[This post is part of a series on Leading Your Team & Congregation Through Worship Tensions. Check out the rest here.]
When was the last time you were desperate for God?
When was the last time you lost track of time worshiping?
When was the last time you cried in the presence of God?
When was the last time you talked about Jesus, rather than just your favorite songs?
This is a tension I feel pulled by all the time. I’m a worship leader. I pick songs all the time. I listen to songs all the time. My job revolves around learning, writing, singing, organizing, performing, and leading…songs.
I’ll confess.
I’m a worship songaholic.
Glad to get that off my chest (as I race to go sing yet another song).
Songs are important, but are they taking the place of you actually worshiping? Do you love your favorite songs more than just being with Jesus?
Do you hide behind songs as a way to mask the barrenness of your heart before God?
I remember early in my worship leading journey, I could linger in God’s presence for hours. I could sing, shout, dance, lay, and cry my eyes out for a long time.
Sometimes I wonder if I’ve lost that innocence. Could I still do that and not be bored out of my mind?
Could I handle the withdrawal of not singing a pre-written song?
I sure hope so.
I’m not advocating we abolish songs in the church. That would be disobedient to God, to say the least.
But as worship leaders, how do we balance this tension of songs and yet engaging our hearts in raw, messy, pure worship?
Cultivate a worshiping heart apart from music
Worship leader, you need to step away from music. It’s not what defines you. Learn how to cry out to God with your voice. Learn how to read Scripture aloud and spontaneously bless the Lord. Learn how to observe the wonders of God in nature and worship.
When I sense myself getting bored with worship, I’ll get desperate. Go on a fast, go for a walk, pace, challenge yourself to recapture what it means to lift your voice unto God.
Don’t reserve your most passionate worship for songs and a stage and a service.
Cultivate a team of worshipers
When you’re with your team, use songs as a catalyst for deeper conversations surrounding truth. Teach them to thoughtfully interpret what songs are saying.
Plan a segment of your rehearsal around crying out to God loudly. Take your musicians on a journey of worship that involves more than just singing, playing, and performing.
Not only will your musicians grow closer to Christ, you will develop a culture of desperation for God.
Beware of raising up an army of other songaholics around you. Teach them what it means to simply cry out to God.
Whenever you lead worship…worship
It’s possible to sing songs as passionate as ever but have a heart far from the Lord. Don’t just bust through your songlist like a passionate madman.
Make sure your heart is engaged.
Rehearse well with your band. Know the songs. But when it’s game time, worship your guts out. Relentlessly focus on Jesus.
Cultivate expectancy not for how your sweet arrangement will blow people’s minds, but for how the glory of God will come.
Question: How do you balance the tension of singing songs AND truly worshiping? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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Very true!
This reminds me of something I heard somewhere, it said “…true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth.” Where did I hear that..? But seriously, good stuff, so important to truly just cry out to God, and see the things of this earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
Love it! Amen.
one of the things we used to do was…have someone else come in and lead US in worship…before a rehersal….it was great! just an acoustic guitar and us and the presence of God….priceless..
Arny, that is such a great idea! Thanks for that.
A few things that have helped me:
– pray
– be open to feedback
– always have a time of personal worship before the public session
– give space for someone else to lead worship
I love those ideas, man. Being open to feedback will grow you so much faster. Personal worship with your team is also so key! Thanks for the comment.
Hi David,
You are a blessing to me. When I found your blog, I was researching stuff about devotion and worship. I am one of the worship leaders at our church, Followers of Christ Fellowship in Manila, Philippines. I feel the need to search helpful verses and articles for to help me make the worship leading seamless purposely to give glory and honor to God. One weakness I have in worship is memorizing the songs. It bothers me that I can’t do the worship accordingly to the Holy Spirit because I keep on checking on the lyrics. This hinders me to go with the flow of the Holy Spirit and leading of God. I have learned my lessons and thank you for your articles for it added knowledge and blessed me to enhance my craft for the Lord. Praise be to God. Looking forward to your inspirational articles. God bless you. 🙂
Hi Loren! Thanks so much for the encouragement. Don’t beat yourself up for not memorizing music. You will improve with time. Glad to have you as a reader!
Hi Loren, here are a few tips to remember song lyrics, hope they help: http://goo.gl/hbtum
Just now getting a chance to review this post, but it’s so true! It reminds me of the story of what happened at Soul Survivor (Matt Redman’s early roots), where they discovered that they were worshipping worship, and decided to go for six months without singing any songs! God used that experience to lead Matt Redman in writing “The Heart of Worship.”
Not saying this is a formula for overall success, but it did help them to gain a fresh perspective on the need for being truly engaged and worshipping beyond the song, and that a song used rightly is ultimately just a type vehicle for getting from one place to the next in our individual or corporate time of encounter with God.
David, thanks again for how you encourage the rest of us with this blog – awesome stuff!
I think it being well rehearsed with the song, so that when we come together in community we can truly worship and lead…