Live Talk with Dwayne Moore

Hebrews 13:15 encourages us to “continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name” (NKJV). Praise is primarily acknowledging God for who he is. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is giving thanks to God for what he has done for us.

We can be sure nothing ever happens to us that our loving God doesn’t permit. After all, like Moses, he protects us “in the cleft of the rock” as he covers us with his mighty hand (Exodus 33:22 NKJV). His rod of correction and his staff of protection and direction should bring us great comfort at all times (Psalm 23:4). But let’s be honest here.We know we should be humbly grateful. Yet there are times when we are tempted to be grumbly hateful.[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]We know we should be humbly grateful. Yet there are times when we are tempted to be grumbly hateful.[/perfectpullquote]

I once heard Dr. Ben Haden share a story during his radio broadcast of a young couple who entered the hospital to have their baby. Complications arose. Tests results showed that their child had Down syndrome. By this time, word had spread throughout the hospital about this young couple and their yet-to-be-born baby. Word had also gotten around that these parents were Christians. So several nurses and employees began to speculate about how these “God-fearing” people would respond.

Many, including the hospital switchboard operator, expected them to become angry at God. However, the couple maintained an upbeat attitude. Not to be proven wrong, the switchboard operator decided to listen in on their private phone conversations. What she heard would change her life forever. Rather than spewing bitterness and doubt toward God, the young mother repeatedly stated her trust and thankfulness in her Lord. She said that no matter what, they knew God would work the situation out for their good and his glory. Not only did that operator surrender her life to Christ, but as a result of those parents’ faith, over 20 nurses and doctors walked the aisle of that couple’s church the following Sunday and trusted in Jesus!

Apparently that new mom and dad understood that God would be with them in the midst of unexpected or difficult circumstances. Before any of us can give thanks and praise to the Father and really mean it, we, too, must accept God’s sovereignty in our hearts. There is a throne in heaven. And it is occupied! Our great God, mighty and majestic Father, is sitting on that throne right now. This world may seem as if it’s spinning out of control, but God is still the all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present King of kings and Lord of lords–the same God who loves you and me.

Giving thanks in all circumstances

Consider 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (NIV). We are not told in that verse to give thanks for our circumstances, but rather in them. We are not necessarily expected to be thankful for problems and hardships that come our way. However, if we clearly understand that God reigns and that he is using our circumstances to make us more like him and to bring him greater glory, then we can be thankful to him constantly,

Hey everyone. Welcome to the Worship Q&A podcast. I’m Dwayne Moore. Each week, we try to answer questions that worship leaders are asking.

Today the topic is how to change the culture of your worship ministry. We are going through eight practical steps to help you change the culture of your worship ministry. Be sure to read Part 1 of this post for the first 4 steps.

We’ll jump in on step five in just a moment, but before we do, I want to encourage you about two things that are really exciting to us that are coming up soon. One is our ReFOCUS Conference. It’s a worship conference in Pigeon Forge in the Smokies. We have Aaron Keyes coming and some other folks. It’s going to be amazing. We’re going to be at the Black Fox Lodge, a beautiful new lodge there, right in the heart of Pigeon Forge. Hope you can join us for that. Go to our website at NextLevelWorship.com/ReFOCUS for more information and to register.

The other thing I want to talk to you about for a moment is a worship leader coaching that we start again in January. A group of us will be going through some very important practical things to deepen our leadership ability and we’re going to start by focusing on your personal leaderships. I hope you can join us for that. You can go to our website at nextlevelworship.com/training/worship-leader-coaching/ for more information about that.

Now, let’s jump into how to change our culture. Just so you know a little background on me, I have worked in many different churches and different sizes over the years and I’ve found myself having to come in after culture’s already been established in certain churches. That is difficult to do because a certain philosophy and certain habits are already ingrained in people, so it takes time to change those habits and change that philosophy and change that culture. That led me to write out these steps that I have used to help transform the culture of the worship ministries that I’ve worked in.

5. Mentor individual members in character and competencies.

Let’s start today with step five. (Steps 1-4 can be found here.) If you want to learn of the first four steps, you need to check out our part one of this podcast. Step five is to mentor individual members in character and competencies. There’s three parts to that. It’s very important.

First of all, identify them. Who are those people? Not everyone is ready and willing to be mentored. Mentoring requires face to face interaction and an invasion of some personal space. Much prayer and discernment is needed to know who should be mentored and by whom.

The second part is to challenge and teach them. Mentoring is a step above classroom style teaching or discussion groups. Mentoring someone means investing your life into that person for a period of time and intentionally helping him or her grow.

Finally, hold them accountable. In Proverbs 27, verse 17, Solomon wrote, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” Help those you mentor to set goals to grow spiritually in leadership and in their skills development.

6. Empower and expect your overseers to mentor others.

Give them guidelines and parameters. Mentoring is the most important part of this entire process. It will be your key to years of continued growth and ministry...

This step-by-step approach can change the culture of your worship ministry and help your team grow spiritually and numerically—no matter the size of your church. We’ve seen firsthand the impact it has made in small congregations and large ones!

Please note that these methodical steps may take you months to complete. Be patient, and don’t rush through them—and be sure not to skip any as you move along. Each step is crucial to your success in training your team to be ministers through music.

 

 Step 1: Confirm your vision, values and philosophy.

A. Through prayer and Scripture. Your first and most important task should be to nail down what you value and what your specific convictions are for ministry God entrusted to you. No vision, no values and no approach to ministry should be formed outside of clear scriptural confirmation and God-given direction. [perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]No vision, no values and no approach to ministry should be formed outside of clear scriptural confirmation and God-given direction.[/perfectpullquote]

B. Through careful research. Talk with other worship leaders and pastors in your area to learn what they do. Also, take a look at quality worship ministries you know that are committed to discipling and training their teams.

C. Through Godly counsel. Proverbs 11:14 reads, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (ESV). Before you go public with your ideas, explain your vision and plans to people you trust to give you sound feedback and advice.

 

Step 2: Consult with key influencers within your church.

A. Educate them. The philosophy and systems you introduce may be a major shift from what your church has had in the past. You are hoping to change the culture of your worship ministry—and that change must begin with your key influencers.

B. Inspire them. Your dedication to work through these eight steps and your enthusiasm will be very important as you talk with key leaders. Know what you need to present to each influencer. Trust God to use your words to help inspire them to want to be on board with your ideas and dreams for the worship ministry.

C. Trust them. Ultimately, you need to remember that God has placed your key leaders in their places of influence for a reason. Listen to your pastor and elders and to the suggestions they give you. Pray for them that God will illumine their hearts and minds to see what you’re trying to do. Then trust and submit to them—even when they don’t fully agree with you.

 

Step 3: Commit to the development process.

A. Budget for it. David said, “I will not…offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing” (1 Chronicles 21:24, ESV). Offering God our best costs something. It’s all just a big pie-in-the-sky idea until we have to pay for it. Then it becomes reality. Plan ahead for the materials your team will need and for training events they need to attend. If possible, place line items into your church budget like “leadership development” and “mentoring.”

B. Broadcast it. Habakkuk 2:2 says, “…Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it” (ESV). There comes a point when you have to make plain to your entire team what you are doing, why you’re doing it, and how you plan to do it. Share it over and over in various and creative ways.

During one of my sessions recently at the Sweetwater worship conference, someone asked me, “Dwayne, what do you tell worship leaders who are 38 and older?”

The first thing that comes to mind is that if a person is 38 years old, then he or she has already started into their second half of life. Wish I didn’t have to break it to them, but if we do the math, we’ll realize we might as well face that fact. The good news is, we still most likely have plenty of good years left, and with the Lord’s help, we can stay “fresh and green” no matter our age!

Since the conference, I’ve thought more about that question, and I’ve come up with a few things I’d like to pass on as advice for worship leaders who are older.

 

1. Be confident.

Confidence in your skill set is important. Look back on your experience. Think about all you can do and all you know now because of your experiences, both good and bad. It gives you an edge over younger people. You’re not necessarily better than them, and it’s not that you can’t learn from them. However, the truth is you have talent that’s been honed over the years, and you’ve been blessed with strong skills, abilities and experience. You need to remind yourself of that and be thankful.

Also be confident in your calling from God. Think of what He’s called you to do, and know that He’s going to work through you to accomplish it. As long as there’s breath left in your body, He can keep using you. So, dig down deep and know who you are in Christ. Be careful not to allow your identity to be wrapped in your job. Jobs can end–even church jobs. Nothing is really permanent or secure in this world, except who we are and who we will always be in our Savior. So above all, put your confidence in His love for you and for your family. (If you need a powerful reminder of your position in Christ, do yourself a favor and meditate on the first chapter of Ephesians.)

 

2. Be courageous.

The last part of Hebrews 3:6 says, “…we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.” Courage and confidence go hand-in-hand. But while courage certainly flows out of our confidence, courage is more than just being confident in who we are; God-given courage is doing what we know we should do.

Sometimes we just need to step out in faith and do what the Lord is leading us to. (I know that’s easier said than done!) When God called Joshua He told him to “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.” It takes godly courage to step out of our comfort zones into an unknown and uncharted territory. What God-planted dream have you not seen fulfilled yet? Maybe it’s time for you to make some bold moves toward that seeing that dream become reality.

Sitting in the library one day in college, I remember reading a powerful statement carved into a desk of all places. It said, “The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.” You see, if God is leading us, then how can we fail? I love this quote from an old Imperials song. It says, “He didn’t teach us to swim to let us drown. He didn’t bring us this far to let us down.”

[bctt tweet=”The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.”]

God went on to say to Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous.

Our question today is should we pay our church musicians. The short answer is maybe…if certain criteria are met.

To help us answer this difficult question, we first need to look at the Levite musicians. We’re not told in scripture if the Levite musicians were actually paid for their services. However, in 1 Chronicles 9 it states that they stayed in the rooms of the Temple when they were on duty and that they were exempt from other duties because they worked day and night as musicians. We also know that the Levite Priests were able to eat from the sacrifices brought to the Temple.

Therefore, we can conclude that at the very least the Levite musicians’ expenses were covered. In addition, Jesus said, “…the worker deserves his wages” (Luke 10:7 NIV). Thus, one could make the case that musicians who work in the church could at times receive payment for their services.

That leads us to the practical side of considering whether or not someone should be paid on our teams. Beyond the obvious question of whether our church can afford to pay someone, we need to ask four questions regarding that person before we make a decision to pay a musician or technician.

4 Things to Consider

First, we need to look at the time that will be required. How much time are we asking of this person to commit to help in our church? If it’s honoring to God to give 10% of our money as a tithe to Him, then it’s reasonable to say we can also honor Him by giving 10% of our time. If we add up the daylight hours of a workweek, that’s about 80 hours. Ten percent of 80 hours is eight hours, which is well within reason to serve in the church from week to week.

If we expect musicians to attend a rehearsal each week, by the time they get to the rehearsal location, set up their equipment, rehearse and then come back home, they’ve probably invested two or more hours during the week. On the weekend, if they come on a Sunday morning at say, 7 AM, then they rehearse and play during the services, perhaps they will have given five hours or more. That can add up to be between eight and nine hours each week. At that level of time commitment we are basically asking a volunteer to tithe their time.

On the other hand, if we also ask a musician to return on Sunday evening to play again or if we include yet another service or rehearsal during the week, then their hours at church can climb to 10 hours or more, which may exceed their tithe of time. Thus, with that much time, we may want to consider at least reimbursing some of their expenses, as they did for the Levite musicians.

The second consideration is talent. When I say talent, I mean a broader word then pure, raw talent. A lot of people have wonderful and amazing talent, yet they’ve not developed it. We need to consider both their talent and their skill level. What have they done with their natural ability? Have they got experience built in so that they are a cut above the average person as a player or a singer, or as a technical person running the sound and lights? Do they possess certain skills that would justify them being paid? That’s a subjective question. You’ll have to decide what level you consider to be professional or worthy of payment. However, if they’ve worked and invested time and money into developing their skills and their talents, then some amount of pay might be appropriate.

The third consideration is tasks.

The question we are discussing today is how can we stay fresh and focused as spiritual leaders. This is a subject I’ve been studying on a lot lately because I’ll be teaching on this very thing at a leadership workshop I’m leading in Fort Wayne, Indiana at Sweetwater Sound later this week. It’s an important topic for any leader in the church, including worship leaders.

 

Read & Rest

To stay fresh and focused, I think it’s important to read good books and to read broadly–not just books on worship, but other books as well. For instance, I just finished a book on Abraham Lincoln titled Lessons on Spiritual Leadership by Elton Trueblood. I try to read one or two books per month. I am not a voracious reader, and I don’t try to read everything that comes out. However, I think it’s important to stay fresh by keeping our minds in tune with what we can learn from books. Even if I don’t always agree with what I’m reading, it helps keep me fresh and sharp.

Something else that’s really important for spiritual leaders is rest–good old-fashioned sleep. Turn off your phone. Turn off your TV, and get to sleep earlier tonight. Be sure you allow your body the amount of rest it needs. For me, I need an average of seven and a half to eight hours of sleep each night. I don’t always get that, but I try to prioritize that much because it helps me be more focused and more effective throughout my day. Hebrews says God gives his children rest. I believe that could include physical rest in the form of sleep for our tired bodies.

The third way that I believe it’s important to maintain and refuel our freshness and our focus each day as leaders is to do what I call the “Leader’s Daily Takes.” There are three takes, to be exact, that I want to encourage you to build into your daily habit each morning.

 

Take a bath

The first daily take is to take a bath. Everybody will appreciate if you take a bath. We were visiting a church recently and the lady in front of us had apparently not had a bath in a few days. I don’t have to tell you how we knew that. The aroma around her was foul. I’m sure she is a sweet lady and maybe she couldn’t help it, but honestly she smelled bad. We honestly didn’t want to sit there anymore.

The reality is leaders need to take baths too. Spiritual leaders need to take a cleansing spiritual bath every day. Jesus said in John chapter 15:3, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you” (NIV). David prayed in Psalm 51 that God would cleanse him with hyssop. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The idea of being clean in our souls is throughout the Bible. In the first chapter of his book, Isaiah wrote, “Wash and make yourselves clean…Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:16, 18a NIV).

The idea of being washed in the blood of Jesus is a powerful reality that we take for granted. On a daily basis, as we walk through this world, we get dirty. Not only on the outside, but we also allow sins sometimes to happen and we don’t confess them immediately. Every day, like Paul, we need to die to ourselves, to die daily.

If you go to our blog post for this podcast episode, you can download a process I put together for taking a cleansing bath of confession.

Joining Dwayne in this podcast is special guest, Grant Norsworthy. To access Grant’s free training resources and his coaching opportunities, go here.

Text from Worship Q&A Podcast:

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Worship Q&A Podcast. I’m Dwayne Moore. We try to answer questions that worship leaders are asking.

We’ve got a question today that we’re asking. Is it okay to call ourselves worship leaders? What does that even mean, in context of serving in a church? Well, I got the guy that’s gonna help us get to the root of that. His name is Grant Norsworthy. He’s a speaker, instructor and award-winning musician.

[Introductions and non-scripted chat]

Here’s the question we’re asked sometimes, Grant. And that is, worship’s such a big word, is it okay to call one a worship leader? What would you suggest, if someone’s looking to craft a title for themselves? What would you suggest, and how does that play into the word worship?

Grant: Yeah, thank you. Well, I’ve thought a lot about this. And speaking on an audio podcast, you can’t see me doing that funny thing with our fingers to show quotation marks. It’s a little bit harder to communicate. It’s such a useful thing. But Sonic Flood was known as being a worship band, singing worship songs. And we were trying to give people a worship experience, quote-unquote.

And I came out of my three years in Sonic Flood impressed with this. Ah, singing songs of praise of God. Getting a group of people singing a prayer to God. Getting a group of people encouraging each other to follow Jesus with more intentionality. Having a group of people sing truth from Scripture. This is a beautiful thing. This is more powerful than I realized. This gathering of believers, and singing praises to God, is more important than I’d realized, at any point in my life. And it’s perhaps even more important than any of us realize right now.

However, the second thing I came out of Sonic Flood impressed with, was that the act of singing songs to God, in and of itself, is not worship. I don’t see the word “worship” used in Scripture–the way we use it in our culture today.

Dwayne: How do you see it used, can I ask that, in Scripture?

Grant: Well, very simply, I think we’ve gotta realize that it’s only in the last, maybe, 50 years. The word “worship” started getting used as an adjective. Worship band, worship leader, worship pastor, worship Spotify playlist. That’s very recent. Before that, it was a noun, and the noun usually meant an event. Sunday morning, we have worship. It’s this thing that happens at this time, in this building, and it’s these activities. But originally, the word “worship” was only a verb. It’s a doing word. In fact, the word “worship” wasn’t said like we say it today.

And it meant, “worth,” it was actually said like this: “worth-ship.” To ascribe value to God.

And I’ll tell you what. We could take it to this degree, too. We ascribe value to all sorts of things, all the time. What proportion of our worth-shopping is for God? We use the language worship right now to mean, usually, a gathering of believers singing praises to God. To some people, worship is a subset of the CCM music industry. And that’s if you listen to the way we speak. And the Scripture tells that the way we speak is important. So is it okay to call yourself a worship leader? That’s the point.

Dwayne: You think that we’re un-teaching something that we’d need to be teaching, by calling ourselves a worship leader?

Grant: Yeah.

Dwayne: And how so?

Every time we come together to worship our Lord on Sundays (as well as at other times), there are four goals our worship gatherings should meet. While we have quite a bit of freedom in how we go about accomplishing each goal, the goals themselves are not optional and not subject to change. They remain consistent and of utmost importance.

The first goal should describe everything from the opening song to the closing prayer. Every element in our services should exalt the Lord. It was Jesus who was lifted up on the cross. Thus, He earned the right to be lifted up in our praise because He paid the ultimate cost. Our services should, therefore, be carefully evaluated to assure that the choir, soloists and musicians all seek to point the attention away from themselves and toward the Name above every name. Visual elements like videos and dramatic skits are tremendous tools as long as they add to the theme and the ultimate direction of the service: that of pointing people to Jesus.

The second goal for every worship gathering is to exhort the lambs. The music and the other elements should involve some moments that deliberately encourage and challenge others in God’s family. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Encourage one another and build each other up.” After walking through this world during our work or school week, everyone of us as believers could stand some revitalizing and encouraging by being with God’s people in God’s presence. That’s why we should look around every Sunday for someone we can brighten with our smile and our joyful song!

The third goal is to evangelize the lost. That is not to say that every song and testimony and announcement has to be aimed straight at non-believers. No, we’ve just seen how that every service should include elements specifically designed to exhort and encourage believers. However, we cannot and dare not ignore those who need our Lord so desperately. After all, it is for them that we have been left on this earth. We are to “show forth the praise of Him who called us” (1 Peter 2:9). What better time to show forth His praises to them than during our worship and praise gatherings? Our prayer and intention should always be that many will “see our praise and fear and trust in the Lord” (Psalm 40:3).

The fourth goal of every worship gathering is to engage the listeners. What we do should be interesting to those in the audience. Whatever we do should be done with excellence. God deserves no less than our best and so does the congregation! While it is not our responsibility as worship leaders to entertain them, it is most certainly our responsibility to offer them plenty of reason to want to listen, watch and participate.

When we sit down to plan the elements and flow for each week’s services, we should first pray and ask God to help us plan for and reach these goals. Then, before we finalize any worship order we should carefully think through that order in our minds, asking ourselves, “Will this worship set meet all four goals?” We should never be satisfied with what we’ve scheduled until we can say a resounding yes! to that all-important question.

Want to LISTEN to this article? Go to our Podcast Page.

In this Worship Q&A podcast Dwayne has a conversation with fellow NLWI team members, Jordan Hutton and Donald Kutala, who head up NLWI’s missions efforts.

Topics covered in this podcast include:

* Local missions ideas to get your worship team “outside the walls” of your church ministering in your community

* Why African worship leaders needs US worship leaders and teams to help them

* How you can connect with an African worship leader for a 6-month sponsorship

Interested in being a sponsor to an African worship leader this Fall? Want more info on our missions opportunities? Then please go here. 

Podcast Text:

Hey, everyone. Welcome to The Worship Q&A Podcast. I’m Dwayne Moore. Each week we try to answer questions that worship leaders are asking. Today, we are addressing the question of, “How do I get my worship team involved with missions?” You can read this podcast on our blog site at NextLevelWorship.com/blog or you can listen to it in this recording right now.

Today is a unique day because I’ve got a couple of my dear friends who are on our team, Jordan Hutton and Donald Kutala, and they are joining us here. We are here in Botswana. We’re doing this with us three sitting around the table here, so it may sound a little bit echoey, but that’s because we got one microphone and we’re in an echoey room in a hotel, but we are excited.

Donald Kutala: Very excited to be part of Next Level Worship. What an impact it is making in Africa. And we bless the Lord for what Next Level Worship is doing here in Africa.

Dwayne Moore: Amen. Well, we have been doing a tour, an African, tour of four countries. We’re on our second country, but let’s jump into this question of how can a worship team get involved with missions. What an idea to get them outside the walls of the church in some capacity. And, Jordan, I’m going to refer to you to start with. I know you’ve got some experience with that with your team in the past. Why don’t you tell us about that?

Jordan Hutton: I love this question. Here at Next Level Worship, big believers that worship and missions go together. And when you live a life of worship, it leads us to live a life on mission for God, and that means that we serve others. So I think starting locally is really important. If you’re going to start locally, there’s some great things you can do with your team. Maybe you can take your whole team and do a worship set in a nursing home and serve those people. Take some cookies and get to know those people and pray with them and encourage them and serve them however you can.

Maybe you can take your team out and do something in your community, but anything that’s serving other people and living that life of worship, you’re ingraining that in your tea. And starting locally is an awesome way to begin answering this question of how we get our team involved in missions.

Dwayne Moore: That is. To add to that, about Christmas–of course, there’s other things during the year that I guess what we need to do–but at Christmastime we actually went out into homes, and we didn’t walk down the street caroling. We went into someone’s home and let that home host us. And that home invited their neighbors to come in and they sat there and listened to us sing, but then we shared the Christmas story and shared the gospel.

So, there are ways you can go out into your community and make an impact, and I do agree. Acts 1:8 says,

A couple of years ago Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox asked me to write an article about using visual art in worship services. Here is an updated version of that article…

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]If one has ever questioned the need of visual art in worship, all he or she needs to do is consider the priority our Creator placed on creativity and beauty.[/perfectpullquote]

Mandate

If one has ever questioned the need of visual art as a part of worship, all he or she needs to do is consider the priority our Creator placed on creativity and beauty when He made this universe and more specifically our world. His wonderful creation is awe-inspiring and breathe-taking! Obviously, God’s creative handiwork is intentional. Look at the diversity and colors of animals, the sky with clouds and constellations, and even flowers and plants. God purposefully made what we see around and above us to be more than just functional. God designed everything, including all of nature, so that it would point us back to Him.

No doubt that is what the shepherd, David, realized as he lay on a hillside night after night staring up at the stars. David recognized the profound purpose of those twinkling lights shining down on him. What he saw inspired him to worship. That’s why he opened the 19th Psalm with these words, “The heavens declare the glory of God.”

God’s priority on the visual is not just evident in His creation. Throughout Scripture there are certain worship experiences with stunning visual effects to enhance the experience. For example, in Isaiah 6, Isaiah saw the Lord. From that vision, he was able to write about the Lord being high and lifted up and the train of His robe filling the temple. And think about the service in Revelation 4 and 5: In John’s description of that great, yet-to-be worship service in heaven, the aspects most impacting and significant were not those he heard, but rather those he saw. John saw the occupied throne in heaven. John saw the elders and living creatures. More importantly, John saw the Lamb of God, looking as if He had been slain. John was drawn into that unfathomable moment, and he was brought to his knees in worship because of what he was privileged to see. This is the powerful effect of the visual when it comes to worship services. Visual art can appeal to our senses and move our souls.

Throughout church history art has been used to draw people closer to Christ and reveal His glory. In early times, drawings, paintings, and even stained glass windows were used to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to those who were illiterate. Churches often designed their buildings in such a way that those who entered would feel as though they were in a holy place and different world. Columns and arches were meant to point to the heavens so that one’s full attention could be directed toward God and His beauty.

Motivation

John Piper wrote, “If you are God, your work is to create out of nothing. If you are not God, but like God–that is, if you are human–your work is to take what God has made and shape it and use it to make Him look great.” Our greatest and most important reason for anything we do in corporate worship should be to glorify the Lord. And what better way to make Him “look great” than through art that people can see?

Scripture indicates that people without Christ can be drawn to Him through seeing His attributes in nature. Because of this, Romans 1:20...