What's the Goal?

Let me preface this post by saying that I love music.  I really do.  I love playing, singing, and listening to it.  And the fact that I get to "do" music for a living seems like a dream at times.  And because of this, I want our music at MPBC to be the very best that it can be.  That's why I practice so much.  That's why our worship team rehearses so much.  I want us to be the very best worship team that we can be.  I don't want us to make mistakes.  So, we focus on getting things right.  Some of the previous blog posts have been about the skill used to play and sing within the team.  And I agree with them.  We are to play and sing with great skill as Psalm 33:3 says.  We should get all of our musical entrances right.  The singers should strive to blend well and not have intonation problems.  The band members should constantly be striving to improve and learn new techniques.  Because all of these things are good.  And we should constantly be working towards them.  We should give God our absolute best!  But we also must be careful to not get so obsessed with what we are doing that we take for granted why we are doing it and most importantly, whom we are doing it for.

I believe that we have an unbelievable worship team here at MPBC.  And I would put them up against any worship team in the state of North Carolina.  They are supremely talented and extremely dedicated.  They work hard and so there is a part of me that always enjoys hearing how much people enjoy the worship times on Sunday mornings.  When new people come to visit, they almost always talk about how amazed they are by the music.  And that's wonderful, but I have to constantly remind myself of this truth:  I want people to leave Church more amazed by the greatness of our God than by the greatness of our music.  It doesn't matter how wonderful our music is if people don't experience the presence of God.  It doesn't matter how well I played or sang if people don't receive a fresh revelation of Jesus.  And it doesn't matter if our song transitions were smooth if people's souls aren't comforted and their hearts aren't convicted.  Because, ultimately, that's what really matters each and every Sunday that we gather to worship.  People don't need to hear from me or my guitar.  People need to hear from God.  He changes people, not my musicianship. 

So, I hope that this post can serve as a challenge to anyone who participates in leading worship.  Our ultimate goal is not for people to hear our perfect music.  Our ultimate goal is for people to meet and experience our perfect God.

Worship Big!

Brad