15-5

A Faithful Worship Leader

Worship has hit the big time. There are several worship projects in the top fifty Christian albums right now. Tomlin, Redman, Crowder, Hillsong, and others have become household names. They can influence the way we think about and the way we lead worship. "But the worship industry isn't the standard God has given us to determine our effectiveness. His Word is. And if we don't understand that distinction we could miss God's unique plan for our lives. We'll be tempted to surrender to discouragement. And we'll fail to see that God hasn't called us to be successful or popular-He's called us to be faithful.

Being faithful means that we allow God to define our ministry. We put His desires above our own and even above the desires of those in our congregation. Having a massive following does not mean that we are doing what we should be doing. The best worship leader I ever worked with, who I believe to be the best in the country, served at a church smaller than the one we are in right now. He never produced a CD, in fact we never (to my knowledge) did any songs he wrote! We need people in our lives to remind us that "leading worship on a best-selling worship project isn't a sure sign one way or the other that God is pleased with what we're doing. It just means a lot of people have bought our CD."

We need to choose who we emulate very carefully. Just because someone is popular doesn't mean that they are worth following, sometimes the opposite is true! We cannot judge our success by the number of people in our church either. "More people doesn't always mean we're pleasing God. It could just mean we're good at marketing." We will use the technology that we have to bring the message of Christ to people in our congregation, but the moment the technology becomes the message, we have lost the plot. Our goal is to "impress upon people the greatness of the Savior whose glory transcends our surroundings and technology."

Romans 12:8 says we should lead 'with zeal' (or diligence). "Leading people to praise God involves energy, intentionality, and thoughtfulness." We have to point everything to the glory of God, and when we do people will come away praising Him, not us, which is the whole point! "n order to do that we must faithfully paint a compelling, attractive, biblical picture of the Savior. God isn't hiding from us, waiting to see if we'll find the right combination to unlock His blessing. He is eager to work through us as we faithfully lead our church into a clearer understanding of His glory."

Another thing we have to remember is that being a faithful leader doesn't always get you commended, applauded or even appreciated. In fact, sometimes we will be criticized for doing what we believe is biblical because it takes people places they either haven't been or don't really want to go. We have to remember that being faithful to God means that we will be rewarded by God. Knowing that we are pleasing Him makes things so much easier (not easy, but easier). Our story, our journey as a church will be completely unique and we will do things that work here that wouldn't work other places. We are not trying to become 'just like' anyone else. "Our goal isn't success, popularity, or personal fulfillment. It's anticipating-by God's grace and for the glory of Jesus Christ-that we'll hear on that last day, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'" I can't wait.

Enjoy the Journey