As I go around and share with the Body of Christ what revelation God has entrusted me, I increasingly realize that people already know at a subconscious level what I am talking about.
Church elders, pastors and experienced worship leaders tell me that they’ve long sensed that something has gone drastically wrong with the state of praise and worship in Singapore. The problem is that most of these people are not musically technical. So they are unable to instruct their church worship musicians on the right way to play for worship.
Compounding the problem is the confusion that has arisen in the Body of Christ over the way the Holy Spirit leads in worship. Powerful and influential people have propagated the idea that the Holy Spirit’s working in praise and worship is a unpredictable, anything-goes, anti-technicality kind of thing. Swinging to the other extreme, some have demanded the wrong technicalities, those that glorified the musician but didn’t edify the people or glorify God. And they laid a heavy burden on the backs of the musicians, calling it a spirit of excellence. By their choice of words they covered a horrendous mistake with a holier-sounding veneer. But a mistake covered is still a mistake none the less.
Worship ministries that have embraced either of these two schools of thought and supported them soon found something: More money was involved with doing things wrong rather than doing things right. Which was fine if YOU were the one getting the money, rather than spending it, hoping that your nagging doubts would be answered in the next worship course, the next worship seminar or conference, the next “worship” CD or the next instructional DVD from your ministry of choice. The carrot of being effective in leading worship is forever dangling in front of you, just a little beyond your reach. If after all these years what they have taught you hasn’t really worked, when are you going to realize that they are about as clueless as you are, just that you are paying them for imparting their cluelessness?
If the blind lead the blind…
It never occurred to me before, but when I read John 2 earlier this year about the first cleansing of the temple, I suddenly saw that the merchants that Jesus threw out were selling the animals used for the sacrifices of worship unto God. When Jesus said “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a marketplace!” he wasn’t talking about insurance agents hawking their wares amongst a congregation. Or about MLM-ers trying to build their downlines in their home church. He was referring to a system that started innocently and grew over the years to the point when it was in the praise and worship business but getting in the way of people connecting with God.
I call this system Praise and Worship Inc.
Praise and Worship Inc. isn’t a new phenomenon. It existed long before human history. Recognizing it sheds more light on the following passage of Scripture, one that didn’t make sense before:
This passage is widely accepted as referring to the fall of Satan when he rebelled against God. It is the source people refer to when they say that Satan used to be in charge of worship in heaven. In the NKJV it describes Satan as being made with musical instruments as a part of his body.
What I didn’t see before was the motivation that led to his fall. It says here “by the abundance of your trading…” In other words, Satan was already seeking to establish a worship business, Praise and Worship Inc. even while he was in heaven. And God cast him out.
Returning back to our time and place now, the pastors and elders I mentioned earlier told me they realized that something was wrong. But they couldn’t really put their finger on it. We’d agree on the list of all those artistes and singers they’ve found to be performers drawing the attention to themselves rather than effective worship leaders drawing the attention to God. But these church leaders couldn’t articulate clearly what was wrong, what led to their ineffectiveness. So oftentimes they just simply say “this person is just not a true worshipper” when they mean that he/she isn’t effective.
I used to be guilty of that too. Until a few days ago. I met up with a worship leader and was explaining to him the thrust of my ministry. He then asked for my opinion on certain artists, whether in my system and paradigm they were genuine worship leaders. Halfway through God spoke through me (and to me) saying “What we are judging right now is their effectiveness. Not their hearts. Who are we to say, just by listening to a CD, that we are able to discern a person’s heart?” And I proceeded to share with him the account of how a big-shot “worship” performer reacted when he was in Singapore to perform his usual worship concert and the auditorium he was in experienced a power shortage. Total black-out.
He junked all the fancy stuff he had prepared and, in the stuffy auditorium using just his voice and an un-amplified guitar, proceeded to sing God’s praises, leading God’s people into a powerful time of worship. So from this we see that it’s not for us to say an ineffective worship leader doesn’t have the heart for worship, right? All we can say is that what they do isn’t effective.
Of course, it’s sad when what they do is so ineffective that the easiest way to make things better is to cut off the electricity…
How about music instruction? The musicians go for training. Either they go for secular instruction, which will not address the specifics of how to play for worship, or they attend lessons from believers who either don’t know these specifics or don’t want to demystify worship. As for “worship” training from believers, there is constantly the struggle between teaching people what they want versus teaching them what they need. Because teaching what people need can be done very quickly, you drastically reduce your potential for having many long-term students. I mean, the principles that work are easily applied in worship, and after you truly understand them you can extrapolate from there what works and what doesn’t. Why take lessons after that, right?
As I said, there’s more money to be made from teaching the wrong things rather than the right things. Further courses, advanced modules, instructional DVDs, worship seminars and conferences. And this continues because the students, worship leaders and pastors don’t know any better. Or can’t articulate clearly what is the right way to do things for worship.
In the midst of all this I unapologetically tell people when what they’re doing is wrong. I tell them exactly what to do, putting my reputation on line behind what I say. I do my best to give people as big a picture as they can handle at that moment, but the test of all I say is when THEY try it and see clearly if what I teach works or doesn’t. And I don’t give people or myself the cop-out of saying that if it doesn’t work it’s because of issues of the heart (the worship ministers or the congregation).
This, people, is what I have been meditating on the past couple of months or so. I’ve been trying to articulate all these insights in a clear fashion. Wanted to email you all with updates, but I’ve been struggling about how to explain all these things in a coherent way. Two nights ago I did a worship keyboard workshop for the keyboardists of Petra and everything, especially the part about how money has entered the equation, just fell in place as I was explaining the essence of playing for worship.
So that’s my update. I’ve been preparing for keyboard workshops, refining my drums for worship training and continuing to further think through and clarify the message God has given me in the area of praise and worship. I just kind of skimmed through, without much detail, on the clarifications I’ve received over the past few months. Of course there’s more. I haven’t been resting on my laurels…
Thanks for your prayers. Pray for me that I continue to receive clearer instruction about what are the steps to take. Pray also that I’ll continue to be open to God’s teaching from Scripture about the added dimensions of the message he has given me.
Thanks, everyone! Be blessed!
Church elders, pastors and experienced worship leaders tell me that they’ve long sensed that something has gone drastically wrong with the state of praise and worship in Singapore. The problem is that most of these people are not musically technical. So they are unable to instruct their church worship musicians on the right way to play for worship.
Compounding the problem is the confusion that has arisen in the Body of Christ over the way the Holy Spirit leads in worship. Powerful and influential people have propagated the idea that the Holy Spirit’s working in praise and worship is a unpredictable, anything-goes, anti-technicality kind of thing. Swinging to the other extreme, some have demanded the wrong technicalities, those that glorified the musician but didn’t edify the people or glorify God. And they laid a heavy burden on the backs of the musicians, calling it a spirit of excellence. By their choice of words they covered a horrendous mistake with a holier-sounding veneer. But a mistake covered is still a mistake none the less.
Worship ministries that have embraced either of these two schools of thought and supported them soon found something: More money was involved with doing things wrong rather than doing things right. Which was fine if YOU were the one getting the money, rather than spending it, hoping that your nagging doubts would be answered in the next worship course, the next worship seminar or conference, the next “worship” CD or the next instructional DVD from your ministry of choice. The carrot of being effective in leading worship is forever dangling in front of you, just a little beyond your reach. If after all these years what they have taught you hasn’t really worked, when are you going to realize that they are about as clueless as you are, just that you are paying them for imparting their cluelessness?
If the blind lead the blind…
It never occurred to me before, but when I read John 2 earlier this year about the first cleansing of the temple, I suddenly saw that the merchants that Jesus threw out were selling the animals used for the sacrifices of worship unto God. When Jesus said “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a marketplace!” he wasn’t talking about insurance agents hawking their wares amongst a congregation. Or about MLM-ers trying to build their downlines in their home church. He was referring to a system that started innocently and grew over the years to the point when it was in the praise and worship business but getting in the way of people connecting with God.
I call this system Praise and Worship Inc.
Praise and Worship Inc. isn’t a new phenomenon. It existed long before human history. Recognizing it sheds more light on the following passage of Scripture, one that didn’t make sense before:
“You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned.” (Ezekiel 28:11-16, NKJV)
This passage is widely accepted as referring to the fall of Satan when he rebelled against God. It is the source people refer to when they say that Satan used to be in charge of worship in heaven. In the NKJV it describes Satan as being made with musical instruments as a part of his body.
What I didn’t see before was the motivation that led to his fall. It says here “by the abundance of your trading…” In other words, Satan was already seeking to establish a worship business, Praise and Worship Inc. even while he was in heaven. And God cast him out.
Returning back to our time and place now, the pastors and elders I mentioned earlier told me they realized that something was wrong. But they couldn’t really put their finger on it. We’d agree on the list of all those artistes and singers they’ve found to be performers drawing the attention to themselves rather than effective worship leaders drawing the attention to God. But these church leaders couldn’t articulate clearly what was wrong, what led to their ineffectiveness. So oftentimes they just simply say “this person is just not a true worshipper” when they mean that he/she isn’t effective.
I used to be guilty of that too. Until a few days ago. I met up with a worship leader and was explaining to him the thrust of my ministry. He then asked for my opinion on certain artists, whether in my system and paradigm they were genuine worship leaders. Halfway through God spoke through me (and to me) saying “What we are judging right now is their effectiveness. Not their hearts. Who are we to say, just by listening to a CD, that we are able to discern a person’s heart?” And I proceeded to share with him the account of how a big-shot “worship” performer reacted when he was in Singapore to perform his usual worship concert and the auditorium he was in experienced a power shortage. Total black-out.
He junked all the fancy stuff he had prepared and, in the stuffy auditorium using just his voice and an un-amplified guitar, proceeded to sing God’s praises, leading God’s people into a powerful time of worship. So from this we see that it’s not for us to say an ineffective worship leader doesn’t have the heart for worship, right? All we can say is that what they do isn’t effective.
Of course, it’s sad when what they do is so ineffective that the easiest way to make things better is to cut off the electricity…
How about music instruction? The musicians go for training. Either they go for secular instruction, which will not address the specifics of how to play for worship, or they attend lessons from believers who either don’t know these specifics or don’t want to demystify worship. As for “worship” training from believers, there is constantly the struggle between teaching people what they want versus teaching them what they need. Because teaching what people need can be done very quickly, you drastically reduce your potential for having many long-term students. I mean, the principles that work are easily applied in worship, and after you truly understand them you can extrapolate from there what works and what doesn’t. Why take lessons after that, right?
As I said, there’s more money to be made from teaching the wrong things rather than the right things. Further courses, advanced modules, instructional DVDs, worship seminars and conferences. And this continues because the students, worship leaders and pastors don’t know any better. Or can’t articulate clearly what is the right way to do things for worship.
In the midst of all this I unapologetically tell people when what they’re doing is wrong. I tell them exactly what to do, putting my reputation on line behind what I say. I do my best to give people as big a picture as they can handle at that moment, but the test of all I say is when THEY try it and see clearly if what I teach works or doesn’t. And I don’t give people or myself the cop-out of saying that if it doesn’t work it’s because of issues of the heart (the worship ministers or the congregation).
This, people, is what I have been meditating on the past couple of months or so. I’ve been trying to articulate all these insights in a clear fashion. Wanted to email you all with updates, but I’ve been struggling about how to explain all these things in a coherent way. Two nights ago I did a worship keyboard workshop for the keyboardists of Petra and everything, especially the part about how money has entered the equation, just fell in place as I was explaining the essence of playing for worship.
So that’s my update. I’ve been preparing for keyboard workshops, refining my drums for worship training and continuing to further think through and clarify the message God has given me in the area of praise and worship. I just kind of skimmed through, without much detail, on the clarifications I’ve received over the past few months. Of course there’s more. I haven’t been resting on my laurels…
Thanks for your prayers. Pray for me that I continue to receive clearer instruction about what are the steps to take. Pray also that I’ll continue to be open to God’s teaching from Scripture about the added dimensions of the message he has given me.
Thanks, everyone! Be blessed!
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