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A couple weeks ago I poised the question, “What do successful worship leaders do?” How do we define it?

If it doesn’t necessarily involve big tours and best selling records, what does it involve?

Here’s some ways I define success:

• A congregation that engages in the worship experience
• Musicians that improve musically
• Musicians that grow closer to Christ
• A team that grows numerically
• Other worship leaders are being raised up
• Music serves people rather than distracts
• A team that worships and has a passion for God’s glory
• A discipleship plan is in place
• A team that follows and respects your leadership

Notice that all these items don’t just involve you. Effective worship leaders don’t just look internal, they pour themselves out for others. That’s the nature of leadership and the nature of a successful worship leader.

Notice there were only 9 ways listed. The last one is for you to add. What defines success for you as a worship leader?

One of the best things I think we’ve ever done with our worship team is to provide monthly workshops. Since we work with volunteers, mainly who are in high school or college, it’s a great way to unify our team, grow our team numerically, impart to the next generation, and improve our musicianship.

As worship leaders, I believe God entrusts us with musicians and singers. It’s our responsibility to steward them well. I don’t want my team to simply feel ‘used’. I want them to have fun, catch a passion for worship, grow closer to Jesus, improve their musicality, and ultimately be released to serve God in other parts of the world. I hope that is your desire too.

Workshops are a discipleship tool we just started in the Fall of 2010, once a month. If you are a worship leader, I wholeheartedly recommend you do some sort of training with your team throughout the year. You don’t have to do it just like we do, but do something. You may not feel you are even qualified to teach on some of these topics, but I bet someone on your team is. If not, teach what you know. You don’t have to cover the entire encyclopedia of musical and worship expertise right now. Give what you got today. Don’t wait for ‘that time’ to come.

For the remainder of this post I wanted to outline some of the workshops we did in 2010 and some of the key topics we covered. We try to keep our workshops one hour in length, highly interactive, and include lunch (trust me, it helps). Based on mine (and Kate’s) experience, we wrote our own curriculum. Feel free to use this stuff. We didn’t invent it 🙂

KEYBOARD WORKSHOP

• Check out this post. No need to repeat myself here.

WORSHIP LEADER WORKSHOP

• Bring in a guest worship leader and interview them in front of the team. We invited worship leaders from other local churches, youth group worship leaders, and young aspiring worship leaders.
• Do a visionary teaching on “Why We Lead Worship” or something practical like, “Practical Helps for Worship Leaders”.
• Leave time for Q & A
• Attend a local conference or worship night together

RHYTHM SECTION WORKSHOP (Drums, Bass, Guitars)

• Listen to a song and have each team member diagram what is happening using this sheet. (This sheet is from Paul Baloche. Btw, check out his instructional DVDs, which would be another great idea for a workshop. Just watch it and then apply it).
• Teach on ‘groove’, ‘playing in the pocket’, ‘listening to other musicians’, ‘less is more’.
• Rotate different musicians in and out, have one of them start a groove, and the others match it. Have the room comment on how they did. Stop and applaud the good you see and kindly point out what went wrong.
• Pick a couple songs, provide sheet music, and rotate musicians in and out quickly to give ‘the groove’ a try.

VOCAL WORKSHOP

• Teach on the role of a background singer (matching the tone of the lead, being aware, less is more)
• Pick a song and demonstrate some options. Have others sing.
• Utilize a band and do a humorous demonstration of “what NOT to do”.
• Communicate your personal vision for worship team vocals. Sometimes a simple vision is all it takes to get everyone ‘on board’.

WORSHIP LEADERS: Have you done any workshops before? What are some things you’ve tried?

A few days ago my friend Brad Leach wrote an insightful post called “5 Things I’m Doing to Attack the New Year”. Practical, helpful, and wise. It got me thinking about what worship leaders can do to prepare well for a new year.

I have a heart for worship leaders to do more than just lead worship. I’m not talking about being busier for the sake of busyness. Don’t just fill up your schedule with tasks to keep you occupied. Do the right things. Do the things that make the biggest difference. And do them well.

As worship leaders, we are often preoccupied with music and scheduling. We have to pick a killer setlist out each weekend, we need to schedule the band, we need to prepare for Easter, we have that week of special services coming up. Great.

But what else?

What is your strategy for discipleship? What apprentice worship leaders are you raising up? What are you going to do in 2011 that will have some major impact?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to reflect on 2011 and simply say, “well, we played some cool songs. We had a killer Easter production. We used loops, got tighter jeans, and sound better than ever.”

Let’s go deeper.

The start of a new year is a perfect time to figure that out and prepare yourself for what’s ahead. So here’s a list of things you can do to attack your new year with fresh vision.

1. FAST

I love fasting at the beginning of the new year. Well, I don’t always love it when it’s happening because I love food, but the spiritual focus it offers is amazing. When I fast, I’m realigning my heart with the first commandment – to make sure I’m loving God above all else. And also to wean myself off of distractions to that goal. As a worship leader, is so important to keep your heart alive in God as you lead people to encounter him. Btw, I always get focused with this hilarious video on fasting.

2. WRITE DOWN YOUR WORSHIP TEAM DISCIPLESHIP PLAN

This may seem like ‘duh’, but a lot of times we just mirror what everyone else is doing. What is your church and culture all about? What are the things you want to see happen? What are the big events that will make a huge difference this year? Write more songs as a worship team? Go on a missions trip together? Do a recording? Start a new campus with your apprentice worship leader? Seek God. Write it down.

3. TALK WITH YOUR SENIOR PASTOR

After you’ve written down your ‘main things’ – the things you want to see happen in your worship team, meet with your senior pastor. It’s important that your vision supports his. They should be the same. He needs to agree on what your doing. Even if he doesn’t agree everything on your list is necessary, he’ll appreciate that you’ve prayed it through and planned it out. He may even suggest some things to work on.

4. FOLLOW A BIBLE READING PLAN

Part of what makes certain worship leaders great is their depth in God. They’ve walked through trials. They devour Scripture. They read great books. It’s easy to coast through a year without read much of the Bible, if any at all. Don’t let that happen to you. Make one of your goals to grow a deeper passion for the Word of God. The Word of God is the fuel for your ministry. Everything else will let you down. For a suggestion, I always read THIS.

There are other things I could add, like pursuing a tighter sound and deeper creativity, but that is really secondary to these four things. It will really help you to zoom out and think about your year before you start living it.

Are there other things you would add to the list?

There is what the ‘worship industry’ would tell us:

Write your own songs. Put out records. Go on big tours. Sell out big venues. Write a book. Repeat.

Those are good things, but it’s possible to have all that with a barren heart and fruitless ministry. And many will never get to do THAT.

So, what does a successful worship leader do? How does a worship leader leave a legacy? In your ministry as a local church worship leader, what are you working towards?

I don’t have an answer…just yet. I’m waiting on YOU. Leave a comment and let us know.

 

How many stories could we tell of rehearsals gone ridiculous? Services gone sour? Worship teams with too much tension? Think about it: many musicians of different ages, different styles, different expectations, different preferences, different spiritual expectancy, different everything? Sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it?

It doesn’t have to be. How do we create a unified culture in our worship teams?

There isn’t much that could be more important. Unity is essential for victory. Imagine any professional sports team winning the championship while breathing down each other’s necks in anger and resentment. Not gonna happen.

So if unity is so important, how do we cultivate it? What can you do today to make a difference? Glad you asked.

I don’t think there’s one canned answer but here are some quick ideas that may inspire you:

• Talk about your vision. All the time. People are drawn to visionaries.
• State expectations up front to potential new members.
• Have fun together. Laugh.
• Pray together before, during, and after rehearsals.
• Confront disrespect (in private) the DAY it happens.
• Validate everyone’s opinions and thoughts.
• When you see something good, praise it.
• Meet periodically outside of church to hang out.
• Study the Bible together.
• Earn your team’s respect. Don’t just demand it.
• Show up prepared for rehearsals and services.
• Be an encourager.
• Bring together the old and the young to talk about gear together.
• Ask for your team’s opinion.
• Come together, sit in a circle, and have people share what they appreciate about each person.
• Sometimes you have to let people go who will not submit. Bless them and release them. That is OK.
• Constantly improve what you do. Team members appreciate that kind of leader.
• Raise money TOGETHER. Do an outreach TOGETHER. Do something meaningful TOGETHER.

Worship Leaders, I know there’s more. How do you unify your team?