Riverside's Praise & Worship
The goal of the Worship Ministry at Riverside is to lead God's people to respond to Him with love and adoration.
"Worship is responding to all that God is with all that we are."
~Jim Dethmen
"Transformation through adoration."
~Graham Kendrick
"I understand true worship to be when one's spirit adores and connects with the spirit of God, when the very core of one's being is found loving Him, lost in Him."
~Darlene Zschech
"True worship results in a change of your heart, of your actions, of your mind... so, either I am a singer and I go away a bit hoarse or I am a worshiper and go away different."
~Jami Smith
These statements sum up what we see throughout scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments: God's people adoring Him with all of their hearts.
When do we Worship?
Always.
We read in God's Word that His children worshiped Him in the middle of their daily lives. King David worshiped God in solitude (Ps. 91:1-2); when he was in the temple (Ps. 84); when he was running for his life (Ps. 7); when he rejoiced in victory (Ps. 18). Moses and the children of Israel worshiped God when he delivered them from Egypt (Ex.15:1-21). They even worshipped when they went to war (2 Chron.20:20-23).
Riverside's Worship Ministry encourages all believers to be worshipers, whose very lives are lived in adoration of our King.
How do we Worship?
"Worship should be a way of life with many facets of expression."
~Darlene Zschech
God's Word offers us so many examples of His children praising and adoring Him in many different ways: With singing (Co. 3:16; Ps. 105:21; Ps.98:1) with shouting (Ps. 118:15 Ps. 100:1: Ps. 95:1) with skillful musicianship (Ps. 33:3) with dancing (Ps. 149:3) with many instruments (Ps. 150), with uplifted hands (Ps. 134:2), and yes even in the midst of war (2Chron. 20;21-23).
Riverside's Worship Ministry follows biblical models of worship as outlined in Scripture. We employ times of celebration as well as times of reflective worship. We avoid limiting ourselves to only one form of worship, employing many different musical styles from hymns to black gospel to contemporary worship songs to Hispanic styles.
Is music the only form of worship?
No!
Darlene Zschech has said, "Although music is a wonderful expression of worship, it is not in itself the essence of it".
How then do we worship when music is not used as the vehicle? Take, for example, the story of the woman who wept at the feet of Jesus, washing his feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, and anointing them with costly perfume (Luke 7:36-38). What an extravagant offering of love to our Savior!
We worship God through our obedience, as the disciples did in Mark 1:16-20. We worship God by listening to Jesus, as Martha did in Luke 10:38-42. There are many biblical models of worship. The Worship Ministry at Riverside encourages all those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb to offer to Him our love and adoration and praise in all areas of our lives individually, and in our corporate worship when we meet together as the Church.
BE A WORSHIPER EVERY DAY! ENTER HIS GATES WITH THANKSGIVING AND HIS COURTS WITH PRAISE!!
Riverside Worship Leader Kay Clifton earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Georgia in 1992 and has led worship for youth groups and church congregations for more than 10 years.
Part of her personal philosophy about worship leaders is they cannot guide others to a level of worship beyond where they have already been themselves.
“If we don't go there first, they can't follow,” Kay says.
