I am learning so much about worship and what it means to lead worship. I wanted to have a place where I could keep a record of what I’m learning and share it with others. You may agree or disagree with my thoughts on here, and that’s ok! I’d love for this to be a safe place to discuss these things and wrestle with the Truth about what God says about us and what we do. I’m calling it “Heart Before Art” because that is in essence the biggest core value of mine when it comes to leading a worship ministry or serving in one. Let me tell you a little bit more about what that means to me.
I have fallen into the trap of focusing too much on the craft, our talents, our presentation…and I have seen the downfall of that misguided focus. It’s not that it’s one or the other…heart or art. It’s both! But we have to be careful of which way we are leaning towards. If it’s too much towards art, we can have a team of skilled, talented people that can execute tasks amazingly and have the appearance of perfection, but the hearts of those people are drifting further and further away from God and the heart behind what we actually are doing. On the flip side, you can have a team of people with a lot of heart and focus on Jesus, but the skills and abilities just aren’t there…and while worship may still happen, it won’t be inspiring or a good display of what God can do when we give our gifts and talents over to Him! We need to embrace this tension, but when push comes to shove, I believe it is biblical to lean towards the heart first. Here are some that come to mind…
Amos 5:21-24 (NLT)
21 “I hate all your show and pretense—
the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.
22 I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.
I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.
23 Away with your noisy hymns of praise!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice,
an endless river of righteous living.
Jon Foreman wrote a song based on these verses. Take a listen.
Psalm 51:16-17 (NLT)
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NLT)
1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Matthew 5:23-24 (NLT)
23 “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
Matthew 23:1-12 (NLT)
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’
8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Matthew 23:27-28 (NLT)
27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
In all of these references, the theme is the same. Your heart is more important to God than what you do or bring or make. There are things we can do that can make us look “good” or “holy” on the outside, but if the inside is dead, what’s the point?! I’m sure there are 100 more verses about this, but this was enough for me to get the picture. If Jesus is more focused on the heart, than we need to be too!
We can’t discount the power of the Holy Spirit in all of this either! In the book Creativity, Inc by Ed Catmull (president of Disney Animation and Pixar) it is mentioned that Pixar learned early on that if they got the story right, the audience would have more grace for poor or unfinished animation because they were so swept away by the story. I believe the same thing happens in a worship service. When the hearts of the people serving are completely focused on Jesus and the Holy Spirit has control of that room…there is grace for countless mistakes and missed cues. Perfectionists just cringed as they read that, but it’s true! Now, this is not an excuse to do our job poorly, but it does let us off the hook of having to be perfect! After all, if we were able to be perfect in ourselves, then Christ died for nothing! But it is Christ that makes us perfect! How are we letting Him fill in the holes and shine through the services that we put together?
This is what I mean when I say “Heart before art” and this is the ministry that I have been called to.
heartbeforeart 
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