Nobody's Hipster

John Mark McMillan is a worship leader and musician that isn't afraid to go against the grain. In this interview he shares some of his thoughts on worship, being known as "the musician for the Hipster Christian," and his song-writing process.

Of particular note to me as a fellow worship leader was his thoughts on whether it's better to have a singable song or one that's a bit more complex/wordy/different:

I like to challenge people with what they will sing and won’t sing. People will do more than they get credit for. I like the idea of having them listen to a verse, then sing the chorus, it’s like a call and response type thing.

What do YOU think? I'm interested in some feedback: is it better overall to have a song like "Death in His Grave" that's more this call and response style where people listen during the verses and sing during the chorus, or is it better to have a song that's singable all the way through but a little watered down as a result?

Returned

I'm back. For those of you that didn't know,  I was in Russia for three weeks with The Navigators, teaching English and proclaiming Christ. It was an incredible experience and deeply impacted me, motivating me for the coming semester and giving me some food for thought for what comes next.

This blog has been somewhat...inactive lately-I intend to change this. For a while I considered doing a day-by-day update similar to my post-India project, but I've decided against that. I didn't have to fundraise that month =P. 

Stay tuned for more updates as I continue fundraising and preparing to return to CSULB in the fall! This will be one of the ways that I'll be keeping you all abreast of my current needs and prayer points! 

Help Me Help You

The semester here at Cal State Long Beach is basically over-it's finals week for the students and so we're all in the middle of transitioning into summertime. I'll be travelling overseas with The Navigators for the month of June and fundraising for the rest of the summer.

As a part of updating everyone about the trip and also getting into contact with everyone about fundraising I'll be sending out a newsletter soon-I'd love to update my contact list before I send it out though! Would you take a few seconds to fill out this short survey and help me out a bit? Thanks!


Click HERE for the survey.

Tuesday Setlist-May 3, 2011

For inspiration in deciding which songs to play this week, I started with Ephesians 6:10, which says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power." This was our final week in Ephesians (aside from a quick summary/wrap up next week) for our NavNites. 

With God's strength and power as a focus, the journey for the set, from our helplessness to the Crucifixtion and Resurrection to our response, crystalized. Although we are in dire need of rescue, we cannot save ourselves-its only God who can do that. Ephesians 1:19-20 tells us that this same power from 6:10 is the power that raised Christ from the dead and that Jesus predicted in John 16:33 (overcoming the world). These truths should lead us to a response of praise, exalting Christ for paying our debt and raising us up from the dead.

Worship Set:

1. "You Alone Can Rescue" by Matt Redman-(B)

2. "Death in His Grave" by John Mark McMillan-(D)
3. "Take Heart" by Joel Houston [Hillsong]-(B)
4. "Jesus Paid it All" modern arrangement by Alex Nifong (B)

5. "All to Us" by Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin- (B)
6. "Enough" by Chris Tomlin -(B)


A few notes on one of the songs: "Death in His Grave" is a recent favorite of mine, with hymn-like lyrics that border on too wordy, a unique time signature, and poetic imagery that tells the story of the Resurrection in a fresh way. John Mark McMillan (who also wrote "How He Loves") is definitely helping to lead the way in a movement to keep worship from becoming stale, formulaic, or lacking the Spirit, and I greatly respect him for that.

Tuesday Setlist-March 15, 2011

Being flexible is a key aspect of leading in any regards, but it was especially true of leading worship this past week at Navs. I had originally prepared to do all the songs at the beginning of the evening, but we ended up having a time of response to the message at the end of the night. The flow then changed from one five song set to two sets-one of four songs at the beginning and a single song to close. Thankfully the Spirit had led in a direction song-wise and one of the songs already worked perfectly!

Additionally, the setlist looked a LOT different originally (the only two that made the transition were "Forever Reign" and "Your Love Never Fails"), but in response to some personal and global circumstances I felt strongly led to use the time of worship to dwell on God's peace. From there the songs really just fell into place-some even the day of practicing with Rudy and Athena! It isn't always this clear every time I sit down to arrange a set, but I really felt Spirit-led in arranging it this time. 

The flow of the set started with us expectantly asking of God, then dwelling on God's character and God's love for us. These songs proclaim some powerful, powerful truths about God and it was amazing to watch the Spirit move in the room and use the time to impact hearts.

Worship Set:

1. "One Thirst" by Jeremy Riddle [Bethel]-(A)
2. "Beauty of Your Peace" by Tim Hughes-(C)
3. "Forever Reign" by Reuben Morgan [Hillsong]-(C)
4. "Your Love Never Fails" by Chris McClarney [Jesus Culture]-(G)

5. "Always" by Kristian Stanfill [Passion]-(A)


I led and played guitar, Rudy played piano, Athena sang backup vocals and played guitar, and Mr. Steven Crawford made a cameo on the drumset. One of the biggest blessings of serving with the worship team is the opportunity to serve with such quality and qualified people week in and week out!

To walk step-by-step through the "roadmap" for the evening: "One Thirst" is an amazing request and invocation of the Spirit to come and be present in our worship in addition to being a beautiful time to prepare our hearts for what's to come. I especially wanted to sing it because Rachel had introduced it the previous week and I wanted to sing it again and really let people learn it and dwell in it for a bit. "Beauty of Your Peace" is an earnest plea for God to replace everything that is the opposite of peace and fill our lives instead with Himself. "Forever Reign" just might be my favorite worship song currently, proclaiming truth after truth after truth about God's character in the verses and then moving into a chorus and bridge of our response: running to His arms. "Your Love Never Fails" is a celebratory declaration about just what it sounds like: God's unfailing love. And "Always" proclaims a simple truth: God will always be our help, our refuge, our strength. our all.

I can't say how it was in the audience, but from my standpoint on stage it couldn't have been clearer that God was speaking to those gathered during and through the time. Every aspect of leading worship is a privilege, but one of the ones that I appreciate the most is one of the best seats in the house to watch God at work, speaking and responding to His children as they cry out to Him. Gives me chills just thinking about it :).

Sunday Setlist-Feb 27, 2011

Picking up on the theme of God being our God that we'd established Saturday morning, I chose to focus the Sunday morning worship wholly on God's greatness. Whereas on Saturday the set moved from how great He is to our response, Sunday morning we started with God's greatness and camped there for all three songs. 

Worship Set:

1.  "Mighty to Save" by Reuben Morgan [Hillsong] (G)*

2. "Our God" by Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin

3. "Awesome God" by Rich Mullins 

*all songs in G

"Our God" and "Awesome God" are such a natural pairing that I really can't think of singing one without the other anymore. If you sing them as a medley it really works well-the transition is organic both musically and thematically (just like singing "How Great Thou Art" immediately after "How Great is Our God").

Both are incredibly powerful anthems: one from the previous generation of worship leader songwriters and one from the current one, but both conveying the same great truth! God reigns! He is sovereign, greater, high above us, and yet does not abuse this position. Instead, He reigns in wisdom, power and love. And with Him on OUR side, what is there to fear? As Psalm 23:4 says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me."

Selah

Saturday Setlist-Feb 26, 2011

Today and tomorrow I'll be sharing my setlists from a weekend Navigators short-term missions conference that I attended where I was asked to lead worship for about 10 minutes each morning.  Students from all over our region came to Irvine, CA, for instruction and training in how to fundraise and prepare for the various three to five week trips that our region has organized for this summer, in addition to meeting their team leaders and teammates for the first time and beginning to bond as a unit. This is a critical time for our groups-potentially frightening and overwhelming but ALSO potentially encouraging, inspiring, and stretching.

I was torn between introducing new songs or sticking with established songs, but ended up choosing songs that 1) focused on God's power, strength, and our response and 2) were familiar enough that people could sing without PowerPoint.  Familiar songs seemed the best avenue during a weekend overflowing with new information. With all the obstacles that students and staff will face in preparation for and during the various trips, it's critical to bring the focus back to God and His power, His strength, and His heart for the nations. It's only with His help that we'll be able to accomplish anything-but once we realize that we have it, what could stand against us?


Worship Set:

1. "How Great is Our God" by Chris Tomlin (G)*
2. "Lord I Give You My Heart" by Reuben Morgan [Hillsong]
3. "The Stand" by Joel Houston [Hillsong]

*all songs in G


For Saturday, the setlist roadmap was starting with God's greatness and moving into our response-He should be the motivation for everything that we do. I also wanted to introduce the theme that God is our God on Saturday in order to pick up on that theme the next morning. God is great and high above us, but He's personal and chooses to love us even though we don't deserve it. As Paul might say, this is a trustworthy saying-Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom we are chief (1 Tim 1:15).