Beyond Sunday Worship

Worship Podcast & Blog

5 Habits to Protect the Sanity of a Leader

There seems to be quite a chasm between public leadership and private devotion. The more successful a leader becomes, the more responsibility is given. The more responsibility that is given, the busier life becomes.

It can be extremely difficult when, in the course of a week, a leader is constantly relied upon to give direction, to inspire, and to breathe vision numerous times. How does a leader keep his private devotion to Christ fresh? How does one ensure that his leadership and vision is coming from a place of honesty with Christ?

Is it possible to properly balance the public and the private?


Well, I happen to be a young leader, so I hardly claim to have the corner on this topic. But here are a few things that I would recommend:

  • INVITE ACCOUNTABILITY – Being a leader can be lonely because you are providing care and direction to people but rarely getting that same attention for yourself. Find a close friend you trust, or another leader/pastor who you can vent to. Preferably someone older and more experienced who can be a listening ear and coach you in your leadership.
  • DON’T COMPROMISE YOUR HOME – The more leadership you take on, the more temptation you will have to neglect time at home, date nights with your spouse, time with your kids, etc. Increase your vigilance when it comes to guarding these priorities. Don’t allow your public leadership to kill your leadership and availability at home.
  • INCREASED LEADERSHIP = INCREASED PRAYER – another temptation when faced with more leadership, is the tendency for your prayer life to weaken. You find yourself so busy that prayer seems a waste of time. Bible reading just has to wait until life slows down a bit. You start to rely on cranking through task lists. Resist this urge with vengeance. I would say the most important thing you can do is to increase your prayer life with any increased leadership. A posture of dependance on Christ is essential to remain humble and ensure you are hearing from God for your people.
  • READ – always increase in learning. A leader is a learner because he wants to know where to take his people.
  • REST – be sure to take adequate breaks. I love Rick Warren’s philosophy – Divert daily, Withdraw Weekly, Abandon Annually. Easy to remember, sometimes difficult to apply. Your ministry will not die if you obey this principle; if anything, it may strengthen as you delegate to other capable leaders you are raising up.

QUESTION: What has helped you in your leadership? Anything you would add to this list?

8 Ways to Improve How You Engage People in Worship

In my early days of leading worship, I was oblivious to the people I was leading. I didn’t even really think about them. I basically thought it was some grand display of my musical gifts and anointing for others to enjoy. I know, awful, right? While I still battle pride on a daily basis, I’ve learned that leading worship is more about “engaging” your congregation than it is about “amazing” them with your worship leading brilliance.

One of my tendencies is to over-prepare musically and under-prepare relationally. Yes, I said relationally. In order to lead a congregation to breakthrough worship, they need to trust you. Here are some tips on how I work this out:

  • Pray for your congregation
  • Respond with grace to criticism (but don’t take it too seriously)
  • Respond with gratefulness to compliments (but don’t take it too seriously)
  • Relate to your congregation where they are (who is present? – unbelievers, new Christians, senior saints, rebellious teenagers, trendy young adult?) Trust needs to be established for them to follow you.
  • Select a healthy balance of music (song choice & style)
  • Practice your public speaking & communication skills
  • Develop good people skills – you need to be like-able!
  • Utilize humor tastefully – humor helps people relax and feel comfortable around you

Do you agree? What have you done in order to connect with your congregation?

 

The 3 Levels of Sunday Morning Worshipers

Ever been there? You’re in a worship service. The worship leader is going at it, musicians are rocking out, and yet there seems to be zero connection between what is happening on stage and what is happening in the crowd. What is the problem?

Let me just say that this is normal, to a certain extent (sometimes the worship leader is just plain insensitive). However, in a healthy congregation there will always be a mix of the pros, the amateurs, and the newbies. Here’s what I mean:

  • THE PRO – the pro’s are the worship leader’s best friend. You could start singing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” with flute, mandolin, and saxophone and their hands are raised high (almost looks like their stretching), they’re swaying to the beat, clapping, and singing at the top of their lungs. Anytime the worship leader says something they offer the ‘spiritual grunt’ or a hearty ‘Amen’. Beautiful.
  • THE AMATEUR – amateur worshipers love Jesus but are still getting used to the corporate sing-a-long. When they raise their hands it’s more of a “cup-my-hands-but-leave-them-at-my-side” sort of thing. They’ll also put in the occasional clap but it probably won’t last for more than 20 seconds.
  • THE NEWBIE – if you’re a pro, put on the ‘newbie’ shoes for a second. These are typically people who have not come to faith in Christ yet. Imagine stepping into a room with people you don’t know, with songs you don’t know, and being asked to participate. Kinda weird. These people either stand still or sit or have many sudden urges to use the restroom throughout the worship service.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the humor. But in all honesty, a great church will have a mix of these people because a great church is reaching the lost and is filled with people at a different point on the same journey. So if you have a lot of amateurs and newbies, pray that they grow into a pro and lead by example.

My Current Top 10 Favorite iPhone Apps

Ever since I became an iPhone user last year my life has changed. I don’t think I realize how often I use this phone. I started out using it for more entertainment purposes but now I almost solely use it to keep myself more productive. Here are some of my current favorite apps:

Action Method – my project/task manager. I love the design and simplicity of this app. It also syncs with my online account for on-the-go ‘getting things done’. Anytime anything pops in my head that requires action, I create an action step with this app.

MobileRSS – this is a great, free RSS Reader. I subscribe to somewhere around 75 blogs and have them categorized with this app according to theme: worship, young adult ministry, business, productivity, financial, etc. The best part is that it syncs with my Google Reader account so I don’t have to re-read anything

Evernote – another great app to capture ideas. I primarily use the voice feature on this app to capture ideas for ministry and songs I am writing. Syncs with the online and desktop versions as well. Incredibly productive app.

Instapaper – when I read blogs, I read quick. Sometimes I really want to dig into a post but don’t have time, so I save it to Instapaper. Within my MobileRSS app there’s a link to save any blog to it. I also save web pages I want to revisit later using the ‘read it later’ button installed in my safari browser. Changed my life!

Planning Center Online – the web software we use to schedule our worship teams and program our services. Numerous times throughout the week I’ll access this to see who’s scheduled and if there’s any updates I need to make.

Nike + iPod – my running partner. With this app I can listen to podcasts or music and also track how far and how fast I am running. Helps to keep me motivated. This app is on every iphone but requires you purchase the sensor for your shoe; however, they just released a paid app where the sensor is not necessary.

Dropbox – I hardly save any documents to my computer hard drive anymore. With dropbox, I can save any document in my dropbox folder and access it anywhere – from another computer or this app. When I am teaching, I’ll just open dropbox and pull out my notes. Amazing.

Twitter – I love the new Twitter app. While I use Tweetdeck on my desktop, I love to check Twitter updates using this app. It’s reliable, easy to use, and saves your spot where you left off.

ESV Bible – Great Bible app. I found it has the best interface for selecting a passage of Scripture. I hate having to type it out. With this app there’s an attractive scroll down menu of each book. Proof that design is important to productivity.

Ask Dave Ramsey – I can be a bit of a finance nerd these days and I always enjoy listening to Dave Ramsey’s insights. With this app I can access tons of his radio show calls, all archived according to topic.

Best part of all these apps? They’re free! Go get them.

DS

 

10 "What-if's" For Worship Leaders To Ask

What if I spent an undistracted hour in God’s presence before I went to lead worship?

What if I spent an entire rehearsal simply worshiping with my team?

What if I spent more time memorizing Scripture than listening to new music?

What if I spent a little time everyday practicing and sharpening my musical craft?

What if I prayed daily for the congregation that I lead?

What if I admitted I’m not the best at everything and allowed other musicians/singers to rise up?

What if we had band prayer after worship in order to cement the truth that our acceptance before God isn’t based on our performance but because we’re his children?

What if we intentionally applied the truth of every song that we sing?

What if we experimented with worship services without music?

What if I tuned into the Holy Spirit’s voice as I led worship?