Worship Leader Blog

The audio for Stand Firm, session 2 and Stand Firm, session 3 are up. Enjoy!

Our worship team recently spent some time talking about how we evaluate our ministry. It's one thing to walk off the stage after a worship set and feel that we played and sang well, but does that necessarily mean that we hit our target?

I recently listened to a talk by Atlanta pastor, Andy Stanley, in which he made the point that it is important for people in every ministry in the church to understand what the "win" is for that ministry, that is, to understand what it looks like when we hit the mark, when we've "nailed it." And it is important for the leadership of that ministry to "clarify the win."

One of the challenges for the worship ministry is that the "win" may be a subjective thing. I asked the members of our team how they know when we've done our job well--we all pretty much understand that we've done a good job if we play and sing without too many mistakes that might otherwise distract the congregation from worshiping God. Skillful execution is one criterion by which we should evaluate our work, to be sure. We need to constantly strive to sing and play as skillfully as we can, but we've all probably led worship at times when the band sounded great, the vocals all were right on the money, and yet we didn't sense that the congregation was really "entering in," so to speak. On the other hand, we've all probably played services where we thought we had totally blown it, musically, and yet someone came up to us and told us that the music moved them and helped them to experience God's nearness that day. What do you do with that?

We talked a little bit about some of the subjective cues that you can get as a worship leader, observing the congregation during worship--there are certain obvious indicators that people are tracking with you in worship, such as raised hands, tears, expressions on faces that leave no mistake about the fact that people were worshiping God. But the absence of the obvious cues doesn't necessarily mean that people weren't worshiping God.

We agreed that sometimes you just know that the Spirit of God is moving in a given context, but as we thought back to the times of worship that were most meaningful to us, not in our roles as the lead worshipers, but as members of a congregation of worshipers, we realized that we found ourselves worshiping most authentically when there was a worship leader who was leading us authentically in worship and into the presence of God.

This puts things into a little different light--now the primary evaluation question after the worship set might be, "Did WE worship authentically today?" Granted, it's still a little subjective, but it's a lot easier for us to evaluate a service based on whether WE, as worship leaders, were engaged in worship in an authentic and meaningful way.

We're still thinking this through, but this kind of self-evaluation seems to make more sense right now.

What do you think?

We've started a new series for the College Bible study, titled "Stand Firm"--the first session audio is up. Enjoy!

Tonight I'm watching the KU-Texas Tech game on TV (and no, I'm not going to make that tired point that it's sad that worship services aren't as loud and joyful as KU basketball games). It's Senior Night for KU, and about 2 minutes before halftime, the 'Hawks are ahead by 23. Senior Night means the senior players' parents and family are in the fieldhouse, and it's a night for emotional pre-game recognition and post-game speeches. It's an awesome and touching thing to see. The last play before the last time-out was a long three-pointer by senior Russell Robinson, and the camera cut immediately to his parents in the stands, with their fists in the air and broad smiles on their faces, beaming with pride, joy and love for their son, who is playing his heart out, and clearly having the time of his life.

I couldn't help but think that this is a picture of our Father's love for us when we are doing the thing he made us to do. "What is the chief end of man?" asks the old Westminster Catechism--"...to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." Is this not the essence of worship? We glorify God in worship, and we also worship him by doing the things he made us for; it is in doing those things that we enjoy him most, and he is most glorified in us. This calls to mind something that I may have mentioned here before--the moving scene in "Chariots of Fire," where Eric Liddel is trying to calm his sister's concerns that his competitive running is distracting him from the mission to China. He said, "God made me for China; but he also made me fast--and when I run, I feel his pleasure."

I believe it was John Piper who said that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Makes sense to me.

By the way--with 7 minutes left, KU is up on Tech 93 to 40.

The last session of the college Bible study on the gospel of Mark has been uploaded. You can check it out here. Enjoy!

My good friend Rick e-mailed me this week to tell me that Larry Norman has gone home. It was sad news, and I'll admit that my eyes are wet even as I write these words. But Larry's life had been full of physical suffering in these last few years, and it is a blessing to know that he is safe at home with Jesus now.

I first heard of Larry Norman shortly after graduating from high school in 1972; in those days "Pass it On" was about the most contemporary Christian music I knew (and I think I'll be fine if I never have to play "Pass it On" again). But Larry played rock 'n' roll music about Jesus. Songs like "Rock that Doesn't Roll" and "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music" were radical in their day. Songs like "Why Don't You Look Into Jesus?" were shocking to some (go look up the lyrics to that one, and you'll see what I mean). But Larry's heart was completely sold out to Jesus, throughout his long career as a performing songwriter and as a music producer.

Two Larry Norman albums stand out for me: "Only Visiting This Planet," and "In Another Land." Some of the songs on "In Another Land" still give me chills, and sometimes tears, just thinking about them. Classic Norman songs like, "Six Sixty-Six" and "U.F.O." are quirky and even a little goofy at times, but there is truth in there that goes to the heart of being a follower of Jesus.

Larry could be weird at times, particularly in the latter part of his life, as his health was failing. The one time I saw him live (and I can't remember where or when), he had a hard time remembering his own lyrics, and was singing from hand-written notes that he kept getting mixed up. Even before his body started to fail him, he would sometimes start a song, get two lines in, and stop to preach for a while about something that struck him as he was singing. And he pulled no punches, even in his lyrics. He attacked hypocrisy with a prophet's boldness, and sang candidly of his own pain and failure.

Consider this excerpt from his song, "Great American Novel:"

You kill a black man at midnight
Just for talking to your daughter
Then you make his wife your mistress
And you leave her without water
And the sheet you wear upon your face
Is the sheet your children sleep on
At every meal you say a prayer
You don't believe but still you keep on
And your money says in God we trust
But it's against the law to pray in school
You say we beat the Russians to the moon
And i say you starved your children to do it

Larry's song, "Hymn to the Last Generation" is only four lines long, but his recording of it on "In Another Land" still moves me to worship, every single time I hear it.

There are videos of some of Larry's performances on YouTube, but most of the ones I've seen don't do justice to his songwriting brilliance--go get some of his classic recordings and listen for yourself.

I'm a huge fan of Bob Dylan--I'd be surprised if I was the first one to observe that Larry Norman did for the Jesus Movement of the '70's what Bob Dylan did for the folk movement of the '60's. Many of his songs, like Dylan's still hold up after all these years.

Thanks, Larry, for all you did for young Christians like me at a time when you were one of the only ones out there finding ways to speak God's truth into a culture that was rapidly changing. Thank you for the great songs, for passionately loving Jesus. To quote one of your own lyrics, "I hope I'll see you in Heaven." Enjoy your rest in Jesus, old friend.

For a good look at Larry's discography, lyrics, and other information about Larry Norman, check out his site at OnlyVisiting.com.