When I was a kid, I wanted to be a fireman. Then a ninja. Then Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. But mostly I wanted to be a cowboy, not so much like Wyatt Earp, but more like Troy Aikman. I would actually dress up in the attire of “America’s Team” and set up mock, one-man game situations in my basement. The funny thing is I would never act like I was hitting Alvin Harper on a deep post or buying time in the pocket as (pre-cowboy) Charles Haley screamed around the corner. I never actually even wore a helmet. I just imagined that I was standing on the sideline, hands on hips, wearing a straight-billed baseball cap. I’m sure this points to some very questionable things in my personality, but at least I looked the part of an NFL Quarterback, even if it wasn’t the right part.
I definitely never wanted to be a worship leader. I would have never dreamed that someday people would make a living singing songs in church. And I’m pretty sure no one born before 1989 did either. And because I never thought of worship leading as a vocation to be earned, I never tried to earn it. I never sought it. I never dressed up.
And though there are so many good things to come from this modern explosion of musical worship, I fear that we have made worship leading something to strive for and attain. Something to grasp and grab more than something that we’ve been undeniably set apart to do and be. I dressed up like Troy Aikman because I wanted to be him. But I didn’t practice like him. I didn’t train like him. I didn’t spend hours throwing the ball through a swinging tire. All I did was try to look like him. It’s easy to look like a worship leader, but it’s much different to be a lover. A seeker. A proclaimer of the glory of God. Let us not be those that seek to look the part, but that rather live the part.
August 27, 2008 at 7:33 pm |
Very very nice. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a lone-hero in a post-apocalyptic era who was incessantly chased by a band of conformist adults. I definitely never wanted to do this.
October 1, 2008 at 4:51 am |
When did you know God had a place for you in Worship?
October 8, 2008 at 2:19 pm |
Very cool. Rather than wanting to be Troy Aikman, I wanted to be John Elway. Regardless of who my childhood hero was, I have found myself struggling to “look and act the part” of being a worship leader. The thing that I am beginning to understand is that it is not the outward appearance, but like you said, it is indeed the heart of the individual. Great post my friend.