Comments on: What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 3

By: Kevin Bradford

Kevin Bradford — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:18:29 +0000

Thank you so much for this post! I know I’m reading it years after it was posted, but it serves as a great reminder of why I do what I do, especially in planning services.

By: Wes Crawford

Wes Crawford — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 23:52:23 +0000

Bob, I’m so thankful for your blog. It has brought so much clarity and light into my worship-leading world.

By: Greg Phillips

Greg Phillips — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 14:24:22 +0000

Bob, I see in your blog what appears to be a common misunderstanding. You say that worship isn’t something that happens, but what we give to God. Then, in a seeming contradiction, you say that the worshippers (perhaps including yourself) want or even expect a response from God; to experience Him, have “His activity and involvement.” The exhortation follows that you reap what you sow. The evaluation of worship as sowing and reaping is false as it pertains to moving God to action to make us feel like we are worshipping. Worship is an offering to Him as to a monarch. Expecting we can move Him in this way suggests that we have selfish expectations of gathered worship, wanting to get a feeling or response for ourselves. He speaks to us in return through His Word, enabled by the Spirit. Thanks!

By: Marcguyver

Marcguyver — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 20:05:37 +0000

Mr. Kauflin, do you think that a ‘Worship Leader’ can stand on the platform, worship God with his/her whole heart, sing whatever songs he/she wants, and thereby ‘model’ what worshiping God looks like, and thus lead the congregation by example?

I agree with you that I think that ‘Worship Leaders’ should definitely prepare for the corporate setting. When the Israelites ‘prepared’ to go to God’s house in the Old Testament, it seemed that they too took preparation seriously otherwise their sacrifice would not be accepted; and the priests prepared as well, or they might have ended up dead.

Maybe the worship ‘experience’ would be improved by all if each one of us took on the idea of arriving to God’s house prepared…in our heart, our mind, and our will.
I also think that if I am ‘worshiping’ to get something from God, instead of bringing something to Him, then my motive is wrong. I should be bringing my ‘act of worship’ because He’s worthy, not because I’m solely driven by the anticipated ‘feeling’ that I’ll attain.

Appreciate your post.

By: Dot

Dot — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 16:31:01 +0000

I don’t think God relates to us differently. He is unchanging, ever merciful, loving, all the qualities that God has promised to be as our Father. It is our relationship to Him at any given point that affects our ability to discern whether we are in God’s palpable presence or merely at a distance. If you have been walking closely to Him throughout the week in spiritual discipline and worship, your formal Sunday experience will be quite different than if you only worship Him on Sunday and expect Him to fulfill all your needs within an hour of worship. In other words, worship is a lifestyle, not just a Sunday morning “to do” thing. It is our distance from God, not His distance from us that is the heart of the matter.