A few weeks ago, I was stressed out of my mind.
I love when a plan comes together, but this wasn’t one of those moments.
I had a musician cancel, last minute. During the service, we lost track of the click. No one in the congregation seemed to engage with the songs.
My voice was weak and tired and I felt like everyone was staring me down in disgust. I swear I saw a few tomatoes fly past my head.
I wanted to crawl in a hole and forget this service ever happened. Ever been in a situation like this?
Sure, moments like this always seems like the end of the world from our perspective. We’re creatives. When we don’t perform well our identity is at stake. We rise and fall on what we view as success.
But it’s important to realize that these moments will come. Train wrecks will happen. Are you prepared for them?
Through many train wrecks, I’ve learned that moments like this can be more of a blessing than a curse, if you respond properly.
5 Steps to Take After a Ministry Train Wreck
Here are 5 ways you should respond to ministry train wrecks:
1. Own the Responsibility – When something goes wrong it’s easy to start pointing fingers. But leaders own the mistake. They recognize it as a blind spot in their leadership and they get comfortable with the most uncomfortable phrase: “I’m sorry.” Don’t run. Don’t hide. Don’t make excuses.
2. Know Where Your Identity Lies – It’s important to know who you are before you set foot on a stage. That way success won’t sway you from your identity as a son or daughter of God. Failure won’t cause you to doubt your calling. I love Bob Sorge’s words in Dealing With the Rejection & Praise of Man:
I noticed that Jesus had the habit of praying after His ministry successes. For example, after feeding the five thousand, He immediately departed for the mountain in order to pray. It was my custom for many years to invest all my prayer energy before ministry and, then, after ministry to ‘crash'(relax). But Jesus gave Himself to prayer in the natural ‘down time’ that comes after ministry exertion. Not only did this guard Him from temptation, but it was also His opportunity to be renewed in His Father’s affirmation. This was the time when the Father would tell Him, ‘Good job, my Son!’
3. Tweak Your Systems – Oftentimes, failure happens because we haven’t followed through with our systems. Or, our systems need tweaked. It’s important to know the difference when nothing goes according to plan. Ask, was this a systems failure or was this part of the natural ebb and flow of ministry life? Tweak your systems if need be, but don’t allow failure or success to sway your identity.
4. Redefine Success – It’s in those moments when nothing goes according to plan that we have the opportunity to redefine success. In my situation, I was overly obsessed with looking and sounding good. I was completely focused on flawless music execution. A better picture of success would have been for the people of God to connect with their Maker in worship. Looking good, sounding great, and everyone leaving complimenting my musical brilliance is a sad success, but one I’m all too often obsessed with.
5. Teach Others – Don’t you wish you could just sweep your failures under the rug, forever forgotten? Yes, except that you would lose the one thing that gives you influence. Part of what makes a leader a great leader is that they learn from their failures and teach others through it. They don’t hide what went wrong and always put their best foot forward. They use the mess-ups to invest in other leaders, teaching them how to respond and deal with difficulty.
So next time you are faced with a ministry train wreck, don’t lost heart. Own responsibility if you dropped the ball, and tweak the necessary systems. Know your identity isn’t based on any success or failure, but on God’s love for you. Be reminded what true success is and teach others through what happened.
So while you don’t want to seek out train wrecks, know that they present an incredible opportunity for growth.
What about you? Let’s be honest today.
What was your last ministry train wreck? I know I have a few others I could share.
What did you learn from it? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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I am going through a work crisis for which all five of these steps are applicable.
Tweaking systems, owning my responsibility, teaching others intentionally, redefining success, and remembering Whose I am no matter what or when or where…way better than freaking out.
So true, Rhonda! Praying the craziness lets up for you soon!
It’s taken (and is taking) me far too long to wrap my head around a very simple principle, but here we go: being imperfect as a worship leader really is okay. And yes, even train wrecks are okay.
See, I have a tendency to mentally tailspin and crash any time a worship set doesn’t meet my standard of perfection. I think this is a flaw that carries over from the basic selfishness of humanity. As a musician (or software engineer, or soccer player, or father, or …) my instinct is to try to do whatever I do better than anyone else, to seek personal renown, and to have those that observe feel that twinge of jealousy: “Man, I wish I could sing/play/orate/code/dribble/parent/whatever like that!” Take that fundamental flaw in humanity, and add to it the tendency that all folks have — but Christians have perhaps refined — to mask our shortcomings and try to appear as though we’ve got it all together, all the time. The result is a massive, massive disconnect with both Reality and our fellow man.
How can I stand in front of a sanctuary full of people, claiming to lead them in worship, yet get frustrated when I demonstrate that following me is actually pretty easy because, hey, I’m human, too? What kind of leader says “Do what I do” yet silently adds “…but just don’t do it better than me”?
I’m not saying that we should just throw our systems and our preparation and our desire to serve with excellence to the wind — far from it! (As if creatives could do that even if we wanted to…) But if we as worship leaders demonstrate with our attitudes that we’re untouchables in a class that’s somehow above mistakes and, therefore, above those who make mistakes, we’re going to find ourselves in a very lonely place indeed, and leading no one anywhere. Worse still, in such leadership positions, if we’re not leading folks toward Christ, chances are we’re leading them away from Him. Rather, let’s embrace our mistakes not merely as opportunities to learn how to avoid repeating them, but as chances to stay connected with our fellow imperfect worshippers and keep the focus on Him rather than us.
Man, this is so great. You nailed it – it really is an obsession with self. One way I try and combat that tendency is to surround myself with people who are better than me in certain areas. It makes for stronger ministry and keeps me from ministering just to absorb all the attention. Thanks for this challenge!
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