gospel in everything we do , not just in a big event ?
[ WM ] Well , that ' s good . I think Wimber ' s point was that worship does not always involve singing , and that outside of the church , praying for the sick on the street and feeding and clothing the poor are also acts of worship . How about you , Cory ? Any thoughts on this ?
[ Cory ] Oh man , it ' s a great question . And I think I resonate with a lot of what Johnny said . One of my heroes in worship , probably the hero for me in worship is a guy named Rich Mullins who I ' m sure you ' re familiar with . And he would come to most of his shows without shoes . Not because he had a hatred for shoes , but because he ' d always give them away earlier in the day to whoever needed them . And I love that heart . St . Francis . There it is . Yeah . I mean that ' s the heart of it , man . We always say that . Right ? Let my life be worship to you . And I think for a lot of us , especially as we get caught up in the industry , it ends up not being so worshipful . But keeping that heart to love the ones that we come-in-contact with is super simple .
When I go out to a restaurant with my wife , how am I treating the server ? Am I smiling at them ? Am I looking at them ? Am I tipping well ? Those are big things that I think we don ' t realize have an impact . The church has , in my opinion , kind of a bad reputation , especially in the restaurant culture , leaving a track instead of a tip . And you think you ' re doing them a favor . It ' s like , they don ' t appreciate that as much as you think they do . And a lot of times , the way into someone ' s heart is like Johnny said , “ it ' s just kindness ”. You go to 7-Eleven , you grab some gas , look at the attendant in the eyes , smile at them , talk to them . I ' ve found that that that ' s opened the most doors to actually use words in preaching the gospel , " Hey , why are you the way you are ? Why do you smile at me when you come in ?" " I ’ m just … I ' m a joyful guy ." We ' re supposed to be joyful . We ' re supposed to be the most joyful people on the face of the planet . Then you go and that ' s because I ' m safe . Jesus paid for me with His blood , that ' s a big thing . So , kindness , man . Kindness is everything .
[ WM ] Well said , both of you . Is an integrous lifestyle an important component behind leading worship that is impactful to the church ?
[ Cory ] Wow . Great question . Absolutely number one , I think so . It ' s really interesting . I think a lot of times we as leaders , we take the kindness of God sometimes as approval for some of things that are not so good in our lives that we ' re doing , but we ' re like , “ But wait , we ' re still anointed ”.
When we go to church and we lead worship , people are still falling out and getting touched and whatever … crying when I lead worship . And it ' s almost like we can take His goodness and His favor on our lives as a stamp of approved for the way that we ' re living . And because as we know , it ' s His kindness that leads us to repentance . He doesn ' t beat us up , like , " Hey , dummy , get it together ." You still experience His kindness and that ' s supposed to lead you to that place of repentance . Right ?
I think a lot of times people take it the opposite way . But to answer your question bluntly , absolutely . I don ' t think you will have a sustainable career , call it if you want to , in the worship world without a life of integrity . I think the Father has a way of rooting that stuff out . And a lot of times it takes people out .
The people that last a long time , I think are the ones that keep their heart up right before the Lord . And like David , King David that is , he wasn ' t perfect . We all know that . He messed up a ton . So , would you say about David , no he wasn ' t integrous ? No . But God told him he had