Quality Worship Leading

What is a Quality Worship Leader?

I believe that a quality worship leader has a variety of characteristics but I believe the most important one is selflessness. A worship leader has to be able not to think of oneself but rather on others, the ones they are leading. Worship leaders don't think of themselves and how they will be precieved by their audience but instead want to help lead others to God. That is the job of a worship leader. To lead others to God through music and their actions. Not only does their performance help lead others to christ but their actions do as well. A quality worship leader is not two faced and will still act as a servant to the Lord even off the stage. Their personality and actions should not change just because they are no longer leading worship but rather they are "leading worship everyday". I also believe a quality worship leader does not just think about the music they are performing. They should realize that it is not just about the music they perform but rather they are giving it all up to God, to give Him the glory. He is the one we serve and is our main priority, a quality worship leader does not just look out for themselves. Overall there are a lot of qualities a worship leader must have to a valuable worship leader but those are some a the qualities I find most important.

An Example of a Quality Worship Leader:

Matthew West is the perfect example of a quality worship leader. West is an American Contemporary Christian musician, singer songwriter and actor. He has released five studio albums and is known for his songs "More", "You Are Everything", and "The Motions".In addition to his main solo career, West has worked as a songwriter for many Christian musicians and groups such as Point of Grace, Mandisa, Natalie Grant, and Casting Crowns, as well as mainstream country acts, Rascal Flatts, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Vince Gill. Besides his impressive credentials he embodies all the amazing qualities a good worship leader would have. He is so selfless that he decided to write an album about other people's stories and he dedicated the entire album to them. He always dedicates everything he has to God and always is so thankful for all of his success.

Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin

Summary:

Worship Matters, a book, written by Bob Kauflin talks about how we as worship leaders must lead others to encounter the greatness of God. Bob Kauflin was a worship leader during the early 70's, in a band called "Glad." The band is one of the pioneers of Christian pop/rock and a cappella music. Having formed as a progressive rock group in 1972 and discovered a large audience for their a cappella music in 1988 that led the band to immense success. But Kauflin wanted to do more than just music; he has recently created a website dedicated to young worship leaders to help guide them through the process of being in worship. Although Kauflin has his music and website to reach out to Christian Leaders he decided to take an additional step by writing a book. The book covers a wide variety of subjects including leadership skills, the task of worship, healthy tensions, and surrounding yourself with the right relationships. Overall Kauflin takes into account his own experiences and lessons he's learned and tries to educate the younger generation of worship leaders through this book. Worship Matters has a total of 303 pages along with an general index to reference which bible verse Kauflin mentions throughout the text. This book was a fascinating read for the time I was spent with it and I appreciate everything Kauflin had to say.

Points:

• Work on not just music skills but worship skills
• Kaulfin talks a lot in this book about how we as worship leaders focus too much on our music skills but rather we should work on out worship skills. How we connect with God and how we connect others to God is what we are here for. We of course always have to make music a priority but not let it be our main focus
• Surrounding yourself with healthy relationships
• Kauflin heavily emphasizes the importance of having healthy relationships in our lives. The people we surround ourselves with effect us and our behavior. Surrounding ourselves with those who embody God's love will help amplify our love for God also and that shows in our worship.

The Gift of Worship

The video really emphasized how worship is about giving and isnt all about us. We are solely for God to worship him and to surrender all to him and to bring others together in worship for him. Life gets crazy due to hardships but worship is an outlet to let go of all of those things that are on our minds and to give everything to god. 

I really enjoyed this video because it talked about how worship is not about us at all and I think thats something we want to remember. I think when you start doing worship for a long time you forget why you are doing what you are doing. We need to remind ourselves that we are not on a platform or we are not the ones everyone should look at but rather us and the congregation should all be looking at god. Overall the message of this video really hit home for me and I think every worship band every once in a while should watch it to recap on why worship is so important not only for us but to god.

Guiding Principles of Worship

Worship Is A Dialogue:
Worship is like a conversation between God and Us. God reveals himself to us and we do the same to him. These two elements of prayers and praise help make worship what it is.

Worship Is Focused On Christ:
The ultimate goal of worship is to worship Christ and we can not forget that.

Worship Is Contemporary:
Worship throughout time is always changing so its great to create new songs and new forms of worship so that we can improve and go with the times. Also contemporary worship really relates to the younger generation.

Worship Is Traditional:
Although worship is always changing we must remember to keep some aspects traditional. We can not let go of our roots and values and must apply that to our worship.

Worship Is Wholistic:
We can't seperate ourselves from others because of their intellect or emotions but rather we should look at everyone wholisticly. We need to see the whole person and not just the aspects of them we wish to see. We cannot allow ourselves to judge others and we must look at them as a whole.

Worship Is Participative:
We are the prompters and God is our audience. In each act of worship we need to put our full energy and devotion into our performance.

Worship Is Inclusive:
We need to include all age groups and not limit ourselves from not reaching out to all sorts of people no matter what differences.

Worship is Balance:
For Balance we need to maintain a constant balance of all aspects of worship. Including keeping a level head and to be patient when we perform and remembering that our performance is not for us but for God. Some references are Psalms 130 and II Chronicles 3:12-14

Worship Team Handbook

In this handbook it talks about our purpose, our goals, and what is the real difference between a band and a worship team. Some of the standards and expectations we are suppose to have are christian maturity, Skillful artistry, responsible behavior, and inspiring expressions. This handbook also says that we have to be inclusive not exculsive in worship. Our worship team is strongest when we all have a strong faith in God. We should not exclude people from our band we should be open to others. Bands are about ownership while worship band is about fellowship. Worship can also be contemporary and traditional. It is not closed off.

I really enjoyed this handbook and I thought it was interesting to see the differences between a regular band and a worship team. It was interesting to read the different dynamics between the two groups. Both are so different from one another and I never realized that. Overall I really enjoyed this handbook and I will definetly be applying it to myself on the worship team!

Why we aren't singing?

In this video we learned that most people now a days aren't singing like they use to in church. In the video a man says that he thinks its the culture now a days. Maybe in today's times worshiping and singing isn't the social norm. He also goes on to say that some people don't know the new songs we perform and we need to introduce those songs and teach them better to the congregation. He also says that it is our job to worship and give back to god and one of the best ways to do that is through singing and worshiping. Another reason why people aren't singing anymore is that they are more difficult. These new songs are musically hard but sound amazing are sometimes misunderstood by the congregation. There are so many people of different ages and backgrounds its hard to completely convey our message of love for Christ if the music is too difficult. Much of the churches have copied a performance almost like a concert style so the audience feels like they shouldn't sing along. All churches are different but we must encourage the congregation to sing and worship along not for us but for God.

I really agreed with this video because a lot of people aren't singing in chapel or church anymore. But we need to come to worship God, it's not for ourselves. We as worship leaders bring a universal language to church to help convey God's love for us and we need to make sure our message gets across. We don't want to excuse God from the equation. We must encourage people to sing and worship in any and every setting especially in chapel and church. I really enjoyed this video and it gave me a new perspective on chapel music.

Are you Living in your Element

In this video, Dan Wilt talked about how we really need to use our gifts during worship everyday. Whether it be during a performance or outside of the performance like in our everyday life. God has given us these gifts for a reason and we should use them for his glory. Giving everything to him is what we should do with our gifts not just let them waste away. God wants us to use our gifts and not just to let them slip away.

I really liked this video because it talked about how we should use our gifts that God has given us. Sometimes we don't take advantage of our gifts that God has given us but we really should use them. God gave us all really unique gifts and we really need to use them especially through worship. Worship is the place to use those gifts and be in our own element. We must be grounded in our faith and give our all to him. This video really inspired me and Im so glad i got to watch it!