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June 2000 Table of Contents
Just A Little Talk With...
Dennis Jernigan
The Communicator is pleased to bring you this interview with Dennis Jernigan. Follow closely and you'll quickly see the heart of a worshiper in this worship leader, leading us to embrace freedom in Christ and yet at the same time challenging us to display that freedom.
Communicator: Dennis, tell us about your new choral work, "We Will Worship." (A musical for choir, orchestra, and worship team with narration for worship leader.) How does one concisely and compactly place an overview of their life in one small 55-minute compilation of music?
Dennis: "Realistically, that cannot be done...but the labor of love we call "We Will Worship" can be seen as just that - a gleaning from the life of one called to be a worshiper. This compilation of songs and the accompanying narrative are my simple effort to convey to others what I believe to be some of the essential elements of the worshiper's heart and life as seen from my perspective. After spending so many years in the prison of homosexuality and then suddenly being set free, my only response to the one who liberated me was to worship Him and thank Him. There could be no other response as far as I was concerned. To suddenly discover that God not only loved me-but that He LIKED me-set my heart on an eternal course of making Christ known...and caused in me a great desire to remind others that God loves being in their presence and He takes great delight in communing with them...even more so than we can possibly delight in Him."
Communicator: How did you come about the titling of "We Will Worship?"
Dennis: "I called the project "We Will worship" because I believe the church needs to be reminded what true worship really is. Worship is more than what we do on Sunday mornings. Worship involves our whole being and requires our whole life. Worship-in a word-is relationship with God. Relationship requires two- way communication for life to occur. We can sing about God or even to God until we are blue in the face and never meet with Him or exchange fellowship with Him. Worship simply means this: We sing to God...but we need to be listening for Him to sing to us. If relationship is not the result, I do not believe we have worshiped at all."
Communicator: And how is that relationship woven into the songs?
Dennis: "Many of my favorite songs are included in the musical, but I especially love the song "You Are My Glory" and the song "When the Night is Falling." The first is simply Father God singing over us and the second is our response to His song. These are deeply intimate songs born out of my own trials and tribulations and came as a result of my desire and need to hear God sing over me a song of deliverance. My daughter Glory inspired the song "You Are My Glory". I love to sing over my children. I figured if that is my desire as an earthly father, how much more must God desire to sing over us in the night!"
Communicator: What is your desired goal for this work to accomplish?
Dennis: "That others might be set a little more free and walk in a little more intimacy with Him in the process. My desire for the musical, honestly, is that people would know my personal story of deliverance from the bondage of homosexuality and apply the truths of relationship with God through worship to their own lives and be set free from whatever bondage they are captive to. Beyond that, my hope would be that people would realize that only by the truth can they be set free. Honesty and confession to God about their own failures is the first step to freedom...and freedom is maintained through relationship with God. Worship, in that sense, becomes a weapon of warfare against the enemy."
"As I have said, true worship is recognizing that God desires a relationship with us. He does not force us to love Him...but because of His sacrifice for me, I am compelled by that love to do the same for Him. The key to worship is recognizing that God is God and I am not! I need Him! And relationship is the answer to seeing that need satisfied."
Communicator: As a worship leader, what major barriers do you see that keep people from experiencing that freedom?
Dennis: "If we could ever get it through our heads the degree of how much God loves us, we would all be shocked at how much more freedom is available to us than we thought possible. God delights in our presence. His Word tells me that He spins around wildly in anticipation over me (Zephaniah 3:17...the word for God 'rejoicing' over us literally means 'to spin around wildly'!). He gets more excited about being in my presence than I do about being in His! Do my thoughts toward Him outnumber the sands of the sea? Case closed!"
"Isn't it amazing that we get so hung up on styles and forms of worship? Is God not worthy of our highest praise? I believe my highest praise for Him should involve all of 'me'...spirit, mind, emotions, and body. He made all of these components that make up the whole of our being. Why should we ever be ashamed of using them for His glory? We sing the words 'and with our hands lifted high we will worship and sing'...yet we balk at actually lifting our hands. Simply put, Jesus sacrificed His life for us by lifting His hands on the cross. Is it really that much to ask? Is it really that big a deal? We don't even have nails to contend with! God is worthy of our full-blown expressions of praise...whether we sing, clap, shout, lift our hands...or whether we sit quietly or sob uncontrollably as we ponder and experience the reality of His loving presence in our lives."
Communicator: How do you see these barriers being overcome?
Dennis: "Praise and worship requires honesty. It is through our honesty and transparency that we lead others to do the same as worship leaders. People need to see that even Christians have problems...but they need to see how we seek the solutions through faith in Christ. I once was lost and bound in my sin...but God showed me I am more than I ever dreamed through Him. Through the narratives (in the musical) I have striven to portray that honesty in such a way that others might easily understand these simple truths that have carried me through a great deal of my life as an overcomer and victorious child of God."
Communicator: Any other steering thoughts or comments about the musical?
Dennis: "I hope worship leaders would lead by example and personalize the narratives as they use them...and above all, that Jesus Christ be glorified!"
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