Very good thoughts! Still relevant 11 years later!

Thank you. You put into words what I've been trying to get across to my team. The condition of the heart affects what happens on Sunday.

i agreed!! and true worship is that u understand ...what u singing and its comes from heart..with soul..that really God is amazing his love is amazing!!

Well said Paul... this question has to be evaluated within all of us... continually, because "pride" is one of Satan's biggest tools that he'll use... Pray we all stay humble before our God... what a privilege to worship... what an honor... thanks again brother for your thoughts... I'm praying for you as well... to God be the glory!

Some of the wisest words I have heard all day. Thank you.

Just led worship for the very first time and screwed up many times. This video told me to have a prayerful attitude and singing to God as the only audience. I didn't have much stage experience, it was the sudden departure of our previous worship leader that put me on the spot. The band didn't have time to practice in the midst of the chaos, but God, I pray the next time we worship we will worship with honesty and gladness and gratitude.

Finally an honest word on "Performance" in worship. When a person - musician or worship leader or even preacher step onto the stage, he is considered a performance of sorts. Preachers even entertain us with jokes, stories and anecdotes. The outfits our musicians / backup singers wear sometimes worthy of a 'fashion show'. But the most important thing is remember to perform for the Lord and not for humans.

Thank you brother Paul...God is so so awesome and worthy of all of our best

Paul - I am blessed by your humility and Godward orientation - thank you for putting this material out. May our God richly bless you!

Paul is amazing and truly has a heart for worship! You are my mentor and friend.

thanks for the practical information for all levels of experience by one of the best leader/songwriters

Thank you to whoever uploaded this...and to Paul for letting this stay on utube....really helping me (and hopefully my church worship team soon)

That what I'm taking about!!! Just came back from a mission's trip, and I am so pumped. We think that we do alot with just praying and reading your bibles. Get up and Go to All the NATIONS, TEACHING and BAPTIZING in the NAME of THE LORD!!! There is a dieing soul, going to Hell. Telling that God that he didn't know about Him.

I wholeheartedly agree! I had a band member leave our church band, simply because the lead guitarist and I would, as he put it, "sing to the ceiling". I would think, he might have gotten the hint, that we were singing to the audience of One. His faith hadn't grown to that level I guess. I am just thankful that there worship leaders like Paul, that are willing to give us the benefit of their experience, and encouragement! Keep on Praising

May God bless Paul Baloche.

Lifting your soul to God when ur down! Amen.

LOL@ 14 min guitar solo. I like that "heart of worship and art of worship." I had a keyboardist ask me are people really worshipping or do they just loiek the music? I was so confused! I never felt there had to be a difference. I love music and I LOVE God. To be able to give back to him what he has LOANED to me is my greatest joy.

When the band puts together a new song, we always try to hit a happy medium. We try to keep the songs energy, while at the same time, finding a key that is both comfortable for us to sing, as well as the congregation. Paul said in a seminar once that we have to remember that we are leading the congregation in song. We are playing so they can sing to The Lord as well.

I feel you my brother! God Bless! Keep blessing the Lord!

Alot of times its hard for me to keep my heart focused on God when I sing and play because sometimes we play the same song over and over. Thanks so much for this, God Bless!! (:

Thank you. You are the true worshiper.

Thank you Paul for this! Just what I needed to hear.

Paul thank you

The anointing of God can cover all our lack.

Just found this channel -- thanks for sharing. It's been a helpful video and can't wait to watch more!

thank you sir PAul... indeed, your videos that being sent to me was a very Big help

There is a fine line between performance and expression. Those with the right mentality express, and those with the wrong one perform. You can usually tell the difference. It all comes down to having the right heart and not forgetting about the people out in the crowd before going somewhere else musically.

Thanks Paul, this is really awesome. this is something i'm just starting to learn and really appreciate you putting into a video and into words

cont'd 3 traits to look for in team members 1)godly character, 2)natural expressiveness, and 3)musical skill. They can be ranked in that order but those lines drawn depend on the size and maturity of the church. Obviously, best to have members who excel in all three!! Having a members with those traits will be a good step towards having a balanced service.

If that's what the Lord calls you to do , He'll bless you with the gift to do it right. But also like what Paul had mentioned, beyond techniques, most importantly it is the condition of our heart. Amen? :)

I heard a story one time where a preacher was being complimented as he left the podium by someone saying "you're awesome, great message pastor!" and he thought to himself "I know, the devil just told me the same thing!"

ia m blessed!as a drummer!thank you very much!GBU

Jesus is the judge. He knows the motives of our hearts.

@worshipper26 Agreed. I view preparation and playing to the best of your ability as part of worship, because you desire to give God your best.

Matt Redman calls them the 1) Heart of worship and the 2)Art of Worship. Balance is the key so the congregation isn't left behind because you've closed your eyes and sailed off into your own worship experience (heart) or you launch into a 14 minute guitar solo (art)

@theimpossible15 If you're listening with headphones, just put your cable out a bit so only one send on the 1/4inch adapter is connected therefore splitting the signal between both headphones.

Wow,I learnt a lot.

Amen!

Well said my brother!!

Thanks, Paul, for your guidance in this matter. You're right about worship having to do so much with the heart, but that answer is heavily skewed toward the subjective realm. In fact, the question itself presumes that true worship has fundamentally to do with the leader's personal posture. What if we asked a more objective-oriented question: What is the difference between a rock concert and a worship service? That might yield some more concrete answers.

Wow! Said well! Its not about singing...its about the feeling! Better felt than telt!

Right on!

If you're brave, do what one of our guitarists does -- Thank them and ask them which part ministered to them. Ask them to be specific -- it cuts down on flattery and brings forth true appreciation and encouragement.

Very important point, Lucy. The most important person to get that is the sound guy. The way he mixes for a performance is totally different for worship. If I pull off mic to attempt to take the focus off of me as the leader and allow the congregation to sing to God and yet the sound guy cranks me up so I am always heard, it defeats what I am trying to do.

Thanks. Very helpful. I have been having problem because of self-consciousness and inadequacy. But I still have to play cos I am leading my prayer group. Only 1 of 2 gutiarist. The other player is far superior to me.

I think that we sometimes forget about the implications of the incarnation. If God and man are united in Jesus, then I think that human goals and divine goals are also united. Therefore, good performance is united to good worship, just humanity and divinity are united in Christ.

Skill is important to God.

Many times there are worship team members, specifically worship singers who come at it like "hey look at me, give me more attention" like they were auditioning for American Idol or something. Dont confuse entertainment with true worship.

That is a great question, and one that I struggle with. Besides money, what is the difference???

now hold on a sec. keep in mind that you cant really just judge the hearts of people without know what is inside. what you are saying could be true BUT we dont know that for a fact. but one thing that you have to think about is that there is nothing wrong with wanting to sound good. it just depends on your motives for sounding good. we should want to sound good, so long as we give all the glory to God in the end and that we do not take credit for the talent that HE has given us.

Yes we are performing. But who are we performing for? I think the praise team leader can still worship with his/her heart for the Lord. If it's practice, we prepare and we care about how everything sound -- because we want to do our best for the Lord. But when it comes to leading the congregation, our hearts have to align with the Lord. I'm an amateur praise team leader, and I'm struggling with that as well. Lately, however, I'm captivated by the songs I chose. It's all for the Lord.

Good info

yup

the majority of people I have worked with in Worship teams who raise the issue of worship vs performance are usually using it as an excuse to not try so hard to sing or play to the best of their ability. Personally I think as part of the worship team we should be worshiping God from the bottom of our heart and performing to the best of our ability and respect the gifting that God has given us i.e. not bury it in the ground.

Agreed, they sing higher, but when they take their songs on the road (at least Tomlin does, anyway), the songs are always sung in a more managable key. Most of the time, if you take C.T.'s songs down 1 whole step, it's fine congregationally, though I've gone as far as 2. Key does have importance, but can be overcome to an extent if the song's really dynamic.

can I be a worship leader even if I don't have good singer's voice ?

I might also add that song selection plays a big role. There are many very nice songs that really popular among churches right now that aren't very good worship songs. They probably we're never intended to be by the writers but they are popular on Christian Radio and so they make it into Worship playlists and onto the CCLI top charts. One of the questions I ask myself is " Am I having the congregation sing about God or to God ( or worse, about me)?" Just look at the pronouns in the song.

@nailspluscross Not necessary. On one of Paul's DVD's (Creating Flow, I think), one lady interviewed answered that, at least from her perception. If a worship leader makes eye contact, it comes across (at heast to her) that he/she is more concerned with pleasing the congregation rather than worship of God. A good place to look is just above the last row, and don't be afraid to look around. Hope that helps.

I am a worship leader and sometimes get critcized that the keys I sing in are to high however they are the original keys that Chris tomlin uses or third day uses. I feel if the keys are to low the songs are not as powerful. I need info on how important the key of a song is. Or what is your opinion. Thanks God bless all

Some quick thoughts. . . but keep in mind I only watched about 20 seconds of the video, so this might be repetition of what he said. . . 1. Praise, seems to be outward expression. . . speaking with our lips, outward show. There of course is nothing wrong with that, and we are to do that to the best of our ability. 2. Worship is beyond praise, it's your walk. . . how you walk toward the Lord. 3. There seems to be an element of praise, which of course is declaring or raising up our praise to God through Jesus, as Christians there is a lot of elements of praising God through praising Jesus Christ, so that is our positive emphasis and the gospel put out in song and fragments of truth. 4. Any stage, really anything that is practically edited by time constraints has to have time limits and of course like anything is "edited" by those in charge, who put up what they want as the message and dare I say censored message. That's a part of the nature of the stage, and any book, writing or film. We can of course be "real and personal" and relate what is going on in our life, being true to our human selves, which may have good or bad expressions or perhaps emphasis of what is going on in our lives. That's more of a personal testimony, it can be true, it can be real and it can cause people to relate. . . but it may not meet the needs or desires of that part of the service. The goal often is to look upward toward Jesus and heavenward, praising the Lord, not praising the praise, delivery mechanism or skill of the leaders, be they song leaders or preachers. In any case the emphasis is more on God and less on man in acts of praise. But in acts of worship and love, sometimes indeed most times, this just involves our attitude and showing love towards others, it may not involve singing at all, but just our walk. To be united in having a loving walk toward God and others we see and a praising God with our talents to create music and noise is our goal. Praise isn't even limited of course to music, it could be dance or other forms of outward expression. Even the firing of a canon. How could that be? Well you cn have canons in the 1812 ovature, so you could have loud percussive sounds telling an edited story, or fireworks in a huge production. In that event, the noise and pyrotechnics would be a form of praise or adding to the story being told. 5. The part that deals with performance, well it's kind of like attitude and editing what you are focusing on. Trying to be positive. Of course we may not always be positive or feel good and be able to have the most joy and be up when leading, if we are in that role. 6. There's nothing wrong with good craftmanship and good skills, both learned and natural ability. Sometimes we praise the praise, or look at the person doing the work and admire and praise his skill. That can become a kind of looking and praising inwardly of the creation instead of the creator. It's okay, it's natural and it happens, but it's not the point that the praise and worship team are shooting for. . . because they are trying to lead us to praise God, not his creation. But in faith we see God's design and the wonder of God in creation, even in the broken things and imperfect things that have flaws. So with faith, we often can look at everything from a positive point of view, but if we walk in sin and doubt we can look for flaws in everything as well. This doens't mean being positive is being Godly, but there is a trend toward all things being holy for those who are holy and look at the world through glasses of faith. And those who look at the world through glasses of fear, see everything as a threat and problem. 7. At times of course, we can see the people up in churches, what can I say they may have limited talent, but a good heart toward God. We may criticize their skill and be very negative, perhaps because there is some truth in it. Maybe they are lazy or even seem o be a kind of "blocker" or block that is on stage, related to the preacher, perhaps. A family member who is always up there, but perhaps not as talented as many other members and visitors. So we can criticize their skill and talent, becaue it seems more like a family showcase. Let me see if I can give an example, some famous preacher, who may have a wife that can sing and loves God, so she sings all the time. And the audience and those who know her may appreciate her, and may appear to have talent blinders on. Those coming in from the outside may say, hey she sings all the time, because she's the pastors wife. A qualification for many pastor's wives, seems to be alto singers who go to preacher college and get married. So she's not perhaps the best (traditionally) soloist from a talent point of view, but she's the main singer, in some cases. Or can sing and play the piano. . . and outsiders may look and say, hey there's a better piano singer here or a better inger over there sitting in the pew and they are ignored and never get to the stage. So we end up being truthfully critical of talent presented as "not being the best" and there is a sense of "blocking" that can happen. That in some sense is a kind of "praising the praiser" or the person, they get into an office or function, which is kind of normal. But the church is not a talent show, although it may appear to be at times. It's not about sampling the best talent and putting it out there, although that may happen. So for the critical audience member it's not always about having the best representation of our sample group on stage. . . it's not about just praising man and our ability. It's really about leading the congregation toward God in one accord. 8. God's criticisms towards his children was that they claimed to praise him, with outward appearance and talent, but their hearts were far from Him. They really didn't love Him, when he said, my peoples lips are worshiping me, but their hearts are far away. This is what we should strive to avoid. Yes skill and talent and natural ability is important, but some of the best praise I've heard is from untalented and out of tune singers, this doesn't mean they are to be put on stage, but they were singing out of the audience in the real spirit of love toward God with good hearts that loved him. As we get older our talents and skill may diminish or increase. The question is do we stil have heart of worship toward God. We still want to improve and love God with our body, mind and strength, and that means develop and improve toward God. Sometimes the best worship, may be being silent, be still and know that I am God. Worship doens't always involve sound and noise, our imperfect attempts, but good attempts at pleasing God. Sometimes worship is just living in love toward God others. 9. Finally I suppose the question, but that becomes a kind of critical bias, that can be opened up again and again. . . is are we praising God, or praising the praise. Someone used to say Worship God, not the worship. We can become caught up in the skill and dramatic strength of the performer, but that will fade. . . we appreciate it and God does too. But that can be a temptation of course, it all depends on the heart. I think I'm saying the same essential thing that Baloche said judging from the few comments others have put below. . . the emphasis of praise is often toward God and leading the group toward God. If it's all about me and putting the spotlight on my and my little skill then it may seem to be more about performance and my pride. But the better skilled and more talented an artist is on stage, the more that can be the accusation leveled at them. We can use any excuse toward talent or untalented to say that thigs can or should be better. A performance, that highlights the skill of the person can seem to be more of a show. . . hmm. . . hopefully that is being used to turn our hearts toward God, but even that "act of praise" can be a kind of pattern and seem to be successful outwardly. God looks at our hearts. If we think that the person on stag has to be perfect, well none of us are. . . we are being perfected into Christ, but often that is a perfection we see in the group, the body of Christ gathered, not an individual. It's not about worshiping the individual below, but the true God above.

The question you have to ask is: if I am leading worship, am I pointing people to Christ? If you can effectively lead worship with your voice, the answer is absolutely yes. The average worshipper is not a good singer. But in the same breath, a worship leader is not called to be the average worshipper; if your "bad singers voice" distracts from worship, consider working more with instrumental worship. But a lot of that is going to be something to consider w/ your pastor's counsel.

@archie1961 we all have to start somewhere. Learn to accentuate the other guitar player. you don't have to be a lead player at all. Be a SOLID rhythm player until you feel more comfortable. Playing with people better than yourself is a GREAT way to get better yourself. Always remember WHY we play. It's really for God and not us. I feel the same way bro, so I do understand. I hope this helps, God bless.

Everyone needs to read the book by Bob Kauflin about Worship it's called Worship Matters and I know Paul has read or knows the book exists. If we ever come to the point where we are not spiritually blessed by our worship, it's time to start reading our bibles and meditating more about worship and God. Ask for help or look for help online or through reading books. I've been there and I'm in the process of teaching my worship leaders to become effective lead worshipers in our church and of God.

Hi...there...I do worship leading at church..and I have some question... DO I NEED have an eye to eye contact with the congregation as I leading them to worshiP?????

I worked full time in ministry as Creative Arts Director for a large church. I appreciate what Paul is saying BUT.... it's a "business" plain and simple. Sunday morning was a "production" from the song selection to the sound to the lights etc. It was all to set up the pastor to deliver the word. We had to bring the congregation to their feet every Sunday... That's what makes $$$.

in a rock concert the audience need to hear the band, in worship the audience/congregation need to hear themselves... (I'm sure that's not the only thing though...!)

is it meant to mean "felt than told" ?

Why is this only going to one side of my headphone 😭😂

you should sing in a key that the congregation can sing to. If it's too high for them, you're kind of excluding them from participating in worship.

Of coarse. You just have to have a heart for Christ and practice ALOT. Its ok if your not that great at first. alot of people get under the impression that either you were born being able to sing or you never will be. but that is a lie. With practice (and good ol' prayer) you can have a singing voice you would have never imagined. God and I both believe in you bro. You can do it

It should be both performance and worship at the same time. Music is an expression of worship but when the reasoning and the hearts of those leading worship have started to become cold towards God and their hearts and minds have been filled with self love then you would know that there's no more spiritual and the "performance" is not God focused. This type of worship band needs to check their hearts, minds, their lives, and ultimately their relationship to God.

interesting,besides the fact he said telt instead of told

Any worship musicians here :)

it's wordplay or rather a neologism

those kinks can be worked out naturally(with practice) or supernaturally...don't worry my friend and don't be too hard on yourself.... Btw I lead worship and I don't think I have a good voice ...at least not for that genre...hardrock/grunge MAYBE ...but that is not the style I am usually using when "leading " worship :P

Pray for North Korea! pray for China! Pray for Israel! Pray for your hometown! pray for your school/work! why are we just living in a comfort zones and thinking we are saved?!?! get up! and reach out!

if you have an attitude like that...nothing is going to change

Amen!