If you attend our church (FPC Augusta, GA) you may wonder what Mike’s favorite style is. (And you will probably never hear him verbally claim one…the older he gets I’m not sure he even has one, he truly loves them all.) You may also wonder what style of music our church seeks to do, and spend any time in either the a.m. or evening service and you may not be able to grasp it. When they hired Mike on as assistant music and arts director, little did they know how many styles constantly swim in his head. Nor did they realize he’d be willing to pull out both electric guitars in the evening but also play classical in the morning, or arrange for the organ.

I (Allie) have sometimes struggled with lack of decision on this front. It sometimes makes my head spin when Mike will pull of a gospel night right on the heels of a celtic night or a modern worship set. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE it all, but as the pianist asked to attempt all these styles, sometimes I am a little less than willing. But all styles matter and it all holds an important place in our congregation.

As the body of Christ, we are hardly one singular thing, and by diversifying the music in our worship services, we mirror God and get to experience his different attributes.

Confession: I am shamefully the first to roll my eyes when Mike says hey honey you’re playing Gospel piano this week and honestly in my own insecurities I say: “What? could you not get someone else?!” This probably says something about my willingness or lack there of to serve, which perhaps is a whole different topic/blog post.

I digress…Truth is the Lord is teaching me so much about how amazing it is when I step out of my comfort zone and let the Lord work through my feeble attempts. In fact, he constantly surprises me and frankly I’ve had the most fun on those services when I’m dragging myself to the plate and saying WOW do something Lord, because I don’t have it!

Recently we stumbled upon this video and it is worth a watch. It explains everything we personally stand for. All music styles speak to the different aspects of God and we should be accomplishing them all, not for the sake of appeasing the squeaky wheels in our congregations, but to honor every aspect of the God we worship!

Enjoy and to God be the glory in whatever style we play in whatever way we sing!