Beyond Sunday Worship

Worship Podcast

Why Do You Serve God?

I love this verse from the book of Hebrews:

“For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do” (Hebrews 6:10).

We all know we’re supposed to have love for God and love for people. But what drives your desire to serve – to be a small group leader, to pastor, to lead a worship team, to work with disabled children, to work with young people, etc?

What sustains your leadership and keeps you from burnout?

According to this verse, it’s love for God – the honor of His name.

If you pursue ministry for any other purpose than love for God’s Name, you will burn out. Love for God sustains service for God.

Question: Do you agree? What sustains you in your service for God?

A Simple Solution For Discouragement

Do you remember why you started leading worship? What gave you the desire to stand before people and lead them into the presence of God?

As I sit here this morning, I’m reminded of my own journey. I felt called. Not sure exactly what that means but I can tell you the moment my life’s trajectory changed was during worship. I don’t remember the sermon that night. I remember God reaching out to me in a moment of intense revelation.

I remember telling myself then, “I want to do that for the rest of my life. I want to lead people to know this amazing God.” Nothing is more worth my time and investment than pursuing Jesus and seeing people transformed in His presence. Nothing.

If you’re discouraged today, remember where you began. Revisit the feelings. Remember the word from God. Relive that “all-or-nothing” mentality. God is using you for a special purpose, even though you may feel lost in a sea of the same, week in and week out.

Don’t become so professional that you don’t pray. Don’t become so skilled that you don’t sing with tears. Don’t become so focused that you forget the Gospel and where God has brought you. Ministry rises and falls on that.

I’m praying for you today. And believing God that the best years of worship leading are ahead.

QUESTION: what do you do when you feel discouraged? What inspires you and focuses your heart?

Are You Maximizing Your Weakness?

I was midway through the song and gasping for air. This key was way too high for me. Especially at 9:15 on a Sunday morning. Approaching the “payoff” moment of the song (the highest part), I said a quick prayer and went for it. Crack. Croak. Embarrassment. Failure.

Weakness.

Isn’t it funny how when we succeed we think of ourselves higher than we actually are and when we fail we think we should quit? Worship leaders, let’s face it, our self-esteem is tied to how we perform. The skillful boatload of worship leaders creating records and writing songs and touring the world doesn’t help us either. We feel that success is tied to those items, as I mentioned in this post.

You have weaknesses. You know what they are. And believe it or not, those who serve with you know what they are whether you talk about them or not.

What weaknesses?

  • a weak(er) voice
  • lack of music theory knowledge
  • lack of instrument knowledge
  • inexperience leading worship
  • stuttering
  • bad public speaking
  • etc, etc, etc

Instead of hiding from your weakness and pretending it doesn’t exist, face it. Surround yourself with people who are better in that area and allow them to serve. Great leaders are not great leaders because they don’t have weaknesses. They are great leaders because they empower those around them to shine where they themselves lack.

It’s time you maximize your weakness and be vulnerable with your team. Allow others to shine. Lead out of humility and you will foster an incredible team.

Go.

3 Effective Leaders. 3 Essential Lessons.

We all have experienced it from time to time. We go to do ministry and feel nothing. It’s as if the logistical side of ministry has stolen our passion for what we once loved to do. You remember when you were called to this but now it just feels like a duty and you long for the times you can just be at home and not rush around so much.

Maintaining perspective in ministry is essential. This is part of what makes a leader a great one. When the tribe is feeling overwhelmed and distracted, a leader steps in with the necessary perspective that lifts spirits.

How do you get to that place? I’m assuming YOU want to be THAT kind of leader. I have had the privilege (and still do) of working with some of the best leaders on the planet. Every meeting with them was and is an opportunity for learning. They carry that perspective I mentioned earlier.

Here are a couple of those people and what I’ve learned:

1. EFFECTIVE LEADERS PRAY

I learned a lot about prayer from Matt Brown. I was fortunate to meet Matt as a young freshman at NCU and was immediately struck by his passionate leadership. Matt led a lot of outreaches and continues to do so but nothing was ever attempted without prayer. I’m talking intense, exhausting prayer. He stayed close to the heart of the Father and listened. If it is your responsibility to lead people spiritually, you can’t afford NOT to pray. It’s easy to put prayer on the shelf with all the other demands that come. But great leaders know they MUST pray.

2. EFFECTIVE LEADERS ARE VULNERABLE

What struck me about working with Dave Pedde in college was his wisdom. Wisdom that would pretty much leave your pride speechless. I regret not writing down or recording EVERY CONVERSATION we ever had. This wisdom came through his vulnerability with God. He wasn’t perfect and he wasn’t afraid to share that with those he mentored. He learned to recognize his imperfection, find his source in Christ, and communicate truth others. Great leaders know their weakness, press into God’s strength, and are open with those they lead.

3. EFFECTIVE LEADERS KNOW AND COMMUNICATE THE VISION

Great leaders have laser focus on what they’re called to do. In order to focus, there’s many great things they simply cannot do because they have a vision from God. They have a mandate to carry out. They don’t try to be balanced and please the masses.  When you’re around Jeff Leake for any length of time, you know his mandates: loving the ONE who is disconnected from Christ, church planting, serving the poor, reaching the unreached. He communicates this all the time. A staff meeting doesn’t go by where you don’t feel the vision. That’s what great leaders do. Zero in on what God has called you to and don’t swerve trying to please everyone in the process.

Who are some great leaders you have served with? What did they teach you?

5 Ways You Can Improve Your Leadership

The subtitle of my blog is “Worship. Leadership”. The reason for this is because worship leading is so much more than just singing songs, maneuvering through a worship set, holding band rehearsals, and listening to music all day. Being a worship leader involves leadership. It requires spiritual leadership.


I mean, noboday wants to follow a worship leader who doesn’t worship, right? Nobody wants to follow a worship leader who doesn’t love Jesus, right?

In this post I would like to outline 5 ways to improve your leadership as a worship leader. Or any leader, for that matter. These are things you can start doing now. I have a huge heart for you and believe God wants to use you in incredible ways.

1. IMMERSE YOUR PLANNING IN PRAYER

Part of what we do as worship leaders is plan. We plan a weekly setlist. We plan Easter productions and Christmas productions and scheduling and a host of other things. When you beging to immerse your planning in prayer, it shows in your leadership. It’s not just about getting things done. It’s about the presence of God, discipleship, vision, passion, expectancy. These are the things you want to impart to your team and congregation and it comes through prayer.

2. DEVELOP A DISCIPLESHIP STRATEGY

If you don’t plan it, it’s not going to happen. This is so important. Make your discipleship intentional. I’ve already written a previous post on How to Disciple Your Worship Team, so I won’t repeat myself here. I find it healthy to plan your year out before it happens. Sure, plans may change. But force yourself to get away for a few hours or a whole day and plan an intentional discipleship strategy for those on your worship team. You want your worship team members to grow musically, spiritually, and be sent out to do the same.

3. BE PREPARED

There’s nothing more frustrating than working with a ‘leader’ who is not prepared. Do the work to ‘set the table’ for your worship team. Put front end work into rehearsals, think through challenges you may face, set the stage, plan your devotional, know where you are going. It will seriously improve your leadership and likelihood of people sticking with you.

4. TAKE TIME TO THINK

I know thinking can be scary. You finally have to face the things you failed at. You have confront what isn’t working. But to be an effective leader you need to not just ‘do work’ but you need to ‘think about work’ to ensure you’re doing the right things. Is what you’re doing aligned with the vision of your lead pastor? Are you fulfilling the vision God has called you to? Are you stressed and losing patience with your team? These are the kinds of things you want to face weekly, think through them, pray through them, and come out stronger.

5. CELEBRATE YOUR TEAM

You may not think it’s that important, but taking the time to recognize individual people for what they contribute to your team is so beneficial. Not only does it encourage them but it increases the likelihood of them following you. People love to be recognized and will follow a leader who appreciates what they contribute.

LEADERS, what is ONE THING you have done to improve how you lead?