Kiki's Worship Blog

In Chapter 13, Kauflin gives us tips on how to choose the right songs for worship.  He points out that when we rush and stress, we tend to focus on ourselves and how to make us look good.  We obviously should be picking out songs for God, not ourselves.  Instead of rushing, we need to plan our set lists selectively, peacefully, and prayerfully. I believe we can resonate a lot with choosing songs for the wrong reasons.  Often we find ourselves searching for songs that we know well, so we can do well.  There's too much of "us" in that statement and not enough of God.  We also choose songs to excite the student body, so that they can sing along and make us feel better while performing.  We should be choosing songs solely for God and His worship.

In Chapter 12, Kauflin gives valuable advice for how we choose and play our songs and gives us the reasons as to why we should be doing it.  People often repress their emotions during worship, but they shouldn't.  There is a difference between emotionalism and emotions.  Emotionalism pursues the feelings as the end themselves, while emotions are felt because of what God has done.  Worship should be focused on God for these emotions, not emotionalism.  As for actually playing music, Kauflin advises that we should choose meaningful songs with meaningful lyrics.  We should adjust the volume of our playing accordingly, because the real worship team is the student body.  Lastly, we should use variety in our songs.   I agree with what Kauflin said about emotionalism.  Students associate worship with the tingly feeling they feel in their chest during their favorite Jesus song.  They focus on that instead of God.  The emotions they ...

Worship and God's word are not separate entities.  They are one.  Every meeting should be characterized by the Spirit's presence and God's word.  The spirit is what inspired God's word, so we should incorporate it into our worship.  We can do this by treasuring, singing, reading, showing and praying God's word.  When we treasure God's word, other people will know it.  Lyrics matter more than the tunes, so we should understand the lyrics we are singing to convey the word more.  Lastly we should obviously read it in order to show it and pray it. Being raised as Christians, it feels sometimes that reading the word has become a chore.  When chapel speakers throw lines of verse on the screen and start reading it, I unfortunately feel my eyes glaze over, zoning out to the max.  It really shouldn't be this way, and I know it.  In order to be a true worship band, we should exude the Word too.  Read it, pray it, sing it, and show it.

Worship cannot happen without the Holy Spirit.  Worshipping without the Holy Spirit empowering the band is like the power cutting out.  We should be desperately dependent, eagerly expectant, and humbly responsive to Him.  We are helpless, and God sent the Spirit to help us, which should instill feelings of humility, gratitude, and peace in our hearts.  We should be eagerly expectant that the Spirit will come through and do great things in our worship time.  We should be humbly responsive to what He is doing.  We should not rely on our own skill and music, but rely on the Spirit.  No worship is possible without Him. What's the one thing we keep forgetting?  Oh right.  That we are worshipping God.  That shouldn't be a thing.  I know I stress about my musical skill.  I practice for hours everyday because I think I should be the one helping people draw closer to God through the music.  Wrong.  The Holy Spirit does that....

In Chapter 9 of Worship Matters, Bob Kauflin reminds us that worship is all about God, and is not possible without Him.  There is nothing about worship that is not affected or defined by Jesus Christ.  We tend to forget how offensive our sins are to God because we do it all the time.  In truth, God is perfect.  When we sin, we are defiant against Him.  Jesus is the mediator we need to be saved from God's justice.  Christ's work on the cross is the only reason why we have any access to God.  Apart from Jesus, we cannot approach God.  This makes a huge difference in our worship because biblically speaking, no worship can lead people to God, only Jesus Christ can, with his work on the cross.  Our access to God is not based on our performances, for we are already accepted through Jesus.  Our own musical skill, or even heartfelt sincerity, does not make us acceptable to God, only Jesus does.  As a kind of new drummer with not a lot of ...

  It's easy to be distracted by life's ups and downs.  The magnitude of our problems makes God seem so small in our lives.  The reality is the complete opposite.  God is great, and while we ourselves struggle with remembering this, it is our job to remind others of this fact while worshipping.  If our songs are not specific about God, we tend to associate worship with a style of music, emotional state, or some other distraction that is not truly about God.  A way to see God's greatness is in His Word.  Reading the Psalms is a good way to learn about Him.  We should not simply read about Him however, we need to yearn for Him and delight in Him.  With these ways, we can lead people better and remind them of God's greatness amidst life's chaos.    My life is pretty crazy right now, with family problems and major decisions.  I pray pretty much every night, but honestly, I have been forgetting to talk to the Lord pretty freque...

Bob Kauflin drives home the invaluable lesson that we're leading worship for God.  I know I struggle with the temptation of pride and looking for praise after a performance.  We worry about the student body's response to our music.  Did they like it?  How were the instruments?  The vocals?  Did we sound good?  The truth is, God does not call us to be popular, loved, or well-praised.  He wants us to be faithful worshippers.  We tend to reap what we sow.  If our focus as a band is self-centered, we'll reap shallow compliments and ungodly comparisons.  If we focus on God, we'll reap the fruit of people in awe of God's greatness.  All my worries about wanting to be liked for my musical ability are thrown out the window when I understand that ultimately the fruit of worship is pleasing the audience of One.