May 25: Tuesday Refocus

‘It could have been very easy for God to have loved us and never told us. God could have been merciful toward us and never revealed it… The Eternal Son came to tell us what the silence never told us. He came to tell us that God cares and God loves and God has a plan and God’s carrying out that plan.’ - A.W. Tozer

Our God comes, He does not keep silence (Psalm 50:3).  He is the Word made flesh (John 1).  The Word reveals how we know that we are loved by God: ‘By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.’ (1 John 3:16). We are not left to wonder if we are known, and loved by God, because although we are dust, we ‘fill the mind of God’ (Tim Keller on Psalm 8:4).

Thank you, Father, that we are not left to guess if You love us and are for us.  All we must do is set our eyes to the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Your Son, our Brother, Savior, and King - Christ Jesus.  And it is in His name that we pray, amen.

Remembering,

AB

Blank Faces

If you have led worship more than one time you have encountered the expression. Apathetic, disengaged, perhaps a yawn, folded arms, a slight scowl, and maybe even in extreme cases - hands clasped over ears, certainly not singing along with the band or congregation. What is going on here? The truth is, we do not know. As worship leaders, we can be tempted to cajole a response from the congregation. And base the effectiveness of our leadership, songs, or service on the response - or lack thereof - from the congregation. But an outward expression is not always an accurate judge of what is happening internally in an individual, or corporately in the room.

Here are some things to consider when you find yourself frustrated or measuring your ability against the response of the people:

Heart preparation. As a worship leader you have (hopefully) spent your week preparing for this moment through prayer, planning, rehearsal, and studying Scripture. The average person in your congregation has not thought about the church gathering corporately until they are in their car on the way to church that morning. You have readied your heart, chances are, they have not readied theirs… People come with divided hearts and affections, how are we pointing them to the One who can unite their hearts to fear His name in those moments of the song?

Familiarity. Sometimes people do not seem engaged because they do not know the songs, the style in which you are playing, or the key is too difficult for them to sing, they would like to participate, but simply do not know how to engage.

Outward appearances are deceiving. Only God who can see the heart, weigh its motives and responses (1 Sam 16:7). Just because someone appears to not be responding outwardly does not mean they are not beholding the beauty of Christ, and responding to Him. Likewise, just because someone appears to be engaged and worshiping does not mean that is true of their heart posture. Only God can see when we honor Him with our lips but have hearts that are far from Him (Isaiah 29:13).

Some days just seem off. Serve with the same heart, and intention regardless of the response of the people. There are things happening in the hearts, minds, lives, and relationships of those gathering on a Sunday morning of which we are not aware. But God is still worthy of our complete worship. Model for people how to engage and respond.

You are not the Holy Spirit. There is something I find so freeing and liberating about this reality. My abilities as a worship leader are so limited as to only point people to the Truth. We cannot move people’s hearts with the right combination of words, melodies, production, or prompts. So we continue to point, continue to encourage, and exhort people to lift their eyes to the only One worthy of beholding. And trust the Holy Spirit to do the work that only He can do: to lead people in all Truth. And trust that the Holy Spirit will continue to lead people in all truth long after we have struck the final note of a setlist.

May 18: Tuesday Refocus

‘We want to avoid suffering, death, sin, ashes, but we live in a world crushed and broken and torn, a world God Himself visited to redeem.  We receive His poured-out life and, being allowed the high privilege of suffering with Him, may then pour ourselves out for others.’ - Elisabeth Elliot

Those who follow Christ live in His upside-down kingdom. 

In this kingdom… 

…it was the will of the Father to crush the Son (Isaiah 53:10).

…it was for the joy set before Christ that He endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2).

…we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize, but in every way has been tempted as we, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

…the last will be first, and the first will be last (Matthew 20:16).

…enemies become friends (Romans 5:10).

…you must lose your life to find your life (Matthew 10:39).

…orphans become heirs (Romans 8:17).

…sharing in Christ’s suffering means sharing also in His glory (Romans 8:17).

…we have been loved first (1 John 4:19).

This upside-down kingdom of Christ extends to the world, as His followers live upside-down in the world.

God, forgive our contentment with living in the wrong Kingdom, in the wrong direction.  Christ, You have taken the lowest place, although you deserve the highest place.  Forgive us for thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought.  Turn us upside down in your Kingdom.  Amen.

Living,

AB

Pursuing Unity

‘We are more divided at this moment than at any point in history…’ How often have we heard this or some similar refrain over the past number of years?Politics, racial justice, COVID-19, are just a handful of things which have exposed our deeply held beliefs. And divided not just our nation, but our churches and families.

Jesus prayed for us, that as His followers we would be one, as He and the Father are one (Jn 17:21). He said that the world would know us by our love for one another (Jn 13:35). Love and oneness require considering another over ourselves. We never drift toward oneness. Love does not grow without sacrifice. Working for and toward unity is an intentional, daily, ongoing work, until one day when Jesus returns and all of His followers will be one, and will love one another as He intends.

Specifically as worship leaders, there are many opportunities for disunity:

with your pastor, elders, or leaders about the length of sung worship, or how to structure a service,

with the musicians and vocalists over parts and responsibilities,

with sound and tech people over execution of the corporate gathering,

with children’s ministry volunteers for running too long, or too loud,

and with the congregation over songs and style

just to name a few!

So how do we navigate a fallen world, broken relationships, and our own sin as we desire to become the unified, loving Body that Christ has called us to be?

An obvious, yet critical answer: Pray. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:12). When we recognize that this is a spiritual work, we must also recognize, apart from a work of the Holy Spirit, we are incapable of becoming unified and loving - sharing the same heart and mind with our brothers and sisters. Pray often. Pray with those whom you desire unity. Pray for your heart, and the hearts of those you serve alongside.

Die to yourself. This is the work of every follower of Christ - dying to ourselves daily, taking up the cross, and following Jesus. Some hills are worth dying on, others are not worth losing - or splintering unity with - a brother or sister. When we mistake personal preference for gospel issues we do not model the self-giving, self-surrendering love of Christ.

Name and clarify expectations. There is truth to the saying, unnamed expectations are resentments waiting to happen. It may take time to surface subconscious expectations you hold for your relationships, but once they begin to surface you can start to ask yourself: are these expectations reasonable? How do we need to solidify and clarify expectations for this relationship? Are there things in your relationships which need to be acknowledged, forgiven? What needs to be swallowed up by an ocean of grace?

Check in regularly. Once you have named and clarified expectations, checking in regularly is essential - are we okay? Are these expectations reasonable? How do these expectations need to shift and change over time, as the relationship changes? I have found knowing people and being in relationship with them outside of a shared common task enables understanding, familiarity, and empathy.

Be honest. Being honest and being brutal are not the same thing. Honest conversations are truthful, soaked in grace, and motivated by love. Honesty in relationship will help you keep short accounts. It can uproot bitterness before it has the opportunity to take hold. Be honest, and learn to invite and receive honest conversation.

Relationships, location, seasons of life and ministry are not obstacles to becoming more unified and loving, they are the means by which God uses to conform us to the image of His Son. The One who prayed that we would be one, that we would be known by our love. So don’t fight these gifts, embrace these gifts.

May 11: Tuesday Refocus

‘In Christ, our Great High Priest, the Lord HAS blessed us, HAS kept us, HAS made His face to shine upon us, HAS been gracious to us, HAS lifted His countenance upon us, HAS given us peace (Numbers 6:24-26) and WILL continue to do so, for all our days.’ - Matt Merker

All the things which we truly desire are already ours.  The blessing, keeping, gaze, grace, character, and peace of God are ours in and through Christ.  Because we are hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3), because we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17).

Henri Nouwen says, ‘I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found.’  In Christ, we can cease our searching and rest in the reality of what He has accomplished.  In Christ, we can rest in the reality that nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:31-39).

No life, death, things present or in the future, angel, demon, power, creature, height, depth, persecution, or poverty can separate us from your love, Lord.  Forgive the ways we search, seek, and forsake Your never-stopping, never-ending, unbreaking, always and forever love.  In Your name, amen.   

Resting,

AB

Leading: Yourself, The Team, The Congregation

Search ‘leadership’ on Google - almost three billion hits.

On Amazon? Over 60,000 titles.

Leadership is complex, multi-faceted, and nothing that I will seek to maneuver in great depth in a 500-word blog post. We can learn from experts and books, but the first movement of leadership is internal - we are called to lead ourselves first. And if we are not seeking to lead our serves well, we have no hope of leading God’s people in corporate sung worship as we gather. Because leading worship moves in concentric circles from leading yourself, to leading the team, finally, to leading the congregation.

Lead yourself first.

As a follower of Christ, you lead yourself by being led by the Holy Spirit. Are you dependent on His leading as you live, move, and have your being? Are you being led in your preparation for the gathering as you turn your mind’s attention on the beauty of Christ? Are you feasting on the Word of God? Are you investing in the Body of Christ throughout the week? Do you make time to enjoy God’s creation? Are you allowing the good gifts to lead you back to the Giver of every good and perfect gift in gratitude, wonder, and worship? We must fill our minds, hearts, and lives with the beauty and worth of Christ, so as we gather the team, and gather the congregation, what spills from us is a continuation of a life of worship already in progress.

Lead the team second.

Most people understand that worship leaders need to have some ability to lead a team musically and practically - through a rehearsal, through a service. Sadly, I think many of us stop short: leading the team practically, but not spiritually. You cannot love Jesus for your team, but are you living the kind of life that your presence makes them want to know and love Jesus more? Are you shepherding their hearts, not just their skills to delight and respond to Christ? Are you equipping them in their theological understanding of Christ, and encouraging them to worship throughout the week? Are you articulating the vision, this beautiful, sacred responsibility to lead God’s people in sung corporate worship? When we become more concerned about what people are bringing to the team, then who they are becoming as followers of Jesus, our priorities are misaligned in leading our team.

Lead the congregation third.

The natural overflow of leading yourself in worship will be leading your team in worship, when you lead your team in worship, the natural overflow will be leading the congregation in worship. Is the team going first when it comes to treasuring Christ? Are you connecting the worship gathering to all of life? Is God’s glory on display or your musical abilities? Are you connecting the songs to the sermon? Does the congregation walk away from the corporate gathering enamored by the music, or beholding Christ in sung worship?

You will be a better leader to your congregation, and your team when you are first led. Led by the Holy Spirit in a life of personal worship and devotion. When you are leading yourself, you are better able to lead your team, pointing them to the Giver rather than their gifts. When you lead your team, you are better able to lead the congregation, pointing them to behold the beauty of Christ, rather than all of the noise of the world.

May 4: Tuesday Refocus

‘I think that the deepest motive for mission is simply to desire to be with Jesus where He is, on the frontier between the ring of God and the usurped dominion of the devil.’ - Lesslie Newbigin

Jesus is building His Church (Matt 16:18).  How quickly we forget that the One who holds the universe together by the word of His power does not need our action to accomplish His purpose (Heb 1:3).  But what grace that He gives us gifts for the purpose of building up His body (1 Cor 14:12).

When service and mission become about doing for God, rather than presence with God, and His people, we find ourselves troubled by many things.  We have failed to choose the good portion (Luke 10:42).  We serve intentionally and invest intentionally, but we do so before the face of God, from the love of God, for the glory of God, and the good of others.

Lord, would you reorder our loves?  Forgive our foolish thoughts that you need us - our skills, gifts, and time - as if all of those things had not first been entrusted to us by You in the first place.  Would we be marked by presence with You first, foremost, and ever ongoing.  Jesus, You are God with us, may we be people with You.  In Your name, amen.

With,

Aaron

Evaluating Services

Whether we recognize it or not, anything we do regularly becomes formative. This is also includes our weekly corporate worship gathering as the people of God. As we walk the long obedience in the same direction our desires are reshaped, our affections are aimed, our minds are renewed, our priorities realigned. This is why I believe it is imperative that we evaluate our gatherings weekly - because they are formative. That we ask questions that expose and reform the way our gatherings are forming the people. Anything that forms us without regular evaluation and intention will ultimately deform and malform our hearts, minds, and lives. But merely evaluating our services will be insufficient for correct formation. The metrics and measurements against which we evaluate are essential to helping us move in a direction of deep life and soul formation.

What Are The Measurements?

There are standards that the world would give us by which to evaluate the ‘success’ of a gathering such as, how many people were in the room? Did people sing, and seem engaged in corporate worship? Did the band execute musically what you had planned and practiced in rehearsal? Was the production (lights, sound, lyrics, and visuals) fluid and seamless throughout the gathering? Did people have a good experience? Were people uplifted?

Is there anything wrong with these kinds of questions? In and of themselves, no. But what I am suggesting is that we must aim higher and deeper than questions about how well a service was executed. And the truth is what we are attempting to measure is our faithfulness in sowing seeds that will bear fruit over six months, and sixty years, not six days. This means we need to ask questions that not only assess the practical details of how well we have executed a gathering, but ask questions that enable us to constantly be bringing ourselves back to the center of why we gather, and what we are seeking to accomplish as we build set lists and services.

Questions like:

How does our corporate gathering fit within the specific mission of our local Church? What about the Global Church?

Are we speaking to the breadth of the human experience in our gathering - joy and sorrow, apathy and zeal, abundance and poverty, hope and fear, faith and unbelief?

How is our gathering helping people make sense of their lives, their work, their relationships, and world outside these walls?

How are we helping people see that all of life is worship?

Are people growing in their understanding of the heart and character of Christ through our gathered time?

There is a three-fold metric the church were I serve uses as a plumb line during our weekly service evaluation meetings that we lifted from Bryan Chapell’s book ‘Christ-Centered Worship,’

‘Church leaders designed their order of worship to communicate the truths of Scripture, touch the hearts of worshipers with the implications of those truths, and then equip believers to live faithfully in the world as witnesses to those truths.’

These are the truths we hope will mark our corporate gathering weekly and over time.

A Warning

Pride will seek to tip the scales in either direction as you seek to evaluate services. Pride will say: ‘Wow, we are doing an amazing job at accomplishing all of the things in our weekly gathering we have set out to accomplish. We are so thoughtful, intentional, and skilled in executing these goals.’ And on the other side pride will say: ‘Wow, we are terrible at this. We do not have a larger vision for our gathering, and do not have the skills to execute all of the beautiful things God may want to do in our unique context. We are awful, why even bother?’

When I feel myself slipping down the slope of pride on either side, I try to remind myself - these are God’s people, not mine. This is Christ’s Church, not mine. I am not nearly as powerful as I think, nor am I as insignificant as I feel. It is the Holy Spirit who does the work of transformation. It is the Father who does the work of conforming people to the image of His Son. God does not need our feeble efforts to accomplish His purpose, but He invites us into His story, and His work in the lives of His people in His world.

Evaluating services will require humility and intention. This is hard work, but work that is worth the effort.

April 27: Tuesday Refocus

‘Grant me never lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace.’ - Valley of Vision

The more clearly I see my sin, the more it becomes eclipsed by the beauty and glory of Christ.  The more clearly I see Christ, the uglier my sin becomes.  When we see these two extremes, we can say with the prophet, ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’ (Is 6:5). Like Peter, we find ourselves at Jesus’ knees saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ (Lk 5:8)

The more we behold the beauty of Christ and the ugliness of our sin, the more we are awakened to the deep grip of Grace.  This is the place where wonder and worship flow.  This is the place that breaks our illusions of self-justification.  This is the place where we must return again, and again, and again.

Lord, forgive how casually we see our own sin - those things which sent you to the cross.  Forgive how flippantly we view your glory and holiness.  Give us eyes to see You, for Your glory, and our good, amen.

Looking,

AB  

Recommended Reading [Part 2]

So many books, not enough time… at least it can seem that way to me. With innumerable resources when it comes to leading worship, it can be hard to know where to start. This is a continuation of some of my favorite resources.

Beyond Smells and Bells - Mark Galli

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I always want to learn from those who have gone before us - the Church global, and historic, and primarily, the Church biblically. What I appreciate about Mark’s book is that it helps frame our story within the larger story of the Church historically. How have these ancient practices formed who we are and why we are. One of my favorite quotes:

“For people who find themselves storyless, or with a story that has no larger meaning than the self, the liturgy is a salvation. It shows that we do not have to abandon hope; we don’t have to fabricate a new myth to force meaning onto the world. We can participate in the very story of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who has created and redeemed us, who has gathered us to himself already in a Great Feast, and who promises, in the last act, to gather all things on heaven and earth to himself, so that we may feast together for eternity.”  pg 18-19 

True Worshipers - Bob Kauflin

Bob is a consistent voice in the world of corporate sung worship. His book ‘Worship Matters’ is always one of the first books I recommend to people. This book ‘True Worshipers’ is less about the mechanics of leading sung worship, and more about worship in general. It is also incredibly accessible, for people brand new to thinking or participating in the world of sung corporate worship, and would be a great resource to read with an entire team - sound, tech, musicians, vocalists, etc. One of my favorite quotes:

‘Every church or individual Christian who claims to be Spirit-led must be Word-fed.  If we want to know more of the Spirit’s power in our lives, we would be wise to fill ourselves with riches of His word.’ pg 45

In Jesus Name - Henri Nouwen

One of my favorite worship leaders called this book a ‘must-read.’ There are helpful things that we can learn from mainstream leadership books, and now it seems many mega-church pastors are releasing leadership books and podcasts at every turn. There can be helpful things to learn, but perhaps most discouraging to me - particularly when it comes to leadership resources written by followers of Jesus - is how little dependence upon the Holy Spirit they require. As followers of Jesus, our leadership looks like our Servant Leader more than it looks like any of the high-capacity models of our day. This is why I love Nouwen’s book - it shows what serving in the Name of Jesus could, and should look like. One of my favorite quotes:

“It is not enough for the priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time.  All of that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of Christian leadership.  The central question is, Are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God’s presence, to listen to God’s voice, to look at God’s beauty, to touch God’s incarnate Word, and to taste fully God’s infinite goodness?” pg 43

Christ Centered Worship - Bryan Chapell

This book has been quoted in almost every book on worship I have read. It has both informed the way I understand the corporate gathering, the historical gathering of God’s people, and what we are trying to accomplish weekly and longterm for followers of Jesus who gather to worship. A few people on staff where I serve meet weekly to ‘evaluate’ the previous weekend service. The criteria we use to evaluate our weekend service I learned from this book. One of my favorite quotes (and the guideposts we use as we reflect on our gatherings) is:

“Church leaders designed their order of worship to communicate the truths of Scripture, touch the hearts of worshipers with the implications of those truths, and then equip believers to live faithfully in the world as witnesses to those truths.” pg 21

April 20: Tuesday Refocus

‘For whenever the human soul turns itself, other than to You, it is fixed in sorrows, even if it is fixed upon beautiful things.’ - Augustine 

Our hungry hearts and souls are quick to exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve creature rather than the Creator (Rom 1:25).  Since the fall in the Garden, this has always been our story (Gen 3:1-7).  We have found time and time again the words of the Psalmist are true: ’The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply…’ (Ps 16:4).

Where can we set our gaze to not be fixed in multiplying sorrows?  Toward Christ.

‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.’ Hebrews 12:1-2

Instead of turning toward immediate relief from His suffering, He set His face like flint toward Jerusalem (Lk 9:51).  He set His face toward doing the will of the Father (Jn 6:38).  He set His face toward the cross.  And when we look to Him, we live. 

Lord, may we look to You.  May we run to You and away from the lesser gods, the lesser loves which so easily entangle.  May we look to You and live, in Your name, amen.

Looking,

AB

Growing As A Communicator

Public speaking consistently tops lists of things people most fear. It is not often I meet a worship leader who feels comfortable or confident when it comes to speaking and communicating non-musically from the platform. Give us an instrument and a room of any size and we are fine, ask us to speak? No thank you.

There is a big difference between a song leader and a worship leader. A song leader will see communication as merely information transfer - a quick welcome, verbal cues for lyrics, prayers to transition from one aspect of the gathering to the next. Worship leaders see communication as a way to continually shepherd people during the gathering. To direct people’s attention and affection to specific aspects of the heart and character of Christ, the beauty of the gospel, the truths being sung, and invite people to respond with their whole lives.

Whether you are comfortable with public speaking, or it makes your skin crawl, we can all grow in our ability to communicate clearly and effectively as worship leaders. I believe what will have the biggest impact on our ability as worship leaders to communicate well is intentionality. This means putting thought and purpose behind when you will speak and what you will say. Where are the holes in the flow of the gathering? How can you help connect the dots for people between what has happened in the week, what is happening in their lives, what they have just heard preached, and the reality of the Gospel?

Whether you are comfortable leading verbally or not, my encouragement is always the same: write it down. This doesn’t mean that you must read something verbatim. But writing down what you will say helps you to formulate more clearly what you are wanting to communicate. It can also ensure that you won’t start down a half-thought-out rabbit trail to nowhere. Once you write it down, practice speaking out loud. You have to get used to the sound of your voice as you speak something that is not off the cuff but planned and purposeful. Practicing it out loud also allows you to fine-tune the rhythm, timing, and clarity of what you are trying to articulate in the first place.

Okay, so maybe you are slowly easing into growing as a verbal communicator. Another form of communication often overlooked as worship leaders is our body language. Making eye contact when leading up front, smiling, having a posture of openness, being available and engaging off the platform, presence without swagger, working to avoid the appearance of frenetic pace which can often accompany before and after service.

Like all skills, the more you practice the more proficient you become. If it feels overwhelming, or scary, take small, intentional steps each time you serve. Honestly evaluate, elicit feedback from people who are strong in this area. Practice, practice, practice. Our people are worth the growing pains.