The power of silence

“Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.” (Proverbs 17:28, NIV)

Those of you who have:
1) seen me play for the Monday evening services of Living Faith Church, (www.thelivingfaith.org)
2) watched me lead worship for Tuesday Group, or
3) attended my lessons on playing keyboards or guitars for worship,
know that I am a big fan of using silence to draw worshippers into the worship. When I have to construct a musical intro to start off a song, I will almost always have a moment of silence before starting the song proper.
And it works. Powerfully.
Many musicians, especially keyboardists, pound away on their instruments and wait for the congregation to start singing. And usually this idea works only when the worship leader is confident and skilled. He or she will start the song and the worshippers will think “Oh, so I start NOW…” and join in moments later.
And that’s ok, but there’s a better way. To use a moment of silence to tell the worshippers “I’ve had my say. Now it’s your turn.” And they’ll respond.
From a bigger perspective, silence can also be used to draw people into sharing. It follows the same principle: you start off telling them what you’d like them to share on and in what way, then you give them that moment of silence to let them know it’s their turn.
And if you’ve tried this method, you’ll know how difficult it is.
Because when we go silent, we are surrendering control to the other party, whether it’s the congregation during worship, or the friend during an after-dinner conversation. And something within us, an insidious sense of insecurity, panics at the thought of surrendering that control.
For a worship musician, that’s a lot of control. Think about it, with a mere flick of a wrist you create a sound that resounds through the whole room (or auditorium, or stadium). You’ve got people listening to you. And to just stop, for just a moment…
How to we build up our courage to utilize moments of silence effectively during times of worship and the other areas of our lives?
We practice such moments of silence in our daily devotional times with God. Reading the Bible, prayer, worship, all that is great stuff, but after you’ve done that, give that few minutes of silence and give room for God to speak.

“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth..” (Psalm 46)

Musically, when we are doing rhythm drills and exercises, we count aloud. Hey, even after spending so much of my life in music, if I’m trying a new rhythm and have difficulty, I’m still counting aloud. So you do it.
Do it to the point when you can feel the counts in you even when your mouth is silent. At this point, you can use the moments of silence in your music to draw the worshippers into the worship.
The skilful use of silence is a technique used only by the truly effective worship musicians. And when you learn it and use it, you’ll be one of them too…

Prayer time:  

My personal schedule has been crazy. Yet I know that there are people out there who need my training course in how to play guitar for worship. I am right now working out details with a skilful guitarist AND hardcore worship fanatic to bring my guitar course out of the shadows and out to the body of Christ. Pray for me that I will have wisdom to work out the best arrangements with this brother-in-Christ for him to help me teach my materials and convey my heart to the people God has chosen for us to serve and mentor.
And also pray that my marketing efforts will be focused and directed at the right people, the people who need my ministry the most.
Thanks, everyone!
Be blessed!