Lip Worship

Matthew 15:8-9 (TNIV)

"These people honor me with their lips but, their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain their teachings are mere human rules."

This morning I was reading a bit in the gospel of Matthew for Chasing99 playing a little bit of catch up from yesterday and I came across this verse. It reminded me of some things I've been meaning to write about for a little while now about worship. I've had the unique opportunity to be involved in some various worship environments leading people in singing. Each experience has given me some different perspectives and some questions raised. I want to share them with you.

The House Show: Many of you know that I sing and write music for the band The Great Rescue (hence the blog name). Recently I had the opportunity to do an acoustic set at a house show with a could good friends of mine. All of us are Christ-followers and enjoy each others company. I set up in the living room of the home and about 20-30 people showed up for things to begin. It's been a long time since I've played a house show. The environment is always strange. There are those outside smoking their cigarettes and cloves and those inside trying to decide if they want to brave the smog on the font porch or go deaf in the living room. Since I was an acoustic set it gave a nice compromise for those in the living room. I got to meet up with some good friends I haven't seen in a long time. Some friends I needed to see.

Much of the music (if not all) that I write for The Great Rescue has to do with finding hope for the hopeless. I like writing music that can bring encouragement to those who need it and draw people toward the only source of true hope, Jesus. During the set I felt like I was healing and attending to more wounds than playing a set at a house show. There were a few with tears. Some that came to me afterwards and talked a bit about the songs with me. I was able to encourage many that night. I felt as though God had placed me in that house in that moment to minister. I was there to draw hearts toward worshiping the true King.

One gentleman in particular came in to the room that caught my eye. He had tattoos on his face and dressed like he was homeless. He stumbled over to me afterwards. It became immediately obvious that his state of consciousness had been altered a bit by drugs alcohol or a bit of both. He slurred, "Hey man that was a good set. You played the **** out of that guitar." I thanked him and we talked for a bit about my guitar playing (he thought it was great... this confirmed my suspicions about his altered state). Then he said, "You sing a lot about God." "Yeah man God changed my life." "God doesn't like me very much." "Dude, God loves you. He has a plan for your life." At this he stopped and thought for a little bit. The said, "I guess God's an OK guy then." "He loves us dude. That makes him way more than ok in my book." He looked at me glazy eyed for a second then smiled. "And God bless ******* Texas!" He started laughing. I chuckled a bit and said, "Sure, God bless Texas." He laughed and turned quickly walking out the door. I may never meet this gentleman again. He may not remember anything we talked about. I hope he does. I hope he holds on to some kernel of truth in our conversation.

I headed out of the house got in my car and made my way to my next worship environment. In this one I wasn't leading. I was participating. Or at least trying to...

The Glorious Unseen: I attend Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and our Student Life department is pretty amazing. They bring in some amazing concerts for free for students all the time. Recently, The Glorious Unseen came and played in the new student center called "The Tilley Center". They were amazing. Ben Crist and crew lead those trying to seek after God in a night of unashamed worship. It's always a beautifully freeing thing to be in the midst of a group of Christ-Followers worshiping God publicly. There was just one problem. There were so many students in the Tilley Center not there to worship. They were talking and so loud that at some points it drowned out the band. It made it difficult to focus. Difficult to worship. There were many there more excited about seeing the band than meeting with God. I remember feeling more able to worship at the house show than I was here in at the Tilley center. Strange. It felt like God's presence was more fluid and alive in the midst of cloves and cigarettes, the hopeless, the broken, than he was in a room full of students coming to a "worship concert". I felt like I was in the middle of these verses from Matthew. I was in a room full of lip worship with no heart worship.

Tussekiah: A few nights ago The Great Rescue had the privilege of leading worship at a youth rally at Tussekiah Baptist Church in Meherrin, VA. It's a small church and there were a little more than 100 people there that night. We were fed and loved and treated better than we deserved. We were loved with the love of Christ. We played a full set of some originals that I was able to explain a bit in VH1 Storytellers style. Then we launched into a full worship set in which the youth and adults came with us in the public worship of our King.

The room ignited.

It felt as though God's presence was thicker than water in the air and the youth and adult unashamedly worshiped. It was amazing to see. It was amazing to be a a part of it.

Thoughts: In each of these three environments worship took place. Some worshiped "gods" of addiction. Others worshiped the God of restoration. Some worshiped with their lips alone. Others with their hearts open wide to heaven. Where is God most pleased?

God is most pleased when His people who are called by His name gather together and worship with their hearts close to His heart and their lips speaking His truth in love.

What about you?

Are you stuck in Lip Worship?

The Dirty Hands Of A Derelict

It's been a busy day. I've been pretty preoccupied with the world around me today. I've been doing work getting things designed and printed and ready to send out. I've been getting price quotes on t-shirt designs for our F.L.O. ministry and our SURV teams for PowerSource (pretty excited about those shirts) but, the thing that I've forgotten today is my time with God. Yes it's true. Today I missed my quiet time. Normally I do it in the morning right after I get to my office or before I get there in my car in the parking lot for a few a little while. I normally pull out my bible and read through some passages and meditate on them and pray through them asking God to reveal His word to me. I pray through requests that I know of and I spend some time in silence listening for God's voice. I wait for Him to move and speak to my heart.

This morning I completely didn't do any of that.

I got wrapped up first thing in my office work and reading other books than my bible. I like reading so even reading can become a distraction. One must be careful to not get so caught up reading books about God and the Christian life that they forget to spend time in the Word of God itself. I did that today. It's 10:00pm and I'm just now getting around to reading in my Bible and praying spending some time now reflecting. I normally reflect on what I've read by blogging. It's my form of journalling. I used to write a lot in a journal and I still do to some extent but, recently it's just been more natural to blog it out. Regardless, here I am. Let's begin.

Isaiah 1:29-30 (NCV)

You will be ashamed, because you have worshiped gods under the oak trees. You will be disgraced because you have worshiped idols in your gardens. You will be like and oak whose leaves are dying or like a garden without water.

This passage I read tonight it spoke pretty loudly to my described situation. God's talking to the people of Israel about their worship of idols, false gods. He says that those who have worshiped false gods will become like what they worshiped. If you worshiped under the oak tree you'll become like an oak whose leaves are dying. If you worshiped idols in your garden you'll become like a garden without water... dried up and dying. I began to think of that in light of this morning. I would consider and idol anything and everything that takes priority of or place of God in our lives at any point in time. This morning my reading and my work turned into an idol. I was so excited about reading and about designing that they took priority over my excitement to dive into God's word. It's true... it happens to all of us. So what did I become today? I became tired. I felt like the dry pages of a book filled with mans words about God rather than God's words to me.

I'm glad God forgives and I'm able to ask for that forgiveness and make things right. Earlier in this same chapter in verse 25 God says that He will clean away Israel's wrongs "as if with soap". He washes us clean if we are willing to be washed. He won't force us to be clean. We have to allow Him to clean us.

I'm reminded of a song that came out a while back by the band Mukala. As far as I know they only ever released one album. I saw them on tour with Bleach and Seven Day Jesus back in the early 90's. Their hit single was a song called "Soap" it goes like this.

I'm bleaching and scrubbing
Been rubbin' around in the dirt
Infested, Infected
My soul beginning to hurt
I'll whitewash my tombstone
So bright and white and clean
But I don't think no one can see the rot beneath

What Soap can never wash away
Deodorize or disinfect
The dirty hands of a derelict
What soap can never wash away
The blood-stained hands of a guilty man
Only Your love can

We're fickle; we're wayward
Rubbin shoulders with fallen angels
And carry epidemics
Spread around by street corner medics
We try and we try
To heal with the naked eye
And find a cure for the sinful seed
We carry in our genes

- MUKALA: "SOAP"

What are your idols?

What do you worship instead of God?

What do you need to be washed clean "as with soap" of?

Will you make things right and allow God to wash you clean?

Clear The Stage | Worship Is More Than A Song

CLEAR THE STAGE

Clear the stage and set the sound and lights ablaze
If that's the measure that it takes to crush the idols.
Chuck the pews and all the decorations too
Until the congregations few then have revival.
Tell your friends that this is where the party ends
until you're broken for your sins you can't be social.
Then seek the Lord and wait for what he has in store
and know that great is your reward and just be hopeful

Cause you can sing all you want to.
Yes you can sing all you want to
you can sing all you want to
And don't get me wrong, worship is more than a song.

Take a break from all the plans that you made
And sit at home alone and wait for God to whisper.
Beg Him please to open up his mouth and speak
And pray for real upon your knees until they blister.
Shine the light on every corner of your life
Until the pride and lust and lies are in the open.
Then read the word and put to test the things you've heard
Until your heart and soul are stirred and rocked and broken.

Cause you can sing all you want to.
Yes you can sing all you want to
you can sing all you want to
And don't get me wrong, worship is more than a song.

Anything I put before my God is an idol.
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol.
Anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol.
Anything that I give all my love is an idol.
We must not worship something that's not even worth it.
Clear the stage and make some space for the one who deserves it.

Cause I can sing all I want to.
Yes I can sing all I want to
I can sing all I want to
And still get it wrong, worship is more than a song.

And you can sing all you want to.
Yes you can sing all you want to
You can sing all you want to
But don't get me wrong, worship is more than a song.

- Ross King

Such a beautiful line. Such a beautiful truth.

I was reminded of the song "Clear The Stage" by Ross King not long ago by my friend Lynsey Koles (@OneBlindMouse) This song always gives me perspective and helps me to drop my pride a bit if you will. I was thinking this morning quite a bit about the role of "worship" in our churches. I thought about how much time and effort and money and staffing is put into our "worship ministries" in our churches. We spend so much money to create worship environments that are extremely visually engaging and interactive for our congregations. This song reminds me that in order to truly worship sometimes we need to strip the stage. We need to get rid of all of that and simple get alone with God. Worship in public can't happen if worship in private is not happening already. What things do you need to clear out of the way to make way for genuine authentic worship that is seeking God completely looking for nothing for self but giving completely and sacrificially to God in Spirit and in Truth?

I Will Exalt You - Hillsong

The NEW song from the album Faith+Hope+Love coming out 8.4.2009 by Hillsong.

It's beautiful.

Just rest in it for a bit.

Make it your prayer.

My Favorite Things... (In This Module)

We'll my favorite topic in this module didn't have much to do with raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens.... but it does have to do with style of church and worship. As a worship leader I love to see how and why the church does what it does as it ebbs and flows through culture creating new art and teaching new generations about the love of God. It's amazing to look at the Charleston vs. Sandy Creek Movements and trace through to how my church does worship today.

Some background would be nice I guess. Charleston Baptists started in 1740 and grew mainly in the US state of South Caroline. Interestingly enough I've spent a fair amount of time in Charleston this summer doing missions and speaking to youth. Characteristically Charleston Baptists have a more liturgical style of worship. They value highly their education programs and believe that discipleship should be the main emphasis of all teaching in the church.

Sandy Creek Baptists, originally called Separate Baptists, started in 1755 were a bit more of a wild bunch. They were very evangelistic in nature and in their congregational methods. In general they were less educated and wealthy that the Charleston Baptists and had a more "extemporaneous" worship style. They emphasized evangelism and church planting over discipleship and education in ministry.

It would honestly say that my church falls somewhere in between. While there are deep Charleston roots it seems that our worship styles feel more Sandy Creek. Regardless of where they come from or which movement we claim for our roots the important thing is that both of these stylistic methods for "church" can point to Christ and draw others to Him.

It can be messy that's for sure... but, it's beautiful.

MFUGE 2009: MOVE

PowerSource just returned from our large summer trip. We go to a missions oriented camp called MFUGE. It's a camp run by LifeWay and this particular site was in Charleston, South Carolina. We stayed on the campus of Charleston Southern in suites (2 dorm rooms strung together by a connected bathroom). But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

On Monday morning June 22nd my wife, Kristin, and I arose around 4:45am in order to get to the bus and be loaded and help with packing and such by 5:30am. The students arrived between then and 6:00am and we loaded up the bus and van and headed out onto the road. I'm not one for long car rides or trips as my stomach gives me a hard time about it so I took 2 Dramamine and knocked out pretty early into the drive. We stopped once for a bathroom break and snack and then again for lunch but other than about an hour and a half at the end of the ride I slept pretty much the entire way there which was really nice. I needed the rest for what would become a very long, hard, and enjoyable week at MFUGE.

Upon arrival at Charleston Southern we went through the ins and outs of checking our students and leaders into their rooms and familiarized ourselves with a very open and beautiful campus. With spacious lawns and a reflection pool it provides a place for great meditation times and great fun with tennis & basketball courts and a pool. These amenities are not why we have gathered in sunny, and hot, South Carolina. We, along with many other church youth groups, have gathered to serve. We paid good money and drove from hundreds of miles away to love people with the love and message of Jesus.

Our students and leaders were broken up into serve tracks, similar to our Surv Teams, based on their 1st 2nd and 3rd choices. The tracks included: Creative, Games & Rec, PCY (painting construction and yard work), Social, and Children. Each of these tracks provides the students with a rough idea of how they will be serving. The PCY track works on mowing lawns construction sites and functions much like a Habitat for Humanity team. The Games & Rec, and Children teams work mainly with young children. They go to daycare centers or drop off points and plan out a day of fun for these young ones, all the while looking for opportunities to share with them the life changing gospel of Jesus. The Creative team works with children as well as homes for the elderly and they plan a program consisting of music and drama that points toward Christ. Social is basically a grab bag of all the other teams. They could be stoking food pantries, playing with children, visiting the sick and elderly, or doing some PCY.

Almost all of our students got the track they were hoping for. I was a van driver for the Social track in which I was put in. I really enjoyed my track group. None of my students from PowerSource were in my group so I got the opportunity to meet and learn a lot of new faces and make new friends. At first I was a bit nervous at the spiritual temperature of the students in my track. (I wrote about this in an earlier post you can read here.) However our track leader, a young woman by the name of Kara Barefoot, and I have a history. We group up together as friends in the same youth group at Raleigh Road Baptist Church. It was really cool to be able to serve with her and talk with her about the paths God has taken her on over the course of the past few months. It's a great thing to see God moving in the lives of my friends.

During the week, my track group worked with children at a downtown center (more on my time there in this blog post), helped spruce up a homeless shelter (in which I had a fight with some vines hanging from a tree and the vines won), and helped to harvest some squash at a farm that donates it's food to the homeless. All in all it was a great time of ministry and fellowship with other believers.

During the night time and morning worship sessions we experienced a very passionate hearts from our camp speaker Brian Jennings and our worship leaders The Rescued (nice name). Brian's actually an alumni of PowerSource middle school ministry and used to attend Thomas Road during his youth. He was very excited to see our youth there and was able to communicate to our students very well. He understand the struggles of being in a large church connected to a Christian school and the apathy that can sometimes cause in students.

Now I will say.... the group we took to MFUGE are mostly our core students. By that I mean they are student who dig deeper that we tell them to and ask the hard questions about what it means to follow Jesus in this great big Wild Goose Chase we're on to know Him and experience Him more fully. Not only do they ask questions they dive in head over feet. They live it.

There was true evidence of that this week. Collectively our students lead about 20 children and adults to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ while we were at MFUGE. It's a really exciting thing. Even more exciting to know that the MFUGE staff will be working with those individuals all summer to help disciple them and bring them along in their walk with Christ.

I loved sitting in our Church Group Devotion times every night after our worship sessions. God taught me a lot simply by listening about the stories of courage and bravery chronicling our students sharing the message and love of Christ and seeing lives changed. I got the opportunity to teach one of these sessions and I think I may have been more moved than some of the students. I was at the brink of tears thanking God for what He was doing in the lives of my students and those they connected with that week. (More on that night in this blog post. )

Overall God did some amazing things while we were in MFUGE. I'm thankful for opportunities like that. To love God by loving those He loves (all people). After the lives changed and time spent meeting other Christ-followers from around the nation we said our goodbyes and began to make our way back to good old Lynchburg, Virginia.

We made it about 15 miles.......... then our bus broke down.

We were in pretty heavy stop and go traffic and the brakes on the bus locked up and began to smoke excessively almost to the point of fire. Craziness. We assessed the damages and realized we would have to be towed in order to fix the problem. We shuttled students in the van to a Chic-Fil-A in Summerville, SC a few minutes down the road (I'm leading a worship evangelism conference there next weekend pray for me if you think about it.) It took us about an hour and a half to get all the students there. We then walked over to a shopping center with a PetsMart a Target and some other interesting stores. We passed the time waiting for the bus to arrive and arrive it did at about 9:00pm that evening. (We left camp at 10am). We loaded everyone up on the bus very tired and were ready to be on our way. Then another problem happened. The temperature gauge was reading close to a boiling point on the bus. We went back and examined it and had to call a repair man to come take a look. During this time a couple drove up next to our bus (which reads THOMAS ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH in the side in big letters) and asked us if we were from TRBC like "Liberty University TRBC) turns out they were both Alumni and let us know that if we needed a place to stay that we could sleep on the gym floor of their church, which had showers and AC. Considering how late it was and not knowing the extent of the problems we would be facing with the repair we stayed at the church.

We slept like rocks and a shower felt great after being in a sweating bus for a long time. Our students were great. Even though a few started feeling a little sick due to the heat, for the most part no one complained. It was awesome. The next morning TRBC had sent a new bus that drove through the night (THANKS SO MUCH Mr. Parra!!!!) to pick us up. We loaded up and headed home. With Rubik's Cubes in hand we made our trip home. I slept most of the way again but woke up and worked on some DLP Church History lessons that I ripped to my iPod.

I love long sweaty bus rides with break downs. I wouldn't trade them for anything because...

God moved in our hearts. God moved in the hearts of others.

Some will never be the same again because we made the trip.

I love this ministry.

I love it.

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

"When I saw Him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man."

"When I saw Him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man." Revelation 1:17 (NCV)

When was the last time you had this type of reaction to experiencing God?

When was the last time you had to fall to the ground and hide your face because of the holiness of God?

Pedal Boards, Giftings, Talents, & The Body Of Christ

So I know this might sound really cheesy but, last night I felt like I was worshipping God by packing up my pedal board.... God reminded me of some beautiful truths. Let me explain.

Last night I had the privilege of leading worship for the Prayer Service Kick-Off for Living Proof our High School ministry. It was a small group that came to pray but, pray we did. It was awesome.

So I normally use my pedal board set up with my acoustic as well as my electric because I like my Boss DD-6 looping feature and some Boss Super Chorus effects etc along with my CryBaby Wah make for a really rich sound. Well last night I didn't end up using any of that. We had run everything through the system and then literally seconds before we started decided to go "unplugged" more than we already were since we were a small group. It was awesome and the best choice for the moment. After all was said and done I quietly walked up on stage and began to unplug my cables and pack up my board. I began to think of all the little intricate circuitry that is involved to make each of my pedals work they way they are supposed to. How each linking cable from one pedal bridges the gap to the next so they can work together in a family unit to create one sound.

All of this reminded me of the Church. God has created each of us with individual giftings and talents in order to worship him effectively with our lives. Each of these individual gift/talent groups when combined with the gift/talent groupings of others create the Church in unison as it's supposed to be. The Church then can create "one sound" or "one love" to give to the Father and to show to the world around.

The Apostle Paul talks about this in his letter to the church in Ephesus. In chapter 4 verse 11-13a Paul begins "And Christ gave gift to people - he made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to have the work of caring for and teaching God's people. Christ gave those gifts to prepare God's holy people for the work of serving to make the body of Christ stronger. This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge of the Son of God." In my pedal board some pedals are made to create distortion and sustain. Some are created to add delay or looping effects, some for chorus and flanger, and some for funky wah sounds. The point is while each of these are amazing on their own. They can be so much better when combined with one another working to the goal of creating one sound.

I just stopped for a moment and looked down at my board and said a prayer to our God thanking Him for the gift/talent mix He has given me. I also prayed I would never misuse this mix for my own glory.

I closed the lid and locked the latches on my board and my prayer with the help of a friend and then packed up my guitar... (that's another blog.... not really) and went to spend some time at the prayer stations set up around the room. God did some working in my heart for our ministry last night. He made real in my heart some things that had been real in my head but, weren't making the connection.

The room is open from 7am-5pm all week till Friday for prayer. I'm planning on spending more time in prayer over our ministry there. God speak to me in the little things. Show me You in the margins of life. Continue to break my heart for what breaks Yours.

You can see pictures from the Prayer Service here. Living Proof Prayer Service

Worship (Hebrews 13:15-16)

“How can the directives of Hebrews 13:15, 16 be practically applied in a worship service?” or “What are the effects of worship on spiritual formation?”

"So through Jesus Let us always offer to God our sacrifice of praise, coming from lips that speak his name. Do not forget to do good to others and share with them, because such sacrifices please God." - Heb. 13:15-16 (NCV)

There are a number of things one can take from these verses and apply them to practically to a worship service. The first of thing would be "So through Jesus..." It's important to remember that a corporate worship service is not a performance. It's not a production with bells and whistles to "ooh & ahh" our "audience". A worship service should be organized and planned out with the thought in mind "How can I bring God the most glory this morning?" God's glory is most revealed and the most worship given to Him through the cross of Christ. It was there where the ultimate "sacrifice of praise" took place. Jesus is our greatest example of worship.

So through Jesus we should "always offer to God". the key word here is always. Worship shouldn't just be offered up on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night. Our sacrifice of praise should ALWAYS be offered up to God. This means 24/7. For the purposes of the corporate worship service, this type of thinking must be taught to all within the Church.

This sacrifice of praise must be given from "lips that speak his name". I would think this means those who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. Surely not everyone who says "Jesus" knows Him as Lord. If that was the case anytime someone stubbed their toe on something and shouted "Jesus!" in a not so praiseworthy manner they would be lumped into this group. This is NOT the case.

The writer of Hebrews continues in verse 16 to remind the reader to "do good to others and share with them". One might remember Jesus words one the greatest commandment and the next like it to love God and love people. (Matt.22:35-40) When we are truly loving God we will love people in an act of worship. When we love people as God desires for us to and doing good to them we will be loving God as well. (Matt 25:35-40) The writer of Hebrews concludes this passage with this thought as well, why do we do this? "because such practices please God".

Worship becomes more genuine as one's spiritual growth enhances. While the spiritual disciplines are a large part of the individuals spiritual formation they are also taking part in worship. As one spends more time with God in in the disciplines one naturally worships.

The Role Of The Worship Leader Pt. 2

Part 2 of my friend Michael's posts on the role of a worship leader. It's really been beneficial reading for me to check my own heart and life. Am I lining up? 

A good worship leader…

1. Has the ability to lead people.  Leading worship requires leadership skills.  It’s not all notes and guitars and chord charts.  A worship leader needs to have people skills in order to lead a band.  A worship leader needs to inspire people.   I truly believe that if a person has the gift of leadership, then he could fill a variety of roles in church.  How can a person lead a church in worship if he can’t lead his family or lead a small group, or lead a Bible study, or lead a meeting, or lead her friends.  I’m not saying that all these things are required, but leadership isn’t just for administrators and pastors.  As we look for a worship leader and explore different avenues, the ability to lead in general will be one of the qualities that rises to the top.
2. Has presence.  Maybe this is the ability to not look dazed and confused in front of people.  You can tell after a few minutes or a few chords if a worship leader has stage presence.  You can work on this to a certain degree, but for the most part, you either have it or you don’t.   Worship leaders with presence know how to stand before a crowd and shift the focus onto God.  They make eye contact with people, not just have their own private worship moments on stage.  That’s all well and good, but I want our lead worshipper to recognize the responsibility of leading people in worship.  I don’t speak with my eyes closed.
3. Has talent.  I know this won’t sound very spiritual but when it comes to leading worship, heart and passion are not enough.  There are a lot of passionate singers and musicians who really want to make a difference who should not be singing and playing in public.  I know everybody has to start somewhere.  But good worship leaders posess a certain amount of talent.  They learn from other worship leaders,  go to concerts and get ideas, figure out how things are done, and practice.  While it’s hard to teach presence, you can grow in this area.  
4. Doesn’t talk too much.  This may be a pet peeve of mine, but I also believe it can kill a service.  There are times that a song requires an introduction, or when a worship leader needs to share thoughts on a subject.  But that can’t happen before every song and during every break.  For the most part, that’s just wasted time because people are checked out.  People can only process so much.  They can only listen to so much talking.  There is a communicator who has put hours and hours into preparing a message.  As a worship leader, you wouldn’t like it if the speaker got up to speak, picked up your guitar and launched into a few more worship songs. 

Worship leaders are so crucial in the life of the church.  It’s a crucial role.  Some people judge a church by the quality of the music or the personality of the worship leader.

The Role Of The Worship Leader

My friend Michael Larkin posted this on his blog and I really enjoyed it and wanted to repost it here. Enjoy. 

“The relationship between a lead pastor and worship pastor is very important for our style of church to operate. It is almost as if we are married. Our children’s pastor can be doing something that doesn’t totally jive with what we in the worship center are doing and it really doesn’t effect us. The same is true with our youth pastor. However, when it comes to a worship pastor, it is of utmost importance that we are on the same page. We basically play in the same sandbox and what we do better jive.

The worship leader who filled in today was very good and he is very talented. Matter of fact I would go as far as to say he could LEAD worship in many of the churches I have visited. He has a strong voice, he led the crowd well, and he connected with our people. To someone who has been attending RSC for a short time, they probably noticed very little change.Matter of fact, they might have even noticed a slight improvement in the vocal area. I on the other hand noticed several things that made me appreciate the job that Tim does here even more.

I am convinced a church plant will never be what it could be until it has the right worship leader. Matter of fact, I would say this should be the first hire for a church planter maybe even before you bring yourself on full time. In today’s culture, music is that important. When Tim leads worship for us, I am at peace and I am comfortable. That makes my job of teaching much easier. It seems like everyone I know is looking for a worship leader and they are hard to find. I thought today I would just give you some things I learned in the process of looking for a worship pastor:

1.) Make sure their style fits your style. We went six weeks without a worship pastor. During those six weeks we rotated some very gifted worship pastors in on Sunday mornings. All of these guys could lead in a lot of churches but not at RSC. Our worship pastor is a good fit for us because he compliments my style of teaching very well. He is energetic, he has a good time on stage, and he keeps the crowd up beat. That goes very well with my style of teaching. It is important that the crowd is alive when I come up to teach. This week for instance, the worship was good. But, it was much more “worshipful” then normal. The music was a little slower and it didn’t have the edge that we are used to. Though it was good, I found it very hard to get up and teach after worship because our crowd today was much more mellow then normal.

2.) A Worship leader doesn’t have to have the best voice – I was not looking for a singer, though Tim sings very well. I was looking for someone who understood what corporate worship was about and could lead our people in worshipping God on Sunday morning. I was looking for someone who could gauge how to lead by how the crowd was responding.

3.) Make sure their philosophy fits your philosophy – We are very stubborn in the way we do church on Sunday morning. We understand there will be a lot of seekers there and we keep that in mind. I don’t want a worship pastor who wants to free flow or worship in song the whole service. I needed someone who understood our philosophy and had no problems with that. Think about your philosophy and make sure your worship pastor has the same one.

4.) Be VERY specific in letting them know the style of worship you want – Everyone is doing “contemporary” church today. No one even knows what that means anymore. Buy some CD’s of current guys whose style you like, buy secular CD’s of guys you like and let your worship leader know the style you feel God would have the church to be.

5.) Define their role – Everyone has a fancy title for the worship person: Worship pastor, Worship leader, Creative Arts Pastor, Creative Worship Pastor, etc. I could care less what you call it but, define the responsibilities. For example, our worship pastor not only has the worship band under his leadership, but all the media ministries as well. This includes, sound, CD table, audio visual elements, etc. Because we are portable he is also responsible to see to it that those elements get set up on Sunday mornings. It doesn’t matter how much or how little you place under them, just make sure the role is defined.

6.) Make sure they want to lead worship and not be a rock star – I find so many pastors who settle on a guy because he has led a band and they think he can lead worship. I know several worship pastors who really don’t want to lead worship but that is what puts food on the table. What they really want to do is travel and be in a band. Nothing wrong with that but not a good fit long term for a worship pastor.

7.) Make sure they can lead a band – There are a lot of guys who can lead when it is just them and a guitar. Playing with a band is a totally different story. In our type of church, a band is a must. So therefore he must be able to play with a band.

8.) Make sure they are open minded – They last thing I want in a worship pastor is someone who isn’t willing to change because they are so stuck in their “art.” If I hear another worship pastor who is not willing to do what is necessary to reach the lost because of their “art” I am going to scream. I want someone who could care less about style, I want someone who is willing to do what is necessary to connect with their target.

9.) Make sure their heart is in the right place – Do they want to lead worship because it is “cool” or do they want to serve the people of their church? This is a question that must be answered.”

I love all of this. What do you think? 

"But This One Go's To 11" - Sound Volumes In Worship

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/february/14.50.html

Great article for sound crews and worship bands alike. It's a good reminder for me. I ran into this issue not long ago when a student in my middle school department came up and asked me if I would mind having the band turn their volume down. He told me it had been really loud the few weeks before this point and it was starting to distract him from worship. This is never where we want to be. In using the band in worship we must be able to step out of the stage lights. We need to become invisible so God can be visible. How do we do that? By pointing everything to Him. We're not Guns 'N' Roses we are citizens of the kingdom who have the privilege of pointing others toward His heart. Let's not get in the way of that. Remembering that the tone of our guitars is not more important that the tone of our hearts would do us all some good. Blessings.