I use a Peavey Classic 50/50 amp. It’s all tube, 50 watts per channel if I’m running in stereo. I run it into two Mesa 1/12″ speaker cabinets and mic them with two Sennheiser e906 mics (the BEST guitar amp mic I’ve ever used!). I absolutely love how this amp sounds, but it’s gotta be cranked up pretty loud to take advantage of the tube sound, which creates too much sound for our stage.

I add to this volume problem by slamming the input on the amp with a huge amount of gain out of my Digitech GSP2101 preamp - this then saturates the tubes further, causing that warm even order harmonic sound that tube amp enthusiasts love.

My solution is to put things backstage. I set up my gear in the hallway behind our stage, and send in my guitar signal from the stage. I then rely on the sound person to route the guitar into my monitor on stage. Lately I’ve also been running my guitar wireless using a Shure SLX wireless system. I was a little nervous to go this route because of the added compression to the initial guitar signal that wireless inevitably adds, BUT I was pleasantly surprised at the newfound smoothness of the tone. I highly recommend it.

There are so many directions to go in choosing your rig. You can reference my article on guitar amps for more detailed information. Since writing that article, I’ve landed even more solidly on the side of the tube amp because of its natural warmth and fullness of tone. I love the sound of the larger Mesa and Marshall amps cranked up, but these aren’t that useful in church situations. There’s a ton of other smaller amps that can sound really good when cranked and miked, such as the Vox AC30 or AC15, Crate Palomino V32, etc.

In the past while leading worship at the Rock, I focused more on a heavy rock/metal side of playing, but lately since becoming our church worship director (i.e. Sunday morning service!) I’ve had to dial it back a bit and have found a more blues/rock oriented tone suits this style of music better. Think U2 - lower wattage tube amp, (In the Edge’s case, a Vox AC30) some reverb, a little delay, (or a lot, depending on the song) and that’s about it. I add some compression to lead parts, but mostly leave it off my main tone. Simplicity rather than complexity is what I’m leaning toward - pull all the effects off the guitar (including distortion!) and set the main EQ at the amp to sound as good as it can possibly sound, then start adding effects one at a time.

I hope this has been helpful. Remember as you work with your pastors, congregation, sound people, band members, etc, that you are there to serve. Let every effect you choose, every amp setting you pick, every microphone you set up reflect the glory of God to those you are leading in worship. He is the only reason we buy amps, play guitars, and sing songs. It’s all for Him.

A couple weeks ago at a family reunion in Wisconsin I learned that my grandfather came from Sweden one hundred years ago with three guitars his father had made and a strong beautiful voice. He opened two photography studios in Illinois and ended up exhibiting his water-colored photographs at the World’s Fair, but eventually homesteaded in northern Wisconsin because of his sensitivity to the photographic chemicals. My eleven aunts and uncles have told me that as an expression of his passion for God he played guitar and sang and sang as they grew up, but one day when he was in his fifties he stopped singing—it had something to do with church. I never really knew him or the details of his music ministry story because he died when I was young, but sometimes I wonder if the struggles I’ve experienced mixing art and worship in church are the same struggles he experienced—seems that some things never change. The reigning stereotype of the odd, melancholic, depressed, tortured artist is to a large extent a myth created by Romantic ideology and supported only by evidence from isolated atypical historical periods. And in these cases its not the artists that created this stereotype, but an artistic scene that promised much, gave few rewards, and left nine out of ten artists neglected if not ignored. The Christian community is an accomplice in this crime and theologically skilled at mercilessly perpetrating not only this image, but this condition.

Research indicates that creative people are not typically odd, melancholic, depressed, or tortured, but holistic people who love to make connections with adjacent areas of knowledge. While the bulk of humanity occupies comfortable islands of near conformity, creative people sail the interdisciplinary oceans of ignorance between the islands. They tend to be in principle–caring and sensitive, and remarkable in their ability to adapt to almost any situation and to make do with whatever is at hand to reach their goals. Complexity characterizes their personalities, causing people to often misunderstand them. They work long hours with intense concentration late into the night, but need extended periods of idleness, rest, and reflection to refuel. They are smart yet naïve and characterized by contrasting poles of wisdom and childishness, playfulness and discipline–you could say “detached attachment.” Creative people are original without being bizarre. The novelty they see is rooted in reality. While psychological research considers extroversion and introversion the most stable personality traits, creative individuals seem to express both traits at the same time. Community is essential to creative individuals. If they don’t kick things around with people, they feel out of it. The truth is that nobody can be anybody without somebody being around. Truly creative individuals are remarkably humble and proud at the same time. They possess the ability to enjoy the creative process for its own sake.

My ministry experience in the arts began in 1967 during the beginning of the current revolution in Christian music. In my grandfather’s day it was sacrilegious to play a guitar in church. In 1967 after my musical group opened the morning worship service for a country church by sing the song “Day By Day” accompanied by a couple guitars and upright bass, the pastor moved by the Spirit of God, cancelled his message, said the benediction and emotionally asked us to close with another song. We sang, “To Be Used by God.”

Emotions over “contemporary” music were all over the map in those days. At first I focused on the music—I was infatuated by it and used people to create new music for ministry. My eyes were on the product, much like a commercial producer would operate—finding the best artists, putting them together, and creating art. I also had little patience for people who didn’t share my vision—especially the ones who didn’t show up on time for whatever reason, or didn’t volunteer just because I announced the start of a new project. I had no time to twist arms and baby sit amateurs or uncommitted lay people. I had great success artistically and even spiritually because the product was excellent and borne out of ministry passion and sincerity, but the path to the product was cluttered with bodies of artists, their still-born art, and burnt bridges. More than one musician drifted away from the faith because they didn’t fit into my vision. I was part of a problem that existed in my grandfather’s day and has continued today—overlooked artists who desire to enter the creative process in their local place of worship.

Fortunately I finally realized that an worship minister’s primary responsibility, besides leading the church in worship, is to facilitate the process of creativity in other people so those people can express their worship through their art not my art. Creating an environment for this to happen is difficult in a large church because of the relatively large number of quality semi-professional artists and because the worship minister does not need to disciple, coach, or mentor or as some would say “babysit”. An adequate number of artists will come to the minister on the minister’s terms and like studio musicians plug in. Churches like this often cause a sense of loss and emptiness in artists who don’t fit into the system. When a Christian artist cannot work they feel isolated and misunderstood.

Small churches are naturally set up to more easily minister to creative and artistic individuals than large churches, because the worship minister is required to exercise a gentle bedside manner, and be flexible in light of the uniqueness and maturity of the artists–there is a much smaller pool to tap into and discipling, coaching and mentoring are required. The rules of ministry end up being more about how a minister can adjust to and work with lay artists than these artists working on the minister’s terms and on his projects.

Ministry literally means “to help” or “to bring aid”. Thus a worship minister’s main role is not to just worship God, but to help people worship God. In the case of artists within the congregation, the minister’s primary role is to facilitate their worship through creation of art by the artists. This enriches the worship of the whole church.

As I attempted to worship today a profound sense of my frailty overwhelmed me - and then, indescribable gratitude. I say “attempted” because I literally could not muster the words – suddenly they seemed too holy, too pure for me, a man of unclean lips. With tears and faint whisper my small worship poured out and I felt pure joy.

This is a rare experience for me and often only happens in periods of tremendous emotional upheaval. I am left, then, to ask the question “do I really get it?”

Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 FOR IT IS GOD who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. [emphasis added]

When I come to worship do I believe the words I sing? I would have to say, on most occasions, I don’t. This is not an attempt at some spiritual self-deprivation to create righteousness through penance; it is just the plain truth of my shallow, lightweight existence. If I truly believed these words:

Psalm 36:5-6 Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. 6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,

your justice like the great deep.

it would seem that I should be shook by their purity, supremacy and holiness. And, it would seem, that I should feel a grave gratitude for the opportunity to even utter them, that nothing short of tears, fear and trembling would accurately reflect. I fear that most of my worship is trifling with the holiness of God. Thankfully that was not the case today and thankfully an awestruck fear and trembling led me to that glorious place of self-forgetfulness (losing my life) and satisfying worship of Christ (finding my life).

I wonder if we are so self-conscious that we simply refuse to let our thoughts ascend to that high and holy place which would solicit a tender, trembling response of grateful worship. We aren’t comfortable with that lose of control, that exposure of our needy frailty, so we contrive a worship posture that allows us to appear religious and safely sing them aloud (even sometimes with vigor). I have learned the abominable art of “worshipping” without letting the truth crack my steady, self-sufficient heart into a million quivering pieces. What other explanation could there be? Are these not the most beautiful and profound truths in the Universe? Has beauty ever stirred you to silent tears? Then indeed EVERY worship service, as it is proclaiming something of infinitely greater stature, should move us to some sort of fear and trembling. If it does not, then we have not fully grasped the greatness of God and the spectacle of the Gospel and our worship is incomplete and small.

Let us fear the desire of our flesh to appear dignified – to be in control of our response to God. It is a deceitful trickery. Every recorded encounter with God solicited an uncontrolled, knee-jerk response of worship, which, according to the Revelation, continues for eternity and becomes the substance of joy for all who share community with God.

Which brings my thoughts to the practice of lifting hands. Why do we do it? Indeed it is prescriptive:

Psalm 134:2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.

but, if we can tread into the territory of presumption for a moment, why does God call us to this act?

Psalm 143:6 I stretch out my hands to You; My soul longs for You, as a parched land. Selah.

There is a futility in the act. Are we reaching for God? – for Heaven? When I realized how short my heart fell from grasping the greatness of whom I worship, raising my hands made sense.

The truth of the matter is that I may never “get it” when it comes to worship on this side of heaven. God is so beautiful, so gracious and so powerful – His greatness is all consuming. My heart is too small, my flesh too resistant to total surrender – but yet there is a flickering of worship that must be expressed. So like a baby bird confined to its nest, helpless, frail and, yet, reaching for food from its mother – I stretch my hands to God. I can’t reach heaven with my hands, but with them I can express that therein stirs a desire (however small) to be there worshipping God in true, self-forgetful, trembling joy.

When faced with my limitations to true worship, I have two options. The first is to contrive a set of actions that characterize “true worship” and perform. The second is to acknowledge my inability to fully appreciate God and humbly continue with the act. That is gospel living. God must come further to us than we do to Him – even in our worship. The beauty of the arrangement is that my imperfect understanding ceases to be an obstacle to a perfect surrendered worship.

Oh may my desire for God grow! May my tenderness towards God increase and may every worship service leave me desperately reaching for a God I cannot grasp. Here God is glorified and, in trembling tears, I am satisfied.

Originally posted on New Heart’s Sojurn by Mitch Majeski

EQ – This is the foundation to your tone, and will have the most influence on your sound – I usually have this near the beginning of the effects chain. EQ “equals out” the tone of your sound – originally designed to make up for acoustic deficiencies in acoustic instruments to get a “flat” response in recording. There’s a bunch of different types, but basically an equalizer can boost or cut the “volume” of specific frequencies in your sound. I recommend cutting over boosting, as distortion, noise, and muddiness can result if you boost too much.

Some EQ tips that can really affect your tone:

- Roll everything off below 80hz
- 100hz can add low end, but can interfere with the bass guitar
- 200hz - 250hz adds punch and fullness
- 250hz - 800hz is the “mud” zone.  Roll off here if your sound is muddy.
- 2.5kHz - 5kHz adds edge and bite
- 5kHz - 8kHz adds clarity
- 8kHz - 12kHz adds "shimmer"

Noise Gate – This will cut off the signal once it reaches a certain level, so your guitar doesn’t hum when you’re not playing. You can also use it to cut off a reverb effect, or the sweep of a flange when you’re not playing. I have this one running all the time. In the recording, note the noise that occurs, and how it just “cuts off” when the noise gate kicks in. You can also reverse this effect, and set a fade-in type of effect as you hit a note.

Compressor – One of the most important effects you can use. This will basically lower the volume of your harder hits, and increase the volume of the softer notes, so your playing sounds more even. I like to use compression for added sustain when playing lead. In this recording I compressed the clean signal first, then equalized it, ran it through distortion, subtle chorus, delay, and lots of reverb. Note the single note sustain, and how if I hold it too long, it begins to amplify more noise than tone.

Delay – Creates an echo of your guitar sound. For an example of this, listen to almost anything the Edge plays in U2. I use delay in a lot of songs for a cool doubling “ghost player” effect. Delay is also useful for legato lead playing, with the “feedback” knob turned up, it really fills out the sound, as you can hear in the “Compressor” recording. In the “Delay” recording, I have a stereo delay effect running at 0.365 seconds of delay, with feedback at only 10%. It’s the last thing in the chain before it hits the amp. Note that every note I play is doubled so it sounds like I’m playing twice as much as I actually am.

Reverb – Creates space – much like singing in a bathroom.

Chorus – this essentially duplicates your guitar sound, slightly detunes it, and plays it back, creating a thicker tone. Use it subtly unless you’ve got a specific application for it. I have three levels of chorus represented in this recording.

Flange – This creates an odd swirling sound – I sometimes mix it really low into my effect chain, but rarely use it.

Phaser – In the same family as flange – a thick modulating of the tone, created by running an oscillator across the frequency range of the input signal, then mixing the signal out of phase with the original. In this recording, I’ve got the phaser after distortion in the effects chain.

Tremolo – varies the depth and volume of the guitar signal. The speed can be adjusted to the rhythm of the song you’re playing – so if you use this, make sure to give your drummer a hint of the rhythm before he clicks off the song!

Wah – This adjusts the tone of your signal – the foot pedal can be moved up and down between bright and dark tone. It’s usually used by moving the pedal in time with the music. Auto-Wah does the same thing, but is preset with a specific time period, rather than using the foot to create the effect. This recorded example is auto-wah.

I also want to mention guitar pickup selection - most guitars are set with two pickups, one close to the neck and one close to the bridge. Controls for these typically have three positions. The neck pickup is going to give you a thicker sound, and the bridge pickup will give you a more treble sound. The third position is a blend of the two. I use the bridge pickup for distorted rhythm applications, the neck pickup or a combination of both for clean rhythm. I also use the bridge pickup for fast, crisp lead, and the neck for a really warm sustained lead sound.

With amplifiers, the first decision you must make is tube vs. solid-state. Solid-states amplify current, whereas tube amps amplify volts, and have lower input capacitance. In other words, tube amps create a sound that I’d describe as fuller sounding - warm, with a sense of space. Tubes modify and color the sound being input. Solid-state amps are much cleaner, and will reproduce the input sound as identically as possible, but don’t have the “warm” coloring that is typical of tube amps. Most “serious” players lean towards a tube amp. Hybrids have come out, combining tube preamps with solid-state amplifiers - but I haven’t really messed with these too much. Consider buying a two-channel amp - stereo effects might be something you want to mess with down the road.

In building your rig, you need to have a clear understanding of where you are going to use it. I play regularly in a room that seats 1300 and is built for an acoustic choir, so stage noise can be a big problem. As a result, I’ve chosen a smaller tube amplifier as my main amp. Tube amps sound better when cranked. You don’t need a 350 watt Marshall stack or a full head – if you use it in a small venue or low volume situation, it won’t sound that great. Less wattage will sound much better at the lower volumes, because the tubes will be more saturated.

Smaller guitar speakers produce higher frequencies than larger speakers, so in general, a 10″ speaker is going to have more clarity, or “top end” than a 15″ speaker. A 12” speaker is pretty standard. Personal preference will dictate here, just remember that your 4×12 cabinet might frustrate your sound guy when he finds out your stage volume is louder than what’s coming out of the P.A! Your fellow band members might also complain that they can’t hear anything but you. Not to mention it’ll be hard to lug up and down those stairs and out to the car every week! Power is actually more of a concern than size when considering speakers – lower wattage speakers will break up nicely – meaning distorting a little easier at lower volumes, which sounds sort of cool, but won’t be as smooth as higher wattage speakers. Again, personal preference. Try before you buy.

Electric guitars obviously need to end up being put through a P.A. at some point - you can do this by micing cabinets, or you can forget all this amp stuff and utilize the amp modeling technology that’s been coming out lately. I’ve played with a Line 6 POD XT Live - and it actually sounds pretty good - thin, but fine if you’re not a purist. Modeling is a good option if stage volume is a huge problem. If stage volume isn’t a problem, or isn’t MUCH of a problem, I’d always choose to mic an amp. You’ll have a warmer, fuller sound, more punch, and more control of your tone. Also, use an amp stand, lean the amp back and point the cone right at your face. You’ll have much more control this way.

Micing an amp can really affect the sound that comes out of the P.A. I recommend first of all getting great tone out of your amp before even touching a microphone. If you send a muddy signal to the soundboard, it’ll sound muddy in the P.A. No amount of EQ from the soundboard can fix bad tone. Also, don’t overwhelm your sound by sending too much bass tone through your guitar cabinet – it’ll just make things muddy. Run your EQ pretty flat, and maybe even take some of the lows out for more clarity. Your sound person can add some lows if they need to, and it’ll sound much smoother done from the board. Take into account that the bass guitar in the band really should provide the lows you’re looking for. Think of the overall band “sound.” Since you’re playing live when you lead worship, direct micing with a Sure Beta 57 mic in front of the speaker, pointed right at the center will provide your best sound. Pointing straight at the speaker will give your mic better isolation, there won’t be as much stage bleed – if you point the mic off axis, you can round off some of the highs and add some lows, but you should just do this from your master EQ before micing, as getting it right each week can be problematic.

Remember that everyone has different tastes, and be willing to work with your sound personnel, your worship leader, and the rest of the band. If they say your amp is too loud, it probably is. Be humble and learn to play at a lower volume. As we dive into the extremely subjective topic of effects in the next article, I’d like to caution you - don’t have an over-reliance on your amp or your effects. Remember that the ultimate sound of your guitar is in your fingers, not in your equipment.

Next article: Effects!

I’ve never really considered myself a guitar tech guy. I have definite standards for sound though. I started off with an acoustic guitar about 13 years ago. I used to plug it into a karaoke machine in my room in junior high, turn it up all the way for “distortion,” and play. A few years later I got a cheap electric guitar and invested in a solid state Fender 12″ amp. I couldn’t ever figure out how to make it sound right, so I didn’t play it too much. It had two channels, clean, and distorted - I wanted to use the distortion, of course, but it made a lot of noise between notes and didn’t respond the way I heard electric guitars sound on recordings I liked.

In the meantime I began leading worship in junior high for a Young Life group - I was just planning on singing, since that’s what I was into, but the leader practically forced me to bring my acoustic guitar as well and taught me the basic open chords. I would sit and wait for a chord I knew to come along in the song, strum for a bit, then stop and wait for another chord I knew. The next few years were spent playing and singing every week, eventually I was put in charge of the entire thing, and eventually formed a whole band that played each week.

I had an old Gallien-Krueger bass amp that I’d plug my acoustic guitar into - and noticed for some reason it sounded better with the “compressor” button pressed, and something called “chorus” added. But if I added too much chorus, it sounded out of tune. At this point I hadn’t really heard of compression, preamps, noise gates, delays, or reverb. I only knew the sound I liked, and I couldn’t figure out how to create it. The bass amp came as close as I’d ever heard, so I stuck with it for awhile. Later, I met some really good guitarists that introduced me to effects. I also was involved in recording a bunch of albums, and closely followed the engineers around as they set things up and mixed. I took a break from guitar when we started the Rock in Fort Collins, and played bass guitar for three years - then we sent a church plant to Amsterdam, and I ended up back on guitar, leading the band. At this point I bought a whole bunch of guitar gear, and with other guitarist friends (one of which is now a professional sound engineer), I experimented and finally got the sound I’d been hearing for so many years.

So down to the nitty gritty. Leading worship with guitar. I’m going to primarily focus on electric guitar, since that’s the majority of what I play.

The first thing of importance when leading worship with guitar is PRACTICE. Practice a lot. Buy a metronome and set the correct tempo for the song you are rehearsing, and play with the metronome. You won’t believe the difference this will make in your playing! The more you practice, the less you are distracted by the mechanics of what you’re doing. Your band practice time can literally be cut in half if you practice beforehand. You will be much more effective at worshipping while you play because you won’t have to worry about your technique.

Here are things you need when playing electric guitar, which I will dive into with depth in a couple of future articles:

1. A good electric guitar. Don’t skimp in this area - play before you buy, plug it in, see how it feels. Listen for bad intonation, electronics, etc. Plan on spending money here.

2. Good strings. I replace mine every two or three weeks. Some guys I know replace them before every gig they play.

3. A good amp. More on this later.

4. Effects. More on this later as well.

5. A tuner. Preferably a stomp box such as Boss’s TU-2.

Check back again soon for the next article: Leading with guitar – Guitar Amplifiers!

I don’t think I need to get into theory and philosophy to explain that music moves us. I believe it is self-evident. But why do we use music in worship? Romans 8:22-23 says,

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

We’re waiting for Heaven. Paul says earlier in Romans that creation is waiting in eager expectation - when we come to God in worship, I think the groans Paul is talking about as we “wait eagerly” come out as we worship. Romans 8:26:

. . . the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

Groans that words cannot express. Communication. Music is a form of communicating, a very personal method of receiving and giving thoughts and feelings; places where words are not enough. I believe I have expressed things through music that I cannot express in words. For instance, look up the lyrics to your favorite song. If you had simply read the lyrics and not heard the song, would you be moved by them? Would you have the understanding of them that you have now, after hearing the music?

Ultimately, it comes down to this: we use music because we have eternity set in our hearts. It’s universal. In C. S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce, a famous “ghost” artist ends up in Heaven. “The Spirit” explains this to him:

“When you painted on earth – at least in your earlier days – it was because you caught glimpses of Heaven in the earthly landscape. The success of your painting was that it enabled others to see the glimpses too. But here you are having the thing itself. It is from here that the messages came.”

One of the reasons we use music in worship is to tell others about God. We see something beautiful, joyful, and powerful, and are driven to express it. As an artist paints a picture of something he has caught a glimpse of, we are composing a story, enabling people to see the reality and hope of the life to come. I cannot tell these things with mere words, I must use music to catch people’s hearts. I create because I am made in the image of the Creator. I sing because I catch glimpses of Melody. I enjoy music because I catch a glimpse of Real Music. I move about the stage because I feel Rhythm. It all points to Christ, and I want others to see what I see, to hear what I hear, and join me in worshipping Him.

These days I’m realizing people get stuck in what they like and styles become “sacred cows.” I think that instead of waging wars over style, we must focus on these two things:

Quality of worshippers is the first one. I’m done with trying to be something that I’m not. Quite honestly, I don’t want to sing “The Happy Song” much of the time - I want to be real. If I’ve had a bad week, I don’t need to hide it, I need to be honest and transparent. Quality worshippers are honest, their worship during the service is merely an expression of a genuine walk with God that exists throughout the whole week - quality worshippers lay corporate worship on the already-laid foundation of personal worship.

Second of all, quality of music matters. I’m not talking about style. I’m talking about quality. You can do quality in whatever style you happen to play - just keep it REAL - what is God doing in YOUR heart as worship leader? Do you have good reasons for the things you do? We have a responsibility as worship leaders to not distract people. Our job is to facilitate corporate worship - and this should be done well. Yes, talent and practice are involved here, but I’ll just sum it up with a few verses:

Psalm 33:1-3 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. 1 Chron. 15:22 Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it. 1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Malachi 1:11-14 (NLT) But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table. You say, `It’s too hard to serve the LORD,’ and you turn up your noses at his commands,” says the LORD Almighty. “Think of it! Animals that are stolen and mutilated, crippled and sick–presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?” asks the LORD. “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the LORD Almighty, “and my name is feared among the nations!”

In the spirit of these verses, I’ve been more intentional working on the flow and quality of our church service. I’ve been adding instrumental sections lately. Every so often (not every week, gotta keep things fresh!) I ask the speaker for verses they were using in their talk, and make slides with these verses on them. Near the end of the worship set we turn the lights down on the stage so the focus is on the verses on the screen, while the band plays a simple instrumental song. The response has been amazing. As people read the words on the screen, their hearts connect with the music - it was as if the head and the heart connect, both intellect and emotion striving to worship the Lord.

One week our speaker, Brandon, was giving a message about the Spirit of God. We ended our worship set with “Take My Life,” and followed it with a simple three-chord instrumental based on the chorus of the song - the lights went down, and people stood and read what the word of God has to say about the Spirit. When Brandon got up to share, hearts were already connected in with his topic and ready to hear what he had to say.

If you’d like to hear the recording of this particular instrumental, click here. Below are the verses we had appear on the screen during this time:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Acts 4:31
Ephesians 3:16-19 Romans 8:26-27 Ephesians 1:13-14 John 14:16-18 Acts 1:8 Matthew 1:23 Joshua 1:9 2 Corinthians 3:18

Preparing for worship.

I struggle at times before services, just like I am doing right now. It is 3pm on Friday afternoon, in about an hour I have to get stuff into the auditorium and start setting up for soundcheck.

During this time every single week I get attacked, thoughts run through my head - and I’ll paraphrase what I just experienced in my head:

“Who do you think you are that you can lead people in worship? You’re just an imposter - posing as a man of God, when really you’re just a baby. You think you can be effective? Yeah right, look how defective and broken you are - you have no right to worship, let alone lead all these people that are so much farther along than you in your faith. Just give up now - you’re broken at the core, and you know it. To top all of this off, you’re exhausted, and sitting at home with a beer and a movie would be SO much better right now, wouldn’t it?”

At this point I’m usually alone with my thoughts - with an opportunity in front of me. I can retreat into myself and my own self-doubt and criticisim, or I can yield the thoughts to God and beg him to get me back on track. Sometimes I get so infected that I lose track of the night - and run right into a bad attitude. Sometimes I yield, and God pulls me back on track, excited and ready to go. But most of the time I think I’m somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. I have a surrendered attitude, but I’m not “feeling it,” which is what I’m facing right now.

Right now I feel as if I must get in control of myself, feel “on,” and be smart enough and good enough to do this worship thing right. But coming to God and leading others in worship of Him involves giving up that control and losing myself. Right now I don’t feel like losing myself, I feel like a loser, trying to create some sense of control. But, the Bible is full of losers - all those “heroes of faith” talked about in Hebrews. And I’m so caught up in being in control of myself and the service tonight that I don’t see this is exactly what God needs me to be in order to use me. A loser.

I’ve begun to hear a gentle voice in my head say something like:

“My Grace is sufficient for you. This is how I want you. Broken and willing to serve, content with your weakness so that I can shine through. I’m ok with you. Be content in me. This is when I use you for my Glory.”

Just a little glimpse into the world of Travis late on Friday afternoon before a Rock worship night.

At the end of the half hour, the Ed Sullivan reruns marathon began. I saw the Rolling Stones, Elvis, and the Animals. Mostly I just laughed at how high they held their guitars back then. Then the Beatles first performance from 1964 came on.

Wow.

I think that (except for the one time I visited a huge church in an inner city whose church service lasted almost four hours) this was one of the most honest and authentic expressions of “worship” that I’ve ever seen. The audience (girls!) freaked out. They fainted, they cried, they had their hands in the air, they sang along - it was surreal. They were totally un-self conscious, they lost track of themselves, and were fully immersed in the Beatles.

I had been leading worship for a group of teenage kids (about 60 in the group) for several years - and always felt there was something missing. This was it. I knew above all, God is worthy of this kind of adoration - it was such a picture of the natural tendency we have to worship - we are beings created to worship God, to be passionate, to adore, to be in awe. To wonder and be amazed. You take God out of the picture, and something like this spectacle happens - the world is crying out for something to worship.

My next thought was that I can’t wait for Heaven. I can’t wait to be so overcome by what is in front of me that I completely lose track of myself and what I am doing. I need to see God like that now, here on Earth. A God so real that I am overcome in adoration and lose track of myself completely.

“Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose - and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.” -William Temple