One of the passions of my life and ministry has been to gain a deeper understanding of the subject of worship and what it means to lead God's people in worship. The following are some simple but foundational concepts I've been meditating on in recent years..
Worship in its essence is not music or programming, but is characterized by an encounter and response of the human heart to the person and presence of the Living God.
Worship by definition is participatory, expressive and passionate. (Mt. 22:37, Ps. 42:1-2) Jesus challenged us to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mt.
Biblical worship centers around our response to two fundamental questions: “Who is like unto our God?” (Ps. 113:5) This question focuses on who God is regarding His attributes and character. And “What is man that Thou art mindful of him?” (Ps. 8:4) This question focuses on what God has done in terms of His mighty works and redemptive acts. The "language of worship," as reflected largely in the Psalms, is a response to these two questions.
I believe a Biblical view of congregational worship recognizes God as the audience, the musicians and singers as prompters and the congregation as the actors, if you will. The goal for each worship service is to facilitate for our people a throne-room encounter with the Living God, utilizing music and the arts to encourage times of corporate and individual communion with Him. I believe the role of a worship pastor is to encourage and facilitate in a congregation the passionate pursuit of authentic Biblical worship.
I deeply desire to personally do all I can to insure that, this side of heaven, God receives the maximum amount of praise possible. I also want to do my part to encourage and challenge believers toward becoming the mature worshipers God has created and called them to be. I continually remind my fellow musicians that our goal is not to create a "worship ministry" so much as it is to build a "ministry of worshipers."
Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about cleaning the inside of the cup. It’s not enough to have excellent music and presentation. Whenever we lead in worship we are asking the Lord (and the people) to drink from our cup. If we are not seeking to walk in holiness and purity, then at some level, the taste of our ministry is affected. Therefore the discipline of regularly "cleaning the inside of the cup" is vital for worship leading musicians.
