A Recent Interview

I was recently interviewed by WorshipLinks, and here it is:

Ross Christopher is a worship leader, touring artist, and music producer. Recently, Ross talked to Worship Links about going on tour with Jars Of Clay, record production, and why correct hymn titles are important.
WL: Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some questions for us. It’s truly appreciated! The first question is an easy one. Tell us a little bit about yourself in five sentences.

RC: I’m an artist from the Midwest (St. Louis, MO). I have an amazing wife (Kate) and two incredible girls (Cora and Olive). I write and produce music, compose and record string arrangements for artists/bands, tour, and lead worship. I love to travel and experience new things. I’m always eager for a great surprise!

How did you get started in worship ministry?

When I was in college, I was touring with a band throughout the Midwest. I was also playing violin at Damascus Road (a campus ministry). One thing led to another, and by the end of my first semester of my freshman year, a local church asked me to come on board to lead their contemporary service. I bought an acoustic guitar, a capo, and taught myself how to play enough chords to lead by the time I went back to school in January. Its hard to believe that was nearly 15 years ago!

What’s your basic process for planning a service or worship set?

I like to start a creative plan about 6-8 weeks in advance, so nothing is last minute. Once the pastor and I have a basic series/theme, I hold a creative brainstorm meeting dinner. I typically get 10-20 people to come out. At the brainstorm we each begin by naming 3 un-churched or dis-churched friends or family members. We discuss the questions and conversations we’ve had with them surrounding the upcoming series/theme, and use that as our springboard for everything we create. We’re not really interested in just playing our favorite new songs, or discussing what we already know, but rather, tackling the questions, doubts, and frustrations surrounding any given topic. We try to create an atmosphere that speaks to the theme, and then unpack the following questions/elements through each service: historical, theological, scriptural, contextual, and experiential. Each of these are wide open to various art mediums and activities.

While we were setting up the interview, you mentioned that you recently toured with Jars of Clay and Sleeping at Last. Can you share a great road story with us?

I had the absolute time of my life! All of the Jars guys are so genuine and fun to be with. And Ryan (Sleeping at Last) might actually be the nicest human ever. Each and every night, it was a thrill to be part of creating amazing art.
A couple nights, late after the shows, we headed out for 24 hour food. Healthy 24 hour eateries are basically nonexistent, so we decided to indulge in what must have been a week’s worth of calories, when the entire band ordered deep fried mozzarella stuffed grilled cheese sandwiches. There’s nothing like engorging in 5,000 calories of fried-cheesy-goodness and laughing into the wee hours of the night with friends (several nights in a row).

Desert Island Worship Mix: You’re trapped on a desert island, and for reasons too ridiculous to explain, you can only have one CD with five worship songs on it. What are they?

• This Is Not the End (Gungor)
• In The Embers (Sleeping at Last)
• You Are Mine (MuteMath)
• Where The Streets Have No Name (U2)
• Psalm 145 (Shane & Shane)

If you could give one piece of advice to up and coming worship leaders, what would it be? Conversely, what’s some advice you wish you’d received earlier on?

Don’t do it alone!
Build teams and friendships – even deep relationships with people outside of your local church. Listen and grow. Don’t feel like you need to do this by yourself. Network, network, network. And finally write! The power of your local voice speaking to your local context is invaluable. It’s fine to sing the popular songs, but there’s something visceral about singing the real, tangible, and local struggles, joys, etc.

What do you think worship in the church will look like in ten years?

I believe that with economies shifting, postmodern leaders emerging, and post-christian America being a reality, our churches will move to the fringe. They will be smaller, but stronger. The nominal church-goer will no longer feel the need to check off that Sunday morning box, and the people that do decide to participate in “church” will actually live and breath a priesthood of all believers. I think a worship service will look more like “service.” I think being the hands and feet will be real. The fluff that flies today will die, and what has been institutionalized over the past decades will no longer resonate with postmodern worshipers.

Give us the ten thousand foot view of producing an album. For those that haven’t been through the recording and/or production process, what should we expect?

It’s an incredible view – of possibility. I’m wrapping up an album that I’m producing of a great Nashville artist. He came to my studio back in September and we knocked out structures, vocals, and acoustic guitar. Then he left. He gave me complete freedom to produce everything else. There’s obviously a great amount of trust in this. But over the past months I recorded the rest of the sounds that would accompany these songs and help them take flight. The freedom can be intoxicating. But the real task is taking risks and peeling back layers until you’ve got a perfect piece of art. Trusting your ears and your heart can be difficult and has taken me almost 15 years to get to where I am, but every single album I produce, I honestly say that it’s the best piece of art I’ve ever worked on. So there’s a deep sense of pushing oneself forward, refinement, and continued excellence.

Any new worship artists on your radar at the moment?

I had the chance to write and record strings for John Tibbs this past year. He’s a great guy and his stuff breaks the typical pop-worship mold. Personally, I tend to worship more from non-traditional worship artists. So I’ll frequently leave a concert or an art experience drained from a night of worship (whether or not that was their intention).
Sleeping at Last captures beauty like no one else. The Lone Bellow creates a communal experience better than any artist I’ve seen. Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) writes the most prolific symphonic pieces out there.

What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done while leading worship (that you’re willing to share)?

Back in college, I was asked to lead worship at an uber-traditional church one Sunday. I asked one of my buddies to come play keys for me. At one point I asked everyone to “turn in your hymnals to page 365 as we sing ‘It Is Well With My Hole’”…I was mortified. My keyboardist lost it. I fought the 18 year old laughter within. And still to this day I can’t sing ‘It Is Well’ without a little chuckle.

Thanks again for answering our questions. If people want to find you online, what’s the best way?

Website: www.rosschristopher.com
Twitter: @rosschristopher
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rosschristophermusic
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/ross-christopher/id292934720
Blogs: www.continuedconversation.blogspot.com
www.postmodernpriesthood.blogspot.com

Can Habit Kill Faith?

Yesterday while listening to NPR over lunch, there was a researcher discussing the science behind habit. He talked about what parts of the brain control habits, and just how fast habits are made (and conversely broken).

The basal ganglia controls this function of habit. He explained that even functions like how we brush our teeth are habitual; that if one was to film an individual for a month brushing his/her teeth, that the individual would 99% of the time go through the same exact routine. But, if that individual had to explain the routine, most likely they couldn't; that our brains perform the functions innately.

I have on numerous occasions driven a good distance, only to arrive at my location to realize I couldn't even remember driving there - the turns, the yielding, the changing lanes, etc. Not that I was distracted or not paying attention, but that I was seemingly, completely focused on whatever was on the radio (like listening to habit forming science on NPR) or thinking about an upcoming meeting, lyrics to a new song, etc. Driving even a short distance is extremely complex. Yet over time, it can occur without known or perceived thought.

Let's extend this to faith...

What happens when our faith becomes habitual? Certainly there can be good outcomes. When we're faced with tragedy or suffering, and our first (most natural) response is prayer; that's good. But what happens when the way(s) we worship become habit? What happens when our routine causes us to participate in the same way we drive home from work without even really being there?

I can't give proof of the internal-negatives. But what I can produce, is response and reaction to worship where change happens.

When change is implemented into the worship environment, emails can flood the inbox with confusion and distaste. Even a simple change like re-organizing the seating can disrupt the routine that the basal ganglia has deemed "worship." When an extra song is sung, a prayer is skipped, a song you love uses new or different instrumentation, or announcements go too long, the basal ganglia is interrupted and "worship" is thrown out of whack. When I get these emails or am confronted with these conversations, it stirs me in such a way that I want to respond with disgust.

More appropriately, would be responding with programming and planning constant change in the worship experience. After all, we're supposed to be proclaiming a message of transformation. Not a one-time transformation, but constant transformation. That's what resurrection does. It transforms. And when we allow habit to define and control our faith, transformation comes to a standstill, resurrection loses its power, and worship becomes sterile.

Peace,
Ross

SPACE (a worship project)

Here's a couple tunes I've recorded for an upcoming worship project, SPACE.

Please check 'em out and let me know your thoughts! The idea for the entire album is to create SPACE in worship...

You Remain My Constant


Who Is He


Peace,
Ross

Book Excerpt #16

Here's another brief look inside my upcoming book, Outsourcing God. I hope you enjoy it, wrestle it, and chat it up!

-Ross

----------------------------------------------

What is it about the weekly encounter we label “worship,” that causes such a stirring, such life change, or conversely nothing at all?

I believe that in our consumer-driven, materialistic society, we fall prey to the habitual re-creation of an entertainment encounter. And just because I use the term “entertainment,” doesn’t mean I’m referring to a particular style of encounter; contemporary, progressive, traditional, post-modern, blended, etc. Rather I’m referring to the fact that we try and dish out what gives “our people” what they want.

We spend an amazing amount of time calculating what will drive the numbers up and try and meet those expectations unequivocally. If that’s a rock band or pipe organ, we’ll do what brings in the numbers. After a season of positive encounters, we say that things are going well, budgets are in the right place, staffing is secure, and things are generally healthy. However, when these encounters leave us uneasy, we quickly blame the ministry staff, begin questioning the church’s stewardship, and eventually go down the road of, “oh, remember how things used to be…”

It’s a natural place to go. This line of thinking is very normal. However, the fact that we got there in the first place illuminates the real failure. The fact that we can, (in one week and one worship encounter), determine the encounter’s success by the ministry staff’s hard work, excellence and spiritual maturity, and the next week call it a failure, without any hesitation that just perhaps the encounter has something to do with how we arrive, the preparedness of our hearts, and the willingness of ourselves to be challenged, moved, and disrupted, shows how far the church has gone and how we’ve allowed the gods of culture to infiltrate.