January 27, 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013
Large Baptist Church
New Orleans area

When I noticed the interior of the church I was intrigued. There was this magnificent pipe organ console, there on the floor, not on the stage. The pipes were built into the church, beautiful!! This instrument was not used, but on stage was a LARGE band, maybe 20 people on various instruments. Everything from multiple guitars and keyboards to a violin a grand piano, and three singers. Behind the band was a choir, up in the choir loft out of sight which could hold about 100, but there were about 30. It was nice to see a choir though…

The music began…. on stage was this predominantly young adults contemporary christian band. The lead singer a young guy playing a guitar. The music was what I would call contemporary praise and worship. Most of the songs were upbeat with drums and bass guitar, a few slower ones, and then came the unexpected…

“Total Praise” was sung by the choir.   There were two band members left on stage, the grand piano player and the lead singer which was now directing the choir. The song sounded wonderful, although you could tell that the director was not as into it as he was with the praise and worship section.

The congregation, from my perspective, only related to certain songs, those I would call mainstream, ones that could be heard on the area christian radio stations.  There was this disconnect between the words the band was singing and the powerpoint slides. The director appeared to repeat a chorus or verse, that was not panned in the powerpoint. Don’t get me wrong, I feel he was following the spirit, but as a congregant I felt a little lost if it was a song I didn’t know.

All that to say, I think the music was a little to band for me, although they sounded great. I love to hear christian music, but when loud drums and bass guitar take lead I feel the essence of church is lost.

Ryan