What About Bob

Worship Leading Styles

Paul Baloche has a great web site - www.leadworship.com.  In one of his articles he comments on these common pitfalls in leading worship.

Worship leaders occupy a position that requires a great deal of sensitivity.  Because of that, one of the most important skills to apply is prayerful self examination of our stage time to make sure that we don't use our talents in a gratuitous manner.  In our struggle to walk that fine line, we have to remember that more isn't always better.  Overuse of certain leading devices can sometimes be distracting to the people you hope to usher into a place of worship.

The Vegas Praise Worship Leader - Performanced based with over-the-top worship and musical virtuosity hitting every vocal pitch and key while the backup dancers shoot bottle rockets that whistle in tune and explode to spell  G-O-D.

The Lost in Space Worship Leader - Always leads with eyes closed, lost in worship.  That's usually a person who is attempting to personally connect with God, to really discern things in the Spirit, and they're trying, on a personal level, to focus their heart and mind on the Lord.  It's important to realize that when we're leading worship we're more like waiters.  It's not our turn to sit down and eat our dinner.  We may worship, but we actually have a role at that moment, and our job is to wait on others.  We have to be willing to give up a little bit of our overwhelming connection with God and connect with Him through serving His people.

The Sermonizer - The worship leader who needs to ad-lib share before after and even during the pauses of most songs.  Worship leaders - let the pastor preach.  Occasionally, you may want to set up the time of worship with a brief,(capital B), Brief Scripture or a thought that sets the tone for that first song.  But, be very measured.  A little goes a long way. 

The Broken Record - Each song is a fifteen-minute worship extravaganza that repeats the verse, chorus, verse....  Do all things in moderation.  It's not unspiritual to just do the song like the CD and then move on to the next one.

The Worship Aerobics Instructor - The worship leader who dictates standing, sitting, clapping, hugging, jumping, and relay races through the narthex during the service as if you were leading a production of Sweatin' to the Church's Oldies.  This one has more to do with the attitude and teh language of respecting where people are at and gently, respectfully encouraging them into certain actions, but you can certainly overdo it.

Read More HERE.

Worship: Raising the Music Bar

Raising the Bar - Is Music That Important

We are talking about the importance of music in worship because music IS important to everyone.  Everywhere you go, we hear professionally-done music;  in your car, tv, movies, in the elevator (well sometimes).  American Idol has brought about a higher level of critique and knowledge of well-done music.  Music is powerful.  It can transport us to a different reality.  Why do we remember the lyrics of certain songs?  And how much more powerful is a Christian song.  Music is Biblical.  "Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy" (Ps. 33:3).  The psamlist David understood this when he recruited 3 leaders and a worship team of 288 (I Chron. 25:1-7).  The quality of our music makes a statement which says "worshipping God with excellence is important to us" or "worshipping God is not that important."  We have an educated culture that knows the difference.  Once we raise the bar and achieve levels of excellence in worship, the Simon Cowells of this world will then be able to truely worship and God will be pleased by our sacrifice of worship. 

Worship: Raising the Bar-Why??

Why?  It's just the church.

I cringe even typing the above statement.  Unfortunately, there are many people who think or say those blasphemous words.  Why knock yourself out for a Sunday service at church?  All we want to do is come to church so we can check that off our list... our weekly duty list.  Don't do too much or we'll have to tithe more to pay for all that unnecessary stuff.  It just shocks me as to how a Christian who has been saved by the sacrifice of God's only Son, Jesus Christ can think that way.  We must navigate through that minefield mindset and measure our efforts against God's word and His Great Commission.

What does the world think of our art?  Today's culture expects excellence.  When they listen to the radio or watch TV or attend a concert or live theater, they are surrounded by high quality.   Standards are high and everyone is a judge.  From Star Search to American Idol, we've all become critics.  And at the church, our levels of acceptance are way behind the world and the worlds knows it.  What does it say to the world about our faith when they experience it through substandard art?

Doesn't God deserve excellence?  What does it say to Him when we throw table scraps at the church?  There was a time when creative art was born in the church.  Today they are our masterpieces.  Handel, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bach, are just a few artist the church sponsored and encouraged.  Creative souls creating for the Creator. . . and financed by the church.  The church in Rome was at the center of European prominence.  Today, the church is considered far behind the curve in creativity.  Why has the phrase Creative Church Services become an oxymoron?

Worship: Raising the Bar?

This last year I've challenged my team to "Raise the Bar" of worship arts excellence here and we've made some inroads.  I'm sure we are all working towards excellence, that's a given.  The mindset is easy, but the implementation can be tricky.

The term "Raising the Bar" evokes a challenge for some and fear to others.  If you are a Worship Leader (includes all involved in a worship service), "Raising the Bar" may make you question your own abilities.  "What does this "Raising the Bar" process mean to me?"  And therein lies the problem.  WHY do you want to "Raise the Bar?"  Is it for God or self? 

How do you implement excellence in worship for God's Sake alone?  How do you work past all the emotions and strive to provide an acceptable and worthy sacrifice?  What is acceptable to God?  Why is creative church an oxymoron?  How do you make the hard decisions of selecting the right leaders of worship and not "upset the apple cart."  And how do you balance excellence with grace, ministry and heart?  What one thing has made the biggest impact on improving your craft of worship? 

These are not rhetorical questions - I would like to hear from you via post or email.  Raising the Bar in the area of worship arts will be a series of posts and I need your input.  Once collected, a collaboration of ideas can be posted and shared. 

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. - Proverbs 27:7

Unless you try to do something beyond what you have
already mastered, you will never grow. - Ralph Waldo Emerson