[This is a guest post by Chris Schopmeyer. Chris is a worship pastor at Pinelake Church, pastoring and equipping bands. He writes about music and worship at TheMusicSchop.net.]
I have to be honest with you.
As a keyboardist and music director for the past 15 years, there have been times where I felt like the only one passionate about worship.
I show up engaged, full of passion, ready for God to move, and my team is asleep.
The truth is, there have been days when I was asleep too.
Ever been there?
I’ve come to believe we will never reach our full potential as worship-leading bands until each person on stage owns it like the worship leader does. I call it the ownership axiom, and it will dramatically improve the effectiveness of your team.
Don’t Worry, It’s a Rental
Have you abused a rental car? Ever blow off a college class your parents paid for? It’s not that we intentionally harm something we don’t own. We just don’t care that much.
I remember owning my first keyboard, a Roland XV-88. I learned everything about it. Purchasing a $300 road case wasn’t enough; I had my grandmother sew a cover for it. No one was allowed to touch it. It was mine – I sacrificed for it.
Ownership matters.
Do you own your spot on the worship team?
We can spend many years playing our instrument, accompanying worship leaders, and maybe even leading bands. We can learn the music, listen to the worship leader, and execute his or her requests.
But do we own the spiritual responsibility of our role?
Hired Men / Owners
“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd…. He sees a wolf come and runs for it…. The sheep don’t matter to him.” (John 10:11–13 MESSAGE)
The hireling doesn’t own the sheep nor does he love them. Jesus said a hired man is not a real shepherd and in doing so taught the ownership axiom.
You don’t have to be a paid musician to be a hireling. The truth is, we’ve all been hirelings before.
There have been days where I played my music, led my band, and didn’t take a moment to consider the sheep in the seats. I know this is true for worship leaders as well. The work of Sunday to Sunday can lead us to forget the awesome responsibility and privilege it is to lead God’s people in worship.
You have to own it.
Owning it is to live and act as if the victory of a team, the success of an event, or, dare I say, the worship of a church rests solely on the Lord working through you.
To own it is to care more than anyone else.
The Experience of Leading Worship
I remember the first time I was asked to lead worship. Where before I behaved as a hireling – playing keys and leading a great band as an end – now, I became an owner.
I had serious skin in the game as the person responsible for the entire team and musical worship of the church. This totally changed my preparation, pre-service rituals, and participation in the service.
Preparation now included:
• Praying for the congregation
• Reflecting on the lyrical themes
• Researching scripture references
• Memorizing lyrics and forms
• Practicing singing and working through transitions
• Worshipping through the songs privately
Pre-service rituals:
• Prayer with my team
• Avoiding conversations about trivial things
• Reviewing my transitions, lyrics, and other details
• Standing on stage, looking out, praying for individuals in the congregation
Participation in the service was different and involved:
• Desperation for the spirit of God to guide me
• Eyes open with awareness of the congregation
• Leaning on and trusting my bandmates
• Passionately singing and responding to God
• Listening intently and taking notes during the sermon
• Praying for the congregation’s response to the sermon
Christ doesn’t just deserve excellence in our musical offering, but in our leadership offering.
Our leadership as musicians will reach new heights if we all, no matter how small or how big your role, embrace the ownership axiom.
Question: What would you add to the three lists for preparation, pre-service rituals, and participation? Would you take anything away? Join the discussion in the comments!
[ois skin=”Next Level Optin”]
Hi David, I work on Saturday so I am here at the computer. Good post, lots to think about. I can’t say that I think of every point you made when I play, but some of them are there on my heart and mind. As an instrumental guitarist, I have always been concerned that each time I play in church, that it rises above a performance and becomes worship used of God. I always spend time in prayer just before I “go on”. A couple of weeks ago I played solo guitar as the church took part in Communion. Comments were “Thanks for helping us worship”, or Thanks for Leading us in Worship” . It is an awesome responsibility.
Thanks for reminding us.
Don, great comment. I agree that it is hard to think through every point. It would be idealistic to suggest everyone can do all of these things every service.
My encouragement for myself and for all of us is to work on them one at a time. Choose one ownership discipline to work on for a month or two. Build it into a habit. Then go on to the next one.
I love what I read here!!! David, you’re awesome! Jesus is AWESOME in you. My passion and belief of this article has often led me to much frustration, especially thru this past year. I’ve wanted to quit, been angry, upset with my pastor, etc… But thru it all Ive learned some things. Jesus does deserve the best, my passion is from Him, God is working things into and out of all of us thru the trials, and that theres a time and season for every purpose He has under Heaven!! Elijah, like me, thought he was the ONLY one, lol. Be still and know that He is God thru it all. We are already conquerers!!
Thanks Christopher! But all props go to Chris S. for this post. Thanks for commenting!
This was a great post! I saw that you serve at Pinelake, and that is interesting because I used to go to the school there when I was in elementary school before I moved to Florida.
Thanks for the feedback, Brandon! Next time you are in Mississippi drop me a line. I’d love to meet you.
I’m going to actually be there during Thanksgiving!
jumping jacks worked yesterday, Schop.
Andrew, nice comment.
When the third service is about to start and a worship leader is concerned about his team’s “awakeness”, all sorts of devices may be added to pre-service rituals. 🙂
You guys led really well yesterday.
Sunday school teacher and Senior Center song leader submission:
Preparation: Be uncompromising on content, no matter what the style or group is.I go for Truth, substance and purpose for the place and lesson and season in the music. Be open & flexible to what God is bringing forward for song selection or creation, and determine how these are best presented/supported to the audience that it is intended for facilitating participation. (in my case, the preschoolers get “This is the day” on a song sheet in all caps and repeat back each phrase as we point along the words, and the elderly folks at the nursing home sing it double with us all they way through without needing to rely on their eyes.) Ask what their favorites are and why; use this to improve, improvise and increase future participation.
Pre-Service Rituals: Greeting each other by name on arrival, ensure seating is adequate/accommodating of those who are in attendance. Avoid being too “busy” to be, and be ready enough before/as you got there that you can play/perform/take requests on the spot without additional prep or delay.
Participation: Note how well the group is engaging and pace with it, or lead it to a place more engagement can be attained (for preschool this means a walking or running or funny song, for elders it might mean slowing down and really soaking one in by repeating the chorus or His promises they are singing along with lavishly. Enjoy Him, the people around you, and ask His help as you go, whether it is going well, poorly or so so. (He shows up when we do.)
Bookmarking your site now! Only found this through google, thanks very much 🙂
Bookmarked your site, thanks for the blog! 🙂
Brilliant blog, thanks very much!
That is very attention-grabbing, You are an overly professional blogger.
I’ve joined your rss feed and stay up for looking
for extra of your fantastic post. Also, I have shared your site in my social networks