Music For The King!
Dr. John H. Boyd
Hi! As the Pastor of Worship at Woodlawn Baptist Church I am privileged to be part of a growing congregation. Accelerated growth in a church means wonderful possibilities for any music ministry!
First of all, it means that people are excited about meeting together to worship the Lord Jesus! Our service music consists of something for everyone. All growing churches realize the need to offer musical styles that minister to all kinds of musical tastes. Therefore, in a typical Woodlawn worship service you are likely to hear everything from rock solid, ultra conservative hymnody to the latest in Contemporary Christian praise and worship songs! We believe all the songs in which the text gives glory and honor to Jesus are acceptable to Him. We call it a blended service because different musical styles are all blended together to weave a tapestry of praise for our Lord!
The heart of our worship experience is a desire to serve Jesus first by lifting Him up! Secondly, we serve Jesus by the enthusiastic manner in which we encourage all who are present to focus on Him. Finally, we involve the worshippers in soul-searching introspection during which we all seek to empty ourselves of what might hinder our pleasing Him. At Woodlawn it is our desire to make our worship services more and more to be all about Jesus!
One aid in the worship process is the dynamic singing of our choir, the Woodlawn Singers. The Woodlawn Singers is open to all members age 16 and up, who love to sing about Jesus. The choir rehearses weekly on Wednesday’s beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary. The choir warms-up on Sundays at 10:50 a.m. in the choir room on the second floor of the Education Wing. Most recently the choir has featured songs from collections published by Prism Music. Although the choir currently uses CD tracks, the goal is to form a church band in the near future that will accompany the choir.
Another goal is to continue to expand our growing Children’s Choir Ministry! The children now present music once a month in the Sunday morning service. They are formed into a choir with ages 5 to 11. The growth of the church, however, indicates that we will soon be able to provide a Graded Choir Ministry where the choirs are grouped by age and ability. That means we will need more directors and workers very soon. If you believe God has called you to minister to children in a musical setting, please contact me and let’s pray about it! If you have the desire but lack the training, we’ll train you! The Children’s Choir currently meets on Wednesdays as part of our Wonderful Wednesdays Children’s Ministry.
As Woodlawn continues to add families we see in the near future the need to create more space for more worshippers. As we continue to add to the number of young adults we see the need for a more contemporary approach to meeting their needs. One such need is in the area of worship music. We hope to add a praise band and a praise singer team to our worship services in the near future. Please consider that an open invitation to band members and solo singers. Our vision includes High School and college and career age praise bands and praise teams.
We believe that our only obstacle to having a tremendous music ministry is ourselves! Our vision for this region is to provide excellent community-wide worship opportunities for all ages. We will offer to the community a strong outreach program that utilizes Christmas Musicals and Easter Passion Plays to get the Gospel message to all people.
Our doors are wide open. If your family is looking for a dynamic fellowship in which to develop as committed believers in Jesus, you are welcome at Woodlawn Baptist Church! If you are looking for a place where your musical gifts can and will be used for the Kingdom of God, there’s a place for you at Woodlawn!
Come and catch the dream!
John H. Boyd, D Min, MCM
Worship Pastor & Music Coordinator
John has authored his first book, published by Publish
America. Click on the image of the book for more
information.
ISBN: 1-4137-7712-0
.