Glory!

Here we are, in all our glory, the Marcus Green Big Band, jumping our way through "Give thanks to the Lord" on Sunday evening at Big Band Praise. It was a sensational evening.

Some time ago, I talked about how I wanted to explore using worship as evangelism. That came in the context of spending time with Jared Ribble and Kenn Hughes from DMHO in Nashville, and seeing them on DVD doing their thing. If worship is our prime calling as a church, then it must remain our prime calling when we share our faith in Jesus. Thirteen words. (Go look them up.) This weekend was about trying to make that theory live a little. And to help us, Kenn Hughes came over and took part in what we did.

In addition to playing, he spoke warmly and briefly of his faith in Jesus, and then led the band in one of his arrangements, before we did a DMHO chart ("Blessed Assurance"), but it was his words of faith and his manner of gentle self-deprication and quiet humour as he commended Christ that was solid gold. I am so thrilled that he was here. The extra time we have shared together has been a total joy, a real gift.

Can worship be evangelism? Yes. If it is our calling then we must be obedient to it. I'm not saying we have got the model entirely right, but we are trying to learn how to do this: and we will try again. There were people there who were clearly impacted by the presence of Jesus in our midst and by the joy we have in worshipping Him. You can't fake worship and musn't try. But you can invite friends in as you spend time in Jesus' presence; and that's what we did. Some of them clearly felt Him very near in all the fun and the joy. Our job was not to worry about that, but to honestly give ourselves to Jesus, and for me, this music is the most honest way I have of doing that.

The evening itself was a seamless whole, a mixing of participation worship and performance ministry songs, played by a superb gathering of jazz musicians. Most were local, some from our church, others good friends, one a theology college tutor, one from the BBC Big Band, all excellent. There was a great spirit (and Spirit) in the band, and so I had a whale of a time leading and worshipping at the front.


There will be video to come soon!

Highlights: too many, but let's go with... the look on the faces of the congregation as solo after solo turned into "One O Clock Jump" and then back to the chorus of "Give Thanks to The Lord"... the clear moving of the Spirit during "All the Way My Saviour Leads Me"... the joy of "Yes Indeed"...

Who knows what long-term fruit this evening will bear. Time will tell. For now, here's a few encouraging comments from emails that have come in during the last two days:

"Just to say thank you for the encouragement to come to Big Band Praise last night. I really enjoyed it – yes indeed! And so did a lot of other people, very obviously. I don’t think my grade one sax makes me quite ready for audition yet….!"

"The concert was great - well done! ...I think you would have had God 'rocking' in his socks!"

"Jazz/boogie woogie meets worship......who'd have thought? oh yes of course God."

"Just to say what a great evening we had in your Big Band Praise. Great arrangements and a fab band made it an enjoyable event. Your Christian witness through song and speech was forthright and clear for all to see and it came over as so very sincere."