Thinking About Being on the Praise Team?
Think Again. . .
Praise team membership is not for the timid. In other words if you are afraid to stand before the people and uncomfortable with open expressions of praise, then these would need to be overcome before you consider being part of the team. The team is a place of enthusiasm and high energy when warranted. The people are looking to you for leadership. There are many scripture references to praising God in the congregation of the saints. Among them are Psalm 134:2; Psalm 107:32; and Psalm 35:18.
There are individuals who want to join the praise team so everyone will see them. This is the wrong motive for team membership. Proverbs 16:2 says in paraphrase "all of man's ways are right in his own eyes, but God weighs the motives". The responsibility of leadership is far too important and it cannot be taken for granted. When leading people into God's presence the anointing of the Holy Spirit is vital. And we cannot wait until we arrive at the church on Sunday morning to ask God's anointing. Is this really "in spirit and in truth" worship? (John 4:24) God deserves more from us. David acknowledged in Psalm 51:6b that God desires truth from us. We must in the days leading up to Sunday spend time in God's presence allowing Him to prepare our hearts to come before the people. As a praise team we should be examples of God's holiness. The Word says we are temples of the Holy Ghost and He dwells within us (I Cor. 6:19).
There are individuals who aspire to be part of the praise team because they sing well. If I had to choose between the habitual praiser and the great singer, I'll take the habitual praiser. The great singer may prove more concerned about how he/she presents to the people, rather than how he/she presents to God. It is the principle of image vs. integrity. Image says "How did I sound to the people?" Integrity says "How did I sound to God?" The praise team should never function to bring attention to ourselves—but to God. I should point out here that music is not the chief function of the praise & worship portion of the service anyway. If we had no music, the worship of God ought to still be Job One. But since we do use music as a vehicle into God's presence, we must be very careful that neither our music nor our team members are there merely for outward showings. While the Word of God offers several references to singing, John 4:24, our chief criterion for worship, makes no reference to it at all. All throughout the church of Jesus Christ at large, we have become so conditioned and so traditionalized to the extent we have come to believe music and worship are synonymous; they are not. Singing all the great songs by the most talented and well-known artists does not guarantee worship.
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Used by churches all over the world to help teach worship, the Experiencing Worship study can help your worship team too.
Your team will learn why we worship and gain a better understanding of how to worship.
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This is the debut album by EXW friend Paul Langford. Paul is a Chicago based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. Paul has a career that spans 14 years. Paul's work includes arranging for groups like GLAD, Voices of Liberty, VoiceTrek, The Chicago based "Caroling Party" and Day of Discovery Singers. His arranging has appeared on recordings side by side with greats like Gene Puerling and David Maddux, and he has sung with Don Shelton, Bonnie Herman and Bob Bowker, among others.