As I was recently re-listening to Come Weary Saints I couldn’t help but notice an interesting choice of instrumentation on the title track. I’m not sure exactly because I purchased the mp3 set and don’t have the pdf handy to check instrumentation, but I’m pretty sure they are using a harp at the end of the song. It very well could be a nylon stringed guitar - but I think it’s a harp. I had never thought of using harp as a worship team instrument before, but now I think I could definitely find some ways to do it - which leads me to my question:
Apart from David Crowder’s crazy rigging of a Guitar Hero© controller, what is the most different or unusual instrument you’ve seen used by a worship team? I’d love to hear it all - even if you’re from another country and think that using a guitar is unusual!
Let’s hear it!
So, we want to raise up new worship leaders and avoid burning ourselves out, but we’re deathly afraid of what might happen when we “let go of the reins.”
The first problem is that we really shouldn’t have been holding the reins in the first place. When we place our own control of a ministry over God’s leading of it, we are really creating an idol out of our own ministry. A certain amount of control is good (making sure that the ministry is Biblical; having control of who is involved in the ministry, so that lifestyle is consistent with the ministry, etc.), but when we refuse to step down from leading worship for a Sunday and let someone else do it because we want things “perfect,” we are bowing to the control idol.
Instead of thinking, what if this goes wrong, or what if that goes wrong, have you thought of these what ifs?
- What if the young teen who plays guitar is allowed a chance to lead worship in youth group or a small group, and eventually becomes a dedicated, God-honoring, worship leader, devoting his life to training, teaching and leading others?
- What if the classical guitarist who has been seen as playing an old-fashioned style is allowed to use his talent to play one of the most beautiful musical intros heard in quite some time? (I know the author of the post definitely didn’t see the guitar player in that way, but I’ve always wondered what to do with classical guitar in contemporary worship, have you?)
- What if the young lady with not much formal vocal training is mentored, trained and given the opportunity to be a vocalist on the worship team? Will she be able to one day glorify God by be involved in recording vocals for worship CD’s?
You get the point, hopefully. So often we’re wrapped up in the negative what ifs that we don’t even think about the possibility that the what ifs could be absolutely positive. In fact, they could change a life for God’s glory.
