Back to the story…
So there I was in my Christian life, enjoying results and
fruit in my worship ministry, knowing that as long as I can play the guitar I
can successfully lead worship almost all the time. I had some interesting
experiences because of that ability. There was once I visited a friend’s
church’s prayer meeting and was asked to lead worship with just one song. OK, I
took up the guitar, asked if they knew the only song I could think of (the group
was almost entirely made up of strangers), and then not only led them in
worship, but also flowed from there into prayer and intercession as well.
Hey, it was a prayer
meeting, right?
But what was missing?
Imparting that ability to others, so other people can successfully do what I
do.
2
Timothy 2:2 (NIV) - And the things you have heard me say in the presence of
many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach
others.
You see, I had invested hours and hours of time into my
personal devotions, music practice and all that in order to do what I did. And
that was fine when people are younger and have less demands on their time. Try
telling a harried mother of 2-4 kids that in order to fulfill God’s calling
upon her life she has to spend an hour a day on the Bible & prayer, and yet
another on a musical instrument.
That’s NOT going to
work!
So if I wanted to have people able to do what I did, I had
to distill everything I did down to its barest form, the most essential
elements. I had to show them principles that could guide their decisions and
choices, and those principles had to work even without people having to put in the
same kind of time and effort I had already put in.
Then One Fateful Day…
As I shared before in my book Invisible Worship Musician, I
was engaged by a music school to teach a course on playing the piano for
worship. It was during the lesson on playing intros for worship songs that I
suddenly realized the purpose of worship music: to unify the praises of the
people.
2
Chronicles 5:12-14 (NIV) - All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman,
Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar,
dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were
accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and singers joined
in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD.
Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their
voices in praise to the LORD and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.”
Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not
perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled
the temple of God.
So I shared this passage with the very first class taking that
very lesson. And from there I showed them how to create song intros that start
to do exactly that. It worked very well for the class, they were happy that
they got something simple that they could use after 3-4 lessons.
As for me, I continued to meditate on the implications of that
very same passage for many years after that. It explained to me why what I did
worked, and allowed me to give good reasons for why I would lead worship and
play for worship the way I did.
If you do
NOT have this understanding…
You end up with one of two extremes.
1)
You have people blindly copying EVERYTHING
from someone who inspires them. At one point of time, as a certain Christian
singer inspired many lady worship leaders in Singapore to dress, sing and pose
in a certain way (one arm held out at a particular angle). Even though she was
supposed to be a worship leader, she was more a lead singer, as she would
sometimes pitch songs in keys 180 degrees away from what was suitable for a
congregation. And she wasn’t good at leading the congregation…
I sometimes wonder if those Singaporean lady worship leaders ever caught on to the fact that what they were copying didn’t really help their church congregations in worship very much. If they did, did they ever figure out what went wrong? Or did they just blame their church congregations for being lukewarm?
I sometimes wonder if those Singaporean lady worship leaders ever caught on to the fact that what they were copying didn’t really help their church congregations in worship very much. If they did, did they ever figure out what went wrong? Or did they just blame their church congregations for being lukewarm?
2)
You have NO discipleship whatsoever. There may
be one good worship leader in the church, someone who can make things work, but
the other worship leaders want to do their own things in their own way. And
those things and ways don’t work. After some time, some of the congregation may
walk out or skip worship when they see who is scheduled to lead worship that
day.
I’m not saying that is the right thing to do, but it is better than these people totally changing church because they are frustrated during your worship time, right? Of course, these days quite a number of believers don’t recognize well-led praise and worship because they have been misled into confusing a song-and-dance routine with true worship. If they leave your church because you are not giving them the show they want but what they really need (a genuine encounter with the living God) that’s understandable.
What is unacceptable is when you know you can give them the real deal but choose not to…
I’m not saying that is the right thing to do, but it is better than these people totally changing church because they are frustrated during your worship time, right? Of course, these days quite a number of believers don’t recognize well-led praise and worship because they have been misled into confusing a song-and-dance routine with true worship. If they leave your church because you are not giving them the show they want but what they really need (a genuine encounter with the living God) that’s understandable.
What is unacceptable is when you know you can give them the real deal but choose not to…
Conclusion:
I’ve now shared with you the core story, why I do and teach what I
do. I hope that sharing my journey will help you understand me a little more,
and maybe help you on your own journey also. Be blessed!
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