[I recently sent this to my newsletter list. I’m reposting because a few people wanted to comment and share]:
Casting vision is hard.
It’s like a journey that never ends.
When you feel like slowing down and celebrating your progress, you realize…there’s much further to go. A new momentum is needed.
How do you maintain it?
Today I wanted to discuss a simple way to cast vision for your team.
If you’ve been a worship leader for any length of time, you know it’s difficult to balance the spiritual and practical with excellence. It becomes a struggle to manage the tension between “getting stuff done” and “making disciples.”
How Are You Casting Vision?
When I’m trying to inspire my team to a deeper level or increase their spiritual passion, I’ve noticed that talking doesn’t work.
Well, that’s not entirely true because everyone needs to talk about what they’re passionate about. If you love Jesus, you need to talk about Jesus. And you need to talk to your team about Jesus.
But simply talking isn’t enough. Your team doesn’t want to be talked at. Your “before service pep talk” isn’t enough.
What’s the one simple way to envision your worship team?
Take them on an adventure.
Maybe you won’t climb Everest or hike the Himalayas together. Though if you do, send me your worship team orientation packet. I’m all in 🙂
I’m talking about adventure in the sense of a vision with constant momentum.
The goal here is to connect your routine tasks with a God-sized, practical vision.
Confused as to what this means or how to get started?
Questions To Inspire Vision
Ask yourself these questions:
- What is the overarching vision of my rehearsals?
- What is our purpose on Sunday morning?
- What projects are we working on together?
- What ministry outside of our own church can we pursue together?
- Are we writing songs together?
- How are we engaging in the mission of our church?
- How are we reaching the nations with the Gospel?
- What is God calling us to do?
- What are we doing that is dangerous to the kingdom of darkness?
The minute you lose your sense of adventure is the minute you fall back into a manageable, boring routine.
Fight for it.
Being a part of a worship team is a high calling. But envisioning your team won’t just happen. You need to take them on an adventure and make them feel it.
What about you? What have you tried? Reply and let us know in the comments!
I’m in the midst of this now!
There were many different approaches I thought about going with the team(s), but after council from the existing pastoral staff (very important)… the one direction that I kept coming back to was to ask EVERYONE to give everyone a 1-3 month, 3-6 month, 6-12 month plan… then take the first month off to reflect on what they felt God was calling them to do. Whether that was to stay on the team, ‘retire’, take a break, or change roles. Many people have been serving / volunteering for a number of years (awesome). And I wanted to make sure that everyone was able to take time to reflect on the past and future. We we all be reading through the same book to help with what the purpose of worship is, hoping to then have a ‘focus book’ going forward to help in the spiritual formation of the team….. so much more to all this but that’s the gist:) Excited to hear what other’s are doing or have done!
These are great ideas, Jason. What book are you reading together?
We are going through Matt Redman’s book the Unquenchable Worshipper.
Reading Daniel this month. I like how chapter 6 explains Daniel prayed daily giving thanks and asking of God and he did not make mistakes even though others were jealous and wanted him to trip up and he was working in a place that was not Godly, even though God had allowed it to be in power for that time. He kept his culture against other culture and he gave to that place. It was more than ritual, it was worship.
As for writing music together, this happens when people take time to write and share and integrate and give feedback until something hits home and comes out. Maybe like a statue from a piece of rock might or might not. Having everyone try their own preference of arrangement of a well know piece would be fun and illuminating and get creative ideas going. Of have several try to put a bible character or passage or story to song and enjoy the results.
Do dollar store prizes for memory work count as an adventure? 🙂
I appreciate vision that helps us follow and lead together. This is rare in organizations, but not impossible to find. I cannot describe it well, but if you know that your leaders are together taking on challenges as they best can, with mixed results but much learned and gained and appreciated in the reaching, it helps you join and do the same. Makes it easier to give things a try with what you got or with what you are given and not step on toes in the process. At least not intentionally.
Fairly random post here. Have many adventures and may many know Him more than any other.
This is slightly unrelated, but we are taking a missions trip out to Nepal and we are talking about taking some extra time to trek up everest. Since a few of my worship team people will be there I might make it a mandatory worship team building exercise.