Doing the “Shuffle”, Part Three

Why are so many worship teams, at so many churches out there, doing the “shuffle”? Remember, I told you I could asnswer that question with a single word.

Vision. Vision is ALL that separates the majority of worship teams out there, who ARE NOT doing so well, with the minority of worship teams out there, who ARE. Vision, or, more properly, the  lack of it. 

Keep in mind that the vast majority of worship teams are composed of volunteers – people who aren’t getting paid to play, people who nearly always have very full lives, and busy schedules, but who play because they love it, and because they love God. I have nothing but respect for these people, and their desire to worship God and to draw others into that worship. I don’t have such high regard for those who lead them, though. Usually these teams of volunteers are led by a worship leader who is a paid staff member at the church they atend – but sometimes that worship leader is a volunteer as well.  Given this set of circumstances, it is easy to see how the “shuffle” concept comes into play. Many worship leaders simply do not want to rock the boat…any boat…for any reason. They fear pushing their teams toward excellence, even though the scriptural basis for excellence is well documented. If they demand or desire excellence, then they have to be excellent themselves, in order to avoid being called a hypocrit, and the sad fact is that there are just not that many worship leaders out there who are any better than passable on their instrument of choice. There are some, to be sure, but not nearly enough.

Because they are mediocre players, they only require mediocrity from the rest of the team, and that is exactly what they get. Mediocrity. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year.

Guess what? “good enough” ISN’T good enough!