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A Case Study of the Culturally Diverse Worship at the Florida Hospital Seventh-Day Adventist Church

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A Case Study of the Culturally Diverse Worship at the Florida Hospital Seventh-Day Adventist Church A CASE STUDY OF THE CULTURALLY DIVERSE WORSHIP AT THE FLORIDA HOSPITAL SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH By Richard Edwin Hickam Liberty University School of Music A THESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF WORSHIP STUDIES April, 2019 Copyright © Richard Hickam All Rights Reserved A CASE STUDY OF THE CULTURALLY DIVERSE WORSHIP AT THE FLORIDA HOSPITAL SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH By Richard Edwin Hickam A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Worship Studies Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA April 2019 Mentor - Vernon M. Whaley, PhD, Committee Chair Dean, School of Music Reader - Katherine Morehouse, PhD Chair, Department of Multi-Ethnic Studies ABSTRACT The Florida Hospital Seventh-day Adventist Church (FHC) is a multicultural, multigenerational church in Orlando, FL. This case study will examine the history of the worshiping community with particular attention to the change in the culture of the worship services enacted in 2014 and its ongoing impact. The church moved from a traditional and a contemporary service to two identical culturally conscious worship services. This format is unusual in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) denomination. Seventh-day Adventism was named in a Pew study as the most diverse religion in the United States, but that does not mean its people are racially worshiping together. A survey assessed the congregants' response to the liturgical practices and found positive results about the current model. The results of this study could benefit both Adventism and the Evangelical church through this model of worship. Keywords: Seventh-day Adventist, multicultural, culturally diverse, culture, culturally conscious worship iv Dedication / Acknowledgements Thanks be to God for this incredible journey. I would like to thank my extraordinary wife Darlene for her support and marvelous care for our daughters while I holed myself away to work on this endeavor. Allison and Autumn, I am so looking forward to spending more intentional time together! Thank you to my senior pastor Andy McDonald and worship pastor Tami Cinquemani for your vision, friendship, and support, this would not have happened without you. Thank you also to my encouraging church family at the Florida Hospital Church. Thank you, Dr. Vernon M. Whaley, for your vision to have a doctoral worship program that honors God and edifies believers across the globe. Thank you, Dr. Katherine Morehouse, for giving me the smallest glimpse of the world of believers through Ethnodoxology and what that can look like for God’s Kingdom. Lastly, thank you to Professor Robert Morgan for putting Philippians 4 in the heart of my family. v Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iv Dedication / Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... v Table of Figures ........................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 9 Introduction to the Worshiping Community ............................................................................... 9 Demographics of Florida Hospital Church ............................................................................... 10 History of the Worship Liturgy................................................................................................. 10 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................................... 16 Statement of Purpose ................................................................................................................ 17 Significance of the Study .......................................................................................................... 17 Statement of Limitations ........................................................................................................... 19 Structure and Organization ....................................................................................................... 19 Definition of Terms................................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................... 23 Seventh-day Adventist Worship Liturgy .................................................................................. 23 Multicultural Worship ............................................................................................................... 27 Worship Studies ........................................................................................................................ 32 CHAPTER 3: HISTORIC ELEMENTS LEADING TO ADVENTIST WORSHIP .................. 39 Protestant Foundations of Adventist Worship .......................................................................... 39 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 46 CHAPTER 4: UNIQUE CHARACTERICSTICS OF ADVENTIST HYMNODY .................... 48 Adventism Arrives .................................................................................................................... 48 Late 20th Century Innovations ................................................................................................... 53 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 56 CHAPTER 5 –CONTEXTUAL ELEMENTS OF WORSHIP AT THE FHC............................. 57 Ethnicity and Nationality Demographics at the FHC and Orlando, FL. ................................... 57 Contextualization of Worship Philosophy at the FHC ............................................................. 63 Contextualizing Biblical Reconciliation in Worship at the FHC .............................................. 64 Contextualizing Music Styles in Worship ................................................................................ 67 Contextualizing Lament in Worship ......................................................................................... 72 Contextualizing Intergenerational Worship at the FHC ........................................................... 75 Congregational Singing at the FHC .......................................................................................... 79 FHC Contextualized Music Groups and Events ....................................................................... 81 vi Orchestra ................................................................................................................................... 83 Youth Band ............................................................................................................................... 84 Back to School Praise Camp ..................................................................................................... 85 Jazz Band – “Sound Doctrine” ................................................................................................. 85 The Negro Spiritual, Gospel, and Jazz as Worship .................................................................. 86 Current Worship Liturgy at Florida Hospital Seventh-day Adventist Church ......................... 89 CHAPTER 6 – THE STUDY & RESEARCH FINDINGS.......................................................... 95 Generalized Musical Styles Represented During the Time Period of the Survey .................... 96 Graphs of Response Data .......................................................................................................... 98 CHAPTER 7 – SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION .................................................................. 103 Overview of Study .................................................................................................................. 103 Discoveries and Observations ................................................................................................. 105 Recommendation for Future Study ......................................................................................... 106 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................... 108 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 111 APPENDIX A: How Racially Diverse Are U.S. Religious Groups? ......................................... 117 APPENDIX B: Florida Hospital Church Philosophy of Worship .............................................. 118 APPENDIX C: FHC Survey of Worship Experience ................................................................. 120 APPENDIX D: FHC Survey of Worship Experience Responses ............................................... 123 APPENDIX E: IRB Approval .................................................................................................... 143 APPENDIX F: Power Point Presentation ................................................................................... 144 vii Table of Figures Figure 1 – Ethnic Presence in Congregations ..............................................................................
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