As a worship leader, we have this amazing opportunity to speak with music on a weekly basis. We sit down and pour over songs that will fit a certain situation or moment in a worship service that hopefully add to the worship experience for the people in the room. Even though we may take different approaches to making this happen, it takes work to get the music all lined up for a particular week or series of weeks. We then are in the position to share this music with our churches on a regular basis. With all this work that goes into making this happen, most of the time no one ever really knows what we are thinking as we work through these things and how much of our hearts went into this whole process. Sometimes you get a leader who also feels like it’s their job to set up a song perfectly to allow people to totally feel the moment or have a TRUE understanding of what this song means. That time of sharing ends up being longer than the song itself. Don’t get me wrong, I think that worship leaders should be able to set things up or share words that help with the flow of worship. I tend to lean toward the Twitter style set up as opposed to the ‘Facebook status from a couple years ago where you could put whole life stories in that little box’ set up.

It seems like an oxymoron to think that we wouldn’t take the time to share what we know or what we’ve learned as musicians and students of the Word. And I’m not saying that worship leaders shouldn’t share things from the stage. But we only get a limited window of time to share and we are given the chance to share through music. The song portion of the service is not the worship leader sermon time. I’ve been in places where we got a worship leader sermon and the pastor’s sermon as well. It felt like a lecture series with music playing in the background. I think what I’m trying to say is that as a worship leader we are in a unique place that, if handled correctly, can really enhance a Sunday morning worship experience. If handled poorly, the flow of a service can be completely manhandled and subsequently deflated.

I was once told by a pretty awesome worship leader and friend that not the job of the worship leader to preach the music. If you want to share your thoughts on worship, teach a class or write a blog. Our job is to lead the people in singing. That was some great advice to me and it has stuck. I believe that people really want to know what you think or feel, they will ask you. I know that from experience. So friends, feel free to share you heart from the stage, just try to do it in 2 minutes or less.

This morning I was reading through the morning’s tweets of the people that I follow and ran across a link to a blog post about burnout. I went ahead and read it to see what it was all about. I ended up loving it and instead of coming up with something clever today, I’ve decided to post the link to that one for today. Not because I’m being lazy, but because it fits so well with yesterday’s post. If you haven’t read that one, scroll down and then read this one.

Read Burnout by Josh Dix of The Journey here.

Have you ever been on stage, getting ready to start singing, everyone is listening to the intro music and ready to give their all in worship, and then it happens… You start to sing and NO ONE goes with you. The song is too high. The women are screaming and the men don’t want to sing in the key that you are in so they try to sing lower and they are growling. But you’ve already started the song and you hav to finish. You’re stuck in Wrong Key Land. You can’t get out for another 3 minutes or so. Those 3 minutes feel like FOREVER! You can’t do anything to fix it. You wonder why you ever started singing in the first place. You want to cut off your hands and hide in a box for a month…okay maybe not THAT bad but you get the picture.

Right now I am still in that stage at my new church. Worship leaders will tell you this and non worship leaders may have never thought about it, but churches have a key. And sometimes finding that key takes a little time. Sometimes you find it rather quickly, like I did at my previous church. Sometimes it takes a few weeks, like it’s taking at my current church. My hope is that it doesn’t take too long because people will eventually stop singing and they look at you in that ‘poor kid, he has no idea’ look.

If you’re an experienced worship leader that has experienced this, how did you fix it? Or did you? If you haven’t had much practice with this, just know that it WILL happen.

This whole blog is about taking what we have known or have learned about worship and turning upside down to be focused on God and not ourselves. I have tried to share how that transformation happened in me. I remember when the thought process changed for me and how, even though it wasn’t ‘easy’, it was definite and I went with it. Ever since then I have been doing my best to make this change in my mind and heart. In my mind, I have always thought that if I got something, then I must be the last one to figure it out and everyone else has been doing this for awhile. This thought process has changed over the years, but this concept has all be completely cured me of that way of thinking.

I started working at a new church this month and what a joy that has been! The people are sweet and I’m already starting to make some friends. The other thing that is happening is the learning of the culture of this church. As a musician and someone who has spent all of my life in church, it doesn’t take long to get an idea of the way a church flows. This church is no different. I was brought into this church not only to fill a void musically, but to help be a part of changing a culture within this church. Now I have been asked to do this multiple times before and I haven’t always said yes to the challenge. But this time I did. This time I felt like there was a chance that this could really work. Not trying to discount the Father and His power at all, but in other instances I wasn’t sure if what was being asked was a good idea.

I believe that there are 3 ways to change a culture within a church, or anywhere for that matter. If you have these 3 things in place, you have a MUCH better chance for success. Here they are:

Have a Clear, Deliberate Vision

The church that I’m currently a part of is really wanting to move forward from some of the really old things and ways of doing church to new ways of ‘being’ church. They are trying to do some really cool new things with the sermons, musically, and relationally that look different than church used to look 20, 30, 40 years ago. What’s tough is that there are some people still there from 40 years ago. That makes it hard. But the vision is clear. So even though it may be a tough ride, everyone knows what they are working toward.

Have a Committed Team

It’s one thing to have a vision that is clear, but it can be hard to change a culture when you’re the only one thinking that way. When you have a group that is flowing together with the vision that has been set before them you are going to be able to sustain through the struggle of change.

Lead, Don’t Drag

I think this may be the most important. If I’ve learned nothing from being a part of churches, people don’t do change well. If I’ve learned nothing from Baptist churches, I’ve learned that they don’t like change EVER! Obviously I say that jokingly, but it’s really hard to move people in church from the things they are comfortable with. So when you want to change something, you cannot drag people along or they will NEVER go for whatever it is that you’re doing. You may bring them to a point, but they may never totally accept it (You can lead a horse to water…). If we lead our people with clear explanation of what God is doing and how and why, we have a much better chance of them following. Besides, dragging people hurts both the people and you. You give them ugly scars and you get a nasty backache from putting a whole church on your back.

So today was an amazing day. That’s how I start this post. I can’t believe how it all came together. So without any more delay, let me break this down.

So as I’ve said before, I was slated to lead worship this week and next for the Quest service (younger, contemporary) at First Evangelical Free Church is West County. I had been in talks with the director of this service all week making plans and getting things lined up. I got to the church this morning and ran into some of the band members and we were getting ready and talking through things and I finally met Alisha (the director) face to face. We begin talking through details and all that stuff and she asked was my wife there. I explained that she wasn’t because we only had one car and all these things. Well, she asked where I lived and I said south St. Louis. Then she said, “So do I.” As we continue to break down where we live we figure out that we share an alley and have been living across the alley from each other for over a year! We realized that we’ve crossed passed before and didn’t really know it. Her husband Jim, tried to run my wife over in the car last night (not really, but I’m messing with him). That was such an amazing connection and it set the tone for what ended being a simply marvelous day.

We ended up sharing with the congregation that it’s amazing what you find out once you step outside your door. We found a new set of friends. It was something that only God could have done. Now, I have no idea what God is doing or will do with today, but I do know that He’s working. And when God is working it’s best to stay out of the way and let Him do His thing. I’m glad that I met Jim and Alisha this morning. Only God knows what this relationship will lead to. I do know that we share an alley and we’ll be eating dinner together soon. Promise…

I was talking to my wife this morning about life and all of the decisions that we have to make in the upcoming weeks. I visited an area church yesterday that we are interested in and I was filling her in on the details. As I talked to her, I realized that my brain is quite interesting. I’m sure that I’m not the only person that thinks this way, but when it comes to the people I spend the most time with, I know that my brain is quite different. Anyway, I was sharing with my wife all the details and the things that run through my mind over the course of a worship gathering. And we came to the point that I have worship leader A.D.D. What does that mean? That is a made up phrase that just says that I’m thinking of so many different things and sometimes it is hard to conentrate. Here are some of the pros and cons to this ‘condition’…

I consider it to be a blessing and a curse that I have this ‘condition’. It’s a blessing because I truly believe that there needs to be people in the church setting who consider all the inner workings of the time. It’s sort of like being a creative director as well. However, I’ll be the first to say that I’m not really good at the visual creative things. With that being said, I’m so glad that God has wired me this way because I notice the things and people around me while I’m a part of a gathering. I take in sights and sounds and people’s reactions and incorporate them into my own worship experience. The flip side of this, or the curse, is when I let it distract from what’s going on. Sometimes I get SOOOO wrapped up in the details that I completely overlook what God is doing or saying at any particular time. It gets so easy to start thinking about the external aspect of the Sunday morning time, and I can start to overlook what God is doing internally; not only in me but what could be happening within the hearts of others.

Something that I’ve realized is that this is who I am. That is not going to change because that’s the way God made me. The only thing I can do is learn what this means and make the most of it for the kingdom. As I’ve said before, it’s easy to see how this could be distracting in a worship setting. If I spend all my time (and I have) wondering why the lights are the way they are and why that person is singing the wrong note, I’m not concentrating on the beauty of who God is and why He deserves this praise. But when I am able to focus on the task at hand, then this is a lethal weapon as a worship leader. If I can give all my attention and brain power to who God is and what he wants to accomplish, the attention to detail becomes crucial in the overall outcome of what happens when we come together in worship to our heavenly Father. So pray that I can curb my WLADD, because when I do it’s a great thing. But when I don’t….

So I was just thinking about this while I’m sitting in this class. I, like most of the universe, watched as Barack Obama was inaugurated this morning. I listened to what he said in his speech. I had a warmer seat than the 2 million people that were out there listening to him. The first thing I’ll say is what a historical time! I still can’t believe it to some degree. This is something I never thought I’d see, and am glad that I was available to see it. I think about my grandparents who lived when the fight for equality was even more real than we know right now. I can’t wait to see what the new editions of the history books and how they include such a thing. With that all being said…

A lot of promises were made this morning. I wouldn’t have expected anything else from the new President of the United States. If he can do HALF of the things that he is working toward during his time in office, I’d say WOW! He has a pretty aggressive plan. And like we do in this country, we will hang all our hopes and dreams on this one person. In reality, he doesn’t have much choice but to fail. Not because I don’t think he can do it, but there are so many expectations and he is not going to be able to meet them all. Personally, I pray that President Obama will have success in his time. I don’t envy him at all and don’t want his job.

What am I trying to say? I’m saying that we are all getting ready to put a trust in a man who is going to put us all down. He may not do it right away, and some of us may never feel like he can let us down. But let me tell you, believe it or not, Obama is human and will let us down. With that in mind, I can’t totally put my trust in him. He gets much respect for who he is and I’ll always give him that. But when it comes to who I put my trust in, I’ll trust God my Creator every time. He created Obama. He created me. He created any of you that may read this. He’s the only One that can take care of us as a people and a country. Are you giving him the trust that He deserves? Or have  you thrown your trust at ‘change’? I plan to stick with the One who’s been the same from day one and won’t change forever (Hebrews 13:8).

So, this year has already brought challenges in my life. I expected it to, because life always brings challenges. I didn’t think that I wouldn’t get through 10 days before things started to happen. Oh well, that’s life I guess. I think that God is getting me ready for something big…something I haven’t quite imagined yet. I don’t really know WHAT God has for me right now, but he doesn’t do anything half way. Here’s what I do know. I’ve been called to lead people in worship through song and I’ve been given a gift that I cannot take for granted. I know that if I’m going to do what it is I want to do I have to just step out and start doing it. I am preparing myself to move forward. I don’t know what that means quite yet, but I’m writing again. I’m even going as far as starting to set up possible opportunities to sing. For those of you that know me, this is a big deal. I don’t normally just promote myself. I don’t really know how to do that.

Anyway, I’m asking for your prayers as I attempt to step out of a comfort zone that has been there for a really long time. I’m quite scared, but I want to be obedient to God. Pray that I can listen to God AND respond the way I’m supposed to. That’s been the big issue for me. I have been running from some things because I’m scared of the outcome because I can’t see it. I need to start following God’s lead. Believe it or not, I’m not that great a leader…

I am called to lead people in worship. I am called to minister to people through song. I am called to be a servant. I am called to be a leader. I am called to help people unite their hearts with Christ. I am called to help people turn away from the distractions of life and focus on the God that saves and sings over us.  I can’t do any of that while I’m looking backwards and holding on to my fears. I can only do that if I turn around and begin to move forward. So lead the way, God, lead the way…