[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Is your Worship Leader a true Minister of Music? Does he or she use music, in all its forms and all genres, to enhance the worship experience and try to lead people to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior? Or is the person leading worship merely using the churchs stage and PA system to fulfill their secret desires of being a rock star? Also known in some circles as a Sunday morning musician.[/FONT]
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[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']To be more specific: does your Worship Leader humbly and gracefully coach, lovingly mentor, and truly inspire others to perform at their best, and with the passion and fire-in-belly to serve the church. Its been said great leaders dont lead, they inspire others to do their very best. [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Or is your Worship Leader simply a Sunday morning musician, with his or her own secret agenda and the very public desire to merely show off? Do they work to project the pastors true message for the service, or do they crave the spotlight for themselves? Have you noticed a cocky and arrogant my way or the highway attitude? [/FONT]
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[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Ive played for Ministers of Music, aka Worship Leaders with advanced degrees in Music and who routinely have 30 piece orchestras and 50 member choirs, all backed by multimillion dollar pipe organs. These educated gentlemen show a very distinct and humble, even graceful character as they truly aspire to serve the Lord using the talents He gave them. They gladly share their knowledge and give freely to all who seek to understand music or strive to get closer to God. They even understand and appreciate all forms of music but have their favorites. [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']And Ive played for Worship Leaders barely out of a bachelors program at the local college who can semi-confidently strum their moderately-priced acoustic guitar, but act like they know everything about everything and have the cocky, arrogant, egotistical attitude to go with it. But when asked about Bach, Brahms, or Mozart, or Chopin, Tchaikovsky, or Wagner they know nothing, Theyve maybe heard of Mozart but cant really name anything hes done. Ever heard of Beethoven, you ask them? Wasnt that a movie about a big dog, they answer? And who is that John Rutter dude, anyway? [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']And speaking of contemporary music, dont even ask them about the wonderful music educators and pioneers such as Dave Brubeck, Clem Derosa, Artie Van Damme, or Django Reinhardt. Mention 5/4 or 6/8 Jazz or 12 bar Blues, youll probably get the deer in the headlights look, or most likely the worn-out phrase, well, this is MY band, so ______. Fill in the blanks. [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']And when asked to play, they always come up with the same old four on the floor contemporary rock song with rehashed Christian lyrics as if that is all they can do and its good enough. Some have great voices, others not so great. The majority fall somewhere in between. Never is it discussed with the rest of the band or asked of the congregation what they would like to play and hear. Its always about them and what they like. Tell me again why the church has pews full of hymnals? [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Being an experienced and gigging musician myself and studying for years in the public school music programs performing in concert and symphonic bands, marching bands, and jazz bands, as well as a cherished stint in a local universitys music program, I can honestly and with a high degree of confidence spot a wanna-be rock star posing as a worship leader. Years and years of practicing and studying with some of the best music teachers in the area (thank you mom and dad) have helped to hone my skill set. Ive recorded with numerous bands. Am I an expert? No way, not by a long shot. But Im not out to be the best. My goal is to merely hold my own in any playing situation. My instrument, you may wonder? Its one of the easiest instruments to play, yet the hardest instrument to master and truly understand: drums and percussion. [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Im still wondering how a Worship Leader with no drum or percussion experience whatsoever can think they can competently discuss the various groove nuances required to make a particular song sound good in live music and worship. Just because someones roommate for a semester at school or someones friend played drums while growing up, does not qualify one to micromanage a drummer. Far from it.[/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']This leads me to my next series of questions. Why are young "worship leaders" so blooming cocky, arrrogant, and egotistical? I've met more than my share of these characters who can barely fit their massive egos inside the church sanctuary. It pains me to see some young, new "hotshot" come in and automatically assume they "know-it-all" and nobody else knows more than they do about music, life, the Bible, etc. Ive run into so-called worship leaders who didn't know the squat about music theory, but yet think their minister certification (if they even have one) automatically entitles them to micromanage everything the worship team does and do so with arrogance, egotism, and a my way or the highway attitude. Sadly, within the last half decade, Ive witnessed several people pull pastors aside and tell them their newly minted worship leader needs to lose the attitude if they are going to stay. It has gotten that bad. What are they teaching young people nowadays?[/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']To conclude, I think there should be a required course in every college or university Religion program that focuses entirely on humbleness and humility; in other words leave the massive ego at home. Its not welcomed. [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']To be more specific: does your Worship Leader humbly and gracefully coach, lovingly mentor, and truly inspire others to perform at their best, and with the passion and fire-in-belly to serve the church. Its been said great leaders dont lead, they inspire others to do their very best. [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Or is your Worship Leader simply a Sunday morning musician, with his or her own secret agenda and the very public desire to merely show off? Do they work to project the pastors true message for the service, or do they crave the spotlight for themselves? Have you noticed a cocky and arrogant my way or the highway attitude? [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Ive played for Ministers of Music, aka Worship Leaders with advanced degrees in Music and who routinely have 30 piece orchestras and 50 member choirs, all backed by multimillion dollar pipe organs. These educated gentlemen show a very distinct and humble, even graceful character as they truly aspire to serve the Lord using the talents He gave them. They gladly share their knowledge and give freely to all who seek to understand music or strive to get closer to God. They even understand and appreciate all forms of music but have their favorites. [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']And Ive played for Worship Leaders barely out of a bachelors program at the local college who can semi-confidently strum their moderately-priced acoustic guitar, but act like they know everything about everything and have the cocky, arrogant, egotistical attitude to go with it. But when asked about Bach, Brahms, or Mozart, or Chopin, Tchaikovsky, or Wagner they know nothing, Theyve maybe heard of Mozart but cant really name anything hes done. Ever heard of Beethoven, you ask them? Wasnt that a movie about a big dog, they answer? And who is that John Rutter dude, anyway? [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']And speaking of contemporary music, dont even ask them about the wonderful music educators and pioneers such as Dave Brubeck, Clem Derosa, Artie Van Damme, or Django Reinhardt. Mention 5/4 or 6/8 Jazz or 12 bar Blues, youll probably get the deer in the headlights look, or most likely the worn-out phrase, well, this is MY band, so ______. Fill in the blanks. [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']And when asked to play, they always come up with the same old four on the floor contemporary rock song with rehashed Christian lyrics as if that is all they can do and its good enough. Some have great voices, others not so great. The majority fall somewhere in between. Never is it discussed with the rest of the band or asked of the congregation what they would like to play and hear. Its always about them and what they like. Tell me again why the church has pews full of hymnals? [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Being an experienced and gigging musician myself and studying for years in the public school music programs performing in concert and symphonic bands, marching bands, and jazz bands, as well as a cherished stint in a local universitys music program, I can honestly and with a high degree of confidence spot a wanna-be rock star posing as a worship leader. Years and years of practicing and studying with some of the best music teachers in the area (thank you mom and dad) have helped to hone my skill set. Ive recorded with numerous bands. Am I an expert? No way, not by a long shot. But Im not out to be the best. My goal is to merely hold my own in any playing situation. My instrument, you may wonder? Its one of the easiest instruments to play, yet the hardest instrument to master and truly understand: drums and percussion. [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Im still wondering how a Worship Leader with no drum or percussion experience whatsoever can think they can competently discuss the various groove nuances required to make a particular song sound good in live music and worship. Just because someones roommate for a semester at school or someones friend played drums while growing up, does not qualify one to micromanage a drummer. Far from it.[/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']This leads me to my next series of questions. Why are young "worship leaders" so blooming cocky, arrrogant, and egotistical? I've met more than my share of these characters who can barely fit their massive egos inside the church sanctuary. It pains me to see some young, new "hotshot" come in and automatically assume they "know-it-all" and nobody else knows more than they do about music, life, the Bible, etc. Ive run into so-called worship leaders who didn't know the squat about music theory, but yet think their minister certification (if they even have one) automatically entitles them to micromanage everything the worship team does and do so with arrogance, egotism, and a my way or the highway attitude. Sadly, within the last half decade, Ive witnessed several people pull pastors aside and tell them their newly minted worship leader needs to lose the attitude if they are going to stay. It has gotten that bad. What are they teaching young people nowadays?[/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'][/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']To conclude, I think there should be a required course in every college or university Religion program that focuses entirely on humbleness and humility; in other words leave the massive ego at home. Its not welcomed. [/FONT]
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