I met Kip Long during my first year  in the United States (1999/2000). A small church in rural Mississippi had asked me to work with their teens a few hours each week. This is how I found myself at a youth rally in Senatobia, MS. Kip was a youth minister from Memphis and worship leader for the weekend. He could also throw the football further than any of the other teens in the parking lot that weekend.

Today, Kip serves as the worship minister for the Sycamore View Church of Christ located in Bartlett, Tennessee, just outside the city limits of Memphis. As a worship minister he leads the church’s primary worship gathering each Sunday, coordinates the praise team, plans musical events and produces worship CDs. In the bigger picture he seeks to help people live a life of worship that will attract others to the Lord.

One of the great challenges for multi-ethnic churches is designing ways for each culture to express themselves in worship. In early 2015 I stumbled across a new worship CD recorded by the Sycamore View Praise Team titled “Without Borders” that attempted to address this challenge. I recently had the opportunity to interview Kip about the motivation and process of producing this album.  I’ll be sharing this interview with you in three parts over the the next three weeks.

How long have you been the Worship Leader at Sycamore View Church of Christ?

            I’ve have the privilege of leading the Sycamore View Church in worship for 13 years.

 How many albums has your worship team produced over the years?

            We just released our 9^th album, Seasons of Worship Volume 3 in November 2015

 What prompted you to start recording these albums?

            When I began work at Sycamore View in 2003, there were several new songs that the church had not learned and I needed a way to teach them. We were also searching for ways that each ministry could share the Good News of the Kingdom.  A few months later, Seasons of Worship Vol. 1 was born and we were able to share music with members and guests.

You recently released an album named “Without Borders.” Can you explain that name?

            When churches sing about God’s power, the Spirit’s guidance, the Savior’s sacrifice or any of the major themes in worship, we are formed, informed and transformed as we worship. Although we find ourselves in agreement over the content of our worship songs, we discover some disagreement when it comes to the style of songs. On all popular secular radio stations, you will hear the same basic content: I love you, I hate you, Go away, and Come back (Over-simplistic…but close, right?) So why do we choose one station over another? It is because the style of music is what we prefer.

            In my car, you will find my pre-set radio stations are Christian, Gospel, Rock, Pop, Classic Rock and Oldies because these reflect my preferred style of music.  When my 14 year old daughter gets in my car, she hits a button that takes the radio to FM2 pre-sets, where 4 of the 6 stations are Country. Because I love her, I am willing to listen to her music even though Country music isn’t my preferred style. But over time I have discovered a few songs that I truly like-songs I would have never heard otherwise.

            Do you have a pre-set style of worship music?  Does your church? What if our love for brothers and sisters caused us to expand our perspective and discover different styles of music? This project was an attempt to invite our church across a few stylistic borders to discover new ways to praise God.

What motivated you to move in this direction?

            I have the opportunity to teach a Bible class at Hope Works (www.whyhopeworks.org). It is a joy to share scripture with under-resourced individuals in the Memphis area who need skills to break out of the poverty cycle. I need to let you know that this class was mostly African American. As a part of my class I usually play songs that help deepen their connection with God and many times I use our praise team CDs. One Thursday I was preparing to share another one of our songs with the class, so I was letting our CD play as students entered. The only other person in the room at the time was an older African-American woman who was looking over her notes from the previous class. As I walked by her she said, “Excuse me Kip. I like your music, but I was wondering if you have…(long pause)…any music that WE like?”

            I didn’t really know how to respond. I had every opportunity to find offense. After all this wasn’t just any music, this was MY music. I was thinking, “What’s wrong with my music?” Thanks to the Spirit’s guidance, he helped me close the door of offense and open the door of understanding. I simply asked, “Hmm….well… I’m not sure. What kind music do you like?” Her face lit up as she started naming all these artists whose music blessed her life. I can honestly say that of the dozen names she mentioned, Kirk Franklin was the only name I recognized. And so when the class began I asked everyone, “What Christian artists draw your heart to God?” And for 20 minutes we discussed Christian artists that I had never heard before. They played songs from their phones and most began singing along. It was a holy moment…and I felt like an outsider.

            After class, I got in my car and sat for a few minutes in silence. I prayed, “God, thank you for opening my eyes today. Thank you for my brothers and sisters who love you and for the Christian artists who bless them. But what does this mean for me? Why have I never heard of these Christian artists before?” Then I envisioned my congregation and thought of my black brothers and sisters at Sycamore View. “God, do my S.V. brothers and sisters feel this way? What do I do now? Do I change everything? Do I change anything?” As I started my car, I found Hallelujah FM (a Gospel Station) and locked in a new pre-set.

CONTINUE READING PART 2 OF THIS INTERVIEW HERE AND PART 3 HERE.

Without Borders is available for streaming HERE. You can also order a CD of the album by contacting Kip: klong@sycamoreview.org.