Excellence in Worship

We have a lot of conversations at Emmaus about excellence in worship. And I think that worship should be excellent. I used to think differently. All we needed to do was make a joyful noise, and God sees our hearts so it doesn't matter. That part is true. But perhaps that's the difference between being a worship leader, and a worshiper who's not leading others.
My question is, "what is our motivation for excellence?" Is it to glorify ourselves? Obviously not. Or is it to create a worshipful atmosphere for people? While this sounds good, is it really the right motive? Is it in our power to create that atmosphere? I think when that becomes our motive, our focus gets off, and we start playing music for people rather than God. My inclination is that we ought to strive for excellence because God deserves our first fruits, the very best we have to offer. And it's the Holy Spirit's work to touch hearts, and that the biggest thing we can do as worship leaders is to pray for that. To seek God with all our hearts and continually ask Him to change lives and meet people where they need Him most. Where we need Him most. Whether or not people meet God is not dependent on our abilities, whether the music is fast, or slow, or we have drums or not...the only way we'll meet God is if we seek Him with all our hearts. I think it's simpler than we realize. Any thoughts?

Worship

WORSHIP

Our senior pastor this morning shared about the small group that he and his wife are hosting, how the Holy Spirit is moving in and through people and they are encouraging one another and they are able to be real and share their hurts and their fears and their needs, and then have those needs met by the others. And I thought, “this is a better picture of the church than what I see on Sunday mornings.”

What if Sunday morning has become obsolete? Is this what the church should be? What is the place of the Sunday morning service in the body of Christ? Maybe God is not working there anymore. That may be an overstatement, but have we limited God so much with our idea of what it means to be a church and what worship is that He is moving and breathing in people’s lives elsewhere? Are people changed or equipped to be Christ to the world on a Sunday Morning?

Let’s say that Sunday morning is no longer the model, and that God is saying to find a new model. Would we have the courage to follow the Spirit’s leading? I’m not really seeing it. I think we really need to be seeking God’s direction. What is the point of Sunday Morning? Why are we here?

By the way, I like to ask hard questions.

The Spirit's leading

Hi guys,

I haven't done much checking in on this blog lately...any other church musicians out there who experienced "Christmas & Christmas music recovery", formerly known as December and January?

Before I blog away, a quick announcement - my wife Amber and I are now expecting our first child! Amber is 8 weeks pregnant as I type this. We're not going to find out if it's a boy or a girl until the delivery, so feel free to debate the pros and cons of that decision. :)

But now for the reason I'm typing:
Do any of you ever have doubts about the whole "Holy Spirit's leading" concept in worship. Like somehow we worship leaders have this mystical, magical ability to say, play, sing, and discern with superhero-like skills whenever a "time of worship" is upon a room. Like as long as you're anointed, everything's going to be great, and if you're not anointed, everyone in the room is just smiling and nodding while you sing some songs.

I guess I used to think that I was that superhero. I used to be so confident that pretty much every action I made during a worship service was right on target and was a huge blessing to God and everyone in the room. Now I feel all these doubts, wondering if I've really just been responding to how I'm feeling, the room temperature, what I ate for dinner last night, how sleepy I am, how angry I am at the people in the back row with their arms crossed not singing...etc. I feel like I either have lost my worship leading ears or I never had them in the first place. I also feel like because of my doubts, I'm losing a sense of my own worship leading voice or worship leading personality. I'm not as bold as I used to be because I'm always second-guessing myself.

Thoughts?

Mystery of Expectation

Hey everyone,
My name's Kurt Prond. I got into worship leading in High school when I started a band with some friends, and have kind of known since then it's what I am called to do(until I hear otherwise) I ended up leading a group at St. Olaf college that Mike and Nathan actually started, and am now the minister of worship at Emmaus Church in Northfield, MN.

My thought: I was listening to "Behold the Lamb" a christmas album by Andrew Peterson recenctly. Anyone familiar with it? Anyway, the album tells the Christmas story, but starts with creation, and goes through King David and the prophets...really good stuff. The whole album seems to capture this sense of expectation of the fullfilling of these mysterious prophecies of a King who will come to rule with justice and righteousness and a sword in His fist...and I've been thinking, "Do we live with that expectation?" It seems that we get so used to doing what we do, that we stop expecting The Lord to actually show up and change our lives when we are leading worship. It becomes routine. But I think God honors our expectation when we earnestly wait for him. Thoughts?
Kurt

Getting to know you...

It's good to see everyone signing on - I really hope this is a helpful thing for all of us. If Nathan's first topic is any indication, I think it will be.

I know all of you, and many of you know each other, but I don't think everyone does. Maybe, if you're so inclined, we each could reply to this thread with some basic information about ourselves... in what capacity we're leading worship, how you got into worship leading in the first place - I dunno, whatever you want to say about yourself.

I actually don't have time to do my own right now, so I'll reply with that later!

A beginning

Hello all -

I'll dive in and be the first to respond to Mike's invitation (unless someone submits one while I'm typing this). Thanks for forming this, Mike.

All of us worship leaders are very comfortable contributing to a worship service and do so [extensively] every Sunday morning. We work with teams of people sharing music, scriptures, a sermon, administering sacraments, etc. But what inevitably seems to happen is that a group of "us" is presenting the service to a group of "them". "We" are the ones who've done the planning, who know what's happening next, who know when the lights are going to come down for the video clip,...who have the service under control.

I Corinthians 14:26 says, "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church."

So how can we live out this verse and let everyone who comes dynamically shape the service? This verse sounds messy. Is this even possible, especially at larger churches? Plus, let's be honest, some of those slick presentations can be very effective. Music and video and drama all working in sync can have powerful impact on people's hearts and minds. Can we have our cake and eat it too?

An invitiation

For those of us who have been entrusted with leading God's people in worship, there can be plenty - both good and bad - to process about our privilege, our responsibility, our calling. This is the place for us to share our joys, our struggles, our questions, our learning experiences, our favorite resources, and the new visions and wisdom God gives us. Most of all, this is a place for God to speak to us through each other. I look forward to learning from you all, both contributors and any who might wander by and decide to join the conversation.