Pride and Prejudice

The single greatest piece of advice I ever received and I will ever give out regarding worship leading is this:

"There will aways be someone better than you."

I know, you were probably expecting something more spiritual or deeper. I'm sorry to disappoint. But this is more important than anything else.

Whether a worship leader admits it or not, the biggest struggle they will ever have in leading worship is pride and jealousy. Just like anyone else in the spotlight, pride can become a serious issue. And because there are so many worship leaders out there, jealousy is inevitable. It's easy to let it go to your head when realizing that people are looking to you to lead them in worship and then seeing those people get into it passionately. You think, "Wow, I'm awesome!"

So then you have this impression that you are one awesome, anointed worship leader but then you go to another worship service. And you see this good looking, young dude jamming out on guitar, belting out a sweet song, with a rockin' band behind him, and your blood begins to boil. You start looking for flaws in the set, you start justifying why you are more anointed. You ignore the presence the God, that's not as important as figuring out how you could do the set better. Jealous much?

That was me. And then one day, I grudgingly came to the realization that whether it's singing, piano, bass, or leading in general, there will always be someone better at it than me. And then I took the next step, I got over it. I got over my little diva stage and started focusing on what's important - worshiping the one true God. And you know the cool thing? I got better as a worship leader and as a musician. Except this time, I won't make the same mistake.

So all you worship leaders and musicians out there? You're not that great at it so get over it. I did.