive. I think that we have an excellent foundation in the philosophy of music in terms of regulation, engagement, execution, and preservation.

 

 

What is wrong with our music?

 

Funny enough, most of what is wrong with our music is simply an over-application of what is right with our music. For instance, in our zeal to preserve the richness of the musical history of the church, we end up playing music that sounds 300 years old (which it is...)and singing words that are simply archaic. Most of us have no idea what a “bulwark” is, although we sing it often in one of our favorite hymns. Unfortunately, the syntax of 15^th century English is no longer applicable in our modern culture. Consequently we sing the following line and I think that most of us have no idea what we are singing: “O, enter then His gates with praise. Approach with joy His courts unto; Praise, laud, and bless His Name always, for it is seemly so to do.” Nobody talks like that. No one uses the word “laud”. No one “raises his Ebenezer” when he realizes how far God has brought him in his life. No one “harks” to the “sound of jubilee”. The examples could be multiplied but I think the point is made. We are in the midst of a particular culture, and if we are going to provide an accessible platform whereby this culture can engage their thoughts and emotions in the worship of God through singing, we must employ the particular forms that the culture is accustomed to. That is not to say that we use the more extreme forms, ie. Rap, heavy metal, etc. However, there is a cultural “ear” that is accustomed to a particular form of music, typically in the “small combo” genre consisting of guitar, bass, drums, harmonized vocals, and keyboards playing in a harmonic form that is far less complex than the harmonies that are present in the hymnal. It is a very simple form of music and it is the form that our culture is accustomed to. Consequently, it is the form that we ought to use.

Another thing that I think that is wrong is that our liturgy, which includes our singing, seems to start and stop to often. There is not given enough time for the music/words to “sink in”, to “get into” the music as we sing one hymn, then the amen, then sit down and do something else, and then stand and sing, then the amen, then sit down...etc. I think that it would be better if we were to sing the songs/hymns without stopping and without comment sometimes. We need emotional singing and it takes a little while for our hearts to warm up.

 

Here is a basic one, courtesy of my wife. It is no benefit to anyone when we sing songs that we are not familiar with, regardless of how spiritual the words are or how much a particular pastor likes it. Remember, the music is to serve the congregation in expressing its worship to God in song. When we sing unfamiliar songs, we hardly sing.

 

In short, archaism (in lyric and form), awkward liturgy, and unfamiliarity are the three biggest offenders when I survey the music in our church.

 

 

What would I do to fix these problems?

 

As a preface, I will simply say that any effort to fix our current music is going to require more time commitment from the musicians and the necessity of change. ‘nuff said.

 

Archaism

We will begin to use more familiar forms, always giving consideration to the effect these forms produce to ensure that they are appropriate.

In regards to the lyrics, we will need to begin to put together a list of songs that are more popular.

 

Awkward liturgy

It would be a good idea if we had a time of singing that was not interrupted, that is, all of the songs that we are going to sing would be sung together. This is how most of the churches I have been to have done it.

 

Unfamiliarity

I will establish a list of the hymns that are the most familiar to us as a church. This will be our "core material". We will then seek to introduce new songs and hymns at a consistent rate so as to increase our repitoire.

 

 

What other churches am I aware of that have much to teach us about music in the context of Biblical worship?

 

Grace Community Church

 

 

 

What kind of help (manpower, leadership) and resources (equipment, money) do I need to do all of these things?

 

Let me address the issue of resources first. In order to advance the music of our church, we will need more musicians.

 

            

Book Review

The Last Disciple.

 

By Hank Hanegraff and Sigmund Brower

 

Copyright 2004

 

Summary: Early converts are subject to persecution from Rome and the Jews in Jerusalem following the ascension of Christ and inauguration of Nero as Caesar of Rome. The story follows the life of one particular ex-centurion turned political right-hand-man-to-Nero as he deals with his horrific memories of Roman conquest over barbarian tribes, his attempts to balance his conscience with the actions of Rome against the Jews, and his exposure to Christianity revolving around an attraction to a Jewish slave girl and a mysterious scroll which threatens to undue the tyrannical rule of Nero.

 

            I was at first intrigued about this book when I read of it in World magazine and saw that it was written by Hank Hanegraff. You may know that Mr. Hanegraff is the President of the Christian Research Institute having inherited this position from the late Walter Martin, author of Kingdom of the Cults. I listened to Hank for many years when I was younger and it was he that was instrumental in helping me leave the charismatic movement. When I read that this particular book was a written with post-millennial presuppositions, I was greatly interested because of the wild success of another eschatological fictional series holding to premillenialism. Since finishing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy last year, I was not very hopeful that any other fiction would be worthwhile reading. This has proved to be wrong when it comes to this book. The authors have succeeded in writing a book that is entertaining yet may cause you to weep in certain sections.

             The Last Disciple is historical fiction and as far as it sticks to this genre, it succeeds. There is enough mystery, action, suspense, deception, history, and even romance to make it worthwhile reading. However, one of the best things that this book does is paint an excellent historical context for the New Testament. It gives insight into what the ancient world was like when Christianity was first “born”. Kind of like a “filling in the blanks” historically when you read The Acts of the Apostles and subsequent books of the Bible. What I mean is that you get a chance to read about how the priests manipulated the crowds to their own ends; how Roman rule was ever present in the lives of the Jews; how extravagantly certain Jews lived who abandoned their people and threw in their lot with the Romans; what it was like to be a Roman citizen; what persecution was like for followers of Christ in Roman ruled countries; just how wicked a ruler Nero was; the ever present deception in every sphere of life. Of particular note is the depiction of the reality of how violent a time it was as the book describes Roman soldiers bursting in through doors with “swords drawn, their sweaty bodies flicked with bits of gore”. As well, there is a “feel” to parts of the book that is almost devotional, even though it is fiction. There are 2 sections where I was moved to tears (as I walked on my treadmill) when certain events are described: the Christians in the Coliseum and the death of a young mother at the hands of Roman soldiers gone berserk. These parts really brought home to me the reality of the persecution of our Christian brothers and sisters. Because of the graphic nature of these parts, I would use caution in recommending it to younger readers. It may also be inappropriate for young readers on purely technical grounds as the multiple plot lines get confusing towards the middle of the book. This forced me to back track at times in my reading as I tried to remember where I was in the story.

            One of the things that I am glad for regarding this book is that it is essentially a good story. The authors, who I believe are coming to new convictions regarding eschatology, did not use this book as a soapbox to set forth their views of theology. This always bothers me and seems incongruent since the form employed, fiction, does not match the content revealed, truth. This may be appropriate for other views of eschatology and other series of books which are, interestingly enough, published by the same company. Instead the authors have remained true to form in that they seem to have attempted to write a good story primarily. I have recently heard that Mr. Hanegraff is currently writing a theological book on the post-millennial view and is nearing completion. Hopefully this will also be true to form.

            All things considered, I would recommend this book as legitimate entertainment, exciting and historic, with a slight devotional quality.