Why Worship Workshop?
Why Worship workshop is a good question. It's one that will not be answered in a single blog post. I'm going to get the ball rolling today however.
My History
I've been involved in leading worship since I was back in Junior High School. Every Sunday I would join the musicians providing music to the children's church at Calvary Assembly in Orlando Florida. As I got into High School, I started working with the High School band worship team on Wednesday nights too. We had a pretty big group of high schoolers that showed up each week and frankly as a mid teens kid, I was pretty keen on getting the attention.
I can't speak for the other folks in the band, but for me it was an interesting experience. We played the music we wanted, how we wanted to play it and we had a good time doing it. We prayed before each service, needed to check that box you know, and then did our thing. This was my life through high school and as I started into my first year of college.
The next chapter
In the spring of 1989 I decided to take a trip to visit my dad who lead a small ministry in Northfield Falls VT. He had been a minister since I could remember. His ministry was one part one of the "acceptable" few that are out there; i.e. Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Assembly of God, etc. He was not associated with any of them. This was nothing new, it was how things had always been with Dad. What I realized, probably for the first time, is that there was a lot more to being a Christian than just going to church and praying before band practice. I didn't know what it was, but I knew that it was different and that the life I had been living was about as phony as a $3 bill. This was not new to me, but when you are so ingrained in "traditional church" it's difficult to see the forest for all the trees.
I left Florida, college, my life, car, girlfriend, etc. to move up to VT and that's when my walk with the Lord, and my lessons of what worship was all about, really started.
It's not all about me
So the first thing that I had to learn about Worship was that it's not all about me. Here in the Worship Workshop that is the starting point. How that manifests in each person will be between that person and the Lord to sort out, with the help of their minster through the tool of discipleship. Worship is about a service that you are performing to the Lord and the people that are there to worship Him and NOT you.
See, if you are a typical musician, as I am, then you really want the worship. You want the accolades, you want the spotlight. You can deny it all you want, but if you are honest with yourself, you'll see that I'm right. You can't lead worship unto the Lord when you are trying to take any of the spotlight for yourself. It just won't work. This is a lesson that I'm always learning and having to deal with in my own life.
The First Step
I have talents that I've been gifted. These are not to lift me up, but are to be lifted up to the Lord so that He can be glorified. To be successful in leading worship, you don't need to be an exceptional musician, you need to love the Lord and have a desire to minister that love to Him and help lead others to do the same. Here at MP3JEsus - Worship Workshop, we want to help folks find that path to take that which the Lord has gifted them with, and use it not for their own glory, but rather to glorify Him and to bless His people. Are you interested?
