Aside from singing songs, leading the church to praise, worship leaders exhort too.
Exhort: a gift-mark of a true worship leader
Proof? Not just 1 verse but 150 chapters of the bible can support this claim – the book of Psalms. Most of it has been written by worship leaders, and arguably all of it was dedicated to worship and leading worship. Studying the worship leaders of the Bible can tell us that the worship leaders often use exhortations to usher the people in the realm of worship.
What is an exhortation? It came from root word “exhort” which is synonymous to spur, persuade, or push.
In exhorting, we don’t beg people to worship God nor do we coerce them. We use the power of persuasion – we need to say something very convincing that will push them to act, in this case, that will push them to worship.
Exhortation is both an anointing and an art – an anointing because it is not just a beautifully crafted words, it has to be Holy Spirit – inspired. But it is an art because it has to be a quip of beautifully crafted words. It is a learned ability. It is done with preparation and prayer.
There are 2 designs of exhortation, horizontal and vertical:
- Horizontal – communicative approach; exhorts and communicates to the congregation; done when there is a need to connect people to the mood of worship, usually in middle-part worship or introducing a song;
- Vertical – prayerful approach; talks to God directly; done when the Church has already connected to God, usually ending a high praise.
