Tag Archives: worship leading

Excellence > Perfectionism

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There’s a tension that I have faced in ministry ever since I started playing on a worship team at age 15.  The tension is encompassed in, and sometimes created by the pursuit of excellence.

The word excellence by itself seems like something we would all like to have more of.  Think of 3 things you do well.  Would you not like to be “excellent” at those things?

I have seen 2 different positions expressed by worship team members surrounding the idea of excellence.

Position 1)

We are doing this for God’s glory.  It has to be as prepared, polished, non-distracting, and as perfect sounding as we can possibly make it.  Each worship team member is expected to be as prepared as they can possibly be.  We work hard, and pray a bit.

Position 2)

We don’t have the ability to change lives, God does the work.  People have busy lives, sometimes too busy to practice but what’s important is the heart of the person.  We’re just glad they’re serving in spite of the many responsibilities they have to juggle.  We pray hard, and work a bit.

 

You might find yourself on one position or the other.  During my time in ministry I have found myself bouncing back and forth between the two positions and hardly ever finding the sweet spot between the two.  There are moments when I try to uphold Position 1 but after the 4th band member has shown up 20 minutes late for rehearsal AND only 1 person has practiced their parts that week I can feel myself starting to lose it.  In those moments I want to scream Position 1 at them.  Am I right to do so?

Other times we start in to practice.  Most of the band is prepared and all that’s left is to pull all the musical pieces together.  But something feels off and after stopping and asking the team if anyone was feeling “off” that week you find out the bass player is “just not feeling like they’re in a good place spiritually.”  Is that the time to get back to practice and not waste everyone’s preparation or is it time to surround that individual and pray for them?

 

On paper there are some good things and bad things about both of these positions.  But the thing you need to remember when you are leading people is that PEOPLE are not PAPER.  People have struggles, burdens, short-comings, and inconsistencies.  And people can also achieve great things on their own and especially when they are led well.  If you are in Christian leadership your primary concern should be helping those you are leading become better disciples of Jesus.  Becoming better musicians is secondary.

A disciple who is a musician will view his/her musical abilities as a gift from God that can be used to bring Him glory.  They will find joy in doing their best for God.  It will become their “spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12) and not just an obligation.  Their goal will be to make Jesus famous (John 3:30) and they will prepare their own hearts for that in prayer and eagerly join in as the team prays together and asks God to work.

Don’t be overbearing on your musicians when they aren’t prepared.  They will just begin to resent you.  Find out what’s on their heart.  Point them to God’s truth.  Instruct them gently and speak words of encouragement to them.

Don’t ignore the preparation of your team to frequently stop and pray.  They will begin to think that their practice time doesn’t matter and they might assume you haven’t practiced or prayed about this at all yourself.  Teach them to rely on prayer in their own lives and model for them a desire to ask God to be glorified by everything you do.

 

Lead the way.  Everyone thought John the Baptist was a pretty big deal.  Maybe people will think the same of you.  But John pointed people to Jesus, and that is our primary responsibility.  

Do you have a personal philosophy of “excellence”?

Preaching in the Mirror: It’s Not Me

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I know I’m not alone in this one.

When I look in the mirror I sometimes see someone who thinks the weight of the world is on my shoulders.  Easter is coming and this might be one of the most likely times of the year for anxiety to set in for worship pastors.  We plan for months to create the best worship experience we can.  Sometimes there’s fear every step of the way in the planning and preparation.  The night before is often a sleepless one for me.

“I hope nothing goes wrong”

“I hope “they” like it”

“I hope we don’t make christianity look too weird to unchurched people”

“I hope everyone shows up”

I hope I hope I hope I hope…..

Ugh, it’s painful for me to think about how often that scenario has played out in my life.

But it’s not me.

It’s not me that changes lives.  It’s Jesus!

God has given me gifts, tools, experience, influence, and resources to point people to Him, so that HE can change lives.  I can serve Jesus by using those well to glorify Him, but then I need to release the work to Him.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17

Jesus wants a relationship with every single person.  I believe that with all my heart.  Jesus is going to pursue the lost just as much on Easter Sunday in the middle of all the celebration as He is on the Monday after.  He’s going to keep chasing after us whether we’ve planned a service or not.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Luke 19:10

It’s not me

It’s not you

It’s Jesus

rest in that

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.