This morning I led two songs of worship at our staff meeting. About 40 of us gathered in a circle, and after we read Psalm 135 responsively, I launched into “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”. The staff here loves to sing, and the song went well, with a few repeats thrown in here and there as it felt appropriate. That song ended and I transitioned into “Lord, I Need You”.
Everything was going fine. Good lyrics, good keys, the people were singing, I was relaxed, and there weren’t any issues.
One small problem. I forgot that “Lord, I Need You” is in 4/4, not 3/4. We sang a few lines of it in the wrong time signature and everything felt off. Really off. I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing wrong. So, I stopped. I said something like “so, I think I just forgot how this song goes…” Someone helpfully pointed out that I “left out an extra beat”. We laughed about it, we started over, and everything was fine. I felt silly, a bit embarrassed, and honestly, I felt humbled.
I had put together a fine 2-song set for an early morning staff meeting. I was doing a good job. But then I made a silly rookie mistake. And ironically, it was on a song titled “Lord, I Need You”.
So, two lessons:
1. Mistakes happen. Sometimes you can cover them up. But sometimes you can’t, so own up to them, laugh about them, and move on.
2. God has a sense of humor. I will never sing “Lord, I Need You” the same way. Now I’ll really mean those words!
Be careful out there, worship leaders. God is waiting just around the corner to teach you new lessons and keep you humble.
Worthily Magnify 
Thanks James! A great reminder for everyone!
Thanks, James.
Strangely enough… I was listening to a demo of you singing this very song and thought, I haven’t looked at his blog recently, wonder what’s on there? Amazing. Now, tomorrow, I won’t be singing this song the same 🙂 Your humbleness has always been apparent, and was a gift to our team and church. Thank you for your example!
I remember this one time, back in the day, we were leading “We Will Dance” by David Ruis, and I mixed up the words in the first and second verses, so what I sang was:
Sing a song of celebration, lift up a shout of praise
For the times drawing near, when he will appear
And oh, we will stand on His face
A strong and much better place.
Yeah, we’ve all been there!