I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. - Psalm 22:22
At Holly Springs, we believe that God has given everyone a voice to lift to Him in corporate worship. Sunday morning worship services and Wednesday Bible studies are excellent times to gather together with other believers and give God glory through praise, proclamation and prayer. We also provide musical leadership opportunities for those who are willing to use the gifts God has given them including our Sanctuary Choir, Worship Orchestra, and Audio-Visual Team. For children, we offer age-graded children's choirs on Wednesday nights during the school year and our Shine Student Ministry has its own Wednesday night worship leadership team.
Opportunities to Serve
While we believe that everyone can lift their voices in praise to the Lord, we also believe that God appoints some to lead others in worship through singing and playing music. He calls others to support corporate worship through the visual arts and the use of audio and video technology. Below are some of the various oppportunities to serve the Lord in worship leadership at Holly Springs Baptist Church.
Sanctuary Choir
High School age youth and all adults are invited to join in leading worship through our Sanctuary Choir ministry. We rehearse on Wednesday nights from 7:15-8:45pm and lead in the 10:30am Worship Service on Sunday mornings. No previous musical skill or experience is required and there is no audition.
Worship Orchestra
If you have experience playing in middle or high school band/orchestra or above, you are invited to join in accompanying our 10:30am Sunday morning worship times. We rehearse on Wednesday evenings at 6:00pm and 8:45am on Sunday mornings. Contact Pastor Patman to get involved.
Audio/Visual Team
For those who are technologically inclined, we have opportunities to support our in-person and online worship times as audio and video technicians. Work in the booth, be a camera operator, or help in the streaming room to magnify God's worship and send it out to the world. Contact Pastor Patman to get involved.
Children's Choirs
During the school year, we offer Children's Choir oppportunities for children in 4K through 6th grade on Wednesday nights at 6:30pm. Our Little Springs Choir is for 4K through 1st grade, and the King's Kids Choir is for grades 2 through 6. Our Children's Choirs lead through special performances during our 10:30am service at various times throughout the year.
What is Worship?
The Primacy of Worship
Jesus says in John 4:23 that God the Father is seeking worshippers – “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.” God’s plan from the foundation of the world was to create and redeem people who would live to worship and glorify Him forever. As believers created and redeemed by God, worshipping Christ is our primary function, and leading others to worship Him is our primary mission.
Personal Worship - That We May Know Him
God created mankind for a personal, intimate relationship with Himself. Jesus says in John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Personal worship is the foundational practice to nurture and grow a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Spending significant time alone with God communicating through prayer and Bible intake is the strongest, most consistent way to develop this relationship. As God says in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” As we sacrifice our time to God in personal worship, He reveals Himself and His will to us so that we might know Him more. In times of personal worship we also receive discipline, encouragement and direction for how we are to live our lives in relationship with God.
Lifestyle Worship - Letting Your Light Shine
Worshipping God is bigger than going to church and activities with other believers. God desires for us to shine the light of His glory into the darkness of this world every day through the things we do and say when we're at our jobs, at school, or in the marketplace. In 1 Corinthians 1:31 Paul says, "Therefore, ... whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." This type of worship can be the most challenging to us and is impossible in our own strength, but God promises in Acts 1:8 to help us: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Day by day, we are to purposefully seek God's power to live out His love and character for His glory.
Ministry Worship - Created for Good Works
We receive direction from God in personal worship and then live it out through the things He directs us to do for others. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” In personal worship, God directs us to serve His people and to reach out in love to family, neighbors, co-workers and friends. As we live out our obedience to what God has revealed in personal worship, we worship God through ministry.
Corporate Worship - Celebrating Together
God communicates with us through personal worship, shapes our character and behavior by the power of His Holy Spirit within us as we submit to Him, acts in and through us as we obediently minister in His name, and then we celebrate who He is and what He's done together with other believers in corporate worship. Psalm 145:4-7 says: “One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.” This is the Biblical picture of corporate worship.
The Personality of Worship
In John 17:20-23, Jesus prayed that His people would be one, as He and the Father are one. In this passage, Jesus says that our unity will be part of our witness – “so that the world may know that You (God the Father) sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” If we are to “be one” as Jesus prayed, we must seek unity in our worship and surrender to God’s ways above our own. In Romans 15:2-3 we see the approach that God has prescribed: ”Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.’” To promote the unity that Christ prayed for, God desires for us to put our neighbors before ourselves. Rather than pursuing expressions of worship that edify only ourselves, we are called to unselfishly pursue and promote the varied expressions of worship that edify others. The beauty of God’s plan is that our sacrifice for our neighbors joined with their sacrifice for us edifies everyone. Deeper than that, to truly pursue unity with fellow believers we must do more than just tolerate their favorite expressions of worship while we wait for what we like. The greatest sacrifice is that which seeks to be open to God’s presence and glory in every expression of worship, regardless of our own personal preferences. This kind of sacrifice shows that we desire to worship God above our own pleasures, and that we desire to please God by being one with other believers, as Jesus prayed. When we seek to do this, our corporate worship will be more pleasing to Him. Romans 15:5-6 shows us the result: ”May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”