So, I don't know why I'm writing this, (at 12:30am when I have a big test tomorrow morning) but I felt like talking about some of the things I think need some correcting or guiding as far as worship and worship leading goes. So here are a few of my two-senses, if you will, about worship.
Disclaimer: I can be a very blunt and outspoken person in regards to my opinions. Not to say I am ignorant towards anyone else's... but if I believe something, I will say it. So please don't get offended if I say something that isn't so nice that somewhat sounds like you. And if you do, well... suck it up.
1. The worship leader's objective.
A lot of times, I see worship leaders that care more about how good the band sounds at the moment or how perfectly things are flowing during a set than what's actually going on in the room. This has derived a very apparent negative outcome in the set. So many times, worship leaders are listening to the band during intros or instrumentals, or even when they're singing, instead of focusing on what they really should be doing - worshipping. Let the music director worry about that, or fix it after... but while you're on that stage... it's God's time - with you.
Yes, you. That leads me to my second point: you. I really think one of the biggest mistakes worship leaders make is that they think that singing to the congregation and making eye contact with them is the most important thing (for the majority of the worship session). Well... I think it's quite the contrary. Whether you leave your eyes open or not, I don't care. Do what you want. But worship is and always has been a time between you and God. Not a time between you and the congregation. Although yes, I believe some interaction is certainly important, but your connection with God is certainly the most. Often times leaders or singers think that they have this Holy Spirit ability to connect people with God. (MC's too. perhaps especially them) But this isn't the case. That's the Holy Spirit's job, and he/it (however you refer to the Holy Spirit) can do a much better job than any ordinary human being with absolutely no ability to tap into someone's heart no matter how much charisma and energy they have.
My third sub-point I'd like to mention is song choice and how it relates to your connection with God. I'll be extremely transparent here with you guys because I believe that if I be around the bush, I won't be expressing myself clearly. Hillsong and Hillsong's secondary bands (along with some others but not to such an extreme) write the majority, with the exception of maybe a handful, songs with lyrics of declaration. What do I mean by this? Well, lyrics of declaration are simply lyrics that only talk about God and how great God is. Now, please don't get me wrong here! Some of my favorite songs are declarational, but when a worship set consists of mainly or wholly talking about God... where's the connection? When do we ask God to meet us in this place, or fill us with his Holy Spirit, or prepare our hearts for His Word, or simply cry out to God to set a fire in our hearts. I believe that is where true worship really begins. It's a personal connection at this point. Not a one-sided experience telling God how great He is. He knows that. (Again, I still believe it's great to do that, just in moderation) I believe God wants to hear us crying out to Him for help, understanding, guidance, fire, passion, compassion, peace, love... all these things. My wish is that worship music will start to have a conversation with God in order to evoke a personal connection with our Lord.
2. The Show
I think you can already tell where I'm going with this. When anyone gets on that stage, I would certainly assume God would want them to be transparent and genuine up there. If you don't feel like singing because you're concentrated playing a melody or beat, hey, no worries. Worship God with your instrument. If you're terribly depressed, hey, go up there, try to forget about what's going on and focus on God. But what I really want to stress here is that you should never ever put on an act. If you don't want to jump up and down and dance and head bang, don't. Please don't. Especially head bang. Please. Anyway... if you want to go up there and go on your knees and worship God, do it. You don't have any obligation to look the congregation in the eye and sing a song to them. You're there to worship and show an EXAMPLE of worship, not a performance. So worship. When people see you worshipping, they will feel led to do so too. You are now pointing to God - as opposed to the people, not to mention making awkward eye contact with them.
3. Air
I think I'll wrap it up here with this point. When playing a set, you want as much room as possible for the Holy Spirit to lead the service. This is one of my problems with this electronic music Hillsong is putting out. It is requiring bands to play with loops, for almost all the songs. Well... what happens if you play with loops all the time? Your worship set is set in stone. It's not moving and it's not sensitive. You're doing one song, one way, the next song, one way, etc. What kind of atmosphere is that where us humans have all the control of the worship experience?
Now... not to say loops are a bad thing. I think loops are absolutely great. But when bands rely on them so much, they come to develop a sense of reliability toward them. They don't want to sound empty or they don't want to get off track. But a good worship band is perfectly okay going off track, focusing in on what's going on, acting accordingly, and helping the Holy Spirit move with minimal distraction. This requires focus and practice. Bethel Church does it best in my opinion. Especially Josh Fisher (drummer). The guy is more focused than I've ever seen anyone. And that's great. He doesn't have to sing to show people he's worshipping or anything. No show. He's worshipping with his instrument. Much like David and his harp.
Well. I think I've said pretty much all I have time to write about tonight. I have a lot more in me, but I think this is a good little summary of some main points. I hope you guys get something from this. It's something I'm pretty passionate about and I really hope that these sort of things begin to dissipate. I have a pretty big Calculus Test tomorrow, so goodnight.
