Leading pragmatically

I love worshiping through music. It is my escape. Everything can fall apart around me, but when I'm in front of a piano, or playing the guitar, or just singing a "Jesus song," everything's ok.

And I'll get into it. Man, do I ever.

But when you're leading worship in front of people, you can't just "get into it." There needs to be a balance of two things: spirituality and practicality.

The number one goal in worship is to bring glory to God. Hands down. No question. I will never, ever contradict that with any post in this blog. But when you're leading others in worship, you need to keep an eye on a few other things. You can't just lose yourself completely in the worship.

I've had bandmates (or seen bands) that do a great job singing/playing but won't keep an eye on the clock to make sure they're not going into the pastor's preaching time. Or to make sure the rest of the band is following them. Or to make sure they didn't lose the crowd. And so on. They nailed the worship part but bombed the practical part. My favorite is the 10 minute long free worship section (which I will undoubtedly address in a future post).

The funny thing about worship is that it isn't about you. Never was, never will be. You put God first. Then you. But as a worship leader, there are not one, not two, but three groups you put first. God, then the congregation, then the band, then you.

More on this later.

P.S. If you're a worship leader and you want to continue to lose yourself in worship, try worshiping at home.