Worship Musician August 2020 | Page 24

at pastors, I see so much opportunity for leadership that maybe hasn’t been realized yet. What I mean is, we have a tendency to “silo” our responsibilities in the church. The children’s minister ministers to children, and the worship pastor ministers in music. Some people just call me a musical worship leader. The pastor’s job in many churches is to develop and to deliver sermons. Stephen Lee, my pastor said that, which I think is wonderful, but if you think about Jesus’ role in the church, He is the historical lead pastor. His role was not just to lead and feed in terms of delivering content in a sermon. Everywhere Jesus went, everything He did, He was worshipping His Father and was teaching the people around Him how to worship their Father. So, when a pastor gets this concept that worship is actually the birthing place of every meaningful Christian endeavor, and everything is born of worship and sustained in worship, and inspires worship. So if you love the Lord your God with all of you heart, mind, soul, and everything, that means my Evangelism is born of worship. My preaching is born of worship. If I’m a prophet, my prophecy is born of worship, and when I get that, everything I do is an expression of worship, and I can lead my people in worship with everything that I do. Sometimes we get frustrated as pastors, if I teach a sermon and I want people to respond, but the response that I’m looking for I may not get from the congregation. But if I’m trying to inspire people to worship, what I’m developing then is a people who do exactly what God calls them to do: to love the Lord their God with all of their heart, mind, and soul, and spirit, then they become worshippers and they learn to worship in every aspect of their lives, which is exactly the calling of the church. We are called to prepare a worshipping people for the Lord. So, what happens when pastors begin to realize they’re actually the head worship leader at their church? I’m their first example, I’m the one they’re watching, I’m the on they’re taking their lead from. So, If I want worship in church, I need to have not merely expectations of them that I am not giving myself, but I need to be what I want to see in the congregation. If I want change then I’ve got to be the change that I want to see. If a pastor gives that then what I’ve seen is that they end up with worshipping congregations. Rather than waiting for the worship pastor to lead their congregation in worship, they begin to lead their congregations themselves, even when they’re on the floor. The whole congregation is watching those guys, watching how they’re using their hands, how they’re engaged in the song, my pastor will get down on his knees sometimes. The whole congregation sees my pastor get down on his knees and they realize bowing down before the Lord is for men of leadership, too. Bowing down before the Lord is for people of power and strength and authority. Kneel before the Lord, He deserves it, that’s what I’m trying to encourage. [WM] Worship leaders are not merely a warm- 24 August 2020 Subscribe for Free...