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Culture of the Word

Call to Worship

When we gather to worship on Sundays, as the people of God, we do so with intentional objectives. We want to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we want to lift our voices in song, we want to fellowship with the family of God, give our offereing's back to God and we want to devote ourselfts to prayer. All of these can be summed up in one word: Worship. You’ll notice towards the beginning of our gathering each weekend we have a “call to worship.” This isn’t a mini sermon or spur of the moment attempt to get people singing or excited. It is a well-thought out, intentional exhortation rooted in scripture that helps us set our gaze to Jesus. It is a charge to the people of God calling them to fix their eyes on the only one who is worthy of our adoration. The only one who is sovereign over our lives, the only one who can bring us peace when we are assaulted by the storms of life & the only one that can satisfy us fully. The greek word for church is “ekklesia,” which means “called out ones”. When Christ saved us he called us to himself to worship. When we give a call to worship we are simply reminding the church that God has called them out to Himself, to worship.

Content is Key

In John 4, Jesus tells the woman at the well that the Father is seeking worshipers to worship Him “in Spirit and Truth.”As worship leaders it is paramount that we present gospel truth to our church every time we gather. Content is key.It is also just as important to model to our church Biblical, Spirit-filled, joy-filled, expressive worship. Worship without truth is false worship & worship without Spirit is dead worship. We desire both because God desires both. Churches with all Spirit blow up, churches with all truth dry up, Churches with both Spirit & Truth grow up.

"Corporate worship is designed to move the meditation of your heart from self-centeredness to God glorifying praise. As the Gospel puts you in your place, it also puts praise in your mouth."
- Paul David Tripp

Worship in Spirit & Truth

True worship not only effects the mind, but also the affections. There is no dichotomy between Truth & Spirit. Spirit & Truth belong together. Our Spirit-filled worship is to be evaluated by and submitted to what God has revealed in the Bible. Truth. And the truth of God’s Word will lead us to Spirit-filled worship. True worship comes only from spirits who have been made alive and sensitive by the quickening of the Spirit of God. God’s Spirit ignites and energizes our spirit. Christian worship engages both heart and head. It necessitates true doctrine about the Father and his Son, and their partnership in rescuing sinners, and emotion about that doctrine. It is both an affair of the heart and an affair of the mind. John Piper sums it up as “strong affections for God rooted in truth.” True worship, Jesus says, is in spirit and truth. The “truth” part is plain enough with the coming of Jesus. Truth centers on his person and work, the one who is himself “the Truth” (John 14:6) and the message about his saving work for us, which is “the word of the truth, the gospel” (Colossians 1:5). It is this “word of truth” (James 1:18) by which we’re given new birth, this “word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) that Christians endeavor to handle correctly, and this is the truth that anchors and saturates worship that is truly Christian. Jesus is the one who gives the life-giving Spirit, who produces rivers of living water in a believers. It’s the Spirit of God who brings life to our spirit and enables us to know, love, and worship God the Father through Jesus Christ. In other words, it takes God to worship God.

Worship Leader Theologians

The beating heart of all Christian worship is rooted in our knowledge & understanding of God. If worship is our full-life response: head, heart and hands, to what God has done, then we are responsible to lead our people not only to worship the Lord in Spirit but also in Truth. Therefore it is paramount that worship leaders be committed and thoughtful students of God’s Word & theological study. Due to the artistic and creative nature of the worship leader’s calling, it is sometimes assumed that theological grounding does, or should, take a backseat to compelling artistic expression in our worship gatherings. However, that could not be further from the truth. The worship pastor is not absolved of responsibility to thoughtfully and clearly communicate the truth of the gospel from the word of God. The Gospel of Jesus is the bedrock upon which worship rests. Our theology fuels our doxology, and our doxology leads us to a greater emphasis on theology. We want both, we're called to both.

Culture of Engagement

We Engage

The worship culture at Radiant Church is one of engagement. We sing! Our people sing & are physically expressive in their posture. We sing connecting heart & mind in worship to God because we have reason to rejoice & respond to Him. Worship is a series of Revelation & Response. God reveals Himself, His character, His work through His Word & we respond to Him. Singing is just one area of our response to the Lord (Rom. 12:1). We desire that our people, band & production be fully engaged in corporate worship every single week. We believe consistency in leadership, accessible melodies and arrangements, contextualized music style, and approachable personalities from stage all help foster an atmosphere of engagement. We would rather lean towards fewer, familiar songs in our canon of music than to have too many new, unfamiliar songs in any given semester. Not only is engagement important on the platform, but it is just as important that we engage with our church off the platform. This means we’re in the lobby, in the Worship Center before & after services meeting, greeting & welcoming people. We’re available, accessible & love people with the same love that we’ve been shown by the Father.

Leadership on Display

Our church gathers for 80-90 minutes each weekend. Leadership has an opportunity to lead by example by fully engaging. Sitting with our families, praying, worshiping, and fully engaging alongside our people. “Greenroom” area is reserved for preparation before services. During the weekend service, worship leaders, musicians & production volunteers should be present in the worship center & lobby, fully engaged. We believe we are leading on & off the platform, from bringing a posture of worship to our interaction with God’s people. Each time we are in front of someone we have the opportunity to lead them closer to Jesus. Our ministry doesn’t just lead songs of worship, we lead lives of example out in front because we have tasted & seen the goodness of God & we believe it is worth it.

Leaning In

Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” The reality is that our lives are busy. Family life, work, our kid’s sports & extra curricular activities. The list goes on. But we all make time & do the things that we love & prioritize. Scripture calls us to value & prioritize the church. His people. The calling for every believer is to develop & maintain spiritual disciplines in our lives, including coming to church & being in community with His people. This is God’s calling on our life. Notice how that verse talks about one another. Our engagement in the local body is for one another. So lean in, engage, stay connected. You are here because God has given you a gift & that gift is to benefit the church to equip the saints for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12-16).

No Music Stands

Our worship is an overflow of the heart. Therefore our songs are not meant to be simply an excellent recitation of words and music, but a genuine outpouring of prayer, joy, sorrow, & praise to God. While at times helfpul, the presence of music stands on stage for our front-line leaders can subtly communicate a lack of preparation & intentionality while drastically impairing our ability to lead with our countenance. Learning the song should always precede leading. Eyes up, heads up, looking out at our congregation to lead them & not miss what the Spirit of God us doing in the room & in our people.

Culture of Excellence

What is our standard?
What do we put value on?
What do we do & how do we do it?
Why do we do it?

Our Standard

We aren’t looking for professionals at Radiant Church. We’re looking for people who love God & want to see their gifts used to to make disciples & advance His kingdom. The standard is our commitment to ensure our best is brought before the Lord each & every time we gather. There is a difference between worldly and godly excellence. Perfectionism in ministry is unhealthy and dangerous to the heart, leading it towards performance and away from honesty & authenticity. Achievement-driven ministry leads to a greediness and pursuit of applause and approval from people. Competitive ministry is tiresome, and driven by simply wanting to be the best. Godly excellence in ministry is all-together different, valuable and good. The godly view of excellence is much different than the worldly view of excellence. We see this in Philippians 4:8. It’s no irony that these words describing excellence — true, honorable, just, pure, lovely and commendable, are the essence of God Himself. He is the very definition of excellence. Therefore, our pursuit of excellence is not one of selfish gain or perfection but one that points to Jesus. The ultimate creator & artist.

Songs

As leaders there is no greater privilege than to make the most out of every gathering as the church. Every minute, every moment counts. We want every person to experience a consistent presentation of God’s goodness from the opening call to worship, songs, prayers, sermon, to the closing words & benediction. Every piece must align with the mission of our church & point people to the central character: Jesus. Every service is designed in such a way to take our people somewhere. We’re seeking to shift our focus from the mundane to the glorious Christ. We’re seeking to move from a horizontal place to a vertical place of ascription to the Lord. So the song selection & placement is strategic to help guide our hearts from looking inwardly to ascribe worth to our Holy God.

Our goal is to have 35-40 songs from a variety of different places:
modern, contemporary, hymns, tags. We run these songs through
a filter of five categories when looking for
new music to add to our weekend.

Rehearsals

As a team, we spend 75 minutes together preparing songs musically to ensure that when we gather for our weekend service each member of our team has a clear road map to where we are headed. Set lists, chord charts, practice tracks, mp3’s will be prepared ahead of time to give each member the resources they need to learn & know the songs well. So that when we show up for rehearsal, we’re just putting the pieces together, rehearsing transitions & dialing it all in. Practice/learning songs happens at home, not during rehearsal. In addition to this, pro-presenter lyrics, service orders and stage gear are all ready for rehearsal to ensure everything runs smooth. We will provide all the tools in order to succeed. So it is important that each member uses these tools & shows up ready & on time.

Committed Volunteers

The worship ministry at Radiant Church serves as a platform for gifted, technical & musical volunteers who call Radiant Church their home church. We are not a “gig” or “hot spot” for musicians to make side money.We serve because we know a God who came to serve & not to be served (Mark 10:45). We serve because we’ve experienced saving grace, have been made new & live our lives as a sacrifice to the Lord (Rom. 12:1-2).Our commitment is to show up on time, prepared & ready to do what is asked of us, putting on humility as Christ did (Phil 2:1-8).In addition, our commitment is to our church. We show up regularly on Sundays, not just when we’re scheduled to play. We belong to a life group & are practicing the “one anothers” & growing in our relationship with God & others.

We’re a church that SINGS! Radiant Church is marked by a gathering of God’s people that sing loudly. We sing because there is gratitude in our hearts for what the Lord has done. We sing as an overflow of our lifes. A.W. Tozer said, “If your life does not worship God, your lips do not worship God either.” We worship with our lives & overflow with our lips!

Culture of Community

Community

When God saves us he does not do so with the intention that we would go through life alone, but rather in community with the saints. We need each other.  We need community. If you approached a fire place that had a good flame going & had 3, 4, 5 logs in it & decided you were going to grab the tongs, grab one of the logs out & put it in the middle of the room... What would happen? The log in the middle of the room would burn out while the ones that are together in the fire place would continue to burn hot. That is what happens when we decide we are better off alone than together. This same principle is one we seek to live out on our team. We want to work together, collaborate, learn from each other & stir each other to be better for the glory of God. Better musicians, singers, mixers, volunteers, better worshipers of Jesus.

Comradery over Competition

We live in a culture that can be very cut-throat. Especially when it comes to the arts. The culture that can create is one where everyone is looking out for themselves to “get mine”. To climb to the top, be known as the best, etc. In the kingdom of God it is the very opposite. Jesus says to be first is to be last & the greatest is the servant of all (Mark 10:28-31, Matt. 23:11). At Radiant Church we choose servanthood. We choose to champion one another instead of steam rolling people. We choose to love & put each other first instead of seeking whats best for us. We choose to encourage instead of tearing down. We choose comradery over competition because we believe that loving people is more important than the platform & the Gospel compels us to love & serve each other. It’s upside down. But we believe it to be the best way because it is what God says in His word & we trust Him.

Character over Competency

At first glance at this title, it may seem like we might not care about skill, talent or competency. That could not be further from the truth. We value skill because God values skill (Ex. 36-1-3, 1 Chron. 25:1-7). But skill isn’t everything. God’s Word also puts an emphasis on character (1 Sam. 16:7, Gal. 5:22-23, 1 Tim. 4:12, 2 Peter 1:5-7, Col. 3:12-15). As a ministry, we want to value what God values. The Lord values both skill & character & so do we. We’re looking for people who are gifted, extremely talented & have godly character that is above reproach. But at the end of the day, the church needs musicians who love the word of God & the people of God. Musicians who may not be professional, but know the names, stories and struggles of their people. Musicians who are accessible offstage & show up ready to minister whether they are scheduled or not.

Development

Humility

In everything we do, we want to put on humility. We want to view ourselves in light of the Gospel & hold our roles open handed. It isn’t our right to serve, it’s our privilege. We approach our role, our position with humility. We treat each other as more important than ourselves & we serve the people on our team & we serve the people in our church. In our culture musicians are praised for their talent, their skill, their style, etc... In God’s kingdom there is only one who is worthy of praise & that is King Jesus. He’s at the center of it all. Let’s be people who put on humility as Jesus did & pursue community with one another & to make disciples who love Jesus above all.

Band

• Keys
• Electric guitar
• Drums
• Bass
• Worship Leaders

Production

• FOH Mixers