The following piece is an excerpt from my article

FROM HONKY TONK TO HALOS.

For a copy of the full article please click the link above.

The recent explosion in the number of churches and Christian fellowships that have accepted contemporary worship music as a vital part of their ministry creates an interesting dilemma for those concerned with anointing during worship. As worship groups grow so does the number of musicians playing in these groups whose background is secular performance. While it is exciting to see so many musicians wanting to play for the kingdom of God , too many times the music and fellowship falls short of bringing forth an outpouring of anointing from the Holy Spirit. There is a litany of reasons as to why this may happen, but two major contributors are the failure of the worship leader to focus on this issue during practice, and the number of people involved in the worship team who are not experienced in what it means to actually use their music as a tool of worship.

      Worship is an act of fellowship between creation and creator that is both honoring and giving reverence to God for his glory. We enter into worship by humbling ourselves and subjugating ourselves to his awesome presence while giving God all the glory and praise.  In John 4:23 Jesus instructs us to worship in spirit and truth. This worship brings forth an anointing that is an imbuement of spiritual power. In order for the Holy Spirit to come forth, the worship team needs to understand how to submit to the power of the anointing and to let the Holy Spirit take control.  The worship team needs to be continually focused on who God is, and why they are up there to begin with.

     This creates a problem because many of secular trained musicians do not have solid conceptual understanding of how this process works. In secular music the band feeds off of itself to create adrenaline charged energy. This creative energy is picked up on by the crowd, and the crowd then feeds this energy back to the band through their exuberance. This ping-pong effect creates a synergism of excitement and egotism, which in turn creates more energy for the band, and the crowd, and all expand on an emotional high that keeps growing. If this attitude is brought to the worship service then worship simply becomes secular entertainment in a church setting. This entertainment and energy takes the place of the anointing that should be flowing from the Holy Spirit. As the worship team becomes the focal point of the event, the adrenaline rush of the moment usurps the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Worship of God now becomes worship of music.

   Now, I do not want to put God in a box. God can certainly use a highly talented set of entertainers to anoint his kingdom, but in general “entertainment” should not substitute for worship. As commercial contemporary Christian music has grown into a mainstream form of entertainment more and more worship teams have emulated the production techniques and style. I have heard too many bean counters and church leaders explain away the necessity for pure anointed worship by discounting the need for pure worship in the name of numbers. If it (“it” being high quality entertainment) brings people into church then “it” has worked and the church body can then work from there to bring them to Christ.

      In the desire to produce the finest commercial entertainment available many churches are spending a small fortune on state of the art sound systems to have the best sound in town. This coupled with jumbo video monitors, expansive light shows and other electronic bells and whistles have turned sanctuaries into concert theatres. Some churches have even gone as far to hire secular musicians whose personal lives are an abomination, but accept them because they are quality players who can excite the crowd with their showmanship. It seems that soon some churches will be selling tickets to the Sunday service and having bouncers scanning the crowd to make sure no one is illegally taping. This seems a sad but logical next step if churches are going to hire secular musicians only for their talents and turn the Alter into a stage show that can rival the nightclubs down the street. The worship team needs to be in sync with the Holy Spirit and the church leadership needs to stop worrying about trying to sell In Sync for the churched.

   If the worship team is focused where they should be, the Holy Spirit pours the anointing down onto the worship team. The team then needs to let this anointing flow through them and their music to the congregation. The congregation then takes this anointing and lifts it in worship to the Holy Spirit. At the same time, the Holy Spirit is pouring out the anointing on the congregation, which in turn naturally flows it back to the band as the focal point in the physical realm as they lift their thoughts and hearts to God. The band then accepts this anointing naturally and needs to allow it to flow back to the Holy Spirit that is pouring the anointing out to them, thus finishing the path, worshiping in spirit and truth while laying ego to rest.

    While this seems like a simple and natural concept to a mature Christian, it is a very difficult task to explain to a secular musician who is focused on playing their instrument and the excitement created by the band atmosphere. Too many times the flow of the anointing never makes it to the stage because the musicians are feeding on the natural energy created by the playing of the music and the Holy Spirit never enters into the mix. If some of the musicians do accept the anointing of the Holy Spirit they enter into worship and send the anointing right back up. We see this usually as eyes closed, hands raised, a winsome smile, and a complete oblivion to the world around them. 

     This honest and pure worship between creation and the creator is what worship is all about, but as a worship team member you have to move past this at times and lead the rest of the people into worship.  As a worship team, it is not about you, it is about anointing the Holy Spirit on everyone involved in the time of worship. Most worship teams these days have a plethora of singers standing around. These are the ones who should be constantly lifting the others in prayer and praying for those in the congregation who are standing in need. Whenever a member of the team is able, or the arrangement of the music lets them, they should be interceding on behalf of the others.

    Now, I am sure I could wax poetic and weave a cacophony of scripture verses to make my point, but the fact is that the New Testament does not address musicianship in worship. Scripture tells us that worship is so important to God that it is going on in the Throne Room all the time. We know that Jesus sang a hymn at the last supper, but the Bible does not tell us how many band members where present at the time or how many monitor mixes they had. But, we know from fact that music does aid in worship and is a useful tool to bring us into fellowship with God.

       Jesus didn’t need to explain this in great detail to his disciples because he led by example and rightly assumed the Holy Spirit would lead them where they needed to be after his resurrection. The pure anointing of the Holy Spirit will come when we enter in with spirit and truth. It is getting this pure anointing flowing that can create issues in the contemporary worship service. The Bible says we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, so we must simply focus on God to start the process.   

     I have seen Pastors try to pray the anointing from the edge of the stage on to the congregation. I have seen the musicians use wireless connections to enter into the congregation to try and loosen the anointing, and I have seen a myriad of other ideas played out to little or no avail to try and compensate for the failure of the worship team to allow the flow of the anointing from heaven, through them, into the congregation. If that part of the flow is allowed to work, the rest of the described flow will naturally fall into place. If this isn’t happening then the worship team is failing in their duty and the leaders need to address this.

From HONKY TONK TO HALOS

by PAUL ESTRO  C. 2007

 Photos by Amy Argona