What is a worship leader? How do they lead worship? For many years, I thought that the job of a worship leader was to be a public worshipper and by doing that, those watching could just follow along and have an encounter with God. Now, I’m not so sure. Last month I attended a worship leader’s conference at Elim Bible Institute in Lima, NY. Despite a few administrative problems with the event, I had a great time and really learned a lot. For example, I learned that the job of a worship leader is to take the heart of the people (the congregation) to God and the heart of God to the people. To do the job, the leader has to discern where the congregation’s focus is that morning. Then lead the church in prayer and confession of that state. For example, if the body shows up and is feeling separated from God, then the leader needs to be praying something like “God, we feel so far from you.” From what I gather, people don’t always know what state they are in, and this way people can be led to a starting point. Once everyone is on the same page and they understand where they are, the leader can start to bring the mind of God to the situation. In this case, speaking the Word with scriptures about how God continues to think about us and will never leave us may be just what the people need. Most of the time, these prayers, confessions, and words of wisdom can be shared between the songs that are being sung. A skilled leader will be able to fit the message of the songs selected into these prayers and vice-versa.