I've held my ticket since around March and I was thinking of giving it away to one of the kids at church. I also received a text message from someone inviting me to the "Meet and Greet" session before the concert, but I honestly wasn't all that excited for Hillsong United coming to Manila. I loved being at the worship event. I must say, it was a time of genuine worship for me.
On my way home, I was thinking how the worship experience will impact the lives of those who were there. Will the worship leaders present want to be more like Joel Houston? Will the worshippers start jumping up and down in their given contexts? Will they merely become like fans of a rockstar in a huge mosh pit concert, or will they take fling out the banner of Truth (Jesus Christ) wherever they go?
To be very blunt, unlike other worship pastors, I was never a "fan" of Hillsong. When I lead worship, I don't pick a lot of their songs. But I do like some of their songs, I just think there are songs with deeper meanings, and richer theological content than Hillsong's; and some of the ministry leaders of Hillsong Church I personally know and keep in touch with are aware of my preference. I love Hillsong, in the sense that it belongs to the wider Body of Christ-- I always fling out the Kingdom thinking banner! All that names the name of Christ and have a genuine relationship with Him belong to Him. In that respect, I love Hillsong...we belong to One family called Christian!
I believe that God has raised Hillsong to help revolutionize the way the Church worlwide worships! That is good! Their songs are sung throughout the world. Hillsong has influenced many worship leaders and churches around the world. And in the words of worship pastor, Darlene Zschech, in her book Extravagant Worship (which I have read and am blessed with): "What an honor it is to have influence! God, through His incredible grace has given us favor to influence godly changes in people's lives. To be a part of building God's kingdom is so exciting!" She understands that Hillsong is a church that influences people for God. They are doing their part in God's great economy! The problem with this influence however lies on the people receiving it and not on Hillsong! Worship Pastors, Leaders and Teams take the influence of Hillsong by merely COPYING Hillsong. That's the problem! Instead of having our local congregations generate our own heart for worship, make new songs that come from that heart for worship, we copy-- imitate- the givens. We forget that Hillsong's influence should be an example, a benchmark. We are not to be our local churches' cheap imitations or versions of Darlene Zschech, Joel Houston, Chris Tomlin, Don Moen, etc.
This morning, I was in a discussion about last night's worship event with another person. We were going well in our conversation until he said, "On Sunday, I'm going to try to use that style of worship leading in our church so we can have genuine revival." And I don't have the time nor the energy to write down the lenghty theological/practical/ministerial discussion I had with him to correct his notion! The Hillsong way of worship is not the only way, nor is it the more superior way to worship.
There are many expressions of worship, just as there are many other songs to sing. I get invited to speak about worship in different churches and facilitate worship leading seminars, and one of the main things I remind worship leaders with is that they should widen their horizon when looking for new songs, or better yet, write them. If you can't write songs and your only recourse is to use other people's songs, then do not be limited to choosing Hillsong music only. Explore new things and let the Bible be the guidepost in your exploration. There are many other music materials by worship leaders around that may have better theological content that could bring your communities to greater depths of knowing and worshipping God, so your churches will not be stuck with sing, "I love You...no one else will I love more than you...You love me, I love You...I praise You...You are Good to me...I commit to you...I will follow...I surrender...I stand...etc." There are more facets to the person of God than we can sing, there are more truths to declare!
Also, I encourage worship leaders to not be imitations of famous worship leaders, instead, they should go deeper in the Word as they get to know their context, their culture, their communities, and discern what God has to say to them. That's prophetic worship leadership-- when we go to God and His Word and ask about what He has to say to our communities in our time of struggle, victory, hope and every situation we find ourselves in; and lead them towards worshipping Him in our our given context. We let God speak for Himself through His Word, and we respond in worship!
Reflecting on last night's worship event (notice I don't say "concert"), I believe the praises God's people declared and lifted in many ways, glorified Him. There was a general sense of awe and worship. But in a crowd that big (27,000+) I have reasons to believe that not all really worshipped, and I can never be more thankful for Joel Houston's way of proclaiming the Gospel and inviting people to receive Christ! I believe that in every worship event, there has to be a proclamation of the Gospel and an invitation to respond to it.
I appreciate how Joel Houston encouraged the worshippers to be a generation that will not be known for their loud lip worship/service, but a genuine commitment to live a life of worship! That said it all. Worship is not all about loud music, artistry, and songs. It is about living!
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