When Jesus is Worship Leader ( Video Sermon ) - Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson

Sermon points:
1. Jesus gathers us together and brings us to God the Father as His own family
2. Jesus leads us in our praises
3. Jesus preaches to us from God's Word
4. Jesus Christ is present in worship to meet us in all of our needs.

What a powerful sermon about the centrality of Christ in the worship service!  This is a message not only for "worship leaders/song leaders" but also for the average man or woman seeking genuine God-centered worship in your worship services.  As the Contemporary Worship Leader at Grace Bible Church in Dallas, TX, I am profoundly convicted by this sermon; I want to change my title to The Contemporary Worship Follower at Grace Bible Church, where Christ is the Worship Leader.  Please post any thoughts about this sermon, and let's rethink how we do worship services.

The Gangnam Style Effect

Gangnam Style is the most popular dance out right now.  Everyone from celebrities, presidents, prime ministers, and the United Nations have endorsed it.  Korean pop star, Psy, is the mastermind behind this overnight internet success story.  The youtube video is approaching 1 billion views!  So what's the obsession with a video that's in Korean that hardly anybody in the U.S. can understand?  What does the fact that this video is the #1 viewed youtube video in over 30 countries say about the future of music?  

According to Rocket Boom Magazine, Psy's Gangnam Style video earned between $13-15 million U.S. dollars in 4 months.  Lebogang Mukansi, a blogger from BizCommunity.com broke down Psy earnings in his blog:

• As a YouTube partner Psy is expected to earn anything from USD2.5 to USD5 per 1000 views on his YouTube channel. So far, the video has been watched by more than 670 million viewers. Do the maths. At more than 670,000,000 unique views divided by 1000 is 670,000 x USD2.50 (R26.10) = R17,487,000. Yep, that's 17 million big ones from one YouTube video.
• Other income streams include appearance fees of USD60 000 (R522,000) per event for product launches, clubs and company events etc. He also got paid USD4 million (R34.8m) at a rate of USD400,000 per advert and has done 10 adverts in the last three months. Psy.com released information on Psy's earnings that indicate that his concert tickets sales have netted him an additional USD4 million (R34.8m). 
• So is it a hit? Well, Gangnam Style was number onein 18 countries on iTunes, including America, it topped the UK Top 100 and spent two weeks at number one. It also rose to the US Billboard Top 100 singles staying at number two for two weeks in a row and it is still maintains its number one Digital Billboard spot for the last 11 weeks.
• Korean Album sales and digital streaming. Digital sales 2.8 and 2.7 million downloads online streams in South Korea. Sadly all this represents is just under USD300,000, but he made way more from appearance fees and concerts.

So, the question stands, how did Gangnam Style receive worldwide attention in such a short period of time?  Before I answer this question, one must wonder, what is Gangnam Style all about since the video is in Korean.  In an interview with NPR, Psy described Gangnam Style saying, "Gangnam is a territory in Seoul, Korea. I describe it as noble at the daytime and going crazy at the night time. I compare ladies to the territory. So — noble at the daytime, going crazy at the night time — and the lyric says I am the right guy for the lady who is like that."  It doesn't get any shallower than that.  Some suggest that is a sociological critic of the over indulgent lifestyle of the residents in the Gangnam district, located in South Korea.  Even if that was true, the fact that the song is in Korean makes it hard to think beyond the images of the video that clearly portray a man trying to get "the ladies".

Now that we sort of understand the videos deeper esoteric meaning, why the sudden success?  While the video apparently in the beginning had 15 million views before Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber's manager, saw the video and decided to sign Psy to a recording contract.  Braun used his industry influence to get Psy in front of every media outlet and television show out there.  And as a result, the Gangnam Style video went from 15 million to over a 100 million overnight.  In some respect, this Gangnam effect is a case study in genius marketing and branding; and that may be the case, but I would suggest that the Gangnam Style effect is deeper than just marketing, it's about our global culture.  

Because of the ubiquitous nature of the internet, more and more of the world's population is online.  According to Internet World Stats, worldwide internet users are broken down in the following way: Asia 44.8%, Europe 21.5%, North America 11.4%, Latin America/Caribbean 10.4%, Africa 7%, Middle East 3.7%, and Oceania/Australia 1%.  As far as the percentage of each regions' population that uses the internet (internet penetration rates), the stats are: North America 78.6%, Oceania/Australia 67.6%, Europe 63.2%, Latin America/Caribbean 42.9%, Middle East 40.2%, Asia 27.5%, Africa 15.6%.  The average is 34.3%.  Therefore 34.3% of the world's population uses the internet.  

Let's analyze the facts here.  If Asians represent 44.8% of total internet users and only 27.5% of Asian countries actually have access to the internet and almost 80% of Americans have access to the internet, then don't you see why an Asian internet sensation with an American marketing team makes sense for ratings and viewership.  I think the Gangnam Style effect is only the beginning of European and American marketing companies  and corporations partnering with Asian countries, primarily to make record high sales.  I mean look at Facebook.  About 60% of Facebook users are Western (North America, South America, and Europe).  Facebook hasn't even reached its full potential with 800 million active users.  Just imagine the influence of the buying power of U.S. and European dollars and the huge untapped market segment of Asians (nearly 4 billion people...which is about 57% of the world's population).  The Gangnam Style effect will be a way of life in a globalized economy.