| Worship |
Page 1 of 4     Roster for Jan - Mac 2010
LEADING WORSHIP Note that the title of my sharing is Leading Worship and NOT worship leading. The difference here is that all of us in the worship ministry play a part in leading the congregation into intimate praise and worship unto the Lord and its not the sole responsibility of the worship leader. Bearing that in mind, all of us must identify, and eliminate as much distraction as possible. What comes to mind is firstly our appearance, our behavior and how we ‘carry ourselves’. Whenever I am not on duty on stage, I would become conscious of such things when I look at the team on duty. I can easily be distracted by even a wayward drink bottle or a bag or guitar case carelessly left around. The endless untidy clutter of cables snaking all over the stage area or around the musicians is a continuous nightmare to me. Not to mention that lately we have been experiencing very frequent disruption or ‘feedbacks’ from our sound system and the once in a while buzz from instrument cables or ‘booms’ from the amps. We need to be conscious that times of worship should be a smooth flow and thus effort is required to avoid disruption. It will be great if we can ‘create a journey’, a sense of we belong to the Lord, we have touched Him. And we also need to understand that ‘flow’ begins in the heart and at the same time minister to the Lord. Of course a crucial part of the ‘flow factor’ will start with the worship leader’s choice of songs; the theme, tempo, keys etc. Perhaps what we can do is to remember that we (worship team) are liken to playing ‘host’. As a host, when you invite people into your house you show them to the ‘best’ seats, make sure they are comfortable and put your guests’ needs first before your own. That’s right; we should be ‘pleasing’, we don’t want to be always talking… worship leaders? Have a heart, its not easy to lead in worship. Sometimes worship leaders have to introduce a new song, or to set the mood according to the theme. But guess we are still learning and hopefully improving. I guess its an ongoing ‘journey’ for all of us (especially worship leaders). In the choice of songs we have to consider the keys (comfortable enough for the congregation), the tempo (some like it fast, others lively but not too fast … some just fold their arms, anyway.. Ha! Ha!), and the lyrics, the ‘message’. I am looking forward to our new sanctuary (auditorium) where we will have multimedia projection and that’s when the beautiful lyrics written by God inspired writers can be effectively portrayed. Finally, let us encourage one another that in our ministry to lead the people into worship we must first of all be worshippers. My prayers is that we will all daily worship the Lord in everything we do; at work, at play, studies, going about our chores. Even when fellowshipping at mamak stall, Starbucks, badminton court or at the golf course. God Bless! Lau Kean Huat
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