The Redundant Worship Leader (Who Repeats Himself)

By Jon Nicol

Let's face it, if we worship leaders were an eloquent bunch, we'd be preachers instead of the music guy (or girl). Most of us feel more comfortable hiding behind our microphones - that are best used when we sing in them. Not talk.

When we start shooting from the hip, one of the most common blunders is something I saw on a gas pump recently:
I won't tell you which gas station I saw this at, only that it had a circle and a K in it's logo.

I guess they figured "pre-pay" wasn't clear enough. They want their customers to do so "in advance."

Let's face it, worship leaders. We commit the same sin of repeating ourselves.

Let me give you a picture of this. All I had to do was dismiss the kids to their worship time:

Kid's, you are dismissed to Kid's Worship.

So far so good.

Ages 4 years old through 6th grade, you can go head on out.

Ok, the age part was probably helpful.

Alrighty, as the kids, ages 4 years old through 6th grade are heading out to their classes, the rest of us will remain standing and continue in our worship through music.

At least I didn't say anything about the kids leaving again. Oh, wait I did.

So remain standing as we sing this hymn, "Rejoice. the Lord is King."

You should probably just start the song, Jon.

Alright, let's sing "Rejoice, the Lord is King." Let's sing out. In worship. As the kids are leaving. Here we go. "Rejoice the Lord is King." Sing it out with me.

SHUT UP AND SING!

Some of you might think that's a tad exaggerated. Others of you know from painful experience the trap of the verbal-segue death-loop: I can see the exit. But for some reason, miss it. So I circle back around only to miss it again. I'm trapped in the spin cycle of redundant blathering.

The unscripted verbal segue is dangerous ground. If you plan to move from one worship element to another by talking, actually have a plan.

And if you find yourself talking "off the reservation," just pray hard and follow the KISS method. That means Keep It Short/Simple.*

(Oh, you thought it meant wearing black and white face paint, platform shoes and blowing fire out your mouth? Yeah, me too the first time. Kinda disappointing, isn't it?)

So stamp out redundancy and stop repeating yourself repeatedly.

By the way, the "verbal segue" link above goes to one of the 28 Ways to Create Great Segues posts. If you'd like to read all of them, you now can do so more easily. We've created an index page for all 28 segues. Big thanks to Laurie K. for doing the work!

*Many of us prefer the more edgy "Keep it Simple, Stupid" version of KISS. However, since I'm telling my kids not to say use that word, I'm refraining, too. I'm also trying not to use the word buttface...

Question: How have you been more intentional about "talking" in worship?

August 14, 2012