Missional: Worship Leaders

Ben Williams

Romans 12:1 - "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

John 9:31 - "We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him."

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As a disclaimer I must begin by saying that there are many musicians that I know personally who love Jesus and are obeying Him presently. There are many musicians that encourage me, and whom I love and would love to serve with. I also know many pastor figures and preachers who do ministry from dark motives, and they have no concept of what it really means to worship the one true God.

That being said...

What is a worship leader? :

It is NOT some guy with a guitar in his hand who has talent and can sing the right notes and make really cool music fit with words that appear to glorify God. It is not some guy who stands in front of a choir waving his hands for the glory of the Lord in anticipation that others will follow the musical notes made by the swift circles he makes with his arms and hands.

A worship leader is one who sacrifices themselves to give glory to God by pointing their time, talents, and treasures to the Word of God/Jesus Christ so that others can clearly see and follow their example. Music is definitely a part of worship, and I recognize that many musicians have given their lives to this ministry, but for lack of better terms we have labeled musicians as "THE worship leaders." This has its pitfalls.

Like I said, many pastor/preachers are lukewarm worthless and shouldn't stand before anyone to preach their heartless version of the Word of God. This is a disease.

BUT there is a mass of musicians that are filtering into churches who have no understanding of what it means to worship in spirit and truth, and they are the very ones called our "worship leaders" who, in turn, are exemplifying worship to our people. This is tragic!

Musicians can lead in a part of worship, but "worship leaders" are the ones that bring the Word of God to the ears of the hearers. Musicians can and should do this as well as the pastor/preacher, but it is usually left up to the pastor to teach/preach/and clarify the truths of Scripture.

We need more Missional musicians that can lead in a part of worship:

What is a Missional Music Minister like?

They...

Love Jesus,

Obey Jesus,

Follow Jesus,

Read their Bibles,

Have a consistent, fresh understanding of who God is Daily,

Be in concentrated Prayer daily,

Go to Church!,

Be a fruitful part of a Local Church,

Have accountability,

Make Disciples,

Bring their Bibles to Church!,

Listen Intently to preachers that are serving with Them!,

Have discernment to choose Biblical Songs,

Quit being lazy, and learn new and creative Songs,

Find new ways to make older songs relevant to younger Listeners,

Write music that coincides with what God is showing You,

Be Teachable,

Be able to teach the Word from the Stage,

Always be learning how to improve communication skills,

Understand that younger generations are easily influenced by good musicians,

Be Wise,

Don't Fake The Above!!!

These are the characteristics of a Missional Worship Leader.

I have met too many "leaders" that just don't take the spiritual responsibility of leading in praise songs very seriously. They are super talented, but they think leading in song is just a social status that demands respect. This is not intended to be slanderous towards these kinds of people, but to encourage them that leading in praise is so much more than what is seen and done from the stage. In fact, don't be different on stage than you are in person. You gotta love some of these "leaders" who are so different on stage that you think someone gave them a lobotomy resulting in some wuss-of-a-man who starts to whisper his prayers as if he is constipated beyond recognition, and when he talks he sounds so uneducated that you start to think he was home-schooled by Joey from "Friends". Don't try to fool people by developing a stage persona that exemplifies what you think a Christian praise leader should sound like. Lead courageously as yourself - one who has been with Jesus. If the person you are and the person you are on stage never mesh..... be humble and quit.

Jesus wants Missional Ministers of music. Not puffed-up "worship leaders" that flirt with girls, have filthy mouths, and can't even tell you what the preacher spoke about following their "killer" set.

So.... To all those who are being missional-minded musicians, persevere.

And to all that are not: Ask God what you lack in order to be Missional because we have too many good guitar, piano, bass, drum players that have forgotten the most important instrument in ministry........The Word.

Missional: Beginnings

As I was talking to an old friend about Jesus last night, I realized this: That any Christian should use any resource/tool/ability that is available in order to get Jesus across to people. 

That is why I started this blog.

Missional Beginnings:

This friend of mine once considered himself to be a strong Christian, a leader, and a potential preacher/pastor. He has since fallen into dark places where sin has chained him back up, and demonic forces have demonstrated influence on his life. He has hit a rough place in his life now to where he is still looking for answers, and he is curious as to why Jesus isn't as important to him as his sin is. He is very open and honest. He desires to go back in time before he slipped...

We began discussing spiritual things for half an hour to 45 minutes, and the problem became very evident through conversation that he was trying to focus his efforts on making himself right with God. Notice I said problem. 

He has an understanding of Religion, but he has lost any concept of Regeneration. (The first qualification for a Missional life is a heart justified/born-again by Jesus = "Regeneration") 

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Religion is: Making yourself right, making yourself love and obey Jesus even though you don't want to. It is forcing something that is opposed to your own will. This works about as well as a diet consisting of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and chocolate milk, and having a workout regime that entails walking to and from your mailbox expecting to have dropped major poundage because "you walk" everyday. And we ask ourselves why this isn't working...

Regeneration is: Jesus changing your heart and your will, making you righteous, and giving you the desire to love and obey him. It is all about Jesus.

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Therefore, my friend (who I dearly love) is either NOT saved because his religious efforts to make himself clean were the driving force of his "Christianity" to begin with OR  he is a brother in the faith, but has forgotten what Jesus has already done for him.

If he is saved, Jesus has already declared him righteous and his own efforts are just part of a redundant cycle of pride that tells us we can do it when we can't. Only Jesus can. We don't live for Jesus by taking up our cross (which coincidently we hear most Sundays from the pulpit) but we must take up our cross by allowing Jesus to live through us (that is how we die to ourselves).

So how are we saved and how are we to be holy and set apart on a daily basis?

Conviction: The Holy Spirit will convict the lost of their lostness, and He will convict of sin in the life of the believer. (John 16:8-11 / 1 Thess 1:5 / Jude 1:15)

Confession: Admit and proclaim our sinful state - this portrays a renewed mind. (Romans 10:9 / James 5:16 / 1 John 1:9)

Repentance: Turn from sin because your renewed mind hates sin. This is not being sorry. It is being broken, disgusted and transformed to hate sin like God does. (Colossians 3:5)

Reconciliation: Jesus takes the sin away that separates us. He makes us right. He takes our sin and gives us His righteousness. (Colossians 1:22)

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To my good friend who inspired me to begin a resource for people that need help seeing the big picture: Repent. 

To everyone else: pray for me and respond in worship by using whatever means possible to communicate Jesus yourself.