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Performance or Praise? How to Perform and Lead Worship with Integrity!

Ps Darin Browne

©Darin Browne, http://worshipleaderonline.com 2012, All Rights Reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means, both physical and electronic, without the permission of the author.

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Performance or Praise

©Darin Browne 2012 All Rights Reserved Visit http://worshipleaderonline.com

CONTENTS:

Introduction 3

Performance Verses Ministry 4

Watch and Learn 6

How Do I Know What I Should Be Embracing? 8

So What Do You Wear? 10

Vocal Techniques 13

Microphone Techniques 16

Body Movement 20

Guitarist Techniques 23

Talking Between Songs 24

Audience Participation 26

How Do You Use Performance to Engage Your Congregation?

28

Conclusion 33

One Final Word 34




Introduction

As worship leaders we may not like to think that we are performing, but if

we are leading worship on stage or in front of an audience of any sort,

performance is something that needs to be considered. We want to give

an exciting performance, but we need to do this with real and genuine

integrity, and it is this balance which we will be addressing in this book.

As a Christian performer and recording artist for many years, I always

prefer to label what I do as ministry rather than performance. The logic

behind this is that ministry is something that is done for the Lord,

whereas performance is something that is done to satisfy the desires and

needs of the audience. Yet I need to recognize that the line between

these two is very blurred. Without doubt there is an element of

performance in my ministry, and I also recognize that this performance

adds to my ministry rather than subtracts from it.

My aim in writing this is not to make worship leaders focus on ministry

rather than performance, but rather to discuss their next tour the

elements of performance that we can add to our ministry, thereby

enhancing its power and effectiveness for the Lord.




Performance Verses Ministry

It is tempting as worship leaders to hop on our high horse and exclaimed,

“But I don't perform, I MINISTER!” We do this to try and alienate

ourselves from secular performers, who are clearly not ministering to the

Lord but are performing to satisfy their audience. We are trying to say

that our motivations for playing and singing are far purer than those of

our secular peers because we are serving a higher Master and they are

only serving themselves, their audiences and their careers.

Yet if we stop and have a good look

at ourselves as worship leaders, we

need to recognize that we are also

performers. We say we are serving

the Lord with pure hearts, but if we

are absolutely honest with the

recognize that most of us are also

carving out a career as worship

leaders. We say we are doing it only

for the Lord, but if we are criticized

we take it personally that if we upraised something inside of us response

positively to it, whether we try to give glory to the Lord or not.

The fact is, public ministry involves at least some element of

performance. If we say it doesn't, we are lying to ourselves and opening

ourselves up to serious error.

What we can say, however, is that her motivation for ministry is not

based on performance. Our motivation is to serve the Lord, the pastor

the congregation and the congregation rather than elevate ourselves,

because we recognize as John the Baptist did that, “He must become

greater, I must become less.” John 3:30. If our true motivation is not to

have people say how wonderful we are, how well we sing or play, or to

further our careers, then our motivation is one of ministry and not one of

performance.




However, to completely divorce ministry and performance is to short

change what we are doing for the Lord! No, we should embrace the best

aspects of performance and incorporate them into our ministry, so that

we can by all possible means used of God to touch the hearts of His

people! We need to find the right balance between being simply a

performer, and incorporating the very best aspects of performance into

our worship leading ministry.

Worship leader, you need to understand that the idea

of performance is not wrong. If it is, you will never

be able to watch a movie, television show or live

performance ever again! It clearly is not wrong, but

the question is, does it have a place in the worship

ministry?

The short answer is: of course it does! The way we

play a guitar, the way we sing, the way we hold the microphone and the

way we move around the stage are all aspects of performance. Who

among us has not watched a DVD of a live performance and thought,

“That is so cool, I’m going to try that next time I'm on stage?” Who

among us has not heard a rift played or a series of notes sung and tried

to incorporate these into our stagecraft?

There are aspects of performance that will make us better at what we do

and help us to achieve greater results in a ministry. Our job as worship

leaders is not to embrace everything that performance has to offer, but

did glean that which is profitable and use this to improve what we are

doing and how effective we are in a ministries.

So let's not put our heads in the sand with regards to performance, but

let us listen, watch and learn so that we may become more effective in

our ministry for the Lord.




Watch and Learn

Musical talent and stagecraft are not inherent skills that we are born with,

they are learned as we grow and develop. No baby is born with the

ability to play a concerto, but given time, training and discipline a person

can grow up and start playing concert piano. The raw talent and potential

is present in the young child, but it takes years of discipline and training

for the true gift and ability to be fully recognized.

And how do we learn? The most effective way to learn anything is by

imitating, and that is why Paul says, “You became imitators of us and of

the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 1:6) Even if you have the wrong raw

potential, you still need to imitate others further along the road in order

to reach the fullness of that potential.

I remember when I began to learn the guitar.

I was singing in a rock band at my school, and

I went to the guitarist and ask him to show me

some chords on the guitar. He showed me

eight chords and I wrote them down. I returned to him the next day

asking for more chords, having stayed up all night and taught myself the

chords he had already showed me. He told me that that was all the

chords he knew, and I realized then that I had to find a new teacher!

I bought a small book which contained a number of guitar chords, and

despite the fact that I now knew quite a few chords, I still was not playing

the guitar very well. My strumming was poor, my timing was not great

and by fingerpicking was non-existent.

Ever since I was a little boy I have loved the music of the Beatles. I

owned many of their albums so I decided that I wanted to sound like

them when I play and sung. There was a fantastic book with all of the

guitar chords for Beatles songs written in it, but I did not have enough

money to buy this book.




Instead, I sat in front of the stereo and listened to the songs while trying

to play the guitar with the limited number of chords but I knew. I

discovered that if I could play the bass notes than I could figure out the

chords from there, and so I taught myself guitar by listening to my

favourite performers and imitating the playing style and singing style that

I heard on the records. As I grew older and my musical taste expanded, I

begin to do the same with other bands and singers, incorporating the best

aspects of their performances into what I was doing. I wasn't playing on

stage as yet and I didn't have a ministry at all. In fact, for most of this

period I didn't even have a relationship with the Lord! Yet the Lord was

preparing my talents and my gifts to be used on stage around the world

in front of thousands of people for His glory!

So the first thing you can do to incorporate the best aspects of

performance into your worship leading is to do some homework! Listen

to bands and singers that you love, and watch DVDs of their live

performances. It does not matter if they are Christian or secular,

because you are not worshiping or idolizing these people, you are learning

from them. You are learning tips, techniques and ideas for performance,

you are not learning philosophies and beliefs. If I want to study medicine

to become a Christian doctor, I should not refuse to go to the elections

delivered by non-Christian professors! No, to become a Christian doctor I

need to listen to and learn from people who are not Christians, because

they have knowledge and techniques that I need in order to serve the

Lord more effectively.

So, do some homework by listening to CDs and

watching DVDs of great performers, Christian and

secular! You may even want to note down things that

they do and techniques they use that you think may

enhance the skills and talents that you have.

Watch and learn! Imitate and develop!




How Do I Know What I Should Be Embracing?

Not everything that every performer you see should be incorporated into

your ministry. The question arises, what aspects of performance should I

be incorporating into my ministry, and which ones have no place in

serving the Lord.

To be able to effectively differentiate between what is good and what is

not requires wisdom, and this comes from the Lord. If you lack wisdom,

the Bible says, ask and it shall be given to you (James 1:5). So before

you begin your quest to enhance your performance on stage, pray and

ask the Lord to give you discerning eyes and ears.

Some things that are done on stage that you see on DVDs are clearly not

a part of worship ministry! For example, when you see The Who

smashing up their guitars on stage after a performance, you don't need to

pray long and hard to wreck it nice that this is not something that will

enhance your ministry! Biting the heads off whippets like Ozzy Osbourne

is also not to be part of a Christian ministry. Provocative dancing which is

so prevalent on modern music video clips (for example Brittany Spears

will Beyonce) also clearly has no place in the worship ministry.

In fact, if you are looking for a “rule of thumb”, here is a good one: any

action that is designed purely to draw attention to the performer or to

make them look sexy has no place in the worship ministry! Here's




another: any action that is designed to shock or disgust an audience has

no place in the worship ministry!

Ant performance technique that you incorporate into your ministry must

be one that promotes holiness and humility. It must enhance what you

are doing and convey to your congregation that you are fully committed

and fully engaged in your ministry. It must encourage your audience to

fully worship the Lord, not watch you and the band. It can make you

seem professional, but you need to be a professional servant, not a rock

star. This is church, not American Idol!




So What Do You Wear?

Let's start by looking at what you wear on stage when you were worship

leading. What you wear is a message in itself, complaining loads of

information about who you are and how you want to be perceived by your

audience. This is why Elton John wears flamboyant, outrageous

costumes, and Bruce Springsteen looks like he's just come home, building

construction site! Elton John wants to be a flamboyant homosexual and

Bruce Springsteen wants to be a working class hero.

There is a great tendency in all forms of music

performance today to dress provocatively, and I

want to say the outset that this has no place in

the worship ministry! Low-cut tops and sexy

short skirts, both of which are designed to stir

up sexual thoughts among men, have no place

even at church, let alone on the stage! Our aim

as worship leaders is for ourselves and the band

to point people to the Lord, so that as they

worship is really is about each individual and the

Lord, as the worship team fades into the

background. If a beautiful woman is dressed

provocatively on stage, very few of the men will be up to concentrate on

worshiping the Lord because they will be dealing with their thought life!

When you choose clothes to wear on stage while you were worship

leading, what do you want these clothes to say to your congregation?

Most of us would agree that we want to look professional, clean and neat.

Personally, I like to look neat but laid-back and relaxed. I want to look

approachable, gentle and easy to relate to. For this reason, I don't wear

a suit and I don't wear a tie when a minister, but I do wear a comfortable

shirt and pants which are neat, relaxed and subdued. My preferred

colours are black pants and black shoes with a single coloured shirt,

usually a blue or green. I try and avoid yellows and reds because my wife

tells me that they make me look ill, even if I am healthy!




What you wear on stage may be dictated by the culture of your church,

and this is perfectly okay. If everyone in your church wears suits, by all

means wear a suit. If everyone in your church wears jeans and T-shirts,

by all means wear the same. But don't wear jeans and a T-shirt if

everyone else in your church is wearing suits! As a worship leader, you

do not want to wear something that draws attention to yourself, but

rather wear something that conveys who you are and how you would like

people to perceive you.

So as you watch DVDs of your favourite performers, ask yourself what it

is that you like about what they are wearing, and whether this would be

appropriate to incorporate into your on stage costume. Years ago, I saw

one of my favourite performers wearing a large shirt and vest, and I

decided to incorporate this into my onstage persona. I thought was pretty

cool, and it was for a while, but nowadays the vest is not considered

super cool, and needless to say I no longer wear one on stage.

As a lad who grew up on a farm, I thought a cowboy hat would be a good

thing to wear onstage. The difficulty is that my music is not country and

Western music, so wearing this hat conveyed a mixed message about the

content of the music I was playing in my ministry. I no longer wear the

hat onstage.

Watching DVDs and music videos can help to give you ideas for your

onstage presentation, and this is all part of performance. You need to




pray about which things you need to incorporate into your presentation,

and which ones should you avoid. Be sensible about what you choose to

wear, pray about it, and make sure that it reflects who you are and allows

you to minister in an authentic and honourable way.

Please be sensible about this! I remember arriving to minister at a

meeting where all of the backing singers wore Darlene coats, like what

you see on the Hillsong DVD. It was 38°C outside, so wearing coats at all

was a really silly idea! Be sensible please, don't just copy someone else

but pray about what you need to incorporate into your onstage

presentation.




Vocal Techniques

It only takes one viewing of American Idol for you to realize that there are

many vocal techniques available to performers in a variety of styles.

While each worship leader must discover the vocal techniques that work

for them individually, I would encourage you to avoid some of the

complex, more showy techniques so often seen on programs like

American Idol. If you are new to worship leading, the best idea is always

to keep things simple, because very often less is more and more simple

techniques that you use a more effective anyway. Remember, your

calling is not to be a great performer but to be a worship leader pointing

people to Christ rather than your own abilities!

Vocal Teachers

As with any skill, finding a competent teacher can

fast-track you to attaining the skills you need to

be the best at what you do. If you want to be a

great guitarist, a guitar teacher can help you to

get there. If you want to be a great vocalist, a

competent vocal teacher can definitely help.

Before you rush out and start googling for your nearest local teacher, I

recognize that many of you do not have the sort of money required to

obtain the services of a great vocal coach. If this is you, don't give up

yet! You can learn many great vocal techniques and great performance

techniques using our materials at http://worshipleaderonline.com, and

you can also learn a lot from talking to good vocalists, watching DVDs and

listening carefully to great vocal CDs.

The issue is not finding a great vocal teacher, but rather which vocal

techniques can you adopt which will enhance your worship leading ability.

Start by choosing techniques that are within your ability as a singer,

rather than trying to become Mariah Cary in seven days!





See Your Vocals as an Instrument

It is important that you see your vocals as an instrument, rather than just

the ability to hold a tune. Therefore you can improve your skills by hard

work, practice and learning new, innovative ideas in just the same way

that a guitarist or a pianist can improve their skills.

What type of skills are you trying to improve?

I believe that we need to carefully choose

which vocal techniques we adopt into our

performance, because some vocal techniques

clearly are designed to showcase the abilities

of the singer: And these are not the

techniques that we require for worship

leading!

In praise and worship leading we need techniques that are attractive,

pleasant to listen to yet which draw attention away from how skills and

talents to enable people to focus on the Lord during worship leading.

Here are some great ideas that I have adopted into my vocal techniques

which appear to enhance my performance as a worship leader without

distracting from the central aim of pointing people to Christ…

Vibrato

Vibrato is a vocal technique which

involves a quivering or up down

movement of the voice, and it is a

common vocal technique which is easy

to integrate into your worship leading

performance, without turning people

away from worshiping the Lord.




I taught myself this technique by listening to some of my favourite

singers. I have always loved Judy Garland, and part of the style she used

in her singing was the careful use of vibrato.

However, a word of caution should be mentioned about the use of this

technique, because overuse of it can sound horrible! It can make your

singing sound like a warble, and poorly controlled vibrato can cause flat

notes and sound really grating!

Usually the vibrato is introduced after a note is initially held for a short

time. This means that you hold a note as usual, and the longer you hold

that the more your voice starts to gently quiver up and down, providing

an attractive vocal technique that is easy to integrate into your worship

leading performance.

Vibrato is a performance technique that has real value and can make your

delivery of songs world class! If you are unsure of the amount of vibrato

or how to introduce it, I would recommend talking to a qualified vocal

teacher and getting the training needed to control this technique.

If you are a little strapped for cash, and if you are a good copier, listen to

your favourite artists and see if you can reproduce their vibrato. You will

notice that different performers handle their vibrato in different ways,

and if it come to the crunch, I would always opt of less vibrato than more

vibrato.

Many younger singers have strong and pure voices, and in this case you

may find the introduction of a vibrato actually detracts from your

performance! Like any performance skills, you need to be very, very

careful about how you introduce them. Ask the most accomplished

singers you know for their opinions, and I would recommend that you add

less than what you think. If you have a strong, clear voice, I would argue

for NO vibrato. Try to keep the genuineness and clearness of your voice

rather than compromising it with performance tricks like vibrato!




Microphone Techniques

Microphone techniques are easy to integrate into

your worship leading and can greatly enhance your

performance abilities. The trick with microphone

techniques is that they need to look in natural, and

be a part of your general body movement rather

than something artificial which you impose on your

performance. If used wisely and correctly,

microphone techniques can add a new element to what you were doing,

helping you to look professional without changing the manner or the spirit

in which you worship!

How to Hold the Microphone

The first decision you face when considering microphone techniques is

how to hold the microphone. If you hold it the right way you can look

professional, and if you hold it the wrong way you can look like a

complete amateur, and the strange thing is that it is different for each

individual.

Firstly you need to decide whether you want to have a microphone stand,

or would you want to physically hold the microphone. If I'm playing a

guitar, clearly I need a microphone stand. If I'm singing without playing

an instrument, you can either use a stand or hold the microphone in your

hand. You can also flip between one or the other, placing a microphone

in the mike stand if you require two hands to clap, and pulling the

microphone out if you are singing a quieter or more intimate song.

When holding the microphone, I always like to look natural. I intend to

grasp the mike loosely, it almost a relaxed fashion. Others that I sing

with like to hold the microphone with the very tips of their fingers, but I

just tend to grab it in a loose, relaxed manner and sing. Rap artists




always seem to grip the microphone around head rather than around the

body of it, and sometimes this is a kind of cool way to grab the

microphone!

In the end, the way you grip the microphone is entirely up to you. The

most important thing is that you look relaxed and confident as you

grabbed the microphone, rather than tense and stressed!

Beware the Big Notes

My favourite microphone technique not

only looks great and sounds

professional but it also helps your

soundman mix your vocals more

effectively (and who doesn't need

that)!

The technique involves the simple

method of pulling the microphone away from your mouth when you hit a

big note. Failure to do this will mean that when you hit this note and

your soundman is taken by surprise, your voice will dominate all the other

voices and be far too loud. So the practice of moving the microphone

away from your mouth when you hit a big note helps your soundman, but

the cool news is that it also great!

I often do this by not only moving my hand away from my mouth but also

throwing my head back, thereby increasing the distance between your

mouth and the microphone. Another way to integrate this into my

performance is that as I hit a big note I leaned forward as I pulled my

hand away from my mouth, giving the visual impression that I have put

everything into the note and then singing with all my heart!

The same principle applies, even if you have your microphone in a stand.

As you hit a loud note, throw your back increasing the distance between




your mouth and the microphone, and it looks like you are singing with

genuine conviction and with all your heart.

With a little bit of practice this small microphone technique can be added

to your performance, and become an essential part of the way you deliver

your worship onstage. It looks great, sounds great and is very easy to

learn and to integrate into your onstage behaviour.

Which Hand?

Younger singers often ask me, “Which is the

best hand to carry the microphone?” My

answer is… both. If one hand is holding the

microphone, the other is available to be

waved around in the air, perhaps being

raised in worship or pointing to the sky, or

even reaching out to your audience.

Changing the hand that is holding the

microphone adds an extra dimension to your performance, and can look

very natural and relaxed because you are not tied to a specific hand. I

am naturally right-handed, so I feel more comfortable with the

microphone in my right hand. But if I flip it over to my left hand, which

feels less comfortable, I can still seeing with great conviction because my

right hand is available to be raised, etc.

The most important thing is that you discover the microphone techniques

that feels right to you, and that you integrate them into your onstage

persona in a way that seems totally natural and genuine.




A Word About Head Microphones

Many worship leaders today are using a head mounted microphones, and

they tell me enthusiastically that they are cool and also very practical.

I am not convinced!

The big problem I have with head mounted microphones, apart from the

fact that I think they look silly, is that you cannot easily pull your head

away to clear your throat, cough, sniff or say something to your team off

microphone. You have to reach up and physically turn the small

microphone away from your mouth in the hope that what you say off

mike will remain off mike. You also cannot move your head away from

the microphone when you hit a big note, so if you are a singer with light

and shade you will find it far less effective than the hand-held variety.

The other problem I had with them is that you have no opportunity for

the microphone techniques I mentioned above. A great singer and a

great performer does not sing into a microphone, they caress a

microphone. A great performer seems to get so intimate with the

microphone that it is almost like they are in love with it! This is simply

not possible with head mounted microphones, and for this reason I

personally refuse to use them.




Body Movement in Worship Leading

Body movement in worship leading is certainly a controversial issue, but

this is mainly because it is often interpreted as being purely performance,

rather than a genuine expression of worship. The amount and style of

body movement will depend directly upon your audience, because within

certain cultures and denominations some movements of the body viewed

with suspicion.

In some cultures any type of body

movement is considered unacceptable

when singing in church. I once sang in

a Russian church, and was told that all

of the singers stand bolt upright and

perfectly still to deliver their songs. I

sang two songs keeping it as still as I

possibly could, and my ministry was

well received, except that the pastor

said, “You seemed very nicely, but I think you move too much!”

So if your culture is one that does not find any type of movement during

worship acceptable, you can completely disregard this discussion!

However, most church congregations like and even expect a degree of

movement. In most cases, the “singing statue” approach makes the

performer appear nervous and incompetent, and this is not the

impression we wish to give to our congregation, is it?

So what is involved in performance body movement? It is highly

individual, but many times actions such as swaying back and forth, raising

hands or clapping are very common movements used in worship leading.

Above all, don’t start doing things that are unnatural or embarrassing to

you, because they are sure to look awkward and nervous and detract

from the overall performance.




In addition, I always avoid any type of movement that attracts attention

to myself, and therefore detracts attention from the Lord. We want to

look relaxed and professional, but we do not want to be the centre of

attention. I believe that any movement we produce on stage that

detracts from the whole hearted devotion of the congregation to

worshipping the Lord is detrimental, and could even be sinful! It is all

about Him, not about how we move and how cool we can look!

That being said, there is still a place for some types of movement in our

worship leading. You will often find me walking around the stage as I

worship (then again, I often pace back and forth as I sing), and if I am

holding the mike, I will frequently walk out into the audience as I sing,

encouraging them to worship the Lord as I go.

When I sing ministry songs in big festivals, I ask for a cordless

microphone and step right out into the audience, singing to many of the

audience members as individual, and often shaking their hands as I sing.

However, the song I do this with are not worship songs, because such

action would detract from the congregation attention on the Lord. They

are songs sung in the first person directly to the audience, and when I

hold their hand and sing to them there is a real buzz and excitement in

the stadium!




In most churches, the singers stand in a line and may move a little on the

spot, but never move out of their little zone. To me eyes, this looks

contrived and forced, and so I would encourage even backing singers to

move a little (not all at the same time, it would be bedlam!) in a relaxed

and comfortable way. The worship leader should be free to move around

the entire stage, relating to each of the team members and to the

congregation seated in the various areas around the auditorium. These

simple movement techniques enhance the way your congregation relates

to you, and can improve worship if used wisely and sparingly.

Above all, worship leaders need to look like they are lost in worship,

totally engrossed in worshipping their Lord. This conveys to your

congregation that vibrant, unrestricted worship is acceptable, so they

should do the same. However, you need to be careful that as you

worship, you are still aware enough to be able to read your audience,

follow directions from the pastor and lead your band and singers

effectively!




Guitarist Techniques

OK, this one is going to ruffle a few feathers isn’t it? If you want to know

how not to move when playing the guitar, check out the original “Back to

the Future” DVD, where Michael J Fox finishes flat on his back playing the

guitar and rolling around the stage. That, my friends, is definitely too

much performance for a worship guitarist!

However, you should not stand in the

corner still as a rock with a blank

expression on your face either.

Guitarists should move, sway and look

like they are putting serious effort into

their playing. In short, they need to

look like they care and that they are

interested in the worship and the

ultimate movement should be to let go

and lose yourself in worship!

I am often amused as I watch great lead guitarists, many of whom have

incredible facial expressions and gestures as they play. Personally, I love

watching these, but I believe that you can always tell if such expressions

are faked or contrived. If you are a guitarist, and find you feel music so

deeply that your face knows about it, then all power to you.

Most of all, the worship leader and the congregation want to see

genuineness and integrity from the band, not fakeness or worthless, self-

promoting performance! Get into it guys and enjoy worship. Put heart

and soul and everything you have into your worship. But please, don’t

fake it just to look cool!




Talking Between Songs

One of my pet bugbears is excessive talking between songs! This is

particularly prevalent for worship leaders who are not playing an

instrument, and they seem inspired to fill every gap where there is no

singing with an endless dribble of words!

I believe that the job of a worship

leader is to lead the congregation

into deeper worship, the therefore

every word that is spoken by the

worship leader should be serving

that goal. Words should not be

used as a means of filling in time,

covering over mistakes or dealing

with panic! The sad fact is that

whenever anything goes wrong it

is extremely tempting for the worship leader to begin talking as a kind of

knee-jerk, panicked response.

So I am not against talking in between songs per se, I just believe we

need to be careful about the words we say and if in doubt, say less. If

our basic aim is to lead people into deeper worship, then let every word

we say serve that end. So the worship leader might find themselves

saying phrases like, “Let’s open our hearts to the Lord”, or, “Let's clap our

hands”, and as long as this enhances the worship experience and

encourages the congregation to join in with worship, they are serving the

greater of us.

You may have a verse the Lord has laid on your heart. You may have a

short prayer. Used sparingly and these are acceptable, but so often

praying or reading passages of Scripture between songs does very little to

enhance the overall worship experience.




I believe that we are called to lead people into worship, and very often

the words we say can't can distract or break a beautiful and deep moment

of worship that the congregation you doing into. I intentionally use very

few words between songs, because I want people focusing not on what I

say or what I think but rather focusing on the Lord himself as they

worship. Remember, I'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all

about you Jesus, not about my opinions, my experience, my prayers, my

exhortations!




Audience Participation

There are very professional ways of encouraging your congregation to be

more involved in worship… and there are ways that I believe should never

be used!

Most notable among the performance ideas that I believe should never,

ever be used is what I call the “ladies sing the next verse” syndrome.

This is a very lame and clichéd technique that was used by worship

leaders in years gone by. When I hear it, I immediately know that the

worship leader is inexperienced or just plain out of touch! I know, you

didn’t expect such a venomous attack on a technique, but I truly believe

that this idea is a bad one!

The main reason is that, having ladies or men sing a verse, does nothing

to enhance the worship experience or draw people to the Lord. It is

simply a lame attempt to make the next verse sound slightly different. If

there are prescribed parts for men and women, that’s a different story,

but if it is being used just to make it sound slightly different, I know that

the worship leader is either very old or really in trouble!

Audience participation is essential if

you are going to lead your

congregation into worship. So often I

witness very good singers and

musicians up on stage worshipping

away, while the audience sits in the

church watching them… with little or no

participation. It’s just like a concert,

which is just fine in a concert but

entirely wrong in a worship service! You NEED the audience to participate

with you: in fact it is EXACTLY what you should be doing.

Failure to engage your audience is one of the great travesties of modern

worship leading. Today there is so much emphasis on getting your




performance better, sounding better and being more professional that we

seem to have forgotten the very reason we started this journey in the

first place… to lead God’s people into deeper worship.

If you want to lead worship, you need to engage your people, and to do

this you need your audience to participate with you in worship.




How Do You Use Performance to Engage Your

Congregation?

Want to look professional but also do a great job in your ministry? The

best thing to do is to involve your congregation. As I said before, this is

not a performance, you have the mandate to lead people deeper into

God’s presence, and to do this you must, you must, you absolutely MUST

connect with them.

How do you do this? Audience participation, that’s how. Not the lame

techniques I mentioned before, but solid, professional ways of involving

your congregation.

Sing Along, But Remove the Words?

When leading worship, clearly you

need to have people singing along.

However, there is singing and there

is singing! Reading words off a

screen and singing is probably the

lowest form of worship, and the

strange thing is that, even if

everybody knows the words, as

soon as you put them up on a screen, everyone seems to forget that they

actually know the words and they start READING THEM!

So the best advice to get your congregation singing is, believe it or not,

get rid of the words on the screen. You need to have your media person

up with this, because they will rush around madly to find the words.

Question: can people live without words on a screen? Of course they can,

but only if you are singing a very simple, repetitive song or a song that is




very well known. So something like “alleluia”, “How Great is Our God,” or

“Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” would be good choices for this.

Question: What if there are people there who do not know the song,

won’t they feel isolated? Possibly, but you will more than make up for it

by everyone else worshipping more freely. And, you shouldn’t do this for

every song, just pick one song and try it, making sure it is a repetitive

and consistent song.

Another thing to try is encouraging people to sing simple phrases which

you can insert into a song that they know. It may sound funny to get

people singing “na, na, na,” but it can become a very enjoyable

experience. Inserting a simple, nonsense phrase can help people to relax

and enjoy the whole worship experience instead of reading the words and

singing (which is often not worship at all!). I remember being at a Paul

McCartney concert years ago and the entire crowd singing the end refrain

of “Hey Jude” for ages. Is it spiritual to do this? Not really. But is it fun

and engaging? You bet it is!

Clapping Out

Like it or not, clapping is a great way to get

your audience involved, even in church!

Clapping along to the beat helps each person

to relate to the beat, and to feel a part of the

whole mass of the congregation. You can even

introduce specialized claps, like triplets, etc.,

and then you might find people laughing and

enjoying themselves as they try to get the

clapping right! Either way, clapping is a great

way to connect to your congregation and for

them to really enjoy the worship time

(although in more conservative churches this may not be culturally

acceptable, so whatever you do, don’t offend people!).




Actions

Doing silly, childish actions is a great way of relaxing your people and also

connecting with them. Not very spiritual, but whenever the children’s

church want to engage their audience they use crazy, fun and sometimes

silly actions. Are we too old for this in our churches? I hope not, because

having fun is a great way to engage your audience, silly or not!

Dancing

Some churches find dancing unacceptable, and that is OK. However, if

your church is OK with dancing, then this is a fun and wonderful way to

connect with the congregation. Are you going to worship while people are

dancing? Probably not. But are you going to have fun, engage the

audience and break the ice? You bet!

In big festivals, I use one song

that I write a long time ago. It

is a 50s number, toe tapping,

clapping, stomping, etc. I then

stand the audience up partway

through and get them dancing,

wiggling, etc. Everyone looks

embarrassed, but often an older

couple jump up, move to the

front and start dancing like

Happy Days (the old TV show).

They do the jitterbug, the twist, etc., and everyone laughs and relaxes,

and this is one of the most requested songs I sing any time. It is great

fun and breaks the ice in any culture. The Chinese love it and get

embarrassed. The Africans take off and go nuts! How crazy it that!

Now, I freely admit that I am not leading people to worship and deep

repentance while playing this song. However, it is a brilliant song for

breaking the ice, relaxing the crowd and letting all inhibitions fade away,




and it opens people’s heart for later songs which are aimed squarely at

their hearts and deal with deep issues. If I do this song first, they are far

more open for later songs and especially when the Word of God is

preached. It looks fun, but there is a method to my madness, and it

works very, very well!

Won’t work in your church? You won’t know until you try it, so try it once

and see if you can not only brighten their day but also open hearts to

later songs which will cause deeper and more intimate worship.

Kneeling

If you are not in an Anglican church you may well have forgotten this one.

Kneeling can be one of the most powerful audience participation things

you could ever do. Unlike the other techniques, kneeling is very useful at

the most worshipful moments, times when your congregation are drawing

close to the Lord in intimate worship.

So what is kneeling about? Other than wearing holes in pants and hurting

the knees, it is an act of submission, humility and reverence. It is one of

the most powerful and significant gestures anybody can make, and when

directed towards the Lord in intimate worship, it can give rise to some of

the most significant worship experiences imaginable.

So as worship goes deeper, keep your spiritual eyes open and year ears

listening to the Holy Spirit? At a time when the music dies down and

quietness descends on the congregation, a few simply words like, “I invite

you to fall to your knees before His majesty!”, or even wordlessly fall to

your knees yourself may encourage others to get on their knees before

the Lord. If a few of you do this (you will rarely get everyone doing this!)

the atmosphere can quickly change to one of awe, wonder and, deep

respectful worship. It can become one of the most significant experiences

your congregation will ever have!




Silence

I have written much on this subject before, but when it comes to worship

silence can be golden… then again it can be just plain yellow too! The

general rule with a period of silence is to keep it fairly short where

possible, because a prolonged silence often just becomes awkward.

However, a rightly times period of silence can allow the congregation to

think, contemplate, soul search or just adore the Lord Jesus!

Generally, if I feel the Holy Spirit is directing towards a period of silence, I

will settle the music down and then gradually stop it, usually without

words (I think words spoil the moment). I will only have silence for

around 10 seconds, which seems a long time and then gently start with

an acoustic guitar to build the music up again. Silence is a time of great

depth, and is very powerful, but it must be used sparingly and only when

you strongly feel that the Lord is directing you this way (and not very

often).




Conclusion:

When you lead worship, like it or not, you are performing. In this book

we have explored a number of aspects of performing, from what you wear

to how you hold a microphone, and in each of these aspects you need to

explore the various options and discover which of these works for you in

your church situation.

Please don’t be afraid to experiment and try these new ideas, because

that is part of how we learn and how the Lord directs our steps in this

new part of our ministry. Get these performance additives right and your

ministry will be enhanced. Get them wrong, and you just have to try

something else, so do not be afraid to step out and be different. It is

better that you try a bunch of stuff and reject many of them rather than

just copying or reproducing what you see on a worship CD.

Once you find the aspects of performance that are right for you, the next

step is to incorporate this as naturally as possible into your ministry style.

If your friends think something it too showy, listen to them because they

are probably right.

These performance enhancements need to become an integral part of

your style to really be useful. So, do these things in rehearsals, in front

of the mirror or anywhere you sing or minister. This will ensure that the

performances are natural and beneficial, not fake and contrived.




One Final Word

When looking to improve your performance the most important element

is…

PRAYER!

That’s right, you need to pray long and hard and make sure that any

changes in the way you perform are God-centred, Holy Spirit sanctioned

and glorifying to Him, NOT you.

Pray hard, try things, learn and above all, keep close to the Lord in your

personal walk and you will find that He will develop your personal worship

style and make your worship leading anointed, inspiring and personal!

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