“You’re the music guy right?” I hear from behind me after a morning worship service at our church. In effort not to get into title particulars, I politely answer back while turning to greet him, “Yea I guess. That was me up there.”
“Oh dude, you are an incredible piano player! I haven’t heard music this good in church since [insert name of late 80s/early 90s Christian artist here] came to town in concert. In fact, you kinda sound like him! Has anyone ever told you that?”
Trying as hard as I can to force a genuine smile, but resorting to a fake one, I replied, “ Well I appreciate that. Praise God. I’m glad you enjoyed it”
“Hey, if you really want to get some good worship going in this place, you should start playing more music by….”
If you’re a worship pastor, worship leader, or music director of a church, you have had this conversation in one form or another. The people who approach you after a worship service certainly are not intending to deflate your “spiritual high” or self worth, but that’s exactly what happens isn’t it? Very heated statements and questions start firing away in your mind, “He thinks I sound like who!?” “What the heck is he talking about, ‘get some good worship going…’ pshhhh like he knows anything about good worship music.” “Did he not worship!? Why did he focus on my piano playing more than seeking to draw near to God?” “This is his first time visiting and he thinks he can prance in here and tell me what music I should do in my church!? Really?”
How many times have we allowed pithy or petty statements from one congregant, visitor or not, to become a foothold for the devil to use in seeking to steal glory from the Lord? Let me remind you what The Lord said to Cain when he gave a half-hearted and thoughtless offering to the Lord, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”[1] Also let me encourage you with Peter’s exhortation in 1 Peter 5: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.[2] Granted the suffering he is speaking on is a little more severe than a disrespectful or hurtful comment, but we can be encouraged nevertheless.
We have options. We can play the comparison game, and get worked up very quickly when people engage in the style wars with you about the music that you do at your church. We can write seething and harshly pointed argumentative emails and letters explaining why it is ok to have drums in church or the scientific proof that someone can listen to 92 decibels for 6 hours straight before any sort of hearing damage. The point is, if our goal as a worship pastor is simply to do a full court press on a style of music or for cultural relevancy, we are seeking to please men, and not God. Our goal ought to be to exemplify a heart overflowing in truthful worship in and outside the church and training our people to do the same.[3] The worship pastor is NOT the music guy. Music is just a small facet of the job description for Sunday mornings, that’s it.
The worship pastor practicum is a study devoted to the motivation and biblical application of the worship pastor as a missional leader in a church body charged with cultivating a “culture of worship.” First, we will see how the worship pastor must be biblically motivated by a mysterious gift that challenges an immeasurable task. Second, we will explore the worship pastor as a prophet with the charge of rightly handling the word of God and encouraging biblical response to it. Third, we will look into the personal life of the worship pastor and his charge as a priest to his team and church body. Fourth, we will discuss the practical implications of a worship pastor leading as a king. And finally, we will culminate this study looking toward Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. He is the worship pastor’s worship pastor, and he truly is the source of our genuine worship.
The goal of this study is to equip worship pastors, worship leaders, and music directors with the biblical and logical tools to lead and effectuate biblical worship in spirit and in truth among their church body. The hope is that the job of worship pastor is seen not just as the music guy, but a leader who is able to handle God’s word effectively and use it to cultivate a culture of worship in their context. A culture that is not limited to Sunday mornings, but one that forms a body of believers charged and equipped to respond to the great commission by our Lord Jesus Christ when he said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[4]
Preliminary Note:
The worship pastor is obviously not the senior pastor, but the two should be so closely intertwined so as to come up with a vision for their local church context where people are leaving their doors knowing they are entering the mission field of their work place, their schools, their neighborhood, their marriages etc. The goal is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is continually in the front of their minds, burning their hearts and on the tip of their tongues. Likewise, the worship pastor, following and submitting to the senior pastor and elder board, is charged with equipping the body of Christ with the necessary means to promote hearts to overflow with thanksgiving and humility that leads to life-transformation through the word of God and not merely just an emotional, or perhaps musical, experience.
God’s presence is not a place; it is a reality in Christ, and how quickly we forget this! The challenge is great, and based on the title, the job description for a worship pastor is simply this: Lead them in recognizing the reality of God’s presence ALWAYS. Many trip, many fall, many fail. It is time for the worship pastor to be more than just the music guy and become a shepherd leading God’s flock, training them to respond to God’s glorious grace.
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