To be a worship leader, you must take into consideration some basic rules of leadership. If you lead worship and haven’t taken the time to read a few books or view DVDs about leadership, it would do you a lot of good to do so. Now, I’m not promoting any authors or works, but I am promoting leadership development.
One of these basic rules is that if you call yourself a leader and no one is following you, then you aren’t leading. This leads me into the Law of the Audience.
Our church is currently working through a new adult home group / discipleship program that involves teaching the same courses in four sessions throughout one year. I’m currently in the middle of my second session, teaching from “Worship Theory.” In my current session, I suddenly find myself referring to information that I started when I began the book project; information on worship leading.
I’ve been away from writing for a while, so let’s jump into the Eternity series. Our last post on this topic was aimed at explaining that we are being prepared now for the tasks that will be given to us at the end of time and in eternity. I quoted from a book called, Destined for the Throne, and if you haven’t read this book, I would suggest you do. If nothing else, it will get you thinking about concepts that you cannot turn a blind eye to; you must take the time to study, discuss and consider what is delivered in this book.
The Book of Revelation gives a pretty startling picture of Heaven, the troubles that await the end of time here in Creation, and a glimpse into eternity. With just a quick glance through the pages of Revelation, I’ve found four roles that we can consider ourselves being prepared for in our currently daily lives that we will only later fulfill. Let’s take a look at them.
I finally received the final proof of my book, Worship Theory. After this morning, the book is available for purchase through the Touch the Skye Storefront at Lulu.com.
Worship Theory does not take a position regarding the contemporary-traditional-blended debate. Instead, these theories were developed to encourage deeper consideration, further study, and a more personal application to worship. It makes what the Bible says about worship – how it relates to the individual, his/her attiudes and life, God, and the church – the focus for that study.
The “Theory of Philosophy” chapter will remain available on this site as a free preview download.
In a post entitled A help for struggling worship leaders, I mentioned that a worship blogger was working on a book, and that he asked worship leaders to give him input on their “greatest challenges”. One comment on that blog was, “…is there a way to determine if people actually worshiped rather than were entertained? My goal is to point them to Christ and help enter into God’s presence, but how do we know if we have been successful?” I alluded that the answer to this question is found in your Philosophy of Worship. Let’s jump in from there.
It sounds really complicated and scary when you talk about developing a Philosophy of worship. Let’s face it, so many of us are wondering about what to do, where to go, who to talk to for today; and then we worry about our future and how we can walk in God’s perfect will for our lives, and how to build the Kingdom, and if we’re growing closer to Him or not… Do we really have time to stop and think about, to sit down and “develop” a philosophy of worship? Hasn’t someone written a book on that and given me all the answers, Cliff Notes style, so I can read/memorize them once and move on to the next thing?
Continue reading “Worship “Litmus Test””Let’s start thinking about and discussing worship and worship leading, shall we? I mean, let’s get past all the “theory” talk for a while and really get into the meat of it.
Of course, this is going to take some effort from you, the readers. As of today there are 516 hits to this site, but a total of 17 comments to all of my posts. So c’mon, gang, let’s get serious. Let’s talk. I’m know you don’t want to just hear my ramblings.
Let’s start with something basic to get the channels open. Here’s the day’s question: How do you choose your songs?
Chris MacKinnon 