It was the summer of 2001, over 2000 worshiper had gathered on a beautiful Sunday morning. The musical group was up – ready to start worship. The lead pastors were standing behind the musical group (old school) up on the platform. Everyone of them fired up and ready to serve the congregation. Not to mention, they looked good in their suit and tie.

The atmosphere was charged with the supernatural presence of God, you could reach out and literally touch it. All eyes were on the King of kings until the worship leader turned around from facing the congregation toward to drummer who was immediate behind him.

It was a horrible sight to see, in an outburst of anger he scolded the drummer for missing a beat and not coming in where he was supposed to. From that point on, everything went downhill. The presence of God lifted and the expression on the pastors’ faces was nothing less than disappointing.

The worship pastor, well, that was me. I really don’t know what happened to me in that moment. Was I too concerned with the aesthetics and flow of the music? Was I in a performance mode? Was I just frustrated that my drummer wasn’t doing what we’d rehearsed all week. Did pride enter my heart.

Truth is, I really don’t know. It could have been any one of the above. All I can remember is me blasting my drummer in the middle of a Holy Ghost outpouring and seeing His presence sucked out of the sanctuary in an instant.  What really happened in that moment was me, instead of keeping everyone’s eyes fixed on Jesus, where it’s supposed to be, I placed it on myself, on my drummer and on the music.

What I learned that day was this: Whether thing go great or completely wrong during worship service, my goal as a worship pastor/leader is to stay focus on what truly matters. Worship must be Christ Centered.

Everything we do in our services must be to lift the name of Jesus up, not just to hit the right notes and come in on the right cue. Let no flesh glory in the presence of the Lord. Because,

It is not how well we sing; how well we play or how well we sound that matters. It’s about how well we decrease, so that He can increase.

Once we get that razor-sharp focus about why we do what we do in worship, nothing can take our eyes off Him. Everyone, from worship leader to the drummer must come prepared to cast aside his crown. Because worship is all about Jesus.