
The Integrity Worship Institute recently yoked up with the University of Mobile (Alabama) to offer a degree in 'Worship Leadership'.
Mark Foley, president of the university, said that the goal is to train worship leaders who can go into a church "to lead a particular group of people TO ENCOUNTER GOD in a way that is best for then."
When I read the phrase "encountering God", I thought what in the world is that supposed to mean? I wanted to puke when I read the emphasis of men worshipping God "in a way that is best for them. " It just seemed to be a clear admission of the man-centeredness of contemporary music. Does the true worship of God change with every situation? Is worship relative? Biblically, the answer is no, but we see that the contemporary charismatic movement is focused on man's part in worship and not on God and His sovereign and unchangeable character and truth.
Several verses came to my mind as I read this report. Like Judges 17:6, where we read, "In those days.... every man did that which was right in his own eyes. " Imagine publicly stating that you were going to train people to worship God "in a way that is best for them." Proverbs 16:2 also seemed to fit right here as well.- "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits."
What a misnomer to call the music label, "Integrity Music". There is no integrity to every man doing what is right in his own eyes!
Trumpet Editor