Leading Worship Off Stage; Is It Time For a Paradigm Shift?

Do people want what you have?  Not your talent.  Not your ability.  Do people see Jesus in and through you and do they desire what you have?  Being a good worship leader doesn’t mean you are only good at leading the band and getting the church congregation to lift their hands.  Some people might draw the line there, but thats only a fraction of the calling.  Being a good worship leader means that through your life people will experience Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.  The term “Worship Leader” is, not surprisingly, nowhere mentioned in the bible.  Although, in every single church gathering you will find a “worship leader” or someone who essentially carries a similar role.  In our day and age, we put a lot of weight in the abilities, and shortfalls, of our worship leaders yet we don’t “reality check” ourselves very often.  I wonder how many times we limit God to a 15 minute worship set?  He isn’t a God who desires 15 minutes of surrender. He is a God who desires a lifetime of surrender. Just like when we are leading the church in song with the band and we hope that people connect with God and the Holy Spirit through a musical atmosphere of praise, our goal should be the same off of stage.  Our lives should be like songs of praise to God.  It is time that we shift our thinking towards a life of worship and not a life committed towards worship music.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true and proper worship. – Romans 12:1

Notice there is no mention of music in the above passage.  To offer our bodies completely to God means that we are not our own anymore, we belong to God.  What would it look like if you lived your life like it wasn’t your own?  Whatever the answer to that question is for you is what a true life of worship looks like.  What would your life look like if everyday when you woke up, you thought about how you would get to see the Kingdom of God move today?

Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. ¹⁵ Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God – 2 Corinthians 2:14-15

The Holy Spirit works through us so that we would begin to look, act and become more like Jesus.  How fragrant is my life?  The concept of this is that people take notice of us and that God takes notice of us.  God desires that we fulfill our calling, one could even call it an assignment: To walk like Jesus.  The truth is that everyone’s life is very fragrant.  The real question is: Do I give off a fragrance of the Holy Spirit or of the world?

²¹ Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, ²² throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. ²³ Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. – Ephesians 4:21-23

As worship leaders we should understand the concept of a renewed mind and attitude more than anyone.  The Holy Spirit is not someone we only connect with during the worship set, just like Jesus isn’t someone we only connect with when we repent of something we need forgiveness for.  We are, very literally, hosting the Holy Spirit with our lives.  When we understand that, our thoughts and attitudes step in line with the knowledge of God.  We need to ask the Holy Spirit to fill us, rest upon us and speak to us everyday and not only when we are about to step onto a stage.

So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding.  Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. ² You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. – Hebrews 6:1-2

Deeper and deeper still, God is always calling us deeper.  He is always pushing us and challenging us and we should, in response, be wanting to go deeper.  I have learned something in the last year that still astounds me, and that is: if you want more God will give you more.  I have seen God move in ways that I would only dream about.  I am accumulating testimonies that still make the hair on my arms stand up.  These testimonies are born out of seeking God and seeking maturity in Him.  I have a long way to go, like everyone else but the beautiful thing about God is that he meets us where we are so He can take us the rest of the way.  Leading worship is a very spiritual thing and it’s time we had some spiritually mature leaders.