Firstly, you are CALLED to lead worship and if you are called then you are gifted to lead it. then you must understand your purpose. This is (should be) the purpose of a worship leader: to lead people into the presence of God through heart-felt, soul-changing, and God-focused worship. You must point people to the awesome, powerful, God of the universe.

Secondly, worship leaders who have achieved an excellence in their ministry through a vocal gifting will generally do well on American Idol because they have to command a performance-like atmosphere on a consistent basis for however many services they lead worship in.

So, having established those two principles, here is the point. Worship leaders have a charge and that is to attract the attention of the congregation and refocus that attention on God and His attributes in order to create a desire to worship the triune God. If I as a worship leader set foot on the stage at American Idol, I must treat that stage as an altar in the sanctuary of God’s house and I must look to create an atmosphere of worship. Just like people don’t always come to church to worship God, people in the audience of American Idol and the TV viewers aren’t looking to worship God. So, as a worship leader I must be transparent so thay when I worship they see God and not me. An easier way to understand is to say it like this: a cup doesn’t get the glory for what comes out of it, the creator of the beverage does. American Idol asks the singer to point to the cup and not the creator of the gifting in the cup.

So, why can’t I go and focus on Christ? American Idol has a certain set of songs that you are able to perform. This makes judging songs and your performance of them much easier. Ironically, none of these songs point to God. Therefore, as a worship leader I am forced to cover my light on stage because none of the songs allow me to pointthe focus to God. They bring focus to nothing and cause people to look at me for my gifting.

The best worship leaders create a worship experience in which they become transparent and only Christ can be seen. Yes, God requires excellence in our ministry and the improvement of our gift, but the moment that we use that gift to advance our own status and not His status, we become proud in His eyes. We should seek the favor of God and not the favor of men.

Is it any different than a bi-vocational pastor who is successful in his part-time secular job and all who work with him in that job see the Love of Christ in all he does without him even having to say or preach a thing?

This is really what I was trying to say. :-)

To me, it does matter if Danny or any other Idol contestant is a worship leader. I’m not calling him or anyone else out as seeking a life of sin or being in disobedience to God or anything so harsh. I’m simply saying that if one is called to lead God’s people in worship within the local church, putting that on hold to go on American Idol isn’t something I see as reasonable. If one is going on Idol to show the love and truth of Christ, then why get involved in the media hype, the demands of being away from family while on the road touring, the temptation to make it about ones self and less about God, and seek to make a lot of money? Jesus wasn’t about making lots of money. He wasn’t about bringing fame to himself.

If an American Idol winner drew attention to God by his actions/lifestyle, character, integrity, etc. that is a great thing. However, in the context of doing such things while on the road looking to *perform* in front of people for money and popularity just kinda rubs me the wrong way. It would be like me being on tv or the radio and getting paid based on how many people I could impress with my ability to speak, but never preach the gospel…I would just speak about anything because I had a gift of having a good speaking voice. Then, when the money dried up and my record company or tv production studio dropped because I was out of favor, I went back to the church and started preaching because there was nothing left for me in Hollywood.

If I work in a secular job (which I do actually) and interact with non-Christians, then I can be light and salt and that is part of my purpose here on earth. When I change that and make it about how popular I can be and the money that comes with that lifestyle, that is when it goes to a different playing field.

Honestly, I had no issue with this until something just spoke to me last week and I felt as if it was something for me to look at from a Scriptural perspective. In the end, if my opinion on this issue isn’t valid to others, that’s quite okay. It’s how I’m feeling at the moment and I was curious to see how others felt about it. Obviously, it seems like everyone else is encouraging of worship leaders being on Idol. To me it’s kinda like that wold in sheep’s clothing…something of the world that has slyly let us think we can be an Idol and still honor God with no problem. The two conflict with each other in my book.

Much love back at ya bro! Thanks for taking the time to share your opinion. I appreciate you friend!

PS. Biblically right or wrong, no matter what any of us do God will get the glory anyways…he reigns supreme! :)

In essence, you are saying that it is wrong for Christ-followers to be successful in the world? I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that. Should it matter if Danny is a worship leader or not? No.., he has been given a gift by God and if he is giving Glory to God for that gift and in the use of that gift – whether he becomes famous or not, isn’t that really the most important thing? For instance, say Danny wins – His actions, his lifestyle, character, integrity, etc…., will be scrutinized – let’s say he lives for Jesus to fullest in the midst of all that, and all the world sees that – isn’t that also Kingdom Living and Missional/ Incarnational living?

Anyway.., I see nothing wrong with Danny or anyone doing this – as long as Jesus/God get all the Glory and Cred!

Much Love bro!

In His Love,

Richie

If I were a Christian and called by God to share light in the world through secular music, that would be much different than being someone called to lead worship in the local church going out and doing that, while still trying to maintain their role in the church. Worse yet, when a worship leader gains stardom in the world of secular music, what happens once that gig is up? Can they just go back to leading worship and not have a rockstar attitude? I think the lines get blurred and temptation, as you stated, becomes very tough to overcome.

No worship leader has won the Idol competition so it’s all speculative at this point, but my main purpose behind the post was how this situation relates to Scripture.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!! Especially considering your position as a gifted musician & worship leader in the local church :)

The argument here seems to be followers of Christ (worship leaders) pursuing worldly things (fame and fortune)? If that is the case, I agree with you fully, Dave. The only thing is, no one knows the heart of those who are pursuing American Idol aside from God. Those things you described are definitely real temptations if one chooses to pursue the path of that TV show, but in the end, only God knows of their real motives.

Heck, I think I would try out for it just to see how far I can go and how much fun I can have. Fame doesn’t interest me, but getting Jesus into the lives of people do. But being realistic, many would probably cave into the temptations, myself included. But that doesn’t mean that God wasn’t calling them to jump into the heart of the American culture to plant some seeds.

So the bottom line, I agree with what you are saying. However, I also do not claim to know their hearts so it is not my place to criticize those worship leaders that pursue American Idol.