Next Wave: Worship in a New Era

by Bob Sorge

We’ll need to offer them more than playlist worship. We’ll need to offer something in the gathering that can’t be received by staying home.

The most vital, life-giving elements of worship are dynamics that can be experienced only by being present in the room. Online worship is great when it’s your only option, but it can never replace the glory of God’s house.

There are some elements of worship that can’t be accessed in an online format, and these will become increasingly precious in the lives of Jesus’ disciples.

the Lord’s Table ■laying on of hands prayer ministry ■anointing with oil ■corporate intercession ■water baptisms ■altar calls ■praying for one another ■fellowship and mutual encouragement

These aspects of worship are experienced not online but when we gather. Powerful things happen when God’s people gather together to worship! Jesus promised to be present among believers when they gather (see Matt. 18:20).

Be Present for His Presence

Corporate worship is meant to be experienced and expressed in the moment.

It’s such a vigorous and vibrant engagement with Jesus that you really have to be in the room to experience...

The Presence of Jesus is a present reality. To experience Presence,...

There’s something so present about corporate worship that, when Jesus manifests His Presence among His people, we end up saying to those who weren’t there, “You missed it! This was not the time to stay home and watch the webcast. You should have been there. God was in the house!”

Be present in His presence.

A wave of worship is coming where you’re going to want to be present in the...

I’m grateful when online services can augment what we offer and lengthen our reach,

but they can’t replace the congregation.

We know this because that’s the kind of worship we see in the book of Revelation. Congregational wors...

There’s something irreplaceable about the role of corporate worship in the life of a local church and of every believer.

In the coming wave of worship, God will be doing things in our midst that will be experienced only by those who are present.

Presence worship is the wave of the future.

WORSHIP LEADERS ARE surfers.

We’re always trying to find a wave of Holy Spirit momentum in worship, and once we’re riding it, we want to take it all the way to the shore.

As a worship leader, I’ve always connected implicitly with the imag...

surfers are always trying to get to where the big waves are.

The best waves are formed by the confluence of strong winds and a properly contoured ocean floor.

Waves come in groups—

and they said that the largest wave in a group is the middle one.

The number of waves in a group will vary, so surfers will try to figure out how many waves are...

Every wave is carefully examined so that, when the largest wave in the group begins to f...

Once surfers sense a large wave beginning to form, they’ll try to position themselves to catch it by swimming vigorously toward the sweet spot. I said, “Excuse me. Sweet spot? Waves have sweet spots?”

When the right wave comes along, there’s a sweet spot on the wave that you want to mount. If you’re a few feet to the left or to the right of the sweet spot, you may as well just let that wave go past because you’re not positioned properly to capture it.”

When it comes to the movements of the Holy Spirit in worship, I can’t ever get enough. I always want more fire, more Presence, more oil, more water, more Word, more understanding, more tears, more laughter, more visions, more angelic encounters, more glory clouds, more repentance, more water baptisms, more speaking in other tongues, more prophesying, more apostolic preaching, more terror of the Lord, more dancing, more prostrating in holiness, more healings, more authority over demonic powers, more lightnings of God, more signs and wonders, more love-sickness, more Kingdom keys, more open doors in the Spirit. I always want more!

I wanted to catch the wave but seemingly couldn’t.

but I simply didn’t experience the same power as my neighbor. I wondered, Is there something about my life that’s displeasing to the Lord?

But now I realize I wasn’t positioned at the time to catch that wave.

The wave was good, strong, energized by the Holy Spirit, and designed by God to refresh and ignite the Body of Christ, but it wasn’t my wave.

explanation of sweet spots in waves helped me interpret the disappointment I’ve experienced as I’ve watched multiple waves move right past me.

Surfers, therefore, are looking for two things.

right wave,

looking for the right placement o...

“You don’t learn anything about surfing until you get in the water.”

but you’ll never learn how to surf until you actually get in the water.

no two waves are alike.

Every engagement with the next wave will be different from anything ever before experienced.

“It’s when you’re out in the water that you learn to read the ocean.”

“Yes. Surfers learn to read the ocean. They study its movements, and with enough experience, they can learn how to anticipate what the ocean is about to do.”

Waves come with a powerful undertow. If surfers don’t read the waves wisely, the ocean can hurt them. They must learn to go after the right thing while also avoiding the wrong thing.

Those who exercise themselves at reading the ocean of the Holy Spirit’s movements can develop an ability to identify when a great wave of Holy Spirit momentum is beginning to form and can determine if they’re positioned to capture the next wave.

What can worshipers learn from these elementary principles of surfing?

Get in the water. Learn to read the ocean of God’s movem...

With their eyes they’re watching, with their feet they’re feeling, and with their hands they’re balancing. This is what worship leaders do.

JESUS TOLD US the Father is seeking worshipers who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth (see John 4:23).