Being a Chenaniah in a Land of Davids

By Raymond Tripi

To be a "Worship Leader" is to have a unique calling. Those who are not involved with the worship ministry many times misunderstand the role and function of a worship leader. Sometimes, the worship leader misunderstands their role, themselves.Worship ministry has expanded from being just song and music to include, worship drama, worship dance, worship art, etc. However, the concepts and basics of leading any of these aspects of worship are the same and can be applied to all. In the this book, Ray will attempt to draw upon the scriptures, as well as his own personal experience of over 30 years of leading worship, to put into perspective the role and function of a worship leader. Ray also desires to assist in giving practical ideas and tools for worship leaders to draw upon concerning the various aspects of worship ministry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raymond Tripi
• Release date: Jul 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310625848

Raymond Tripi

Ray Tripi has been leading and teaching about worship for over 35 years. He believes that “true worship” bypasses all cultural barriers and allows those involved in the worship experience to enter into pure “Throne Room” worship, for the one purpose of giving glory and adoration unto the Lord.Ray believes that our worship must transcend us from the natural into the supernatural - the spirit realm. Our worship must not be something we do at specific times but rather it must become a lifestyle, an attitude of the heart, which then allows the true worshipper to enter into the presence of the One who alone is worthy to be worshiped and glorified. He believes that, “Worship is not for the believer but rather it is totally unto, and for, the pleasure of our King."Ray has written over 100 worship and praise songs that have been birthed by the move of God in the ministries in which he has been involved with. He has led times of worship in venues both nationally and internationally. His desire is to train and equip both the worshipper and the worship leader to become the “true worshippers” that the Lord seeks after.Ray has also been used in the areas of teaching and writing. He has been a speaker for Corporate Gatherings, Conferences as well as Small Groups. He has established a unique small group and corporate gathering format known as "BibleShare." He has written many books and study guides as well as many, many essays on relevant topics for the Body of Christ today.Ray is passionately married to Trish and together they have nine children and fifteen grandchildren, and counting — grandchildren that is!!

Book preview

Being a Chenaniah in a Land of Davids

Copyright 2015 Raymond Tripi

Published by Raymond Tripi at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Who Are These Guys?

The Role of a Worship Leader

Desires and Goals of Worship Leading

Going Through the Gate of Worship

The Unknown Worship Leader

Maintaining Your Spiritual Growth

Do You Have a Personal Passion and Love for Worship

Worship and the Priesthood

Being Carriers of God's Spirit and Couriers of His Presence

Continuity and Flow in Worship

Origins of Music

The Proper Order of Music in Worship

Hebraic Worship

Importance of Preparation in the Leading of Worship

Some Music Terms and Definitions

The Ten Commandments for a Worship Leader

Some Final Thoughts

About the Author

Other Books and Resources from Ray Tripi

Acknowledgements

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE LORD AS AN ACT OF WORSHIP UNTO HIM

AND TO ALL YOU CHENANIAHS OUT THERE

A SPECIAL THANK YOU AND HEY TO TRISH – LOVE YOU LOTS

Cover Design by Ray Tripi

Introduction

Okay, get this picture. As a worship leader, you are all prayed up. Everything is set. You went through a good sound check previously with the worship team. You just came from the pre-service prayer in the ready room where the Spirit of God was and is still flowing. You walk on to the platform with the whole worship team. You pick up your instrument. In this case it is a guitar. The pastor begins to welcome the congregation and opens in prayer. As this is going on you begin to strum your guitar for background. Nothing happens. You keep strumming. Nothing happens. You try to get the soundman’s attention. Nothing happens. You try to get the attention of someone in the worship team but they all have their heads bowed in prayer. Nothing happens – except a deep hint of panic welling up within you. You begin to silently pray to the Lord for help. The pastor is finishing his prayer. Suddenly, it hits you. You didn’t plug the cable into your guitar. THANK YOU, LORD!!!

I know something like this has probably never happened to you. If it hasn’t, then you are probably not a worship leader. As a worship leader and even being a member of the worship team you know that stuff happens. Listen if you think that the above situation is bad, I know of two other situations that are even better than this. In one scenario, the worship leader, another guitarist (Hmmm) was in the middle of the first song when he saw someone from the congregation come up to the platform, come right next to him and whisper in his ear, Do you need this? He was holding in his hand the unplugged cable to the worship leader’s guitar.

The following is another wonderful example of a true worshipper during a time of difficulty. We had just rewired the sound system. It was a Sunday morning Service. There was really no time for a sound check. It was literally being rewired up to the time of the service. I guess you can say poor planning. However, it took longer than anyone thought it would. We start the worship and I see one of the musicians is just playing away, totally lost in the worship. I couldn’t hear him at all, but I thought it was because he was low in the monitors. After everything was finished, I went over to him and asked how everything was and mentioned that I couldn’t really hear him however it looked like he was having a wonderful time worshipping the Lord. He then proceeded to tell me that he was never plugged into the system. The sound person didn’t get to plug him into the soundboard. However, he just kept on playing. He decided he was just going to play to the Lord as he always did and as long as the Lord heard him that was all that mattered. Now that is a worshipper. But, stuff happens!! By the way, he was a guitarist. (Hmmm)

To be a Worship Leader is to have a unique calling. Those who are not involved with the worship ministry many times misunderstand the role and function of a worship leader. Sometimes, the worship leader misunderstands their role, themselves. I am aware that worship ministry has expanded from being just song and music to include, worship drama, worship dance, worship art, etc. However, the concepts and basics of leading any of these aspects of worship are the same and can be applied to all. In the following pages I will attempt to draw upon the scriptures, as well as my personal experience of over 30 years of leading worship, to put into perspective the role and function of a worship leader. I also desire to assist in hopefully giving some practical ideas to the worship leader concerning the various aspects of worship ministry.

Who are These Guys?

So who are these guys? Who is this Chenaniah? Who is this David? Well most of us have heard about King David and his life. There are many attributes to David’s life that can be applied to many different areas of our life. However, the one that we are going to focus in on is his role as a worshipper. David was known as a man after God’s own heart. He had a very close and intimate relationship with His God. We know this. It is written throughout the scriptures and seen very vividly in the Psalms that are attributed to him to have written.

David was a worshipper. He wrote songs (psalms) to the Lord that dealt with every aspect of his life. These psalms reflected David’s heart towards God. After all, the definition of true worship is that it is all about one’s attitude of their heart. David also created and developed new instruments in which to worship the Lord with. Whenever there was a time of worship going on around him, he would rush right into it with total abandon.

We see this in the account found in 1Samuel 6:12-15 and 1Chronicles 15:25-28. As they were bringing the Ark of the Covenant back into Jerusalem, David tucked in his tunic and joined right in along with the people praising the Lord with sacrifices, dancing, shouts of joy and with the sound of the trumpets. David was a worshipper.

But who is the guy Chenaniah? As we read the account in 1Chronicles 15:25-28, the tendency is to focus our attention on David and his heart of worship. However, tucked away in this passage of scripture, we see the mention of a man by the name of Chenaniah.

When we read these scriptures we many times just seem to glance over this person, who just seems to be some obscure guy who just happens to have his name mentioned in the Bible. Hmm! His name just happens to be mentioned in the Bible. Well, as we all know, there is no such thing as, just happens to be mentioned in the Bible, in the Bible.

Everything in the Word of God is there for