It is critical that worship leaders have a solid grasp on their understanding of what it is they are called to do. Personally, I have found Bob Kauflin's book - "Worship Matters" - to be of great service in my pursuit of better understanding my role and purpose in serving the church. Some of the staff here CCCC have been meeting weekly to talk through the ideas that Kauflin lays out in this book. We are committed to serving our church well in times of corporate worship and walking through this book together has helped solidify and unify us as we continue to build - to the best of our ability - a biblical worship community. Today we walked through chapters 8 - 11. Kauflin is breaking down the phrases of his definition of what a worship leader is and does. The phrases we tackled today were "Magnifies the greatness of God" (Ch.8), "In Jesus Christ" (Ch.9), "Through the Power of the Holy Spirit" (Ch.10), and "Skillfully Combining God's Word" (Ch.11). Worship leaders, Teaching Pastors, Volunteers, Lay People - - ALL need to read this book. This books focus is geared towards equipping Worship Leaders to faithfully lead times of corporate worship more effectively, but this book is full of biblical doctrine and theology about worship that EVERY believer needs to be aware of and living out in their own lives. Below are my personal thoughts about the section of the book that we discussed today and quotes that spoke loudly to me. Please feel free to comment.- "David shows us the appropriate starting point for worship. It involves thinking about, magnifying, and responding to the glory and splendor of God." - pg 61
- "Our great privilege as worship leaders is to help people see through the eyes of faith how great God has actually revealed himself to be. He doesn't change. We do." - pg 62
- We discussed how a lot of "worship songs" tend to present vague ideas about God that many other religions could incorporate into their own times of worship. We have a Bible full of detailed revelation about who He is and what He has done - why would we ever be satisfied to sing so generally about Him. Kauflin goes on to say "If our songs aren't specific about God's nature, character, and acts, we'll tend to associate worship with a style of music, a heightened emotional state, a type of architecture, a day of the week, a meeting, a reverent mood, a time of singing, or a sound. We'll think of all the things that accompany worship rather than the One we're worshipping. Worse, we'll create our own views of God, portraying him as we like to think of him." - pg 62
- We are committed to using technology, media and music to help portray the greatness of God. The danger of using these things is that people become more impressed with the presentation then they do with God himself. We can't allow the experience to overshadow the reason we have gathered in the first place. Let those things serve you - do not become a slave to them.
- I was greatly humbled when Kauflin reminded me that God has invited me to join the worship that he has been involved with before the world began. The triune God is enjoying and glorifying himself - and has been through eternity past - I am granted a "backstage pass", if you will, into this divine worship service. How humbling!!! This brings great responsibility to the leader as he leads others to corporately share in that experience as well.
- "Magnifying God's greatness begins with the proclamation of objective, biblical truths about God, but it ends with the expression of deep and holy affections towards God." pg 65 - Generally speaking, we (worship leaders) tend to move as quickly as possible to the expression of deep and holy affections - but what we fail to realize is that deep and holy affections are rooted in and grow out of clear, objective, biblical truths. If they(affections) are not in response to biblical truth they become the focus of the experience, and thus, an idol that must be torn down.
- I highlight and write in all the books I read - this chapter "IN JESUS CHRIST" had more highlighted then not. Kauflin quotes D.A. Carson, and I will as well - "Christian worship is new-covenant worship; it is gospel-inspired worship; it is Christ-centered worship; it is cross-focused worship." - pg 70
- We must help peoples eyes look to Jesus - our Mediator. Without him we would be denied access to God. He sits at God's right hand interceding for us. His sacrifice quenched God's wrath, his death and resurrection make it possible for me to approach the throne of God. I am not an O.T. temple worshipper - I am a new covenant, Jesus Christ, worshipper! When we paint a clear and compelling picture of who Jesus is and what he has done for us - it provokes passionate worship and adoration. It is rooted in objective, biblical truth - this is not something we have done, or feel - this is a response to what has already happened.
- I loved the quote from David Prior - "We never, therefore, move on from the cross of Christ, only into a more profound understanding of the cross." - pg 76 - Kauflin then quotes from Jim Elliff - "Heaven does not 'get over' the cross, as if there are better things to think about, heaven is not only Christ-centered, but cross-centered, and quite blaring about it." pg 77
- From worship leaders perspective - we must plan our services so that everything is viewed in light of the cross and the affects it has on our lives. Missions, Suffering, Hope, Peace, Love, Serving, God's Sovereignty, Grace, Sacrifice, Giving - - EVERYTHING must orbit around the central theme of Christ and him crucified. We must bring the cross into view every time we lead people in corporate times of worship. We must not just mention it in passing - but sit with it and remember it and think about it - and allow it to bring fresh understanding to whatever thought or theme we may be focusing on.
- I was personally convicted when we read Ch.10 on the power of the Holy Spirit. Doing things with excellence is something I put a lot of energy into. I prepare well, I research songs, I walk through transitions, I rehearse until we can't do it wrong - for the purpose of doing things with excellence - to a fault. The 'cue sheet', as we have affectionately called our order of service, becomes my master. It tells me what should happen next. I planned it to go a certain way - and I fight feelings of anger when I have to change something or the teacher goes off topic and totally messes up the back end set. It is all rooted in pride! I need to be listening to the Spirit once the service begins - he MIGHT use the plans that we have diligently prepared, but he doesn't HAVE to use it. It's our jobs to listen and watch for Him and then move to what He is doing. I have to be prepared to make changes on the fly and set the 'cue sheet' down so that I can get on God's plan for what is happening. I'm not saying that I'm not trying to be sensitive to the spirit - in fact, if I feel like the Spirit is moving me during the portion of the service I am leading then I, LOL, take pride in that, but if the teaching pastor changes course or something else happens that I didn't plan, but now have to respond to - I should do it humbly with a servants heart - and not grumbling with a complainers attitude!
- Chapter 11 was another chapter that had more highlighted and written in then the actual text. This post is getting extremely long as is - so let me just say - read chapter 11, then read it again and again and again - and when you think you have it down, then read it again just to make sure. IT'S THAT IMPORTANT!
To Summarize:
Worship leading has SO much more to do with correct theology and sound doctrine then it does with singing songs or creating the right atmosphere. Our role is to re-direct peoples attention away from their crises and onto the Creator. Only when they view the Creator, as he reveals himself in scripture to be, will they view their crises correctly. The scary part is that we may miss the opportunity to move their gaze because we are so locked into the plan we prepared beforehand. We must not allow our pride to quench the Spirit. Part of the prayers we pray as we prepare need to be for a soft heart that is sensitive to the Spirits leading. Lastly, let's not be satisfied with the latest "7 Minutes with God" devotional, but let us approach the living water, which is the Bible, and drink deeply! We are teaching through prayer, song, speech, media - it must all be biblically informed if we want to see lasting fruit. Any comments are welcome.
