Between my junior and senior years at Temple, I came across a small, humble group of Christians in rural Pennsylvania who claimed Scripture as their only doctrine. The women wore head coverings, the men had beards, and they sang without instruments.

My worship world was diversifying.

After getting married and graduating from college in 1976, my wife, Julie, and I spent eight years with the Christian music group GLAD. We traveled across the U.S. learning what worship meant to Baptists, Assemblies of God, Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and a host of nondenominational churches.

Some churches followed centuries-old liturgies. Others were “Spiritfilled” and looked for God to show up in prophetic words, tongues, or some other spontaneous event.

In too many churches we detected a disconnect between the God they worshiped on Sundays and the one they seemed to follow during the week.

I continued to lead worship in my local church when we weren’t traveling. But in 1984 I said good-bye to life on the road. I thought I might be called to be a pastor.

The following year I joined the staff of a church related to Sovereign Grace Ministries, led by C. J. Mahaney. I led the worship team there for six years, then helped plant what’s now Crossway Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. I experienced firsthand the challenges and joys of overseeing a worship team in a new church.

In 1997 C. J. invited me to Covenant Life Church, a congregation of 3,000-plus members near Washington, D.C., to serve in my present role. As you might guess, leading worship in a large congregation is different from a church plant. More people to organize, more songs to learn, more meetings to work around, more equipment to deal with, and more potential problems.

But the important things haven’t changed.

This book is about the important things.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS?

Maybe you’re just getting started as a worship leader or think God wants you to be one. Perhaps you’ve been in music ministry for decades and are feeling a little weary. You might be part of a music team or a worship planning committee. Maybe you’re a pastor and want to understand more clearly what worship is supposed to look like in your church. Or it could be you’re the kind of person who wants to get your hands on anything that feeds your love for God.

Whatever your situation, I want to help you avoid going through what I described at the beginning of this chapter—when I stepped up to lead worship, and it all seemed empty, dry, and pointless. It isn’t.

But the Lord graciously reminded me, “That’s exactly what it would be like without me—pointless.”

Worship matters. It matters to God because he is the one ultimately worthy of all worship. It matters to us because worshiping God is the reason for which we were created. And it matters to every worship leader, because we have no greater privilege than leading others to encounter the greatness of God. That’s why it’s so important to think carefully about what we do and why we do it.

Discovering what matters in worship is a journey I’ve been on for thirty years, and one I’ll be on for the rest of my life. I’m glad you’ve joined me.

And if you don’t feel adequate for the task ... you’re in the perfect place for God to use you.

Copyright © 2008 by Sovereign Grace Ministries; Published by Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers; 1300 Crescent Street, Wheaton, Illinois 60187.  All rights reserved.