Worship Leading from Worship Leaders

Continuing my update on the NWLC (National Worship Leader Conference), I want to focus on learning about how to lead worship from some of the most beloved and respected worship leaders in the world today. The theme for this year's conference was to "Do This in Remembrance of Me" which is found in a number of places in Scripture include Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22: 14-19, 1 Cor 11:20-34 (usually when a phrase or word is mentioned multiple times its very important and indeed it is in this case)...Jesus said these words at the Last Supper when the disciples partook of communion with Him. Over 2000 years later, we still "do this in remembrance of Jesus". We are called to be in communion with Jesus and I believe the pinnacle of this communion is worship. The heart of worship is us (the frail, weak, and unfit believers) finding the heart of Jesus (the perfect, good, and mighty servant-king).

Right now, I just want to thank everyone who helped put together this conference in California this year (the first time this has happened in CA in many years from what I understand). So the list of this year's worship leaders included: William McDowell, Lincoln Brewster, Free Chapel, The Neverclaim, Kari Jobe, Elevation Worship, Rick Founds, Shelly Johnson, Evan Wickham, The Royal Royal, Holland Davis, Brenton Brown, Tommy Walker, One Sonic Society, Christine D'Clario, Travis Ryan, and some more who were not even on the schedule of events. NWLC was a great place of worship and fellowship! So with all these well-known and world-touring worship leaders, what did I learn?

I shared two Sundays ago the illustration that Lincoln Brewster shared with us. Sometimes, we really need to surrender to God and one way we show this is our posture before God. In my paraphrased memory, Brewster shared this, "First, if you go to foreign country and someone points a gun to your head, what is your first natural response? Well, most of us know the universal sign of surrender is to raise our hands right. Second, when a child wants to be hugged or carried by his father, what does the child do? The child raises his arms up to show that he or she wants to be carried by their father." Well, isn't our heavenly Father looking for our surrender to Him? God wants us to surrender to His will, We are called to give up everything for the sake of the cross and lay down our rights before Jesus. Then, we can take up the yoke of Jesus which my friends is so much lighter, easier, and better than taking up the yoke of this present world...

In the world's perspective, surrender is a sign of weakness and defeat. Military generals in the US army or any army in the world will always tell you, there is no retreat and there is no surrender. In God's perspective, however, surrender is a sign of humility and worship. God sees our posture of lifting our hands as an act of surrender when we worship Him. So my question today is how can we together change our posture before Jesus Christ? Shall we start by lifting our hands to our Maker?