Worship Essentials

Can my worship leaders see the faces of our congregation?

Years ago, I learned the power of eye contact with the people I’m leading, both as a speaker and as a worship leader. Eyes contact brings an atmosphere of accountability to worship. When I can see the people I’m leading – and they can see that I can see – there is a higher rate of participation.

Can the congregation see other worshipers?

Theatrical settings where the ceiling is black, the stage is bright, and the congregation sits in the dark, compromises the corporate nature of gathered worship. If the worshipers cannot see each other, you need to revisit your choices, unless of course, you really are aiming for a concert experience rather than a gathered worship experience. People will focus on the place where the light falls the greatest. If you want the emphasis to be on the congregation, light them up!

Can the congregation see the text of their bibles when it is being preached or read?

It is important that people do more than hear God’s word in worship. They need to read it for themselves. The spiritual discipline of reading scripture should be modeled for people every time the church gathers. Churches with lights that are so low the worshipers can’t see the text will very soon be churches where people don’t even bring a bible to church. The negatives to that reality are too numerous to list here.

Final Thought

Imagine Psalm 40:3 reading this way – “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. No one will be able to see it because the lights are off.” It’s ridiculous to even type it.

No, it says, “Many will see and fear, and they will trust in the Lord.” The song of worship is a song to be seen. I’m not sure when concert lighting became the rage in worship. I’m afraid the intended results pale in comparison to what it has cost us in corporate worship. People should not come to church to watch something – they should come to do something.

Do a deep dive evaluating how your lighting choices affect the worship in your church.

Several years ago, Teresa and I visited the coast of Oregon. On one of the days, we stumbled upon a training base for the Coast Guard, and I found myself feeling like a ten-year old again. For a long time, I watched helicopters hover over the ocean while rescuers were going up and down on the ropes like they were ladders. I was amazed.

The Coast Guard exists to make rescues and they are good at it.

Even more years ago, Teresa and I went on a Caribbean Cruise with a group of friends from our church. It is the only time we have ever taken a cruise and it took a few days for us to get in the flow of how it worked. But one thing was obvious from the very start – there were people on the ship whose only responsibility was to make sure we were having a good time and had everything we needed. It seemed like every 15 feet or so we would encounter a crew member asking if we needed anything.

The Cruise Ship exists to entertain it’s guests and they are good at it.

With the cruise ship, customer satisfaction is paramount. The Coast Guard is focused saving people.  It would be hard to find someone that had been rescued who didn’t consider themselves to be a “satisfied customer.”

When I think about these two different types of vessels, I wonder, are our churches more like cruise ships or the Coast Guard? Are our programs more about the comfort and interest of the clients, or about the folks who are desperate in need of rescue?

The Cruise Ship church supports missions and may even have a few passengers disembark for mission excursions from time to time while the Coast Guard church is on mission, right where they are, to the people who are within their reach.

The Cruise Ship Church location is a just a dock for the cruise while the Coast Guard church is training, equipping, and sending out rescuers where they are.

I suppose churches that are one or the other may not be healthy – a church with both would be great. But if you could only be one of those, which one would you choose?

More importantly still, is your church a Cruise Ship or part of the Coast Guard?

The term “microaggression” is now in our dictionaries – seriously.  It’s easy enough to figure out what it means: “Micro” – meaning, “small” and “aggression” – meaning “offenses.”  Put them together and you have “small offenses.”

It’s a term usually found in work environments and other public places. Microaggressions happen when someone, through a series of small, coordinated actions, offend another person’s identity or sense of self in some way. We used to talk about “passive-aggressive” behavior which I suppose is similar.

I’ve been thinking about a new term lately – I’ll call it, “micro-obedience.”  It’s not in the dictionary, but I want to put it in mine. It means (to me at least), a series of small, coordinated acts of obedience that add up to a sanctified life. These decisions build on top on each other and once collected, have an amazing impact on the way life is lived.

Obeying the big stuff seems easier most of the time. I tithe. I worship. I am faithful to my wife and follow the laws of my country. I haven’t killed anyone and haven’t committed fraud. I am not aware of any big lies I’ve told.

But choosing to obey the voice of God moment by moment in the little things is harder.

“Speak to that person about grace.”

“Give your coat to that man.”

“Let that offensive remark go without responding.”

“Forgive her.”

Micro-obedience.

In I Peter 1:22, Peter writes, “Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly.” In other words, because you are practicing micro-obedience, you can have real love for others.

As worshipers, may we practice micro-obedience – those moment by moment little acts of following God’s leadership, motivated by our love for him and demonstrated in our love for others. They add up to a life that honors Christ and makes disciples.

Sounds like worship to me.

Welcome to the Worship Essentials Network blog! I hope to publish a few thoughts here that might be helpful to my fellow worship ministry travelers every week or so.

If you were a subscriber to the WorshipLife blog I wrote for Lifeway Worship back in the day, you’ll remember this space usually explored some recent experience or spiritual reality I was dealing with at the time. I wrote out of the space of what I was living.

I don’t expect this blog will be any different.

But I do expect the content to be totally different because what I am living right now is nothing like any of the life experiences that have come before.  At the end of August in 2023, I stepped away from leading a worship ministry in a church full-time to relocate nearer our family with the hopes I can somehow use these years of experience to help worship ministries and leaders of all kinds. So far, it’s been quite the adventure with no clue as to how it’s going to go in 2024.

Stepping away from gainful employment has revealed some interesting things about myself. Here are the top three:

It was easier to be generous when I knew I had new income coming.

I found more of my identity in what I was doing than I wanted to admit.

My professed trust in God had some conditions I was not fully aware of. 

There is more, but I think you get the point. My next three blogs are going to unpack each one of these.

Now, I may not be working through a curriculum that will end in another degree to put on the wall, but make no mistake, I’m back in school.

One of my favorite pastors, Tommy Vinson, used to say, “You never fail God’s tests – He just keep giving them to you over and over until you learn what He’s teaching you.”

Sharpen the pencils, roll up your sleeves, and turn down the noise.

School is back in session.

Prayer does not equip us for the greater works – prayer is the greater work.

– Oswald Chambers

 

Oh, how I wish I knew more about this. It seems that as the years go by, we get better at virtually everything we do.

… better at managing a budget.

… better at understanding technical equipment.

… better at pastoral skills.

… better at rehearsal techniques.

… better at arranging, writing, speaking, playing, running a meeting, planning a choir tour, conducting, and on and on.

But, are we any better at praying?

There is a direct correlation between the acts of God and the prayers of His people. And yet, so much of the time, we settle for what can be achieved with more of everything else but no more prayer.

We have better visuals. We have better monitor mixes. We have better lighting controls, sound systems, and singers on the team. Our pastor is cool, and our facility is amazing. We are writing our own songs, making our own EPs, streaming our services, starting a new podcast, and hosting our own conference so people from miles around can come to see how we are doing what we do.

But, have we learned how to pray?

And even more sobering still, what will God do in our lives to show us just how much we need to learn how to pray?

Today, will you join me in an echo of the question the disciples asked Jesus so long ago in Luke 11?

Lord, teach us to pray.

It is a poignant moment in scripture. Peter and John have been called in by the religious leaders of the day and commanded not to speak anymore in the name of Jesus. You can almost hear the thoughts of those unrighteous powermongers; We got rid of that Jesus guy and we are not going to stand by while you two keep bringing him up again.”

The way Peter and John replied to this confrontation is amazing in and of itself. After all, they are standing before the guys that killed Jesus; they could kill Peter and John too. In the face of that reality, these two stand and deliver;

“Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than listen to God, you decide; for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19. CSB)

Mic drop.

How in the world did they do that? Well, it had nothing to do with them. They were able to do it because of a promise that Jesus had made to them some time before. Consider Luke 12:11-12:

“Whenever they bring you before the synagogues and rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you should defend yourselves or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what must be said.” (Luke 12:11-12, CSB) 

That was the promise. And, the story in Acts is the story of that promise kept.

That makes me wonder – what other promises will Jesus keep? Will He honor them all? Are there any exceptions?

“I will be with you always…”

“You will receive power…”

“Wherever two or three are gathered…”

“There is no temptation… but you will be able…”

“If I go… I will come again…”

Be reminded — the “Promise Maker” is the “Promise Keeper,” and He will honor them all. Trust Him. Believe Him.

Rest in His promises today.