Minister To The Lord
Have you ever been in a poorly mixed worship service? It could be the keyboard is so loud you can barely hear the singers. Or the vocals are so loud that the drums can barely be discerned tapping in the background. Or the whole band and singers are so loud you can barely hear the congregation around you.
The same is true when we talk about the Artist, Shepherd, Priest, Educator, and Producer of the Five Faders. (read more here)
Every Fader brings tremendous value when it is functioning in health. And every Fader is sorely missed when it isn't functioning. Nobody knows what they are doing (Educator), nothing is planned (Producer), no one likes each other (Shepherd), and no one can even recognize the song (Artist). Those are all huge holes!
But what if no one is ministering to the Lord? (Priest)
Wait, how do you even "minister to the Lord?"
That intimacy is what the Priest Fader brings. And it is so essential it should've been allowed to stay open during COVID! :)
Of course, when we're leading worship, we serve the congregation, direct our teams, and perform our sets. But beneath all this must be a connection from our hearts to the Lord. There must be intimacy. I mean, imagine a marriage without intimacy! That'd be terrible. Our corporate worship gatherings must foster intimacy. We must be singing to Him, not just about Him or for the praise of man.
The ability to minister to the Lord doesn't get built while leading your congregation. It gets built in secret.
I was talking to a Texan friend who leads a "house of prayer." She excitedly shared how they intentionally shifted from "just trying to fill 168 weekly slots to have 24/7 prayer and worship," to "gathering and developing people who deeply love Jesus first." Imagine if we did that too - rather than focusing on filling all our PCO slots, we began by gathering and developing people who deeply love Jesus first! YES!
She actually invites local worship leaders to come and lead worship in a (usually) empty room for an hour. It trains them to cultivate that first love and to rest.
For some of us, the idea of going and playing our instrument and singing to the Lord for an hour with nobody we're leading feels foreign. If it does, it indicates where your Priest Fader is. And I want to help you slide it up. Some of us would jump at this idea, and I invite you to follow that impulse!
Similarly, a church brought me in to observe a worship team rehearsal and give them feedback on how to improve. They had fun, people contributed creative ideas, they played skillfully…everything was terrific. Except I wanted us to be worshiping, ministering to the Lord. But it didn't seem to be on their radar screens.
Have you ever experienced those "unexpected" moments of worship during a rehearsal? What if that happened all the time?
"But you're not leading anyone!" you say. But He is there, listening. And it's an indispensable part of our job to minister to Him.
I'd love to see more and more rehearsals turn into an oasis. Our tired team of weekend warriors comes in from their long work days and begins pouring out their hearts to the Lord. Like Psalm 84:5 says, "Blessed are those whose strength is in You, in whose hearts are the highways to Zion."
But that will only happen if, on at least some of the other six days of the week, we meet with the Lord in His word, in worship, and in prayer. You can take lessons to get better on your guitar (and that's also vital), but to get "better" at ministering to the Lord takes a lifetime. It doesn't matter if you're just getting started and have no idea how, just start now. The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, and the second best time is today.
Find a local house of prayer and volunteer to lead a one-hour set each week as the Lord expands your heart and intimacy with Him. Give energy to finding the Word while reading the word. The moment you get a song running through your head, pull aside, take out your instrument, and sing to the Lord.
In time, you'll wear a path to His presence and embody that wonderfully welcoming worship leader posture that my Texan friend shared with me: "I'm not going anywhere you can't go. I just go there all the time, so go with me." Then, begin to teach the whole congregation to minister to the Lord. And watch things get lit!
-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)
Minister To The Lord (Nº 412)
