Featured SongDavid’s Doxo-biography
Home » Blog » GeneralPosted by David L. Ward on March 21st, 2006
I grew up attending a very wide variety of churches. As far as I can remember, we attended small churches, larger churches, Presbyterian churches, a house church, an Episcopal church, a Baptist church (not sure if it was Southern Baptist), a charismatic church, a Methodist church, and a Bible church. The Episcopal church was very formal in its approach to worship (in architecture, dress, and music) but unfortunately was not evangelical. We started attending there when I was probably around 11 and I have many memories of elaborate liturgies, processions, amazing organ music, and even liturgical dance. Undoubtedly my knowledge of many great hymns of the faith came from this church, even though I didn’t learn the gospel there. I was saved when I was 12 at the ministry of a summer camp where I was attracted to the gospel lived out in the lives of my college-aged counselors. We had daily devotions (camp-wide!) and sang songs to guitars strumming around a campfire – songs like “I Love You, Lord,” “This Little Light of Mine,” “Leaning on the Lord’s Side,” etc. (I’m not sure if the old “standard” Lord, I Lift Your Name on High was around yet – this was the late eighties). I came to know the Lord in the midst of these simple songs set to simple music with simple musicians and simple harmonies, and something in the simplicity attracted me to it rather than the elaborate music that seemed so far beyond me back at my Episcopal church. Within a few years my parents allowed me to start going to my “own” church, a local bible church (where Chip Stam was the worship pastor!). I was attracted firstly to the fact that Jesus was actually talked about and God’s word was explained, desired, and taught in great detail. We sang a variety of songs, including some that I had learned at camp, and the style of the music was more like what I had come to love at camp.
As I got older I began to write songs and lead worship, but wasn’t turned on to the need to think deeply about what I was both singing and choosing for others to sing. I began to sense a disconnect between the in-depth preaching of God’s Word and the shallowness of most modern worship songs. But this disconnect took many years to come into focus. In college I played the guitar and piano for Campus Crusade and I’m not sure we EVER sang a song that was older than 30 years! Old for us was Seek Ye First.
In college I started leading worship at a local church, the same church we stayed at for about 9 years until we went to seminary in Louisville. We used older hymns, but they were difficult for me to play and I didn’t have a talented group of musicians to help me arrange them in a style that I knew or could play, so we actually had a separate “hymn team.” Some time around 1999 I started exploring taking theologically rich hymns (there are tens of thousands of them) that have all but been forgotten and setting them in a more contemporary worship music style. The result was an instant success and eventually became reformedpraise.org.
Some time around 2001? I ran across a song sampler by a group called PDI and was delighted to find some more songs like what I was writing – old, reformed hymns set to modern music. I didn’t know anything like that existed and I wrote a letter to their director Bob Kauflin expressing my thanks for finding out about them and sharing some of my songs. Bob has been the best example to me of the philosophy and mechanics of leading worship. I still go to their worship conferences (they are not called Sovereign Grace Ministries). During the three to four years before I went to Southern Seminary, I slowly found out about movements like Indelible Grace, songs like How Deep the Father’s Love and In Christ Alone, and Knowing You. The Lord slowly helped me become more concerned with the truth in the songs and how that truth would steer people to the Lord in worship than simply the “hook.” At Southern I continued to be exposed to a wide variety of songs, styles, and songwriters. I even got to meet many of them!
At Redeemer Bible Church I strive to make the truth the main emphasis by how I plan the services and how I lead them. I am firmly convinced that the more I highlight Jesus by the lyrics, exhortations, and prayers that we offer, the more people will be drawn to Him in worship. Our stylistic center is modern worship songs but I try to make the circle of stylistic variety pretty large. We regularly do very traditional hymn arrangements, rock songs like Blessed Be Your Name and The Glories of Calvary, folky arrangements, jazz/blues, and even gospel. I start with the readings and songs, THEN ask myself which style of music would best serve the text that morning in a way that will be accessible and desirable to people. So far Sundays have been an absolute joy for myself and many of our brethren and I look forward to learning and growing as a worship planner for years to come!
