Prior to a pastors meeting one day I walked into the office of a fellow pastor at my church. He was setting with his back to me strumming a guitar and trying to tune it. I offered to help and he turned around…

To my surprise I saw a low-end Epiphone made more "valuable" with the signatures of the artist who played a Celebrate Freedom Concert, put on by the nations largest CCM radio stations. It seems the guitar was auctioned to raise money for charity, and somehow it ended up being given to our church.

I got a few strange looks when I said “Wow what a perfect example of the sinful state of the Church today! That we ask for the signatures of our worship leaders as if they are rock stars!” I laughed it off and pretended I was kidding…but I wasn’t.

It is kind of sad though, we make so many worship leaders “stars” and we are okay with them acting like “stars”. We find ourselves making worship leaders famous rather than seeing the fame in the God they are (supposed) to point us to. We want to be able to say that we are connected to them, know them, have met them, and we like having that proof in photo or in signature.

The truth is, we are known and loved by the sovereign God of the universe, but sometimes we forget that it’s enough. I myself once made an idol of a worship leader I looked up to. When I met him and had dinner with him, I was let down, he was not such a nice guy. He was not worthy of my idolotry, and he definitely never endured the wrath of God on my behalf!

The guitar hangs proudly on my office wall. It comes in handy sometimes to figure out a chord or two while writing charts. But other than that, it's really just a cheap guitar.