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Show .) DAILY HERALD Saturday, February 25, 2006 Old-time hymns and hymnalsfinding new homesin contemporary churches ‘Classic Service’ brings back choir, piano, organ. and singing from hymnals complete with hymnals,to its several worship style options. “Although it is not one of our larger venues,it is extremely popular with those whoattend,” said Gerald Sharon,part of Saddleback’s pastoralstaff. Across the country and across denominations, there are churches that feature contemporaryworship butoffer a traditional option. Quite a few, including AllentownPresbyterianin Allentown, N.J., and Spokane Valley United Methodist By Sam Hodges in SpokaneValley, Wash., use the term “classic” to describe theservice. “*Classic’ makes mechuckle. It soundslike oldies rock for boomers!”said Mark MillerMcLemore,anassistant professorof the practice of ministry at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn. DALLAS — A funnything happenedlast summer at Lake Pointe Churchin Rockwall. Texas. A shipment of hymn books arrived. and not by mis- take. LakePointe is a megachurch with contemporary-style wor- ship. Years back. it dissolvedits choir and got rid ofits hymnals in favorof Christian “praise” Others, including Stroope, said “Classic Service” reminded themof“Coca-Cola Classic,” a term bornof the New Coke fiasco. Noone can dispute that the music. play ed by a rock band, withlyrics flashed onbig screens. But in August, sensing de- BRIAN HARKIN/Dalias Morning News Lake Pointe church volunteer's from left, Buford Waldrop, Jim Rector and Marvin Potter gather hymnals after the “Classic Service”at the church in Rockwall, Texas. The smaller “Classic Servic is billed as an alternative to the more'casual, youth-oriented service that drawsa large crowd at the church’s main auditorium. contemporary-style worship mand, the church debutedits hashelped churches growby “ClassicService.” an early pulling in “unchurched” young and middle-aged people, who tendto like the informality and rock-influenced music.It’s still far more commonto see a Sunday morningalternative service with choir. piano, organ and lots of congregational singing — out of those shiny new hymnals. you leave with no senseof having had a meaningful time of worship. I do think churches are beginningtorealize that mainline churchexperimenting with a contemporary service Thefirst Sunday. Pastor Steve Stroope andhisstaff pre- thana contemporary-style pared a room for 200, Nearly churchtrying outtradition. But somestudentsof the thereis a growing desire for a twice that many came, forcing a move the next week to the churchgym. A second batch of contemporarystyle say that shift back toward a moretraditional style.” hymnals wasordered. Theser- vice now regularly draws 300 to 350, with chairs covering the basketball court “We've scratchedan itch.” Stroopesaid . Call it a counter-reformation. muchofits music lacks the melodic sophistic?*‘on of enduring hymns,or the . cry and doctrinal depthof lyrics penned by such writers as Charles Wiesley (“LoveDivine, All Loves Excelling”), Isaac Watts (“When | hymns.He signedon as Lake Pointe’spastorin 1980, a few months after it was founded by sevenfamiliesin an abandoned Surveythe Wondrous bait shop. Now LakePointe has Str‘oope. 52, describes himself as equally fond of contem- porary Christian music and Cross”), FannyCrosby(“Blessed Assur- ora rear guard action in the worshipwars. But more and ance. Jesus more churchesthat cast their lots with contemporary wor- Mine”) or Thom- as Dorsey(“Precious Lord, Take MyHand”). ship are beginning to innovate throughtradition, giving folks Andwhile traditional worship someold-timereligion — especially hymns. Saddleback Church in Lake Forest. Calif.. founded by Rick Warren. author of “The Pur- canbestiff and uninvolving, the contemporary experience — music, big screens, mood church grow, he worriedthat lighting — is often derided as throughtheelectrified praise “churchlite.” music. a percentageofits loyal members weregritting their teeth “Whendone incorrectly, con- pose-DrivenLife.” is famously temporary services are all foam and noroot beer,” said Nathan Lino,pastor at Northeast Houston Baptist. “Theyare éntertain- and influentially contemporary in worship style. But last September it added a Sunday service called “Traditions.” 10,000 membersand g $12 million budget — and the contemporary worshipstyleis clearly oneof the reasons. But as Stroope watched the “We justreally felt led that there was a groupofpeople in our church that comeout of the builder generation (pre-baby boomers) whoverygraciously, because theylove everything ing. fun and high energy, but else about our church,tolerated our style of music,” Stroope said. “I just realized that we had grownto sucha size that we probably hada critical mass of thosefolks.” Trying new thingsis old,hat for LakePointe,on Interstate 30 just east of Lake Ray Hubbard. Formaldress has been de-emphasizedto the point that denim is prevalent, and Mr. Stroope doesn’t wear a coat or tie when he preaches. The churchis SouthernBaptist, but changed its name from Dalrock Baptist to Lake Pointe Baptist andfi- nally dropped “Baptist” because leadersfelt it kept some people away. LakePointe has a coffee shop,selling crumb muffins and espresso on Sunday mornings. Bible study and mission workget strong emphasis, but so do support groupsfor folks grieving or struggling with substance abuse. Lake Pointe has 12 worship services, with satel- Genealogy hence. Continued from B1 PMNS SYA AG managerfor the Historical Genealogy Departmentof the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Ind., will give antl win) The United States Stand up and cheer! GEL TuaaCe Field Band #2 ©RGArmy SONS Oty! the keynote address. Witcher has served as presidentof the National Genealogical Society and is a memberof the Genealogy Committee of the American Library Association. Witcher's other lectures include one on Revolutionary Warresearch,a class on getting the mostoutof Internet genealogyresearch and another on using PERSI. John Best, assistant program administrator with BYU conferences and workshops,said this year's conference topics came as a result of the advancesin genealogy during recent years. With the addition of family history programs and several online genealogysites, such as Ancestry.com and Fi arch.org, most family history workis now done by computers, Best said. “Working on this conference hasreally opened up my eyes to the effectiveness of family his- Relatives Continued from B1 "i it. At Reference.com, you can sign up to receivea free e-mail telling what happened on that dayin history, See www. re: ence.com/thisday. Primarily, iessite includes famous people andevents, but once in a while we genealogists are related to famous people 7 eveveye’® and events. So the very first day, I opened the e-mail from Reference.com, and the very IN CONCERT irr: ce CyACPXET Mountain View High School 645 W. Center Street, Orem “@ UTAH PowER SUTV FREE - tickets required Limit 6 tickets/person Kbyu TRLEVIBION ae. lite campuses in Mesquite and Sulphur Springs, where members watch Stroope on video. Even whenpreachinglive, he'll integrate video clips into the message. Torun theclassic service, Stroope recruited the church’s senior adult pastor, Lyn Cypert, and hired DonBlackley, a veteran Dallas-area Baptist minister of music. This being LakePointe, the traditionalservice Blackley runs has contemporary touches. Thedressis still casual, and though Stroope sometimes comesin and preaches, more often his taped messageis shown ona big screen. But a reallive.choir — consisting of soprano,alto, tenor andbasssections — rehearses each Wednesdaynightto perform on Sunday mornings. Blackley hasenrolled 60singers, with usualattendance of 40 to 45. “It is weighted toward seniors,” he said..“But we have a 19-year-old alto, a 26-year-old tory work now with new programs andthings,”hesaid. Kip Sperry, oneof the directors of the conference,said he has had similar eye-opening experiences with computer- ized genealogy. Searching the Internetis much easier than plodding through microfilm or writing away for records, he Although the new programs and Websites do not yet have all thepossible records to access, he said people should recognize thatthe systems are a valuable sourceof information for those whoareinterested in finding out whothey are and where they camefrom. As computer technology continues to advanceeach day, more and tenor, a abyeercldtenor and’ some young moms.” The re accompaniment is by organ and grand piano. One Sunday, Blackley supplemented with a brass ensemble, another Sunday with a flute quartet, and this Sunday he'll have a 16-piece group,consisting mostly of winds but also a viein andcello. The choir has done Southern gospel, various hymn arrangements and somefairly new pieces that have madetheir wayinto choral repertoire, including oneby acclaimed British composer John Rutter. “T'm challenging the heck outofthis choir,” Blackley, . 64,said. “There'll comea point when we'll do something from Beethoven and Handel,but it’ll be sprinkled in. We'll find ourselves moreoften doing gospel and hymns.” As (ce the worshippersat the Classic Service, they, too, skew senior. Jerry Walker, 66 of Rowlett, is among the regulars. “What's incredible to meis, you'vegot the freedom and acceptanceLakePointeoffers, yet now you've got the traditionalservice, too,” he said. “The musicthat’s in the contemporary service — well, it's just harder for me to sing along with.” Quite a few middle-age folks attenc| the Classic Service, along with a sprinkling of youn, er adults, such as Brad and Cindy Bianucci, who take their hree small children. The music drawsthe Bianuccis, as it does Oria Mason,50. “Tf I was 20, I'd still be coming,” he said. “I love to hear good ol’ gospel. I was brought up with it. It sticks with you.” On a recent Sunday, the choir sang a hymn familiar to most Baptists — “I Surrender All.” But the arrangement, by Mark Hayes, was different and arresting, beginning with a bluesy alto solo, moving to accompanied four-part singing, then toa brief a cappella section, then to a rousingfinish by singers and instrumentalistsalike. And whenit was over, some deep-voiced menin the congregation provided a classic response. “Amen!” “ifyou go 2006 Computerized Genealogy Conference » Where: BYU Conference Center, 770 E. University Pkwy., Provo » When:March 10 and 11; Registration begins at D Registration costs: $168 for onecredit of History 481R, $120 for noncredit, $30 for paper syllabus only D Info: 422-4853, genealogyconferences.byu.edu more records will continue to be made available ona digitized form,hesaid. Someofthese records can be found through free programs such as FamilySearch.org, while others, such as Ancestry. com,require a fee. Sperry said vendorsof thesedifferent programs andsites will attend the conference to give demonstrations for the products and to allow participants the opportunity to use the family history first entry had to do with a conference at Leicester Cathedral called by Simon de Montfort in the early 1200s. I recognized the nameas onein my pedigree, clicked on the encyclopedia article, copied and pasted and had several generations and several children added to myline. Of course, you don't have to wait for your ancestorsto accidentally come up. You can pay the small yearly fee to have access to the encyclopedia at the site and enterall your famous ancestors, databases. Last year’s Computerized Genealogy Conferenceat BYU attracted more than 500 participants, and Best said a similar numberofvisitors are expected this year, While most of the conferenceparticipants are expected tobe local, people from differentparts of the world, including England and Australia, will also be flying in to attend. So here are four new things in genealogy: an ancestor bounty huntersite, a new way of getting vital records from a state archive to your computer, an online legal system you can access and a mini-history lesson every daythat included oneof my ancestors the very first day. Try these new sites andlet meknow what you think. » LaRaeFree Kerr can be reachedat kerrworks@gnundyec.net. | |
