Leaders, Ministry Leadership, Podcasts / Devotionals, Worship Leading
From Distracted to Delight (Show #27)
#HeTrulySatisfies (Video Below)
As a worship leader or team member, what keeps your focus? There is no other position in which you have to maintain a Holy Spirit led emphasis, musical skill, value for people, Biblical significance, technical know-how, leadership attention, plus other multi-faceted importances that go into worship leading.
How do you keep your attention, how do you move from distracted to delight? Besides our ministry areas, we find distractions in social media and reality TV. I am hardly convinced that Facebook, Twitter and Instagram bring profound revelations into my life. Even more so, these eye-candy distractions seem to bring very little satisfaction. At every intersection, our cultural highway seems more like the land of a roller-coasting mind, rather than a land of milk and honey!
Some days I feel strangled by the strings attached to these notso-leisurely pursuits and I want to wish the e-madness away! On any given Sunday, I see our church members, too, often overwhelmed, lonely, isolated, and some severely depressed. How do we help them? We find no other source that can truly satisfy our hungry souls than Jesus. The apostle Paul speaks about a “thorn in his flesh”. King Saul had a tormented spirit. Though they lived centuries before us, they each experienced the weight of carrying a heavy cross. Maybe they couldn’t hide behind their computer screens or profile pictures, but they were stalked by their struggles, with their only hope in a redemptive God.
Through and out of all kinds of tragedy, we find God healing and redeeming us without end. When my nephew was struck by a car and paralyzed at the age of 10, the Lord spoke to that pain through a song of praise. Creative expression that turns my thoughts to thanksgiving – anything about Jesus – has long been my anecdote to fear. Our spirits our lifted to delight, when we hear a lyric proclaiming God’s faithfulness along with a soaring melody of hope.
True delight in worship is this knowing in God: He is worthy, He truly satisfies and deserves our response of praise. He is to be praised because of who He is, despite the circumstance, despite the distraction. How can we help our people move from distraction to delight? David, the psalmist, knew this well, for it was his song that finally brought peace to Saul. As worship and arts leaders (whether on or off the platform), we have the opportunity to bring hope in the midst of chaos. We can do this practically by helping our creative leadership be their best.
To help our teams achieve their best, we are to know and work with their strengths to set them up for success. Whether it is re-harmonizing chords or ironing out a better service flow, introducing new instrumentation or a incorporating a favorite hymn, double checking our lyrics or programming the lights to effortlessly “dance” with our tempos. Col. 3.17 supports the notion that everything we do should be done, in essence, to glorify the name of Jesus with thanksgiving. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Col. 3.17 In order to display Christ beautifully, we should be prepared and practiced. To help make leading worship a delight for our churches, we are to do the following: arrange songs in appropriate keys for the church.
Send notes of encouragement to our artists, remind them that they are loved. Distribute music early enough to give the least confident player ample time to “rehearse before rehearsal”. Most of all, lead our people (team and congregation) by living the humility and intentionality of Jesus. The biggest ministry you can give your people is to point them to God, who can turn all distractions into His purposeful delight. The how-to list of what makes a worship service effective goes on and on, but it all begins with a commitment to honor this very sacred calling with much devotion to God and to the people we influence.
Pablo Picasso, considered one of the greatest artists of all time, said, “Give me a museum and I’ll fill it.” What are the kinds of prayers we can pray, and be intentional to do what God has called, in order to fulfill His purposes? Our churches are like museums filled with God’s works of art seated all around us – created in His image, hungry for hope and desperate for rest in the maelstrom of modern society. What are we doing to: take His art to the world, and to help make the Gospel a delight to people.
If we fill up our churches with the promise of new Life, Christ redeems the empty promises on this treadmill of life, and we “ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name” (Psalm 29:2). “Giving the best to your team is to give the best to your church” – Branon Dempsey When we allow the Lord to un-work the distractions in our lives, He takes our chaos and turns it into the beauty of Jesus. As we do the works of Him who sent us, our service becomes a delight, our leading is a delight to others and our hearts become a delight to God.
@stefkelly @BranonDempsey @WorshipTT 
Stefanie Kelly, along with Branon Dempsey is one of our Worship Team Training Instructors; how would your entire worship ministry benefit from live customized training at your church. Discover what a Weekend Workshop of Hands-on practical instruction can do for you!
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