Sounds like a mantra when people are “praise venting”.  Reminds me of the monks chanting “om” and seems to me a “learned” behaviour rather than one being unique.

I’ve heard it said a worship leader is like the person who starts everyone with “Happy Birthday to you.... “

If the person breaks into a “new” version of Happy Birthday, inevitably, he/she is the only one singing.

Be the rock star at home in front of the mirror; lead us IN worshiping the True and Living God.

Let me begin by saying that I don’t believe the poster here is trying to be a critic.  I believe he is trying to help.

Definitely a lot to chew on, but it seems to me that there is no suggested alternative. 

The article gives food for thought, but again, no details of what a worship leader should do.  Maybe the intent is simply to make worship leaders think.

On a more emotional “note,"(pun intended), I think most worship leaders are trying to express worship while leading others.  Leading people into the presence of God can be very difficult especially when those whom we lead are like the author of this article.

I’m sorry that there are those who find it difficult to stay focused.  Maybe the congregation should share part of the responsibility.  The leader leads and the worshiper worships, together if possible.

Just my thoughts.

Ed.

I agree with #1 completely!!

I think it is very selfish to believe that God will not honor and bless our advance preparations. When we have the occasional guest worship leader, I’m always distressed when some of them say, “I‘ll give you the song list just before I start, I want to be open to the Lord’s leading.� A statement like that limits our thinking about what God can do.

I’m on staff as the Director of Video Production at my church. We generally plan our services about 3 weeks in advance; we create a script and usually follow that script very closely.

As a person in production, pre-planning is a way of life. Why should our most important hour in Sunday be just thrown to the wind and hope and pray that God will give us that special insight as we walk to the microphone to lead in worship. What does that say about us? Do we ask that the Lord ignore the 40+ hours spent in the church office talking on the phone, answering e-mail and surfing the Internet instead of planning for Sunday?

The Lord is very capable of giving us the same insight and blessing we need to lead 3 weeks in advance as well as 11:00 a.m. on Sunday.

Now I’m not putting God in a box and saying that once the script is printed, there will be no changes, of course not! We change, add and subtract from our planned service all the time. He is not a last minute God; we shouldn’t be last minute procrastinators.

Remember, God had Noah prepare in advance of the flood and Jesus told us that he was going to prepare a place for us. If the Lord needs advance preparations for eternity, shouldn’t we do the same for our hour on Sunday?

Mark

Good points, everyone… remember you don’t have to agree!

I like pieces like this that give me a different perspective and make me think.

That’s the value I recieve out of reading.

For what it’s worth…

Todd

Sorry wrote url in the previous post: http://www.emergentvillage.com/downloads/resources/mclaren/openlettertosongwriters.pdf

Wow!  I am surprised at the number of detractors commenting here!  (Yet grateful for the grace exhibited in all of those comments.) Maybe it’s because I find myself experiencing some of the same things as Pastor Janz, and therefore having some of the same pleas.

I didn’t find him prescribing a certain worship method; I thought his comments could be applied to any “style” of service...except perhaps the admonition to tone down the instrumentation.  I agree with that; it’s hard to worship when I can’t hear myself sing - and I’m singing at the top of my lungs; it’s hard to worship when my ears hurt from the decible level, too.  As in all things, balance is needed. 

I particularly agree with Ed’s comment:  “The leader leads and the worshiper worships, together if possible.” Maybe a follow-up article should be, “A Pastor’s Plea to Worshippers.” Here are some adaptations from Jason’s comments:

1. Prepare your hearts to worship (something my dad drilled into me that I never learned until 10 years after leaving home).
4. Think on the lyrics - even if they’re so familiar you could sing them with your eyes closed.  (Huh?!?)
6. Don’t draw attention to yourself. 
7. Minimize distractions.  (Corollary to #6.) For God’s sake (literally, not profanely), don’t carry on a conversation with your neighbor while everyone else is trying to worship!
8. Recognize that you are part of a body - worship together.  (This is hard for me.)
9. Walk with God.  (Corollary to #1.)

My personal feeling is that the lyrics of the song flow out of the worship time of the author .  It is a great start to worship.  For myself, I believe that real worship begins when the song ends.  That’s not to say that some leaders may be ‘faking’ but I would hope and pray that’s not the norm.
I may get God’s attention with a prayer that someone else wrote, but I believe He wants to hear from me personally.  In the same way, I may glorify God in my worhsip of Him using someone else’s words, I believe He wants to know that I worship Him myself.

I am a black man. 

I am also an evangelical. 

Although my family and I currently are members of a mostly white, nondenominational, evangelical church, I grew up in the black community, in the “Black Church”.  When I read articles or comments on worship, I can’t help but read them in light of the “Black Church” in which I came to faith.  Biblically, theologically and philosophically, I agree with much that Pastor Janz wrote, but I also suspect he would be very much critical of traditional black/African-American worship in the traditional “Black Church” in America.  I wonder do we evangelicals ever make the effort to discern what is truly biblical in our philosophies of worship and what is merely a reflection of white American/Western European views of what is right and proper in worship?

One example is “praise venting”.  Pastor Janz (and Mark Dever, whom Janz references) feels that this is inappropriate in corporate worship.  I don’t know anyone who, like me, grew up in a traditional black church, who hasn’t seen and heard “praise venting” in worship.  We called it “shouting” or “getting happy”.  Choir members while singing, the preacher while preaching, and members of the congregation were all liable to verbally (and, sometimes, physically) vent their praise and emotion, if so moved.  This was never seen as inappropriate.  In fact, the old folks had a song: “I wouldn’t have religion I couldn’t feel sometimes.” If anything, it reflected what the Psalmist wrote when he said, “I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation” (Ps 111:1 ESV).

I’m not criticizing Pastor Janz’; like I said, I agree with much that he wrote.  I just feel that, when talking about worship, white evangelicals often are just talking to other white evangelicals.  To fully implement Pastor Janz’ suggestions would mean that most black churches would have to become “white” in their worship in order to be correct and, therefore, acceptable.

Just something for my fellow evangelicals to think about.

In my opinion, most contemporary “worship” songs are about what WE feel than truly praising God for his qualities and what he has done. Contemporary worship has become ME centered and hence an entertainment centered “feel” fest. I am all for expressing myself in worship no matter what the style may be BUT the object of our desire - Jesus-God-the Holy Spirit is to be the object of our worship.  I usually find that if I have trouble mentally concentrating in worship it’s because there is no complete thought in the words. A great hymn, like a great praise and worship song should be complete in it’s thought and sentiment. Many of the current praise and worship songs are rarely complete in sentence or thought and many times it takes a few minutes before you figure out it’s the Lord you are talking about and are one or two words removed from being a secular romance song. The same said “worship songs” are theologically weak and rely on repetition to generate emotion rather than the strength of the words and thoughts to build our actual spirits up. If the current trend continues, please dump the music alltogether and get on with the preaching. This so-called “Worship” is a waste of my time and energy” I have Michael Card on my iPod that I can listen to at home!