Sometimes it seems as though all of the good we have ever experienced
may be behind us. God invites not a sanitized version of our prayers, but
a vulnerable expression of all of the things He already knows of us.
What areas feel too vulnerable to voice to God?
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'O Lover to the uttermost, may I read the meltings of Thy heart to me...
...in the manger of Thy birth,
...in the garden of Thy agony,
...in the cross of Thy suffering,
...in the tomb of Thy resurrection, ...in the heaven of Thy intercession.
Thou has loved me eternally and unchangeably, may I love Thee as I am loved by Thee. Thou has given Thyself for me, may I give myself to Thee. Thou has died for me,
may I live to Thee...
...in every moment of my time, ...in every movement of my mind, ...in every pulse of my heart.’
VALLEY OF VISION
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In any role, feedback is essential for growth. If we desire for ourselves and our team members to grow, we must create a consistent, and safe space to give and receive feedback. Here are some things to consider when trying to establish a consistent and safe feedback environment:
Creating new rhythms. If your team currently has no opportunity or rhythm to give and receive feedback, recognize that you will have to create new rhythms and patterns. Creating a new culture, setting a new direction usually takes much longer than you would like or expect. Don’t get discouraged, stay the course, it will pay off in the long run.
Give the why. One of the best pieces of feedback I was ever given was ‘you have a reason and intention behind all that you’re doing with the team, but they don’t understand those reasons - walk them through the decisions you make and help them see why.’ People are often more willing to support an idea when they understand the larger purpose and intention driving the decisions.
Remove sarcasm. Sarcasm is a cowardly way, to tell the truth. It sets up a dynamic where people don’t understand what is honest and what is joking. Laugh and enjoy one another, but removing sarcasm from the way you relate and interact will allow times of feedback to not be clouded by misunderstanding.
Set the time and space. Whether it is immediately following a service, or between services, find the time, place, and time where everyone knows that feedback will occur. This allows people to expect, and anticipate what is coming. And avoids situations where feedback is only given when something goes catastrophically wrong.
Go first. Invite feedback from your leaders, pastors, and the team. Point out things you wish you would have done better, or changes you’re planning to make for the next time. As leaders, we need to model what we want to see.
Celebrate. Part of creating healthy rhythms of feedback is celebrating and honoring the good, not only pointing out the opportunities for improvement. What can you celebrate in the team as a whole and the individual members? Not just in their playing but the way they are serving, the heart behind their participation, and what God is doing in them and through them.
The team and the individual. Some feedback needs to be given in front of the whole team, some feedback needs to be given face-to-face with the individual. If there is a larger, deeper issue that needs to be addressed, it will always be better to cool your own emotions, and set a time with the individual outside of the regular rhythm of feedback.
Feedback is essential for growth. Let’s serve our teams well by giving timely, honoring, consistent feedback, and inviting the same from our leaders and team.
We remember what God has done.
He remembers our sins no more.
Take comfort in that reality. As noise is removed through fasting and the enemy,
seeks to accuse our souls, we remember that God chooses to remember not our sins.
What do you think God may be desiring to speak to You this Lenten season?
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Lent gives us space,
the Psalms give us the language,
to remember, reflect, and repent.
To lift our eyes to our Suffering Servant Savior who has come, and is coming again.
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On the Eve of this Lenten season, we can agree we have lived in a perpetual state of Lent the past year. Fasting from and withholding of much of the goodness and sweetness we have come to recognize within our lives. Our hearts have grown sick and weary for the hope deferred (Proverbs 13:12), as we have longed for things to be different.
Scripture says: ‘For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.’ 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
Suffering this side of eternity is real, deep, and painful. You may run, but you will never outrun suffering’s global and local, universal and personal reach. But when we run to suffering and remain steadfast, we will be perfected and complete, lacking nothing (Jam 1:4). We follow the example of the Suffering Servant, the Man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief, who for the Joy that was set before Him endured the cross, completing His work (Is 53, Heb 12:2).
We are only able to embrace suffering when we see that it is accomplishing something deeper, and richer within us… and that may not be seen or experienced this side of eternity, but there? Beyond all comparison.
Lord, as we enter into this intentional time of remembrance and removal, may we look to You. May we be captivated and filled with the reality of who You are and what You have accomplished. You who patiently endured, You who delighted to do Your Father’s will, You who lived among us, died for us, have been raised, are seated at the right hand of the Father, and will return again. In Your name, Jesus, amen.
To Lent,
AB
Sound, lighting, volunteers, set-up, rehearsal, technology, relationships are just a few of the elements that go into a weekly gathering. Any one of those things going sideways seems to quickly send the whole of a morning careening into chaos. What do you do when you have that feeling where time is speeding up, and any or all of those elements begin to spin faster and faster?
Assess the situation. Is there something that can be fixed right now? A sound issue, or a conversation with a band member that can be addressed and corrected now? Or is this something that needs to be dealt with later?
Make a decision and communicate. If you are the person responsible for running a rehearsal, leading worship, or executing the production of the morning, the team will be looking to you to decide and direct them about a response. Do you want to pause for five minutes to see if things can be resolved? Do you want to cut a song, or just go acoustic? Do you need to delegate responsibility for another team member, volunteer, or staff member to try and take ownership and try to troubleshoot any potential problem? Like showing your work in math class, communicating your decision making will help build and grow trust among your team.
Watch the clock. How much time do you have left in rehearsal, how much time before service? You have to be aware of the time, and the morale of the team. Don’t allow issues to derail the momentum of the team.
Remain calm. As leaders, we carry and influence culture among our team. The faster things begin to spin, the slower we must move. The more chaotic things seem the more deeply we must be a person of peace. We need to be self-aware enough to recognize how our presence influences the temperature in the room, and when we are increasing or decreasing it for those we serve alongside.
Pray. Pray in your heart, but also stop and pray aloud with and for the team. Let prayer be the stake in the ground, recounting your heart and mind, that regardless of circumstance, you desire the attention and affection of your heart and mind to be on Christ. Pray for things to be resolved quickly. Pray that God would remove distractions for His people to see and respond to Him clearly.
If the wheels come off before or during the service, we can still rest, because Christ perfects our broken offering. And God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. Yes, we want to serve God and His people with excellence, but the pressure is off of us to be the Holy Spirit in the hearts and lives of people. God doesn’t need us to accomplish His purpose and plan, and yet in His kindness, He chooses to use us. And maybe this weekend He has seen fit to use us in spite of the chaos in us and around us. Praise the Lord!
Ours is a culture valuing appearance over substance. Virtue signaling and moral outrage overflow our social media feed with revelations of each new crisis. We are well-versed in garment-rending.
And yet, it is not right external behavior that God desires, but hearts that are His (Matt 9:13, Hos 6:6). Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus rail against the Scribes and Pharisees. Their attention to the smallest detail - tithing spices - highlighted not their holiness, but how they had neglected what truly mattered: justice, mercy, faithfulness, and the love of God (Lk 11:42, Matt 23:23). They were whitewashed tombs, beautiful to look at, full of death on the inside (Matt 23:27). Can you blame them? It will always be easier to craft the appearance of a heart belonging to God rather than to dying to self and living to Christ (Rom 6). And yet, only hearts - not garments - that have been rent can be made whole.
It will always be easier to be whitewashed.
It will always be easier to praise God with our mouths while our hearts are far from Him (Is 29:13, Matt 15:8).
But He invites us to return.
Our divided, stone hearts can be made whole and alive by the One who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Eze 36:26, Ps 86:11). Rending our hearts is the only right response to the One who did not rend His garments, but His body on our behalf (1 Cor 11:24).
Thank You, Lord, that you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. May our hearts be holy, and wholly yours. In Christ’s name, amen.
AB
If you would have asked me ten years ago if relationships were important within the role of leading worship I would have said, ‘yes.’ But what I did not understand was the fundamental connection between leading worship and being in relationship with the people you serve. If we see the role of leading worship as primarily musical, relationships will be secondary. If we see the role of leading worship as primarily pastoral, shepherding the people of God, then relationships become inextricably linked to the responsibility of leading worship. If you, like me, struggle to understand the value of relationships to your role as a worship leader, here are some of the things I have learned over the years:
We need relationships to be reminded that we are sheep before shepherds. We must remember before we have a role, exercise any gifts, walk in a God-given calling, we are sheep. When we intentionally create distance by things like staying backstage, being disengaged during the sermon, or staying out of the room our presence communicates what we think is valuable in significant and subtle ways. We too are sheep needing the voice of our shepherd.
Relationship informs the way that we serve because discipleship is rooted in relationship. We are not people-directed, but Holy Spirit led, but knowing the stories, struggles, and experiences of those we lead in song should shape the way we pray, prepare and point them to Jesus. As leaders of sung corporate worship, I believe that we are making disciples through our liturgy, song choice, and leadership on a Sunday morning. But true disciple-makers are those that make disciples as they go, not just when they are wearing the vocation/volunteer hat as a worship leader.
Relationships help us see the individual, not just a crowd. Standing in front of 20 people or 2,000 there is a temptation to see a crowd rather than the individual. But as we begin to enter into personal relationships with people in our church, it adds perspective to the crowd. We can begin to see the individual - made in the image of God, completely loved, completely known, as we stand before the crowd.
What are you learning about relationships and leading worship?
For all of our hand-wringing have we forgotten?
Our Savior dwelt among us (Jn 1:14).
For all of our uncertainty have we forgotten?
Our Savior lived, died, and was buried (1 Jn 3:5, Rom 6:10, Is 53:9).
For all of our short-sighted fear have we forgotten?
Our Savior has been raised and ascended (Acts 13:30, Acts 1:9).
For all of our current and future anxiety have we forgotten?
Our Savior will return to dwell among us once more:
‘And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”’ - Revelation 21:3-4
For our troubled hearts, for our troubled world, this is good news.
Thank you, Lord, that the Gospel is true. That Jesus is on the throne, and we have nothing, and no one to fear. In Your name, amen.
Resting,
AB
Growing up, my mom had a subscription to a worship resource that regularly mailed physical CDs which included a variety of different worship songs. For many worship leaders, this was the primary way they learned of new songs for the corporate gathering. How things have changed over the past twenty years! Social media, radio, YouTube, conferences, and an industry consisting of writers, publishers, promoters and worship leaders who are seeking to put more and more songs into the hands of the local church - we are not lacking in resources.
But access and quantity does not always me quality. I am convinced with the many resources we have easily available, we should not settle for good songs but introduce only the best songs for our people. Best is relative, and I mean it as such. Introducing new songs to your local congregation has much less to do with the best songs rising to the top of CCLI or radio charts, but what needs to be on the hearts, minds and in the mouths of your people. These are the best songs of which I write.
A handful of questions I ask myself or others when considering new songs to introduce in the corporate gathering:
Does this align with our church theologically? Is this bringing clarity or confusion to who God is, what He has done, and who we are as His people? Can I trace the lyrics and concepts of the songs Scripturally?
Could I hear our people singing this? Each local church is made up a unique mix of people, will this particular song - in style, melody, and lyrical content - be the right fit for those I serve?
Is this what we need to be singing right now? Some songs need to be earmarked for future use, but maybe not in a particular season of the Church. Being aware of the larger story, and movement of the Spirit in your church will help you to be Spirit-led in discerning the right time to introduce a song to the congregation.
Is this song filling a gap in our inventory? Will this song provide a new facet to consider the heart and character of God? What other content and topics do we need to consider for whole life discipleship through our song choice?
Could I hear our team leading this song? No matter how talented the team, or high-end your production, if you are not the band on the recording, you will not sound like the band on the recording. Often, when you strip away the original production and the crowds of people singing in a stadium, many songs can struggle to stand on their own with just a voice and a single instrument.
Choose wisely, choose well, choose the best songs for your people.
Subtly,
subconsciously,
consistently,
we have been swept along more than we have sown (Eph 4:14).
Our churches,
our hearts,
our lives
are full sorrow from the other gods we have pursued (Ps 16:4).
Faithful,
Steadfast,
Loving,
the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you (Is 30:18).
Sow righteousness,
Reap steadfast love,
Break up the fallow ground,
Seek the LORD, and He will rain righteousness (Hosea 10:12).
Jesus, thank You for Your pursuing steadfast love. Would our hearts and lives be eager to seek You, to sow righteousness, and quick to reject iniquity, injustice, and lies. May we trust in You alone. Amen.
Sowing,
AB