A New Expression of Worship
In many ways our “modern” form of worship is already becoming outdated.
What do I mean by modern worship? I mean Hillsong United, I mean Chris Tomlin, I mean moving lights and moving backgrounds with lyrics over the top, I mean 4 minute songs, I mean 5 song worship “sets” of music. Hopefully you get the picture.
Over the last week I’ve been listening to a band named Gungor non-stop (best Christian album I’ve heard in a long time). Gungor is led by Michael Gungor and they play music in order to bring about what they call “worship experiences” outside of the church.
Instead of going around and touring churches, they are planning a few “events” rather than a concert tour. They’ll be in music venues rather than churches and yet they will still be focused around praise and worship music, though it might be different than you’ve seen or heard before. With the infusion of art and music outside the church they hope to reach a whole different group of people than the local church might reach.
(Come here if you can’t see the video RSS readers)
I for one, love this. This whole idea. Today’s church has turned worship into a music-oriented time. Bands like Gungor are turning worship into a sensory experience of God.
And for those of you who loved their album titled song from the first video, here is an acoustic version of it. It goes from good to INCREDIBLE (plus the lyrics are profound) at about the 2 minute mark:
Gungor isn’t alone with this kind of idea. I hung out with a group named Revolver when they came to Portland’s Idea Camp last November. They are doing something very similar through their church in San Diego.
I see this expression in worship growing in popularity as time goes on. I say that because everyone I know who has been a part of something like this is always blown away afterward.
This is a new expression of worship. And we should embrace that.
(Just to be clear, I wasn’t paid for this post, nor was I asked to write anything about Gungor or Revolver. I was worried some of you might have thought otherwise because of my raving remarks for their music. I paid for the mp3s of Gungor’s new album with my own money and fell in love. I know a lot of bloggers get free stuff and post about it, but that isn’t my gig.
Oh and if you didn’t listen the the acoustic version of “Beautiful Things” you missed out on a beautiful 5 minutes. I’m just sayin…)
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Tyler Braun.
highlight of the morning. thanks for sharing. after checking out the vids, i’m definitely checking them out.
kind of reminds me a little of the older waterdeep/enter the worship circle stuff.
Thank you for sharing. I adore you. I am going to get the album.
I saw Him and his wife at a Christmas show, it was awesome.
Really glad you wrote this, I had been on the fence about checking them out and now I will definitely be checking it out. Love the title track of the album.
I love the music, especially the acoustic version. Reminds me of the first Enter the Worship Circle record with 100 Portraits and Waterdeep. Hopefully we’re all ready for it this time around.
I’ve been hearing good stuff about these guys as well. Unfortunately, I cannot see the videos here at work. So, I’ll have to check them out when I get home. When I heard acoustic version I got all sorts of giddy.
I don’t really hav anything to add, but wanted to say that I am also a big fan of Gungor and what they are doing.
Thanks for sharing about them, Tyler.
And I for sure want to check out Revolver since they are more in my area.
Solid stuff, I hope they reach a lot of ears.
i’m kind of into it. thanks for sharing. pretty cool. although, i have always been a fan of a “band” called -waterdeep- and they have similar style, ….something of this acoustic indie sound and they don’t always do shows in churches. they are another husband/wife team originating in kansas city mo.
Looks like I need to check out this group Waterdeep. Never heard of them before, but 4 of you have mentioned them now.
Waterdeep was actually the band behind the most uncomfortable worship experience of my life. Not to muddy the waters (no pun intended). But it’s a funny story looking back. And Gungor’s new album is pretty good, diggin a couple tunes.
http://www.ourrisingsound.com/2008/10/28/most-uncomfortable-worship-ever-mutiny-at-the-call/
Great post. I always say that all Christian music should be worship, but that doesn’t make it the kind of music that people should sing together in worship. What I appreciate about Gungor is that their music (at least some of it) is accessible enough to be both an experience and congregational.
Good stuff. Not sure I can just buy MP3s though. That still seems weird. Must have physical media!
You still have a little old school in you Seth
By “sensory experience of God” you mean Xylophone? hahaa
I liked the song but dont understand why you think it’s so revolutionary or different…I’ve seen some slower Hillsong and Phil Wickham that sound very similar.
By “sensory experience of God” you mean Xylophone? hahaa
I liked the song but dont understand why you think it’s so revolutionary or different…I’ve seen some slower Hillsong and Phil Wickham that sound very similar.
Yeah, I’ve got to say I’m with Kurt on this one. Awesome song, but not much different than what I’ve heard before. They seem to be pretty similar to a lot of today’s artists with.
They also seem smart… if you market your product as different you gain a niche so to speak.
Good stuff, though. I may purchase the album.
Fair point Kurt. Try watching the first video and listen to him describe what they are trying to do.
Obviously they are still a music/worship band. They haven’t reinvented the wheel. But their desire to bring in other elements beyond music and move their venue outside of the church is something that will become more of a trend I believe.
Tyler, thanks so much for this:
(1) Providing me with something beautiful for which to thank God and enjoy Him again today. The acoustic video was art is the best sense. Beauty reveals God’s love.
(2) For introducing me to Gungor. This won’t be my last encounter with them.
(3) For challenging the Church to get out of the “worship song set” rut. I don’t need to add – you’ve done a great job. If anything, I’ll just encourage my fellow lead worshippers to remeber always that the worship that is going on is the RESPONSE, not the sound. It is the heart, not the raised hands. So in as far as music proivides a space for the response to happen – use it. But leave space for thinking and pondering and responding between all the words.
God bless, brother.
The way you talk about moving their venue outside of the church, and an experience etc…reminds me of a run I once did. There’s a Nike run called the RunHitWonder. It was a 5K I believe, with 4 bands. A Band in the beginning, and another band at each mile marker and finish. Rock bands, rocking it out. It was awesome and crazy. They had speakers along the way to capture the music of the nearby band. Running to live music and whatnot was an experience. There were goods and bads about it, but nonetheless it was enjoyable, and missed as the run has not come back to Portland since. I don’t see why a group couldn’t put on a run, with Christian bands worshiping at different intervals along the route. I’d feel it.
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Loved it. Beautiful.
These guys sound amazing! Thanks for letting us know!
Tyler, kind of late to the game…I downloaded the song Beautiful things the day you posted this and then the whole album today. I’m pretty blown away.
I’ll also throw out another plug for Waterdeep. They are Don and Lori Chaffer and I’m a huge fan. they also have a pretty amazing group of musicians that have sort of revolved in and out of the band over the years.
I’d recommend a few of their albums specifically:
To Chase away the birds- this is early in their career and very
bluesy/classic 70s rock.
Everyone’s Beautiful- first and only major christian label record on the now defunct Squint label. produced by Steve Taylor if I remember correctly.
2 Don solo records that came out a couple months apart around 2004 or so. What You Don’t Know and Whole ‘Nother Deal. These two albums are my absolute favorite songwriting anywhere.
Worship album with 100 Portraits- Enter the Worship Circle. songs written and recorded in a weekend at a cabin. Amazing and organic. You are so Good to me came from this session and album.
Hope you enjoy!
and thanks for clueing us in to Gungor. Awesome!
[...] great post out there about Gungor’s new CD and would love for you to read them. Check out Tyler Brauns post and Grant Jenkins post for some great reviews and info about the [...]
I can’t get enough of Gungor either, or new expressions of worship for that matter. It’s very hard not to fall into doing 4 song sets each week, with each song being 4 minutes long. I dislike looping a song forever and repeating the same lines, but I am playing around with fusing songs together and almost always keeping the music rolling, so it doesn’t ever feel like there are “lulls” in the worship experience. Thanks for the thoughts Tyler.
http://www.taintedcanvas.com/2010/03/22/gungor/