Where I lead worship, you can ask just about any of the
members what their favorite part of any activity is, about 90 percent of the
time the answer is music. Yay me. You gotta love that. And the classic part is
that I’m about as hacky as they come on the guitar. The group I play for is
made up of a mixture of college-aged-kids and young adults with disabilities.
And if you want to see “Blessed Be Your Name” sung the way God intended it,
come on out for a visit some Monday night.
This past week I had a couple days away from the magazine
business and headed up to Shaver lake (which is in the middle of California)
with my group. And there is this one guy who is a pretty good friend of mine.
He calls into question the popular use of the term lead worshiper. Actually,
because of the nature of my group, I’ve always kinda had a problem with that
one. It just seems so arrogant. To stand in front of a group and say that I am
the lead worshiper. I just have such a hard time swallowing that. Especially
when I look around and see so many more people who are leading me—kids in wheel
chairs, kids with Down Syndrome, able-bodied young people with arms around the
core members. Any of these people might be the lead worshipers. Maybe the ones
sitting in silence the most.
Of course, I believe that there is a truth to the fact that, as the leader, what you focus on, is what the congregation will focus on. If you are standing like a nimrod, pointing to your ear because your in-ear isn’t working, or if you completely stop playing and because your D string broke on your Tayolor guitar, well you know what everyone else will be focused on. In the same way, if you are focused on God… well you get it.
But, still I cant say I’m the lead worshiper.
I see it as a kind of worshiping with one eye open. You HAVE to be aware of your surroundings when you are leading people. Because you are not the only one who draws attention to and from God in a service of worship. One of your roles is to help keep those distractions to a minimum, you do this in rehearsals, practice, sound checks, so much so that you are able to freely worship in a service—you are the worship leader. So because of that, we can’t just space out. Our role as the leader is to also keep in touch with the lead worshipers. See where they are headed, be in touch with them. Let them help us discern the spirit of the moment.
Any way, I asked my friend who uses a wheelchair to get up and lead with me for one of the songs during a service at camp because he doesn’t get “on stage” that often (no ramp). The rest of the week all he could ask anyone was, “Remember when I was leading?” In my mind my response was, “Of course I remember. How could I forget: you lead me every week.”
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