If I showed up at your church and asked, “I feel called to lead worship. Can you help me?”
What would you say? Would you have a process in place to help me?
If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know we are all about discipleship.
But discipleship can be difficult if you don’t know how to disciple. What are the specific areas a young worship leader needs to work on?
Here’s the exciting part: there may be called, gifted potential waiting to happen in your congregation. Without a process – a system of leading people – tremendous possibility could be overlooked.
People don’t grow unless they’re given specific feedback on their performance. You must communicate your values and expectations.
In this post I want to outline my “Worship Leader Checklist” – the specific habits and leadership qualities I’m looking to develop in my worship leaders. Feel free to use this or to help you customize your own.
My Worship Leader Development Checklist
Early Preparation/Planning
- Praying for the congregation
- Seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance
- Choosing songs/Crafting a setlist
- Writing an outline for speaking moments
Communication During the Week
- Random text message encouragements
- 2 random phone calls per week
- Email scheduled team at the beginning of the week
- Group email with upcoming events
- Phone blitz a week prior to team events
Band Leadership During Rehearsal
- Create a rehearsal plan
- Be encouraging
- Create a fun, engaging atmosphere
- Check in with people/ask about their lives
- Being prepared on musical decisions
- Prepare devo/prayer time
Leadership of the band “live” during each service
- Vocal cues
- Giving firm direction to endings
- Modeling expressive worship
Leadership of the congregation during worship
- Planned speaking moment
- Vocal cues during songs
- The worship experience – are people engaged?
- The overall band sound quality – is the band together?
- Altar response time & flow
There you have it. This is a template I use for developing leaders.
How To Give Them Experience
What’s needed now is a process for them to try it. For me, that looks like this:
- I Lead, They Watch
- I Lead, They Help
- They Lead, I Help
- They Lead, I Watch
This system gives me the opportunity to coach them and help them grow. I’m not just throwing them out there. If you think about it, this is exactly how Jesus led His disciples.
Understand that some of these points could take months, depending on who you’re coaching. Don’t rush the discipleship process or place someone in leadership prematurely.
Enough from me. It’s time to hear from you (my favorite part, to be honest).
I’d love to know – what have you tried? If you have a system, what does it look like?
Let’s talk about it in the comments. You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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Shalon Palmer says
This is great! I love making checklists to make sure things are done excellently and nothing gets left out. Now I have one for developing worship leaders! Thanks so much for this post!
David Santistevan says
No problem, bro! Let me know how it goes. How are your pad loops doing? I have a bunch of friends using them now 🙂
Shalon Palmer says
They’re doing great! It’s been a blast getting to meet and here from worship leaders all over the world who use them.
Shalon Palmer says
*hear
Chris says
Amazing! Thank you.
David Santistevan says
You are very welcome, Chris.
Maria says
Bro. David –
I’ve been out from leading for a few years but my hubby and I just took on leading our English congregation this year and I’ve already been so inspired by your blogs and posts. Thank you!
David Santistevan says
Maria, that is wonderful! So glad I can be an encouragement. Where is your church? And you say “English” congregation – how many different congregations do you have? Awesome!
Lucas says
This is super helpful! Not only is this a great tool for training and assessing new leaders, it’s also provided me a few helpful reminders.
David Santistevan says
That’s great, Lucas. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Aubrey McGowan says
Dang! This is great stuff bro! I love the breakdown of how to give them experience. Well said. I have also added to my training intentional conversations about the ways that our specific church culture handles things like communion, baptism, welcome, and closing. I want them to know the language that we use and don’t use within our culture. It helps them fit and align as a communicator with other voices that are speaking.