Not many would disagree that the change in worship services that has taken place in the last 10-15 years is similar to a quick relocation of a mountain. Though we can all recall when this change affected us individually, it would be difficult to single out one moment as the starting point of modern worship. As God spreads His creative Spirit over more than one person, place or time, there isn’t a single event or person to point to. However, the ministry of Rita and Paul Baloche certainly stands out as one of the benchmarks that we can look at to help us remember God’s movement. Looking at Rita Baloche’s song “I Will Celebrate” gives us insight to a time when modern worship was moving from the dream stage to something substantial that would soon change Churches across the globe.
Dreaming out Loud
“I remember,” says Rita Baloche about the origins of the song “I Will Celebrate.” “It was around the time when choruses were first coming into the church. One evening, my husband went to see Mylon LeFevre at a Six Flags with the youth of our church (he was one of the chaperones for the youth group). I waited tables at the time, and I was working that night so I couldn’t go. But, Paul came back and was all pumped about seeing Mylon. He came by to tell me about it, and we stood talking out in the parking lot of the restaurant after my shift was over and I got excited, too. I said, ‘Man, I just wish that worship could sound like that—like what Mylon LeFevre and Broken Heart used to sound like. Just Rock ‘n’ Roll about God.”
That statement might not sound like much if it was said today. But that night to her husband, Rita voiced the sentiment that lay beneath what would soon be a colossal movement and a major change in the way people offered worshiped in modern churches. So, along with being an example of superb songwriting that captures a celebratory faith in a hook and a chorus, the song “I Will Celebrate” also represents the beginning of a changing world.
They got in their separate cars to head home, but the thought of a new kind of worship song that was spoken in her own musical language was spinning in Rita’s mind. “By the time we both got back to the apartment, I had ‘I Will Celebrate’ in my head,” says Rita. “At home I sat down and kind of hacked my way through it on the piano. Paul immediately took it up, he kind of moved me over on the piano bench and his fingers followed the pattern of what I was doing.”
You’re Singing My Tune
It was like a flash—a spark that was a gift offered because she was dreaming with the Kingdom in mind. And that spark was all that was needed. To further illustrate the deep hunger for songs in a modern music vernacular, like “I Will Celebrate,” Rita shares that she has never played the song since that first moment on the piano bench with her husband. “It’s true. My husband bumped me off the chair, he kind of said move over, rover. I’m taking over.” His excitement matched a feeling that was brewing just beneath the surface in churches across the country. It was a desire to be able to lift sung prayers in the musical language that worshipers identified with and could call their own.
“It felt so contemporary, and we just wanted to hear the kind of music that we’d hear on the radio,” Rita says. “And we wanted that to happen in the church. We thought people could take a hold of that. It would be a language that our generation understood and maybe the younger generation could understand. And that really was an impetus for both of us.”
Get on Board
The most recent change in music of the church was neither the first nor the last time churches have or will struggle with shifts in musical styles. Change is a part of being in the body of Christ. That is the one thing we know for sure. And part of being human is that the musical language of our culture will change. The best way for a leader to keep from being threatened by that fact is to be the person who encourages it and keeps an open mind and ear to the language of their community.
“As the body, we’re growing, we’re learning about Him, we’re falling down, we’re getting up, and someone is giving us a hand,” says Rita. “We’re constantly changing and, and that doesn’t upset God’s plan. And one of the great things we’re seeing now is that, when it comes to worship, the young people are definitely the ones pushing the envelope. They are striving to make it sound more like their language. And it’s just beautiful when you hear something fresh coming from someone younger. You just think, wow, that was a great way to articulate that or capture that feeling and put it in a song.
As the story of “I Will Celebrate” helps us remember, music is a dynamic art. Tastes and musical languages change noticeably on a monthly basis. And now that the churches are benefacting new music, even creating positions on their staffs for musicians, there is reason to believe that worship music will keep transforming itself.
“Paul and I love immersing ourselves in new music,” says Rita. “But it’s the creativity that we’re chasing. God’s people are supposed to be the head and not the tail, and yet all these secular people continually come forward with amazing sounds, amazing creativity.
We should be running at the front of the pack as far as creativity goes. We have renewed minds and redeemed lives. We should be able to articulate, the things of God in a very creative manner and redeem that art back for the Lord because we have something to sing about.”
Long Lasting
The musical factor of a song is one thing, but as is clear with “I will Celebrate,” the lyrics of certain songs are simply able to carry a Christian truth that has an enduring relevance. Combined, it is one of those rare jewels that will bless generations of worshipers, but there is no guidebook for creating devotional art like that. “That’s a mystery to Paul and I,” says Rita. “It’s like when you’re not aiming for it you hit it. When you are aiming for it, it seems you miss. I’m sure they’re other songwriters that would beg to differ, but I know that it’s the hand of God. He leads us to whatever’s resonating in His body—to write songs that that bring people to say, ‘I can hang on to that, that resonates with me.’”
Republished with permission from Worship Leader Magazine.