On leading worship...

Last week, I had the opportunity of a lifetime. I was with a team of 8 others, and we led worship for Inter-Varsity's National Staff Conference. This conference happens every 3 years and staff who work in different countries have to come back for it. It's the one time in 3 years that everyone who works for the organization is in the same room, whether you work at head office, camp, or on campus.

I learned a lot through the Scripture studies and teachings by Brenda Salter McNeil, but the most growthful part of the conference was leading worship. My expectations going in were that I would grow in my skill and technique, and take that back to my students at McMaster. Little did I know that my week would be less about that and more about spiritual formation and transformation through worship.

Worship is a vulnerable place. To create music is to give people a glimpse into your heart, your thoughts, your world. It is a creative outlet that is fun, but also risky. If you suggest an idea, there is a risk that it might not be accepted, so it is scary.

As a team, we became vulnerable. In our practices, we talked about the importance of singing songs that represent various ethnicities. This led to discussions about our ethnicity. We talked about racial reconciliation. We asked God to lead us to where He would lead the participants. We firmly believed that we were to be witnesses to our conference, which meant we had to go through first what everyone else would go through.

I witnessed my team members be healed of sins and hurt that had plagued them since childhood. I saw the goodness of God as He gave us strength when many of us were fighting through sickness throughout the week. The Spirit of God was at work in us and we became faithful witnesses of this (Acts was our theme).

Over half of our time together as a team wasn't about playing music. We spent more time hanging out, debriefing, and praying than making music. It was a strange, but pleasantly, proper way to lead worship. It's making me think about how I lead worship now and how I can model this new way.