At his popular blog worship leader Carlos Whittaker tells a refreshingly honest story about changing his perspective on where to start worship leading.<\/p>\n
I remember a Sunday at Sandals when JC\u2019s Girls had had an outreach the night before. JC\u2019s Girls was an outreach my wife was a part of to the sex industry\/strippers\/porn stars\/ect. of Los Angeles. I remember walking up to the mic\u2026starting the song\u2026looking down\u2026
\nBreasts\u2026
\nCleavage\u2026
\nLegs\u2026
\nAll over the first 2 rows. Scattered like confetti.
\nApparently the outreach was a smashing success.
\nAnd suddenly I forgot every word to the first song we sang.
\n\u201cLook up\u201d, I thought.
\n\u201cJust look up\u201d.
\nEvery trick from Every Man\u2019s Battle I\u2019d learned was not working.
\nBouncing\u2026um no.\u00a0 Wasn\u2019t working.
\nI battled through the set and went back to the locker room (a poor church\u2019s green room) defeated.
\nI\u2019d just thought about breasts and God for an entire worship set.
\nStick a fork in me\u2026I was done.<\/p>\n
Then after the service Heather (mi hesposa) introduced me to one of the girls.
\nI can\u2019t remember her name but I remember her story.
\nAnd I remember the humanity in her voice.
\nAnd at that moment I realized that it was not just on successful JC\u2019s Girls Sunday morning I had had trouble connecting with my church.
\nIt was every Sunday morning.
\nYou see there is a story behind every person who walks into your service.
\nAnd to 99% of them\u2026you are just a guy or girl on a mic with a lot more energy than they have or ever want to have on a Sunday morning.
\nI remember making a conscious effort beginning the next Sunday to be in the crowd before and after every set.
\n30 minutes before I got on stage I would walk the aisles of the gym and meet every single person that was sitting there. I heard stories of greatness and sadness. Stories of hope and despair.
\nWhen I took the stage 2 things happened.
\n1. I was more than the hyper bald brown guy on stage. I was Carlos and there was a shrinking of the gap between them and I that I never knew existed. The more Sundays I did this the smaller the gap became.
\n2. They were more than just the lady who cried during every song, the guy who keeps his hands in his pocket during every song and could care less, the stripper with the WAY too tight clothes on\u2026or off, the couple who makes out during every worship song.
\nThey became the lady whose son died a year before, the guy who tells all his friends how amazing our band is, the girl who is working at Ralphs grocery store in the am and stripping in the pm to feed her 2 kids, and the make out couple\u2026well they just love to make out.<\/p>\n
Stories\u2026they make our world spin. And those people in front of you, each and every Sunday, they are full of them. They are waiting for you to hear them so that when they start crying on that bridge of that song each and every week\u2026you will know why.<\/p>\n
Get out from in front of the people and get beside them\u2026
\nYou\u2019re worship leadership will explode.
\nTrust me.
\nLos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At his popular blog worship leader Carlos Whittaker tells a refreshingly honest story about changing his perspective on where to start worship leading. I remember a Sunday at Sandals when JC\u2019s Girls had had an outreach the night before. JC\u2019s Girls was an outreach my wife was a part of to the sex industry\/strippers\/porn stars\/ect. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5303,"featured_media":22897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[984,985,233,1505],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n