Matt Hamilton | Daily Citizen-News Ava LaBoy, 16, sings with the Crosspointe Church youth band.

THOMASVILLE — Gone are the days when a pastor told the congregation to turn to a certain page in the hymnal.

It is not that simple anymore, said Andy Daughtry, associate pastor of worship at Thomasville First Baptist Church.

“Technology is a wonderful tool we have to enhance our worship environments,” Daughtry said. “The preaching of the (Bible) needs to be heard and understood, the sound and lighting need to encourage congregational involvement in singing, prayers and scripture reading.

“Inadequate or poorly run audio or visual technology can hinder worship. We are not putting on a show, however. Technology in worship should not draw attention to itself, but allow our full attention to be on the worship of God.”

The SunLight Project team — representing newspapers in Valdosta, Thomasville, Moultrie, Milledgeville, Ga., and Live Oak, Fla. — took a look at how different churches incorporate their music ministry into discipleship and evangelism, and how some churches promote the next generation of musicians.

Thomasville First Baptist Church manages old technology with new technology.

Internet-based software connects volunteers to where they need to respond during the service. The church has a volunteer audio/visual team of more than 30 with nine volunteers at every First Baptist service to provide audiovisual support. It also coordinates a volunteer base with church jobs that need to be filed.

Sunday services are recorded and archived to the church’s website. The major duty of the salaried church media director is to edit church sermon broadcasts.

“Plans are that the service will be be live-streamed,” Daughtry said. 

Churches have extended beyond using new technology. They also incorporate instruments beyond the traditional piano and organ into songs and worship. These changes have led to two different styles of church services: contemporary and traditional. 

Contemporary Music

The Lifespring Worship Team of the Lifespring Community Church in Moultrie leads Sunday and Wednesday services and some special events.

Its five members play contemporary music with guitars, bass guitar, drums and keyboards.

Robbie Pitts, 35, is the youngest member of the group. He started performing at church as a youth leader at First Baptist Church of Moultrie.

John Pitts, Robbie’s uncle, is the Lifespring Worship Team leader. The bassist, Robbie’s father, is the oldest at 65. Randy Bennett is the drummer, and Nicki Underwood plays acoustic guitar and vocals.

The instruments heavily influence the sound of worship. 

“We’re more just like a rock band that worships Jesus,” Robbie Pitts said. “It’s modern, rock-style music. It’s not your piano and organ at all.”

The group perform some of John Pitts’ original music. He also wrote religious-based lyrics to the sounds of groups such as The Eagles and The Beatles. 

But that doesn’t mean old standards are tossed to the wayside. They’re just given a new treatment. The group works old hymnals to fit its sound.

“There’s about 10 different versions of ‘Amazing Grace,’” Robbie Pitts said. “We’ve done several versions of it. ‘It’s Well With My Soul,’ there’s two versions.”

Another song is a medley that includes “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus.”

With the new versions of timeless songs, the church uses MediaShout, a computer program that displays the words so the congregation can sing along.

Pitts said he believes contemporary music is more attractive than traditional organ music in attracting a younger generation to church.

Contemporary Christian music “may help some people adjust,” he said. “They can be led deeper to a relationship with Christ with that environment.”

The worship team goal is to add to the service, he said, not be the focal point of the service.

“There’s always a fine line between performance and worship,” Pitts said. “If you show up and it’s just a performance, you haven’t really served the purpose it’s supposed to be.

“It’s used to draw you closer to God. If you draw nearer to God, and to Jesus, He’ll draw closer to us.”

To bring the congregation into the service, the team may start with uptempo songs then slow down as it gets into the message. The songs assist the audience in forgetting about outside issues in their lives and setting the proper mood for worship.

Traditional Music

First Baptist Church in Dalton is more traditional and has a choir for each age group, ages 3 to senior adults.

“We don’t have any groups, other than our men’s ensemble, that is filled by audition,” said Susan Deal, minister of music and worship at First Baptist Church of Dalton. “Anyone is welcome to join any group.”

Youth choir participation has ebbed and flowed during its 30-year existence but it is riding a pretty good wave right now, Deal said.

The youth group leads in worship from time to time throughout the year and on special occasions.

Deal said First Baptist Church of Dalton has a Youth Sunday to encourage young people to use their gifts, not only their musical gifts but speaking and reading scripture. At the end of the year, the group will have a music and mission trip.

This year, the choir is going to Houston, Texas, where in addition to singing in concerts, the youth will participate in Hurricane Harvey relief.

“We like to marry music and worship leadership with action outside the walls of our church,” she said. “That’s why all of our choirs and ensembles exist.”

First Baptist Church of Dalton also teaches younger church members the fundamentals of music.

“We have graded children’s choirs that meet throughout the school year,” Deal said. “They get music education. They learn some music theory, the hymns of our faith and how to sing and play musical instruments, rhythm instruments and Orff instruments: miniature percussion instruments such as xylophones and marimbas.”

The church also hosts a worship arts camp each summer, Deal said. It’s a week where students get more instrument training, choreography, and of course, singing. They get to perform with and accompany the different groups. That’s for those who have completed kindergarten through fifth grade.

Deal said she strives to use the talents of the congregation rather than others’ talents.

“I rarely use (pre-recorded music) in our Sunday morning worship service,” she said. “I have used it when our youth choir has traveled once in the six years I’ve been here, and that was out of necessity.

“Philosophically, we believe our church has gifted people within our congregation, and we would like to allow them the opportunity to use those gifts. We will create orchestrations based on the talents and skills available to us.”

Mixing Two Styles

Alan Lott, worship pastor at First Baptist Church in Live Oak, isn’t a fan of the terms contemporary and traditional music.

“It varies at different churches,” he said. “The only thing that makes it contemporary or traditional is the music. The sermon is the same.”

Still, First Baptist Church has three services on Sundays and each varies in the type of service offered. The 8:30 a.m. service is more contemporary featuring a full band and choir. The 11 a.m. service is more traditional with piano and organ music, and the evening service is a blend of the two types of music from the morning services.

The choir, which includes 32 people ranging from teenagers to people in their 70s, performs every other Sunday during the early service at First Baptist Church in Live Oak. The church also has a praise team of eight vocalists that rotate each week. 

“I like to rotate them so they have a chance to soak in their service rather than giving all the time,” Lott said.

First Baptist in Live Oak also made significant technological upgrades last year, Lott said, which includes a wide-screen monitor, a laser projector and an iMac computer to run software.

Lott said the projector is used for announcements, to countdown the start of the service and play videos during the sermon.

The song lyrics and scripture are projected for the congregation to see. The sound system is used extensively during each service.

“The reason we use technology is to facilitate better worship and eliminate distractions,” Lott said, adding for example, without the sound system, the congregation may not be able to hear the sermon and become distracted from the message.

First Baptist in Live Oak began live-streaming its services last year, using a five-member camera team that has two people operating the cameras each week. The church also has a three-member multimedia team operating the computer software and lighting and a three-member sound team.

Reaching out with technology

Michael Young, music pastor at Crosspointe Christian Centre in Dalton, utilizes audio-visual technology to reach members of the congregation who can’t attend church services.

“Technology is a huge part of our musical ministry,” Young said. 

“On our (church) screens, we have live shots of the people performing,” he said. “The words are on the lower third of the screen. Those same shots go live on Facebook, so people can watch at home.

“That is mainly for church members who are unable to attend. We started at the beginning of summer two years ago, and we saw that a lot of our church members, when they went on vacation, were commenting and saying how glad they were to be able to see the service.”

The recordings are also used for outreach, Young said. It allows potential visitors a chance to preview the service.

“People can see what a service is like before they walk in the doors,” Young said. “But our primary purpose is for church members to be able to watch when they aren’t able to join us in person.”

Crosspointe Christian Centre has a youth band that utilizes technology to practice.

“One thing we do is to record ourselves or get recordings of the vocal parts we want to sing,” Young said. “At the beginning of the week, I’ll have that online, and they can go online and listen to the part they are going to sing.

“The idea is that they are at least comfortable with it when they get to practice on Wednesday night, and, on Wednesday night, we aren’t teaching them for the first time but polishing up the group.”

Many worship pastors today were heavily influenced by participation in their churches when they were young.

These leaders are now cultivating future musicians for the church through their ministries.

“I think it’s important. It’s our duty as musicians and worship leaders in the church to not just play music, but to pass on those abilities. Just like as believers we have the call to disciple, as musicians we have the call to raise other worship leaders,” said Spence Parkerson, worship pastor at Crosspointe Church in Valdosta.

Parkerson started a youth band in his ministry to grow new musicians in the church.

“We started (the youth band) within the last year,” Parkerson said. “Our goal there is to introduce high school, even middle school students, to an environment where they can discover and develop their musical abilities and learn how to use those gifts to lead others in worship.”

The youth band is the first part of a process Parkerson uses at his church to integrate new musicians into the worship team at Crosspointe Church.

At the high school level, the band works on playing together and keeping tempo, Parkerson said.

The second stage is the college band.

“Once (musicians have) developed a certain level of foundational skills, if we are able, we will move them into the college ministry so they can become more comfortable and competent at playing at a higher level,” Parkerson said.

From there, Parkerson tests and analyzes musicians abilities to determine if they are ready to play Sunday mornings.

“That’s what they are shooting for: ‘I want to be able to play on Sunday morning,’” Parkerson said. “We meet them where they are at and slowly equip them along the way.”

Parkerson said having the best musicians on Sunday morning, and using it as a goal, helps build better services at all levels. 

“I think, for me, it all starts from the top down,” he said. “I want to make sure Sunday morning is as excellent as it can be. To create a Sunday morning for the community that is exciting, engaging and really impactful when it comes to worship. When we have it from the top down, we can recreate that in our college and our high school.”

Parkerson uses the model to help younger musicians see there is an order of progression for music in the church — playing in the youth band can lead to playing in college ministries and eventually performing in front of a full congregation.

For musicians who aren’t ready for the Sunday worship band, Crosspointe hosts Celebrate Recovery, a peer-based recovery group based on biblical teachings. It also hosts a women’s group and other events throughout the month that require musicians, Parkerson said.

He plugs musicians into the events as a way to help them hone their musical crafts.

Crosspointe Church doesn’t offer any sort of regular classes or lessons on music, but occasionally, it holds Saturday workshops for people interested in learning more about playing in the band or working in the audio/visual field.

During the sessions, Parkerson, musicians, audio/visual technicians and other staff members do break-out sessions for different instruments and for the audio/visual teams.

“We’ll do (workshops) occasionally,” he said. “After we did the first one, we have to incorporate that more. It made the students feel special and we loved it as the older generation being able to pour into the students.”

Parkerson said his role isn’t to create formal meetings, but to create a culture of discipleship, a culture of “consistently pouring into other people.”

Every now and again, the college ministry does something called Story Tellers. It is similar to an open mic night where students are encouraged to sign up to play songs and perform poetry.

While it is a beneficial form of outreach, Parkerson said Story Tellers has helped him find new musicians and aspiring musicians.

“That’s an avenue where we get introduced to a lot of people we didn’t know of,” he said.

Crosspointe Church’s worship team has released five studio albums to the public, hosted popular Christian bands and played in the community a few times, Parkerson said. Such endeavors allow the worship team and church to reach people outside of the congregation.

Parkerson said his ultimate goal is to impact the lives of individuals on Earth and in the afterlife.

“What separates (playing in church) from being able to play music anywhere else is that you get to see your gift impact people for eternity,” he said. “You get to see people overcome things, be set free from things and connect with God in a way that maybe they wouldn’t anywhere else.

“So, using your music to impact eternity. So, that’s the coolest thing for me.”

Groomed for music

Jeremiah Ross, one of the two worship pastors at Melody Christian Church in Live Oak, was, in some ways, raised for his role in the church.

His father is a pastor, so he grew up spending a lot of time in church. 

He began singing when he was 7 years old and admits the church influenced his singing. Even as he experimented with other genres, he always came back to gospel.

“As I got more mature, I saw people’s lives are saved and changed through everyday worship and just seeking God,” Ross said. “I saw how it can have a positive effect on other people.”

The Melody band performs a mixture of contemporary and traditional gospel songs. 

“I’ve always desired for people to feel the presence of God and know His goodness through my worship,” said Traci Green, one of the two worship pastors at Melody Christian Church in Live Oak. “I am walking in my purpose for God, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude to be able to do this with such an amazing church and church family.”

In addition to the bands and other contemporary additions to the worship services, Melody has embraced technology and invested in it to add to their services.

Melody Christian Church, which has been live-streaming its services for 10 years, has a sound system, described as concert quality by Melody Pastor Darrin Baldwin, colored background lights, spotlight and moving lights. The church also utilizes a projector for hymn lyrics and scripture. 

“Most people will watch our live streaming before coming to our church,” Baldwin said, adding the church has people from all across the world watching. “I think technology has always had a positive impact.”

Helping make that impact is Glen Green, the audio-visual director for Melody.

“We started coming to Melody Church, and I expressed an interest in running sound,” Green said. “I began by helping out when needed. And now I’m responsible for the entire department.”

He has a team of five people that helps operate the sound system and projector and another team of seven people operating the cameras for live streaming.

Melody encourages children to become part of the praise band some day.

“Children play as much of a role in worship as adults,” Green said. “So, when children/youth express interest in being a part of worship, we start them in Melody Kids church. 

“Here, they develop skills and knowledge of singing/playing instruments,” Green said. “As they grow, they move over to Melody Revolution Youth.”

Children can also sit in at practices for the Melody Main Church Worship Team and once they are ready, they can audition for the team.

Teaching the next generation

Jeremiah Spencer, minister of worship First Baptist Church of Thomasville, was in third grade when his father, Dan Spencer, became First Baptist’s pastor.

The elder Spencer now pastors First Baptist Church at Sevierville, Tenn.

“I’m in charge of the music portion of our 11 o’clock worship service and the technology that goes into that,” Jeremiah Spencer said.

A graduate of the Baptist College of Florida at Graceville, Spencer holds a bachelor of arts in contemporary worship ministry.

He learned music theory and the audio-visual technological side of worship.

A baritone singer, Spencer plays the guitar. He performs church songs and Christian music exclusively — contemporary and from traditional hymnals.

First Baptist has several services on Sundays. One at 8:30 a.m. is traditional in structure and choir members wear robes. Traditional church music is blended with newer pieces.

At 11 a.m. Sundays, services are band-centered with drums, electric guitar, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, piano and vocalists who sing backup for Spencer.

Spencer leads the church’s youth band. He helps pick songs, assists with one-on-one training, mentors and handles sound and lighting.

“I’ve been exactly where they are,” Spencer said.

First Baptist offers audio-visual technology classes for children in grades four through six.

“Amazing Grace” was at one time a contemporary song no one knew, said Andy Daughtry, associate pastor of worship at Thomasville First Baptist Church.

“Worship is not style-dependent. It is an attitude of the heart,” Daughtry said. “While we do have multiple services that express different heart languages, the same gospel and the same story of God’s redeeming love is proclaimed in each one. That provides a beautiful unity to our community of faith.”

The SunLight Project team consists of reporters Jason A. Smith, Patti Dozier, Jessie R. Box, Alan Mauldin and Thomas Lynn. The SunLight Project is overseen and edited by Jim Zachary and Dean Poling. To contact the SunLight team, email sunlightproject@gaflnews.com. 

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1257.