Worship Leader

"I Can't Worship": Worship Leader Edition

in , ,

“I can’t worship…” If you’ve been leading worship for any length of time, you have probably heard that statement. But perhaps, you too have felt the same way. There are endless lists floating through my mind as I am leading worship - am I distracted? There are endless realities (and alternate realities) floating through my heart as I am leading - am I worn down, frustrated, hurt, steeling myself? Airtight theology is good, but it is of little use if we are not transformed by its presence in our lives. We can believe and teach that all of life is worship, and still struggle to ‘enter in’ to worship in this moment as we lead.

But what do we do in this moment when we are leading but in fact do not feel that we are able to worship?

Pray. Ask that God would unite your heart to fear his name (Psalm 86:11).

Think of the throne room of heaven. Day and night the saints and angels and living creatures never stop singing, saying, and shouting - the holiness, glory, and worth of God. This present reality will be an eternal reality for all who are in Christ. View the temporal in light of the eternal.

Think of my brothers and sisters around the world. We are a part of a diverse, global body of believers stretching through generations into eternity. We are caught up in a story larger than this moment, and many of our brothers and sisters face real and acute danger from their families, friends, neighbors, and governments for gathering with the people of God or professing faith in Christ at all. May the perseverance of the saints fuel your own perseverance.

Think of someone else worshiping. One of my youth pastors told a story about how when he would struggle to fully enter into worship, he would think of a specific family member (who expressed outright hostility toward faith in Christ) face down, arms raised in worship… The reality is this will one day be the posture of all people (Philippians 2), but does it stir your heart, does it fan the flame of wonder in you when you consider enemies becoming worshipers?

It is all normal. It is normal that some days our worship flows freely and easily - from a heart and cup that overflows. It is normal that some days our worship is labored and mismatched to the worth of the One whom we worship. Worship is costly, and Christ is worth the cost - press on.

You may also like…

When you don’t feel like serving.

When others don’t feel like serving.

Serving.

Guest Worship Leaders

in , ,

Whether leading worship for a specific event, filling in at the last minute because of an illness or joining the rotating of worship leaders for a church I did not attend, I have had the opportunity to lead worship as a guest many times over the years. It is a gift to be reminded that the Church is larger than my church. That the body of Christ is diverse, global, and growing down the street, across the country, and around the world. Here are a few things I have learned that I hope will help worship leaders who are leading as a guest, but also those churches who are hosting guest worship leaders:

A word to the worship leader.

  • You are there to serve. I know this might seem obvious, but in serving we must consider others more highly than we consider ourselves. Be willing to be inconvenienced, or to go with the flow of another style, setup, structure, or rhythm to a rehearsal and gathering. Practically, this might mean choosing songs that this body will know that are less familiar to you. Asking good questions about the team, the congregation, and the sermon. Offering yourself whatever is required and expected of others who serve weekly. Engaging relationally with the team - taking time to learn their names, and thank them for serving.

  • Be gracious. It can be disorienting and uncomfortable to play music for the first time with someone you have just met. Be as gracious to the team as you hope they will be with you.

  • Be a blessing. How can you encourage and speak life to the team, the leaders, and the congregation? How might you leave a blessing behind (Joel 2:14)?

  • Communicate ahead of time. What is the gear you need? What is the expectation as far as speaking, leading, prayer, transitions, etc? How can you be prepared walking into rehearsal as well as the service?

A word to the host.

  • Set Lists. If you are giving the guest worship leader the freedom to build the set list, provide them a master song list, as well as the last three to five weeks of songs. I once led worship for a church whose worship leader accepted a position and moved between Sundays. This church had no one to lead worship for the foreseeable future and was filling every week during their search for a new worship leader with guest worship leaders. In a situation like that, pair down a master song list to 12 songs or so - the band and the people will have enough change as you fill spots, do not also make them bear the weight of new songs every week in the in-between.

  • Over-communicate. What do you want? What do you need? What is the expectation of the worship leader? Will you be giving them access to Planning Center, and communication to the team? Will you distribute songs, keys, communication and all you need to do is have the worship leader plug and play? Are paying the worship leader for their time, or the travel?

  • Be generous. This does not necessarily mean financially - but how might you be generous in your encouragement and appreciation? Whether down the road or across the globe, taking time outside of your normal responsibilities, time away from your own community, and family is costly - can you celebrate and honor the people who are serving your community? Several times I have had people thank my wife and children or send me back with gifts for them because of their willingness to allow me to serve.

What would you add?

Priesthood of All Believers

in , ,

Before sin entered the world, worship was unbroken in its aim and purity. After sin infected every corner of creation, worship did not cease, it turned in on itself. We worship created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25-26), but even our ‘right worship,’ is not something we can produce by our own force of will. Right worship is our response to God’s revelation of Himself. Worship begins with God, but it also must be mediated by God because sin cannot stand in the presence of a holy God. From the beginning of history, and throughout Scripture we see that God has always made provision for His people to return to Him. Killing an animal to cover the nakedness of our first parents, instituting the priesthood, and the temple and sacrificial system were all temporary shadows of what was to come.

This, in part, is why priest to worship leader is not a fair comparison. For lack of a specific job description found in Scripture, people will often point to priests of the Old Testament as some of the first worship leaders - leading the right worship of God through sacrifice. But what we know living on this side of the cross, Jesus is the Great High Priest to whom all priests and sacrifices have always been but an arrow. Jesus is the one who continues forever, is able to save to the uttermost, lives to make intercession, is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted in the heavens, has no need to offer sacrifice for his own sin because he is without sin, and has offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sin (Hebrews 7:24-27).

People do not mediate the presence of God to man, because there is One mediator between God and men: the God man, Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). But what we see in Revelation that God has made all of His people priests - small arrows of God’s provision who can intercede for others:

“…To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Revelation 1:5-6

So while worship leaders are not modern-day priests, the people of God do make up a priesthood of all believers.

This is why I will often encourage our people - do not just stand silently, do not just close your eyes, do not just stare directly at the screen - instead, sing out, look around, sing for your brothers and sisters around the room, hold their stories of joy and sorrow in your mind as you declare the truths of God’s Word to God and to one another.

In this way, we remind one another how the Lord daily bears us up, but also are used as priests to bear up one another (Psalm 68:19).

When Others Don't Feel Like Serving

in ,

Last week I wrote about serving when you don’t feel like it. But what about when people serving alongside of you do not feel like serving? Part of leading is shepherding your own team members off the platform to an even deeper degree than the leading you do from the platform in song, word, and liturgy.

Every person is unique, every circumstance different, but here are six considerations when it comes to walking with a team member who doesn’t feel like serving:

What is at the bottom. Is this a one off? A rough rehearsal? Conflict with a team member, the church, or in their personal life? Is this a reoccurring pattern?

Finding and reevaluating rhythms. My current expectation with the team I lead is that everyone is available at least twice a month. That does not mean they will necessarily be scheduled twice a month, just that I want them to be available twice a month. But when I audition new members, and communicate with regular team members - I communicate my expectation and ask, ‘How often would you be willing or interested to serve?’ Finding rhythms that are workable for our team expectation and the individual team members has been incredibly helpful for me in scheduling, as well as correcting my expectation of the team members.

Regular communication. Regular communication rhythms like feedback loops, and annual touchpoints or reviews can be helpful. But so can general conversation with your team members - ‘How is work? What do you have coming up this Summer? How is your family? Is this rhythm of serving still working for you? Do you need to take some time off? How can I pray for you? What does support look like for you in this next season?’

Know your people. One of the things that has been so helpful for me in learning the Enneagram is that I have a recognition that not everyone sees the world as I do. I don’t need to type every person I know how to know how to interact with them, but acknowledging that not everyone acts, behaves, or is motivated in the same way I am frees me to not expect from people to be anything or anyone other than themselves.

Time off. Maybe you have been on the receiving end of the dreaded, ‘I just can’t serve anymore,’ conversation. In my experience, these conversations usually reveal deeper (and often unrelated) issues. If you are having people express burnout, invite them to take time off rather than quit altogether. I would much rather be down a team member for a few weeks or months than loose a team member permanently.

Model what you want. When we gather to pray, I will often confess in my prayers how my heart feels scattered, and my affections are splintered, asking God to unite my heart, and our team to serve him and his people. I want my people to know they are safe with me, and can be honest and vulnerable - that does not scare me, and certainly doesn’t scary the God who knows us better than we know ourselves.

How about you?

How might you encourage a team member who doesn’t feel like serving?

Serving

in ,

I get weird about the words we use in church. It’s not a stage, it’s a platform. We’re followers of Jesus rather than Christians. We’re not gigging, playing, singing, or even volunteering - we’re serving. For me, serving carries the idea that we are here for Someone and something outside of ourselves. We have responsibilities apart from our own goals and agenda. And our serving should be in response to the God who “…came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).”

How might we model service in our serving? Perhaps it looks like:

Serving the congregation you have, not the congregation you wish you had. Serving with the musicians you have, not the musicians you wish you had. Serving with the equipment you have, not the equipment you wish you had.

Sometimes that might mean choosing a key that wouldn’t be your first choice.

Sometimes that might look like introducing a song that will speak to your people but may not have been at the top of your list.

At one year's LIFT Conference, I heard Christy Nockels talk about how she envisions leading worship as table waiting - choosing the linens, cutlery, and the meal's pacing.

When we come to the house and table of the Lord, it is always God himself who is the feat. And waiting on this table means we are not focused on our own consumption or the feeding of a few, but at the insistence of the Master of the feast, we call people to taste and see that the Lord is good (Luke 14:23, Psalm 34:8).

2023 In Review

in ,

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:

Hidden Visibility

in , ,

In one of the churches of my youth, our Worship Pastor was classically trained. He could lead a band, conduct an orchestra, and direct a choir. He did not lead from an instrument, and truthfully, very rarely did he lead vocally. If you asked him, he likely would not have thought he was a brilliant vocalist. Most Sundays there was a small choir, a piano-driven band, and a handful of vocalists leading at the edge of the platform - and Steve off to the side, with a largely unoccupied microphone on a stand.

One of the things I have come to appreciate about Steve’s leadership as I have grown older is that when he led, he carried enough presence for the congregation to follow, without dominating the songs and setlist. He would give visual cues with his hands, raise his eyes, and turn toward the congregation when it was time to sing. But much of his leadership enabled the people of God to address ‘…one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord…’ (Ephesians 5:19).

When I began leading worship at our church in the United Kingdom, it took me - and them - months to learn the ebb and flow following one another. They would sing with such volume and confidence, and many times I would start to lead a song, but by the end of the song, they were leading me.

As production quality continues to increase across churches, as churches across denominational and cultural borders begin to look more alike, as backing tracks and strict time limits become more common, as congregations anticipate (or expect) their church worship teams and worship leaders look, sound, and lead like what they see online - some of the questions I am asking myself:

How can I lead with hidden visibility? Especially as someone who does lead from an instrument, who does lead vocally. I do not want the people I lead to observe my leadership as spectators but participate as worshipers. I want to lead with enough conviction, competence, and presence that people do not just think I am in my own ‘worship world.’ Nor do I want to lead as a performer or showman.

How am I encouraging increased ‘one-anothering’ in the corporate gathering? I do want to have so little margin, so little capacity for in-the-moment response that our services feel rigid. I do not want to be so visible - or so loud - that our congregation cannot hear the voices of the people of God as we sing to God or to one another.

As I think, pray, and plan for 2024 - Hidden Visibility is one of my goals.

Advent Preparation

in , , ,

We are only a few weeks away from the Advent season. One of the elements that has helped mark out this time as special for me in the last few years has been writing an Advent devotional. Collecting these quotes, prayers, Scripture, and writings helps set my attention and affection on the coming of Christ during a particularly busy season in the life of the Church.

If you are looking for something for you, your church, or your team, here are links to the last several years. I’ll also be posting a new Advent devotional in the weeks ahead.

If you’re looking for some practical resources for worship leaders, worship teams, or church here are some posts from previous years:

The First Work

in , ,

Ready or not, Sunday is coming.

Whether you lead worship as a volunteer, bi-vocationally, or have been freed up to lead worship full-time, there are countless practical details that need to be handled before a Sunday service. I tend to be task-driven, so I find powering through a checklist quite satisfying. In fact, I even created a worship leader checklist you can download for free here. Yes, there are many things to do: set lists to build, teams to schedule, lyrics and sound to set up, planning meetings, follow up, and communication. But the longer I lead worship, the more I begin to be convinced that my first work in leading worship is not the tasks, but to become a person of prayer.

Be before do.

Be a worshiper before leading sung worship.

Be present with and to the Lord.

Serve in the secret place before a public space.

We serve out of who we are. We serve out of who we are becoming. In every area, our lives can be ruled by the tyranny of the urgent. How do we continue to choose the good portion even when our time is limited and our tasks are many?

My hope is that prayer increasingly feels more like an anchor instead of a detour to my week, my life, and my ministry responsibilities. I hope that for you as well.

21 Years of Leading

in ,

The first time I led corporate sung worship, it was a surprise.

This Fall I have been leading worship for 21 years. In 1,100 weeks of leading worship very rarely has there been a single week where I have not led sung worship at least once. It is wild to look back on that time and see how much has changed, and how much of the foundation upon which those early days were built remains unchanged.

It was Sunday night Bible study with our high school youth group. That morning I had agreed to play keys during worship that evening, but as we drove to church, I realized that the main worship leader was out of town that day. I called my youth pastor on my mom’s cell phone and asked, “Did you want me just to play tonight, or am I leading tonight?” “No, leading!” We turned the car around to get the guitar I had had for more than a year but had only seriously been playing for three months.

My mom helped me build a liturgy and set list with the handful of chords I could confidently play, and I recruited two other freshmen to play keys and sing. We practiced for an hour and led worship that evening for the first time. No microphones, no sound system, and lyrics on an overhead projector against the wall. I did not even have a strap for my guitar. I stood with one foot up on a chair - like Captain Morgan - and my guitar balanced across my leg.

There is often a humility devoid of pretense as we begin something new. There is a simplicity and innocence that mark those experiences that can be difficult to locate again as we grow and mature as people, as leaders, in our theology, and in our competence.

I heard Christy Nockels say that sometimes when she is leading worship a vision of her seven-year-old self flashes into her mind, and she sees herself as a child once again in that moment leading the crowd or congregation in worship. We should pursue excellence, we should seek to honor God and serve His people well with the gifts He has entrusted to us. But I am also learning that growth and maturity look like fighting against hardness of heart and opening ourselves to humility and vulnerability in our serving.

May the reminders of your own experience be ebeneezers of God’s kindness and faithfulness to you. Thus far the Lord has helped you.

8 October: Liturgy + Set List

in ,

  • GRACE ALONE

    Call to Worship: Psalm 8

    Worship does not begin and end. Everyone, everywhere is a worshiper. One of the things we do as we gather with the people of God is re-aim our worship toward the One who has set His glory in the heavens and moved toward us in and through the person and work of Christ. Let’s sing to him together.

  • LAMB OF GOD

  • ONLY A HOLY GOD

    Sermon: Mark 10:32-52

    The Apostles’ Creed

    Baptism Affirmations

    Baptisms

  • NO BODY

    Benediction

Teaching Concepts

in ,

So many things seem normal and common when they are familiar. If you have grown up in church, or at least been in a church long enough to sense the rhythms and liturgy, to use context clues with language and word choice, you likely know this to be true. There are so many aspects to the gathering of the local church that might seem confusing if you have no context.

Why do we sing?

Why do we lift our hands?

Who leads us into God’s presence?

Why should we gather with the people of God?

Why do we sing and celebrate so much about the cross and blood of Christ?

Worship leaders are more than musicians or vocalists, we are theologians, and teachers. Sometimes I wonder if worship leaders do not lean into the responsibility to teach our people why these things matter, because we do not understand why these things matter. But everything becomes more meaningful when you know the story, the history, the intention, and the direction behind what is happening and why.

We cannot force people to worship rightly. We cannot lead well enough, or competently enough to will someone to worship. But we can shepherd people’s attention and affection toward Christ by teaching the truth in our songs, in our transitions, in our prayers, and in our liturgical choices. We can work to provide the context to make sense of raised hands, the purpose of singing, the power of the gathered people, and the only hope that is ours through Christ.

For a worship leader, teaching does not (and perhaps, nor should it) look like spending 20-45 minutes walking through a text of Scripture. But maybe it does look like spending 20-45 seconds thoughtfully articulating the concept behind a song, the definition of words, or a deeper theological truth that through the power of the Holy Spirit could open up the hearts and minds of our people to respond in wholehearted worship, wonder and praise.