TWLL #46: Helping The Room See Him When You Lead Worship

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When you lead worship, you're in a fairly visible position.  And how this idea hits a worship leader varies from person to person.  

Maybe you're someone who doesn't like the spotlight, and the high visibility is actually hard for you.  You'd be content to lead worship from a quiet corner in the back, where no one can really see you.

Or maybe the platform is a struggle in the opposite, where you might care about being seen a little more than you'd like to admit.

Both struggles are valid and worth talking through- but there's a bigger question to ask.  Yes the room can see you with all the implications, but are you leading worship in a way that helps the room see Him?  Because if the room can see Jesus rightly, the room will respond in worship.

With this in mind, here are a few ways to help your room see Jesus when you lead worship.

Pick Songs About Him

When you put your worship set list together for the week, pick songs that are Scripturally solid but more specifically pick songs about Jesus.

In other words, pick songs that highlight the different aspects of His nature and work.  For example, songs about His mercy, songs about His justice, songs about His cross and resurrection.

When you pick songs that specifically talk about Who He is and what He's done, you give the room a better picture of Jesus.

Pick Songs That Are Sung To Him

I love to sing songs about Jesus, but I think it can be even more powerful when the songs are also directed to Him.  It's the difference between singing "He is..." and "You are..."

If I'm singing a song to Him, my attention and focus is being directed right at Him.  And when my focus is directed at Jesus, it's helping me to see Him.

Spontaneous Moments

Spontaneous moments can be a powerful way to help the room see Jesus.

The main key for the worship leader, in leading a spontaneous moment, is to intentionally end or land the moment by highlighting an aspect of who Jesus- i.e. His compassion, His gentleness, His nearness, etc.

The key for the room is understanding they're moving from a verbal, declarative posture of worship (singing songs to Him) into a beholding and receiving posture of worship.

When the worship leader is singing about a specific aspect of who Jesus is, and the room knows they can engage by beholding this specific aspect of who He is- the result is an amazing opportunity to see Jesus.

Prayers Between The Songs

In between songs you have a chance to help the room re-center on Jesus by singing out or speaking a short prayer.  

Something like, "Jesus we take the eyes of our hearts, and we look to You right now.  We remember that You're here in our midst and we sing to You."

Something as simple as this, can really empower the room to re-center, re-focus, and re-direct their attention upwards to Jesus.  It's a basic but substantial way to help the room see Him.

Conclusion

There are several ways to help the room behold or see Jesus when you lead worship, and I've mentioned just a few here.  

Regardless of the route you take, when you step up to lead worship remember to ask yourself, "how can I help them see Jesus as I lead?"

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Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you: 

1. The Connection-Based Spontaneous Worship Course.  If spontaneous worship has been a struggle, you might want to check out Connection-Based Spontaneous Worship.  It's a self-guided, self-paced course that empowers you to lead spontaneous worship with confidence, enables your musicians to flow with you, and helps your room engage.  

2- Join A Zoom Group.  Every 3 months I host small zoom groups- one focused on worship leading and one on songwriting.  Each group meets once a week for an hour on Zoom over a 12-week period, as we walk through the process of learning to leading worship/write songs out of connection with Jesus.  For more details about the next upcoming zoom group, including schedule & cost, email me at [email protected]