I’ve been to a lot of church services and I’m not easily impressed.
Baptist, Pentecostal, non-denominational. Lutheran, Presbyterian, reformed, unreformed.
I’ve sat in pews, folding chairs, benches, swinging movie-style seats…
And I’ve sang a lot of songs. I’ve seen a lot of worship leaders on their stages, platforms and stools. We almost got swept away by “blessings” from Canada in the late 90s and have sung old-time choruses in old-time camp-style services. Because of my husband’s calling to lead worship and his exceptional desire to learn more, we’ve been around the worship block.
It takes a lot to impress me when it comes to worship. I’m a hard sell.
Not that I should have to be sold. Because worship isn’t about selling the congregation a product. For some reason, being both blessed and cursed with the gift of discernment, I can easily see through the pride that often accompanies worship leaders. And the laziness, the insincerity, the lack of a Christ-following attitude of a leader who’d rather arrange music for Sunday mornings and find new songs than pray or spend time with God. I can see through it because I’ve seen it all. From the movie-style seat in the third row.
I’ve heard prayers from the worship pulpit so theologically off the mark that I can’t help but raise my head from prayer and wonder if the only time he prays is on Sunday mornings in front of a congregation. He struggles to find the words because they aren’t his. They don’t come from a heart that has been split open in brokenness before God.
I’m also not impressed by fading lights or a beautiful visually appealing display by the Creative Arts Stage team. I’m not stirred to worship by ground fog or even a perfectly mixed guitar, crisp and full sounding. I don’t care about rotating teams or new songs, or solos. I’m not amazed by U2 or Coldplay interwoven into the fabric of the service.
For me as someone sitting in the folding chair, worship can sometime seem like work to me, not rest. Not praise. Not the kind of worship that should be the natural outpouring of a heart in love with her Savior.
And please don’t read me wrong. I like U2 and I think lights can add to a full worship experience. A poorly mixed vocal set can distract from the music and seriously, not everyone can pray well in front of a thousand people.
But this isn’t it. When it becomes “it”, girls like me are lost. Remember, I’m a hard sell, but I am impressed sometimes.
I’m impressed by the heart of a worship leader so focused on God that as she leads the rest of us into the throne room of God, she forgets where she is. I am impressed by a worship service that gets underneath my skin, the words haunting me as I crawl into bed that night, and still are on my lips when I wake up the next morning, becoming the subconscious soundtrack of my day.
I’m impressed that even with the lights and the video cameras centering in on him, he can put down his guitar, pull his hands from the keyboard, and lift them, or kneel because his own heart is wrecked in worship to Jesus.
I am impressed when a worship service inspires me to live a life of worship, when it stirs me to deepen my love for Christ, and for His community, when all I want to do is be with the people in the room because we are all doing what we were created to do. And we are doing it together. We are joining together on this earth in something that is so other-worldly: praising God with our voices and our sad attempts at beautiful music in front of the God who created music in all its glory.
Like the leader who leaves the piano to worship on his knees, I want to be wrecked by meeting Jesus face to face once again in a service with other believers. I want to be ruined by Him.
A worship service is truly a worship service when men and women who have been privileged with gifts and callings to be the first people to throw open the doors to the Holy of Holies, stand to the side and shout at the rest of us, “Come in! Follow me in to worship HIM, the reason why we do all of this.” I want to be like them. I want to live a transparently intimate life with Jesus like them, allowing my worship to be the simple outpouring of His Spirit in me, not the product of ill-focused toil.
It’s about the heart. It’s only about the heart. Bathed in prayer and gratitude, a worship leader’s heart must be solely focused on God and being the vehicle for His bride to worship Him.
This impresses me. Because it is then that I am aroused to live my life better, to walk deeper and truer, and engage in a life of worship that takes me outside of a church service.
Do you want to inspire your congregation to worship? Fall in love with Jesus all over again and forget about the ground fog.
