Woodside Worships with Rhythm

At Woodside Bible Church in White Lake, the sound of guitars, drums and keyboards can be heard radiating from Sunday morning services each week. Members at Woodside view the worship arts ministry as means to build a vibrant environment for congregants to bring song and praise to their modern gathering services.

The worship arts ministry entails training members in all aspects of the worship service from musical instruction to audio and writing. Under the instruction of Eric Fritts, member of Woodside Bible Church, participants of worship arts rehearse Wednesday evenings for Sunday services.  The adult praise band practices electric, acoustic and bass guitars, vocals, drums and keyboards and plays for services held at 10a.m. and 11:30a.m. on Sundays.

“We also have a traditional service at 8:30a.m. each Sunday,” said Cathie Bedor, administrative assistant at Woodside. “It’s more hymns versus courses. “

With 650 to 700 members attending services at Woodside each Sunday, Bedor said that the modern services draw in people who are more attracted to the less traditional church services. 

“Modern gathering is more culturally relevant to where some people are in their spiritual journey.”

“I think it allows people to use the different gifts and talents they have to help serve the body of believers as a whole,” Bedor said. “Not everyone can play guitar and not everyone can sing, but we’re called to sing and praise the Lord through song and music. It adds that element to it.” 

Roughly a dozen performers are on hand at each week to bring music to the services, but Fritts rotates participating members so everyone has the opportunity to be involved in the Modern Gatherings.

“We also have periodic concerts,” said Bedor. “It may be a local artist or someone from around the area that we bring in.” For Christmastime, Woodside offered dinner theater through the ministry.

“There was interactive drama going on during the dinner that told the Christmas story,” said Bedor. 

While the modern gatherings generally feature adult performers, the ministry also includes a student band.

“Eric works with them so they can lead worship,” Bedor said. “There is training and he takes whatever talent they have and gets them plugged in.”

MacKenzie Bedor, 15, plays acoustic and electric guitar at Woodside Bible Church and attends weekly rehearsals. She also takes lessons from Fritts every Friday.

“There are probably nine of us involved in the student band,” said MacKenzie. “We periodically get involved in the adult band as well, but we lead worship on Wednesday nights for the middle school and high school students.” While MacKenzie enjoys her craft, she also views it as an important opportunity to bring others close to God.

“I love seeing people worship and helping them to connect with God through music,” MacKenzie said. “To see their faces while their sing, you can see them connecting with God and that’s really cool.”

Woodside Bible Church also has churches in Farmington Hills, Lake Orion, Royal Oak, Troy and Warren.