Worship Matters - Part 2

This is the 2nd installment of my thoughts about Worship Matters - as we (our pastoral staff and worship staff) walk through this book together chewing on the concepts and opinions presented by Bob Kauflin. Last Wednesday it was my intention for the group to get through the first section of the book that addresses the Leader - which is chapters 1-5. We only made it through chapter 3 last week. Today we only made it to the end of chapter 4. So if this trend continues then this segment of the blog could grow considerably. Not that that is a bad thing - just an observation. I made it clear today that my goal was not to finish this book and move on so we could check it off as finished, but rather to take as much time as needed to discuss these issues so that we are all moving forward with the same clarity and unity on these topics. We are beginning to understand that even among our staff how different the views and/or interpretations of what worship is, what should happen in a service, how we should lead etc.. These are issues that we must address not only for personal gain and clarification, but also for corporate unity. Our church has become one church in many neighborhoods by adding a second campus this past January (and with the intention of adding more in the years to come). This demands unification of theology and practice so we can clarify vision, mission and doctrine as more staff are added to serve the additional campuses. We HIGHLY value worship and desire nothing less than to build a worshipping community built upon biblical priniciples and sound doctrine. With that in mind we discussed chapter 4 - "My Hands: What Do I Practice?". Below you will find my thoughts from that chapter and my thoughts about what was discussed in our 2 hour meeting.

Thoughts and Questions From Day 2

• Skill must be developed with a correct understanding of theology so that it is pursued and used in a way that brings the most glory to God possible. We all recognized that skill is essential in leading corporate times of worship. We all agreed that skill must be developed and honed. We all agreed that skill is not the goal - bringing glory to God IS! We also came to the conclusion that it is often difficult to hone skill unless it is prioritized. Our daily tasks and job requirements leave little room to take time and practice our craft. We (in our flesh) realize that we can rely on natural ability and know where "the bar" is set and know how to do enough to clear "the bar". That is backwards thinking and a thought full of laziness and undisciplined character. Our goal should not be to "clear the bar" - our goal is to bring peoples attention to the greatness and wonder of God by exalting Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, and our skill (a gift from God to use for that purpose) is a key ingredient to helping accomplish that goal.
• We also gleaned from today that we do not have a good system in place for evaluation. The worship staff evaluates each other, the pastoral staff evaluates each other - but we do not regularly receive feedback on our leadership (as worship leaders). We do regularly receive evaluation on the services as a whole (feel, flow, technical, creative elements etc.), but in regard, specifically to our leadership in that service, we do not receive regular constructive evaluation.
• We HIGHLY value excellence - and have created a culture of excellence - the question we are wrestling with is - has that become the goal? If we solely evaluate on technicalities and only view the worship service as being succesful if everything happened the way it was supposed to - then we have created an idol! If God only "shows up"(in our evaluation) when everything clicks then things and thoughts need to be re-aligned to correct that. Our goal (and I do not state this as reality for CCCC) should not be to receive positive comments about that service when we walk off the stage - You sounded great tonight, You played so well, The vocals were tight, The lighting was amazing, - our ONLY goal is to use our skill and transitions and technical abilities to HELP PEOPLE SEE GOD MORE CLEARLY AND BECOME AWED AND AMAZED AT HIS CHARACTER AND GLORY!
• Skill should ALWAYS help people focus on God - not on ourselves. We should play, sing and lead so excellently that people don't realize how excellently it was done because they are so enamored by the God they are worshipping. We are here to SERVE the church, not our egos or our agendas! If our skill overshadows God's greatness (i.e.-people are more drawn to it than God) then we find ourselves in the path of God's righteous wrath - ISAIAH 42:8 - I am the Lord; that is my name: and my glory I WILL NOT GIVE TO ANOTHER, NEITHER MY PRAISE UNTO GRAVEN IMAGES.
• Leadership and Communication are the two skills that I need to work on the most. I have not worked on them as I should for much of the same reason I haven't spent time in theology and doctrine books - IT'S HARD and UNNATURAL. I can play the piano or the guitar and sing with relative ease, but it takes MUCH more effort to help people focus with words alone - without the emotion of music and production behind it. I was very convicted about my lack of leadership and communication skills as a worship leader. For the vast majority of the time I have really just been a SONG LEADER - I've planned a worship service and tried to cram as many songs into a set that time allows with the thought that quanity equals quality. I do that because it's easier to play songs then it is to take time to teach and help people focus on what songs are talking about. Now, I'm not suggesting that I say something before or after EVERY song - I am suggesting that it could be more beneficial if I planned 3 songs instead of 5 and really spent time making sure the people I am serving understand what they are singing and biblically why that is an appropriate response. I can only do that if i take time to plan when I'm going to speak and what I'm going say. Here's some thoughts on communication during worship.

• QUESTIONS I NEED TO ASK ABOUT SPEAKING DURING A WORSHIP SERVICE

1. Have I prepared to speak during this service the way I have prepared to play and sing during this service? If I don't prepare then I will most likely not speak or say something that is very trite and/or overused - a Sunday School phrase
2. Does what I want to say move the service towards its goal? If the service is geared towards the sovereignty of God and I begin to speak about how I was affected earlier in the day by my son's child-like faith - while important, it completely halts the intended flow of the service. It is something that I should blog about later and not share with hundreds of people to help them focus on God's sovereignty
3. Is what I'm communicating Biblically informed? This should be obvious, but judging by the choice of songs that we use we would do well to run our thoughts by our pastor(s) before speaking them as truth in front of the congregation, and would save ourselves the embarrasment of having the pastor correct our thoughts later in the service.
4. Is what I am saying distracting because it is not communicated well? This kind of deals with question 1 but in further detail. We can plan to speak, we can prepare to speak and fail to accomplish our goal because it was communicated poorly. It can be Biblically informed - it can be God oriented and goal (for the service) oriented, but if it's communicated poorly it will be just as distracting to those we are trying to serve as it would be if we played the wrong chord or messed up a transition etc. . Again it would be beneficial to run your thoughts by your pastor to make sure they are not only biblical, but coherent as well.

Skill is essential in leading worship and there are many skills that are used to lead worship effectively. We must be leaders that develop those skills needed to serve our churches well. We must not back away from developing some skills because it is awkward or difficult, and we must not over-value one skill above another. They are ALL needed when we step up on stage to help the ones we stand before see God for who He is. Let's stop being the "creative" guys that are undisciplined in thought and life and start being the ones that set the example (as we are called to do biblically) in diligently honing our craft to the glory of God!

Any other thoughts and opinions on this topic are welcome.