Joshua Griswold

I found out a year ago that the father of a close friend had cancer. Initially he was giving 6 months to live (if I remember correctly). While he is still living things do not look good and his cancer has come back. I do not know how long he will live. I have known this family for a very long time. My friend’s family came to America from Scotland in the late ’90s and we have been friends almost as long. We attended the Same Salvation Army Corps (church) for many years. We did a lot of growing up together and even started families around the same time. Our children have played together and we have spent many evening discussing everything. I love this family. After finding out about her fathers illness I began to realize the influence that her father had on me. This tribute is for him.

James Anderson is a phenomenal band director who came to the United States to take over the music program for the Salvation Army in the state of Texas. Over the years I spent a lot of time being instructed by him at music camps, in Texas Brass, and at the Dallas Temple Corp. Musically he pushed me to become a better instrumentalist and I think that he saw the potential that I had as a musician. I loved participating in any band that he was leading because he was intensely passionate about what he was doing and the music he was leading. He got more out of the Texas Brass youth band than I ever thought he could and stretched us to play music that was realistically over our head. He seemed to always be able to get the best out of what he was working with in terms of instruments and skill levels. We worked hard but it was fun. I don’t know that many or any who worked with him could say he didn’t work to make them improve. Before he moved he shaped the music program of Texas into a great program and there are many musicians that are better for what he came and did.

It would be very easy to leave this tribute at that and it would hopefully give you an idea of the work that he did. There is more though. For me after I thought about Mr. Anderson I began to realize the influence he had directly on me. Although I no longer play the trumpet and I am even no longer a member of the Salvation Army James Anderson’s influence is still there. One of the things I remember most about being in a rehearsal with Jim Anderson is that every now and again he would stop the rehearsal, put down his baton, sit down, and tell us exactly what we were doing and why. Sometime he used scripture and others in was just a passionate plea for us to remember that we didn’t play music for music sake but that we played and performed for the one true God and if our hearts weren’t in the right place then we may as well not be playing. His passion, not only for the music but for the purpose really affected me. As well as it always focused me.

Today I am a worship pastor. I play guitar, sing, and teach not only music but worship as well. I have found myself for years doing the exact things that James Anderson did in that I stop rehearsals to explain our purpose and why we do what we are doing. I love to read the words of the music we are playing and the passion that he had and still has is absolutely contagious because my passion comes partly from things that I learned from him. I can honestly say that I might not be the worship leader and musician that I am today if not for Bandmaster Anderson. there were times in which I was not a very good student I now know what I learned from him. Since I found out about his cancer and his unlikely recovery I have continually wanted to tell him this and let him know that he has influenced me so greatly. Most of all though I have wanted to thank him. Thank him for working with me, teaching me, and influencing me all of those years. His legacy will live on for many years because there are so many out there who like me have been influenced and shaped by him.

To Bandmaster James Anderson: Thank you! Thank you for everything you’ve done. For your family especially Lois and her family who have become like my own. For stopping rehearsals to hammer into us the purpose of what we where doing. Finally for teaching me all you did. You are a leader that does not simply lead a song or a band but you truly lead worship and are one of the best that I have ever met and I continue to learn from the lessons that you taught when I was younger.

It has been too long since my last post and if there is anyone out there that reads my blog, I apologize. Not that there is anyone who actually reads these blogs, but that’s OK. I just had a whirlwind of a weekend in which I flew up to Clinton, IL. I really enjoy go to various churches and worshiping with them. I like working with bands and influencing them just a little bit. Clinton is a church that is eager to do new things and has a band that is young and learning. It was fun to worship with the congregation and have the engage the way in which they did. I do want to thank the leadership of First Christian Clinton for allowing me to come and worship with them.

I have been having a hard time trying to figure out what to blog about over these past few weeks. I finally decided that I wanted to discuss the role of performance in worship. I know that this is a very heated topic throughout the worshiping world. Many think that performance has no place in worship but I actually disagree. It is correct that worship is not and should not be a performance. If a worship leader is on stage in a service and the focus is worship then that leader is in the wrong place. What we need to recognize as worship leaders though is that there is an aspect of performance to leading worship. I realize that statement might make some apoplectic but, let me explain.

Again if the focus of the leader is on performance than they need to go someplace else than a worship service. Actually if the focus is anyplace other than God and helping people open themselves to His presence then it is wrong. A leaders job is to get out of the way and simply allow people to worship. It should never be about the leader and if it becomes about them then they have failed. We have to as leaders invite people to worship, model worship for them, and allow the spirit to move. The main thing is to simply get out of the way.

Here is where some might disagree. I mentioned earlier that there is an aspect of performance to leading worship. I also said that we must model worship for those participating. If a leader leads worship attached to the microphone and static then those participating in the worship will find it more difficult to engage in the worship. It is very unexciting to watch and most will not participate when the leader is not. Again the performance aspect cannot take precedence over the worship. The most important thing that a worship leader needs to do when leading worship is that he/she must WORSHIP. This is where the aspect of performance and worship meet. When a leader models worship and actually worships while leading they will be more engaging and more interesting to watch. It is a fine line and as a leader we must be amazingly careful to never cross that line. We cannot cross it or we risk becoming the object of worship.

This topic is a real argument starter and I believe we need to continue the discussion. From my perspective there are three things that we must remember. 1. We need to engage those we are seeking to lead in worship. 2. We can never be the focus or object of worship. 3. We absolutely be worshipers first and actually model worship when seeking to lead. We really guides for those we lead and allow them to put themselves in the presence of God. It is then that we can allow God to work and he will do the changing. We can’t make anyone worship only show them the way and hope that they open up.

I just watched a great film called “It Might Get Loud”. If you are not a music person or interested in the guitar you might not want to waste your time. This movie involves three great guitar players, Jimmy Page, the Edge, and Jack White who get together and talk about their beginnings, what brought them to the guitar, and the process of their art. Jimmy Page tells the story of his first guitar and how when his family moved into his home the guitar was left there by the prior tenant. The guitar was just sitting upright against the wall. Maybe it was providence (woo.. eerie sound). Jack whites view on how he wants to struggle with the guitar and he seems to revel in the difficulty going so far as to use guitars and equipment that most musicians wont. He uses a guitar that has a plastic hollow body and another one that has holes in the wood. Now I love a guitar that has been beaten, Page had a Gibson that had so much life, and I look forward to when my Gretsch has been played to that point but a plastic guitar seems foreign and maybe wrong. Despite this or maybe because of this he plays very well and he plays with such angst and passion that I find him intriguing and I am going to have to check out his music.  Something that really resonated with me that came from Zeppelin’s Page was that at one point he was a very successful session guitar player, even playing on the “Goldfinger” soundtrack. Before the Yardbirds and before Zeppelin he made his living playing music but after a while he found himself unhappy because he wanted to do more. He explains that he wanted to speed up and wanted to do things that were not aloud in as a session guitarist. As a worship leader I in some ways feel the same way.

Some people might take exception to me using a heavy rock guitarist as an example but all I ask is that you keep reading. The question that I have is do we as worship leaders feel that same need to grow? Not simply as musicians, which I believe is incredibly important, but as pastors as well.

First as a musician I believe we should truly strive to master our instrument to the extent of our ability. Paul Baloche states often that the musicians in the bible played with skill. Remember that the Tribe of Levi, the priest and musicians, where set apart and not required to farm or harvest.  The musicians where meant to learn their instruments. They were part of worship and worship though imperfect is, in my opinion, the one thing we have to give God that is not already His. He is absolutely worthy and deserving of our praise and through His grace we are. All our finances, our physical possessions ,  it all already belongs to him. We give tithe not because its our gift to God but because it belongs to Him to begin with. Worship I think is different, It’s us giving thanks, gratitude, expressing to God our love and much more. Should we not as worship pastors to musically give God the absolute best we can? I believe for us this means that we should learn music theory, as it is the fundamentals of what we do,  and scales and arpeggios.  We need to be able to talk to those musicians that we are leading and explain to them what we need. Should we not search out a private lesson teacher? All of this applies to all instruments including vocals as well and to our musicians that play with us. We should strive to become better and push ourselves to play music that is just a little beyond us as well. Now I understand that music is not the only form of worship for those of you that use other forms or art such as dance and artist but I am using music simply because it is the main focus of most worship leaders. I am not trying to exclude you or diminish what you provide to worship this still applies to you also.

The second area that I feel passionately that we should continually seek to grow in knowledge is the Bible. In my third year of being in a full time music ministry I began to realize that If I was to become the servant worship leader that I should be I should know what the Bible says about worship. We really need to know not only what the Bible says about our area of expertise but what it says in general. I know that it will not be likely that we can know what the Bible says completely as it is a lifetime process but shouldn’t we be in a continual learning process about what it does say. Upon entering Bible college I truly fell in love with the word of God, it is amazing. Just as we need should find a teacher for our instrument we should also find a teacher for the word and dive as deep into as we can. Whether it is a weekly study with our head pastor or we take the leap and head back to a classroom it should be imperative that we are continually learning about Scripture. I think people today are really looking to find out what the Bible says, no longer just nice life stories (though they have their place) but what is in their and how it applies. We must remember that as Worship Pastors we are pastors and people will come to us. We should be ready. Another reason is that it is not just our job to lead a rocking musical time of worship but, we need to teach those in the congregation about worship. We have the opportunity to teach them through music, art, what we say, and so much more.

Like Jimmy Page I want more. I want to find ways to teach worship in new and fresh ways and to do this I must continue to become a better guitar player, singer, artist, and I must continually search out to learn more about the word of God.

I didn’t forget the Edge but couldn’t figure out how to include him in this post. He is an amazing guitar player as well, if you watch the film check out his guitar rig it is massive.

It’s funny how even though I was never really that interested in beginning to blog I am frustrated that I let myself get to ten days between post. Like Dr. Jekyll feared changing into Mr. Hyde I am afraid that I might actually become a proper blogger (my non-conformist nature is screaming nooo!). I find myself thinking about ideas for topics all the time and debating with myself if I can actually discuss certain topics. What am I turning into? I pray to God that I don’t start hanging out in Coffee houses or even worse begin to drink the junk (I am an avid coffee hater, sorry for you lovers out there. It’s disgusting). In all seriousness I find it interesting that I am almost beginning to enjoy this. A friend of mine after reading this blog commented on how for a person who professes to dislike blogging each of my post seem to progressively get longer. I don’t know maybe it’s not all bad.

If you have taken the time to look around the rest of my site, and if you are interested in hiring me I humbly ask you to do so, you will read a little about my family. I have a son and a daughter both of whom I love immensely more than I can explain. A few years ago while I was leading worship for a youth group in Plano, TX (again look at the resume) I decided to bring my son along one evening so that I could make life maybe just a little easier for my wife by getting him out of her hair. It seems like so long ago but my son, who took forever to potty train, was still in diapers and of course right as it is time to get ready to begin the time of worship guess who needed to be changed. Not the youth pastor! So I took my boy back to my office set him down on the floor and began the process of changing the diaper. In a moment that I will likely never forget my son looked up at me and proclaimed “Daddy I’m going to be you when I grow up”. In a second of both pride and fear I was a little taken aback. After a quick laugh I told him that hopefully he wouldn’t be me but that he would be himself. I have made too many mistakes and tripped up too many times for him to want to be me. It will be easier if he grows up into his own man and maybe I can be a good enough example to where he might want to be a little like me.

Very shortly after that though my brain did start to work in that weird way that worship leaders and mad scientist only can. Shouldn’t that be our goal, isn’t that kind of what we are striving for in our walk with Christ. I know that we will never become “Christ” and I am definitely not saying anything like we will become “little gods”, but our goal is to become as Christlike as possible isn’t it? If we are going to talk about living lives of worship, being the body of Christ, or the bride of Christ then our goal is to live like and become like Him. How does this change the way we do things? Not the silly WWJD fad type of Christlike, but the conscious effort to live a life that reflects who we follow. It kind of scares me that my son would watch me so closely as to emulate me because I am so far from perfect that I know in so many ways I don’t want him to be like me. There are also those things that I would be glad to see him learn from me, such as my passion for worship, music, Newcastle United, and my hunger to continue to learn. We have a written account of the life and ministry of the perfecter of our faith and through the rest of the Bible we can learn of many of the characteristics of our father. Should we not then strive to travel through life reaching to become like that which we worship. Our savior and God the father are definitely worthy of our praise and they are most definitely worthy of our emulation.

My son has done a few more things worthy of posting about as well and I will bring those to you shortly. Maybe I can have a whole series on the worship topics that I get from my son. Hopefully in a few years I might be able to bring up these post and truly and lovingly embarrass my son as a good father should. See another thing he can learn from me!

I just realized that this in yet another post that is longer than the ones before it. This might get to be a problem. what we should all do is pray fro brevity in my next idea. Please help me in this endeavor.

Last week a very good friend and I met for dinner at a local grill in Frisco, TX. Not as a matter of this topic but I will say that if you live in the DFW area I highly recommend the Blue Mesa. During happy hour on weekdays they have a deal where if you pay for a drink they provide a wonderful cooked in front of you taco. For the drink and a tip you get all you can eat at a really nice restaurant. Sorry, that’s enough free publicity. This friend is one that had a hand in shaping the Christian I have become and was a large influence in my start in the world of worship music and worship leading. We have each witnessed the other growing in our spiritual walk with Christ and we have also seen the paths in our journeys move in different directions. Where I have become a modern style worship leader, obtained a Bible college degree, and seek to push the boundaries of worship. He has found the solace and beauty in the traditions that come with the Eastern Orthodox Church. Where I have been focused on the future, he focused on the past.

It never seems to fail that our conversation turns to the same topics. We always talk about the Church and the Bible. We have discussed countless times orthodoxy and its worship in contrast to the contemporary or post-modern church. During our conversation my friend made a comment that I found absolutely intriguing. Some in the emergent or post-modern church use the acronym E.P.I.C. to describe the aforementioned movement. This stands for Experiential, Participatory, Image rich, and Connected. The statement made was that the Orthodox Church is more post-modern than most P-M churches today. The EPIC acronym applies to the ancient church that he attends. Their services are very experiential, participatory driven, immensely image driven, and highly connected. The thing is he is correct and I find it wonderful that it can be that way. I have seen the same thing in Messianic services with the awe inspiring beauty that comes with the ancient tradition and the safety that comes with the foundation.

My thought process though led me to wonder something different though. Why can’t the church in general have both the ancient tradition and still be relevant to a post-modern world. Robert Webber, a worship writer, coined the term “Ancient-Future worship”.  I love this idea of taking the foundational elements that come the the traditional worship and combine them with the modern influences that we use today. The older elements have a connecting power with all of those who came before us and allow us to participate in something more grand. Where the modern elements connect us to the world we live in and allow us to reach a world that does not always understand. I believe younger generations are searching to be attached to something, not something that is fleeting and fickle like current fads, but something that has centuries of tradition. In the same breath though they still need to be spoken to in a way that is understood. A good way to describe it would be in this way. I have recently fallen in love with the song “How Great Thou Art” although for years I hated singing it every Easter.  The band Remedy Drive has a version of it that I came across and I have discovered how truly powerful that song can be. The words have not changed but the music has been updated to a more current style. I missed the power of the song because the music, for me, stopped speaking. Once the music spoke to me the words, which were always powerful, began to speak. I think worship can be used in a similar manner not that we totally fall into and become the world but that like Paul we can use the culture to our benefit and show them God where they may have been looking all along.

Let me start this post by saying every time I write a headline for a post real bloggers are are screaming in their lattes. Perez Hilton must role his eyes because I am terrible and writing creative headlines. I think that they must all be cleaver quips or deep inviting thoughts that make you want to read the post. Where as I am nothing more than a smart alec trying to be clever. It never quite works out so well. any way let me begin.

This past summer while trying to find more permanent employment I began working mowing lawns for a friends landscaping company. While working I had a lot of time to listen to music. I would generally would fall into a repetitive group of albums for about a week. One of the albums I enjoyed was John Mayer’s Where The Light Is. This is a really good live performance and if you like Mayer or just like good guitar playing I highly recommend it to you. I personally think John is my generations Clapton or Vaughn (Stevie not Jimmie in case you were wondering). Some out there might not agree with me but that’s fine because I am right anyway, get used to it.

One of those hot days while mowing instead of just allowing the music to be background noise I heard John begin to talk and what he was saying struck me, or what felt like to me, profoundly. During his cover of Hendrix Bold As Love he takes some time to converse with the crowd and discusses the point to which his search in life has lead him. Here is a quick run down of the speech. I’ve tried every approach to living (not everything but every approach). I’ve tried buying things, shutting off the world to be a “mad” genius, at 30 I’ve made a lot of things happen for me (which when in your twenties is a cool thing), but all that means I’ve found a way to synthesize love which doesn’t work. The last approach to try is LOVE, not Hollywood “roman candle, hot pink” love but the I’ve got your BACK love! I’m going to experiment with this love thing, giving love… feeling love, it’s the last thing to check out before I “check out”. Take me to the solo one more time…

Now there is more to what he said, and I recommend listening to the whole thing, but when I really heard what he had said I felt in my heart like John you are so close. He is absolutely right in that it is about love, love for our neighbor, for all those around us, and love for the lost. There are even Christians out there that don’t even fully understand this. Though he is right in that I think he falls short is that he has not yet attached that love to Christ. We love because He first loved us (I John 4:19). Without the love of Christ our love is powerless. Without God our love is incomplete and Mayer is so close to this but still missing the mark. We need the love that John Mayer is talking about, the love where we are there for those we profess to love but it still falls short of the complete love that comes with the sacrifice that Christ made.

I guess for me the question is in my daily walk and life of worship do I make the same shortfall? Do I in my search for purpose forget to complete my love and leave out Christ in my haste forget that my Love of God should lead me to love the people around me. I don’t know the status of John’s salvation or where he is at in life at this point and I probably will never get the chance to discuss it with him. He seems so close and it does seem as though he is searching, but he according to what he said he still is missing the most important piece. Love comes from Christ and that love is what completes, fulfills, and ultimately saves.

I feel like this post has gotten a little away from me, maybe a little too sermon like. I hope it didn’t.  I will keep working on my headlines though maybe they will get better.

I have been reading this book recently titled Experiential Worship by Bob Rognlien. I highly recommend this book for any of us out there that Lead. I found myself constantly wondering why I didn’t have a highlighter or a pen to underline things that I found insightful and intriguing. I probably will reference this book a lot in the next few weeks.

One of the things Mr. Rognlien discusses in his book is the presence of God during the worship time. Often I have heard and probably even uttered the words (or something like them) “we ask God to enter this place” or “may the presence of the Holy Spirit fill this sanctuary”. The question really is who is it that needs to “show up for worship?” Rognlien states that every time we come together to worship, God is already there. All too often though, the service has no life changing effect. “The question is not whether God is present to us; the question is how present we are to God” (Roglien 45). I have heard many people after a service say “I didn’t feel the presence of God today”. Maybe I should ask them, “Were you really there?” Understand I am just as guilty of this as anyone. There have been more than a few services where I have not really shown up.  It is too easy simply to attend a service and never really have ever been there.  I wonder how often I have gone to a service and ignored the Holy Spirit because mentally I was worrying about my finances or how my favorite soccer team was doing (up the toon!).  Maybe there are times where God must feel like an impatient parent who is ready to get out of the house and the children are too busy watching cartoons to have gotten ready to leave.

I have found that the times that I feel the presence of God the most is when I lose myself in worship, such as when preparing for a worship service and working on the music. The words hit me and I find myself unexpectedly worshipping. Is it possible that this same experience could happen more often? Maybe we should stop letting our worries, fears, finances, or many other issues prevent us from our worship. We should give it all up to Him, run headlong into the presence of God and show up.

Let me begin with this… I am not a blogger.  Although I use computers often, I really don’t like them very much. Not that I am opposed, but not many days go by with out me uttering the phrase “I hate computers”. Despite my animosity for computers, I am beginning this for a purpose. I have been directing people to my website in search of a job and I want to give people a better representation of who I am and what I’m about. So here we go.

First I wanted to say what this blog is not. I am neither a blogger nor a writer so please don’t expect my grammar to be anywhere near perfect. Though I enjoy politics, I am not interested in writing about them here. And last I am going to try and not make it a page where I can rant on about things that bother me. You will all thank me for that, I’m sure.

What I want I want to express here are my thoughts on worship and living a life of worship. I would like to be able to put those things down that hit me every so often and maybe use the written word to figure out my thought process.

P.S. I have found myself already at least three times in writing this thinking “I hate computers”. This is going to be oh so fun!