Comments on: is technology helping the church? http://greylias.com/2007/12/10/is-technology-helping-the-church/ worship. love. lean forward. Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:33:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Terry Foester http://greylias.com/2007/12/10/is-technology-helping-the-church/#comment-220 Terry Foester Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:02:11 +0000 http://greylias.com/2007/12/10/is-technology-helping-the-church/#comment-220 Ben - you made Libby laugh out loud when you called youre feelings stupid...nice. Good thoughts on the essence of worship. I think true worship is a response to God, but that response can be with our voice (singing and saying) but also with our hands and actions. Kind of like Rick's sermon on Sunday - we need the actions and the words. Ben – you made Libby laugh out loud when you called youre feelings stupid…nice.

Good thoughts on the essence of worship. I think true worship is a response to God, but that response can be with our voice (singing and saying) but also with our hands and actions. Kind of like Rick’s sermon on Sunday – we need the actions and the words.

]]> By: ben http://greylias.com/2007/12/10/is-technology-helping-the-church/#comment-219 ben Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:17:27 +0000 http://greylias.com/2007/12/10/is-technology-helping-the-church/#comment-219 balance. yeah that's it. balance. yeah that’s it.

]]> By: ben http://greylias.com/2007/12/10/is-technology-helping-the-church/#comment-218 ben Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:14:56 +0000 http://greylias.com/2007/12/10/is-technology-helping-the-church/#comment-218 well done, ken. i love it when people can rant unapologetically. i watched most of the video. strange feeling. pretty cool, but something didn't sitquite right...or did it? i had a difficult time sorting out my feelings. stupid feelings. they're so fickle. i admittedly haven't spent as much time looking into this as i should, but here are my thoughts anyways. i LOVE creativity. that's why i don't listen to very much christian music. derek webb said once that christian music speaks of about 2% of christianity. i agree. there's a whole 98% ready to be explored. the 'show' on the video, while cool, was an obvious 'show.' not that there's anything wrong with that...if i'm on broadway. we've come to know worhip not as a lifestyle, but singing in a church service. to worship is to offer our bodies as "living sacrifices." that means we live life. maybe part of that (a small part) is singing. isaiah defines doing "right" as seeking justice, encouraging the oppressed, defending the cause of the fatherless, and pleading the case of the widow. that sounds like worship to me. all of that for this: when worship (as in singing at church) is a spectacle, the true sense of what it means to worship is lost. it becomes about having a cool experience within our church walls. not that there's anything all that wrong with that...that's just not what it's all about. i think that's why i felt weird. well done, ken. i love it when people can rant unapologetically. i watched most of the video. strange feeling. pretty cool, but something didn’t sitquite right…or did it? i had a difficult time sorting out my feelings. stupid feelings. they’re so fickle. i admittedly haven’t spent as much time looking into this as i should, but here are my thoughts anyways. i LOVE creativity. that’s why i don’t listen to very much christian music. derek webb said once that christian music speaks of about 2% of christianity. i agree. there’s a whole 98% ready to be explored. the ‘show’ on the video, while cool, was an obvious ‘show.’ not that there’s anything wrong with that…if i’m on broadway. we’ve come to know worhip not as a lifestyle, but singing in a church service. to worship is to offer our bodies as “living sacrifices.” that means we live life. maybe part of that (a small part) is singing. isaiah defines doing “right” as seeking justice, encouraging the oppressed, defending the cause of the fatherless, and pleading the case of the widow. that sounds like worship to me. all of that for this: when worship (as in singing at church) is a spectacle, the true sense of what it means to worship is lost. it becomes about having a cool experience within our church walls. not that there’s anything all that wrong with that…that’s just not what it’s all about. i think that’s why i felt weird.

]]> By: Terry Foester http://greylias.com/2007/12/10/is-technology-helping-the-church/#comment-217 Terry Foester Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:51:17 +0000 http://greylias.com/2007/12/10/is-technology-helping-the-church/#comment-217 Ken - thanks for your rant, that was sweet. I agree, I want to push the limits of our creativity - especially when it comes to worship and connecting with God. I think you hit at the key point of the authenticity of worship being key (with or without technology). Although I will say - before we had all these lights and sounds - there was nothing keeping us from completely connecting with God. So it's not essential. I like the word "balance" when it comes to technology in worship. I think we can go a little further @ HBC and still have that balance. Feel free to rant some more bro...I'd like to hear Jon chime in on this one if he's out there... Ken – thanks for your rant, that was sweet.

I agree, I want to push the limits of our creativity – especially when it comes to worship and connecting with God.

I think you hit at the key point of the authenticity of worship being key (with or without technology).

Although I will say – before we had all these lights and sounds – there was nothing keeping us from completely connecting with God. So it’s not essential.

I like the word “balance” when it comes to technology in worship. I think we can go a little further @ HBC and still have that balance.

Feel free to rant some more bro…I’d like to hear Jon chime in on this one if he’s out there…

]]> By: Ken Grant http://greylias.com/2007/12/10/is-technology-helping-the-church/#comment-216 Ken Grant Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:44:27 +0000 http://greylias.com/2007/12/10/is-technology-helping-the-church/#comment-216 OK, here's my thoughts -- I believe it's an indisputable fact of nature that the Matrix is one of the best movies ever made (just the first one, not a huge fan of the other two). Why is it a great movie? Because it is based an a great script and all of the state-of-the-art technology helped to tell that story and enhance the script. On the other end of the spectrum we've all seen movies with wiz-bang special effects but NO STORY, NO PLOT, Nothing that makes it memorable. No amount of technical wizardry is going to change that kind of movie into something good. I would dare say worship is the same way -- if you have good, true, pure worship going on then technology can add to it (I would imagine is Psalm 150 were written today it might include "Praise Him with the laser light show, praise Him with the pyrotechnics, praise Him with the big-screen projector...). But, if what you're starting off with is a group of people saying "let's put on a show" -- then no amount of technical wizardry is going to turn that into a worship experience (might be emotional, but not necessarily worshipful). Final thought -- I truly believe that the spirit God breathed into man is a spirit of creativity, I truly believe that when Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all of our mind that includes creativity and originality (seriously, I'll gladly show you the Hebrew from the first example and the Greek from the second) -- I believe with every fiber of my being that God wants us to go wild with creativity for Him, and that most of the voices you hear saying otherwise are probably from those who just aren't comfortable with the great big God of the Bible. OK, that's enough of my rant... OK, here’s my thoughts — I believe it’s an indisputable fact of nature that the Matrix is one of the best movies ever made (just the first one, not a huge fan of the other two). Why is it a great movie? Because it is based an a great script and all of the state-of-the-art technology helped to tell that story and enhance the script.

On the other end of the spectrum we’ve all seen movies with wiz-bang special effects but NO STORY, NO PLOT, Nothing that makes it memorable. No amount of technical wizardry is going to change that kind of movie into something good.

I would dare say worship is the same way — if you have good, true, pure worship going on then technology can add to it (I would imagine is Psalm 150 were written today it might include “Praise Him with the laser light show, praise Him with the pyrotechnics, praise Him with the big-screen projector…).

But, if what you’re starting off with is a group of people saying “let’s put on a show” — then no amount of technical wizardry is going to turn that into a worship experience (might be emotional, but not necessarily worshipful).

Final thought — I truly believe that the spirit God breathed into man is a spirit of creativity, I truly believe that when Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all of our mind that includes creativity and originality (seriously, I’ll gladly show you the Hebrew from the first example and the Greek from the second) — I believe with every fiber of my being that God wants us to go wild with creativity for Him, and that most of the voices you hear saying otherwise are probably from those who just aren’t comfortable with the great big God of the Bible.

OK, that’s enough of my rant…

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