Rock Star to Worship Leader

I have to admit that looking back in time does give me a little better perspective about what I was encountering at such a very young age. I had just left the rockin' roll world, got married, gave my life to the Lord, did the work of an evangelist, moved to Pittsburgh to eventually become a worship leader. That's a lot of stuff in a span of about 5 years. Young Christian rockin' rollers were springing up all over America. They didn't call it "Contemporary Christian Music" back then. They didn't call it anything. Early on in the 70's young christian songwriters and musicians were madly in love with their new found life in Christ and they wrote songs about their faith and experiences. The motivation for all the music had nothing to do with recording their songs for commercial use.

I was one of those young christian rockers and I had no desire to take my new songs to a record company. They were songs from my heart. Many of my songs were about struggles in life and spiritual warfare with God's enemy. My songs were testimonies of my life in Jesus. Some were joyful, some were sad, some were combative. The psalms of David were much like my songs. He had his ups and downs emotionally and so did I. I remember how well my songs were received by the young people in Follansbee and how the Lord used my songs to bring many to repentance and into His saving grace.

I would often teach some of my songs to the folks at the church. I felt very comfortable doing those songs because they were directed by the Holy Spirit in my heart. They had such life changing power. I also was learning how to lead the congregation into worship with songs written by songwriters of worship music. They were usually simple little praise songs and usually repetitive. Some of the songs had some elaborate arrangements as well. I felt a bit out of my element but I gave it a go anyway. The folks in the church were so excited about the new music and were supportive of my role as a worship leader. I had my doubts at times.

I remember one of the elders saying that it seemed that the songs that I had written reached a higher spiritual plateau when I did them verses the other songs. I had always hoped that Pastor Ron would tune in on that elders discernment but Ron was convinced that I needed to be stretched in that area and that it was good for me to learn and teach other music.

In hindsight I can see how church and church services can get in the way of what God is doing in the hearts of people. The musical deposit that the Lord put in my heart was now being interrupted by songs that He already gave to others. Pastor Ron did not intend to curtail my songwriting but probably did not fully recognize what God was doing in me at the time. This is another path of good intentions that I see occurring all over the church in America. The meeting and or church service can often take precedence over much of what God is doing in the hearts of his people. I didn't recognize it at the time and neither did Pastor Ron. Hindsight makes it easier to understand. Now, if we could only learn from what history teaches us.

Next up...

The Young Elder