Too practiced?

Can you be over-prepared for worship? I don’t think so.

I have had conversations with a few people over the years who have expressed concern about being too practiced, too prepared. They have voiced concern about not allowing for spontaneity or questioned whether the Spirit would be able to move if worship is too precise?

My experience is this; the most spirit filled, moving worship services that I have been in, were services where the teams have diligently prepared! Why? Because thorough preparation allows vocalists and musicians to be authentically expressive and separated from their music. They can focus on truly leading the audience because they are free to be fully engaged and not worried about the words, notes or transitions. The audience can spot a lack of preparation easily; it is distracting when vocalists and musicians do not know the music.

I remember worshiping in a service not long ago, and becoming totally distracted by a vocalist that kept glancing sideways, not sure of the words. I closed my eyes and tried to take responsibility for my own personal worship. But I felt cheated of the corporate experience of shared worship by his lack of work.

God deserves our very best work. His church should be filled with diligent preparation, our best. We need to honor him with excellence! Many times in the Bible God asks for the best of people. He asked the rich man to leave all his wealth behind and follow him, the rich man declined. Talk about the ultimate lost opportunity! If you know your schedule will not allow you to come prepared to lead worship, you may need to get involved in a less demanding area of ministry.

I sit down often with both our Technical Coordinator and our two Worship leaders to just talk through their schedules. Often I can identify things that have cut into their preparation time and I work with them to eliminate these things No matter what our ministry areas of service are, our talents should be offered back to Him with excellence befitting our God!

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