Preparation

I find myself thinking a lot about the subject of preparation these days. As worship leaders, is there anything that is more important for us? Each week I am going to lift up an MPCC Worship Ministry Value and for this week it is Preparation. Psalm 33:1-3 says, “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.” Did you catch that? It doesn’t simply say play….it says play skillfully. The Bible is full of examples of preparation. Paul, Esther, King David….these are just a few Biblical examples of individuals that had to prepare for their ministry….to fulfill their calling.

Our calling is to lead this great congregation in worship. To do that well, we must prepare spiritually and we must prepare musically. How does someone rise to the top of their potential? Preparation. If you were to take a poll of the players in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, how much time do you think they would say the spend preparing for a concert? Why shouldn’t we follow their example, at the very least, considering our audience is the Creator of the world and the Giver of our musical gifts?

Leading worship is a huge thing! Each week we come before the God of the universe and strive to lead His people before Him in worship. We cannot take that lightly. Being prepared by knowing our parts and spending time practicing will make a huge impact on our services and on lives. It will allow us to offer the very best gift we can offer unto the Lord. Each person knowing their role and offering their best….that’s what we are after. 

Before every service I lead, I listen to the music I am to lead and play through it at least 30 times. That has become my process. I find that the more prepared I am, the more effective I am in leading people in worship.

Tell me about your preparation? I would love to hear back from you and to know about your process for preparation. We can all learn something from each other for sure. Take some time to write back below…..

Preparation

In worship ministry or any facet of music for that matter, preparation is HUGE. As a musician I am an artist and I always want to be at my best. In the context of worship the issue of preparation is taken to new levels all together.

As worship leaders we have to be prepared. This includes every single member of the team. I really am working on this with my team and giving them every resource that is available to me so that they can be prepared every time we step in front of the congregation. Of course, me giving them those resources and them using the resources are 2 completely different things. Some on our team spend days and weeks preparing for Sunday….others spend no time at all. I wish I could find the magic potion that would communicate how deeply important this is on a spiritual level, let alone a musical level.

The Bible gives us many examples of this from David tending sheep in the fields while God prepared his heart to Esther who spent an entire year of preparation to simply be in the presence of the king. 

That speaks volumes to me about how we should prepare for worship….especially those of us who lead others in worship. We pray for extraordinary things to take place but would we be ready?

It all starts with preparation.