Your Faith
George Moussab
Upon graduating from Biblical Theological Seminary in 1994, a professor of George Moussab encouraged him to consider becoming a worship leader. George quickly replied, “Oh, I don’t think I’m good enough to be a worship leader. I guess we’ll see what happens, but I don’t think any church would hire me.”
Well, a church did hire him. In fact, George Moussab has been the worship leader and one of three full-time pastors of Christ the King Evangelical Free Church (“CTK”) in Denville, NJ since its founding in 2001. Thankfully for George and his CTK congregation, God’s plans don’t always match our own.
George was no stranger to unexpected transitions even before joining the pastoral staff of CTK. Growing up attending a Syrian-Orthodox church with his family, George’s concept of faith and God was based more on religious tradition than on anything truly personal to him. During his high school years, he began partying and heading down a road that began to feel dangerous. Without any true knowledge of the Gospel, he prayed one night, “God, I don’t think I can change myself. If You can change me, then please change me.” God honored the sincerity of this raw prayer. That very week, a friend invited him to a Bible study. Over the course of the next year, God set him on a new path that would not lead him anywhere George could have expected.
A few years later, George graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, only to have God change his course once again, this time in mid-career. Working full-time as an electrical engineer, George became increasingly involved in lay-ministry at his church. He was working on a space shuttle project for the Kennedy Space Center as the Senior Electrical Engineer when God opened the door for him to serve full-time at Market Street Mission in Morristown, NJ. For five years, George was the Program Director at Market Street Mission, a Christian ministry to homeless men struggling with addiction. He went through a challenging time of adjustment during his first couple of years at the Mission. Laughing, he recalls the first time he felt like he had truly grown into his calling. Due to his down-to-earth and approachable demeanor, a resident mistook him for another resident, and was shocked to discover he was actually the Program Director. Although the Lord did eventually lead him to minister elsewhere, George continues to regularly volunteer at Market Street Mission, leading the men in worship services.
Despite many unanticipated turns in his vocation, music has always been a constant passion. His musical talent was evident at a very early age, learning the organ as a child and teaching himself the piano and guitar later in life. He now draws on that talent every Sunday morning. As a church worship leader, he recognizes that his first priority is to be the lead worshipper. He says, “My first goal is to worship God and bless the Lord myself. Beyond that, I specifically want to magnify Christ and cause people’s view of, trust in, and desire for God’s glory in Christ to increase.”
George’s passion goes beyond just music. He has a heart for worship, which he defines as, “ascribing to God the worth that is already His. It is acknowledging through our thoughts, words and actions that He alone is God and Savior.” He goes on to say that, “Worship is far more than singing or communicating praise to God. Everything Christians do should be an act of worship to God. Singing and music are wonderful gifts given us by God and we are to employ them with the best of our abilities to give Him praise and to encourage each other. Music comes from God Himself and existed before the creation of man. Although worship is not limited to ‘singing and music,’ it is a special part of our worship.”
George acknowledges freely that the music is secondary to pointing people to Christ. When leading worship, he embraces the concept of “contextualize and contend,” meaning that you need to minister in the language of the people, yet always contend for the Gospel.
It is clear that George’s outlook on leading worship correlates strongly with the values that have steered his life choices. Thoughtfully put, he says, “We understand God’s glory most through the cross, so the cross has to be central. The most important thing is what Jesus has done for us. All the other stuff is secondary.” 