Drumming for worship has got to be one of the funnest and most fulfilling activities that a human being can do, in my oh-so-humble opinion. Granted, I do make a living hitting the ol’ skins so I may be a tad biased, but my point still stands. I mean, at drumming’s most basic level, who doesn’t like to hit things really hard and make loud noises? It fulfills a childlike desire to cause chaos…controlled chaos ideally, but thats easier said than done.

Unfortunately, hitting on a drum loud and fast does not qualify one as a good drummer. In fact, I would venture to say that a sign of a good drummer is nearly the opposite: being able to control one’s volume whilst maintaining speed consistency. Let me “unpack” this, as they say.

First and foremost, a drummer’s job is to hold down the tempo for the rest of the band. If the drummer isn’t doing this basic task, everything falls apart in a heap of jumbled notes and missed cues. You can have all the fancy Neil Peart fills and Carter Beauford stick maneuvers, but if you’re not keeping tempo well, you’re showboating your way to a frustrated band. Not only that, but if your primary venue for playing is in a place of worship, you’re not only distracting the band, but you’re distracting congregants from focusing on the real object of their worship: Jesus Christ.

The solution is simple: Play to a click. Some songs may require the click to be set to quarter notes, while others require eighth-note-separation to continue hearing the click through the band. Regardless of note-length-preference, playing to a click will make the task of locking in with a drummer much easier for the rest of the band, and certainly helps lessen distractions for congregants with a musical ear.

Chances are, every drummer has heard the dreaded phrase, “Yeah…if you could play a little softer, that’d be great…” in some fashion. We all hate it, and we all just wish sound guys and complainers would make peace with the fact that music is best heard at ear-piercing decibels. However, as much as we wish the world were a giant rock concert, that’s not realistic for every situation and every venue. To be a truly diverse drummer, one must gain control over their strike velocity, and learn to play just as well with less “umph”.

But it isn’t as simple as just playing softer – there’s more to it than that. For instance, hit cymbals with different strength than you would the snare and toms so they don’t drown everything out. Maintain volume levels when transitioning through a drum fill so you don’t scare the pants off of those around you. Learn the art of Dynamics. I could go on and on about this, but the point is this: volume control, volume control, volume control. It really is the easiest way to identify a seasoned drummer.

In the end, worship drummers should desire two things: To worship Jesus with their playing, and to help others to focus on Jesus in worship as they do so. The former is a matter of the heart, while the latter is a matter of practice…and minimizing the chaos in both the latter and in the former will result in one of the most fulfilling activities that a human being can do (in my oh-so-humble opinion).

“God & Sinner Reconcile” explores the history of redemption, past, present and future. In His holy, majestic, perfect creativity, God created the world perfect, and in our sin, we traded in truth for a lie and worship His creation over Him. We carelessly broke everything and death came to all. So now all of creation, ourselves included, is crying out for the long-awaited return of our Savior, who will come and make all things new.

These songs continuously call the people of God to repentance and to gaze at the hope that He has made us new and reconciled us to Himself by the blood of His Son, Jesus, and we will ultimately be with our Savior, unstained by the sin of the world.

Here is an unofficial song order:

1. Captivate – Singing of God’s creative genius and our deep desire for Him to restore the wonder of all He has done and in our fellowship with Him.

2. The Wonders of Your Love – Singing of the mystery of His eternal being and the plan of salvation that He had in mind from eternity past, that at infinite cost, He would adopt us into His family.

3. God & Sinner Reconcile - The sacred has covered the defiled and given His own righteousness for ours, to make us right with Him.

4. My God, My Father – A redone hymn from the 1700s simply asking God for His will to be done.

5. More Than Songs – In light of His great love, he has shown us what he desires of us and it is not just singing songs.

6. Oh My Soul – We are so tempted to whore after worthless idols, but He is better than all other gods, which are not gods at all, but will simply wrinkle, stain and fade away.

7. Close to You - A hymn of repentance based on Psalm 51… next to the holiness of God, how can we not see how sinful we are… and next to the grace of God, how can we not repent and be forgiven? He washes us clean… white as snow.

8. Forever You Reign – The Lamb of God who hung the stars, hung on a cross, given for us, but now he is risen, ruling and reigning forever!

9. Come & Heal This World – Asking God to come quickly and make all things new.

10. Redeemed for Your Glory – This song explores the entire work of God’s redemption of us, from start to finish and then exclaims that we can not help but sing His praise.

11. Lord of Creation – The Heavens declare the glory of God and all of creation pleads for His long awaited return.

I spend the majority of my time with people much younger than my 51 years. Most of the younger generation with whom I spend time have a passion for Jesus and yearn to serve Him. They recognize we were created to worship the Most High God. But sometimes in their worship they over-think. Growing up in a culture with microwave food and instant access on the internet, they want to find a fast track to effective service to God. But some things cannot be achieved in the time it takes a heat up a hot pocket. Relationships take time. Unpacking the line from God’s great purpose in eternity to our individual service to Him cannot be found in the click of a mouse.

I have had more conversations with Jesus-loving young men and women than I can remember. So many of them have to do with their desire to live hard for God all their lives. My advice to them is actually quite simple, and comes from Romans 12:1-2. When you truly know Christ through the gospel, and give yourself to serve Him with radical affection, finding His “will” or “plan” for your life has less to do with geography on a map and more to do with proximity to Him, less to do with a position and more to do with your posture of worship. It is less a roadmap and more a relationship.

In Romans 12:1-2 Paul picks up after teaching for 11 chapters on the amazing gospel from creation to eternity, from our sinfulness to His salvation. Paul then asserts that in response we present our bodies as a living sacrifice. In other words, we live to worship (verse 1).

Everyone worships. Most worship today is simply depraved. We worship stuff, we worship comfort, or ourselves. Through the gospel we learn to worship Christ, and learn the amazing irony that the only way to truly live is to die to ourselves, the only way to be free is to be a slave to God, the only way to win is to surrender all we are.

This means rejecting the things of this world and being transformed increasingly through the renewing of our minds, and in so doing we discover the very thing we seek—the will of God. Just read Romans 12:2.

Do you worship God? Do you constantly renew your mind, rejecting the lures of the culture and embracing the gospel’s power?

As a freshman in high school I was a shy, nervous, skinny little kid. If you told me then that God would call me to be a teacher and to give my life training leaders, I would have become a Buddhist monk and taken a boat to Tibet. I actually told a teacher that year I could not do an oral book report because I feared I would wet my pants or throw up or both due to nerves. But I genuinely loved Jesus. And I believed and tried to live Romans 12:1-2 as best as I could. Today at 51 I teach at one of the greatest seminaries on the earth, equipping leaders to take the gospel literally all over the world. If the Lord allowed me to write out the rest of my life, I would do what I am doing right now. I had no idea as a freshman in high school that I could do what I do now or that I would enjoy it. It was not my in my career plan even as I started college. But over the years God has been gracious to make clear His remarkable plan. I have done nothing to earn it and nothing to achieve it. But I have worshiped Him, and that has made all the difference.

*** Alvin L. Reid, PhD, serves as Professor of Evangelism and Student Ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. Author or co-author of over a dozen books on missional Christianity, spiritual awakenings, and student issues, Reid is a popular speaker young adults and young leaders. He and his wife have 2 children, Josh and Hannah. Find more at www.alvinreid.com.

The God who, though He was rich, for our sake became poor so that we might be rich in every way: The perfect example of generosity.

Who, though He was righteousness, for our sake became sin, so we could become the righteousness of God: The perfect example of sacrifice.

Who, though was by very nature God, for our sake became obedient even to death on a cross: The perfect example of obedience.

Who laid down His life for me: The perfect example of love.

Yeah, He’s the one. God with us, living in us! And every day I wake up to His loving challenge to meet the needs of the people He has created in His image and loves. The impoverished…the orphan…He is passionate about people like this, you know, so I really can’t help but be passionate too because He’s living in me. In fact, I’m really starting to obsess. I want my life to be a reflection of His and the world to see Him for who He is through me.

I know there are people out there who feel this way – who want to be a tangible, visible demonstration of Christ’s love and reflection of His character. Many are just waiting for the opportunity to be presented. I hear them talk about it, much like I do.

But no one ever left a legacy by talking about what they WANTED to do, or even what they were GOING to do. A legacy is left because you stopped talking and did something. So putting wheels to our words is what the Mercy Justice Compassion Campaign is about.

Our goal is quite simple, actually. 150 children sponsored with Compassion International, $5000 raised to support a village in Ethiopia through Compassion’s “Complementary Intervention Program,” and an additional $5000 raised to help support the adoption of our little boy there in Ethiopia. Sounds simple, right? Absolutely, because there are literally millions of people in the church across this nation who know that this is what Jesus has called them to be about. They just need the opportunity.

This is where you come in to play; here is how you can be a part. The MJC Campaign will consist of a series of concerts for the months of September, October, November and early December. We are willing to travel anywhere, but would like to focus on weeknights in the Midwest (Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Illinois) or basically anything 5-8 hours away from Saint Louis. We need churches and colleges that are passionate about this mission of rescuing children out of poverty in Jesus name to host and promote these concerts.

In these concerts, we will simply focus on the need, the example of Christ to meet the need, and the call we have to follow Christ’s example. Our hope is to not pressure people with statistics or guilt trips, but rather point to Jesus and the gospel as our motivation for generosity, obedience, sacrifice, love and worship.

Would you considering partnering with us on this mission? If you are interested, please email booking@stephen-miller.com