I know that question is so diva-esque and about as hard to answer as a woman asking “Does this dress make me look fat?”. But sometimes it doesn’t just “happen” when I wake up in the morning. Sometimes I have a tough time getting the proverbial ball rolling. This week has been especially tough for me. There has been a lot going on but there has been no sense of flow. For those of you that know me, you know I need things to flow a certain way for me to get in the groove and feel like I’m accomplishing things. There has been nothing close to a real flow this week. Each day I’ve struggled to find that one thing to bring it all together. Now it’s Friday and I feel like I’ve wasted a week. I know that if I really think about it, that’s not really the case. However, right now I feel like I have just walked around all week looking sillier than normal with this clueless look on my face.

Sometimes I ask myself the question. Can I even have this problem? Am I supposed to struggle with motivation to do my job? I mean, for crying out loud I work for a church as someone who leads other people. But sometimes you can string a couple things together and before you know it you’re squarely behind the eight ball and wonder how you got there. And why is it squarely? Just sayin’…

From a spiritual standpoint, I look to this passage from Psalm 121:

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

From a hilarious standpoint, I look to this throwback commercial:

Have a good weekend friends! I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my 21st birthday tomorrow. I’m thankful to God for bringing me along this far. I can’t wait to see what else he has for me.

Yesterday we talked about what it means to be a worship pastor and if any of you considered that person in your church a pastor or not. I got a few different responses to this. I also got a lot more questions, which is good. Today I want to continue that conversation because I personally think that there are a lot more questions out there about this. Like today’s question, who are they leading anyway?

Without thinking about it too much, I guess some would say that they are probably leading the band that plays with them. On Sunday mornings, they are the ones leading the people in the singing of songs. But I ask you, are you receiving any spiritual guidance from the worship pastor at your church? Do you know if you can? Do you even want to? Again, I know that there are different types of situations as I write this. Some of you may attend a large church where the worship person is not quite accessible. Some of you may attend a smaller church where one of the teens leads the singing. Do you feel as if you are being spiritually by the worship pastor? Or do you feel like they are just a name and a face? Do you feel that you could go to the worship pastor on a Tuesday and sit down and talk to him about anything?

I ask these questions because, as a worship leader, I’m always seeking to make myself better at the job that I do. Like I said before, I wonder what the perception of the worship pastor really is and if there’s a way to change it or justify it. I think that this allure has been created, this glamour status for the worship pastor that makes them almost unapproachable. Sometimes that makes it hard for people to really come to them at any point, Sunday or otherwise. Honestly, I haven’t been on the other side of this coin in a really long time so it’s hard for me to speak from that side as I sit here this morning. What I can say as a worship pastor who is still relatively unknown in his own church, sometimes we know a little bit more than we are given credit for.

We want to be able to share our hearts for worship as well as what has been placed in our minds from what we have heard or read from others. We want to pray for you and with you. We have a heart to see people engaged in true worship that reaches the core of who we are and transforms hearts. You may say, how in the world can that be pulled off in 15-20 minutes on a Sunday morning? Well, it’s not easy but that’s what we are trying to accomplish each and every week. That’s also part of the reason why we craft an entire service behind the scenes. We want to make sure that the message is reinforced from start to finish.

Am I speaking for each and every person that does what I do? Definitely not. Can I know for sure that they all think this way? Not at all. But I know some that share that desire and they are dang good at it. You’d be surprised at what your worship pastor would have to say if you sat down and talked to them. So the question again is, who are these worship leaders leading. The other question could be, are you allowing them to lead you? What are your thoughts? Let me hear them.

I’ve been thinking about this for a little while, but I couldn’t figure out the approach I wanted to take. This is an interesting topic in my own mind. And I also wonder what others think about this. I know that in the end this may be a matter of semantics, but maybe it will be more than that.

So here’s the question to ponder. How many worship pastors feel like they are truly shepherding people? How many church goers feel that they are being shepherded by the worship guy? I would hope that there is spiritual truth being presented in the songs that are being sung in your churches. That is definitely a huge part of people led. But do you know how much or how little that worship pastor is putting into that music? Do you think they are just picking songs? Or do you believe that they are praying over and through worship sets to make sure that what they sing on Sundays brings truth about our Savior? How accessible is the worship leader/pastor at your church? Now I know that some of us attend some pretty big churches and it’s hard to get to some of them. So I guess then this question really is for you as well. Are you being shepherded by them? Or are they just leading the music? Do you attend a church where the worship pastor teaches a class or leads a study? Do you know what books he or she is reading? Do you even care?

So that turned out to be a lot of questions. These are all questions I have as a worship leader. When I was in school I went through all of these classes that talked about where the role of worship leader is today and where it is going from here. It was very insightful for me to see that I should be well versed and read and know my Bible. The question I always come back to is “Does anyone else care about this but us?” That wasn’t to say that we were going through stuff in vain. I just wonder how much people who aren’t worship leaders care about what we know? I guess these are the questions I pose today. Answer at will.

I’m gonna go ahead and put this one out there. I don’t think I’m the only one that has done this. If I am, well then someone is lying. I’ve gone through times in my career as a worship leader where I heard a song and really didn’t like it. Of course I am then asked to sing that song because it’s someone’s favorite and it really spoke to them in a pivotal point in their lives. I have (not proudly) come up with excuses as to why I haven’t done it or why we didn’t do it when I thought I might. Not one of my finer moments as a musician.

Why do we hold songs hostage by our own feelings? Now granted, I’ve done a LOT better with this whole situation, but I’m confessing because I’ve done it before. Let me also explain that if I feel like a song isn’t speaking truth about the Gospel or may be inaccurate then I will never sing that one. This is a different story.

Now that is out of the way, why do we hold songs hostage? Is it selfishness? Is it because we fear overexposure? Or in the case of the song “You Never Let Go” by Matt Redman, the first time I heard it, it was performed quite terribly and instead of holding it against the group I held it against the song. So any time anyone mentioned that song I immediately had that pop up in my head and decided that I didn’t like that song. Then, a couple months ago I remembered why. So I had to let that go and put it in the rotation. It’s coming up soon for the very first time in one of my sets. I’ve learned a lot of things over time as a worship leader, the biggest one has to be not to let my personal feelings get in the way of what God wants to do. God has given lots of people talent to share their hearts through song. Who am I to not use that message? ESPECIALLY  when the reason has nothing to do with them?

We worship leaders can be silly sometimes…

“Harry, we are looking for you to be yourself. Let your personality shine through.” “Harry, I feel that you are at your best when you can be yourself.” “Harry, don’t be afraid to have fun.” These are all things that I have been told over time as I’ve led worship. I think that over time I’ve learned to discern these comments and deliver a style of worship that brings God glory and, at the same time, displays who I am as a person. I have a personal, continual tension when it comes to being an artist and a corporate worship leader. My job calls for me to lead people to the foot of the cross through song. My “profession” if you want to call it that, is to display the talent that God has given me through the words I sing and the instruments I play. It’s actually a blessing that these two come together. Sometimes the hardest part is making sure I don’t confuse the two. And that mostly means that I make sure that I don’t use Sunday morning to display how good I am at something. That is NOT easy all the time.

I believe that sometimes us worship leaders we can get confused as to what the focus is when we are on stage. There should be an element of excellence when we step on the stage each Sunday morning. But sometimes we step over the line and it becomes a performance and it becomes more about us and how we sound and what we can do. If I’ve learned NOTHING from being a musician and worship leader is that people can tell when we have switched from worship leader to self promoter. It is at that point when worship stops. That’s when I’m no longer doing my job. That’s when we are no longer doing our jobs.

At the end of the day, I’m talking about ways to help us become more effective worshipers. True worship is contagious. Let’s continue to search for ways to create a worship that others, Christians and non-Christians alike, see and take notice. THAT worship doesn’t just happen inside the walls of the church. Maybe it’s time to write about contagious worship…

THIS IS POST NUMBER 300!!!!! Wow! I can’t believe I’ve actually stuck with something this long. I mean, I’ve continued to get older, I keep buying new clothes, I keep eating, I keep going to work. But this is different. This is my voluntary act and I’m continuing on with it for a long time. The other thing that is cool is that I don’t have hundreds and hundreds of followers and it isn’t something that is read by the masses. But I said that this was something that I would do if people read it or not. And that’s what I’ve done 300 times. Whew!

So I was thinking the other day about this concept. I’d like for people to weigh in on this if possible. I was putting together worship sets for church (because that’s what I do), when I was going through a couple different arrangements for a popular song. And without a second thought I said “let’s think outside the box with this one”. Then I immediately thought, “Why do we say that all the time”? I mean, obviously I know why we say that, but I wondered just what the box was. I mean, does the box change? Does the box look different in 2011 than it did in 1998? In 2010? What does thinking outside the box mean in today’s world? Is the box SO bad? Is thinking outside the box an actual box itself? Am I over thinking this? What was I doing again?

As an artist, we are always trying to find fresh new ways to present what we do. That’s what keeps us moving forward. Sometimes I wonder if, in our search for a life of less boundary do we end up outside of where God wants us to be. I wonder if, in our search and desire to be relevant (which is a ever moving beast of a target), do we end up diluting what should be strong an highly concentrated. I personally like changing things up periodically because that’s part of who I am as a person and musician. Can a story be told in a different way and still get the point across? I ask that question every day. But I also have to make sure that I’m not changing the main point of the story. So does thinking outside the box change the story? Or does it just change the manner in which the story is told?

What do you think about this box? Is there even a box anymore? Lend me your thoughts…

It’s Tuesday morning and we are looking back at the weekend that was. First things first, my poor Rams can’t catch a break. Of course, they aren’t helping themselves out at all with the sloppy play. Their inability to score in the red zone will cause them problems all season long. I tweeted last night that they are going to need churches to start praying for them as part of Sunday service. But since this isn’t a football blog, I’ll let that be the end of that.

The other thing that happened this weekend is that God did some really cool stuff at The Word at Shaw this weekend. We were still sort of reeling from the Sunday of service on the 11th. Our community really loved having a church come in and serve in a practical way. This week we unleashed a flurry of new things on our church all at the same time. I was worried that it was going to implode. We launched a new service format. We also starting using a bulletin type thing as people have constantly asked for something to write notes on as well as something with important dates that they could keep. From a behind the scenes standpoint, we launched a new position called service producer that helped things go a lot more smoothly than normal. The best part? I wasn’t doing it all! We started our early morning Bible Study and, even though there was the normal first day confusion, things went pretty well. So there were a lot of moving parts Sunday morning and I was afraid that chaos was going to break out. But God did something marvelous. He brought a calm to the situation that I can not explain. Everyone found the same groove and sat right there in it. Then something awesome happened…

After the second song set the guy scheduled to pray got up and just opened his heart to the congregation. He said that he had a really tough week and it was comforting to know that God was working for our good (we had just finished singing Your Love Never Fails). So he turned to me and asked me to just lead us in that part again and let that be our prayer. So the church went back into that bridge and you could see people really start to embrace that line and this special moment of worship happened. I think we could have let that happen for the rest of the day and no one would have cared. What was special for me was that, in the midst of all the changes and structure that was finally created, God came and did what he wanted to with it. I LOVE when that happens.

Sometimes you can make all the plans in the world. Everything could be going just so smooth in your own mind and then God comes in and does what He wants to do. And then you just have to shake your head. Because then you remember that He’s the one that’s really in control. And even though we make our own plans, we are reminded that our ways and His ways aren’t the same. And that’s okay.

Good morning friends! Today is a big day at The Word at Shaw. There’s a lot of new things happening today. First off is the fact that we have small groups starting up. It has been in the works for a long time and we are finally launching them at 9 am. From a worship standpoint, I have implemented a lot of new things for my team here. One of them is the role of service producer. I have a person who’s main job is to make sure that everyone knows where they need to be and so I don’t have to be the one handing out tons of information before the service starts. We have also split our screens so that the front and back run independently from each other. It worked pretty well last week in the trial, but let’s see what happens this week. I have a pretty big group on the stage, but these people are worshipers so I’m really excited to see what happens. This will put my split rehearsal theory to the test. I think it will stand firm though. Here’s what we are singing this morning.

Christ is Risen-Matt Maher

King Forever- Dan Hartke

The Wonder of Your Love-Hillsong (New for us)

Your Love Never Fails-Chris McClarney

Hallelujah-Brenton Brown (Closing Song)

Hope you all have a blessed Sunday!

As I sit in the balcony of the sanctuary here at The Word, I’m getting some perspective that I rarely get. I never come up here just because. I’m usually on my way to or just leaving the tech booth for one reason or another. But this morning I am sitting up here taking in the sight of the stage and the chairs below. No lights or screens or speakers on. Just the light coming in through the stained glass on either side. I see the aftermath on the stage of last night’s rehearsal. I feel the air that hasn’t be switched over to heat yet (don’t worry, it will get switched LOL) I also get to notice the beauty of this room. The contemporary feel of the colors and the enhancements to the stage. The 14 foot screen hanging on the back wall. I also see the old beauty of the wood beams in the ceiling and the pendant lights that are still hanging. And of course, the gorgeous windows that tell us who God is.

What’s the significance of this today more than any other day? None really. But the fact that I’m able to sit here and describe in detail what I’m seeing from up here means that I have been able to take some time and soak in my surroundings. This morning when I woke up I was raring to go. Then I slowed it down and then I was able to notice that it was 46 degrees when I walked out the house to get Starbucks for my wife (something she’d NEVER do for herself). That crisp air that I personally love so much was there and it was wonderful. I was able to gain some focus on my day and really sort of listen to what God was going to say and not so much go for what I know.

Today I am able to see the blessing in what God has given me lately. I’m able to let Him lead me. Even better, I’ve been alone with myself in the quiet for well over an hour. No music. No real conversation. Nothing but me and the thoughts in my head. And The God in my heart. I will tell you, this has been a cool morning. I’m glad to have had this time. Once this gets posted, I have to go and adjust my schedule. I believe I double booked myself at least 3 times next week. Way to go, Harry. Way to go…

Before I get started, you do realize that worship leaders watch football all the time too, right? Just checking. Now that we’ve settled that debate, Happy Tuesday to you all! For me this is my first work day of the week and so I take lots of time on Tuesdays to look back at what we did on Sunday and prepare for the next week. Since the first week of the NFL ended last night, I thought it would only be fitting to jump on that bandwagon.

One of the things that I am proud of at The Word at Shaw is that we are building a culture of worship within the church. When we first started we are trying to cultivate who we really were. It led to some interesting mornings from the stage. I had to remember that everything was new. I had to be the one that led us where we needed to go. Here I stand in September and I see that it is starting to catch on. I love being able to worship with people that I know. When we first started none of us really knew each other and that played out on Sunday morning as well as all the other times. But I have noticed that as we have built relationships with each other, our worship times together have changed. People are becoming more free in their expression. They are responding to songs that they know or have heard before. From the stage I have seen the transformation that has happened.

What does that mean for me? Well, it means that I can take the clamps off the back half of the playbook (football term). The Rams just got a new Offensive Coordinator who has brought in a new system. When you bring in something new like that, you have to make sure that your team can be successful. So you may not bring out your most tricky, intricate schemes when you first get there. You just want to make sure they get the terminology right and run the right way. But once you can see that your team gets it, then you start to unleash what the scheme can really do. In the same way, probably longer than I should, I have kept the back half of the playbook closed because I wanted to make sure that we were comfortable enough to worship together and enjoy the time singing together. Now we have made it to the point where people are asking for songs and other things like that. I’m seeing now that I can be a little more creative with our worship experience and that the receptivity of our people is quite high. As a result we are about to release a myriad of new songs to our church to freshen things up and keep us moving forward. I learned something a few years ago (probably the last time) on a field trip to a St. Peters church. While I wasn’t totally impressed with the way they chose music on a regular basis, I loved how they seemed to have a plan to phase music in and out. I am starting my first phasing process. I’m excited to see where we are headed and where we end up over the next few months. There are a lot of new changes taking place over the upcoming weeks.

I’m sharing my process because I realize that it’s important for me to see it all laid out. Also, it has helped me in the past to search worship leader blogs and run across practical information like this. I think I have just decided that Tuesday Morning Quarterback will be a weekly thing throughout the football season. Once that’s over with I’ll have to come up with another name.