The Anchor Church worship team is a big fan of the Saturday Night Live “More Cowbell” skit. We have a copy of it on the computer we use for projecting Powerpoint slides. For Christmas this year, Pam got me the “Best of Christopher Walken” SNL DVD, which includes the cowbell sketch.

The skit is really famous among the younger set. I’ve run into many college kids who can recite some of the lines, like “I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.”

Yesterday, we did a jazzed up version of “This Little Light of Mine” as part of the music package. As we practiced before the service, we decided to add an instrumental verse in the middle of the other verses. The drummer used the cowbell during the instrumental. And then a light came on in my eyes. Instead of showing just a blank screen during the instrumental, how about if we flashed for a few seconds the words “More Cowbell”? We all smiled at the idea.

And we did it. During both services, as we did the instrumental, the words MORE COWBELL flashed on the screen for about three seconds, prompting the drummer to use more cowbell. Did the people in the congregation get it? Did they know what the words meant?

A few did during the first service. A few more did during the more-crowded second service. Last night during a meeting, I talked to a couple of 50-ish adults, asking them if they knew what the “More Cowbell” slide was all about. They didn’t. Probably most of the adults didn’t get it. But a few did, and most of the younger adults and teens “got it.”

I’m just glad it’s something we would try at Anchor. We brought some smiles to people’s faces, including my own as I stood at the keyboard.