Serving In Solidarity
By Aaron Keyes
For five years my wife and I have invited worship leaders from around the world to spend a season in our home, learning, growing, and soaking in the Lord. The experience has been unreal; we’ve had people stay anywhere from a week to six months and each time we launch another one of these leaders out, we sense God’s affirmation.
One of the first things we do is to take them to our senior pastor’s house. We eat dinner, laugh, and share stories, often until late in the night. I hardly think anything of it, but our guests don’t stop talking about it. Apparently, a friendship between a worship pastor and a senior pastor is rare. This has to change.
Several worship “movements” are having major impact in a lot of churches. They each share a common denominator: intentional solidarity between the senior leadership and the worship leadership. For instance, Passion isn’t just Louie Giglio; it’s Louie and Chris Tomlin. Hillsong’s not just Brian Houston; it’s Brian and his worship-leading son Joel. At Bethel Church, the “Jesus Culture” HQ, Bill Johnson’s son Brian is the primary worship pastor.
Interesting.
In 2 Kings 3, Elisha was beginning his prophetic ministry. He had Elijah’s “double portion” and had shown signs and wonders – but the king was asking him to prophesy. He made an interesting request in verse 15: “Bring me a harpist.” Seems like an odd time for a jam session, but watch what happened: “While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came on Elisha.”
Elisha’s prophetic potential wasn’t released until the musician played. This shows a connection between the musical and the spiritual. Think of David playing his harp for Saul; under demonic stress, Saul found deliverance through David’s guitar playing.
I’d venture to say that if it weren’t for Tomlin, Louie would not have the voice that he does. (And visa-versa.) If not for the music of Hillsong, the teaching influence wouldn’t be what it is today. The same is true for Bethel without Jesus Culture. There’s a spiritual aspect to this beyond the successful marketing and popularity of music. God is looking for teams who lead in solidarity, and He releases more into relationships than individuals.
I’ve experienced this personally. When I have a close relationship with a pastor, as opposed to a pastor whom I’ve just met, I experience a real difference when leading worship singing. The significance of that connection cannot be overstated. A word from a friend I love brings something out of me that wouldn’t be released any other way.
There are scores of great preachers who are widely respected and regularly heard via podcast and broadcast. There are just as many great worship music leaders. If we want the hand of the Lord to move on our ministries, then we must align ourselves - worship leaders and senior pastors - with one another.
Listen to Aaron's song "Raised Me Up" below and make sure to get the chord chart for it too!
BONUS: Aaron's website features tons more chord charts for "Dwell" ... click here to check it out! |
