Understanding Worship and Worship Leading

Over thirty years ago Harry Blamires sounded the alarm about the deterioration of the
Christian Mind, saying. “The mental secularization of Christians means that nowadays we
meet only as worshipping beings and as moral beings, not as thinking beings. His warning
was updated by Ambassador Charles Malik who said in a 1980 lecture at Wheaton College,
“I must be frank with you; the greatest danger besetting American Evangelical Christianity
is the danger of anti-intellectualism. The mind, as to its greatest and deepest reaches, is not
cared for enough.”

Set up for the class:

All that we will be discussing and accomplishing when I arrive assumes that we agree about
a few important values:
1) The more specific we get the more dynamic we become.
2) Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. We have to learn to say no to
good things so we can say yes to the best.
3) Complexity is the result of human pride. We love to return to it even after we’ve
been saved from it. Simplicity is a fruit of humbling ourselves before God and letting
the Holy Spirit be and do what Jesus said He would be and do.

TV DVD; mike and stand; keyboard; CD player; video of extreme/ pictures of good youth
rooms

Two parts:
Part 1: The Biblical Foundation and paradigm shift we need to make to align ourselves with
it
Part 2: Nuts and Bolts

Part 1:
Seven Practices of Public Worship: Singing; Giving Fellowship; Lord’s Table; Lesson; reading
scripture; prayer; evangelism
The old struggle between two opposite ends of the pendulum in programming for the
church
Arts/world/ vs. Holy Spirit led
I say both not either or

What the Bible says: (for the “if you’re happy and you know it just stand still)
Samah “rejoice, be glad.” 64 times
Mizmor “psalm” 57 times
King David’s stereo type with harp?
Ranau “shout for joy” 42 times
Shir “sing” 31 times
Full time musicians/ excellence/ industry leaders
Gil “shout, circle in joy” 29 times
Satan’s lie about Christianity settling for
“PooHed” sit with arms folded 0
mediocrity in all things
times
This is a lie/all through the ages the greatest
minds have been Christians
Example/ today’s industry what we have as Christians when we play v.s. the world

Artistry matters to God. The building of the Temple of Solomon was not simply assigned to
good-hearted people who wanted to give God their best; it was assigned to the most skilled
artisans and carpenters. The ministry of worship that was not entrusted to people who just
loved to sing or who worshipped with all their hearts; it was actually given to those who
were skilled in playing musical instruments and gifted with voice.
In every discipline, from the intellectual to the artistic, the church should be the envy
of nations, much like the way Jewish culture has maintained an ethos that has nurtured the
intellect of some of the world’s most renowned scientists and the artistry of some of the
world’s most gifted filmmakers. The church’s birthright is to be the fountainhead of
creativity and human potential.
The quote is from Irwin McManus and his book, "Unstoppable Force; pp. 109

“We are what we repeatedly do, Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

2. Worship Leading
Categories:

Your Band
• Don’t do solos on ever song
• Stop the madness/ no noodeling!
• Video tape and watch with team/ showing actions that took away from the
atmosphere and finding those that do
• During solos people not doing the solo can give adoration to God with Body language
1. This doesn’t mean you can’t engage with the person soloing/enjoying their gift
to God
2. don’t laugh with that person though and then after the solo give the attention
back to God with a Holy face
3. Understand that we can appreciate God in each other’s gifts also i.e. listening to
soothing music which paves the way to communicate with God/its not always
conceited to play solos
Back up singers:
• The most important thin g that you do is NOT sing; it is: Smile; participate; involve
people
• Don’t sway annoyingly the whole time you are on stage
• You don’t have to sing harmony on every part
• You don’t have to sing on every part
• Use your prop! Boom stand so you can clap/ mike in hand
• Coordinate somewhat your dress/apparel

You
You the leader to the small group worship team
1. Start on time
2. Create a culture of worship in your small leadership group/buy CD’s
3. Understand your gifts; I am a communicator
4. God is the giver of your gift/ ask him to bless your creativity/the art of your
instrument
5. If you are a man then act like one when you worship
6. leave room in your planning ahead of time for the Holy Spirit to lead with this in
mind: You only have a part/ sometimes you need to set down and let the Spirit
work through someone else/ let the Spirit work through you ahead of time as
well as within the instant
 7. Spontaneous moments (kicking the speaker over with cheyrl/ Magesty/Tragedy/
the wrong piano music/ the sheep) laugh at yourself/ power surge/ crowd
injury, strings breaking)
8. Skip on Stage/ put your instrument down/ create moments
You the leader to the people in corporate worship
• Stop the Holy Face thingy(Jamie smith) but be reverent example the “shorts” church
v.s. the stiff church
• Memorized prayers/thoughts/ example professor Tingle
• Work man hours example (100 people x1 hour is 2.5 weeks worth of work)
• Don’t apologize or cut on yourself ever Don’t do it
• Avoid lag time/ as the leader you can use your voice/prayer/greetings to do this
• Be Bold/ put me to ease / I want you to succeed/ I didn’t come here to see something
bad/ I am rooting for you/ 3% are against you win or loose
• Don’t assume people will act: Be Audible/ use words: speak out the parameters: i.e. I
invite you to worship freely, dance, sit, kneel
• Empower people by putting the responsibility on them proactively ie: “This is your
time to be with God, take advantage of this opportunity”
• Don’t be afraid to le t the Holy Spirit speak through Silence
• Be aware of the direction a song is headed/ to each other/to God/or about God

The people you lead

• Lead! Don’t let people solo on top of each other/get there early and set up/make the
band come and help and not just show up and play/take a bad bass player who will
always be there over the stud you have to beg/
• Set the parameters high and wide (within your personality) for the experience (they
will only go as far in expression/joy/connectivity as you the leader
1. Connect actions to words/kneeling “Havah and Saygahd” “to worship, to kneel,
to prostrate.” 65 times in OT/ Second most widely group of words used for
worship in OT
2. Remember “I bow down” Tony and Donnie challenging us to bow down/ Let’s
raise the bar of what we challenge people to do/ not forcing people/ inviting
people
3. Let your students worship be dynamic/ i.e. Time to lament in worship (the
Jewish model) let worship take on the different feelings that we go through as
humans
4. Remember that taking a group from a level of 8-10 is the same as taking them
from a 0 - 2
• Allow for a specific time of encouragement/fellowship/touching-hugging/but start the
next song! Tune again at this time/ talk to the tech/ talk with the band/ use this time
• Don’t try to be a “dig me” kind of person/this relieves the pressure/it is not about you
i.e. Never any inside jokes/ they can kill a room
• Don’t guilt people into participation/ DO invite people into participation
Tell them that you love them . . . sincerely love them

The place you lead

Atmosphere is crucial
People don’t listen to the words/content of your message until the third song
60% of people’s perception of you(and your message) comes from their initial impression
Perception begins before you get on stage to communicate
Get some pictures to communicate this point: some rooms communicate I don’t even
care about my own message
Pick out your pre-session music with purpose in mind

Do’s and don’ts

Do build a stage

Do clean your stage (this says I actually care enough about this person I am talking
about to present him in an environment that shows how important I really think it is.)
Don’t use florescent lights (They have a calming effect on people)