Modern worship music comes into the mainstream

Once The Cutting Edge Band, in 2009, Delirious will end 17 years of being a band

Worship is what we are to do as Christians. It is the way of life. It’s practical purpose is to draw us into the Presence of God. Worship is that relationship that Jesus said we would have with Him via Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John chapters 14-17. Jesus preached about the Kingdom of God which the Bible clearly states is “righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)

This relationship with God holds all the mystery of your purpose in this world. Often, we can forget this concept or find it hard to connect with God easily or with a heart focused contemplatively on Him. Most worship leaders want people to have that happen when they worship publicly. If people are given the permissive freedom to connect with Jesus in worship at a church service, then the worship leader’s ministry is usually powerful. Why? Well, because the focus is not on how good their performance is going to be that day but an audience of one.

Contemporary worship really became vital to the modern church after the Jesus movement of the early 70’s. The first folk-pop-rock of Maranatha! Music was born in Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, CA in 1971. The church was led by pastor, Chuck Smith who founded the worship label. The church was filled with freshly converted youth wanting to connect with Jesus. The music of Maranatha! was their expression. In 1980, The Maranatha Music label launched an alternative rock imprint known as Broken Records with bands like Daniel Amos and The Choir. These bands with others were responsible for the vision of Christian Rock growing on the west coast.

Another pastor of that time was John Wimber who was a former member of The Righteous Brothers in the early 60’s. In that decade, Wimber was saved and went onto pastor during the Jesus Movement. He pastored a Calvary Chapel in Yorba Linda, CA. By 1982, Wimber’s church joined the Association of Vineyard Churches and one of it’s main focuses became leading people and resourcing them in worshiping Jesus. Some Maranatha worship leaders like Carl Tuttle joined him and the Vineyard movement.

The Vineyard already had skilled musicians in it’s membership. Larry Norman and Chuck Girard were leading Bible studies and worship services. In 1980, Bob Dylan became a Christian attending bible meetings held by a Vineyard church group. As the Association of Vineyard churches grew, so did it’s vision of worship. Throughout the 80’s to the mid 90’s, the Vineyard released worship CD’s under the series title of Touching the Father’s Heart.

Along with Maranatha at Calvary Chapel, the Vineyard produced and or equipped many artists that built the foundation for modern Christian worship music. Michael J Pritzl of The Violet Burning was a Vineyard worship leader and recording artist before he formed his band. Kevin Prosch whom Delirious, Matt Redman and many others acknowledge as a main influence, was a Vineyard worship leader. Later in 2000, a simple little worship band from the Santa Monica Vineyard named Lifehouse exploded internationally with a wonderful song of desperation titled “Hanging By A Moment.”

Vineyard music is known for it’s intimate expression of relationship with Jesus. The songs are simple melodies that intentionally speak deep adoration to God in the first person. As the culture changed, Vineyard worship leaders were being trained and recorded that reflected the advancement of musical styles. While other church music of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s had words of intimate quality, it was the Vineyard that made it a point to fully encompass intimacy in the music as well as the lyrics.

Today, modern worship music has become more than just church music. This transition into the culture beyond the church building began with 5 guys from England leading their church. They called themselves the Cutting Edge Band  (after the youth worship meeting) and would later change their name to Delirious? Delirious took influences and cues from Vineyard worship leaders like Kevin Prosch and Brian Doerkson. Prosch was noted for extending songs as people engaged God during church. He would become emotional and at times would just begin to weep as he led worship. Delirious made it a hallmark of their live shows to be spontaneous musically. Their live CD, Live! In The Can was their Cutting Edge worship songs extended and mixed with interludes of aggressive musical spontaneity with declarations and prayer over the sounds. It was a groundbreaking moment in worship when the CD literally packaged in a can was released.

In the states, there have been two movements noted for worship: Passion 268 Generation and the International House of Prayer in KC, MO. The Passion Generation is the vision of pastor Louie Giglio. Since 1997, Passion 268 has purposed to reach 16 million college people with The Gospel of Jesus Christ. It quickly became known for making worship a priority and leaders such as David Crowder who was the #1 MSN artist in 2006, Christy Nockles (also the other half of Watermark), Shane and Shane, and Chris Tomlin among others have been used by God to bring forth the vision.   

The International House of Prayer (IHOP) was born out of the Kansas City Metro Vineyard in the late 90’s. IHOP has been equipping men and women under 30 to be full-time ministers of the Gospel. Many of them come for 2 to 4 year programs in ministering, prayer and worship. Worship leaders do not play music for the first year as they study and learn the Word. There is a 24 hour worship center, where teams of musicians lead worship around the clock. During these times, people come in and out to seek God and pray. Often the teams are playing spontaneously and singing prayers as they communicate with God. A woman by the name of Misty Edwards has help train and lead worship at IHOP. Her music CD’s reflect the intense nature of God, his omnipotence and intimate heart for His people.

The idea of a 24 hour 7 day a week worship places throughout the world has taken on a life of it's own. Burn 24-7.com is the website home of Burn Services and Burn communities throughout the world. These communites are often organic gatherings of young people seeking God in worship. The ultimate goal of the Burn is to "know God and be known by Him."

In closing, there are many other forms of worship music. Afterall, it was J.S. Bach who said, “The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” Under the direction of the Lord, David played to calm Saul. As king, David gathered the musicians to prophesy before counsels, or, to worship before battle. Today, many of the songs from the artists and church movements are still being used by worship leaders in local congregations worldwide. Follow the links in this article and explore the heart of God through the resources.