by Major Warren Dabis
I recently commented on a posting in this blog of a young lady in our Praise and Worship team that came to me to ask to not sing on a particular Sunday morning saying she was not right with the Lord. I had shared this with a group of WMI students and one young man quipped, “What’s the big deal? She was your lead soprano and you needed her! What is Praise and Worship without a lead singer to sing the melody for the congregation?” Good questions and I needed to clarify this before he went back to his Corps team!
Being real or authentic in our Praise and Worship is a big deal! Bigger than our “tight” vocals or instrumentalists, “big” sound, “best” equipment” and “great” lead vocalist! Ooops, and maybe “right on” worship leader! Being authentic is essential to Praise and Worship whether we stand behind our instruments or microphones because we stand before a holy and jealous God in leading people in worship of Him! Someone has said to me, “Be careful what you say (or sing) in His presence!” Our recovering friends say it even better, “You gotta walk the walk as well as talk the talk!” And I say, “You cannot give away what you do not have!”
Authenticity is being who you are! And if we are leading people in worship of God, we had best be “His own!” I want to get into this in another article about being transparent 24/7, but in a nutshell we as worship musicians and leaders need to know and experience intimately the One we are praising and worshipping! Anne Ortland, in her book, Up with Worship: A Call to Quit Playing Church, calls us “Upfronters.” This does mean that we lead from upfront! However, I believe we lead and praise and worship God from the “inside out.” What we do behind the mics and our instruments, must be an indication of what is taking place “inside” of us!
Click here to read Part 2
This was a total wake up call for me. What comes out of my mouth is a reflection of what's inside and bot do I have some polishing up to do. Its time I start walking the walk and talking the talk.
ReplyDeletethis is so true! as members of a worship team is easy to just get used to singing or playing, but our heart and mind can be in the wrong place, just living a double face life. God wants us to be real and let our lives really show the message we give through music.Thanks for this article. We need to renew our lives everyday to be real.
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