Some of us may not have the luxury of doing a worship service with a live band and praise team. Some of us have to just go at it with a CD player, iPod, Worship Videos, or some other form of media.
Personally, this is my favorite way of leading worship – no joke. It’s a lot easier than working with a bunch of people – that’s for sure. I’m saying that very much tongue-in-cheek, but I really do enjoy the freedom worshiping with tracks can provide. I have intentionally chose this option once for a weekend service, and I do it very frequently in a mid-week prayer meeting. When I’m leading worship with my iPod, the band is absolutely perfect. The vocals are perfect. The mix is perfect. I don’t have to worry about leading any music – it’s on perfect “autopilot.” Short of equipment malfunction, absolutely nothing musical can go wrong. I know when the “band” will go to the verse and chorus. This autopilot perfection allows me to focus 150% on leading people.
Remember, our Goal (in my opinion) is to “help people experience God and develop a life of worship.” It doesn’t matter which way you slice it, it boils down to that. The often ignored portion in that is the first two words – “help people.” My father tells a story of once while in Bible college chapel service, a man was leading the worship. He got onto the stage, sang through one verse of a song, and then started crying. And kept crying. And kept crying. And then said, “Amen.” That was his worship service. The worship leader had an encounter with God, but he didn’t take anyone else with him. He needed to LEAD.
I think sometimes when we use a CD player to lead worship we do it very poorly. We use it as an opportunity to be lazy, although we wouldn’t call it that. We just put a CD player on and say, “Now worship.” That CD player is a fantastic tool, guys. But there is no excuse for not transitioning between songs as necessary with your words. There is no excuse for not putting “worship examples” on the platform (lead worshipers). There is no excuse for not praying before, after, or during worship. There is no excuse for not saying SOMETHING during the set or song in order to lead the spiritual journey. If you’re going to lead worship with a CD Player, you still need to prepare! You still need to lead! I think there still needs to be someone up front – with a microphone - that can lead people through the spiritual journey that the music enables.
I will be talking a lot about preparation tips on the February 24th, 2011 phone seminar. These tips will work great if you have a 15 piece band, and they’ll work great if you’re using a CD player. I hope you’ll be a part of this!
Resources of the Day: If you are using CDs to lead worship, and projecting lyrics on a screen, I encourage you to look at Integrity Worship’s iWorship MPEG library. This is the best of both worlds. I encourage you to purchase the MPEGs not the DVDs so that you can mix and match songs from different collections each week. Or their newer iWorship Flexx product allows YOU to call out the order of the song ON-THE-FLY during service. You’ve got to check it out.
Comment By: Bruce Prosser
February 15th, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Good thoughts Adam. There are some artist like Jeremy Kamps and I think that Casting Crowns that also publish their stuff that can be used with PowerPoint, ProMedia and MediaShout.
Thank you.
B
Comment By: Pastor Jim Moore
February 16th, 2011 at 11:12 pm
Well said, Adam. Our main midweek service has used this media format in the past, and our youth service is currently doing worship via DVD.
Comment By: George Lapp
February 17th, 2011 at 12:30 am
I would rather have one good guitarist or keyboardist that can flow in worship than a cd. I’ve done it by myself with a new church as necessary with a decent arranger keyboard then as players are added you can turn that part off and let the live player take over. It makes a smooth transition to a full band and you keep the arrangements as the band grows.