Learning

2023 In Review

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I love speaking with people about corporate worship. I love speaking with people working through a theology of worship, the practical realities of serving on a team, or with volunteers. I think that is why I write about worship - I love that we as followers of Jesus, and worshipers get to think through how we encourage and equip the saints to worship with beauty and truth. As 2023 draws to an end, I wanted to collect all of my Friday posts in one place. I hope these words have been helpful to you:

Questions To Consider

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One of the things that our team has spoken about is the need for a deeper dive into our songs and services apart from a weekly service evaluation. And that would open up questions, and facilitate discussion for our whole team around the purpose and movement of our gatherings, apart from song choice, and how each of us can play a part in moving our services in the same direction.

One of the things that sparked these categories in my mind is Mike Cosper’s 10 Questions to Consider at the end of every year. I appreciated how he was able to open a view of the gathering wider than song choice and simply judge a service. The categories below are certainly not exhaustive, but will hopefully fuel deeper thought:

SONGS

  • What new songs are we singing, and how are people responding?

  • Which songs consistently have high responses (loud singing/participation, comments, humming in the bathroom)?

  • What holes are in our master song list (content)?

  • What are we singing too much (themes, songs, style)?

  • Is the liturgy balancing an awareness of the people, while continuing to lead toward a direction that more closely embodies our values and mission?

COMMUNICATION

  • Is it clear?

  • Are we equipping our verbal communicators to understand and navigate the movement, tone of the morning, and the moment while still being themselves?

  • Are the announcements leading people in worship, and moving them toward mission, not just giving them information?

  • What has been confusing?

  • Where have we dropped the ball (for the congregation, for the team, with visuals, with helping equip those on the platform knowing how to effectively communicate)?

FORMATION

  • What is missing?

  • What is stale?

  • Are the ordinances being thoughtfully navigated (within the service and by the communicator)

  • What has been surprising?

What would you add?

Here are some other similar resources you may find helpful:

Don’t Judge The Service.

Service Evaluation.

10 Questions to Consider.

Tuesday Refocus: July 18

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“The more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most.” - Thomas Merton

It was for the joy set before Jesus, that He endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2). The Author, Finisher, and Perfecter of our faith suffered, why would we believe that our lives would - or should - look any different?

Suffering feels unnatural because it was never intended to be a part of our world and our lives - and one-day suffering will cease to exist. But if we suffer with Christ as children and heirs, we will also be glorified with Christ (Romans 8:17)! Suffering feels unnatural in a world and culture of instant gratification. Suffering is counterintuitive because it says that there can be future joy, and eternal pleasures only in part today, but forever more on that day.

Father, may we experience Your comfort in our suffering? May we glimpse You joy now? Fill us with endurance, oh, Lord. In Your eternal and enduring name, amen.

Amen,

AB

Recommended Reading [Part Five]

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Reading does not just form our minds and grow our knowledge, but it has the ability to stir our affections, and fuel worship in our lives. These few books have done both of those things for me:

God On Mute - Pete Greig

Does anyone feel like they are hitting a home run in their prayer life? I have read several of Greig’s books over the past few years, and I love how deeply he understands and values prayer, and how accessible he makes the invitation to believers to engage with God. Side note, I use the Lectio365 prayer app daily! It has been so helpful in the way I speak, and shape times of corporate prayer.

Be Thou My Vision - Jonathan Gibson

This was the book I gifted my team for Christmas in 2022. Devotional rhythms that are tied not to devotional writing, but liturgical rhythms are a beautiful way of being able to shape the whole of lives around the story of God.

Engaging God - David G. Peterson

This is not light reading. But I think that this book will help you as you consider creating a philosophy of worship.

Living the Christian Year - Bobby Gross

I love the Church calendar. I have found it incredibly helpful, and moving in my own life, as well as my approach to leading and serving in my local church. I have observed that most people either have no familiarity with the church calendar, or grew up around the church calendar, but do not have a clear grasp on its beauty and intentionality. I appreciate the descriptions of the seasons and the readings that are included in this book.

Everything Is Gray

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We prefer formulas.

This plus this, equals this.

Plug in the correct information in the correct spaces, get the correct (and same) answer every time.

The truth is that people are not equations, ministry is messy, and we live in an increasingly complex world. Almost nothing is black and white, and everything is gray.

In the first half of 2022 I was slowly realizing that many of the things I had learned in twenty years of leading worship in different environments were not working in the same ways I had come to expect.

Was it cultural? Yes.

Was it learning life in a ‘post’-COVID world? Yes.

Was it the way I have learned, grown, and changed in the past 20 years? Yes.

But more than anything, I think it has been an increasing awareness of how everything is gray. I want things to be quick, easy, reliable, and efficient, but much of life - and certainly much of ministry - is about learning to adapt learning to apply wisdom rather than formulas.

If you feel the same everything is gray tension, you are not alone. Even as I write these weekly posts for worship leaders I hope that there are general principles that are helpful. But I recognize that each of us must do the work of taking what is helpful to adapt and apply to our specific and unique context and time in history, and leaving what is not helpful.

Mark Sayer’s latest book ‘A Non-Anxious Presence,’ has been helpful for me in learning to identify this gray zone, and that adaptability is what is required to navigate these spaces. Everything he writes is well worth your time, this book is no exception - you can pick it up on Amazon here.

When Songs Don't Matter

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I know, I know. Last week I wrote about how there are songs for the season, and this week I am saying songs don’t matter.

Let me explain.

Building a song master song list takes a lot of time, energy, and intention. It must be tailored to the congregation, conscious of the skill and ability of the worship leader and team, and be made up of songs for the season, as well as songs with staying power. Your master song list should include songs that are scripturally sound, theologically rich, artistically and musically compelling, and emotively engaging. Or more simply, as one worship leader described to me: thinking songs and feeling songs. Needless to say, this is a task that requires more thought than merely choosing your favorite song each week.

Several years ago, two interns were working with me to plan set lists for the Summer weeks that I would be away. We were reading the passage of Scripture that would be preached, and trying to list a smaller group of songs from our master song list that they could choose each weekend to lead. About halfway through this process one of the interns said, ‘We could sing any of these songs! They all fit, because we are always singing about Jesus, and always preaching the Gospel.’

If we do the hard work upfront of building, refining, adding, and trimming our master song list we lessen the pressure to make our songs fit the sermon week to week, because the reality is that they all fit! And when they all fit, we can refine even more as we look for through line concepts, same text inspiration, and repeated refrains in songs and sermons alike.

Do songs matter? Of course. But they matter less when you do the hard work upfront.

Songs For The Season

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They say, “Write what you know.” And for the most part, everything I share on my website is things that I have learned and feel that I can grasp with enough familiarity to share. Today, I want to share something I am learning in real-time.

Songs are important. I care deeply about the new songs we choose, as well as the way we introduce those songs to the congregation. I care deeply about the canon of songs that make up our master song list, as well as the way those songs shape our theology of God and the Gospel. I care deeply about whether our songs are purposed for personal devotion, or corporate worship because all songs are prayers. I even believe there are guiding principles that can help us determine what is a good song.

But what I am learning in realtime, is that there are songs for seasons.

I read an article in Worship Leader Magazine last month titled, “Worship At The Speed of Sound.” In it, WLM published the findings of a team of researchers who had studied the lifespan of corporate worship songs registered with CCLI from 1988 to 2019. The researchers had a hunch that the creation, distribution, ascent, and decline of a corporate worship song has increased rapidly over that time period. And understandably, they were correct. Social media, online distribution, ‘worship artists,’ conferences, touring, and radio, were all contributing factors both in the number of songs available, as well as their availability.

Some songs have staying power - think of many of the hymns that have been passed down through the ages or songs like Chris Tomlin’s “How Great Is Our God.” Some songs cut through the noise for a season, and all but disappear - one such song cited in the research is Jesus Culture’s “Fierce.”

I truly believe that the bulk of our diet when it comes to song choice should be songs that have staying power. Songs that ring with resonance in different seasons and stages of our lives. Songs that are sung in the hospital room, at the altar, and during the midnight hour as a parent rocks a child to sleep. But what I am learning is that there are songs for seasons. Songs that are still good, beautiful, and true. Songs that capture a moment in the life of our churches - both locally, and globally. These are the songs that we will look back with sheepish affection, and fondness as we are reminded of the Spirit’s movement in our lives and histories. These are the songs for the season.

What have been songs for the season in your life?

Surviving The Summer

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You have survived the Advent season.

You have managed through Easter celebrations.

You are almost home free - until Summer.

If your experience is anything like mine - whether your team is made up of a handful of volunteers, or many - Summer is hard. School is out, people travel, the pace of life slows, and most people want to chance to take a break from responsibilities, and recharge. But Sunday happens whether we are ready or not. And that means, we still need to be prepared to lead sung worship each week. So how do you navigate this season so that you can get a little rest, remain tender-hearted towards those with whom you serve, and execute a weekly corporate gathering? Here are a few thoughts:

Try something different. Smaller gatherings and teams create a safer environment to try things that may seem riskier in the normal rhythms of our serving. A new, or less experienced team member? Have them serve for the first time. Give a new worship leader you have been developing the opportunity to build a set list, lead a rehearsal, and lead the congregation in sung worship. Or perhaps you want to try incorporating some more liturgical rhythms in your gathering - corporate confessions, or readings, you can begin to formulate the why behind these choices as you incorporate these new means of worship in your gathering.

Think through song choice. With attendance - even for church members - being mostly inconsistent through the Summer, this is probably not the time to entirely revamp your master song list. Introduce songs sparingly, if at all. You would not want your regular attendees and members returning in the fall to a completely new set of songs they have yet to learn. Stick to a smaller pool of songs, and maybe try different arrangements to add more variety in the midst of the familiarity.

Simplify. The team, as well as the responsibilities. Maybe you go unplugged or build smaller, acoustic teams for the weeks of the Summer. How can you pare down the moving pieces of your order of service, including the number of songs.

Create space for vision and long-term planning. Where might God be leading you, the team, the congregation in the next months and years? What have you been putting off that you can accomplish now? For me this Summer, that will look like creating a comprehensive inventory of our gear. What we have, the model number, where it was purchased, and where we can buy replacement parts. As well as clarifying our onboarding process for new team members, and ongoing training for the team.

I find, when I acknowledge that something will be different than normal (e.g., Summer and the amount of people I am able to schedule to serve), I am much less likely to be frustrated and discouraged. Summer can be life-giving rather than soul-sucking if you embrace, rather than fight against reality.

Dynamics

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I have had the opportunity to lead in many different settings. Large churches, and small churches. Higher church liturgy, and lower church spontaneity. I have served with professional musicians, and those who had only recently picked up an instrument. One of the things that I have observed as having the biggest impact on the quality of the musical production regardless of the location or skill level is the intentionality of dynamics.

I believe that it is not what we play or sing, but what we do not play or sing that makes the dynamic difference.

A musician will play. A vocalist will sing. What I have noticed among worship teams is that people often feel confused, or not useful if they do not play and sing from the very start to the very end of a song.

As worship leaders, we need to be able to coach our teams to understand how to lead in silence as much as in their playing. Our teams can lead in their silence by learning to lead off the platform, but also in their presence and posture when it is not their ‘part.’ Encourage your team to sing along, be at worship, listen intentionally as the worship leader guides and directs the congregation. I have often felt more intentionally led by musicians and vocalists leading in their silences than by the primary worship leader.

But what about leading in our playing and singing? How do we create movement, tension and release, builds and drops, particularly for those churches who are serving with smaller, or less experienced teams? Percentages. One of the sound guys at my church was a band director in a former career. He started suggesting to me that instead of saying ‘build and drop,’ or ‘big and quiet,’ or even using the classical musical terms, we started coaching our team in percentages. If we want the bridge to be the loudest part of the song, that would be 90% or 100%, and the chorus being the second loudest part of the song would need to be in the 70% to 80% range. If we are looking to incorporate a dynamic drop without going completely acapella, maybe the band goes to 10%. This kind of language has been so helpful for our team in being able to identify the higher dynamics in contrast to the lower dynamics both within a song, but also across the setlist.

If you’re struggling with every song sounding the same, and no movement in dynamic range, try using percentages as a way to lead your team to listen for dynamics. Much of this will begin with the worship leader thoughtfully and intentionally leading the team through rehearsal. Here are some ideas on how to run a rehearsal.

Competition

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Have you ever felt envious or jealous of someone else’s gifts?

Perhaps they seemed to naturally possess that for which you had to labor?

Or do they exude a confidence and charisma that easily engaged the congregation when they served?

Maybe they had more visible, prominent, or frequent opportunities to lead?

We are prone to comparison. Especially when roles are visible, and gifts are similar. Just because we are followers of Jesus, does not mean that we are free from the trap of comparison and competition. Just because we seek to employ the gifts that God has given for His glory and the good of His people does not mean that our motives are always God-honoring and pure.

If jealousy or envy has surprised or saddened you as they ran hot through your body, you are not alone. Whether serving in the same church, city, or across the internet, we are all tempted to compete by comparison. In the parable of the talents we see that in God’s kindness, providence, and grace, some of us have been given little, and others much. But each is called to invest our talents ‘according to his ability’ (Matthew 25:15). Here are some ways that I am attempting to shepherd my own heart in those moments:

Thank God. For the individual with whom I feel jealous. For their gifts. Their skill. The way that they are using their God-given gifts, and the way that reveals the generosity, and beauty of our Creator.

Confess. To God and to others the natural inclination of my heart is to devalue that which is entrusted to me, to covet what is not.

Practice Gratitude. In confession, I realize that I do not value what God has given. In practicing gratitude, I learn to value what God has given.

Pray. For those with whom I feel jealous, and for myself. All we do is give back to God what always has been His. May we be open-handed toward the one who gives and takes away.

How about you? What are the ways God is teaching you to celebrate the gifts, skills, talent, and opportunities of others? What are the ways that you are learning to grow in contentment, and practicing gratitude for the talents God has entrusted to you?

Two books that I have found so helpful in putting language to the kind of Jesus-follower and leader I want to be are The Prisoner in the Third Cell, and A Tale of Three Kings, both by Gene Edwards. If this short post resonated with you, and you’d like to dig deeper, I highly recommend these books to you.