Declare War During Your Worship Service This Sunday

“The tabernacle (and temple) faced east, allowing the sun to shine directly into the complex at the beginning of the day … given the pervasiveness of sun worship, one practical side of this is that people would have to turn their back on the sun to approach the Lord.”

— Allen P. Ross, Recalling The Hope Of Glory: Biblical Worship From The Garden To The New Creation

Worship is an act of battle, and our songs are war anthems. When we worship the Lord, we are declaring war on the false gods of this earth. We’re saying that we are no longer “following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience …” (Ephesians 2:2). We are turning our back on the “sun god” and every idol.

We publicly affirm our allegiance to the one true king, in spite of all that Satan may do to us. This is not for the faint of heart. Fortunately, we know that God purifies and fortifies our hearts.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

— Ezekiel 36:25-27

Declare war this Sunday.

 

• Photo by Russell Trow, used via Creative Commons license.

 

A Telling Tale: What If Connect Servants Thought Like Worship Leaders?

Connect servants — those wonderful people who serve our church each Sunday in a variety of ways. They help us park, they greet us at the door, show us how to navigate the building and even perhaps make coffee for us. Then they give us Sunday bulletins and even help us get to our seats.

But what if we could get our worship teams to mentor them? You know, so we could take the Connect Ministry up to the next level. It might look something like this:

Parking Attendant Paul, influenced by Vocalist Veronica:

I love directing cars as they enter our parking lot. It used to get boring though — all I was doing was helping people get into and out of parking spaces in an orderly fashion. A trained monkey could do that.

Now, I bring a lot of sizzle with my steak. I turn cartwheels and do backflips. Also, I wear happening clothes. I was going for a grunge look for awhile but recently I’ve been dressing more like a hipster. Next month, who knows — whatever the craze is, I’ll be sporting it. The point is, people will be more likely to park correctly if they think I look cool, and if I put on an impressive display of acrobatics.

Door Man David, influenced by Guitar Master Gary:

So, I hold the door open for people. Blah, blah, blah. The door is so light — I could do this in my sleep. I wish the door was heavier, so it would be more like a workout. Now, I feel like my muscles are shriveling as I stand here. But with a really heavy door, I could get a great workout in while I serve Jesus. Also, people would see how strong I am. I don’t want them to think that this light glass door is the heaviest thing I can lift! How embarrassing.

It should be a mighty castle-like door, so its like I’m guarding the kingdom. Every time someone knocks on the heavy, sculpted door knocker, I would pull with all my might and usher them into the presence of our king.

Bulletin Betty, influenced by Worship Pastor Will:

I hand out our Sunday bulletin to people as they enter the auditorium. The bulletin includes sermon notes and other announcements. Very cut-and-dried if you ask me. Announcements like, “Community Groups meet throughout the week. Visit the Welcome Table or sojournchurch.com/groups to find one close to you.” And sermon note questions for reflection like, “Why does Jesus describe himself as the temple of God? What was the temple’s purpose?”

Not very artsy. I think all announcements should be written in iambic pentameter, and we could use a font that will really stand out, like Comic Sans. Better yet, we could have our volunteer team write them out, in calligraphy. None of our volunteers can write calligraphy, but how hard can it be?

And let’s spruce up the content of these notes and announcements, too. Each one should have a hilarious punch line. But also lots of literary motifs and poetic devices. And a full presentation of the gospel. Each and every one. Is that too much to ask?

Okay, okay; maybe I’m being a little facetious. And yet, there might be some lessons here …

Photo above by Sarah Horrar, from Sojourn J-Town.

Hope For Worship Leaders Who Feel Overlooked Or Forgotten

“For God is not unjust. He will not forget [overlook] how hard you have worked for Him and how you have shown your love to Him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent [sluggish or lazy].  Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance” (Heb. 6:10-12).

Weariness and sluggishness are two great enemies of worship leaders (and any other servants of God).  From time to time, we all grow spiritually fatigued.  We probably feel overlooked.  We might even experience a lack of joy in gathering to worship, and apathy in preparing to lead and serve others.

And yet the Holy Spirit in us inspires us to serve others.  It has not always been this way.  Remember that while we were still God’s enemies, Christ died to save us from our sin to know and belong to God.  Now saved, we have been made servants of God and one another for the rest of our lives.  God’s Word encourages us to fight fatigue and fan into flame a greater passion to persevere in faithful service of our Lord and other believers:

1) Know that God sees your faithful service.  Many times, people will overlook your faithful service, but God will not and does not.  Satan seeks to keep us from the great joy of knowing God’s favor on our daily activities by lying about the value of our work in God’s sight.  He tells us that God doesn’t care about us or our labors of love.  Don’t believe the lie that God is not delighted in your faithful service for His sake.  Know that our Father can see some beauty in everything you do from a desire to please Him.  He doesn’t forget your labor of love for His sake no matter how the world may disregard it.  Rejoice and be thankful because God sees, delights in, and will reward your faithful service in His name.

2) Value the true marks of faithful service.  God doesn’t care most about musical skills or production quality.  He values our faithful service exhibited by hard work and earnest love for Him and His people. We should value these things too.  Hard work can include sacrifice, practice, punctuality, and pursuing excellence in musicianship.  And it’s not enough to love to serve if we don’t love those whom we are serving.  Do you love those you are serving? Carry people on your heart as you serve by cultivating tenderness and compassion for those you’re leading.  Refuse to be discouraged by their lack of response; refuse to be critical and bitter.  Seek to help your people sing by valuing the hard work and love you show in serving them.

3) Remember the Goal: THAT GOD BE GLORIFIED.  We serve others for the fame of God’s name, for the glory of our great God.  Our service then should be grounded in our greater love for God’s glory.  God has also commanded, “If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” (I Peter 4:11).  You serve for God’s glory with the strength God provides. And He never fails to reward His servants to the full extent of His promises.

4) Imitate Examples of Faithful Service. The writer of Hebrews lists a cloud of witnesses, great examples of the faithful for us to follow (Hebrews 11).  Most of all, we should seek to imitate Christ.  “Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the Champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame” (Heb. 12:1-2).  The best thing the weary can do is look to and follow Jesus.

Fellow servants, are you weary? Have you grown sluggish in your service? Do you feel overlooked and forgotten? Do not lose heart. Your Father sees you. He appreciates you. He is pleased with your hard work done with earnest love for His sake.  Remember to serve with the strength God provides, so in all things He would be glorified.  Look to Jesus, our faithful and perfect Worship Leader who never tires in His service of the saints for the sake of His own name.

This post was inspired by a sermon titled “Faithful to Serve” recently preached by Jared Mellinger at WorshipGod 2013, a conference hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries.  

Aggressive Versus Assertive: A Tale Of 2 Worship Leaders

The Assertive Worship Leader:

It is your job to sing songs of worship clearly and speak liturgical elements like prayers and scripture readings clearly, helping the congregation to sing, pray and read with you. Remember that you are not something “other” — you are a worshiper. As such, you will close your eyes from time to time while singing, you will sing passionately, and you will indirectly model what a worshiper looks like as you do so.

On the other hand, you are a worship leader, which means you will also directly model what a worshiper looks like. Sometimes this involves saying, “Let’s clap along,” or “Sing louder.” You don’t keep your eyes closed through every song; you need to look at your congregation. You know that eye-to-eye contact can be encouraging and communal. Also, this helps you gauge the responsiveness of your congregation.

You move through the liturgy (what is often called “the worship set”) with confidence because you’ve practiced playing, singing and reading during the week. You’ve rehearsed with the band. You’ve prayed over these songs. You’ve prayed over this congregation — everyone from church members to unsaved first-time attendees. You’ve prayed over the rest of the band, you’ve prayed over the preacher and those who will handle the communion elements.

And after you prayed, you let go. You’ll do the best you can do, but, after all, you can’t break down all barriers between God and humankind. Christ has already done that, on the cross. You may help plant seeds, you may help water seeds, but it is God who causes them to grow. (1 Corinthians 3:6-9).

The Aggressive Worship Leader:

It is your job to lead people into the throne of God. And you’re going to do it if you have to pull them by the hair. When you tell them to lift their hands, they better do it. If not, shame them, bully them — whatever it takes. They need to get those hands in the air. Even that guy you’ve never seen before … the guy from down the street who has never come before and who is not a Christian. He needs to experience the glory of God, and that isn’t going to happen if you can’t make him drop his reticence and get those hands in the air.

Your performance isn’t acceptable if the congregation doesn’t resemble a rowdy throng of 20,000 fans at a Springsteen show. So if that isn’t happening, maybe turn the volume up louder. Go ahead and motion to the sound guy — these things go to 11, right?

You don’t actually need to practice reading scripture during the week — after all, you know how to read. But make sure you have lots of stock phrases ready, like

“Raise your hands in the air like you just don’t care.”

And if the crowd just doesn’t get it — if they won’t give you (um, give Jesus) the response you’re looking for, just enter your personal worship space. Keep your eyes closed all the way through every remaining song in your set. Keep your hand raised and speak directly to God, never to your people. Maybe they’ll see how passionately you’re worshiping, and they’ll start doing it right.

Which Of These Two Worship Leaders Will You Be?

Obviously Example 2 is a caricature. And you walk a fine line when encouraging people to engage in worship. It’s right, not wrong, to encourage people to sing, to raise their hands, to pour out their hearts to God. But

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  — James 1:5-6

 

Worship Leading – You Are Not The Show, So Just Faithfully Sow

As worship leaders, our central aim should be to proclaim Christ and Him crucified when we gather each week.  Our goal should not be to make much of ourselves (our songwriting, singing, musicianship, preaching or any other kind of service).  We don’t gather to preach ourselves.  We are not mighty to save.  We are not the hope of any man.  We are not the Christ.  But we are called to point others to Him and His salvation, as we boldly proclaim the marvelous things He has done from generation to generation.

God’s Word is the seed we’ve been entrusted to sow each week into the hearts of all who gather in our churches.  We must be faithful to freely scatter the seeds of God’s Word in our worship gatherings.  It’s not for us to be concerned with the composition of the heart “soils” that have gathered to worship.  We are called to sow and trust God to produce an abundance of fruit for the glory of His name.  Just like the farmer in Jesus’ Parable of the Sower who freely scattered seed abroad, we sow in all types of soil (Luke 8).  As we faithfully proclaim God’s Word in our gatherings, we affirm our trust in His strength to produce a great harvest of righteousness.

God is calling us to make a countercultural commitment to His Word.  We shouldn’t water it down, even if we fear some people will not “get it.”  The people gathered to worship are not irrelevant, but neither are they sovereign.  God’s Word must determine the message of our gatherings instead of people’s responsiveness (or lack thereof).

God’s manner of ministering the gospel is through servants who are faithful to proclaim His Word. As shepherds of your congregations, you will lead best when you’re most like a servant.  Don’t try to be the show.  We are pointers, not the point!  Let this declaration of John the Baptizer be one of your chief confessions of faith: “I am not the Christ!”  

The message we proclaim is that Jesus Christ is Lord!  He has authority over our lives so we don’t proclaim ourselves but Christ crucified.  With every gathering of your church, aim to make light shine through your verbal proclamation of the Truth, because the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers.  But as we’re faithful to proclaim God’s salvation in our gatherings (as we freely scatter the seeds of His Word), some people will behold the glorious Christ and believe.  His sheep, who hear His voice, will “cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest” (Luke 8:15).

This post was inspired by a sermon titled “Faithful to Proclaim” recently preached by Kevin DeYoung at WorshipGod 2013, a conference hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries

Why And How Evangelicals Can Follow The Church Liturgical Calendar

Why would, say, a Southern Baptist church follow the Christian Year – especially a Baptist Church that has more 20-something members than members in any other age group?  Isn’t the liturgical calendar just for Catholics? Or isn’t it an out-of-date, awkward intrusion on our modern sensibilities?

Our young, Baptist church doesn’t think so, which is why we are always moving in the rhythms of this calendar, from Advent to Pentecost. More and more Christians are rediscovering this historic practice, and growing in the truth and knowledge of Christ. As author Lauren Winner has said:

“I want the Christian story to shape everything I do, even how I reckon time. I want it to be truer and more essential to me than school’s calendar, or Hallmark’s calendar, or the calendar set by the IRS. I want the rhythms of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost to be more basic to my life than the days on which my quarterly estimated taxes are due.”

 

We shouldn’t treat the church calendar as if it were commanded in Scripture, like baptism and communion are commanded. It is simply a practice of historic Christianity that continuously stirs reflection, anticipation and action in the hearts of God’s people for the whole, big story of the gospel.

How To Observe The Christian Year

Here are three resources to introduce you to the Christian Year. The first two will help you plan corporate worship services during each season of the year. The third will help you prepare your church members for moving in the rhythms of the Christian Year during the week:

• The Worship Sourcebook, by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (ed. John Witvliet)
• The Services of the Christian Year by Robert E. Webber
• Living The Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God by Bobby Gross (preface by Lauren Winner, from whence comes the quote by Winner in this blog post, above)

For a quick description of each season of the Christian Year, see this article I wrote for worship service planners and songwriters.

We encourage ministry leaders and all of our community group leaders to lead their people in the rhythms of the Christian Year as well. Many of our community groups have done things like Epiphany Feasts, Easter cookouts and group Advent calendars. Teach your people about the themes of each season. Then let them dream up ways to commemorate these seasons in their groups and families.

Answers To Common Objections

1. Seriously, isn’t this a Catholic thing?

By the 2^nd century, Easter was celebrated as a 50-day season. The full Christian Year was developed by the 4^th century. As our Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper wrote in Rhythms Of Grace: How The Church’s Worship Tells The Story Of The Gospel,

“To many Protestants, the church calendar may seem like an arbitrary regulation, a testimony to authority and micromanagement from Rome, but for it’s authors, it was designed pastorally. The church calendar was designed to walk believers through the story of the gospel every year, from the incarnation to the ascension. If we allow historic prejudice to color our perspective too heavily, we lose sight of the brilliant, pastoral creativity that shaped some of the church’s inventions.”

Since the Reformation, many church leaders have found the Christian Year to be helpful for their congregations – Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and other denominations and movements.

And ironically, the “civil” calendar of 365.2425 days from January to December can be considered a “Catholic” calendar just as much as the Christian Year. This civil calendar, instituted by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, is officially called the Gregorian Calendar.

2. Aren’t seasons like Advent and Lent too dark, requiring us to plan worship services that treat the cross and resurrection as if these events haven’t already happened, and Christ isn’t already victorious?

We would never live and worship as if Christ hasn’t come, or ask people to refrain from basking in this good, good news! Remember that Christians began worshiping together on Sunday because it is “the Lord’s day” – the day Christ rose from the grave. Every Sunday, regardless of the season, is a “little Easter.”

In fact, the Sundays between Ash Wednesday and Easter are not counted as part of the “40 days of Lent.” We do craft our services with a “Lenten focus” because corporate worship on Sundays should, in part, prepare people for worship Monday – Saturday. But our Sundays always include Communion, and always include celebrations of assurance that Christ has died for our sins and is risen from the grave, seated at the right hand of the Father.

 Photo above from Boston Public Library, used via Creative Commons license

New Article At Gospel Coalition Worship Blog

Friends,

Bobby has written a short new article for the worship blog at TheGospelCoalition.org, called Common Grace Is Great, But We Can Sing About Something Greater. This is a helpful article for pastors, worship leaders and songwriters. Here’s an excerpt:

“Common grace is a wonderful thing to sing about, and we have no shortage of worship songs that help us to do just that — praise God for the common grace He bestows upon all mankind. But Christian worship must go far beyond this, and must center on the special grace that God has shown to His Church.

What? Common grace and special grace? If you’re new to these terms, here are brief definitions:

Common grace: God’s common patience or forbearance with sinners … the non-saving, sustaining grace of God that benefits all humankind.

Worship songs celebrate common grace when their lyrics praise God for things like:

• Giving us the sun, the stars, the moon, the wind and rain.
• The beauty of mountains, oceans, fields and streams.
• Breath in our lungs.
• All forms of health that we enjoy, until the day of death.

These are good things to sing about …”

Read the rest here.

The Worship Leader’s Role – Lead Receivers And First Responders

Leading worship is a stewardship in which we’re privileged to participate and serve, caring for what belongs to God.  We are primarily receivers and responders, not worship creators, designers, innovators, architects, producers, engineers or visionaries. As children of God, our primary identity is receiver of His grace as the Author of our faith.  This leads us to respond in worship.  As a worship leader, you are a lead receiver and first responder.

Consider this: You can’t be a Christian if you can’t receive a gift.  To be a Christian is to receive God’s gift of grace to believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ on behalf of all sinners.  We are not Christians if we have not received this grace.  And we cannot mature and grow as Christians if we are not continually receiving all that we need from Christ, who is all and in all (Col. 3:11).

In the same way, our calling to receive from the Lord is the basis of our worship.  Worship begins with God who initiates and calls us to worship Him.  Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that God is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth because “the hour has come when true worshipers will worship in Spirit and Truth” (John 4).

Here, Jesus announces Himself as the Messiah, the new and perfect Temple of God by which we can now boldly enter God’s throne room and worship Him there.  The hour of Christ’s death and resurrection and intercession for us before God’s throne has come!  To worship in truth is to worship this Jesus, who is the Truth.  To worship in Spirit is to worship from our hearts, through the Spirit of Christ in us.  We can only come to God through Jesus.

Our worship of God results from something God does: He seeks us who are lost, saves us by the merits of His own unblemished blood, and calls us to worship Him for His glory and grace. True worship emerges from the Father’s pursuit of us, not from our pursuit of Him.  (Read that again and let it sink in.)  We are beneficiaries of His salvation and love. We do not manufacturer worship of God.  No, we worship in response to our adoption, our salvation by God and our imperishable inheritance with Christ!

As worshipers and worship leaders, we need to be far more aware of God’s pursuit of us than we are of what we think is an “appropriate” worship response.  When we focus on receiving from the Lord we will naturally respond by magnifying His grace.  This should be the aroma of our worship gatherings.

We shouldn’t be able to contain our astonishment of what Christ has done for us!

Giving great attention in our gatherings to what we have received from Christ will yield humble awe and joyful worship.  The truth that we have received (what we know about God), animates our worship and stirs our souls to sing.

God has called His people to be faithful.  He’s graciously given us His Spirit who inspires us to faithfully follow the way of Christ as we persevere in loving and serving our Lord and His Church here on earth.  No matter what particular area(s) of service God has called you to, you will not be able to effectively serve if you have not first learned to receive salvation and grace from the Lord.

Child of God, remember who you are.  Remember whose you are.  Remember who you have received and what He has done for you.  Remember to receive from the Lord and call your congregations to receive from the Lord.  Remember that worship does not originate with us but it is our God-inspired response to His glorious gift of grace!

This post was inspired by a sermon titled “Faithful to Receive” recently preached by Craig Cabaniss at WorshipGod 2013, a conference hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries.  

How To Deal With Criticism As A Worship Leader

I’ve been serving the church as a worship leader since I joined my first worship team as a 12 year old keyboardist under the oversight of my parents, the worship pastors at the time.  I benefited from their direct leadership for the first 10 years of my service, and am thankful to have had the privilege of being shepherded by them at home and at church.  What they taught me in word and deed about serving the Lord with gladness and submission has helped me to grow as a believer and worship leader.

My parents taught me to care most about the honor of the Lord and to treasure His Word above all else.  They showed me how to be teachable and open to criticism and correction from those in authority over them, and from those they were serving in the congregation.  There was rarely a worship service they led that was not followed with some criticism, complaint, or suggestion from someone in the congregation.  I saw them wrestle with these things, as they sought the Lord to discern and do what was right.  They allowed the Lord to humble them as they submitted to His correction and direction. As a result, their ministry to the Lord and His church became fruitful.  They gained wisdom and respect as they grew up under the discipline of the Lord.

As a whippersnapper worship leader, I also needed lots of teaching, correcting, and admonishing.  I didn’t like it. I wanted to be mature and right already, without any correcting or changing.  I observed mature believers all around me (including my parents) and could easily mimic them.

What I really needed though (and on more than one occasion) was the loving rebuke of a righteous person.  I didn’t realize at the time that the constructive criticism I was receiving from my parents and other leaders was a kindness to me.

“Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is soothing medicine. Don’t let me refuse it.” Psalm 141:5

I didn’t like to be wrong about anything, so I didn’t like to be criticized about anything.  I was overly sensitive to all criticism (in every realm of my life) and struggled to hear and receive rebukes as kind, constructive and helpful.

• I needed to learn that worshiping God was not all about me. 
• I needed to know that hearing myself in my monitor or playing a piano solo was not the most important thing. 
• I needed my instrumental and vocal techniques to be critiqued.  (I thought more highly of my skills than I should have!) 
• I needed my flaming pride to be exposed and extinguished through constructive criticism. 

God’s Word showed me that the wisdom and maturity and respect I wanted came after humbly accepting correction and listening to advice.  My stubborn refusal to accept criticism was only leading to my destruction, disgrace and poverty.

Worship leaders, we are wise to submit to the discipline of the Lord, to listen to His advice and accept His instruction.  He chastens those He loves.  God, in His great mercy and grace, searches His people’s hearts and points out anything that is offensive to Him.  He is faithful to correct and lead His children along the path of everlasting life.  He is able to save us from ourselves and keep our hearts aflame with passion for His honor and fame.

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.” Proverbs 19:20

“Only a fool despises a parent’s discipline; whoever learns from correction is wise.” Proverbs 15:5

“If you ignore criticism, you will end in poverty and disgrace; if you accept correction, you will be honored.”  Proverbs 13:18

“Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.” Proverbs 29:1

“If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise. If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding. Fear of the Lord teaches wisdom; humility precedes honor.” – Proverbs 15:31-33

• Top photo by Anonymous 9000, used via Creative Commons license

Worship Leaders Are Not Rock Stars – The Proof Is Here

Last weekend I read a new book in one sitting, because I couldn’t put it down. Fortunately it’s just 125 pages so I wasn’t lost in book-world all weekend long. The book is Worship Leaders, We Are Not Rock Stars by Stephen Miller, Worship Leader at The Journey Church in St. Louis.

Long-time readers at My Song In The Night may remember I interviewed Stephen Miller in 2012 after he’d released his record God & Sinner Reconcile. Since then he’s released two more albums, including a companion piece to Worship Leaders, We Are Not Rock Stars — a 13-song record called All Hail The King. And, if you buy Worship Leaders, We Are Not Rock Stars on Kindle, you can download All Hail The King for free! Here’s how:

When you buy the book, there is a link on the page directly after Darrin Patrick’s foreword. Type that link into your web browser. It will take you to a page that asks (at the bottom of the page), “Already Have the Book?”

Follow those instructions and you will get an email with your free copy.

Stephen wrote Worship Leaders, We Are Not Rock Stars to be an accessible, succinct look at what a worship leader is, and what a worship leader is not. The 9 chapters each focus on a different aspect of the worship leader’s calling — everything from “We Are Pastors & Deacons” to, simply, “We Are Christians.”

The “We Are Storytellers” chapter describes the worship leader as “liturgist.” It takes the mystery out of this technical/scary sounding word, and provides a good template for designing your Sunday liturgy, using Isaiah 6:1-8 as a model.

Songwriters will find plenty to chew on as well, such as this section from Chapter 5: “We Are Theologians”:

“If we are to worship God, we must know who he really is.

“My wife is a petite, green-eyed, blonde-haired, gorgeous woman. She is kind and compassionate, loves our children, and is an incredible mother and wife …

“But what if I were to come to her and say, ‘I wrote this song for you to tell you how much I love you’ — and then went on to sing about how much I love her brunette hair and brown eyes and how I can’t wait to marry her and have kids someday? She would be confused and would maybe wonder if I wrote the song about another woman.

“Or what if that song was actually all about me? A tribute to myself, how she makes me feel, and how I must be so great that she would love me? …

“We do this very thing to God when we blatantly or unintentionally disregard the prominent presence of God’s Word in the songs we sing and are flippant about the words that we sing to Him and about Him.”

I could quote lots of other parts from the book, but why not read it yourself? You can get it on Kindle here, or paperback here. This is a great primer for young or aspiring worship leaders, and a helpful teaching tool for your entire worship team.

One final note:

Moody Publishers is running a special for worship leaders who want to take their whole teams through the book:

45% off when purchasing 5 or more books.
*Discount applied at checkout.
Offer valid until 8/1/14