A worship pastor’s dilemma…

Greetings my worship pastor/leaders friends thanks for your input… here goes…

…”Not enough Hymns today…whoa too many Hymns…too long…too short…didn’t like all the new stuff…are we ever going to do anything new…why are the same people up there all the time…who are all the new people…too loud…could be louder…don’t like the drums…why didn’t you have a band today…more guitars please…why not just an organ and piano…don’t you dare bring that organ back…why do the new songs repeat so much…why do the old songs seem impersonal…that’s not a Hymn…that’s so 1990′s…I don’t get it…I don’t like it…why do you just listen to the “squeeky” wheels…why do you just listen to what the new people want…I think the band is distracting…I don’t like acapella…why even bring it up he won’t listen anyway…you work for us (ouch)” I could go on…it would seem we have dilemma folks because this is going on all over our churches…what’s a worship pastor to do short of asking for more medication?…why can’t worship pastors please everyone…why is this so hard?

I have led worship now for almost 20 years and instead of avoiding this topic, or trying to please everyone or giving up,  I have decided to embrace the challenge.

Every worship pastor I have talked to loves their ministry and the churches they serve. Our deepest desire  is to see the body of Christ come together each week to honor God with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength…To me that is the best style of worship out there because Jesus himself called his followers to love God this way…

Mark 12:28-34: . . . he asked [Jesus], “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind, and with all your strength”

A great way to model this commandment is to use these areas Jesus describes as actual parts of the corporate worship experience. Heart (our choices)…Mind (our thoughts)…Soul (our feelings and emotions)…Strength (our body i.e. our actions) When I plan our services at Hope Summit, I prayerfully seek to find a balance in all of these areas in our worship services by asking these questions:

1. Was our heart convicted? Was there a call to change?
2. Was the mind engaged? Was there an opportunity for our intellect to be stretched?
3. Was the soul inspired? Was there ample opportunity for an outflow of our emotions and expressions of gratitude to God
4. Was our strength challenged? Did we physically express our worship and honor of God

Here is a great website resource for this very topic Experiential Worship There is no right or wrong formula or mix. Each pastor needs to look at their worshipers. We happen to have a lot of young new families and a multi-generational population at Hope Summit . My goal is to try to have  a connection or “touch point” for each person attending. It is more than just “something for everyone”… It is more like “all things are for all people” if that makes sense. Now here is the most important part…understand our goal as pastors is help people bring their hearts minds souls and strength as their offering of worship…not to do it for them…you will never be able to do this for them…you will end up trying to please people’s choices and not choosing to please God.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:16-17

At Hope Summit we follow the same example by using new and old hymns, modern praise songs and choruses. We use  many forms of the arts  such as dramas, special solos and ensemble musical arrangements, testimonies, dramatic Scripture readings, and the creative use of multimedia production.  All are used to bring honor and glory to God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ through the power of His Holy Spirit. Marva Dawn says “every worship service is contemporary because it is now and every worship service is traditional because what we do now is built upon the traditions of those who have gone before us”

Will the battle ever end …no….why? Satan is very nervous when a church really starts to worship this way…that church starts to impact the darkness and starts reducing Hell’s roll call one person at a time. We do need to realize our battling each other only prolongs his stronghold on this world.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12

Thanks for checking out my thoughts for today…more on this topic later…would appreciate your thoughts

Ric