Have you ever wondered if leading worship really matters?
Do you feel you are your local church’s resident entertainer – that you’re simply warming people up for the message?
I mean, if your pastor only gives you 15 minutes to lead, is it really worth it? And when everything goes wrong, you wonder if you were ever “called” to this at all.
Let’s face it. We all have struggles.
- There are those who don’t like our music
- Band members who don’t cooperate
- Worship team members who don’t worship
- Disagreements with your senior pastor
- Not enough time to worship
- Not enough freedom
Beyond all these tensions, your worship leading matters. Do you know why? Let me tell you a story.
Presence vs Performance
The pitch black nature of the sanctuary was my cue that it was time to leave.
But I didn’t want to.
For a 12 year old to not want to leave “big church” was the greatest miracle since the resurrection.
Think about that. I wanted to keep worshiping. I wanted to stay in church. I. Wanted. God.
Before that night, church was something I was forced to do. During the sermon, I would be preoccupied with where we were going for lunch. OK, I still am, but I’ve gotten better.
That night, my life was changed. Forever.
It wasn’t a sermon that captured my attention.
It wasn’t a trendy, dimly lit sanctuary with the latest LED’s.
Matter of fact, it wasn’t even any particular song.
You know what it was?
The presence of God.
The present, explosive, beautiful reality of Heaven touching earth – Heaven touching my heart.
It was the effective call of God, awakening my lifeless heart to His limitless beauty. As you can tell, I’m searching for adjectives to describe that moment. I’m falling short.
It wasn’t a stellar performance that changed the course of my life. It was the presence of the King.
What About You?
Why do I share this story?
Because the trajectory of my life was changed in a moment of corporate worship.
And you have that opportunity every time you lead. If you focus on losing yourself in worship, being faithful to turn your church’s eyes to Jesus, people will be changed.
Future worship leaders, soul winners, and world changers will be raised up. Not because YOU are great but because God is and you are creating context for Him to move in a special way.
So don’t give up, weary worship leader.
Don’t worry that you’re not Jesus Culture, playing large stages, and recording albums for the world to hear.
You are making a difference today.
How was your life changed through worship? What keeps you going as a worship leader? Join in the comments.
Wow, that brought me back to the exact moment that God revealed himself to me through worship and I have never been the same! It is easy to forget that it wasn’t a perfect performance, it was just him. Thanks for the reminder!
I love it when God is the center of attention – His glory shining brighter than anything else.
That is the Heart of Worship!!! Wonderful blog!! đ
David,
I can’t tell you how powerful and timely this post was for me. You tend to live in “ministry world” so long that you forget the reason we were called to do this. God has revealed to me the understanding of what it is to know Him and possess a relationship with Him unlike many. And it’s all because He chose to reveal Himself to me in ways outside of the Sunday morning, 60-70 min, church service format. I’ve experienced the presence of God and have been used by Him for others to experience His presence many times as well. It seems lately that I’ve forgotten where I came from. This blog post was so encouraging to me! Thank you for your sincerity and may God continue to bless others through your attempts to make Him smile.
Nick, thank you for the encouragement. It’s awesome to see how God is speaking to you.
Really good thoughts David. The thought that my faithfulness in cultivating an environment for worship – even when things are difficult – and the fact that people will be encouraged and raised up because God is greater than all of it – is so encouraging tonight. You’ve also encouraged me to be more consistent with updating my blog and staying current. Blessings bro.
Hey Andrew, great to connect. Yea, don’t give up man. You’re making a difference more than you can see! Look forward to checking out your blog.
“The present, explosive, beautiful reality of Heaven touching earth â Heaven touching my heart”. This line is what best describes what we yearn for every Sunday to happen to our congregation when my brother and myself lead. Itâs because we want the church to be ministered to. I believe this is what forms one of the key emphasis of being a Worship leader…in my opinion…being instrument in giving the congregation a taste of what to look forward to when we go to glory. Having gotten that taste and indeed of how beautiful it is, they realize what it feels like to Worship our God, to praise him…and feel the Holy Spirit ministering to them. This also in turn helps them focus on the final result…Heaven. Therefore lives start turning to follow Christ. (this is also provided that they also make the effort which is another story for another day đ ).
So I really believe, even though we may be Worship Leaders of congregations of 50-200 maybe even smaller, it doesnât matter, even if just one Life changed for the Glory of God, is worth it all!!!. It shouldnât matter to us if our songs donât make the charts or even to the next Church!!…the most important thing is (and we must never loose focus of thisâŚ) is that we are doing this all FOR God with the right heart…the Davidic heart…the heart after God.
In my experience over the past 3 years, we could never plan when God would show up, when the Glory would come down, when his presence got so thick that we couldnât stop worshiping âŚthose were the wow SundaysâŚhowever there were some Sundays which were terrible! Its OK!…Be encouraged, someoneâs heart may have been touched none the lessâŚIâve seen it happen and I go..âWoa God!! Youâre awesomeâŚâ. Most importantly I realized that through it all, when God DID show up, oh maaannn it was worth it and we had our taste of Heaven on Earth.
Btw, thanks David for this awesome post, may the lord bless ya in ya ministry brotha! I personally wished if I were a boy to be named David, cuz I feel Iâm like a female version of the biblical one. None the less, Iâll settle for marrying someone named âDavidâ :D. jk. Jus goes to show how much I love this name.
Danielle, some great worship thoughts here! Thanks for sharing.