Do Not Distract

When leading musical worship and preparing liturgists for church services my first rule is: TRY NOT TO DISTRACT. Try not to distract people from giving their praise to God and encountering the Holy Spirit in worship. That is my overriding concern in preparing worship teams and liturgists weekly.

We have all been in church services where an instrument or voice is way off the pitch, or the band is not playing the right notes, vocalists are not together, or it sounds like the team is not playing together.  And we have all witnessed the awkward pauses, readers who we cannot understand or do not project, and confusion in the order of services that happens in all churches occasionally. Even in the most well organized services problems occur occasionally and that is to be expected, yet if they happen too often they tend to put the focus more on the problems than the message that the leaders are trying to communicate. 

It is my goal and the goal of the teams I work with to practice and rehearse enough so that we can minimize the distractions and create sacred space for people to encounter God and gives their lives to Him in worship.  Music teams can be distracting if the sound of the band sounds muddy or clumsy, if band members play the wrong notes, if they don’t know the arrangement, or if they have not practiced or rehearsed well. Also if the arrangement of the song is too complicated it can be distracting, as well as if the song itself or melody is confusing, the key is too high or low, or if the band is not mixed well.   Liturgists can be distracting if they don't know the readings or they speak too soft, too fast, or intelligibly. 

Worship teams can also be distracting if they are TOO polished. If the band plays and acts like rock stars on stage or if the readers all act like Billy Graham this can also distract the attention of worship and focus the attention of worshippers on the performance rather than the God they are singing about.  That is why I usually discourage sweeping guitar solos or other musical gymnastics on stage during worship and I encourage readers to be themselves and act like themselves in front of people.  We are not about showing how good we are as musicians or leaders but showing how good God is.

My goal is that all the worship leaders would practice well and know the transitions well so that distractions can be minimized and we would all be more free to focus on God and worship.  I also desire teams to see this preparation as an act of worship and obedience to God, so that they can do their preparation 'as to the Lord'.