Having been a worship leader for many years and a worshipper for many more, I'd like to speak to the issue of leading worship. Here's a little background. I'm a second career minister; my first career was professional musician. As you might imagine, I spent night after night, hour after hour, on stage and became quite familiar and comfortable with appealing to an audience. As I like to say it, Jesus "ruined my career," calling me to a life and ministry that was a complete reversal from where I was headed in my pop music life.
Now on "stage" as a worship leader, I called on my years of experience as an entertainer to engage the "crowd," now a congregation. Obviously I was off base. This was not a crowd and this was not entertainment, and the worship leader as center of attraction and attention was far off the mark. I was to be a worship leader, not the star of the show. So I retreated into my invisible worship leader period, setting up my keyboard rig in some obscure corner of the platform trying to lead worship much like the Wizard of Oz, behind the curtain. I was determined not to be the center of attention, so I hid myself and let the music simply carry the moment. Again I was off the mark.
The challenge is that the worship leader needs to demand focus and be invisible simultaneously, but how do you pull that off. Over the years I have come to understand that the worship leader needs to function much like a tour guide, say, at Disneyland. The tourists enter the theme park and hop on the trolley, riding around the park guided by the expertise of the tour guide. The guide is intimately acquainted with the main attractions and has in-depth knowledge and experience concerning all the ins and outs of the park. The tourists listen to the guide with interest, taking in all that the guide provides while looking past the guide to the main attractions. At the end of the day, happy and fulfilled tourists leave the park with great memories of the main attractions, having essentially forgotten all about the tour guide.
As a tour guide, the worship leader is intimately acquainted with the main attraction, God, and has in-depth knowledge and experience in worshipping Him. The worship leader is a conduit, connecting God to His people and His people to God. The worship leader is not there to worship but is there to see that God is worshipped by His people. The worship leader is not worshipping but is working hard to see that worship takes place.
What if a preacher walked to the pulpit on a given Sunday and began to study the Bible with language aids and commentaries while the congregation watched? Does that sound ridiculous? Of course it does. The preacher studies during the week and brings the best of his findings to the pulpit and guides the congregation in study. The congregation doesn't watch the preacher study; it watches the preacher preach. Likewise, the worship leader doesn't come to the platform to worship but to lead worship. This leader has worshipped God throughout the week and brings the best of that worship to the platform to guide the congregation in worship. The congregation doesn't watch the worship leader worship; it watches the worship leader lead!
At the end of the worship service, happy and fulfilled congregants leave the church having had a great encounter with the living God, and having essentially forgotten all about the worship leader.
