The Pursuit of Excellence

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Colossians 3:17

I heard an interesting story about a very well known worship leader once. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it’s a good story, nonetheless, and applicable to this blog. Because I don’t know if it’s true, I’m choosing not to include said worship leaders name. The story goes that way back in the day before he was a worship mega star, this individual was living in an apartment complex in the town where he was on staff at a church. He was practicing away at several worship songs in his living room with the windows open. After about an hour or so, a dude that lived upstairs came down and knocked on the worship leaders door. When he opened the door, the guy said in an annoyed manner something to the effect of, 

“Dude, play something different. You’ve been playing the same thing for an hour.”

The problem was that the worship leader had been practicing several songs during that time, not just one song. This served as a wake up call for him, and proved to be an instrumental moment in helping to define him as a worship leader and helping to define his unique style. He was shocked to realize that every thing he was playing sounded exactly the same. His songs lacked creativity and originality, and he was forced to consider if he was pursuing his music with excellence. 

This brings up an interesting question: Are you as a worship leader pursuing excellence? 

I think there is something to be said about doing things well. To go above and beyond in the pursuit of excellence. Not being content to live with mediocrity. I believe God is glorified when we pursue excellence in our ministry, in how we lead worship, and in our musicianship. For worship leaders, this means moving beyond four chords and a basic strum pattern. It means practicing. It means furthering your skill set as a musician, taking it to the next level. 

Excellence is a bi-product of walking in faith. This is not about setting a bar of musicianship that all worship leaders must attain. Excellence does not equal knowing X amounts of chords and being proficient at all major, minor, pentatonic and mixolydian scales. I fully realize that music comes easier to some more than others. Regardless of this, our responsibility is to take the gift we have been given and to pour ourselves into it, pushing ourselves to improve. This is about abiding in the person of Christ. Walking in faith. When you are allowing the person of Christ to work in and through you, then you will find that you are not content to remain in the same place and be stagnant.

Creatively speaking, challenge yourself to think beyond the status quo. Don’t allow yourself to be content to play a certain song the way that everyone else plays it. How can you bring a fresh perspective and creative take to a particular song? As you think through these things, you will find that your creativity will force your musicianship to improve. Your skill level will always be working to keep up with where your imagination takes it. 

If we are truly representatives of the person of Christ, then our actions are a reflection of who He is and what He has done. So if my ministry is anything less than excellent, then that reflects on people’s opinion of who Jesus is. Christ did not live half way. He did not live half heartedly. His love was full and excellent and powerful. Is your ministry and your music that full and that excellent and powerful?