Adventures In Leading Worship For Unchurched Tattooed Jake (1 of 6)

This week I am having a guest blogger - Forefront's worship leader: Joe Heilman. He is fantastic at what he does and you can learn a lot from him. So here he is:

I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore when, after leading worship at Forefront for a couple of months, I looked up and I saw something I’ll never forget. I was in the middle of a slower song our church loved. I had my eyes closed. When I opened them I was a little taken of guard. In the very back of the movie theater, at the very top of the stadium seating, there was a guy in his early 20’s, tattoos up one side and down the other, who had just gotten out of prison. I knew was definitely not yet a believer . He was standing up, while everyone else sat, holding up his lighter! Like this is the encore at a Motely Crue show! I knew I must have been doing something right. The worship was getting a universal sign of approval from this seeker.

Over the years I’ve lead worship for hundreds of non-Christian people who’ve come through the doors of Forefront. Yes, you read that right, I’ve lead worship of people far from God. That carries obviously weird theological overtones and it may cause somecognitive dissonance. But let me push it further: I now lead worship in an open bar every Tuesday for a crowd of people that is probably 85% non Christian. I would never be so bold with such statements about what God’s done through us if it didn’t bare results. The response to our worship and music has been is one of the biggest drawing cards at Forefront over the past 10 years.

There are other weird signs you’re doing alright from seekers. In the middle of worship I’ve heard, more than once, “Free bird!” (I took it as a sign of love.) I’ve also seen folks hoot and yell for their favorite worship song, high five their buddy when the open riff starts and even throw up the Ronny James Dio “Rock Horns” when they’re really feelin’ it… Crazy but true.

I share those stories because what they point to is communication. When you’re doing it right you get feedback. When you’re doing it wrong you get hung up on. So then when you try to call back you get no answer because the people you were trying to reach have moved onto another place that speaks their language. Call it whatever you like, but when people feel safe to speak their native tongue back you know that you've crossed that wonderful bridge from “Weird Christian subculture” to more universal musical communication.

Granted, if you're not areful it can degenerate into just another rock concert. But if you’re a worship leader who has God’s agenda in mind you can use this powerful language to communicate the gospel. Over the next couple of posts I’ll try to articulate some hints to better worship communication

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