I'd like to write again about worship.  This time I'd like to discuss some common conceptions and misconceptions about the people leading worship.  We're a pretty sensitive lot, and the things people think and say about us, can really hurt us.  The only difference between us and the congregation is our ability to play an instrument.  But, some people make a bigger distinction.

    When I first got into worship leading, it was for money.  Now, put your stones down; God knew what He needed to use to get my attention, and I have since fallen in love with worship leading, irregardless of whether or not I'm getting paid.  I quickly became aware that there is a scale; all the way to the left are purely musical concerns, and all the way to the right are purely spiritual concerns.  I was aware that in the dead-center of that scale is where I needed to be, but I was coming from mostly the musical side of the scale.  So, I asked the Lord to allow me to use my knowledge of the left side, while I allowed Him to teach me the right side.  The request must have pleased Him, because over the past few years my thirst for His knowledge has been unquenchable, and I've been fortunate to play in and lead some amazing bands.  I'm still not exactly in the middle, but I'm getting closer every day!

    I believe (based on comments I've overheard and conversations I've had) that many people don't think that this balance exists, at least not in our church.  But this is based on a double-standard that a lot of Christians have about worship music and musicians.  It's OK to have a really bad musician or band lead worship, if "their heart is in the right place."  I'm not so sure I agree:

Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might

"With all your might" would seem to imply that you should be working very hard and doing whatever it takes to be great at what you do.  If what you do is play an instrument in a worship band, than you should be practicing, taking lessons or whatever it is you need to do to be the best.  Not for your sake, but for the sake of giving your best to our God!  On the other hand, worship leading is not a concert.  Excellent musicianship is essential, but without a real heart for God and for leading His people into worship, it's worthless:

1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

    So we can probably all agree that a balance is necessary.  But we need to be careful when trying to determine whether or not someone (or some group) has it.  I'll use myself as an example.  I'm not a very demonstrative person, at least not yet in my worship.  I'm not prone to raise my hands, or fall on my face in worship during a service.  I have no problem with those things (and as I'm getting closer to God, these things are starting to happen), but since I don't do them in my everyday life, I'm not going to do them when I'm leading worship.  If I do, then I'm putting on a show and I thought that we agreed that a worship service is not a concert.  When worship leading, I'm taking my private worship and making it public.  I'm striving to be the same person up on stage, that I am off stage.  Now, I've surrounded myself with band mates that share my same vision of musical and spiritual excellence.  We're a very good band, and we're working very hard at learning as much as we can about the spiritual side of what we're doing on Sunday nights.  Because I'm not very demonstrative or vocal during worship (I think a lot of worship leaders are trying to be cheerleaders, which I'm not), people get the impression that we're only interested in the musical side of things.  But this couldn't be further from the truth!  Now a mediocre band that has a worship leader who constantly lifts his hands and exhorts the congregation to worship, looks like a more spiritual group than ours.  But maybe the singer is just imitating other worship leaders he's seen and not being genuine.  Or maybe the band really desires to lead people into worship, but is too busy (or lazy) to do so well.  Appearances aren't everything.

    Hearts do need to be in the right place, but God deserves our best efforts musically too!  I'm not a perfect worship leader, but I'm trying.  And I'm pretty sure that my worship leading will be different and much better in five years, than it is now.  Lord, please help us to find balance in our worship.

God Bless,
Jason Chaillou
thefirewall@comcast.net