Keep teaching these things and may God increase your platform that you can continue to go forth and spread this message, and where you can not go, i pray that the seeds you have already sown increase and produce more fruits that this message of excellence may spread throughout the body of Christ.

I found your website while searching for remedies for a sticking low C# on a Keilworth pro tenor. It is refreshing and encouraging to learn of other sax players who use their musical giftings in worship. It is my observation that contemporary improvisation during worship is really another way of saying that we are minstrels.

In addition to playing in worship for many years, I have also played professionally in secular venues. I am convinced that while the listeners in secular jazz venues enjoyed listening to me play, what they were really attracted to (without their being aware of it) was the anointing of the Lord on my playing. That said, I believe we must continually play skillfully and seek to “speak” through our instruments. As musicians, we must allow the Holy Spirit to play through us.

Blessings,

Derek Hudson,
Inspired Jazz

You state that in your training session for worship leaders “we repeatedly stress the need for an ongoing, increasingly intimate rapport with the Holy Spirit. Music is like manna; it becomes stale in an instant, if we fail to daily seek a deeper union with God.” I believe that the connection (between music and the Holy Spirit) is even stronger than you imply — namely, that music IS rapport with the Holy Spirit.

Viewed thus, the role of the worship leader (as contradistinct from the pastor) is clear: first, the worship leader (and the other musicians involved) reconnect themselves to the Holy Spirit, and then the others present (through listening and, better, singing) “piggyback” on that connection. (Of course, this is done with the pastor’s consent and participation, but not as the “leader” — unless the pastor also happens to be a musician.)

Consequently, it is essential that the worship leader (and all of the other musicians as well) be skilled in allowing the Holy Spirit to express through the music. The musicians are the “channel,” the intermediary, the messenger — the music is the message. A quotation from an advertisement for a new Steven Halpern CD makes the point: “As soon as I sat down at the piano, I was instantly aware that my fingers were being moved across the keyboard by an unseen force. It was as if the music had a life of its own.”

How to do this? At a risk of injecting an idea that may shock some readers, I will cite the words of a shaman — my dictionary defines “shaman” as a person who functions (simultaneously) as both a priest and a doctor — namely, don Juan Matus, the teacher of Carlos Castaneda. He says (repeatedly) that the greatest impediment to becoming a shaman (who also serves as a channel for “spirit”) is “self-importance.” Another way to say this is “inflated or overactive ego.” So, paradoxically, the worship leader has to lead by getting his/her ego out of the way. If he/she is caught up in how great a musician (or person) he/she is, the worship and the worshippers will never get to “How Great Thou (God) Art.”

How to lead without excessive ego? The books (numbering about 15) on “servant leadership” by the late Robert K. Greenleaf (1904-1990) are a good place to start. (One of them is even entitled “The Servant as Religious Leader.”) You can find out more at the Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership (www.greenleaf.org), where his work is being carried on.

BTW, getting one’s ego under control is also essential in jazz improvisation. That’s the connection between jazz and spirit (yes, the Holy Spirit). You can get a glimpse of that by reading the autobiographies of jazz greats, although it’s often like finding needles in the proverbial haystacks as they describe their personal struggles in connecting with the Holy Spirit. (Some of them looked in rather strange places, including drugs, sex, etc., but various spiritual leaders and practices have sometimes done the same.)