American Idol: Three Lessons for Worship Leaders
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Thu, November 10, 2005
- Viewed 92
- (43) comments so far
From my vantage point as a couch potato, I appreciated all the fine talent and terrific production, but as a worship leader, the show gave me a thin-slice study in current pop culture. I caught three big cultural clues about how our worship might better connect with the hearts of the people around us.
First, authenticity counts. America combed through 100,000 singers to find two genuine articles. Technically, there were better singers along the way, but these last two were clearly more than vocalists; Bo and Carrie were believable representatives of their genre. We could picture Carrie Underwood touring with Rascal Flatts. We believed Bo Bice could front Lynyrd Skynyrd. One insightful moment came in the heat of the competition?s final song; Carrie?s voice broke and she began to cry. While some called it an awful performance, it was awfully honest, too. The American people are drawn to authenticity. They gave Carrie the gold.
Judge Randy says, ?Keep it real,? and worship leaders ? of all people ? should take note. If we?re preoccupied with our licks or our mix instead of the glory of God, Jesus will know instantly, and everyone else will eventually figure it out, too. The people in our congregations are counting on the Lead Worshiper to connect with God in ?spirit and in truth.? (Jn. 4:24)
Second (and related), character counts. Heartland values weighed heavily in this contest. In the end, all the big-city nuance and pseudo-hugs melted away; the play-off came down to a fascinating pair: A small town Oklahoma college girl and an Alabama boy who entered the contest on a bet with his mom. Both Bo and Carrie spoke with down-home charm; they revealed themselves as gracious, humble people. They honored their parents and they spoke well of each other. When their performances were judged harshly, they readily acknowledged that their critics had made a good point. When their hometowns honored them, they choked out words of quiet gratitude. People admire ? and long for ? this kind of character.
Talent can usher a worship leader into positions of great influence before his or her ?heartland? has caught up. To our shame, Bo and Carrie were more gracious than many of our ranks. We are not called to be reclusive, self-obsessed artists, but faithful shepherds who gently lead God?s beloved sheep to the Living Waters (Ez. 34).
Third, quality counts. Listeners have become sophisticated and can identify a hack rather quickly. This season at Idol, a nation phoned in a half-billion votes on their area of expertise: what they liked, and what they didn?t like. For decades, our culture has freely sampled the fine delicacies of a musical smorgasbord, and this has resulted in some discerning taste buds.
These folks undoubtedly have some reasonable expectations as they enter our auditoriums. We undoubtedly have some limitations as we strike up the all-volunteer praise band. Most of all, the Spirit of God undoubtedly has some intentions for the encounter that transcends both.
Worship leaders need to champion the message that worship is not a spectator sport; a congregation is not an audience. We can underscore this by picking songs that maximize congregational involvement and minimize a spectator mentality. Musicians and singers should be discipled to release their ?gig? on Sunday for the higher call of humbly supporting the praises of God?s people.
It?s important to add here that biblical convictions about the nature of worship won?t excuse a lack of preparation. We can remind the congregation that they are the choir, but this will not fix our bad notes, tighten our sloppy rhythms or upgrade our crummy sound systems. Making God?s praises glorious (Ps. 66:2) requires a bit of elbow grease, and He is eminently worthy of this.
Saints, the real Finale is coming.
On that day, every knee will bow to the true and living God, and every spotlight will be upon Him alone. There will be no contenders because every idol ? American and otherwise ? will fall.
As worship leaders, we have the astonishing task of preparing our hearts and our people in anticipation of that day. May God find our worship authentic, our characters transformed, and may we offer up a quality of praise that directs our congregations to gaze upon the face of God Himself.
(Phil Christensen is worship pastor at Cedar Hills Evangelical Free Church (CHEF) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He is married to Mitzi, the Beauty Queen, and is father of four great kids. Phil has served as a worship development missionary in the Pacific Northwest and is co-author of two books for Kregel Publishing. You can reach him via email at .)
Any thoughts?
Sharing a bowl of buttery popcorn, the Beauty Queen (my wife) and I joined about 32 million other Americans for the season finale of American Idol. Admittedly, I was cheering for Bo, the southern rocker, but couldn?t really be disappointed when country-sweetheart Carrie walked away with the big prize…
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Bert on Thu, November 10, 2005
good post. the big issue at my church is, “Do we give everyone who thinks they can sing/play a chance on Sunday mornings?” or, “Do we protect the quality and use mostly our most talented people?” I seem to be in the minority when I think that quality matters and if that means putting your best foot forward on a Sunday than I say, do it. Not to say that people can’t be trained, encouraged, and mentored. But someone who is tone deaf doesn’t need to let us all know that they’re tone deaf on Sunday morning. Quality, quality, quality.
Lee McDerment on Thu, November 10, 2005
I really enjoyed this post. thanks for the insight.
The important balance of authenticity and excellence is one that every worship leader should take seriously. I wonder if young worship leaders know where they can get any real training in this. when i started leading worship 5 years ago, i knew very little about it. the only thing that really prepared me was a tape set from Louie Giglio called “Into His Presence: how to become an effective Lead Worshipper.” those 2 tapes taught me more of the importance of heart and quality in a worship leader. i am sure that you could get those from one of the Passion websites.
i also realize now how important it is for worship leaders who lead in non-traditional settings to pass on what they have learned about being yourself onstage, and about being the best musician you can be… all for the glory of God.
pdl on Thu, November 10, 2005
This is interesting. Last night in our Bible study at church we looked at principles of “corporate worship” from Deuteronomy 12 (we are going through a systematic study of Deut.) We found 8 principles embedded in this chapter in regard to what pleases God in the church worship setting/meeting. I’ll list the first two of them:
1. Worship with First Love…v.v.1-3 command a tearing down of idolatry in our hearts and lives. We qualify as worshippers only if we come to Him completely purged of love for anything that steals His glory from our lives…This truth should always be our emphasis!
2. Worship with Propriety…v.4 and 29-31 God distinctly reveals that He does not want worship offered to Him in pagan/worldly ways. Here He says, “be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying,’How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.’ You MUST NOT worship the Lord your God in their way…” This call for propriety is echoed in the N.T. in First Corinthians 11-14. The American gods are materialism and hedonism. Our culture expresses worship to these gods through rock-n-roll and rap music. I wonder when worship leaders tell us “style does’nt matter” to God. I actually believe God is offended when we offer worship to Him in worldly ways—rock-n-roll/casual shallow lyrics/man-centered-flesh-pleasing styles that fail to honor the distinction that God seems to want in our expressions and acts of worship to Him. If we are taking our cues from American Idol where does that leave God in our attempts to worship Him?
Peter Hamm on Thu, November 10, 2005
I had similar thoughts as I watched the last few episodes of the summer series “Rockstar INXS.” I think, also, that Authenticity, Character, and Excellence are related and intertwined. You can’t have, or at least you don’t WANT, one without the other two. When I “audition” new singers, for instance, I am looking for a blend of these things, but if I have to choose, I’ll put Authenticity and Character above Excellence, although I don’t want tone-deaf people either. And I’m looking for someone who has the genuine energy and enthusiasm to make everybody want to worship the way they are.
No, it’s not a “performance.” That doesn’t mean it should be mediocre, though. Instead, because it’s direct worship (yeah, I know, our whole lives are worship… I remind people all the time), it should be with our whole mind heart soul and strength. Too often I hear musicians (some of them quite good ones) say something like “Well, it’s only church…” after a disappointing Worship set.
Heaven help them if they say that in front of me… http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/wink.gif
Peter
Peter Hamm on Thu, November 10, 2005
pdl writes [Our culture expresses worship to these gods through rock-n-roll and rap music. I wonder when worship leaders tell us “style does’nt matter” to God. I actually believe God is offended when we offer worship to Him in worldly ways—rock-n-roll/casual shallow lyrics/man-centered-flesh-pleasing styles that fail to honor the distinction that God seems to want in our expressions and acts of worship to Him.]
As cultures have emerged over the past few hundred years, the styles of music and art that emerged have very quickly been put to “non-God pleasing” secular use. Lots of classical music has been written to celebrate very anti-christian views. Lots of folk music, jazz, even “gospel” styles have as well. Photography, when it first appeared, was IMMEDIATELY used as an avenue for pornography, the same for film.
David was pretty roundly criticized by his wife (and probably a few others) for dancing like an idiot in worship before the ark of the covenant, and we know how that panned out.
Let’s be slow to judge.
Peter
pdl on Thu, November 10, 2005
What if we started with the question: “What pleases God in worship?” Would rock-n-roll emerge as the preferred style from that question. I believe the move to rock-n-roll in worship services has come from the question: “What pleases the flesh of the unregenerate person that we are trying to attract to our church?” Worship is to be directed to God and centered in His desires…it is His and worldliness doesn’t please Him…it may get the crowds to come in but it leaves God out.
Pastor Al on Thu, November 10, 2005
PDL said: “I actually believe God is offended when we offer worship to Him in worldly ways—rock-n-roll/casual shallow lyrics/man-centered-flesh-pleasing styles…”
There was a time in the not too distant past when Pianos were considered the “Devil’s Work” then they slowly became accepted, then the Organ was used by those liberal folk to lead the people astray, then they were accepted, next came the guitar, and the drums and the keyboard and the… get the point! When are we going to wake up to the point that it isn’t the sound as much as were our hearts and minds are during worship?
If you go to church because the “band” or “worship team” is good, I really don’t care, if they are lifting up Christ and the message is Christ centered, you know, before long God is going to talk to you about where you put your affection. I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit knows how to do his job! I would rather have someone come to church because the music is “good” then stay home and not have their souls fed with the Word of God. What is more important here people? Keeping our “religious format” or reaching people with the Gospel? Seems like a pretty easy choice for me.
Blessings,
Pastor Al
Julie on Thu, November 10, 2005
God is THE origninal creative artist. He didn’t settle for one example of flora, or confine Himself to one species of fauna. Nor did he create only one sound.
Peter Hamm on Thu, November 10, 2005
pdl says [What if we started with the question: “What pleases God in worship?” Would rock-n-roll emerge as the preferred style from that question.]
Well, why not? It’s a great way to worship God with your whole heart soul mind and strength in my opinion. It’s a very authentic way to worship, imho…
Ben E. on Thu, November 10, 2005
First, we are quickly going to get off the subject & original intent of the artical which, in my hummmble opinion is not about styles but overall substance in worship.
If that happens, once again a thread will head off into the wild blue ministry yonder and Todd will be forced into “What’s A Blogger To Do, Rant Vol. 2.” Can we try not going there?
That being said….we know that music, in and of itself, can have a powerful infleuance(sp?)on our hearts, minds, emotions and yes, spirits. There are Christian “rock songs” that drive a message into my heart and mind like nothing else.
There are Christian rap artists who make me smile if only for their creativity in communication the message. And yet, there are some songs & artists that are labled Christian that just because they screech, howl, grunt or growl “Jesus” or “righteous” or some other “Christian” term while thrashing a guitar believes it’s a positive “worshipful” thing. I don’t agree with that. There is a point at which regardless of the location or lyrical content, the music can override the message.
I think, like so many other issues discussed, falls to BALANCE.
Ben E.
larry on Thu, November 10, 2005
Right On! Authenticity, character, and quality allows for all to worship in spirit and truth.
Pastor Al on Thu, November 10, 2005
Ben Said: “If that happens, once again a thread will head off into the wild blue ministry yonder and Todd will be forced into “What’s A Blogger To Do, Rant Vol. 2.” Can we try not going there?”
LOL
Pastor Al on Thu, November 10, 2005
While we are on music let me just say I am loving Matt Redman’s “Blessed Be Your Name” What a great song. Get it if you haven’t already.
Sorry Todd I couldn’t help it! It is such a great song! http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/grin.gif
Todd Rhoades on Thu, November 10, 2005
Eye Yi Yi!
Just when I thought it was safe to come out and play.
Todd
Pete King on Thu, November 10, 2005
Well,
I thought the post was fantastic. I’m going to agree with both Todd and Peter Hamm on their point of views. I have watched both programs and have argued this very point that the musician who is real and connects with what they are singing/playing is how you reach people with music. I was very blessed to sit under a director who has taught me that very thing. Oh, and by the way Ben E., I loved your comments. Life is always about balance. Balance in the sense that what we are giving people musically is really coming from the heart and not our desire to satisfy ourselves. For example, The blonde girl(INXS sorry forgot her name) was always challenged to a singing dual but instead of complaining about always being chosen, she rose to every performance like it was her last. Now I watched that show several times and I have to rant that she didn’t win. Again, bad with names but the pretty boy didn’t connect with his audience like she did and it was very unfortunate she wasn’t selected. We connected with her every time she sang and she did it with style and passion. In a world of entertainment the ones who last are beyond talent but are able to connect their message(in this case usually bad) to their audiences. That’s how music is supposed to be done. Not disconnected and selfish, but personal, meaningful and vunerable. How many times are we guilty of missing the point that God has given us everything we have and talent is a gift that we use for His glory. With that said, I agree that we must be excellent. Our strive for perfection should refect our desire to give God our best. Not so that we can say, We’ve got it goin’ on in our churches. I’ve had the privilege to work with some incredible talent and been part of some amazing musical events. They didn’t get the exposure that they deserved but none the less, it was top notch stuff. However, God would have rather taken some of our events to even farthur places but people and their big egos got in the way. It really saddens me when people try to replace God’s spotlight with their own. Simply put, I believe God wants our best and we all need to give it, no matter what it is. Not for us, but for Him. Its a personal thing. We must check ourselves. Only we can know who we’re doing it for. I hope this gets us back on track Todd. God bless.
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