Invite
It's the power of simply asking. Imagine someone coming to your door. You open it and then walk to the table to start eating without inviting them to join you. We like being asked and invited.
Help Us Feel Comfortable, Set Us At Ease, Make Us Glad We Chose To Come
It was a choice. We may be hesitant, tired, bored, apprehensive. Church may have lots of baggage for us. Lead in such a way that our internal response can be "wow, I'm really glad I'm in this room!"
Give Direction
Is something different happening today? Let us know. Are there logistical details that will be helpful for us to know? "Songs are a place we go." (@DanWilt) Be a tour guide.
Activate
I still remember walking into a young adult gathering called TBS over 10 years ago. I was barely there. Then the worship leader began by breaking scripture over us. She compelled us to engage with what God was doing and respond to the scripture. It brought me to life. Worship leader, please activate us!
Point God Out
Matt Redman defines worship as "Our response to the revelation of God." In that context, your job is to help us have a revelation of God...the response will come naturally. Help us see God in a new way.
Connect The Dots
Most of us don't find the same meaning or understand the significance of the context for the morning. Help us to get there. Give us context and help us recognize the meaning and beauty. It can be the song, it can be something happening in the service, it can be something happening outside the church. Help us to connect the dots.
Inspire Vulnerability
The congregations' ability to experience intimacy with God is directly proportional to the leader's willingness to be vulnerable. When I'm not honest with myself and God, it hinders my intimacy. Be still and know. There's no knowing without intimacy. There's no intimacy without vulnerability. Be still and be vulnerable. "Intimacy is the posture of one heart toward another." (@dunnandwilt)
Call Us Back and Help Us Re-Align
Whether it's to the heart of worship, the reality that we are dearly loved sons and daughters, the hope of heaven we have, or the worth of the Son of God...life disorients us. We are "prone to wonder...and Lord we feel it!" Help us come back into alignment with God's thoughts, ways, and truth.
Draw Our Focus
We are the Twitter generation...ooh there's a bird! Give us something to set our hearts and minds on.
Connect Us To Your Heart
You're leading us. We want to trust you. Chris Tomlin did not show up today. We don't know him. We know you. Help us trust your leadership.
Get Us Off Autopilot
We like comfort and predictability, but autopilot can make us completely miss what God was wanting us to experience. Get creative with this one and help us think, feel, do, act...stretch us and don't allow us to always just do the same ol' same ol'.
Teach Us
Hey, most of us learned what we know about worship from being kids in church...being told to sit still and be quiet. We've hardly ever studied the scripture to find out what a biblical model of worship is. We have embedded theology that isn't even God's heart for worship. Change that. Disciple us, please! We need you to.
So where to start? First, please don't misinterpret this as a call to give a 5 minute sermon before you start singing. Let me show you a great model for your inspiration. Dan Wilt wrote an ebook called BAM! Worship Teaching Bombs (and how to use them.) You can get it just by signing up for his thought-provoking blog posts at http://www.danwilt.com/subscribe/.
One final reminder. While many of us walk in before the first song, many of us do not. "The Welcome" may need to reappear during the set, once the room is full. It will look different, but your awareness that I just dropped off my children in the KidMin area (after getting to church late), and am just now getting into the sanctuary ten minutes after you started...is a real blessing to me! Lead on, worship leader, lead on!
(you can read the printable version
here)
