Watch Bono (5 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:

No, I’m serious, watch the guy. Get a live concert DVD of U2 and study what Bono does. U2, for over 20 years, have been giving their audiences a total musical and visual experience at live shows. But not only that, I think you'd agree, it’s a spiritual experience. And, as they’ve grown older, it’s more and more a Christian experience. And Bono is leading this experience for mostly non-Christians. And these non-Christians are happy to go along and let themselves be taken into this worship experience, even if they don’t yet know the God they’re praising. It’s a powerful thing to watch if you're committed to reaching people in a culturally relevant way through worship.

But like I said watch Bono during the show. Yeah, he’s a little showy and goofy at times. But watch him use his body to communicate each song. And when he speaks of spiritual issues, which he does quite often, listen to how he says stuff. He breaks down deep spiritual concepts into language everyone understands, while at the same time dropping the f-bomb. (In my world that’s a thing of beauty.) He’s poetic, but not pretentious. He’s passionate, but not preachy. He’s dramatic and emotional, but not effeminate. He very real, and yet he let’s each song lift him to a place of worship that become surreal. Bono is a great worship leader. Watch and learn.

- Featured on newchurches.com