The Evolution of the Worship Leader

Deep V-neck shirts. Designer jeans. Custom Toms. Messenger bags holding an assortment of Apple products.  Salon hair massaged with product. Perhaps even a tattoo peaking out of a flurry of chest hair. No, it’s not a contestant from Design Star, its probably your worship leader.

Styles have always changed and adapted, and modern worship leaders have always had their own sub-culture: a mix between tradition and MTV.  Yesterday it was Journey and the NIV, today its Coldplay and Bible iPhone apps. Native habitats of the modern worship leader include the Apple Store, Buckle, American Apparel, indie record stores, and any place serving hummus.

Today’s modern worship movement features songs steeped in programming, delay, 4 on the floor kick patterns, and every keyboardist’s nightmare: pads. The environment has changed as well. Floor monitors are replaced with in-ears, set list CD’s are replaced with Planning Center, and PowerPoint is replaced with Propresenter. Concert lighting and fog machines help set the mood. Popular songs include All Because of Jesus, Song of Hope, How He Loves, and Everlasting God.

Now these are of course generalities that don’t begin to sum up all of the different styles and genres we have today. Additionally, none of these observations question the integrity or leadership of an individual. These observations may not describe your resident worship leader, but I think we can agree that we have, at one point or another, come into contact with this “modern” or  “pop” leader.

But where have we come from? What trends have we come out of? Let’s take a look at some of the roots of today’s modern style worship leader. We will discover some key qualifiers to help you identify some stylistic evolutions.

Frankie Says Lift Your Name on High

Mullets, perms, silk shirts, and Dockers (acid wash jeans for the contemporary service). Perhaps a pastel jacket paired with penny loafers. These are a few identifiers of the 80’s worship leader. Songs tended to drip with chorus and flanger, and bands took their cues from sheet music. The 80’s worship leader favored colored, foam-topped mics for the vocalists.  Almost every song had an electric guitar or synth solo, and the drum sets had to be loaded in through the bay doors in back (thanks, Phil Collins). Musical weapons of choice included Kurzweil and Roland keyboards, Yamaha baby grands, and Jackson electric guitars with Picasso paint jobs (the acoustic guitar was still to come as a worship regular).  Regardless of service or style type, a Bolo tie was always the right choice for neck dress. Key 80’s worship songs include As The Deer, The Battle Belongs to the Lord, Awesome God, and of course… Lord I Lift Your Name on High.

Hootie Could Sing of Your Love Forever

The 90’s worship leader loved technology. Cell phones were usually clipped onto a leather-braided belt just below a tucked in short sleeve shirt (perhaps Tommy Bahama). Acid washed jeans began to give way to stone washed, and Bolo’s gave way to “sport your flare” ties.  The outdated “mic on a stand” was replaced with the headset mic…though the huge mic capsule and foam cover stayed (this is an important factor…it allows you marvel at the fact that YOUR worship leader has a HEADSET mic).  This was of course attached to a belt pack the size of a VCR (clipped next to the cell phone). Drum sets were replaced with every sound guy’s dream: electric drums. Tube amps were replaced with solid state and guitar effects were replaced with the multi-effects processor. Acoustic guitars replaced the keyboards as the main worship instrument, and Ovations were the acoustic guitar of choice. If you ever had to lead a song from the baptismal you were good to go…those synthetic bodies wouldn’t warp in water! Shakers, chimes, and percussion sets rounded out the 90’s worship sound.  Sheet music was replaced with chord charts, and the overhead projector gave way to PowerPoint. The 90’s featured “worship choruses” which would become the staple among church services for years to come. Key 90’s worship songs include: I Could Sing of Your Love Forever, Open the Eyes of My Heart, Shout to the Lord, and Better is One Day.

Clash of the Worship Titans

The 5-year period after the turn of the millennium brought some very memorable styles within the worship leading culture, including an array of Christian slogan shirts. In the event someone wasn’t sporting Abercrombie, you might catch him or her in a “Know Fear,” “Pick Jesus,” or “His Pain, Your Gain,” shirt. These were of course accented with puka shells, leather sandals, and cargo shorts. Hair was spiked with some good old L.A Looks, and bleached tips ran rampant. Carabiners replaced cell phones as the belt décor of choice, and jeans began to see the modern age of distress and bedazzle. Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and the rest of the Passion movement dominated the late 90’s and 2000’s with anthem after worship anthem.  Following in Tomlin’s footsteps, goatees thrived (though cut shorter than the 90’s goatee…except for the case of David Crowder and Charlie Hall). Synth strings gave way to pads, drum kits began to sneak back amongst the V-Drums, and delay became a lead guitarist’s best friend. Tubes and analog tone returned among the solid-state amps and digital processing. Worship leaders began to trade in their acoustics for Telecasters and Strats and their PowerPoint slides for MediaShout. Key songs of 2000-20005 include Famous One, Blessed Be Your Name, and God of Wonders.

That brings us up to the last 5 years, where labels abound and pop culture continues to evolve.  “Traditional” seems to mean “archaic, “ contemporary” ironically now means “traditional,” and “blended” means “no one is happy”.  “Modern” gives way to “post-modern”, which gives way to “minimalism” which gives way to “neo-traditionalism”. However you label it, worship leaders continue to evolve their styles to engage and invite the surrounding communities to join in the conversation. What we call “traditional” used to be cutting edge. Many hymns were Christian lyrics set to the tunes of bar songs, so if a drunk stumbled into church they would know the melody!  The music may change but the message stays the same. The beauty of the whole thing is that worship is so much more than music. Worship is giving God the rightful place of authority in your life.  When God’s fame is the focus of your endeavors, He is glorified.  I truly believe that our God loves to hear praise in every sort of style and genre when our hearts are in the right place, though sometimes we may look a little ridiculous doing it.

So these are some of my observations… what are yours?