I HATE THE PERFORMANCE SPIRIT!!!
Sorry to yell. It may be surprising to some, seeing as how Hunter and I are worship leaders, but I have not lead worship at my home church in a while. This is a result of many factors that I won’t get into right now but I just lead worship tonight for the first time at the church that my wife and I have been attending since October. Worship is always my desire whenever we do a concert or lead worship at a church. However, the battle of trying to balance leading worship and “entertaining” people can be very difficult. The desire to perform and share gifts with people can easily cloud the ultimate purpose of pursuing God with everything I have. Right before I went up at the end of the service tonight to lead Chris Tomlin’s song “Enough” to close out the night I felt convicted by the lyrics “all of You is more than enough for me”. I had to ask myself, do I really believe this? Do I find all that I need in Him? Obviously I don’t when the desire for the approval of man comes rushing in to take my attention away from the One who deserves all I can give.
It is impossible for me to fake worship. I can’t get up there and just sing these songs and go through the motions. God teach me how to give you all that I have. To pour myself out as an offering and to empty myself so that there is nothing left to take away the worship You and You alone deserve.
Chris
Connersvine
Chris this is something to think about.It looks different from the other side of the fence. I mean how you see this topic looks different from the artist eyes than it does from the church pew.Unless I’m not understanding what your saying here.When you sing you are bringing glory to God,that is true worship,and yes it is also entertaining to people who want to praise God to the best of their ability.People who are interested in worship and love God our Savior are going to be more than entertained by what you do. First of all they are in total awe of the gift God has given you.So excuse the stare please. Second if they are not Christ followers they probably would say no I am not the least bit entertained,excuse me I need to be somewhere besides here. However, when the Holy Spirt comes in sometimes people decide they may want to stay and hear about this Jesus, and what you have to sing or say about Him. So when you perform,or entertain, you are ministering through song,and if you were faking or just going through the motions,followers would pick that up instantly.You don’t need approval from any one especially man.You’re not there for approval,I think you’re there to Save Lives by shocking hearts to beat for Him,and you’re doing just dandy.Sooo, put MAN and his approval out with the trash, and sing baby sing!!Entertainment…..Performing…..whatever, do it for Him and Him alone. later, Becky
funny i am remarkind and noticeing how many people STAY in a performance mode i hate it becuz then they can’t get personal and its all for show! i ahte that! i preform a bit but i hate it when people are fake! good point!
I think I know what you mean Chris. I was so glad when God released me from a church where the worship was more like a rock concert than worship. I left with ringing ears, a headache, etc.
Never did I leave a service feeling uplifted or like I had a meeting with God. 
thank God for your worship heart! You are such a blessing.
I hope you are singing more than a few songs next week at Grace Assembly!
Chris ~ I’ll be working VIP at Celebrate Freedom on June 25/26. If I cross paths with you all, you can expect a lovely ministry side hug. =-)
Also, I’ve been working on a definition of worship as I continue to do ministry and am in ministry conversation.
Here’s what I’ve come up with from my convictions and study, especially of the language used in the OT and NT for worship - “To worship is to serve in the holy presence of God, service being what I was created to do through divine relationship, not that which God needs. Worship is an active result of who I am in God through Christ my Savior. The Holy Spirit aids me to worship as a new creation according to God’s revealed purpose, which I find in the Bible. And through the ministry of the Holy Spirit I seek to know God with reverent fear and love of the Holy. Because I am a sinner, I must receive from His means. Therefore, I situate myself to serve Him, and I do so according to the context that He established, namely the community of persons who have faith in Jesus Christ.” It was really great working this out for my own life and ministry. I’m sure the Lord is shaping a definition in you, too, as you continue to do His work.
Do you remember JD Walt from Thirsty? He’s got a blog specifically on worship conversations: http://www.farmstrong.blogspot.com. Just sharing a great thought-provoking resource. His quote is “how we define worship will determine how we design worship.”
I appreciate you sharing this. Leading worship is a struggle because you ARE in a dual role of sorts. I am blessed to be able to serve on the vocal team at my church and I want to model worship for my congregation, not entertain them. But we are also sharing a message and if I am totally caught up in my worship (which is usually the case), then I am not communicating much directly to my audience. They get alot indirectly through my actions and attitudes, but I think sometimes I get too internally focused and have to remind myself there are people out there I am supposed to be sharing with. But maybe it doesn’t matter, because I have so many people come up to me with positive feedback from when I sing and I know that it is not my voice.