Putting It All Together

I have a lot of conversation with people, almost every week, about what it takes to create a worship service. 
And I'm never surprised that almost everyone - a very large majority - has no clue as to what it takes.
Gone are the days when churches can 'throw' together a song set for church, sometimes on Sunday morning. I've always struggled with that approach. If it's supposed to be creative, if it's supposed to help us connect with God through worship music, if it's supposed to move us to a place where we can hear from God - then how does throwing it together leave room for the Spirit to lead, guide and direct us who have been called to this task?
The answer is short and simple - it doesn't. 
Here's what I've observed about this way of doing worship:
1. The singers are so focused on still learning the music that they don't have the opportunity to freely worship.
2. The instruments are so focused on timing, transitions, fills, modulation, solos - they can't worship. 
In short, everyone that's working on the music is WORKING on the music, not worshiping. 
I had a guitar player years ago who really brought this to light for me. I was introducing new songs each week and trying to bring them the  following Sunday, hoping to keep music fresh. (That's a blog for another day.) I expected that, because he was so good, he would be able to pick it up right away and go with it. 
After a few months of this he finally told me, "Karl, I love that we're trying to introduce new music. But I'm having a hard time worshiping with my guitar because I'm still learning it." DUH!
What we have to realize, leaders, is that the guitar for him IS his worship voice. The keyboard for the keyboardist, the drums for the drummer, the bass for the bassist, the sax for the saxophonist - those instruments are the VOICE of the instrumentalist.
So if we're asking them to just throw together music that is supposed to lead people in worship, when they aren't doing so themselves, it's just practice, not worship.

So all of this to say that we take the time to work on music together well ahead of each weeks service. Sometimes new music doesn't come for weeks, simply because we aren't ready to worship with it together.
It takes time to get the chords, progressions, transitions, key changes, etc. to flow and connect seamlessly. And that's just the instruments. Vocals have to get the lyrics and the meaning, the melody line, add the harmony, intonation, expressions, etc. to communicate it to the body in such a way that they can join in.

Our culture actually lowers their expectations for worship (music). They have come to expect that we don't give it the attention it deserves, and for them that seems to be okay. 
Well not for me or the team.
We take what GOD has called us to very seriously. We understand that we have a responsibility to lead worship first for ourselves, and then for the congregation. We listen for God to lead us in the midst of the service and try to follow as He leads. We come prepared for whatever may be asked of us for the King.

So it takes time, energy, effort and commitment to do it. I believe that God honors that far above just winging it week in and week out. We'll take the time to invest in not only the people that God brings, but more importantly the ministry He calls us to.

We don't always get everything right each week. That's how we learn. And why we keep coming back week after week to try and present worship that honors the King!

See ya in church...