david crowder band is great, but…

i’ve been familiar with david crowder band’s music since the mid-to-late nineties when his cd “all i can say” came out. his writing and recording style was and is fresh, especially among most of the worship music genre. until last night, i had never experienced dcb live…

as a worship leader, i’ve only been able to use a handful of dcb songs successfully in a corporate worship setting because the songs are so stylized. the best way to say it is that only david crowder can do david crowder.

i’d always heard that you haven’t truly experienced david crowder band unless you’ve been to a live show - the shared experience with a couple thousand people rocking along and singing worship to God. and after experiencing that last night, i see what they meant.

the show was great. they are extremely tight as a band, and they do a great job of incorporating all the programming (beats, synths, blips, blops, etc.) from their recordings in the live show. and there were definitely some great moments that went beyond just an impressive musical performance. crowder’s desire for God and passion for his Kingdom comes through loud and clear. it’s contageous.

BUT…..

i honestly had trouble completely joining in with the worship experience. after thinking about it today, i think i have an idea of why. we were 2,000 people with no shared experience. we don’t know each other. we don’t know what we have in common except that we were interested in david crowder band. sure, we worship the same God (or at least a good percentage of us). but we aren’t celebrating the same stories of God working in our lives and in our community.

i think that’s why the last two sundays at crosspointe have been two of the most meaningful, powerful corporate worship times i can ever remember being a part of - leading or not. (the second one, i wasn’t leading worship.) we told the stories of God working powerfully in and through the people in our community and then we celebrated that together. the music became a response. a chance to be together swept up in awe of God. a chance to thank him for allowing us to be participants and witnesses to the amazing things he’s doing. it was truly a shared corporate experience.

i thank God for david crowder band, chris tomlin, matt redman, hillsong united, tim hughes and others that are cranking out great music. our community benefits from those songs. they help give us language in our ongoing conversation with God. but there’s just no substitute for a community of people on a journey together, corporately celebrating the specific ways that God is moving among them.

yeah.