Leading others into Worship

Hello,

I found this really awesome article and wanted to hear your thoughts. Here is the website...

http://www.youthspecialties.com/articles/topics/student_leadership/worship.php


Here is just a piece of the article just to wet your whistle:

Leading Others Into... Worship?
Critiques of Many Student-led Worship Teams
by Janice Thompson

Tina knew in her heart that she was destined for greatness. Her family had groomed her for it from the time she was a youngster. They’d given her piano lessons, voice lessons, ballet lessons, drama lessons—anything and everything to open doors of opportunity. She knew just the right words to say, and just the right way to say them, to impress the ones who needed impressing. As Tina entered her teen years, she slipped quite comfortably into her youth group. She was, after all, prepared for any leadership role that might be offered. She’d been preparing for this moment for years.

It happens in large congregations and smaller ones, at city churches and country ones. Teen leaders. They’re rising to the occasion. Like cream rising to the top of the container, they’re taking positions of leadership from within their own youth groups. Youth pastors around the country are doing a phenomenal job of raising them up. This is more than a trend; it’s a biblical principle. It’s what discipleship is all about.

However, once teens are elevated to a position of leadership above their peers, problems can develop. In no area is this more evident than in that of worship. With the spiritual resurgence among teens in the last decade, many youth ministries are being built around a central time of worship—intense services with heart-pumping music creating very intimate times of worship. This has provided a wealth of opportunity for musicians, instrumentalists, and vocalists alike. They are given an awesome title, a title that would set even King David’s heart ablaze.

Worship leaders.

They stand before the youth group, encouraging others to worship as they worship, praise as they praise. They alternate between lifting their hands in heavenly bliss, and clutching the microphone as if their very lives depend on it. They enter the throne room of God with grace and sensitivity. They are wholly given over to the call.

On the stage.


Sadly, once offstage, many begin to show their true colors. More and more, youth pastors find themselves facing Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde teen worshippers. Many of the same kids who are best at ushering others into the presence of God seem to be leading them somewhere else entirely offstage. When the spotlight goes off and they’re planted among their peers, they often sing a much different sort of song, the song of self. Many struggle with varying degrees of pride, a common problem among adult musicians and others in the arts and a common problem among teens in any leadership role.

So what is a dedicated youth pastor to do?

For the rest of this article clink on the link....

Intojesus