Worship Leader Blog

Looking back over what I experienced over the last few days at the National Worship Leader Conference, and having attended a fair number of these sorts of conferences over the last eleven years, I'm struck by several aspects of such experiences. I'm not sure I can articulate well everything that is swirling around in my brain right now, but I'll take a stab at it.

The camaraderie among the participants is genuine and meaningful. Worship leaders are a unique breed of people, with unique challenges, unique gifts and abilities, and while each of our situations is different, we share a common purpose, our hearts beat more or less in unison with the goal of helping our congregations express their love for God in a corporate context, and experience his presence in profound ways. And when we come together to talk about leading worship, to learn how to do it more effectively, and to worship together, there is an uncommon unity of spirit. At meal times it was easy for strangers to enter into meaningful conversations quickly. There was a prevailing, permeating sense that we're all in this together, and that even though our situations and cultures may be vastly different, we understand a common set of pressures and stresses, and we experience the same kinds of blessings. That unity made our conference worship times very intense, and very special.

There was a shared sense of brokenness among the participants. I don't want to overstate this, because it wasn't as though the auditorium was filled with weeping people the whole week, but there were certain moments, certain songs, certain messages during which there were many wet eyes. I believe this is a very natural part of genuine, heartfelt worship--when worship helps us somehow get a clearer picture of the holiness of God, we are undone in the awareness of our sin, and at the same time we are filled with an overwhelming realization that God loves us anyway, no matter what. Worship can take you apart that way, and I suppose that when worship leaders worship, they are more likely to get to that place more quickly. Although one might expect that it would be easy for a worship leader to become jaded over time, I have found the opposite to be true. The more I lead worship, the more I become aware of my own brokenness, and the more I experience a tenderness of heart, if you will.

There is a seemingly endless variety of expressions of worship. This is, I'm sure, evidence of the creative character of God in us. Yes, there are some truly awful worship songs out there--I've sung a bunch of them, and I've even written a few. But I'm amazed and awestruck by some of the beautiful new songs that I heard this week. And it was not only the music, but also the visual stuff--the video loops behind the projected lyrics, the worship videos between bands, the creative ways that stages can be arranged, the creative ways that lighting is used...and there is still room for more.

There are still some great songs yet to be written. I read (or heard) something recently (before the conference) about how many worship songs are expressions of a level of devotion that few human beings can honestly claim, and by leading songs of this sort, we may be actually lying to God and bringing our congregations with us in the lies. That may be an unfair criticism, but I think there is something to think about there. As we sang dozens of songs together this week, I found myself drawn more to the songs that seemed to me to be more honest and real. And it occurred to me that if we need any more worship songs in the world (and I believe we do), we need more of the sort that help people understand the truth about God and the truth about themselves. We need songs that help give expression to our struggles and our doubts, songs of confession and repentance, songs that acknowledge our brokenness and pain, and help us hold on to hope and experience forgiveness.

There are clearly some popular formulas in worship music today. Some songs and worship bands are becoming incredibly predictable. There is a certain electric guitar sound that every guitarist on stage seemed to have, on every song (am I guilty of that, too? Probably). The same is true of keyboard parts and pads, and the drum beats. And it seems to be true of song architecture and arrangement, as well--so many songs start really big with full, in-your-face walls of sound, then you get to a very quiet bridge that builds back into the in-your-face wall of sound, which the cynic in me tends to see as the get-them-on-their-feet-with-their-hands-in-the-air cue, and if it doesn't work the first time, you repeat the cycle until the people respond appropriately. Is this really the only way to lead worship meaningfully? It's a minor thing--musical styles and trends and tastes change, I know, but there was a small part of me that longed for someone to do something really different, and not to just play for the hands-in-the-air response. (Again, that's just the cynic in me coming out. I'm not above that sort of arranging myself.) I'm just saying.

I've still got a lot to learn. The content of this conference was quite good, perhaps better than at some of the other conferences I've attended. And I know I've got a lot of work to do to improve the quality of my worship leadership, musicianship, etc.

I've still got a few good years left in me. I was so blessed by hearing Lenny LeBlanc lead worship before Louie Giglio's talk--he's as old as me, maybe older, and still doing it well and effectively. I'm tempted often to think that because I'm older, God can't really use me as effectively as he could use someone younger and fresher. I don't think that's true; though it may be that as I get older, he's going to use me in different ways. I'm totally okay with that.

I didn't mean to make a whole book out of this post, so if you're still with me, thanks. If you're a worship leader and you need some inspiration, some fellowship, some time to worship without being the leader, or some new ideas or resources, I highly recommend that you find something like the National Worship Leader Conference to attend. There are many such conferences in various locations around the country. You never waste any time sharpening your tools.