Winner of the Most Embarrassing Moment Contest

Last week I offered a free registration to the WorshipGod08 conference for the person who had the funniest story from a time they led corporate worship. There were some great contributions. Reading them made me freshly aware that God does indeed use the foolish and the weak to accomplish his purposes (1 Cor. 1:27).

Contributions included playing an entire song in the wrong key, encouraging the members of the congregation to turn to each other and say, “How great thou art,” falling over as a result of a leg falling asleep, burping, confusing being prostrate before the Lord with being prostate, starting the wrong song, and more. Two had to do with the problems of technology. One leader sent me a recording of what happened at the end of the time of singing. The drummer accidentally hit a button he shouldn’t have. You can listen for yourself…

[Audio:Interruption.mp3]

This one was good, too, sent in by Rich:

As is often the case with newly married men, I put on quite a few pounds following our honeymoon. It was a gradual thing, but all of my clothing began to feel just a wee bit tighter. One Sunday while leading the congregation, I dropped my guitar pick on the ground. As I bent down to pick it up, I heard a dreadful sound: RRRRIIIPPP! Suddenly, things felt a little breezier in the rump region — I had split my pants! I had to walk off the stage while doing a little sideways shuffle so I could continue facing the congregation. My pastor wanted me to do a song after the message, but after a quick and whispered explanation of the issue at hand, he graciously released me from the responsibility…. but he did tell me to go on a diet!

This one came in late because it happened this past Sunday. But it was a definite contender:

I was leading worship during our 9 am service this past Sunday, we experienced a technical train wreck of epic proportions. The preaching pastor was praying to close his sermon and the band returned to the stage to play our closing set. As soon as he finished, our pianist attempted to start the first song only to find that she was still muted. We were ALL still muted. Our sound tech had fallen asleep and forgot to turn on the instruments! I quickly realized what had happened and decided that I had no choice but to yell out to him from the stage, “Bryce, turn on the piano!” An awkward few seconds go by and still nothing. I shout again. After both of my comments, (and persistent nudging from the guy running slides sitting next to him), he finally regained consciousness and turned everything on. When we finally started playing, (audibly), about thirty seconds had gone by but it felt more like thirty minutes.

Here’s what I picked as the winner, sent in by Seth and Crystal Grotzke:

The most embarrassing thing I did as a worship leader took place while I was living in Lima, Peru during college. I was helping at a local church leading music and teaching, learning Spanish at the same time. While standing in front of everyone, I told everyone “Todos pueden sentirse.” Translated it means, “You all may feel yourselves.” I should have changed sentir to sentar [meaning you may all sit down]. The sad part is, that wasn’t the only time I made the mistake.

Nothing quite like leading worship in another language. Can’t wait for heaven, where we won’t have these problems any more!

I’ll have another contest next week.