Every Sunday thousands of people come to the Rock not only to hear God's Word preached, but also to join the Worship Ministry in singing to the Lord. In fact, nearly half of our service time each week is dedicated to worship.
So what goes on behind the music, and why is it we sing?
The purpose of singing in worship is:
- To praise a worthy God.
- To enter into a place of communion with the Holy Spirit.
- To bless others.
A Personal Testimony
Mankind's primary reason for existence is to glorify God
"As a worship team I think our job is to usher people into the presence of God," said drummer Steve Tashjian. "The biggest blessing is when someone comes up to me and says I was able to worship in a new way today."
Steve said it was amazing how things came together for him when he was finally willing to give his musical talents to God. "For me worship is obeying."
Steve first began playing for a church band in San Dimas, California when his pastor encouraged the congregation to use their talents to serve the Lord.
Soon, God called Steve to San Diego by opening the doors with a job in his field of physical therapy.
He was homesick, lonely and wondering if he'd made the right move when some athletes he worked with invited him to the Rock. Steve says he knew right away that Miles was the man through whom God would speak to him.
When the need arose for a drummer and the worship team welcomed him into their family, Steve saw it as a confirmation that he was in the right place.
"I feel needed here," Steve said. "I feel like I fit."
An Army of Singers
One singer on the worship team, Rachel Osuna, said she joined the ministry because its leader, Jdub, told her God wanted her to sing.
"I was just a standing in the congregation one Sunday, singing with everyone else, and Jdub passed by me in the aisle. He turned around, walked back and told me God put it on his heart that I was supposed to sing with the worship team, and so I've been singing ever since." Rachel said.
Associate Worship Arts Pastor John Williams, better known as Jdub, has been playing piano since he was four years old. His father and grandfather were both pastors and musicians.
Today, he's the man you see behind eyeglasses, a backwards cap and a keyboard, leading worship on Sunday mornings. He's also in charge of leading the new choir at the Rock.
Jdub said he's thrilled that nearly 200 people have signed up to sing in the choir and looks forward to raising up an army of praise singers.
"It really doesn't matter to me how many people we have in the choir," Jdub said, "as long as they're all called and committed."
My Experience
The Rock choir will be leading worship at this year's Easter service
I sat in for a sneak preview during the choir's third official Thursday night practice. I was brought to tears when I saw exactly what it was that God had called and committed his servants to do.
I had been having a particularly difficult and stressful week, hardly leaving myself time to breathe, much less attend a Thursday night choir practice. I arrived at the sanctuary late, wet from the rain, tired, frustrated with life, and wondering what the heck I was doing there.
But as I snuck quietly into a seat behind the choir I suddenly felt a peace rush over me, and I became confident I was right where I needed to be.
Everyone was praying. Clusters of people were sitting, kneeling, rocking back and forth, heads bowed, holding hands, whispering, praying.
I had never seen anything like it-no one asked them to pray. They were just praying.
Dozens of voices blending together into a soft drone, calling out for God's Spirit to be present at their meeting was the most beautiful and peaceful thing I had ever heard.
Eventually Jdub began softly playing the piano and asked the group to continue praying. He led the group in a mixture of prayer and a repetitive chorus of "Come Lord Jesus, Come" for nearly an hour.
Finally, around 8 PM they began warming up and singing the songs they had been practicing for the upcoming Easter service. After they were done, Jdub assured the choir members that practice wouldn't take so long every week.
"Not every Thursday night is going to flow like this," he said, "but as you get to know me, you'll see that when the Holy Spirit wants to change the pace of things, I'm not going to argue."
Not one person in the room seemed put off by the delay of the pre-practice prayer time.
The Support of a Family
In fact, when a young woman stood up afterward and asked everyone to pray for salvation for her bi-polar father who had attempted suicide earlier that day, prayer took precedence over busy schedules and chores waiting at home. Everyone in the room joined hands and prayed for her father. They also prayed for protection over all of the marriages, friendships and relationships of the choir members.
According to Steve, prayer is not an unusual occurrence in the Worship Ministry. He said Jdub always stops randomly to pray for people-even for people he doesn't know. Steve said everyone in the Worship Ministry is like that, and when he's having a hard week, he knows there are people praying for him and it helps him get through it.
"We're a very tight knit group," Steve said. "We're a family."
So there's a look behind the music of the Worship Ministry and into why we sing praises to our Savior. We sing to worship Him, to connect with the Holy Spirit, and to usher people like me, and countless others, into the presence of the Lord.
The Worship Ministry is on fire, so pray for them, and look forward to hearing them harmonize at this year's Easter Sunday service.
