No. You weren’t. God will always meet us where we are. And there are times He knows we’re faking and WHY we are. You were hurting at that moment and the warm fuzzies of worship were not there. I can’t tell you how many times I have faced a situation where warm fuzzie worship just could not come out of my mouth. I knew that what I saying or singing was just words….but I’m sure you can attest to the fact that over time it became easier and more real as you healed and as God touched your life in other valuable ways. Leading? …Tyler, sometimes you got fake a little until you get it. It’s not that you’re out of step w/ God, it’s just the “emotion” part of it isn’t in your system. Walking in Faith isn’t always going to be easy or warm & fuzzie…but Christ will always still be w/ you.

oops, ps, sometimes God uses the greatest when we are at our weakest! wink

if you were wrong then I mess up all the time. it can be viewed differently….ever heard the term “sacrifice of praise”? i’ve offered up some of those.

there’s also been times where I have walked on stage completely distracted and before it was over had an incredible encounter with God.

I’m glad is ALWAYS there….not just when we put forth enough effort.

Nope!

Paraphrasing a Larry Crabb story here… “Tears have become my greatest form of worship.” There’s something in the showing up, broken still. -K-

Nope…you were authentic and real.

Having the courage to be God’s instrument in the face of supreme sadness or anger is something every leader must face, hopefully not too often. But it has a cost – once the truth comes out about your situation, people will wonder if you are being transparent with them, and wonder if your heart is ever truly right with God. I think the answer lies in a “both-and” solution – lead, but be open about your extreme pain in the midst of it.

Of course, we can sometimes behave our way into a different kind of thinking, so “faking it” can lead to a changed heart on our part.

Your blog posts require ‘way too much thinking to comment on…

I would offer that you were being honest. It just makes me a little sad how we don’t have a context for being honest in the church though.

True story: There’s a documentary filmmaker who was just a few days shy of beginning a funded doc on Sherman’s march through the south when his girlfriend broke up with him. The subsequent documentary, titled “Sherman’s March” has NOTHING to do with Sherman and EVERYTHING to do with broken hearts.

Sometimes you just gotta throw in the towel.

You were not wrong. As a leader you were (and are) expected to lead, regardless of how you feel at the moment. Same goes for other areas of life, such as our obligation to be strong for our children, even when we don’t feel so strong at a given moment.

1.) Your mom is always right.
2.) I’m so glad your girlfriend broke up with you! It changed the course of history.

There were many weeks I played on the platform, but my mind, heart and soul were far from ‘worshipping’. Sometimes because of stuff happening in my life…sometimes because I made my problem bigger than God’s plan…sometimes I let myself distracted and thought “Why the heck did Tyler wear that shirt for 9:00 service??”

Bottom line is, I’ve faked it too.

Wait…admitting this wouldn’t get me kicked out of 2009 schedule would it?

NO! We’ve all been there. God knows our hearts.

Sometimes, as leaders, we need to “fake it” to create a place where others can meet Him. Now, if we were faking it every week… well… that would be a HUGE problem.

You know, i think words like “faked” are actually not very fair to ourselves. Think of it this way.. the human body is kinda smelly, but we wear deoderant not so much for ourselves, but more for the people around us who have to go about their business and don’t deserve to be grossed out. We are, in essence, faking a more pleasing smell than is real. It’s our duty to fake a better smell of the benefit of people around us in the same way we are obligated, as leaders, who expect us to perform, to put a smile on our face and mask whatever feeling we may be having at that moment.

Faked it? Faked it to whom?
God knows our heart and worship should be for the Audience of One, right?
We cannot “hide” anything from God. Nothing.
How many times has God used a non-Christian to send you a message…in this case, I think God used a non-worshiper to lead others into worship.
The easy thing to do would have been to say, I don’t feel like it. To burden the others that were depending on you to pick up your slack. Instead, you “manned” up to your commitment and did what you said you were going to do. How many times do you think Moses didn’t feel up to it? Or David? Or Jeremiah? Or Jesus? But still even though they were not “feeling” it…”God, why have you forsaken me?”…they stuck with their commitment. In my mind, continuing on to lead worship WAS worship of the most AWESOME kind! Sacrificial worship.

Tyler, I have been in that situation. (not literally but you know what I mean) I think as leaders we have to sometimes. I don’t call it faking it, I call it being faithful regardless of how we feel. We do it in our marriages and as parents too.