Quality Worship Leader

A quality leader is someone who leads from the overflowing love in their heart that God has given them. A quality leader is not someone who sings to sound good or make their own name known. They are someone who sings to glorify God and make HIS name known. Yes music should sound good because if your music sounds bad no one is going to want to sing along and it distracts from the purpose. However it's making Gods name known and giving your all to Him that makes a quality leader.

I picked Max Monte from the band Minor. He leads worship at my church as well as travels with his band Minor to spread the love of Jesus. I picked him because of how he worships. You can see and hear the love in his heart through his voice. God has gifted him with a voice that pours love into the room. There is never a hand down or a mouth not singing when minor plays their music. Not only does he live out his faith in worship but in his everyday life. Max Monte is one of the most amazing christian artists I've heard (vocals wise) and you can feel Gods love in every note he sings.

https://youtu.be/lPBC947P_9o

Inside Out Worship

This book by Matt Redman is an insight for passionate and purposeful worship.
Two things  that really stood out to me were this:
1. "True worship always works itself from the inside out. A love for God that burns so much it can't Help but express itself on the outside too."
2. "Out of the outflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. When it comes to gathered worship D.C. left song we sing must be the overflow of a heart consumed by Gods love."

Guiding principles for worship

Worship is a dialogue
Song is not the only way to express worship through dialogue. Just talking to God or about God is another way to show praise. It gives examples from the Bible when in the temple they were so in need of God all they could do is cry out praise.
Worship is focused on Christ
When worshipping you should block out everything and just focus on God because that's what worship is about.

Worship is contemporary
Language has not stayed the same since the Bible was written so long ago. We must find a way to interpret it and make it into a song people will understand and connect to.

Worship is traditional
We must still hold into the hymns from the past because they are the music that got us to where we are and nourished the church into what it is today.

Worship is Wholistic
You cannot just stand in chapel and sing with your mouth. You cannot just pray with your head thinking of what to say. You cannot just go a show Gods love by feeding homeless. When you worship God you do it in everything do and when you do it, do it with all your mind heart and strength. If you're singing then sing out of your heart and mind loving a God. When you pray don't let it just be words, let it be a sincere words of thought from mind and heart.

Worship is participative
When you worship don't do it alone. Invite people to your church, when you're in chapel encourage people to sing along with you and the band. Church means community and community means coming together.

Worship is inclusive
When worshipping in the music sense you must think of the words in the song and how they can speak to all age groups and backgrounds. Not just the words but the melody and key. Are you picking a key so people can join in or is it a song so high they can't do anything but stand and listen to you sing?

Worship is balance
Worship should be a good balance of feeling near to God and just being able to praise his name and dance like no one is watching :)

Essential Worship

In this video Dan talked about how God has all given us a gift. We need to use the gifts God has given us to worship Him. We can't do anything by ourselves and that's why we can only use these gifts in full potential through God.
I really like this video because it's a reminder that we can only do things through God who gives us strength. It also reminds us to put our trust in God so that we may get the strength to do all things for his glory.

Why aren't we singing worship?

In this video the man talks about how people just don't sing in church anymore. Singing worship takes your whole body. It's something that should be done with your heart and mouth. People now a days have so many devices or screens they expect to do something to them that when they look at the worship leaders at the front it just becomes another screen. So if it doesn't change them inside it's not good enough.
It's so sad to think that people now come to worship instead of just coming and worshipping. Instead of praising Him they are just coming people they think it's right. I have noticed this a lot at my parents church and it is really discouraging as a worship leader. It's something to be praying about and I have been praying about. Praise and worship has become a task instead of a desire and I hope God works in that to change it back.

Are You Insulting God?

In this article the author asks the question what does it really mean to worship FOR God. I personally think this article came across this at an angle that could have been pursued better. Anyhow this article asks what it really means to worship for God and then asked a follow up question of "Are we worshiping God because we think he needs it?" It then explains how God doesn't need our worship, He wants it. I think that's a really cool concept.
This ties in with Gods unfathomable love for us. He doesn't need us in His family, He WANTS us. God doesn't need our praise, He WANTS it cause in the end its actually so we can see how amazing His love is for us.

Get Off the Platform

In this article the author tells us about how we should lead worship. He tells us how as humans we are naturally selfish in a way. We get so focused on if we are the best in the band or how perfect we wanna sound we forget the real purpose of our music. To glorify God. Worship isn't always about being on stage singing or playing an instrument, in fact sometimes the best form of worship is the one we do silently. ex; praying for those around you, just smiling and being humble, sharing love to others, etc.
I liked this article because it reminded me that I shouldn't just be focusing on worship when its chapel time. I should be "stepping off the platform" and worshiping God in everything I do in my day to day life.