WorshipSource.com

(originally posted on my main blog at www.fredmckinnon.com)

(photo courtesy of Chris Moncus)

Hey Everyone, First of all, a huge "thanks" to all the worship leaders and churchgoers who participated in the first "Sunday Setlists" theme over the last 24 hours. We had 13+ (and growing) people check in and post their setlists on their blogs, linking back and forth. We’ll start doing that weekly, so be watching every Sunday/Monday morning. Since I was gone all last week, I wasn’t scheduled to lead worship this Sunday - I just observed and worshiped from the congregation. I think every Worship Leader should schedule themselves "off the stage" now and then - gain some perspective of what it looks and feels like "in the room". I floated around the back part of the auditorium. I love my church, but what I witnessed grieved me deeply. The overall majority of people weren’t engaged at all. They weren’t singing. I looked around in amazement … trying not to pass judgment … but in my heart, I was grieved. Why do so many people come to church and stand there, stoic, with no desire to engage in singing and celebration? Granted, I’d just returned from an incredible week of 2,000+ people who loved to worship through music and song. In the 11:00 service I joined my wife and sister-in-law for the service. I had an aisle seat, a few rows from the back. As soon as the band begin to play and Shannon began to lead, I did what comes naturally. I began to sing. What happened next surprised me even more. As soon as I started to sing, I had heads turning back for up to three rows in front of me … turning around as to say "who is that, what are you doing"?. Is the "back of the church" is where you go if you don’t want to engage? Maybe the fact that we’re pressured to run our sound at lower-than-optimum levels makes one feel they can’t raise their voice from fear of being too loud. (How do you win? If you sing, you’re louder than the room, if you turn the music up, more people sing, and more people complain!?) Don’t get me wrong - we have an amazing church, with a diverse background … which is part of what makes it so amazing. But as the person whose calling and ministry it is to LEAD this congregation into "worship in spirit and truth" … I have to express this experience and ponder these thoughts. As for me, I sang … yet, I was the one who seemed to be distracting people. … I just wanted to shrug my shoulders and say "Oh, I’m sorry … thought we were *SUPPOSED* to sing"!

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