To: Campus Challenge Committee
CC: CC06 Worship Team
From: Alex Leung
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 01:24:24 -0500
Subject: “Evaluating” Worship 

Thanx Paul for sharing about your personal thoughts & feelings about the EM you guys just did.  While we’re on the topic of “evaluation”, I thought I might add my 2 cents on this, in terms of my ministry responsibility at CC: worship & specifically, musical worship.

(Most of my thoughts here I read from Bob Kauflin, Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries)
Here’s a list of things we often incorrectly see as a sign that “worship was good“:

• The people seemed excited
• The music really flowed
• Everybody was in tune
• Everyone was raising their hands
• Half the congregation was on their knees, facedown
• We nailed that new arrangement of “Your Grace Is Enough”
• Everyone sang at the top of their voices
• Quite a few people came up to me afterwards and said they were really blessed
• No one complained
• The joint was jumpin’!

None of these are objective standards of measurement that people are worshipping God, but only could be an “indicator”.  Even in this modern “worship” ministry, we will reap what we sow.  If the worship team sows to musical experiences, we will only reap a desire for better sounds, cooler progressions and more attractive & creative arrangements. (I remember trying to mimic the Passion Worship Band).  If we sow to feelings, we will only reap services driven by pursuits of emotional highs.(I can’t help but to think of all the TCs I’ve been to). …  However, if we truly want this generation to glorify God, we must sow to the glory of God.  In another sense, there is no response unless there is revelation.  We cannot possibly worship God unless we see God…and we cannot see God unless He shows us Himself! (Thank God that He does!!)  And so, worship is and should be our all-consuming response to the all-deserving revelation of God.

I went through a struggle a couple years back in my own lead worshipping theology…I was looking for all the outward expressions, as a sign that I was doing a good job, that worship in our church was good and becoming better. I soon found myself at a dead-end, knowing that some people just aren’t so expressive or charismatic in a sense, and yet also knowing that many (myself included) struggled with living a life of praise.  Thankfully, in my daily devotional readings I finally realized that worship actually starts with seeing God, and NOT the other way around.  Our outward posture is the tip-of-the-iceberg of our inward posture of praise–our response to God’s revelation.  And so, my primary responsibility as an “artist/lead worshipper” is to be a painter.  Yes…a painter (even though I suck at creative arts)! 

My job is to paint an attractive, compelling, grand, Biblical picture of our great God and Saviour.  My responsibility is to paint as clearly and beautifully as possible, the magnificence, greatness, and grace of the one true God, who’s revealed to us in Christ Jesus.  Using my paint–music, words, and physical posture–draw our hearts’ affection and our minds’ attention to His Word, His deeds, and His worthiness…. This is all I can prepare and plan to do, and purposefully achieve in my actions as a worship leader, and consequently, evaluate afterwards how effectively and successfully this was all done.

If people don’t respond in a visible way (obvious engagement, physical expressiveness, enthusiastic singing) even when I strive to paint a clear picture of God’s greatness & grandeur…there could be a many reasons for this:

1. I might not be doing a good job of keeping the priority, priority.  (In other words, I could be letting secondary elements like music/video/sound distract them)
2. Some may not be taught well on the place of expression and engagement in corporate worship.
3. There are a large number of seekers present.
4. Musical settings or execution might be hindering/distracting people (i.e. music is too loud, playing is sloppy/out-of-sync/off-key, etc)
5. People are not familiar with the songs (too new, too old, from a different style/area/church movement we don’t frequent).

In conclusion, I invite you all to keep me and my ministry accountable.  “Worship” often seems like the cool and easy thing to do; I beg to differ–it clearly is not.  As I continue to read more and more into Biblical worship theology, I find that I still have much to learn.  It’s not an easy job, and the responsibility of guiding the worship of almost 200 students is a scary thing, and definitely not easy to do.  I hope you can keep an eye out on me and the team, that we can day-in and day-out, set after set, better this time than last time, paint a grand Picasso-like painting of our LORD Almighty!

Thanks for reading!
For His name & the unending memory of His name,
-Alex Leung
http://www.sixsteps.org