The Worship Leading Choir

A few years back I embarked on a journey that would distinctly change my life and challenge the direction of my ministry. Everywhere I turned (and I turned a lot of places) growing churches were opting to cancel their choir (and instrumental) programs. Newly planted churches were choosing to go with a praise band only. Many traditional churches with long histories of choral music were shrinking and even closing their doors.

Ironically, although growing churches spoke a great deal about discovering your gifts, then using them to glorify God, without a choir (or larger instrumental groups), in many settings only a small percentage of select musicians had this opportunity. I had to believe God had a better plan.

Surprisingly, on every hand I also saw God moving mightily in the area of Biblical worship, birthing an intense desire for passionate worship among His people. As I continued to pray and seek God it became clear to me that the problem wasn't choir as a concept. It was more how it functioned that was at issue.

Most churches (and colleges) are familiar with choirs as performing organizations. Yet as I searched God's Word, try as I might, nowhere could I find a performance model of a choir. What I did find in God's Word were choirs and instrumental groups whose sole responsibility was 1) to worship God and 2) to lead others in worship. God was the audience, the choir and musicians were the prompters, and the congregation were the actors, as it were, responding in worship.

When this realization began to sink in, it changed my perspective significantly. I decided to embark on a six month research sabbatical. As I traveled the country I was looking for churches that were growing, contemporary, evangelistic, yet still had choir as a centerpiece. And every time I found one, I found a new (or rather very old) paradigm; a worship leading choir!

My friend Dave Williamson of Worship Leading Choirs International contrasts this very Biblical concept of the choir with more traditional models...

The worship leading choir...
...is not primarily about performance; it is primarily about worship.
...is not about being slick, it is about passion.
...is not about acquaintanceship; it is about family.
...is not about momentary emotion; it is about eternal significance.
...is not about competition; it is about servanthood.
...doesn't view talent as primary; it does view character and faithfulness as primary.

As I continued to explore the whole idea of a worship leading choir, the Lord has allowed me some wonderful experiences. During my sabbatical I "happened" upon one of the most dynamic worship leading choirs, right in my own back yard. It was at Riverside Baptist in Denver, Colorado. Their amazing director, Joel Allen, invited me to join their choir (when I was not traveling) and observe it from the inside out.

At my first rehearsal the choir president welcomed me. As we sat down he proceeded to tell me that the main point of their choir wasn't the music, it was brokenness. He proceeded to share how, through a series of trials within their ministry god had knit them into a family of worshippers. A refreshing perspective, to say the least. That Christmas I was blessed to participate in a nationally televised concert with the Riverside Choir and a CD project entitled Hope Has Come, featuring artists Geron Davis and Kindred Souls.

A few summers back I had the opportunity to be part of a live recording project at Saddleback Church. Worship Leader/Song Writer Tommy Walker recruited 125 worship pastors to fly in early to Saddleback's annual worship conference, to form a mass choir for his CD project, Breakthrough. It was an amazing experience with 125 worship pastors in the choir and 4,000 worship pastors in the audience!

But I must say my most formative and transforming experience was as director of the choir at First Free Church in Rockford, Illinois. Over the last five years we have come miles in our understanding and experience of what it means to lead others in worship and adoration of the Living God. In that context we have not only been able to record two CD projects, but have had the honor of leading worship alongside artists such as Geron Davis, Dave Williamson, Charles Billingsley, Steve Green and Sandi Patty, among others.

The following Thoughts for Worship Leading Musicians were pounded out in the crucible of experience (though a few are borrowed from my friend Joel Allen!).

Thoughts for Worship Leading Musicians

1. Don't just rehearse the music, rehearse the worship!

2. A song will never mean more to the people than it means to you.

3. God transforms us as we are committed to spending time in daily worship.

4. As you sing and play, don't forget to engage your heart!

5. Don't let people just sit there! Draw them in!

6. Your depth of expression is a reflection of your testimony and witness.

7. A life of obedience is the foundation of passionate worship.

8. God expects us to be committed to "cleaning the inside of the cup."

9. Worship without passion is a contradiction in terms.

10. Take the message of each song we sing and make it personal.

11. God expects us to fulfill His command to forgive as we have been forgiven.

12. What will it cost you to convey this song with total authenticity?

13. There is nothing worse than a boring choir!

14. God's worth remain constant, regardless of how we are feeling on a particular day.

15. God challenges us to walk in humility, seeking the last place.

16. Our goal is to turn passive observers into active participants.

17. God is the audience, we are the prompters, the congregation, the actors.

18. Our calling is to help facilitate a Throne Room Encounter.

19. Not just a worship ministry, but a ministry of worshipers.

20 God blesses us as we are committed to lives of servanthood.

Today many contemporary churches are beginning to rediscover the concept of the choir, including some of the fastest growing and largest in the country. In many settings, having a choir is an entirely new concept. However, this time the emphasis is not performance, but worship.