Epidemic Worship

I have recently been reading The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell and it is a fascinating book. It has nothing to do with worship music, but it’s a study of human behavior and how the actions of a small group of influencers can tip any kind of behavior or trend into mainstream, epidemic proportions. One case study that has really fascinated me was about the horrible problem of suicide. The study found that when a suicide happens that gets front page attention in print or television, the rate of suicide in that area goes up by several percentage points (some times as many as six or seven points) after the initial “publicized” suicide. When Marylin Monroe committed suicide, the national average of self-inflicted death went up by around seven percent for a few weeks after her death. The same phenomenon happened with death of prominent rock star Kirk Cobain. The idea suggests that the public behavior of one influential person gives permission to a whole culture of people to follow suit. The actions of one influencer “tip” the actions of a culture.
Applied to worship teams, this concept has remarkable potential to impact the Kingdom and for the one who leads the way in expression of affection to our God this idea is challenging. Does the way you lead tip the dynamic around you? Are you the kind of influencer who carries a passion for Christ so contagious that is starts an epidemic? What about the way you lead drives people into an expression that is uniquely theirs, but has it’s roots in your influence. Sometimes all people are waiting for is the teacher to tell them it’s OK to make their move.
The nature of worship leadership comes with built in influence. Most musicians have been walking through the reality that such a public and people oriented gift creates. Some do it well and others do it horribly. Most of us have been in both places. Influence is obvious for leaders; the question is what are you going to do with yours? I challenge you to start an epidemic. Use the gifts of God and position of influence to tip worship over the edge in your community. The way you live your life may be the spark that lights the faith of those around you into blazing fire. Lead loud, calling those around you into the light of Christ…pointing the way from death to life. The way you worship could be the one point in time that God uses to start the next great outbreak of salvation and awakening. Be a tipping point for an epidemic of worship.