Uhmm… I never heard of people bringing their tambourines into a service :D
But the clapping thing, come ooon. We have on beat clappers in our church, too. Just because we have older people who listen to Volksmusik (greetings from germany :) search volksmusik on youtube. Hahaaa. Enjoy!)
We are musicians, sure. Those guys probably love us and appreciate our service, but most of them are not musically as talented… Let them clap how they want to :) Or lets provide seminars like “how to clap right in a worship service – three easy steps to become a God pleasing clapper”
Cheers guys

I no longer encourage clapping in our church. I fought through it for a while, but I’ve found that when we start clapping it soon turns into applause. We even have a fantastic drummer, but no rhythm in the congregation…

I am guessing and hoping that this blog is all tongue in cheek but to be honest if the congregation wanted to join in clapping (in time or out), dancing (well or badly), flag waving (big or small) I would be very pleased.

I don’t remember seeing anything in the Bible which says that only the band can lead. The Spirit leads wherever the heck He likes and we should be a little careful about presuming what is right and what is wrong.

God is fond of using the child-like and foolish to ordain or approve His praise and show who is really running the show. A good worship leader looks out for the things of the Spirit no matter how irritating they may be to your carefully orchestrated set…

Grace and peace

Wasn’t there once a song called “undignified” about a King who was undignified? Me, I’d like to see more people worshipping with more of their hearts and minds and souls and bodies (and maybe clapping and banners and tamborines) . . . isn’t that what God wants . . . or have I missed something?

love Dave

I totally agree with Tim. Worship leaders are supposed to facilitate the congregation into a mode of worship where they lose themselves to God. Its all about Him!

The Bible truly states that we should worship skillfully, if u know how to do it skillfully. But what about those who are so passionate about worshipping our God and are just doing it the best way they know how to do it? They may be out of tune or off-beat but they are giving out their hearts to express their joy and gratitude to God. Remember the bible says that,’where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’. I used to get irritated when the musicians or maybe someone in the congregation is clapping or using a tambourine ‘unskillfully’ but I’ve come to find out that I lose focus when I give my attention to that. We are supposed to be leading worship and once you focus on what someone else is doing, how are u worshipping then?

Where there is opportunity to teach people how to clap or use the tambourine or the flag or even dance, then we can by all means do that so that nobody gets ‘irritated’. until then, ‘Let the praise begin and let the people of God worship Him with their hearts and soul, expressing themselves the best way they can’.

I believe that worship team members are to be trained and skillful at worship. The bible is very clear about that in Psalm 33:2, 1Chronicles 25:7, etc. Anything that is a DISTRACTION to worship should be avoided at all costs, whether it’s from a team member or a congregation member. If a tambourine shaker is grossly off-beat and is parading in front of the platform, and the timing of the worship team is negatively effected, then it needs to be dealt with. I find that most times, the people that insist on bringing a tambourine or other noise maker to church with them are usually doing it to get attention. This is also something that needs to be addressed. In worship, ALL our eyes and focus should be upon Him, and not lured away to watch or listen to an out of beat or attention getting congregational member. I am a firm believer in the rule that ALL musicians need to be auditioned and then will be placed on the platform as part of the worship team when they have proven themselves to be skillful and of the right mind set and having the right motivation to be there in the first place.

It seems you created a little hornets nest of controversy here… Everyone keeps saying “joyful noise” and as long as they’re trying to worship let them be. The Bible however makes clear distinctions about personal and corporate worship. Yes it needs to come from the heart and yes we need to cultivate an atmosphere of freedom… but freedom is far different from anarchy, which is what I believe you were trying to address. Paul very clearly says that all elements of the worship service need to be edifying to the church at large. Which translates to our topic as, if you can’t clap in time, then keep it to youself. Otherwise an entire room full of people clapping out of time WILL cause problems for those leading worship, and that is not edifying. I love a good amen, hallelujah, or preach it from the congregation… but if the response begins to hinder someone from hearing the message, are they appropraite?

Becky,

Before you tell others to go read the bible, perhaps you should check it out yourself… you are correct that playing skillfully is only mentioned in the Psalms one time (33:3)… However, you have overlooked that playing skilfully is specifically mentioned as a requirement in 1 Chr 15:22, 1Chr 25:1, 2 Chr 34:12, not to mention when David was specifically sought after for his skilled musicianship.

We are not to be music nazi’s on God’s behalf, but just because someone plays the “I’ve been led by the Lord” card does not mean we have to give them the platform to do so… Many people have told me that they have been led to by the Lord to be on the worship team or to preach or whatever, my suggestion to them is that if they do not possess the skills neccessary to do that in a way that is edifying the entire church body that they need to invest the time and energy to hone their skills.

You’re right we let too many medicore musician lead us in worship, but that does not mean that we should just open the flood gates to all who feel so moved.

Afterall, if you were beginning a building project and someone with no construction experience said that they felt led by God to build your new sanctuary, would you let them?

William, I do not disagree with your comments, I do agree more with Scott though.

Please read my comments on the followup blog”frustrates 2″ to understand the underlying point of what I said above. We “experienced” worship leaders/musicians often do not invest our time is mentoring the less skilled worshipers around us on a large scale. Most congregants will never attend a large worship conference so we should be bringing it home to them and not just by the changes we make on the stage at weekend services.

It is fine and well to ask people to hone their skills but do we help them do that or leave them wondering where to go for that help? I think that even your own argument points that there should exist discipleship in worshiping yet most churches never invest time in this outside the weekly worship team practices which are open usually only to current worship team members.

So do we glare at the fancy clappers (I could be accused of being one) and tambourinests, flag wavers, banner twirlers and shofar carrying worshipers or instruct them? Teach them about spiritual sensitivity in worship and how their “gift” is best applied during a gathering. Church life is far too full of unwritten” we just don’t do that here” and all of the above responses to God’s wonderfulness is indeed in the bible.

We need to help the all worshipers express themselves and develop skill sets instead of just disallowing an instrument or creative response based solely on “it frustrates” the worship leader. That may have been the tongue in cheek idea behind the original blog. As the first faces our church attendees see representing the kingdom of God on weekends etc, would we best represent the king by de-tambourining them? ? ? ?

I am not a worship leader either and often have problems with organized religion because of people like this. We all know of skilled television worship leaders that were evil in many ways… Now, someone who is obviously skilled in the music field suddenly thinks the God is “the” American Idol Judge!!! Bite me. You must be a white, anal, right wing christian that is more interested in looking good and being as plastic as Ken and Barbie. If we are to make a joyful noise to the Lord and He has given us the voice we have, you should look for another job assignment or say something to the effect that God called you somewhere else. You are not U2 putting on a concert. Could you see Bono telling the fans that might sing off key to be silent. You are just an ass and I hope I have opened your eyes to that at least a little. Restrict others because you are perfect in your eyes??? Who the hell are you? I would like to make sure I never become a part of your life!

I want to believe this is supposed to be a forum where christians can talk about their differences and challenges as worship leaders or as members of the worship team in our local assemblies. Whatever you allow in your place of worship becomes the standard in your place of worship. we should be careful not to become too critical of one another and avoid words that are not fitting for a child of God.

Some of us are making it look like leading worship is a show that needs to be organised to the minutest detail while some of us(I said some of us to include myself) are making it look like we can give God anything mediocre or shabby. Worship is not about any of us..whether we are irritated by someone who is doing it in a way to get attention to him/herself or someone who is just genuinely worshipping God but is not rhythmic in the use of whatever means it is they are using, Worship belongs to God.

If somebody is not doing it right and it affects your effective worship leading sessions, there is nothing wrong if we talk about it to the person(s) in love and explain how what the person does during worship affects you. Love edifies and definitely, the person will want to know how to do it right.

Let’s not crucify anyone for any reason. Love covers a multitude of sins. remember john 4:23-24 – God is the one seeking worshippers, not worshippers seeking Him. Let’s just do it in spirit and in truth. God Bless you all. I’ve learnt from all the comments I have read so far. Remember love is the key to the kingdom..love for God…love for the brethren.

I have terrible timing, which is bad for a musician. But I guess that means that I contribute a bit to out of time clapping… (Im sorry :(…haha)

I think it’s important to remember that the original discussion was about things that frustrate worship leaders… No one ever said anything about telling rhythmically challenged people to go away or stop worshipping. Anyone who invests any sacrificial amount of time preparing for the worship service each week, not to mention the time and energy of trying to develop a functionl team of musicians (where most of us are slightly disfunctional already), as well as trying to stay in tune to the leading of the Spirit through the actual service… anyone who does this on a weekly basis is going to be frustrated by the service getting hijacked, not because some one is worshipping less than anyone else, but because the leader has spent time and energy seeking the Spirit and trying to prepare accordingly, but now the drummer can’t hear his monitors over the congrgation clapping on 7 differnt beats in a 4/4 song… it’s not right or wrong, it’s not being judgemental, it’s just frustrating. Ask any pastor who actually prepares sermons and ask how they would like for some one to come in and start changing things around mid sermon. Why is leading worship any different?

The problem with we worship folks is that we have created a sub-culture within the walls of the church and we only give a ticket to those we deem to have earned it, to join our little club. Jesus might have said “Woe to you scribes, Pharisees and worship leaders, suffer not the people to worship me as I inspire them”.

That stage alone separates us from the our congregations and visitors, then we have by audition practices. We generally don’t join bible classes and unless there is a small group for musicians we don’t join those. We are too busy for outreaches unless we get to play or sing. So as mentioned above, yes we are guilty of being members of the American Idol cult.

The following link is a great reminder that true worship has little to do with music, played well or not:

http://christianmusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/leading_worship__setting_up_chairs

We need to come down off the pedalstal we put ourselves on.

Becky, I love you with the love of Christ. I’m thankful that Jesus died for sinners like you and me. What grace! I’m also thankful to this site for allowing us to hi-jack their comments with off topic discussion.
As I read through the above comments, two assumptions strike me:

1. You assume that all worship leaders dream of being on American Idol and having adoring fans in our church. It’s as though you are assuming that we would share or take the glory belonging to God alone for ourselves. While I admit that I struggle with pride, and winning the approval of men, I do have a deep seated passion to treasure Christ above all else and for the members of the church I serve to treasure our Lord above everything in life. Worship leaders aren’t perfect, but please don’t assume that we all have worldly mindsets and care nothing for God’s glory. This leads to your second assumption:

2. You seem to assume that everyone who brings a tambourine, waves a banner or claps with a special rhythm comes with clean hands a pure heart automatically. We are by nature sheep, and some (myself included at times) are like sheep without a shepherd. The human heart is deceitful above all else- who can know it. Not me. Not you. However, in His grace, God gives good gifts to his children to glorify Him and edify His church. Our job is to find those gifts and grow in them. It’s ok if we’re not gifted in an area that we really, really want to be. That doesn’t mean we’re less special, and it’s prideful – not holy- to grit our teeth and ignore the gentle guidance of pastors and fellow believers.

Again, let’s enjoy the liberty that God gives to “poke fun” at one another without judging the heart of the other believer.

Some of you seem to be so wrapped up in defending the congregation that you have become totally judgemental of other worship leaders… If I call a platform a stage that some how make me some narcissitic tele-evangelist trying to use God house for personal gain and the praise of men… Seriously? By making character attacks and assuming the lack of authenticity by those who are irritated by clapping and flags or whatever, you have now taken the role of the “holier than thou.” There is no reason that a leader should not be free to discuss things that they find to be frustrating. To call them “American Idol Wannabe’s” is slanderous and not at all in line with Jesus’ teachings of love or anything else. Some of you need to be really careful… read through these posts again… no one who was critical of clapping or flags or anything else was making judgment calls of anyones heart and attitude of worship… the only judgment was going the other way, because some dared to say something bugged them.

Last, let me say thanks to all of you who have a musical talent from hours of your own hard work as well as from a gift from God. And thank you all for sharing it with people like me who wish they had it. Music as it only can, makes a service a celebration at times as well as very reverent. I do appreciate all that musicians can and do contribute.
When I read this article and it made reference to having a box at the church door like a TSA security it sounded like someone wanting to screen those who wish on their own accord to walk into the house of the Lord. I really think worship is a public way to say thank you for all you have done and will do for me to the One who died for us. I hope that we all feel that the Church is also a place welcome to sinners regardless of what distractions it might bring.
If someone walked up to the alter during a sermon or during a musical program to turn their life over to Christ, I hope that interruption would be considered a compliment and a joyful moment rather than a disruption to the other worshipers.
For those of us with children, we know the blessing of hearing our children sing and clap both out of key and off beat and also know it is from their heart.
Many churches celebrate Christ in many different ways. I hope that we can all agree that we each have our own way and others should not be offended some one who is wishing to praise God from their heart.
Just the fact knowing people are coming to your services lets you know you are worshiping in a group and scripture say when more than two are gathered in his name…
I think of your talents as a gift and if gifts are given from the heart maybe you shouldn’t be judge how they are received. The focus should be more of thanking God for your talents and thanking him by performing to his people.
I am glad that this has stimulated so much debate and hope we can all learn from each others comments.

Wow, I think some people need to chill out a bit and not take things too seriously. Tambourines, is it? I once was part of a worship band leading a service and as we started up, two women in the front row got out their tambourines to join in – one had flashing lights around it! Boy, did they get into worshipping the Lord!

When leading worship, I’ve given out flags to wave and shakers to shake to the congregation, particularly the children. If it helps them understand God’s way, who am I to get in the way?

If they sing out of tune, clap on the first beat/clap out of tune, who am I to question this?

Firstly thank you to all who have taken the time to read through to here. I am the overal editor of the Musicademy blog. Sometimes I write posts, or we commission guest bloggers to write and other times I source interesting articles from elsewhere and post them (with permission of course).

The two posts on Things That Frustrate Worship Leaders were written by an American blogger. I found them online and thought that they struck a chord. We know from analysing what people spend time on on the website that these humour articles are very popular, and I like to have a good balance between educational pieces, reflective pieces, practical pieces and humour to avoid the website getting too serious or techy. Humour is always the most difficult to post becuase what someone finds funny, someone else can find offensive. It is never our intention to offend and believe me we reject a lot of fabulous posts because for some cultures and some theological backgrounds they are just too close to the bone. We are based in the UK where I think humour is rather drier than in the US where a lot of our subscribers are – so our apologies if this one was too much for anyone.

This post was most definitely a tongue in cheek look at things that some of us find funny, frustrating or irritating within our culture of the way we do modern church. It was not about criticising people that choose to clap or bring their own expression of worship from within the congregation – these are beautiful things. We or even Chico the blogger in seriousness were certainly not recommending that people choosing to worship in this way should be asked to stop! I actually have a friend in church affectionately known as ‘The Clapper’ who does all sorts of weird clapping – is it slightly off putting? A bit… Does it secretly make me laugh a bit inside? Actually yes… Would I ever tell him about it or want him to change – of course not! Do I think God enjoys him enjoying himself in worship– Yes yes yes! Do I think his clapping is cool? No. Should I be less worried about cool? I’m sure… but if I’m being honest it still makes me smile!

From a musicians perspective it can be offputting or a tad frustrating for worship leaders if they themselves are not that confident or musically gifted (for instance it is easy to be pulled off time by other people clapping loudly and differently). Its fine to talk about these things – some people will be more critical than perhaps you might like but that is their decision and not our job to loudly proclaim a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Hence why we will not remove comments (unless they are highly offensive or slanderous). There is no perfect solution to irritating things in our musical expression of community worship. Its part of the ‘fun’ of working with an often disparate collection of varyingly skilled musicians, singers and other church members trying to be ‘helpful’. As we know the way through is the usual long ball game of openness, mentoring, education, practice, learning to like each other, playing to our strengths, open, frank discussion and perhaps not taking ourselves too seriously.

So from the observational humour perspective when we observe and point things out about our artistic expressions in church and the way we go about our stuff in Christian culture – some of it is a bit strange. And sometimes we do have to take a look at ourselves and say ‘why do we really do that or talk like that?’ As we know humour can get often get us to that point more deeply than a myriad of lengthy, serious discussions. And the hope is that as we explore the idiosyncrasies of our culture we’ll be able to pick through the activities we engage in as we worship and take an honest look at what really helps us to connect with God and grow as Christians and what is meaningless activity and noise. Yes, humour can be a bit of a hot potato, we will occasionally get it wrong but we’ll always try to be aware of cross cultural sensitivities so please bear with us. It’s a shame that while some people have found this honest and refreshing, one or two others have actively unsubscribed in protest – this seems a real shame given that it is a tiny percentage or what else is available on the site. As Christians we all have very different takes on our theology – please don’t vilify us or other commentator if you disagree with one thing. There are plenty of things we can agree on – and plenty else to work through in an open sensible discussion. Christianity has suffered so much over the years with dogmatic statements – let’s avoid adding to that.

What I love about these blog opportunities though is the fact that so many people engage with the topic. You have talked about it and in some cases gone way off the original topic. This is fine – its all part of having a conversation – online or in person. We’ve all learnt something of someone elses perspective and I hope have each been challenged in some way.

We will continue to post a variety of articles and hope that you will continue to weigh them, chew them over and respond to them. We so don’t want this site to be “luke warm” but to be vibrant, educational and with a broad tolerance of each others’ differences.

Wow, some debate this has caused! Let’s remember a few things:

(1) this was a tongue-in-cheek view on our modern (Western) worship sub-culture, and what we have sometimes allowed it to become. It was actually funny as a worship leader, although may possibly have been a bit too risky/strong in some parts.

(2) this was written by a non-worship leader, and will not see things the same way we worship leaders do.

(3) Above all, balance is key. I have been worship leading for 13 years, and have seen both extremes of the scale and everywhere in between! Flags, tambourines, percussion, et al. I’ve been on the congregational side and on the leadership side. Ultimately, balance must be present. The “whole counsel of God”, not just one scripture. The co-existence of skillful playing and the correct heart attitude behind it. The principals of “decently and in order”, and allowing the Spirit the space to do whatever, whenever, through whoever. Both sides of these things are valid and both are necessary in our worship meetings. God is calling us to avoid swinging to any extreme of the scale, as we the church have so often fallen into over the generations (hence the plethora of denominational steams we have today), and look for the balance at all times.

I personally admit to being a bit of a perfectionist; yet I would rather have a congregation expressing themselves freely in worship with a right heart attitude, despite the fact that it grates on my musical ears sometimes, then to have everything musically perfect and no connection between people and their God. This is what it’s all about. I believe strongly in excellence, high standards and “protecting the platform” as some call it, as much as I strongly believe in freedom in Christ, “body ministry” and a heart that gives its best, and is given freedom to do so in the house of God.

A final thought – Love must be the most central component in what we do – love for God expressed as worship, whether in public or in private, love for the House of God, love for the people of God, whether they grate on us or are accomplished in music ministry, love for blog writers and those who comment on them! Let’s be quick to listen, slow to anger and rich in love, in our corporate worship and in every area of our lives as worshippers.

Our church is quite free. We have flags at the back and many africans who play tambourines and sometimes we have offerings where we dance to the front to put money in even if it goes through the bank. We have a really good trained dancer and she leads the children and anyone who wants to do flags and sometimes often they go to the front and their dancing can be prophetic. We all can be too quick to criticise and I always remember when i was younger in our Kids study group that we had a talk on when david danced wearing only an ephod and after when his wife criticised him she no longer could have children. I’m not saying that people won’t be able to have children anymore but that it is so important to control our tongue and our thoughts because this story shows how important it is not to criticise someone when they are truly trying to worship God. There is one guy who has just started drumming and is a really bad dancer and the rest of the youth are always backchatting about his dancing and it always reminds me to be really careful about how we react to other peoples worship.

Thanks Sarah for the encouraging words and it delights me to hear of others that are mentoring folks.

Darlene Z of Hillsong calls herself a mother to those she trains and I pray regularly that God will call more Mothers and Fathers of the faith to mentor aspiring worshipers whether or not they ever take a leadership role at the front of their home church.

Worship in a musical form can be so fulfilling, growth inspiring and enjoyable let’s have a good time rather than a judge time.

Blessings to all of you out their that pour your lives into this wonderful part of our time gathered together!

Thank God there was no ‘worship team’ in the Early Church. At least there, everyone was free to participate, and no one would complain about rhythm or singing in tune.

Imagine that “I’m sorry, if you can’t sing in tune, you shouldn’t worship God….just do it in your heart”.

Blogs like this just show us how people see ‘worship’ nowadays. Instead of individuals coming together to offer something from their hearts, it’s now about the rock band at the front of the church, and the congregation are just a Christian audience.

Seriously, the writer of the blog should just leave the church, and start his own rock band, telling people to shut up, so that he can have his own perfect performance.

I was once involved in a live worship album recording. There were probably about 5000 people in the congregation and we didn’t know until we listened back to the recording that there was someone in the congregation playing a tamborine very badly to every single song! My husband, the drummer, had to overdub a tamborine track on every single track to try and cover up the bad one!

If something is being recorded i don’t think that God would mind if a gentle notice came from the front asking if people in the congregation would refrain but in other circumstances let’s just be kind to each other. If someone sings badly think about what it sounds like to Jesus and how much he loves it and try to focus yourself on worship. stuff like this has never bothered me. I feel a bit irritated that the person who originally made these comments has made them on the assumption that it would bother the worship leader though they are not one themselves. When a leader’s heart is for worship it is not as simple as dismissing worship from other members of the congregation and really who is it more important to please? Us or God.

I find it unbelievable how people can be offended by these two posts, seriously the church needs to be able to laugh at itself. And there is nothing wrong with making fun of each other a bit as long as it’s not meant maliciously. I found these hilarious, particularly the one about humming senior pastors, and the powerpoint one. It’s just so true! I’m amazed that someone who is not a worship leader could be so perceptive about this.

All this guy is saying is that we find this kind of stuff annoying, not that we have a huge problem with the type of people described. I’ve led worship for many years and I really identify with the frustrations described, this stuff really is what goes through your mind while you are playing. Honestly, I don’t believe that anyone who has actually led worship in a small church with a band of limited technical ability does not find this stuff annoying. We put up with it, and so we should (obviously it’s not that important in the scheme of things) but that doesn’t mean we don’t find it a bit frustrating.

And anyone who claims that they don’t has either never led worship, or is lying.

My pet peeve is when someone says “Worship was great/terrible” but hasn’t taken time to ask God if He liked it.

Whoa – has anyone considered that sometimes worship leaders (facilitators?) may irk worshippers? That our pursuit of musical excellence may sometimes even disappoint the Lord we direct our worship to? Can we please get back to some basics? Worship is not about clapping on the off-beat, dramatic effects, or amazing solos – it is about offering ourselves to God, to exalting him over worldly values and treasures. Yes, we are to play excellently, but not at the expense of keeping the main thing the main thing.

Things that frustrate me as a worship leader (ie minister)
include
a) musicians calling themselves worship leaders. There is loads more to worship than music. if we start refering to musicians as worship leaders we get a very unbalanced view of what worship is. See the other blog in this issue about worship being “boring”

b)musicians taking centre stage. Twenty years ago you would have the band off to one side, and at the centre of the church would be the altar or the pulpit or some other Christian symbol. Now the band are on a “stage”, the centre of all we do.

c) the culture of performance worship. The charismatic movement was once about freeing congregations from spectator culture. Instead of having an organ and choral music that you just listened to, you would have music people could join in with. Songs might even begin from within the congregation raher than from the front. There was a recognition that the Spirit could lead everyone.
This seems to have been lost

ps The most liberating thing I ever learnt was that God is tone deaf

God is good, let’s cut the criticism and love the people. Not everyone is a skilled musician. If someone comes in with a tambourine than be honest if they are distracting. Shofars are awesome and a blessing. Where is your heart and the heart of your church in worship. We have a wonderful and forgiving congregation that is warm and kind that enjoys God and the people. I would that all churches could use our model..
Lovingly, Brian Elliott

I am actually a seeking non-Christian looking for a adult ed. song-writing course and stumbled accross this site and read with interest! Wow guys, relax. Take it from me, walking into something from the Vicar of Dibley where noone is quite on key but the mass just about get there and the organist hits the odd wrong note has a certain charm and honesty to it, I play elec guitar and sax and would prefer a modern sound in church, but the more polished and insular the worship band, the bigger the walls you’re building around yourselves. I’ve come accross plenty of websites sporting flash pics of the trendy worship band, and absolutely no church cafe or more accessible services for people on the outside like me. You have to ask yourselves what you’re doing it for.

My whole church ministry background is primarily worship leading, either as a leader or on the team. I can amusingly relate to a lot of what was discussed. Our church is in the same building as another church who holds midweek services while we have our weekly prayer meeting. At some point we do hear the shofar and we know, through our drummer who assisted in their services, that they have banners and flags. By contrast our church does not so I can just imagine how it would go over if anyone came into our worship service with a tambourine or banners! This was such an enjoyably entertaining read I’m glad our church bassist passed the link on to me.

Oh, and a brief comment to those who are obviously taking this whole thing way too seriously, pontificating on “to judge or not to judge” while I understand the issues relating to worship styles etc. these were pet peeves, not doctrinal principles, and humorously related, too. Ultimately each church’s worship leader and pastor should come into agreement on what will be encouraged or gently discouraged. But taking a lighthearted post and debating it heatedly appears like some are really overreacting.

i think at the start you said you were not a worship leader? if i got this correct then maybe you should stick to what you are good at. and maybe when you are worshiping you should keep your eyes focused on Jesus which is the whole point of it all anyway.