The Getty's Prove Why Wesleyan Traditions Matters!

This past weekend I was at a conference at Messiah College for youth workers, the contents of which will be used to compose a later post. As part of this conference the Getty's led worship in the morning and held a concert in the evening. Of course, located outside of the auditorium was the obligatory merch table. 

Then this morning I went to church at a very large church, which shall remain nameless, and the Getty's were, unbeknowance to my friend and I, leading worship. That was fantastic. But then a fatal mistake, in my Wesleyan Traditions with Dr. Eckley, trained eyes was made. During the introduction of the Getty's it was mentioned that they would have a merch table in the church following the service.

My jaw dropped open while everyone else went along singing "Hear the Call of the Kingdom".

Back up. This is a worship service. We are hear to praise God not the Getty's. And no matter how great their song writing is and how enriching its been to church worship music, this was not their concert. [However, I will say that we sang nine Getty songs, and only hear seven verses of scripture. Can we pause and think about that for a moment? It's times like this I wish Dr. Schultz would have been there because I know what he would have said.] 

We, as the body of Christ, need to start getting our priorities back in line. You do not NEED the Getty's or any other Christian artist to worship God. You do not NEED to hear the latest sermon on the radio or to buy the new book out there. Maybe, and I stress the word maybe, this can enhance your worship to God, but your primary reason for being there isn't to be entertained or to even be enriched. You are there to WORSHIP GOD, because he is worthy of worship. 

And when the Church gathers and loses focus of that, what are we supposed to do? If our worship is all about coming for us, or to see a big name artist, instead of spending time with God because we adore and desire Him alone, we've lost our identity. We are no longer Christianity.