Matthew Starner

What do you get when you combine drums, electric guitar and a pipe organ? Epic Awesomeness, that’s what!

Last night, Journey of Faith led worship for West Michigan Lutheran High School’s baccalaureate service. We have several kids at Journey who attend the school, including our guitar player, Greg. It was a little out of the ordinary for us, since we all decided to dress up (we rarely wear ties and dresses on Sunday mornings) and it was held in St. Mark’s church (a rather traditional sanctuary), so it was a definite change of pace from the theater.  We weren’t sure what to expect, since we knew we’d be a little outside the box of many of the people there, but it went great and I heard a number of compliments.

One of the pieces I heard the most comments about was How Great is Our God. It was our closing song for the evening, so I decided to pull out all the stops (literally).  Since there was a pipe organ there, and all I usually play on the keyboard anyway for that song is a big fat pad, I decided to hop on the organ. What followed was phenomenal. The sound of the organ mixed with the drums and electric guitar was superb.  Watch the video below (or click the link below the video if you’re viewing this in a reader and don’t see the video.)

How Great is Our God from Matthew Starner on Vimeo.

If you’re a worship leader in a church that has a pipe organ, USE IT! Think of it as a primitive synthesizer and use it as you would a pad or strings on a keyboard. Throw in a simple bass line on the pedals to add some depth and fill out the sound with the rest of the team.  Don’t over-do it, but pull it out from time to time and make your worship special!