Monday, October 13, 2008

Worship Leader Ad-Lib

I have been leading worship for about 12 years now. I have lead 5 people in a living room to leading 3000 at outdoor events and everything in-between. When I started it was "Lord I lift your name on...(pause while changing chords)...high." Worship music has come a long way since then but one thing that remains the same is what I call the "Worship Leader Ad-Lib". It sounds like this, "Lord I lift Your name on high, yes I do Lord, Lord I love to sing Your praises." See what I did there? I threw in a little extra in-between the lines, just to let everyone know that I'm serious. Here is another example: "Jesus You've become my everything, oh yeah, I will stand for You in the face of the trial." That one is a little more subtle. Darrell Evans took this art form to a level that was previously believed to be non-existent with his "Freedom" album throwing in the unforgettable gem "Come and take a spin with the Lord".

My all-time favorite however is the "Sing it out". Usually when the song has come to it's natural end but the worship leader decides to sing the chorus "one more time" he or she will give direction in the form of "sing it out" indicating that he/she expects a greater volume level from the congregation. Also "sing it out" can be used in the event that the WL forgets the words.

Here are some others:

Let's put our hands together.
Come on.
Yes You are Lord.
Oh we worship You.

*I don't know how I forgot "Lift it up"

1 comment:

  1. Greetings! I ran across your blog today, looking for insights from other lead worshipers.

    I catch myself saying or singing "here we go" and I really want to get out of the habit of using that phrase!

    I enjoyed reading your blog.

    Bill

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