It's Your Flava! Segment Six Welcome to the sixth installment of "It's Your Flava!", where we from time to time invite opinion and comments from visitors. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of GospelFlava.com Longtime producer and songwriter Aaron Lindsey brings his pen to this occasion. With production credits over the years spanning choirs such as L.A. Mass to soloists and groups such as Charles Woolfork, Parkes Stewart and The Christiannaires, and with keyboard skills heard with artists ranging from Shirley Caesar to Bishop Andrew Merritt to The McClurkin Project, Aaron Lindsey has touched on multiple styles of Gospel music. Currently he is the musical director for New Breed, the band with Integrity Music's new artist Israel Houghton. Look for the live worship album (which brings a mix of salsa, reggae, Gospel and rock, and features Keith Staten), titled New Season With Israel Houghton and New Breed, to debut in July 2001. "The Kum Baya Worship Mentality" Submitted by Aaron Lindsey —May, 2001 This is written to provoke thought, to envoke hope, and to ignite passion. I have always understood that culture and background play a big role in the dynamics of a Church's worship emphasis. The worship in many churches can vary depending highly at times on things like: the pastor's musical taste the musical director/worship leader's musical background the musician(s) abilities the oh-so-popular: "top tither's greatest hits" Over the past three years, I have been invited to help lead worship in almost every culture and denomination of the Christian church in America. One constant, regardless of culture, denomination or musical style, is the "kum baya" mentality in worship. In order to understand this, we must be willing to see through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. We as Christians can at times easily ignore the obvious. We can practice self-examination for an hour without discovering any of those things about ourselves that are perfectly clear to anyone who has ever spent time in our presence. So let's be honest. We've all gotten up on Sunday morning, watched our favorite preacher's telecast, put our clothes on while watching Bobby Jones Gospel, and in the car we put on our favorite "Sunday" CD (Joe, Jill Scott, and Mint Condition are carefully taken out of the CD changer). We've gotten to church (after intercessory prayer) and waited ever so reverently for that "magical" moment in the service where the Spirit really "comes in"(of course this is usually connected to our favorite song, singer, or preacher). If this doesn't quite happen, we leave church continuing with a spiritual eating disorder that lets us starve until our next "close encounter." Why is this so common? Why is this painfully true for many of us? We are great responders but not great initiators. God is searching for people like the woman with the issue of blood. In effect, she said "I can stand here and watch Jesus with my healing go right by me, or I can press in and get it from Him." I feel that we in the body of Christ lack an understanding of what praise and worship is really about. We are more concerned with preserving our stylistic approach than pressing into Him and cultivating an atmosphere where the Spirit of God can move unhindered. Aaron Lindsey on Producing Gospel Aaron Lindsey discusses the role of the producer in Gospel music in our 1998 interview. Click on the image above to take you there. Music is an statement of the soul, but worship is a statement of the Spirit. Jesus said in John 4:23, The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. In a generation where praise and worship is so popular, it's important that we constantly examine ourselves. Why do I worship the way I do? Do I really worship in spirit and in truth? Am I willing to press in worship until I touch Him? I believe that music can be a vital tool in creating an atmosphere for worship. But worship, in and of itself, is not music. This union of music and worship can be wonderful, but is our worship consistent with our lives? Most of us have been so close to a real move of God at some point, that we easily miss Him. It's like getting a flu shot. You are injected with just enough influenza to keep from catching the real thing. We are so weary that we can't give that last little ounce of press, which could possibly break us through to the intimate place in God where Heaven and Earth come to agreement. But, God has been breathing upon my soul a HOT desire to press in to His presence like never before. I hope you sense what is happening in the Spirit. Against all of the things that oppose the presence of God, there is a generation that will press into Him. There is a people who will pursue their God. And their fruit shall remain! All content in GospelFlava © copyright 1997 - 2001. All content in GospelFlava © copyright 2000. No information to be reprinted or re-broadcast from this site without the expressed written consent of GospelFlava.com. All rights reserved.