I want you to think of today’s most popular music. Do you immediately think of a church and organ setup? Probably not. Yet many churches are furnished with organs. At the same time most Church leaders are struggling to stay relevant. Yet most people do not find organ music to be their musical taste. So then, why do churches use organs anyway?

Let’s start with a little history. Back in the days when there was no electricity, and churches became more and more popular and highly attended a problem arose: music. How do you satisfy the musical needs of large churches without electrical amplification?

The answer of course was to find the most powerful instrument of its day – the organ. Back in those days many organs operated by water. The gravitational weight of water forced air through the huge pipes of an organ. This produced a sound that was so powerful it could easily drown an acoustic guitar. In fact, the sound was so powerful it could easily overpower most instruments of its time.

Back in those days there was a vision: lets create music that is bold, loud, and powerful enough to accompany thousands of voices singing. It was the “cutting edge” instrument of the day. The organ provided the ultimate power to produce powerful, music that topped all other music of its day.

But something happened. Just as Aaron and the people of Israel formed a golden calf from the blessings of Egypt, so we have formed an idol out of the blessings of yesterday – the organ. As stupid as it sounds, there are many people in traditional churches that worship the organ. They would not give it up for anyone. They claim that other music don’t sound like “church” music and the organ is just universally accepted as the “church” instrument. They equate organ music with worship music.

In their “organ worship” they lose the original vision of the church: to provide the highest quality, most powerful, most modern music; producing the “cream of the crop” in modern music. They lose sight of the church’s original vision for music. In so doing the world progresses beyond the church in musical advancement. This is all due to influential church members who would rather cling to the past, and forget the ever-increasing need for the church to be on the cutting edge of music.

Some even demand that they will not have any other music in church except organ music, yet they go home and listen to contemporary music. Hypocrites they are! Double-standard people who inhibit the growth of the church.

Having said that, we must forcefully advance beyond the limitations of certain church members, and certain paradigms. We must march forward, musically, to provide the absolute best music the world has ever heard. Church music should include any style, as long as the heart of the music, and the spirit of the musician is that of true praise, worship, adoration, and love for the LORD.

Church music must inspire us toward heaven. Church music must be exciting. When you go to a secular concert you never have to ask the people to stand. They do in excitement! This is the way it should be in church.

You should never have to ask people to raise their hands, or stand, or sing. They should do so because the church has provided an environment conducive to this kind of extravagant worship.

In heaven there is no worship leader who has to ask the people to stand and worship. In heaven no one sings “I stand in awe of You” while they are sitting! Yet you see this type of thing happening in many church services.

And so, we must infuse our churches with excitement. We must make it a place that people are excited to go because of the excellent music, excellent message, and the excellent Spirit it conveys.

Back in the day, the church used to be the leader in music. The best music of the world was found in our churches. The best instruments of the world was found in our churches. The best musicians and singers in the world was found in our churches.

But too many churches have gotten stuck in the deep rut of traditionalism. Their growth is stunted, and their sanctuaries are become empty. And thus the world moves past us. Membership continues to fall. And people lose their first love.

If you are a pastor, you have a great responsibility to meet this challenge. If you are a church leader, you have a great responsibility to be the best in all aspects, without hypocrisy, in both word and deed, message and music.

If you are not a pastor, and you know of someone who is, please forward a link to this page.

Let’s get back on track. Let’s take the world by storm. Let’s provide a quality “worship concert” with great music, quality lighting, and an impressive presentation. After all we are doing it for the LORD.

I believe that if David were here today he would say that Psalm 150 also includes every possible means afforded to us by modern-day technology.

I believe David would say:

Praise Him with the electric guitar!
Praise Him with the booming bass!
Praise Him with the electronic music!
Praise Him with the pyrotechnics!
Praise Him with the lasers!
Praise Him with the lights!
Praise Him with everything that modern-day technology has to offer!

The Reuge music company crafts some of the world’s finest music boxes, items of music automata such as singing birds, and pocket watches. Their musical devices are world renowned for their impeccable quality and luxurious appeal. Founded by Charles Reuge, a watchmaker from the Val-de-Travers in 1865, the 26 year old began his company by making pocket watches with innovative musical movement devices. For those only getting acquainted with music device history, you will find that its history is quite fascinating. For instance, not only are musical pocket watches gorgeously designed, but they consist of 17 tiny notes musical movement. They wind manually, and the sound volume can be adjusted.

It is believed that the first mechanical music devices began as hydraulically powered flutes or organs, with automata such as singing birds attached. Details of these early music devices were recorded by Greek historians of mechanics, Philo of Byzantium (ca. 280 BCE – 220 BCE), also known as Philo Mechanicus and mathematician, Apollonius of Perga (ca. 262 BCE – 190 BCE). Almost a thousand years later, the first musical program was developed by three brothers known as the Banu Musa of Baghdad to run hydraulically-blown flutes. By the mid-800s CE, two automata consisting of artificial trees and singing birds were invented by Leo the Mathematician for the Emperor Theophilus of Byzantium.

The application of rotating cylinders were first implemented with church-clock chimes in the early 14th-century, which eventually evolved into fully chromatic carillons in 16th century Flanders. Although the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) in Europe interrupted the development and demand of mechanical instruments, by 1720 the craft experienced a great revival, so much so that it is referred to ‘Golden Century’ of mechanical instruments, lasting approximately from 1720-1820. Musical clocks, or Fltenuhr, became the rage of European nobility and the wealthy merchant class especially in Berlin, Vienna, and London. Compositions for these musical time pieces were specifically written by some of the world’s most celebrated composers including Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, C.P.E. Bach, and Haydn. Up until the early 1800s, these luxury novelty items were almost never heard by anyone other than the very wealthy and their immediate servant staff. However, by the 1830s, they became an almost common feature in fashionable cafs and pleasure gardens. According the 1834 edition of The Penny Magazine (published in Great Britain), approximately four-sevenths of most popular music was delivered to the masses through portable barrel organs and barrel pianos – usually played by itinerant musicians.

It was during this period, that Charles Reuge introduced the art of making pocket watches with musical movements, and Reuge music was established as a leader in uniquely crafted mechanical music instruments. However, with the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison in 1877, mechanical musical instruments began to lose their massive appeal. Today, as is obvious, music boxes are strictly novelty and collectors’ items. Companies, such as Reuge, are amongst a handful of companies that still produce them, but as their slogan states, Reuge is indeed recognized as the leader in “the art of mechanical music”