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.