There are dangers to being front and center all the time.
The stage isn’t merciful to the human heart.
You no longer answer altar calls.
You no longer engage with the entire service. You check out, do your own thing.
But the key to being an effective worship leader is maintaining a tender heart before the Lord. It’s all about being sensitive to His Word, His presence, His will.
But how do we keep ourselves there?
If worship is our responsibility every week, when do we respond to God?
Here are some suggestions:
- Spend time with the Lord after the service
- Carry a physical Bible
- Take notes during the sermon
- Pray out loud daily
- Get a word from God daily
- Rave about your pastor in front of your team
- Dont’ be an observer. Always engage.
- Talk about Jesus
Is your profession destroying your passion?
I need your feedback. This post is meant to be a conversation.
How do you keep a tender heart before God as a worship leader? What will it take to stay close to Jesus? Join in the comments!
And the longer we stay in the rut of not being tender and “not answering” altar calls, the less sensitve we become.
Truth!
This post is again led by the Holy Spirit, David! Your encouragement on how to respond to God is great. It is definately a given to spend time in the Word, in prayer and worship, not only as a leader but as a Christian growing in our relationship with our Lord. I also know that it is imperative for us, as worship leaders, to have times in corporate worship, off the stage. The mark of a great worship leader is how they worship when they are off the platform. We need those times to allow God to pour into us since we are always pouring out.
Thanks Contina! Are you consistent with worshiping off the stage or do you struggle to make time?
Yes, we have a rotation for the worship leaders.
In many ways, I think our response begins with our preparation. In a very real sense, we are a conduit for *God* to do the leading of our people (including ourselves) in worship. Staying sensitive to that – resolving any known sin, being careful to stay in the Word during the rest of the week, being in a mentoring relationship of some sort as the recipient rather than the mentor, fostering an active prayer life – is essential.
Contina makes an excellent point. Sometimes, we need to go to another worship service to be free to truly worship. Whatever it takes.
You could go to another worship service, but to worship at your local church off the stage seems to be so much more meaningful and fulfilling. Getting a chance to worship with your own congregation makes you feel like you’re apart of your own congregation 🙂 . Plus, then those that see you will get a chance to see you out of the lime light and catch a glimpse of true worship. 🙂 And yes, Contina was SPOT ON!! 😀
Well said, Kirsten. I think it goes both ways. It’s healthy to worship at your church off the stage AND to worship in another church. It helps to expand your vision.
Thank you! 🙂 Have you made a post on vision? I would like to read it if you have.
Kirsten, are you subscribed to my newsletter? Probably my best writing on vision is what I put in my ebook “Beyond Sunday”. It’s free to newsletter subscribers: https://beyondsundayworship.com/2011/11/beyond-sunday/
Also, try this: https://beyondsundayworship.com/2011/02/the-most-important-question-you-might-not-be-asking/
Thank you! 🙂
subscribe to other podcasts and listen to them throughout the week as you drive and whatnot…feed your spiritual self…
be intentional about having alone time with the Lord…the stage doesn’t count
Yes! What are your favorite podcasts?
Elevation Church – Steven Furtick
New Spring Church – Perry Noble
Life Church.tv – Craig Groeschel
North Point Community – Andy Stanley
Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast
Perry Noble Leadership Podcast
Passion City Church – Louie Giglio
People’s Church – Herber Cooper
Faith Chapel – Brian Ross
James River Assembly – John Lindel
One Church – Greg Ford
Ignite Leadership Podcast – this is a podcast from Greg Ford and One Church
Catalyst Podcast
I don’t keep up with every message every week from all of these, but this is where the majority of my podcasts come from…and obviously there are countless other good ones too…
I listen to them when I travel or when I am driving across town, stuff like that…
Awesome. Thanks bro!
Jeff Deyo has a great analogy with this…he uses the concept of a well. I think this is the video of him talking about it…
part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5quQFxn2EOg
part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRBMwl8XyN8
if this isn’t it, he essentially says that alone time with God is digging the well. Then, leading is when we pull from the well. If we haven’t put the time in to digging our well and making sure the water is fresh, then the water we pour out on people will be gross and stagnant, if there is even water in our well at all…
his video podcasts on youtube (he has a channel) is a great resource. i think they are available on itunes as well
Thanks for the post, I get so used to always praying for others at the altar call that I often catch myself doing it even when I am not leading.I do love the ideas that you put down, I always take notes, because I forget to easy. Also I take and go over those notes later and it reminds me what God was speaking to me at that time. I always write myself questions that come up in my mind from the sermon and it has been a great help. I also like the idea of listening to podcast. I listen to Pastor Chilly Chilton at hope4detroit.com ,very encouraging and energizing.
Raul, that’s awesome. Seems that you’re really in tune with God’s voice.
Sometimes, after we finish closing the service, I’ll just set my guitar down, step off the platform and ask one of the altar workers to pray with me. I’ve found people connect less with my perfection than they do my authenticity. I think in this way we not only lead songs, but lead in discipleship as well. Our church has a general altar call not necessarily related to the content of the message, so people could be praying for anything. This kind of anonymity is very helpful for all of our ministry leaders.
Robb, I agree with you. Perfection keeps people’s eyes on you. Authenticity leads them to God.
To me, the secret is where I find my identity. Who I am is cultivated in the secret place with Jesus. First and foremost, I am a son, not a worship leader, which makes me happy! I’d rather be a son, personally. I serve in that capacity (and really enjoy doing it, too) but I can’t afford to identify myself and get my value from it.
The list you gave suggesting practical steps to take contained a lot of the things I do. I might add soaking to that list. For those unfamiliar with it, it involves putting on some worship music and just laying down on the floor and receiving from God. It takes a lot of the “work” out of trying to be with Him because you are literally on your back doing nothing (like a child, in fact). Love the blog, David!
Great suggestion, Cameron. Personal worship times are so important. In our fast paced society it can be difficult to focus on one thing for more than 5 minutes, but we need it!