Beyond Sunday Worship

Worship Podcast & Blog

How To Fall Back In Love With Leading Worship

I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t always love leading worship.

It’s my job. And when something becomes your job, it’s easy to lose your passion for it.

Photo Credit: Don & Tonya Christner (Flickr)

But you already knew that. The question becomes how do we fall in love with it all over again? How do we recapture the passion we once had to stand before people and point them to a glorious God?

The paradox? Falling in love with worship leading starts with falling in love with Jesus. Because if you fall in love with leading worship you are prone to worship something else:

Falling in love with Jesus is where the heart of a worship leader begins and ends. As Andy Park says, leading worship is about cultivating a life in God. It’s not about crowds and performance and songs and shouts.

The best worship leaders are madly in love with Jesus. Period.

If you don’t love the presence of God, crave his attention, long for his glory, you have no business being a worship leader.

Maybe that sounds a bit harsh. But we are too desperate for the presence of God to be satisfied with solid worship performances. We don’t just need to be entertained and emotionally fired up.

We need God.

And that starts with a worship leader who loves Jesus. How do you get back to that place?

1. Become a worshiper (again)

Revisit what it’s like to get alone with God again. Set aside the responsibility and the leadership. Think back to what it was like to worship just because you wanted to. Just because you didn’t know what was going to happen when you began to pour your heart out to God.

Allow the time to pass. Soak in His presence. This is who you are. This is what you do. You are a worshiper. Before you lead, before you sing, before you tickle the ivories, you worship. Find your identity in what God says about you.

2. Stop Comparing

Stop trying to be Matt Redman. Lay down your dream to be Chris Tomlin. Because when we’re caught in the crosshairs of comparison we never do our best leading.

Instead of going deep into God’s presence, it becomes a competitive race to the top.

The more you make it about yourself and your career, the less your worship will resemble heaven. Because there’s no room for the praise of man in the presence of God.

Instead, pursue passion. Stay inspired through other worship leaders but don’t allow them to determine success for you. God has a unique calling on your life. Remind yourself every day that you get to lead worship right where you are.

3. Don’t forget the basics

  • The Bible – More than you consume the latest worship CD, devour God’s Word. Nothing will sustain the heart of a worship leader more. Read it. Memorize it. Speak it. Write it down.
  • Theology – Read books that challenge your current understanding of God. Read in order to have your mind blown. True theology should lead you to self-effacing amazement, not pride.
  • Constant learning – Never stop learning your craft. Work on your vocals, your instrument, your public speaking, your spontaneous singing. Be a relentless learner.
  • Discipleship – Great worship leaders don’t just love Jesus. They want others to love Jesus. It’s their passion to bring others along in their pursuit of God – for people to encounter Jesus the way they have.

I want to leave you with one final thought. Worship leading has become more about excellence than true worship. While you can’t ignore excellence, focus on the genuineness of your worship first.

Let your passion for Christ shine. Go to that place of unashamed, unafraid, bold worship.

We need more worship leaders like you.

Question: What is your story? How have you fallen back in love with leading worship? Join in the comments!

Comments

  1. Raul says

    “If you don’t love the presence of God, crave his attention, long for his glory, you have no business being a worship leader.”
    Excellent post, it is sad and too human that we have to remind ourselves at times why we do this. It is all because of times alone with God. Not because the job required it, just because that was how I chose to spend my time and loved every minute of it.
    Thanks

    • David Santistevan says

      Thanks Raul. Yea, this is probably something we’ll always need reminded of. Naturally, we pursue what is best for our egos more than what glorifies God, you know?

  2. Rob Still says

    It helps to remember to come back to your first love (Rev 2:4), just did a post on that.

    I’d also suggest serving beyond music. Thanks for the inspiration David!

  3. Adam Johnson says

    there have been couple times where I have caught myself “doing a job” when it came to leading worship. Each time the lord checked my heart and each time it really scared me. I don’t do this for the prestige and we all know not for the pay!
    its good to refocus the heart on a frequent basis.

    thanks for the post!

  4. cdenning says

    David,

    Thanks for your honest and perspective. I think we all know what this feels like, and it comes and goes in seasons. You’re right though, we need to actively remind ourselves why we do what we do and who is it for. And comparing ourselves never helps. We already have a Redman, Tomlin, Gungor, and many more (for good reason, cause they’re great), which is why we need to seek to be ourselves. Love it, thanks,

    cd

  5. Bren McLean says

    Thanks David. It’s about authenticity. A servant heart that leads for an audience of One.
    We can be inspired by others, but why copy them? Like cd said, we already have a Redman, Tomlin, and a Houston, Houghton, Hughes. God made me to lead as…ME!
    Hallelujah!

  6. Becky says

    These tips are great even for an instrumentalist or vocalist. Falling back in love with God and spending one on one time with him definitely helps. Do you think taking Sunday’s off as a leader once in awhile would help too? I’ve seen some teams do this and I think it can help both the leader and as a good model for the team too.

  7. Rebecca says

    Hey David – thanks so much for this. I’m a freshman in high school and I am in a music ministry class where we lead worship for chapel. This semester i was made leader of a new team and everything has been so great but lately, I just have felt a lacking of the holy spirit. I was pondering the thought and as I was walking into class today and checking email I saw this blog pop up and stopped to read it. It totally fit where I am at and really encouraged me. Thanks for your daily blogging – you have no idea what am impact they have on me and my team!
    -r

  10. Brian Fisher says

    Good stuff! This was exactly the encouragement I needed, it’s about honoring the call and bringing glory to His name, not just me holding a guitar or singing, Blessings!

  11. Needyan says

    Wow! The King bless you for these articles. I got up this morning meditating and thinking how much I desire to get back to that place in my worship lifestyle and decided to do some research and came across your posts. I relocated to another country over two years ago and it’s like I’ve lost the fire, the desire for true worship, I’ve allowed myself to get caught up with the “norm”. True worship is way beyond the norm and I intend on getting back there, back to the place of true worship. Thanks again, keep writing.

  12. GWilliams says

    Wonderful, wonderful. This article was exactly what I needed to read. When I read, “Think back to what it was like to worship just because you wanted to.”, I knew this whole thing was and is for me. God is definitely still using you to speak to His leaders, so thank you for your obedience and God bless.

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