Worship Style

I believe in a tradition worship “style”. I do not, nor will I, use mood lights, fog machines or any other devices designed to “enhance the experience”.  The Holy Spirit is God’s chosen method, combined with the preaching of His Word, to convict and move the heart. Man’s inventions are unnecessary distractions from the work that God desires to do, and elicit a response driven by feelings and emotion instead of conviction. We don’t need man’s inventions, we need God’s power. God called His people out of Egypt and separated them unto Himself. There should be a clear and unambiguous distinction between a church service and nightclub.

Music

I believe in and use music that is conservative and God honoring, done in a manner that glorifies the Lord and not the individual. The melody should stir soul and the words should move the heart. I use hymnals for the majority of music, and my two favorite hymnals are the All American and Bible Truth Hymns. While I’m not adamantly opposed to music tracks, I prefer not to use them. I am opposed to music tracks that could not be distinguished from what’s played on the local radio station without the words. Godly music should be separate just as His people are. Comprimise in music standards is often the first step in other areas of doctrinal comprimise.

Preaching

I preach in a variety of formats: expository, topical, and evangelistic. The objective in preaching is that God is glorified, not me. I’m not opposed to using technology such as PowerPoint while teaching, but find it distracting while preaching. The focus is always what the scripture says about a subject (Nehemiah 8:8). While I’m not opposed to using materials prepared by others, the overwhelming majority of the time I prepare my own teaching and preaching materials.