As a worship leader, I will
usually do all of the planning, preparing, and playing for any worship meeting.
I have played in a few different worship bands before, but I have never the
worship team leader with a band before. In recent year I have had those
opportunities to lead with a full band, usually high school students. But
things can become more complicated with the more people you lead with. I tend
to lean more towards leading in a smaller more intimate setting with maybe one
or two acoustic guitars and maybe light percussion. Often though, I usually
lead by myself.
I do this because I do not
like to complicate things. I am person who tends to over complicate everything
in my life. When I am leading people in worship, I want all the "bells and
whistles" to be secondary experiencing the presence of God. After this
week's reading, I have questioned my motives for this. Am I really doing this
for His glory, or do I avoid playing with others because I am being selfish and
desire the focus to be on me? We all ask ourselves these questions at some
point in our walk with Him. Bob Kauflin did a great job at pointing out why it
is important to have the contributions of others while leading worship.
When we choose to try and
lead on our own, we can find ourselves trapped in sin of deception. We may
think that what we are doing is bringing greater glory to God, but in reality
we are just deceiving ourselves and we can become filled with a sense of pride.
I become to rely on myself so much that I don't allow the Holy Spirit to use me
to magnify God. Kauflin says it like this, "Why is the solo model of
leadership so appealing? Because we're proud. If I'm the only one responsible
for putting things together, I get all the credit. I lose sight of giving glory
to God."
If we are not allowing
people to help us with preparation or any of that, we are denying people the
chance to serve God by serving you. We have to rid ourselves of the mindset,
"My way is the best way." We need to allow people to worship God by
being a part of the entire process. If nothing else are primary jobs as leaders
should be to pray, rehearse, and lead God's people. Every week is another
opportunity to benefit from the contributions and insights of others.
We also must get to the
point where our worshiping isn't only what the people will see Sunday mornings
or in other public meetings. The people of your church will never see some of
your most significant acts of worship. The most meaningful acts of worship will
happen in your hearts at any moment the Holy Spirit compels you to praise Him
in any way. True acts of worship are decisions you make to put selfishness to
death so Christ might be more clearly seen in your life.
We can experience true
worship more when instead of doing everything ourselves, we allow others to
come into our creative spaces and be apart of worship. This can spark a
creative fuse that will expand what worship could be beyond what your mind can
think of. We must put to death our pride and realize that other people are wiser
than us. You will have opportunities to fellowship with band members and find
out how others are doing in their walks with Christ. There isn't a band playing
when these things happen, but these are what real acts of worship should look
like.
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