This past week Spence Smith wrote a great blog titled “Worship Artist vs. Worship Leader.” He has a lot of inside perspective, and knows a lot of people who are one or the other.
Some of Spence’s mains points were:
- Being an artist is a lot of pressure and work.
- Not all Christian bands or artists show Christ with their lives, actions, or words.
- There is ministry to be had for both church worship leaders and traveling worship bands/artists.
- If you want to make the transition from leader to artist you better be darn good.
This has put some thoughts in my head.
Within christian music, worship has basically become a genre, but I don’t know that I totally agree. We think of worship as songs that can be sung in church, but that is a pretty narrow view of worship. Truly, all Christian music should be worship or it isn’t really christian. There are some “Christian” bands that do less to honor God than some “secular” bands. There are a lot of Christians writing and playing in bands that do not profess to being Christian bands. There a lot of Christians playing in Christian bands who do a disservice to what Christianity is all about.
I think the ability to develop relationships with a congregation and community is something that most worship artists are starving for. They are constantly trying to write the next great song for churches and constantly traveling. I am blessed to be at a place where I serve the same area and same people week in and week out. The music we played 2 weeks still matters and the conversation we had months ago matters too. Artists like Chris Tomlin serve someone new every night. While being an artist might be really cool, I don’t know that it will always lead to a more fulfilling life.
Ever since I started playing for adults I have been told that I should record and get myself heard…that I could make it big. I guess I don’t see this as the end all. First off I don’t enjoy writing all that much. Second, I get wiped out from playing 3 or 4 times a week with practices and services, playing every night might kill me.
What do you think….
Is it really better to be a worship artist than to be a local church worship pastor?
Are all Christian bands worthy of our respect just because they call themselves Christian?
