Please enter a search term.

Posts by Kevin Larson

» More On Weekly Communion: Kevin’s Response

Regarding how to transition to weekly communion, I don't have any easy answers. I have the benefit of working in church planting, where we can begin with that pattern. First, I would say that we must teach, and second, we must be patient. I do think that some gradual approach might work. For example, if a church is currently taking the Supper quarterly, the leadership could move it to monthly, and then could gradually celebrate it more often until it eventually is practiced weekly.

» On Weekly Communion

Sometime back I posted this on my blog. Brothers, give me your thoughts: For Professor Stam's "The Worshipping Church" class at Southern Seminary, I had to write a paper arguing for or against weekly communion. Below are my arguments.
“Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup…” My advice for a new church would be simple. I’d say with enthusiasm, “Absolutely begin with weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper!” I will give more specific advice in my conclusion as to how a church might best go about it, but I will first give some advantages I see, followed by some disadvantages.
First, weekly observance of the Lord’s supper seems biblical. True, there is not a command given in Scripture regarding the frequency of the ordinance. But it could be argued that weekly observance is biblically normative. Key texts in Acts regarding early church practice seem to indicate that early Christians partook of the Supper weekly, if not daily (Acts 2:42-47; 20:7-12). In addition, early Christian writings such as the Didache and the words of Justin (see WQOTW, 5-6-03) indicate that early fellowships of believers partook of the ordinance more regularly than modern churches. Calvin, as is well... (continue reading...)

» Kevin’s Doxa-biography

I grew up in and out of church in Drexel, Missouri. When our family was there, I recollect hearing the big American hymns most of you out there have heard of. However, my memory fails me as to which ones I actually learned.

In college at the University of Missouri, I began to be exposed to the praise and worship movement. While a part of a campus ministry in the early nineties, we sang a wide variety of praise choruses. It was during my senior year that I picked up the guitar again (had been burned out from playing for my sister in country music shows as a child, believe it or not) and began learning worship songs.

Following college, I did an internship with a campus ministry in Springfield, Missouri. There I became exposed to more praise and worship songs. I simultaneously became involved in a local church. Over the course of 7 years, I led worship with the campus ministry and played in the church worship band, largely doing praise and worship choruses interspersed with a few widely known traditional hymns.

I moved to Louisville in 2001... (continue reading...)

» Doxa-biographies? (originally posted by Eric)

When I took Hymnology in seminary, our first required paper was a 'hymnological biography.' We were to write about the hymnological influences in our life to that point. Might this be a good idea for us? What sort of worship environments were we raised in--church, home, private? What were the songs, styles, etc. that shaped? How have these been a help or hindrance toward God-centered worship?

» The Effectiveness of Traditional Hymn Tunes: Kevin’s Response 1

David, I certainly agree with your statements at ReformedPraise.org and disagree with your critic for the following reasons:

1) There seems to be an unhelpful division in the writer's mind between thinking and feeling in worship. Many in the Reformed camp today have overreacted against the praise and worship movement, saying that feelings are irrelevant (this is similar to many in the church reacting to our society's "I fell out of love" point of view by responding with "love is a choice"). The author says, "Corporate singing is the worship of believers to the truth of God's Word and His character." What, then, is "worship?" Is it informing God of truths about himself? It it simply an intellectual exercise for us? Or is worship, by definition, an expression of emotion? I say it is. And I stand with Jonathan Edwards, among others, in saying this. Our church, in our bi-weekly "Brew and Books (by dead guys)," had the opportunity to read through parts of Edwards' Religious Affections, where he argues that religion devoid of affections for God or for others is no religion at all. Do we dumb down our lyrics and sing 7-11 choruses endlessly (7 words,... (continue reading...)

» Worship Organizer Worth A Look

My resident worship dude, Luke Daugherty, and I have enjoyed greatly planning our worship services using WorshipOrganizer. Check out this super program here. My friend David Ward created it. I guarantee it will make your planning more efficient and accessible.

» Welcome to the Doxologue!

Greetings in the name of Christ! A new team has hit the blogosphere. In this blog, entitled Doxologue, a small group of men who are passionate about seeing God glorified in the local church will converse about God-centered worship. Check back regularly.