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Larry Visser is minister of music and chancel organist at LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In this edited conversation, he discusses the hymn festival that LaGrave hosted on February 10, 2013.
Jesus never hid his scars to win a disciple, nor lured anyone into following him by promising an immediate jackpot of blessings. On the contrary, he was forthright in declaring that to follow him would cost a person dearly. Jesus told his disciples that if to carry out his Father’s will was going to end up costing him not less than everything, it would cost them dearly too.
During each remaining week of Lent, we shall visit a place where Jesus stopped as he with his disciples made his final journey toward Jerusalem. We’ll note the people he met there, the words he spoke to them, and the decisions he made in order to be ready to take on the excruciating task which lay before him—to endure unspeakable humiliation and torture, and then at the end to die on a cross. Our only purpose in retracing the steps of his journey: to attend carefully to what our Lord did for us, and in response to offer him our adoration and worship.
A plenary address by Dallas Willard at the 2008 Symposium on Worship.
An interview with Ginny Owens on her own personal journey and the importance of contemporary music and how it can impact worship.
Interview with Darrell Harris discussing how his experiences of being in the music industry and training worship leaders has shaped each other and a look at the future of the contemporary music industry.
Jim and Kim Thomas talk on how their professional musical experiences have shaped how they lead worship and how contemporary music has shaped the church.
In worship, Christ is proclaimed to us not only in the Word that falls on our ears, but also in the “visible words” that are set before our eyes. At the font, God’s grace is washed upon our brows, and at the Lord’s Table, it is received into our hands and tasted with our mouths.
Worship Renewal Grant recipients from diverse congregations described what they are learning about sacramental practices that nurture and strengthen faith in people of various ages and cultures.
This workshop pondered the dynamics of worship conflicts, and suggest steps for navigating through them.
Many churches today are eager to present themselves as “intergenerational” in their worship. In a society that so easily separates people by age, developmental level, and experience, can the church succeed in keeping the generations together? Is this idea new and novel, or old and tested? What are the considerations and issues we’ll have to deal with? How do we accommodate different rates of faith development? What are the benefits of succeeding? We’ll draw on each other’s experiences and reexamine the conversations that The Church of All Ages started.
Can congregations with a “praise band” worship culture be led to joyfully embrace the practices of historic liturgy? Yes, if they are allowed to taste it slowly and if they see the evangelical and missional wisdom embedded in the ancient ways.
