I was reading an interesting article over at The Worship Community to which I’ve since given much thought. In summary, the point of the article was, primarily, that - as worship leaders - how we act and live out our worship the other 6 days of the week is even more important to our leadership than what we do on stage on Sunday. I agree, but only in part.
Particularly in larger churches, where the congregation is unlikely to know the worship pastor personally or have regular interaction with he/she, the average person's worship isn’t really that directly affected by the Worship Pastor/Leader’s personal life. Sure, open, grievous public sin will hurt the church, but the effect our lives have is indirect at best. The average every-day “Joe” is affected more by the reaction/response in worship of the person in leadership which they have the closest connect-to (be that their small-group leader, for example), or - if there is one - the person on stage that they actually DO have some interaction with. Likewise, it is the lives of those who’s lives touch his (every-day “Joe”, again) that encourage or discourage him in corporate worship the most. Considering this, it dawned on me that those individuals’ lives are VERY important to the heart response of those "under" them, or who look up to them. That means that each of us - entirely despite being on-stage or off - are potentially that person to SOMEONE, so we each have the same responsibility to LIVE IT - not only for our own sake, but for the sake of the Gospel, and how it touches the lives of others. Of course, that doesn’t let us worship leaders/pastors off of the hook, because the life we model will be the standard for the team, and those that come in contact with them.
If you’re a worship leader, try to remember when you were not, but worship leader or not, what individuals (no names please - just descriptions of the person’s character/personality) encourage you to worship? For me, one of our youth pastor’s is always an encouragement: he’s not perfect, no, but his life for Christ is REAL, and when he praises God that joy just overflows into the room with a playful, childlike singing and - often - even dancing. That crushes my natural cynicism, and frees me up to praise.
Who encourages you to worship?