Worship Leaders: We Are Not Rock Stars

We've seen him--the messy-haired rocker worship leader or the neatly coiffed music director. Either way, though, he wants to be a rock star, to make himself the center of worship. Stephen Miller is the worship pastor for a large, energetic church. He and his band record albums and lead worship for conferences all over the country. One day it struck him--he was the guy making himself the center of worship. So he began sorting through why he does what he does. Why do you lead worship? Often the motives are mixed. You want to point people to Jesus but also desire to be noticed and praised. You want to make the best possible music for the biggest audience but perhaps instead you're leading a modest, unglamorous congregation. Such mixed motivations can cause significant internal and external conflict. No matter your role, Miller exhorts you to make Jesus the center of your worship. He reaches out to the church as a whole to show what true worship is and how to be led through teaching, prayer, story, and song. In all, Miller's call is for leaders to lead worship and the church to participate in it--wholehearted, whole-minded exalting of God--rather than making a spectacle of it.