As we talked about last week, it is important to speak the truth in love to each other. As we grow in our ability to do this, we need to also grow in our ability to HEAR the truth when it is spoken to us. Here’s part two of this series to start our discussion. Leave a comment here, drop me an email, or better yet, start a thread on the FORUM and let us know what you’re thinking.
The Bible says that we are to “speak the truth in love” to each other. One of the things that we as the Church are getting better at as a whole is the second half of this idea. We are (thankfully) improving at loving each other. What we’re still needing to improve on, myself included, is in speaking the truth. This is especially CRUCIAL in worship ministry.
Worship ministries are comprised of artists, and typically led by artists. The classic artist mentality is one that does not see black and white, and rarely aligns itself with the lines, rules, and boxes that the rest of the world does. It’s not that we’re unaware of reality, we just see reality a little differently. We tend to see things to extremes. When others are joyful, we see the reason behind the joy and want to capture it in song, word, dance, poetry, paint, or media art. When others are mournful, we feel deeply along with them and want to give others a vehicle for expressing their sorrow with our art.
While we go about the ministry of worship as artists, centering our lives around the truth is our highest calling. As we lead others in expressions of praise, adoration, worship, joy, lament, and contemplation, we need to be firmly grounding ourselves in the Word so that what we lead others in is not simply an emotion, but rather a timeless truth that seats Jesus on the throne of our lives.
This is no more true than in our interactions with each other.
With all that said, here’s the latest DW video installment, called “The Truth”, part 1 of 2.
Imagine the President comes to your town. He pulls up outside of the event location in the luxurious armored limo, steps out, and walks “the line” greeting people, shaking hands, and speaking with the citizens and press that are gathered at the event.
You, however, miss all of this.
You run straight to the driver’s side of the car, and try to speak to limo driver. As he rolls down the window, you ask questions…
“DUDE! That was the best slow-driving I’ve ever seen! The way you turned that corner without ever topping 4 MPH was amazing!!! Hey, what kind of hat are you wearing? Are those driving gloves leather?!? Do you have any tips for me as I drive my car? Are you using 92 octane, or is this thing diesel? Do you ever have a hard time getting the car to go in reverse? I want to drive just like you!”
The problem with this is that while you’ve gotten to know the limo driver and asked him some questions about his job, the President of the United States made himself available to you, and missed it.
Worship Leaders are a LOT like limo drivers.
We live in a strange time where worship leaders get a lot of attention. They play well, sing well, inspire us, lead us in worship, and they are a gift from the Lord. When we see them as the main attraction, though, we miss the entire point.
One of the most potentially gifted worship leaders I’ve ever met struggles with addiction. He lives in Houston, TX, and was a part of a worship ministry that I used to lead. He regularly attends AA meetings, and wishes he didn’t smoke so much. He loves sweets and caffeine, and laments that, too. He spends most of his days burdened so heavily by the things that he doesn’t like about himself that he talks himself into a dizzying state of guilt – one which he believes causes God to not love him…
I have discovered that God doesn’t need me to “get away from it all” to find Him, because He is already where I am.
There is a lesson that every one of us can learn from the woman that Luke chapter seven tells us about. She came to worship the Lord in an intimate way, but in a public setting.
My Senior Pastor led us through an excerpt from a book that John Ortberg wrote, and in that book, he talks about the concept of “Hope Bandits”. They exist in every church, and I would submit to you that also exist in every worship ministry.
You can’t just see the need and do nothing.
You can’t just try to meet a need that may or not be real.
Leaders see what needs to be done, and they do what needs to be done.
While worship takes many different forms, musical worship is a powerful way for God’s people to gather and worship Him with the same heart. Whether you lead worship for 10 people or 10,000 people - whether you’ve been leading worship for years, or are curious in what it takes to get started - this website is for you. I’ve been praying you would come. The heart of this web ministry is to see a generation of equipped and connected worship leaders emerge in the local church. It starts right now, with you checking out this site. Take a few minutes to watch a video. Click on the “CONNECT” tab to join in the community that’s already here, encouraging each other from around the world. Let’s see what develops when you engage in DevelopingWorship!