Today’s service at Oakdale Wesleyan Church was experimental, and perhaps something that other “worship architects” could learn from. I preached in character as Henry Ossawa Tanner, and so we wanted the worship service to reflect a 1908 feeling while maintaining our contemporary, multi-generational, and multi-ethnic feel.

Here is what we did with the music. I knew we would not have a band, so we went with all video. (Normally we do half video and half live music, but in order to stay in character I chose not to lead music this day). We picked songs that would have been known in 1908, but where we could we found contemporary versions. The song list was as follows:

• “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” David Crowder Band version
• “All Creatures of Our God and King” Fernando Ortega version (Basically a traditional version but sped up. The David Crowder version was too slow.)
• “And Can it Be” Charles Wesley traditional version
• “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” UB40 version
• “Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)” Chris Tomlin version
• “Go Down Moses” A Black Gospel version (played during the offering)
• “Amen” A Black Gospel version (played as people exited)