I suppose that conventional wisdom would say that the two predictors of whether a church has quality worship services or not is the effectiveness of the preacher to communicate and the quality of the music.

I wouldn't.  At least not fully.

Authentic worship has more to do with our willingness to take the focus off of the worship leaders and put it on God.   Which takes good leadership.  If the worship leaders' hearts are in the wrong place, they will distract the people from entering into the presence of God and worshiping Him in Spirit and in truth even if they hit every note in the song  and give the right vocal inflection at the right place in the sermon.   The heart is the key.

EXCELLENT OR AUTHENTIC?

But it take more than just "a good heart."  If the music stinks and the preacher stumbles over every other word, the worshipers are distracted from God and stumble over their leaders instead of bump into the presence of their God.  The number one value of postmodern worship may be authenticity, but that doesn't mean excellence doesn't matter.  It does.  My friend Josh Hunt teaches that small group leaders and Sunday School teachers have to teach a halfway decent lesson, "nothing less will do" he says.  His standard is "halfway decent."  Halfway decent may not be a high enough standard for our worship services, but certainly they don't have to be perfect.  Which is good news for everyday, ordinary, run of the mill preachers like me.  Any of you breathing a sigh of relief too?

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not promoting mediocrity.  All of us should be evolving, improving and becoming the best us we can be.   Excellence isn't a bad pursuit, unless it gets in the way of authenticity.

Being real is the ride.  People won't follow you if you're not real.  They won't follow your leadership in general and specifically, they won't follow you into worship.  In his book, An Unstoppable Force, Erwin McManus writes, "Leadership is not simply about setting the course or steering the course; it's about running the course." (An Unstoppable Force, p. 74 )

When we live what we say we believe, people are willing to follow, but if we are so busy ordering other people's lives that we never get our own life in order, they will ridicule us in private and ignore us in public. 

Romans 14:22 says,  "The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves." (NASB)

The task then is to be authentic, without completely punting on the whole excellence thing.

WHAT IS POSTMODERN MUSIC?

There is something real and gritty about the music postmodern worship leaders select for their worship services.  Whether it is Gregorian chanting, the prayers of the early church fathers set to music, ancient hymns or 21st Century music, leaders are selecting the music that has theological rigor and has the artistic integrity to help usher the worshipers into the presence of God.  Though some churches have settled on a "style" others have a rather eclectic feel to them using one thing and then another. 

I was impressed by most of the music I heard while visiting Churches while I was writing my book, Future Church: Ministry in a Post-Seeker Age .  For example, I was impressed with these churches and worship leaders that I'd advise you to check out for yourself:

First, check out the Service Pastor's website from Sandals Church, Riverside.  Pastor Matt Brown makes no bones about the fact that Sandals really took off when they added Carlos to the staff.  He impresses me.  Check out his website and order his new CD.

Second, check out some of Josh Fox's work.   Josh has a gentle spirit and like his partner in ministry, Dan Kimball has a real humble heart.  Josh does more than lead people in worship, he worships in front of the people he leads.  Josh has some CDs available that you can get too.

Third, click on some of the music resources from Mars Hill Church.  I'm not sure how many bands they have now because they've grown quite a bit since I worshiped with them, but they write all their own stuff and are off the charts creative.  You can see what they're up to at:
 

God is the focus of postmodern worship, music isn't.  But worship leaders are using the music to put the spotlight on God.

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