The other day I was reflecting on the amazing, glorious responsibility we have as worship leaders.

We get to stand before God’s people and declare His greatness – to usher people into His presence with singing. But we also have the responsibility to do it well.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to waste the church’s precious moments with God in corporate worship with mere performance, a disorganized team, and a lack of passion. I want to connect them to Jesus.

The best way I’ve found to do that is to get back to the basics. Corporate worship isn’t simple. There’s a lot of organization, both in leading your team and engaging a large room of people to sing in unison. I don’t want to minimize that or paint a wrong portrait of what we do.

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I’ve been talking a lot about making disciples in 2013.

In my newsletter we talked a bit more specifically about how to do that – how to teach, model, give opportunity, and provide feedback. But do you know what the problem is? Before you can teach and model to someone else, you must know why you do what you do.

Before you lead people, you must know where you’re going. Common sense, right?

Well, easier said than done.

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As I wrote in my book, Beyond Sunday, it’s too easy to go through the motions on Sunday morning.

Your mind is swimming in details. Your psyche is preoccupied with pleasing your Pastor.

You not only know the songs, you know the proper inflection points and how to pronounce words for maximum impact. You even have your list of exhortations that work. You’ve become an expert at working the system and getting people’s hands in the air.

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We all know it’s possible to sing all the right songs, have all the best gear, perform with excellence, and miss the point.

In order to be an effective worship team, each member has to understand something deep in the core of their being.

Something that goes beyond services, schedules, and songs.

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I’ll be honest.

I’m not that old, but I’ve lead a lot of worship services. I’ve attended conferences, listened to too much music, read all the books, bought the “worship is a lifestyle” t-shirt, and drank the Kool-aid.

I’d be lying if I said I knew it all, but it’s easy to get stuck in a rut. The more you do something, the easier it is to just coast and ride your talent from weekend to weekend, service to service, song to song.

But you know that. You know your tendency to become a worship songaholic.

What about today?

Today…I’m trying to approach every service with a fresh perspective.

I’m striving to lay bare my soul before God every time.

Why? Not because I should. But because I want to. My heart is hungry for God. But it’s easy to lose that perspective.

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