WORSHIP LEADERS
PLEXIGLASS PARADISE OR PURGATORY? // WHAT ONE FUNNY IMAGE REVEALED ABOUT THE“ WORSHIP WARS” | Grant Norsworthy
Image generated by Google via the Imagen 3 model from a prompt by Jon Gardner, 4 / 19 / 26
What do you feel when you see this image? Relief? Horror? Recognition? Envy? Laughter?
Are you a fan of acrylic screens in a church music setting— or firmly against them?
You can tell( I hope) that the image is AIgenerated. This is not a real photograph from a real church service with a real“ worship team”. Yes, we’ re used to seeing drummers inside a“ fish tank”, but in this image every member of the band is encased in acrylic. That’ s not the only odd detail. Most of the musicians have their backs to the congregation. There’ s even a pair of floor wedges sitting outside the shields!
I hope you can see the funny side. I certainly did when my friend Jon— who serves at a Baptist church near College Station, Texas— emailed it to me last week with the subject line: New Stage Layout Proposal.
I shot him a quick reply:“ I laughed out loud! Thanks. Hope you’ re well.”
Then, almost as an afterthought, I posted the image to Facebook with this caption: Maybe just sticking the drummer in a fish tank isn’ t enough. How about this for a proposed solution?
What happened next surprised me. My usually quiet Facebook page lit up. At the time of writing, the post had more than 183,000 views, hundreds of comments, nearly a thousand reactions, and dozens of shares.
Some people simply laughed and moved on. But many comments suggested a raw nerve had been touched. Opinions were sharply divided. Some people strongly dislike acrylic screens. Others love them— or at least consider them necessary, even essential, in a church music setting.
When I posted this satirical image, people immediately took sides. Some wanted cleaner mixes. Some wanted authentic drum tone. Some wanted lower stage volume. Some wanted a better audience experience. Others wanted relational, connected, shared-space worship expressed through the singing of the congregation.
It reminded me of something important: Methods divide most where goals remain undefined.
This absurd image exposed a fault line in church music ministry. The acrylic itself was not the real issue. Humor had revealed a deeper tension:
• production vs. participation
• control vs. community
• sound quality vs. connection
• performance vs. pastoral purpose
• technology as servant vs. technology as master
Which side of those tensions does your church naturally drift toward? Is everyone in agreement— senior pastor, leaders of sung worship, musicians, technicians, congregation? Have you ever discussed it clearly?
Because people defend different methods
54 May 2026 Subscribe for Free...