[This is part of a brand new blog series, “Your Guide to Practicing the Essential Skills of a Worship Leader“. Check out the other posts here.]
Why is it that some musicians excel while others flounder? How can some take lessons for 15 years and not be half as good as a young boy who’s only been playing for two?
Talent may have something to do with it, but it’s not completely to blame. It’s about a certain kind of practice.
My goal with this post is to cast vision about practice. It matters more than you know.
I was the typical kid growing up. I was forced to take piano lessons and lied about it on the baseball field. Nobody could know I was such a sissy.
Eventually, I developed a love for the piano. I began investing multiple hours every day, perfecting passages of music that were difficult for me.
For most, this is an agonizing process not worth committing to. They give up. I taught myself to love the challenge. To press through. To enjoy the hard work.
I wouldn’t consider myself balanced. I spent most of my young hours behind the piano.
Some musicians just want it. Others, desire a balanced life. But to become great, you must let go of balanced and flirt with obsession.
Of course, that’s not for everyone. It’s a special commitment, necessary for those who want to become great.
But achieving greatness wasn’t enough for me. My real passion for practice blossomed when I sensed that God wanted to use me.
With every scale, every arpeggio, every tossing of my Mozart book across the room, I was preparing myself for the move of Holy Spirit later in life.
Little did I know how important those seasons were.
5 Reasons Practice Is Important For You
Why is practice so important? Why should you slave away for hours by yourself perfecting your art when there’s more productive things to do?
Here are 5 truths about practice:
1. Practice prepares you for greater influence – Investing agonizing hours now prepares you for the massive amounts of influence you’ll have later. Your level of influence may be blurry right now, but it’s coming. View your hours of practice through that lens. This isn’t just about learning a new skill. This is leadership.
2. Practice prepares you for the Holy Spirit’s use – Practice exists because the Holy Spirit wants to use you. The better you practice, the more effective you’ll be when He decides to work through you.
3. Practice keeps you fresh and growing – To be honest, practice never ends. The greatest performers never “arrive” at their destination of greatness. They’re constantly learning, developing, maturing. This attitude will keep you engaged for a lifetime.
4. Practice prepares you to raise up the next generation – Every second you invest in practice is preparation for when you’ll raise someone else up. Your hours of hard work will produce a knowledge in you that you can pass on to another. God wants to use you to launch others into their destiny.
5. Practice prepares you for Heaven – For the Christian, practice is preparation for eternity. We practice the presence of God. We are awaiting the day when we are caught up to be with the Lord and see Him face to face. The hours we spend rehearsing, the seasons we spend worshiping, all are preparing our hearts for that day.
I hope you’re inspired to take your practice to a new level. The world changers you’re going to raise up need you to. The Holy Spirit is waiting to pour himself out on you.
In future posts we’ll talk about how to specifically practice as a worship leader.
Get ready, my friend, for greater things.
Question: Tell us about your practice habits. How did you become proficient at your instrument or as a worship leader? Add to the discussion in the comments!
Thank you for this inspiring post.
Your challenge that a persons musical interest should border on obsession was interesting. I agree, but I do want to say that prudence is required and necessary to prevent oneself from self-destructive habits. In my earlier years, this was a difficult lesson to learn.
More simply, I believe obsession is OK – and somewhat necessary – but in its proper place and time.
Blessings!
You’re right, obsession can lead to a destructive place. That’s why it needs to be kept in check. How do you think we keep ourselves from self-destructing?
Nice! I will be forwarding these to my worship team. Keep it coming bro.
Sweet. Let me know how it goes!
This is awesome. Just shared it with the team. Personally, practice was one of those things I did for a long time because I was passionate & obsessed with it. Now, it’s a mix of that obsession PLUS a need to stay in practice for my ministry. When it tips over into just a “job”, I feel the drag – like a kid getting up for school. I remember the days of getting up early to watch cartoons on Saturday morning. I think that’s where I’d like to be again with my practice times. Yes it’s work, but I’m looking for the joy again. Thanks for the encouragement.
Great point, Keith. How do you think we can recapture the joy of practice?
Obsession for God and the things of God leads to fulfillment and peace. That makes a difference.
Amen!
Whew… Practice as leadership? I’d never thought of it that way.
I have thought, though, that when we schedule team rehearsals “later” in the week so the team doesn’t “forget,” we actually rob them of the discipline of practice and the rewards of responsibility. This idea sort of ties in with your other points.
And, anything that requires discipline, mirrors the journey of being or becoming a disciple; lots of time invested, thousands of decisions to follow through on prior commitment(s), soreness, both inside and out… But the outcome of “one-ness” – being one with our instrument, our craft, our Saviour – is soooo worth it!
Thanks for this post.
Now it’s time to put practice into practice… 🙂
The discipline of practice and the rewards of responsibility. Love that. Do you have a process for motivating your musicians to practice on their own?
Don’t I wish. I’m in the process of working through some of this and your post reminded me of that. And now, since I’m not currently assigned to a specific local fellowship, the ideas won’t be that well tested.
It does strike me, however, that most Senior/Teaching Pastors wrestle with the same question: What process can we put in place so that our members practice their faith “on their own’ (aka all week long and not just on the weekends).
As I have ideas, I’ll post back.
The question is will processes work in the first place? I always tell my people this. What we do is so important, and if you know that it is important you have the responsibility to yourself, the church and of course to God to put in the hours or practice. I always tell them this. It is not about you. It is never about you. It is all about God and that we are to give our first fruit not only in our tithes but in our time and efforts and by giving your best and first in your time to practice is a worship onto God and have set this as our culture in our musos team.
Good point Nixon,
I would observe that you have a process. That process seems to be (or include): remind of the importance of Whom we serve, remind of the totality of Worship and how it applies to this ministry.
God is a God of process. Sometimes He shows us His process through Biblical symbols, prophecies, plan of Salvation, Baptism, etc. Sometimes, well probably most times, not so much. 🙂
LOL Bobby now you mention it. It does seem like a process. ack. hehe
“Flirt with obsession”, love it! The challenge? Don’t be so heavenly minded that you ain’t no earthly good. If you invest heavily on the front end (early in your life) it will pay a lifetime of dividends.
Love it. Makes me think back to my childhood, and my parents having to pry me out of my room to go play outside. Prime example of unbalanced obsession, I got fat from staying in a practicing instead of doing something slightly more physical 😀
I take it you’re a guitar player? What are some of your practice techniques?