Monthly Archives: February 2012

Rockstar

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John the Baptist was a Rockstar

That dude had tons of followers everywhere he went.  People wanted to know what he had to say.  They wanted to know what he was up to, where he was going, what he had for breakfast (…I hear it was locusts).

The funny thing about John is that he didn’t really talk like a rockstar.  He was never promoting his next book.  He was never promoting his next worship album.  He was never promoting his line of camel hair cardigans.

All John did was promote his cousin…and his cousin was Jesus.

here’s some direct quotes from the rockstar himself

“I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord(Jesus).’”

John 1:23

“[Jesus] must become greater; I must become less.”

John 3:30

“The Father loves the Son(Jesus) and has placed everything in his hands.”

John 3:35

Being involved in worship ministry in the North American church it can sometimes be hard to escape the label of “rockstar”.  It may not be your fault but there is generally a certain way that worship leaders are treated that can be dangerous.  It’s culture’s fault really.  But it’s also true that many worship leaders crave that kind of treatment.  And that’s a dark road to travel down.

It is very likely that you will experience points in your life when people will follow you.  They might really want to hear what you have to say.  They might think your music is amazing, or that you’re a brilliant song writer, or that you have an incredible voice.  They might say a whole lot of great things about you…

…and when they do…what are you going to say?

Because you could take those compliments served up on a silver platter of “finally someone is recognizing how hard I work” and cash them in at the emotional bank.

Ooooorrrr

You could respond in a way that gives all the glory to Jesus, like John did.  Don’t be fake about it.  EVERYONE can see through fake humility.  Practice humility.  And remind yourself that it’s all about Jesus.  Lead worship like it’s all about Jesus.  Interact with your volunteers like it’s all about Jesus.  Speak to your congregation like it’s all about Jesus.  Write songs like it’s all about Jesus.

And when you face that tension of rockstar and servant…well, you get the idea.

Authentic

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The Grammy awards are my version of Super Bowl Sunday.

I love the music.  I love the drama.  I love the showmanship.  I love the passing off from one generation to the next.  I love the spectacle.  I love Paul McCartney :)

This year I was really impressed with Dave Grohl, the front-man of one of the best Rock bands from the past 20 years, the Foo Fighters.  They came away with 4 Grammys this year.  That’s no small feat!  I loved Grohl’s acceptance speech for the “Best Rock Performance” award.

(video was removed, here’s his speach)

Dave Grohl’s Grammys acceptance speech:

“This is a great honour, because this record was a special record for our band. Rather than go to the best studio in the world down the street in Hollywood and rather than use all of the fanciest computers that money can buy, we made this one in my garage with some microphones and a tape machine…

“To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do.

“It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head].”

Grohl has been in the music business for a while.  He’s seen and experienced how quickly stars can be made and stars can be forgotten, all within the span of a year or two.  Those that create a relationship with their fans seem to be able to last longer.  But, it’s still frightening to me to think about how this pressure we put on our pop stars is so crushing.  Pressure to look, act, and sound perfect.  Pressure to be unique.  It must be difficult to live under a microscope.

The average for how long a worship pastor will be on staff at a church in North America is only 2 years.  I found that stat in an issue of worship leader magazine a few years back and was shocked when I read it. Seems eerily similar to the pattern of pop stars.

I think there a lot of contributing factors to such short tenures for worship pastors but I’d like to focus on one.  Lack of authenticity.

Grohl knows and understands the power of authenticity; “the human element” as he calls it.  It’s the real person behind the music, and for the worship leader, it’s the real person behind the microphone on Sundays.  I know there is pressure on worship leaders to make things look perfect, to sound perfect, to flow perfectly.  There is pressure on us when we open our mouths to speak not to say anything that will be distracting.  There is the pressure of the evaluation meeting, the pressure of Christmas and Easter, the pressure of finding volunteers.  You don’t have to look very hard to find it in this role.

Authenticity can be your defense against pressure.  The more time I spend in this area of ministry the more I am convinced this is true.

1. Be Authentic In Your Relationship With God

  • Do you feel the need to fake it?  Why?  You need to spend some time getting reconnected to God.  Allow your identity to be found in Him.  Invite His truth to influence your life, your planning, and your actions.  There will be times where God feels distant, but don’t stop pursuing Him.  Never fake your relationship with God.  You simply can’t be in ministry if that’s how you’re operating.

2. Be Authentic With People

  • Conflict sucks.  I hate it.  I try to avoid it sometimes and wind up sitting on a frustration ball of resentment.  Be authentic with how you feel.  Be honest and open in one-on-one meetings (which is the right place for it) and express your view of the situation.  This is important with your Sr. Pastor and it’s important with your volunteers.

3. Be Authentic With Your Congregation

  • Don’t be a plastic worship leader.  Don’t try to be another worship leader who you think is really cool.  Just be yourself.  Practice what you are going to say from the front but say it in your own words.  There will be days when your life is messy and for the good of your congregation you will need to put on a brave face.  When that’s the case use that situation to identify with how some of the people you are leading might also be hurting and grab on tight to the promise of God’s faithfulness as you worship.

 

My prayer is that we would be a generation of authentic worshipers.  Not the “post-modern” kind but the “overflow and response to God’s goodness in our lives” kind.

   let is be so

Stage Presence

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It’s comical isn’t it?  And painful at the same time.  But fast forward the clothing and hair styles 20 years and I’ve seen this same picture in every ministry context I’ve ever served in.      A few years ago I came across some excellent footage of me leading worship as a 17 year old at my youth group.  I looked like this picture, plus a little more awkward-teenage boy-ness.  10 years later I don’t look like that anymore.  That’s because over the last 10 years I have worked hard on something really important.  It’s a crucial skill that needs to become second nature for anyone who spends time on a stage in front of people:

It’s called stage presence

Stage presence is awesome!  You know why?  Because it helps you communicate to the people in front of you that you really care about being there.  It says that you really believe in what you are saying/singing/playing/miming.  It communicates to your audience that what you’re telling them or asking them to join in with is worth while.  In the context of leading worship it serves to support the words and the music and it helps your audience enter in to worship with you.

Here’s the other thing about stage presence.  Sometimes you might think to yourself that you look foolish.  Sometimes you might think to yourself that it’s pointless.  Sometimes (and I hear this a lot) you convince yourself, “that’s just not me.”

Let’s help you get rid of some of those excuses by getting you to ask yourself a few questions.  I’m convinced that anyone can learn stage presence if they’ve already taken the frightening step of getting up on stage in front of people.

1. Do I genuinely mean what I’m singing?

- This is not to say that lack of stage presence means you need to get right with God, but if you’re there to serve and point people to Jesus shouldn’t you try to convey some authentic joy about what He has done in your life?  If the song is joyful – be joyful.  If the song is reflective – be reflective.  If you’re singing “We stand and lift up our hands”…keep them in your pockets, of course.

2. What is my role and how can I perform my role to the best of my ability?

- I’d like to think heaven is full of all the instruments and tools that we love to use here on earth to worship God…everything except music stands.  I hate music stands!  Come prepared so that you’re not glued to your music stand for the whole 5 song set.  You know your music more than you realize, if you don’t you need to fix that because it means you’re not practicing which also communicates that you don’t care.  If you’re prepared you will be confident in your parts.  If you are confident in your parts you have more freedom to make eye contact with the congregation, move around on stage, pump your fists etc. :)

3. What do I look like on stage?  Is that how I want to look?  How can I take small steps to be a more engaging worship leader and serve the congregation better?

- If you are on stage playing worship music in front of people then you are automatically leading worship.  You might not think that (though you should) but the congregation is certainly thinking that.  Find out if there is any video footage of a recent time you’ve been on the worship team.  Most churches will be able to get that footage for you or at least be able to set it up for the next time around.  Watch it and evaluate yourself.  It might help to compare yourself with someone who you think has great stage presence.  Make a list of the things that you need to work on and start working on them.  You don’t have to jump way out of your comfort zone right away to attain better stage presence.  All you need to do is commit to practicing it and working on it and you’ll get better.

 

I hope you’ll challenge yourself with this.  I promise you this is important and I promise you that you can learn to have great stage presence.

 

Space

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Admit it.  If you’re a worship leader the word “space” scares you a bit.

No?  Well how about this scenario?

Sunday morning service.  You’ve just finished the worship set.  You know that the next thing to come in the order of service is the sermon intro video.  The lights have faded to black in the room, the worship team is putting all their stealth moves to use to escape the stage before the lights come up again, the preaching pastor is making his way up (not as stealthy)…but nothing is happening on the video screen.  10 seconds pass, 15 seconds pass, and still no video.  Internal panic sets in.  Did the power go out?  Did the media tech finally walk off the job because you’re still making him work on a PC?  Every possible scenario floods into your mind.  ”This is the worst thing in the world!”, you think to yourself.  And just then the preacher says something from the dark that makes everyone laugh to break the awkwardness.  But it’s still sooooo awkward.  Space can be awkward.

Honestly I find it extremely awkward.  Personally I love space.  I’m an introvert.  I get up earlier than I need to in the morning just to have alone time.  I just really find it awkward when I’m trying to lead a few hundred people in a room to enjoy “space” with me.  Usually I’m thinking to myself…”these people don’t actually want this”.  ”They’re easily distracted like toddlers, we need to keep things rolling.” …Ok, maybe that’s not quite quite what I’m thinking in that moment.

What I am thinking is that I really want to help them encounter God today.  I want to help these people take a deep breath, just for a moment, and be reminded that the Holy Spirit is literally in this room with us.  I want to help them focus on the lyric they just sang.

So what can I say?  And what could I do?

But offer this heart, oh God

Completely to You

from “The Stand” by Hillsong

In my experience the first thing to get cut in worship service planning is “space”.  If time is tight in a service then the focus shifts to moving quickly and efficiently through the service elements at the cost of “space”.  Worship leaders, pastors, and service planners: I challenge you to contend for “space” in your services.  Sometimes it will cost you an extended rockin’ intro.  Sometimes it could cost you a whole song.  Don’t just fill space, make “space”.  Our world is fast paced because we put too much focus on ourselves.  Give your congregation “space” so they can focus on God.

Discipleship: The Chicken or The Egg?

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I’ve got some questions about discipleship and how it relates to worship.

Let’s start by saying that churches in North America are pretty weird for the most part.  Sometimes I wonder how we came to all look so similar.  I guess it was inevitable since we are influenced by pop culture.  I’m often stuck in this strange zone of loving how we “do church” and really not loving it sometimes.  Sometimes I think our efforts of doing church look something like a toddler trying to use power tools.  It can be hilarious, and it can also be really dangerous.

Whatever “church” looks like the mission is still the mission: we are called to make disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28:19)

And here’s where it get’s confusing.  As a worship leader you are always hoping for the most engagement or singing possible.  You likely evaluate this engagement after a Sunday service at some point.  If you decide that engagement could be better or louder then you will probably try to choose more of the favourite songs, maybe a more exciting intro to the service, maybe turn up the volume 3 DBs, maybe buy 4 more LED lights (which is my personal favourite), or add more singers for the next Sunday and try it all again.

I think you could argue that our efforts; be it lights, music, creative elements, humour, free coffee and such actually help to get people to church.  That’s not a bad thing at all.  But what happens when we get them in their seats?  Do we want them to start learning the church-isms?  Singing, passing the plate, the sitting-standing dance, etc.  Actually it’s more important that we disciple them, that we teach them.

I’ve led worship at conferences as well as pastor’s and church leader’s retreats. Those are always the times when the engagement and singing is loudest.  Aside from this group knowing the songs well there’s an important factor here: they are disciples and they showed up ready to encounter God.

I’m not interested in tricking someone into engaging in worship.  I am, however, very interested in discipling someone into engaging in worship.  So do I do that by creating a more exciting atmosphere?  I honestly don’t know.  But I think it has more to do with showing them Jesus and his truth than it has to do with anything else.

How do you know when it’s time to make things more exciting to engage people?

How do you know when you’re trying too hard to be exciting and you just need to open the Bible and let God speak?

…this is all coming from a young man who really loves lighting, guitar solos, 4 minute instrumentals, and experimenting with dubstep beats in Logic Pro 9.