A perspective from my daughter that I thought you might enjoy!

Why is it that music is so inspiring? Emotional? Envoking of feelings? Music is so spiritual to me. It’s amazing. Music is where it’s at.
Last night Nik & I went to the Coldplay concert in Atlanta. It was awesome. It’s funny, because it reminded me a sitting in a concert put on by my dad at church. It took me back to the many times that I have sat in the balcony of Central Assembly with such pride, emotion…sometimes even with tears in my eyes. I had the same reaction last night. Music connects so deeply with my soul, my innermost parts, my spirit. It tugs at me. It causes me to reflect, to appreciate. And it asks me to be greater, to live more fully. It reminds me that there is so much outside of my little bubble. It persuades me to push furthur past my small world and tells me I will regret it if I don’t. What are our dreams, our passions? Why aren’t we doing them? Why aren’t we thinking out of the box and using more of our God-given creativity? Music can stir the soul. And we need that once in a while.
Music is from God. He gave us voices, the ability to play instruments and to create music. It often doesn’t matter what type of music is being performed- if it’s done with excellence, God is in it. It’s a way for Him to communicate with us, to draw us into Him and into deeper relationships with others. It draws us more fully into life.
So the next time you are sitting in a any place that is full of excellent music, let it take over your senses for a bit. Let it move you. Viva la vida!

Written by Megan Matrone White

 

Blessed be the Name of the Lord

The art of letting go of my agenda in order to submit to His agenda has always been a life long passion and a challenge all at the same time.  This morning I woke with Matt Redman singing in my head…”He gives and takes away”! 

What does the life of true surrender yield? 

In the midst of change and uncertainty there really is no other place to be but fully yielded to the will of God!  How do you and I find our way to the path that leads us to His agenda?  The first step is to determine that I will “Let Go”…all the other steps are by faith.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

 

“A Royal Waste of Time”

Marva Dawn’s insightful thoughts

“Worship is for God!  We want our worship to be full of splendor, totally prodigal in luxuriant praise, a royal waste of time!”   

Last night I was doing a exam review for my Worship Leadership class at Central Bible Class and most of the exams material will come from a very challenging book that I would recommend as a good read.  It’s not going to make you “feel good” but it will cause you to think. Sometimes we need an outside perspective challenging us to be aware of “why we do what we do” in congregational worship!

“A Royal Waste of Time”…Marva Dawn  

“It is a royal waste of time because we are participating in the kingdom of God, into which we have been born and borne by our baptism.  God has chosen us to be citizens of His Kingdom, set apart for its purposes, and made us beloved members.”

“It is a royal waste of time because we have to die to ourselves and our egos, our purposes and accomplishments to live now in God’s kingdom.”  

 

Time is in His hands!

Yesterday along with my 22 year old son I attended the funeral of one of our newest colleagues at Central Bible College (where I am an adjunct professor)!  This colleague died in a tragic motorcycle accident leaving his young family behind.  The funeral was beautiful…filled with many wonderful memorials and encouragements to fill our life with self-less acts for the sake of the Kingdom.  The idea that time is in God’s hands permeated the messages that came from the pulpit.

There was a heart wrenching video of Scott’s life that caught me by surprise yesterday!  All the images of his children as they look and live today combined with the fact that I was sitting closely to my son who is only a decade younger than the deceased  brought my heart to attention. 

 At the same moment as the video was playing I got a text message from our church’s Media Director announcing that his wife was in labor and their daughter would soon be born…needless to say I was filled with awe and wonder at the fragility of life and death.  Time is in His hands…let’s all do our best to make good use of what He has given us.  Blessings on you today!

 

Here in Your Presence

Led the Chorus “Here in Your Presence” by Jon Egan in church for the 2nd time this summer!  Its amazing how the text of a song like that takes its time to saturate your spirit.  I came away with the wonder of what He does for us when we take the time to allow Him to do it!

 Basically the song says he “undoes” us and then begins the process of making all things new.  Where else could we go for that incredible experience. 

It’s my prayer that as we all lead that the text of the songs we sing will become  real to the congregations we lead.  Imagine what can happen as an entire congregation begins to “GET IT”…worshipping in truth and understanding.

 Would like to know if you use that chorus and what kind of response you get!

Hope your day is great!

Tom

 

The subject of Choirs!!!

I have noticed quite a bit of dialogue on our discussion list in regard to the functionality of choirs in our fellowship…a subject dear to my heart!!!

So…I was sitting in our church choir rehearsal on wednesday evening after I had just given the devotional time over to one of the young guys in the baritione section.  I was so touched by his words to the choir and his passion for edifying them with the word.  He reminded us all of our humanity and need for Jesus and the importance of staying open and clean before the Lord…thus making the impact of minstry that much stronger.  For me ….this baritone enhanced the unity of our choir family once again. 

I know the culture of a choir ministry cannot exist in all churches but to those of you who are struggling with this issue and you really want to make your choir work…I say go for it!  Work at making your choir one of the most impactful and dignified ministries on the platform. 

 A strong united choir balanced with music that has integrity can do for a congregation what it cannot always do for itself.  There is a transcendent beauty in sound that a choir can make that is unique to a worship band, praise singers. etc.  Not that any of those ministry groups are unimportant either.  They all have their place!!!

I could write a book on the subject…so I will spare you!  But if any of you need help in organizing what I think is still a viable minstry…let me know!  I can prove to you that it still works…our congregation would have a void on Sunday mornings rignt now without our choir’s worship leadership!

Have a great day!

 

Welcome!

Welcome to our newly formatted website for the National Music Department. We hope that you find it to be user friendly and beneficial to your ministry. Many of you know that we have discontinued the FORTE! publication which was one of our primary means of communication and networking. Now thanks to technology we are able to broaden our scope and sphere of influence to reach a larger contingency of our fellowship network.

Please take a look around… we really want you to be a part of this network of worship leaders and music directors. Debby Duncan and Jason Salazar continue to provide you with all the services and resources that you have come to expect but now enhanced with more possibilities for interaction with you and your church music ministry teams.

Stay in touch with us…we will be looking forward to hearing from you!

Tom Matrone

 

Welcome to the NMD blog!

As a part of our brand new website, we have included a NMD blog. From time to time, members of the NMD staff and other guest bloggers will take the time to write down their thoughts. Check back regularly…