Last night, I had a very clear dream. I was asked to speak at a moderately sized Church. The room was only partially filled. The pastor was not present neither was the worship team. It was all on me.

I’ve led worship as a young first-time pastor ministering to less than ten people and then years later, I was hired at a very large church. One of my jobs was to lead worship in front of thousands of people. I have led worship in front of a full spectrum of congregation sizes and felt comfortable in each setting.

As the beginning time of the service approached, I stood behind the pulpit and began to sing using older worship choruses. These were simple and memorable songs easier to remember than longer songs with multiple verses. As I began to sing the lyrics, “I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice…” the people began to sing the wrong song. I stopped them and helped them learn that simple chorus. As soon as they realized what was going on, we moved on to other older worship songs. As this was happening, something changed in the spiritual environment of the room. People were feeling the presence of God. Then, other people, who were not present when the service began, arrived because they could hear what was happening.

When the room had filled, officials from the government entered the sanctuary and began to measure the size of the room checking for a violation of occupancy limits. The officials got very aggressive demanding to speak to the congregation from the pulpit. I refused their request and continued to lead the Church in worship. Other members of the government group tried to take over the pulpit. They were also refused.

As the sounds of deepening worship continued, one of the members of the worship team who was not initially present when the service began, brought his bass guitar and began to play spontaneous riffs as he walked among the worshippers. There was great joy on his face and he played. At that point, the room was now full to overflowing as the Spirit was filling the people. Then I awakened from the dream.

As I processed the dream and what it meant, I came away with one word – simplicity. There were no smoke machines, light displays, or anything electronic. It was simply the voices of the people worshipping God. In that simplicity I realized a time may come when simplicity will be the door through which the Spirit will walk into our gatherings with unusual demonstrations of His presence taking us into expressions of worship many have never experienced.

To the worship leaders reading these words, less is better than more. Employ all the extras that enhance people’s worship experience, but never think those things are what create worship. Be willing to take your people into a simple, acapella expression of worship and build from that point. Simplicity is what the Lord will use to glorify His name now and in the future when all the additions to worship we now employ are no longer present, or even allowed.