Observational Essay "Worship at Calvary Chapel"

My observation for the essay took place at a church called Calvary Chapel South Denver. When I first visited the place where the birth of my observational essay would take place, I was unsure of what the specific point of the observation would be. This is because there were so many different options to choose from. Some of the different options included the structure of the building, the activities within it, and the people occupying it. The worship music and the people creating the experience is what the primary focus of the observation was based on.

The section where the worship took place was a big, open room which resembled an auditorium. There was row after row of chairs in this room. The chairs were metal with red cushioning, which were designed to support your butt and back. The chairs numbered about one thousand. On one side of this room there was an alter that had musical instruments, speakers, a podium, and fake plants. The instruments consisted of two guitars, a drum set covered with big glass peaces on every side and a base guitar.

The room where the worship took place had vaulted ceilings. The ceiling had some interesting things hanging down from it. For example, it had two big speakers and lights hanging from it, which lit up the room and added a very pleasing visual to ones eyes. There were also two projectors hanging from the ceiling, one on each side of the room. The projectors were turned on and facing the front walls, which were located right behind the alter. The projectors were displaying a Power Point with a series of announcements from men’s and women’s Bible study to a snow shoe retreat that was taking place, that next week.

Being inside the room that resembled an auditorium my wife and I heard light worship music in the background as we looked around contemplating where to find an adequate place to sit. Once we decided where to sit, we made our way to the place and sat there until the worship started. As we were waiting for the service to start I noticed the different people walking into, and around in the room. They numbered about a hundred or so. They were all scattered through out the room making it look as though the room was too big for its audience. Shortly after we sat down I heard the light music in the background come to an end and three people from the audience walk towards the alter. The people walking toward the alter grabbed and played some of the instruments. The beginning of the service had started. The worship had started.



One of the three people that kicked the service off was a young girl in her early twenties. The other two were male. One was in his mid thirties and the other was in his mid twenties. The female was the lead singer with a really talented voice. She was playing one of the guitars and one of the guys was playing the other. The other guy was playing the drums. All three of them put their skills of playing instruments together to make the pleasing sound of worship music. Out of the three playing the music, the lead singer, is the one that I observed the closest.

The girl leading worship was wearing black Jeans, a green hoodie sweater, and brown slip on shoes. She had short black hair, which only reached to her shoulders. A part of her hair was put up in a pony tail. The girl was seating in a high stool with a standing microphone in front of her mouth, for her to intensify her voice throughout the whole room.

Once the first song of worship started the girl started out with a simple prayer, and informed the audience to either sit or stand while worship went on. She mentioned that she wanted everyone to do what ever they felt comfortable doing. She then proceeded to begin singing. As she was singing this first song, she had her eyes closed and the expressions on her face revealed that she was really passionate about what she was doing. The first song ended in about four to five minutes, and before moving on to the second one she prayed earnestly for everyone.

The second, third, and forth songs of worship continued with prayer in between each one. The girl singing each one was intensely involved in singing the worship songs. I could tell that she was pouring her heart into each song she was singing. She was very passionate about what she was doing and her vibe was also spreading to the audience. I could not only see the passion of what she was doing, but also feel it.

One specific song she was singing was called “Knees to the Earth”, and I remember one verse that the girl was singing. The verse went something like this “Wonderful Savior My heart belongs to Thee, I will remember always the blood you shed for me Wonderful Savior, My heart will know Your worth. So let me embrace You always as I walk this earth.” As she was singing these words it was as she was communicating directly to God, and not to the audience. I can only imagine that in her head, at that specific moment there was no one else in the room except her, communicating her love through worship to God. There were multiple times through out the worship time that this seemed to be happening.

There were many different aspects of Calvary Chapel South Denver that I observed closely, but do to the limited amount of wording allowed, I could not share them. The most interesting aspect was definitely the worship music and the people that created the worship music. This created a stimulating, inspiring, and overall spiritual environment. The way everything came together to make the worship music was remarkable. It really is hard to explain what kind of atmosphere the worship music created. So, to put it into perspective I will use Martin Luther’s words, “Music is a discipline, and a mistress of order and good manners, she makes the people milder and gentler, more moral and more reasonable.”