LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Church Evaluation Case Study

Traditional/Blended

Submitted to Dr. Lindsey Graham

In part of the requirements for completion of

WMUS 400

Tools, Techniques & Literature for Worship

By

Shannon E. Kennedy

June 23rd, 2023

Table of Contents
Music/Choir/Orchestra...........................................................................................................3
First Baptist Church/History/Stated Mission/Worship Styles...................................................5
Choir/Robes/Music Memorization...........................................................................................6
Instrumentation/Use of Soloists..............................................................................................7
Use of Projector......................................................................................................................7
Lighting..................................................................................................................................8
Number of Choirs, Types of Choirs (Vocal & Instrumental)....................................................8
General Evaluation of Services...............................................................................................8
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................9
BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................................10
 Church Case Study Evaluation: Blended/Traditional

For this church case study observation and evaluation, I chose to evaluate the First

Baptist Church in Dallas, TX. For the content for evaluation, I watched services from April 3 rd,

2023, April 10th, 2023, April 24th, 2023, May 8th, 2023, part of a series by Senior Pastor Dr.

Robert Jeffress on “18 minutes with Jesus, Straight Talk from the Savior About the Things that

Matter the Most.” Of the services I watched the majority seemed more traditional in nature (with

heavy use of hymns and the 200-person choir and orchestra) than blended, but there was the use

of more modern songs in service with the choir and orchestra creating a beautifully blended feel.

The following is an evaluation of four services at First Baptist Church Dallas, TX.

Music/Choir/Orchestra

“Open up the Heavens” by Vertical Worship was the opening song, this song had a very

choral/congregational feel, utilizing full choir and orchestra. This song is more blended then

traditional in nature. “Holy, Holy, Holy” primarily choir and orchestra driven, there was

congregational participation, however the worship leaders just sang backup beautifully for the

choir in this song. During this song FBC utilized not only the full worship/praise team but

additionally the choir and full orchestra. After brief introduction and greeting from Music and

Worship Minister the third worship song started which was “Living Hope” by Chris Tomlin. This

song was primarily led by the worship and praise team but was supported by the full orchestra

and choir representing very well a blended/traditional service, with more contemporary music,

and more traditional aspects such as choir and orchestra support instead of full worship band.

Offering song was “The Glory and the Lifter of my Head” by Virgil Meares this song was

primarily choir and orchestra led.

 Second service the introductory song was “Strength Will Rise (Everlasting God)” The

second song in the second service was choir led and congregational “Jesus Saves” hymn. During

“Jesus Saves” there is a long instrumental where all vocalists/choir drop out and it is orchestra

instrumental only. The song after offertory was “Because He Lives” by Matt Maher was a

primarily choir led song with strong use of orchestra and praise team as backup vocals. This

modern song created a nice blend or contemporary and traditional elements.

The third service introductory song was the classic hymn “Crown Him with Many

Crowns” by Matthew Bridges and Godfrey Thring, the arrangement and instrumentation of this

piece gave it a lively upbeat almost jazz groove. The upbeat nature of triumphant music

continued with the second song led by Kristin Getty “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name”

originally written by Oliver Holden and Robert Critchley. This song had a heavy orchestra and

choir support but primary lead vocalist being Kristin Getty on this song. The closing reflective

worship song was “In Christ Alone” led again by Kristin Getty, the entire first verse was a solo

for Getty only instrumentation behind her vocals. Second verse and chorus the choir and backup

vocal came in. This song was both choir/congregational and had strong instrumental features.

In the final service the music minister started worship off on an upbeat hymn “Victory in

Jesus” by Eugene Monroe Bartlett this was a great song for congregational participation and the

use of choir and strong orchestra added depth to the hymn. The second song used “We Worship

You” by Israel Houghton a strong congregational song as well as predominantly choir driven and

led. The third song of the final service was “My God is Awesome” by Charles Jenkins, this song

was driven by worship leader but has a very gospel groove and feel with choir adding a gospel

praise choir effect to this classic song. This song was great for congregational participation.
 First Baptist Church/History/Stated Mission/Worship Styles

The First Baptist Church of Dallas was started July 30th, 1868, and was founded by

eleven charter members on the first floor of the Masonic Hall, on Lamar Street near the

intersection of Ross Avenue in Dallas, TX. FBC was pastored first by W.W. Harris from 1868-

1870.1 Other pastors include George W. Truett, and W.A Criswell. In 1897, under the leadership

of Truett, First Baptist established the first known training class for Sunday school teachers. By

1921 First Baptist had broadcast their first service on the radio and by 1926 three radio stations

were broadcasting services.2 During Truett’s time as Pastor at FBC the congregation grew from

797 to 7,804. The trend of growth continued under Criswell, and in 1991, with membership more

then 28,000 people, First Baptist had become the largest church in the United States.3 Even

American Evangelist Billy Graham was a member of the First Baptist Church.

First Baptist Church “is built on the Bible and continues its mission to transform the

world with God’s Word one life at a time.”4 FBC is a multi-generational church community that

meets needs with a variety of worship services, Sunday School, discipleship options, mission

opportunities, fellowship, and outreach events. First Baptist Church working continually to reach

their city, nation, and world for Christ through four primary courses action, worship, equip,

serve, evangelize.5 Currently FBC offers two choir and orchestra led services, DayOne band-led

service, and an online experience through the First Dallas iCampus. Secondly, FBC reaches their

community through providing Sunday school classed for all ages and life stages equipping

1
Alan, Lefever. “First Baptist Church of Dallas” Texas State Historical Association. Accessed June 28 th,
2023. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/first-baptist-church-dallas#:~:text=The%20First%20Baptist
%20Church%20of,organized%20on%20July%2030%2C%201868.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.
4
First Baptist Church, “Who We Are” Accessed June 28th, 2023. https://firstdallas.org/who-we-are/
5
Ibid.
members and visitors. In addition, FBC offers a Discipleship University ministry that is offered

for two semesters of classes on Sunday evenings.

FBC’s goal is to equip, empower, and deploy every member of the Body to serve in the

role and gifting to which the Lord has called them. First Baptist Members pierce through the

darkness with the light of God’s Word to the uttermost parts of the world. One theological

distinctive of the First Baptist Church is that they believe in the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and

Holy Spirit. FBC believes in the authority of scripture, and value Bible-centered preaching and

teaching as the foundation for all that they do. FBC seeks to worship and praise God

passionately, as individuals, as families and as the local church. “But the hour is coming, and

now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is

seeking such to worship Him. God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit

and truth.”6 First Baptist Church endeavors to share the gospel and the message of salvation with

all people regardless of race, age, ethnicity, or economic status in our community and around the

globe.

Choir/Robes/Music Memorization

First Baptist Church of Dallas has a wonderfully talented choir of roughly 200 men and

women. The first service the choir wore beautiful deep navy robes with a purple collar and

elegant gold trim. The second service the choir wore navy robes with red collar and gold trim.

There are no music stands or sheet music visible in front of the choir or the worship team during

any services. As such, it is presumed songs for services are memorized. There was not a single

service or song where the worship team and or the choir had any music present.

6
Jn. 4:23-24 NKJV.
 Instrumentation/Use of Soloists

Just below the choir before the stage, there is an entire orchestra. Full strings, brass,

woodwinds, and percussion. In front of the orchestra stand the worship and praise team on the

stage. There are several worship leaders that will take verses, bridges, chorus etc. For the most

part there are no “soloists” in the traditional sense of the word, where one individual is singing

the song with no harmony or back up vocalists. Even when worship leaders are singing alone on

melody line there is usually either the choir or another backup vocalist adding richness and depth

of harmony to the line.

Use of Projector/Music Ministry Staff

The Audio/Visual/Media team has made excellent use of the projector screen in the time

right before greeting and worship begins. The projector displays pictures from the local

community and around the world with text highlighting the mission of the church in loving,

worshiping, serving, and being the hands and feet of Jesus. It created a strong emotional draw

into the beginning of worship. During worship the projector is used for lyric to the songs for the

congregation to sing along with. In between worship sing the projector is used for clips from

upcoming events and announcements for the church. Additionally, the audio/visual team uses the

projector during the sermon to support scripture and play clips related to theme/sermon.

Considering the size of the congregation, the size of the choir and orchestra, the

amount of vocalists and praise and worship band members I would assume the staff in the

Music Ministry would have to be close to 10-12 people, between Worship Pastor,

Associate Worship Pastor, Worship Pastor-Instrumental, Worship Pastor-Choir, Worship

Pastor-Media, Worship Pastor-Audio/Visual, and all of the administrative assistants under

each Pastor.
 Lighting

Lighting during worship centered with spotlights on vocalists, and worship leader. Soft

lighting on both orchestra and choir in a visually pleasing color as they support praise band and

vocalists throughout worship. After worship house lights are dropped and spotlight is only one

Music & Worship Minister as he greets the congregation. During the greeting the lights on the

orchestra and choir are a soft calming blue hue. House lights return for one final worship song

with spotlights on worship team, choir, and orchestra. As worship moves to offertory house lights

are dimmed again and spotlight centered on gentleman giving the offering prayer/scripture for

reflection.

Number of Choirs, Types of Choirs (Vocal & Instrumental)

Looking at all four services there was only one sing choir that was used for each service.

The choir robes changes in coloration between different services but the individuals in the choir

itself remained the same through all four services. The full orchestra was used in each and every

service I watched. FBC offers Day One Worship every Sunday which is a more contemporary

Praise/Worship band led service. The two services offered beforehand are a blended/traditional

service relying heavily on Choir/Orchestra/Hymnals. There were no small vocal groups or small

instrumental groups used in any of the four services I watched.

General Evaluation of Services

First Baptist Church of Dallas had the best blended/traditional service I have seen so far.

Hymns and songs that were used in worship were strong theologically and tessitura was perfect

for congregational participation. The use of the choir and orchestra gave the worship service a

timeless feel and gave the listener or congregant the feeling of being surrounded by the worship
of heaven. FBC was the first fellowship I have watched that has invited the congregation to kneel

during offertory prayer. I found this to be a very reverent and unique piece to First Baptist

Church’s services.

In the second service halfway through worship the attention and spotlight turned from the

worship/praise team and the choir and orchestra to a young girl in the baptismal pool giving her

life to the Lord and being water baptized, this was a beautiful and impactful part of worship in

this service. The offertory was prayer and a congregational recitation of Matthew 5:43-48. 7

Conclusion

Watching services for First Baptist Church of Dallas gave me the opportunity to see a

very well done blended/traditional worship service. I had always believed I did not care for

blended services and that I only enjoyed contemporary music in worship. The way that FBC did

their worship service was very enjoyable, they took traditional hymnary and livened it up with

additional instrumentation and arrangements, as well as the use of the 200-person choir. I greatly

enjoy the experience of watching, evaluating, and analyzing this fellowship’s worship services. I

have learned a great deal in watching these services in how I as a worship leader may

implement/blend more traditional aspects of worship in the future.

7
Matt. 5:43-48. NKJV
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

First Baptist Church, “Who We Are” Accessed June 28th, 2023. https://firstdallas.org/who-we-
are/

Lefever, Alan. “First Baptist Church of Dallas” Texas State Historical Association, Accessed
June 28th, 2023. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/first-baptist-church-
dallas#:~:text=The%20First%20Baptist%20Church%20of,organized%20on%20July
%2030%2C%201868.