There is a lot of truth in this, and frankly it is a bigger concern at larger churches. I attend a large church and serve in the worship ministry. I must confess that there are times when I think there is too much emphasis on performing for the congregation rather than leading them in worship. In fairness I do not feel this way often, which is good. However, in many large churches like ours there are many people who are talented enough to be performers; actors, singers, instrumentalists, etc. The very real danger is when we start thinking that we’re the show rather than Jesus being the show. We must always remember that God could raise up a rock to sing more beautifully than we ever could if He chose to do it. Our talents are gifts from Him an should always be used to point others to Him. We must not ever reach the point where we are so performance-driven that we actually disengage the congregation from the very worship we are supposed to be leading. God uses us by His grace, not our ability and any worship that tends to focus more on us and our performance than on Him and His love is dangerous. Worship should always be focused on Him, so we must ever be mindful not to become a stumbling block to worship when we’re supposed to be a stepping stone.
Last week I spent a couple of days attending the
National Worship Leader Conference
, hosted by
Worship Leader Magazine
, featuring many well-known speakers and worship leaders. The conference was held about 15 minutes down the road from me, so it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I’m glad I went.
I met some new people, heard some thought-provoking teaching, enjoyed some good meals and conversations with worship leader friends, and experienced in-person some of the modern worship trends that are becoming the norm in evangelicalism. It was eye-opening in many ways.
Over the last few days I’ve been processing some of what I saw and heard.
Worship Leader Magazine does a fantastic job of putting on a worship conference that will expose the attendees to a wide variety of resources, techniques, workshops, songs, new artists, approaches, teachings, and perspectives. I thought of Mark Twain’s famous quote…
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