Let your imagination wander for a moment.

What if this Sunday morning, rather than singing worship songs as a church, you showed a painting of the Mona Lisa? Or some impressionist art from Monet? Or what we filled the stage with painters and sculptors creating for the glory of God?

It’s a beautiful expression, but is it helpful for corporate worship? Probably not.

Or what if instead of sung worship we showed a series of short films and encouraged people to give spoken words to each other? A beautiful expression, but quite chaotic for corporate worship.

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There’s nothing more scary than parenting.

Well, except maybe public speaking in your underwear. But seriously. More than anyone else on the earth, you as a parent have the most influence on the lives of your kids.

I’ve only been a parent for four years, but I’ve found parenting is mostly about getting out of the way. I can screw things up more often than not.

I’ve seen both extremes. Some parents are completely unavailable and distanced. They don’t seem to care. They leave parenting up to daycare, nanny’s, the nursery, or even kids ministry. The other extreme is being so hard on your kids that you crush every ounce of pure, innocent life they have.

And let me tell you, kids are amazing. The longer I live, the more I want to be more like my kids. I want to get rid of the hardness of heart, jaded attitudes, hidden sins, and just jump into life with every ounce of passion I possess.

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Planned worship. Prophetic worship. Structure or Spontaneity? Beyond the wars of modern or traditional, rock band or liturgical, is another worship war. Do we allow the band to flow in the moment or do we create a tight plan?

If you lead worship, I’m sure you’ve wrestled with this before.

For some, corporate worship is nothing more than executing a plan. It’s like hitting play on a worship album. No room to breathe, no seeming space for the Holy Spirit to move.

But for others, prophetic worship is often an excuse for lazy music, lazy production, and lazy planning. It’s just not done well.

Spontaneous worship done well is the result of disciplined practice, relational connection, and intimacy with God. But so often it translates into something so poorly done it doesn’t connect with anyone.

But if you want to do spontaneous well, let’s define what it is.

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Stage presence. It’s a conversation that excites some and infuriates others.

Some pay attention to it, others don’t seem to care.

Truth is, you can’t afford to ignore it.

But let’s set the record straight. Your stage presence is important, but not of primary importance.

Just as your talent doesn’t force the Holy Spirit’s hand, neither does your boundless energy. He isn’t waiting for your voice to hit high notes, your team to sing certain songs, or your stage energy to reach higher levels of insanity.

God isn’t waiting for you to develop better musicians, use Ableton Live, record a live album of original songs, and get booked for youth events around the country.

Here’s the reality: The Holy Spirit is present, ready, and moving…no matter what.

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I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time with fast songs.

I just don’t really care for them. I don’t really love to jump around and dance. My default life disposition isn’t celebration and exuberance. I’m what you would call steady – cool, calm, and collected. My emotions don’t drop too high or too low.

Some of you may be the opposite. You eat up the fast tunes. The more four-on-the-floor, synth driven happy grooves the better. Get rid of the minor chords, for God’s sake, You want to celebrate! You have no problem jumping or spinning or actually dancing. When things take a serious turn, you start to feel more uncomfortable.

Every worship leader wants to see people be more expressive. Nobody likes a bored room. We want to see people engage – sing, lift their hands, and move a bit.

But we all know the tension. In our gatherings, we have a wide variety of people:

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