WORSHIP LEADERS
THE OPINIONATED WORSHIPER | Grant Norsworthy
Opinions are like belly buttons . Everybody ’ s got one !
Similarly , it seems to me that - even amongst sincere followers of Jesus - just about everyone has their opinion of what worship is .
ANECDOTE 1
I had lunch with a good friend of mine recently . The conversation landed on music in the church . I quickly discovered that my friend was a little bent out of shape . He was upset about some of the songs being used for his church ’ s Sunday services .
“ A lot of them are just not worship !” he exclaimed .
To better understand what he meant , I asked a few questions . Turns out my friend only found songs that referred to God in the second person “ You ” qualified as worship . To him , other songs that simply declared truth about God , or used “ I ” or “ we ” to express our response to God did not qualify as worship .
ANECDOTE 2
I received a Facebook message from a woman who had attended one of my “ Night of Praise ” events . She was very complimentary of my presentation and expressing her heartfelt thanks - in particular for a change she had noticed in her teenaged daughter .
“ It was at your concert that she first worshipped !”
I wanted to be sure what she meant , so I asked for further clarification . It became clear that it was as I led the crowd to worship God through songs that the mother first observed her daughter raising her arms and closing her eyes as she sang .
ANECDOTE 3
Many years ago , when I was a very young , 19 or so , some friends and I were invited by church leadership to form a band for a special Sunday evening youth service for my very conservative ( organ , piano , choir , and hymnal ) Baptist church . Some of the younger musicians and I had heard a different style of music at other churches and bigger youth events . Drums , electric guitars , bass , and songs with groove ! It would be a first , but we were excited to try to replicate what we ’ d heard and experienced . We would introduce a musical style that we - and others our age - could better relate to . We were passionate and motivated , but we were also young , inexperienced , and amplified through a totally inadequate sound system that was designed for only a single , spoken human voice . We did our best , but we must have sounded horrible .
Immediately after the service , an older lady from the congregation reproached me with stern severity . With a gnarly finger pointing to the platform where our band had been playing just minutes earlier , she declared , “ Grant ! That was not worshipful !”.
ANECDOTE 4
The eldership of a church that meets not far from my home engaged me to do some coaching for a young man who was one of the church ’ s leaders of worship through songs . While very capable musically , when this young man led , the congregation struggled to engage . They felt unable to sing along worshipfully . Among other topics , the young man and I discussed Sunday morning song key choices . We were not seeing eye to eye . I was suggesting that the keys he was choosing - while certainly highlighting an exciting register in his own voice - were making it very difficult for the congregation - especially the men - to sing along . “ But Grant !” he explained , “ I have to choose those keys ! I can ’ t worship authentically unless I am singing in that upper register of my voice !”
ANECDOTE 5
When I was a child and into my teen years , my family religiously attending our local , very conservative Baptist Church in Melbourne , Australia . To my parents , the word “ worship ” was a noun . A thing . Worship was the event - that included singing , Bible reading , prayer , offering , communion and sermon - that happened inside the church building at 11am and 7pm every Sunday . We were always at both of them . But if the event went longer than 90 minutes , my mother would get a bit annoyed .
ANECDOTE 6
“ Three praise songs and two worship songs .” That ’ s how the pastor would describe the song selection he wanted for the services . This was when I was in my twenties and one of the bassists for the Pentecostal church I was now part of . To him , at least in this context , worship described a slower , softer , more meditative type of song .
ANECDOTE 7
A buddy of mine had stopped attending the church where I first met him some months earlier . The next time I spoke with him , I asked why I wasn ’ t seeing him at the services anymore . He replied , “ I wanted to go to a different church where I like the worship more .”