{"id":248,"date":"2015-03-14T02:29:14","date_gmt":"2015-03-14T02:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/?p=248"},"modified":"2015-03-14T12:53:06","modified_gmt":"2015-03-14T12:53:06","slug":"they-get-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/?p=248","title":{"rendered":"They “Get It.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since I last wrote in this venue, I have had the honor of singing in eight\u00a0 Sons of Jubal concerts within the state of Georgia.\u00a0 Each February, directed by Dr. Jon Duncan,\u00a0 the SoJ’s present regional concerts of praise in some of our smaller churches.\u00a0 However, the attendance of both Jubals and crowds demand two concerts in each church; it is amazing.\u00a0 The Lord is glorified, the singe\"SoJ<\/a>rs and players are edified, strengthened musically and spiritually.\u00a0 The crowds and communities are not only\u00a0 challenged and blessed as the Jubals “Lift up Jesus,” but unbelievers are drawn to Christ.\u00a0 The Jubals sing challenging and effective music, yet it really isn’t about the music, it is about the Savior.\u00a0 Of course we want people to enjoy our music, but when leaving a concert our desire is that their words aren’t, “What a great concert,” but “What a great God.”\u00a0 The Sons of Jubal “get it.”<\/p>\n

Earlier \"Rick<\/a>this month I had the honor of leading a workshop\/choir retreat with the excellent choir of FBC Social Circle, Georgia, a beautiful little city east of Atlanta.\u00a0 The music man, Rick Jenovese, his lovely wife, Wanda,\u00a0 and the church family were marvelous hosts.\u00a0 Our focus, as is always the case when I lead, is not only to\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 sing good music we<\/strong>ll, but do so to literally connect with the crowd, to be three-dimensional, a worship leading choir<\/em>.\u00a0 Striving to be\u00a0 ultra “professional” or on the other extreme, ultra “cool,” for the sole purpose of being professional or cool, misses the mark. \u00a0\u00a0 Too many professional, academic, and even church choirs are excellent musically, but the focus is only the music and not the crowd.<\/strong> (When speaking of gospel music, my friend, Jack Price, would say, “Everyone hates it except the people.”)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The church choir must be a a conduit of God’s love and grace to the fol<\/strong>ks in the chairs, the pews.\u00a0 It must be done with outstanding music and it has to be intentional. \u00a0 When directors and singers grasp this truth, a whole new world of joy and effectiveness emerges.\u00a0 Lofts become full and volunteer choir members grieve when they have to miss rehearsal or worship service. \u00a0 This kind of choir not only honors the Lord and touches lives, but draws people to want to be part of the choir.\u00a0 Church choir is not dead for those who are willing to do the work.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Rick and FBC Social Circle Choir “get it,” they understand their role as leaders of worship, not simply singers of song.\u00a0 (I know of a growing number of such choirs in the state of Georgia directed by Godly men.\u00a0 I get to sing with them in the Sons of Jubal.)\"Level<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking of choirs that “get it,”\u00a0 The Level Grove Baptist Church Choir, of which I am honored to direct, gets it as well.\u00a0 WOW! What a\u00a0 powerful and effective, three denominational worship-leading choir!\u00a0 They sing a wide variety of styles, musical languages, and they sing each well.\u00a0 This choir motivates me and keeps me on my toes and on my knees. \u00a0 (I could write pages on the\u00a0 effective ministry of LG, but I’ll move on for now…)<\/p>\n

\u00a0Recently, just\"Truett<\/a> before their tour of England and Scotland, LG hosted the Truett McConnell College Chorale.\u00a0 What a worshipful experience! \u00a0 My good friends, Dr. Ben Caston, Dr. Becky Lombard, and Dennis Allen “get it.” This evening of powerful music proved again that\u00a0 great classical music\u00a0 and warm songs of the faith can merge together in one marvelous experience of music that\u00a0 “connects with the crowd,” and virtually\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 draws the people to the altar of\u00a0 praise. \u00a0 I know there are a number of great schools with outstanding music programs out there, but I believe\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Truett McConnell is right at the top.\u00a0 These committed professors and students are amazing.<\/p>\n

March 19-21 I have the honor of leading the music for the Georgia Gideon\u00a0 International Convention.\u00a0 Several hundred business men will gather in Augusta to worship, report, and strategize about sharing God’s Word around the world.\u00a0 These\u00a0 men are bold,\u00a0 unapologetic believers that know that God’s Word “never returns void” and thousands of people each year come to know Christ through in a hotel room, by a copy of the Scriptures handed out at a county fair or even a school.\u00a0 Literally today I learned of a man void of any faith was given a little Bible and on his own, without any preacher or church, found Christ simply by reading.\u00a0 The Gideons “get it.”\"Gideon<\/a><\/p>\n

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Finally, and on a personal note, over the past few weeks my eyes have been opened<\/em>.\u00a0 My sight had gradually become rather dim and my cataract clouded lenses have been replaced with new Toric lenses, one eye for reading my music and the other for distance; pretty cool.\u00a0 For the first time in nearly sixty years, I can function without glasses.\u00a0 It is a hoot.\u00a0 Though I’m really glad eve\"Eyes<\/a>ry thing is much brighter and clearer, I thought I would look “younger.”\u00a0 Actually, my glasses were hiding the bags under my eyes and the wrinkles of my temples. I believe we ought to look as good as we can, but\u00a0 you can’t hide “old;” those who try usually look silly. \u00a0\u00a0 I’ll still wear glasses for really close up work, but as the song says, “It’s a whole new world.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

“I’m gonna keep on singing….”<\/em><\/p>\n

______________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Awaiting the Shout!<\/p>\n

Bill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since I last wrote in this venue, I have had the honor of singing in eight\u00a0 Sons of Jubal concerts within the state of Georgia.\u00a0 Each February, directed by Dr. Jon Duncan,\u00a0 the SoJ’s present regional concerts of praise in some of our smaller churches.\u00a0 However, the attendance of both Jubals and crowds demand two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266,"href":"https:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions\/266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billcoenmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}