Something weird has happened to me recently.
I don’t want to lead worship anymore. Well, that’s not exactly true. I don’t want to lead worship…alone.
But it hasn’t always been that way. I used to feel threatened by others. Why would I allow someone else to take the spotlight?
That’s less attention I get.
Those are precious moments where eyes could be on me.
Making Disciples: Easier Said Than Done?
I’m done with that. If Christ’s final command was that we make disciples, it’s time my life reflected that.
The only problem is that it’s hard. Extremely hard. Exhausting. Frustrating. Painful.
But it’s easy to blog about.
It’s easy to preach.
It’s trendy to have disciple-making discussions.
But is it reflected on your Monday morning agenda?
A Call To Slower Ministry
But here’s the deal.
It’s easier to just do ministry. To just lead worship. To freakin’ get the job done.
Discipling others is slower.
Mistakes happen. Confrontation happens. Failure happens.
But that’s the kingdom.
We’re not just filling roles. We’re training people to change the world.
We’re not just scheduling volunteers. We’re growing people.
Maybe it’s time we slowed down.
Stop Being A To-Do List Leader
You can’t forget this. The most effective leaders – those who lead movements – know it.
They’re not just crossing off a large to-do list. They’re envisioning the next generation to lay down their lives. They call for crazy commitment and they get it.
The Gospel is compelling. The Great Commission is compelling. It’s time your leadership reflected that. And it can.
As a leader of a department, I face a choice every day.
You, my dear friend, face a choice.
Will you envision, equip, and raise people to fulfill their destiny?
Or will you burn them out finishing your long task list?
Will you scramble to fill volunteer roles or will you see greatness in people and help them get there?
The choice is yours today.
Don’t take the easy way out.
Question: What keeps us from making disciples? Do you have a story of how you’re making disciples? Share it in the comments. The best part of this blog is when you share. Let’s go!
Hello David. Thanks for your prayer. As always, the topics are penetrating! I find that my passion and vision keep me in some form of trouble. I love my Pastor and best friend, my church and its members. I love to serve them. But for whatever reason I am confrontational and relentless about challenging things. I want to see a cohesive and charged culture here. As long as Ive been in the church (which is a great church) I just see the things that cause conflict, like poor communication and things unaddressed. I recently challenge my Pastor to see what I see and hear from members about complaints and what I said and what Pastor heard werent even close to my intended target. He heard my words as saying he and the church were failures and I was pointing out things we could improve on, that are beyond doubt problem makers and innocently overlooked things causing offenses. I was so burdened by the interpretation he took with what I said. It was like i was saying Our church isnt good enough. Our church is great! It just has things to grow on. Im struggling with the thought that as much as i love my church and its people, and especially my pastor, that my passion and pursuit of excellence may be surely from God, but not for the place I currently serve. Im overwhelmed that a new season for me could possibly disrupt my comfort and security of what I thought was gonna be my life. Another Pastor friend recently sent me a text asking my address. I replied and the following day recieved an amazing book called “Wild Goose Chase” by a pastor Mark Batterson. It rocked my world. God is surely stirring me but it is also disrupting my comfort zone. I wanna see and be part of raising up leaders and pouring into them. I wanna see a church body ignited with one vision and purposed to carry out the process of that vision with passion. Im so hungry for more that Im discontented. Im realizing that sometimes that passion, which is of God, isnt intended for me to change where I am, but to change me for where He wants to take me. Whereever He leads, ill follow!
Hey Chris, thanks for sharing. I agree, there are times when God moves you out from under a certain leader and there are times when God wants you to stay where you are, serving in humility. I’m not sure what he’s asking you to do, but I know that if you serve where you are with all your heart, and stay submitted to leadership, God will make His way known to you!
Chris, I have SO been there not too long ago. I connected with most of what you said. Keep in mind, our growth is in direct proportion to how much God reveals himself to us. No amount of study or discipleship will ever compare. Don’t get me wrong, study and discipleship are good, but don’t use them as a way to “make things right” with God. Keep asking God to reveal more of himself and his kingdom to you. As revelations (God revealing himself) occur, your life will naturally change to be more like him. Keep in mind God desires obedience from you FIRST. Don’t worry so much about changing the world for Jesus. Although noble, only the Holy Spirit can do that. You focus on BEING an example of who God created you to be. Be encouraged! The Lord hears you!
Hmmmm…I think this topic of discussion is much more complicated and goes deep into many leader’s unspoken (or even unrealized) philosophies of worship. I’ve always thought a leader must be able to lead by themselves, but a team, big or small is really where it’s at. It’s the core of worship discipleship. But even great discipleship focused leaders who lead “solo” at times, I find almost “invisible” precisely because they are quite visibly being used by the Holy Spirit in that particular time and place. A room changes….there’s more going on than what’s on the stage….
Perspective is an amazing and ever accumulated gift from God when we have the eyes to see.
I don’t think there’s a problem with leading by yourself, I just think we worship leaders should always be pouring into someone specific and raising them up to do what we do. Thanks for the comment!
Also…one of the best things I ever did was take an entire year off from our worship team when my second baby was born. I was burnt out and (obviously) tired. 😉 But my hope was that others who had been “dabbling” would step up. It worked!!! Sometimes leaders just need to get out of the way sometimes. Crazy thought, I know. 😉
This subject line intrigued me as I’ve always dreaded leading worship alone. I’ve always felt it was evidence of God’s sense of humor that He has me as a worship leader. I’m the least confident and capable one on my team (and I’m the worship coordinator at my church, to boot!) I’ve always hid behind the other team members and insisted they take the lead and the spotlight. As events have transpired I’ve found myself leading (of necessity) as a solo act. I’ve gotten more confident and capable as time has passed and I’ve learned a lot of valuable (okay, painful) lessons along the way. Probably the best thing that happened was once, when I was bewailing my lack of ability, talent and skill to the Lord, He pointed me to Psalm 96:6 “There is strength and beauty in the presence of the Lord.” He taught me that as I learned to spend time in His presence I would find the strength to do what He was calling me to do and that my service would be beautiful to Him. The Bible is full of stories of how God loves to bring us to the place we fear most so He can unleash His power in us. We often don’t like where we’re going but God’s Kingdom is so opposite of the earthly rules we humans want to live by.
Fantastic, Tom. I would rather have a humble, desperate worship leader like yourself over a self-righteous singer with all the talent in the world. Isn’t it interesting how God places us in situations where we feel over our heads? Makes his glory shine brighter, I suppose 🙂
Thanks for your encouragement, David. Yeah, my pastor say’s the same thing you say: He’d rather have people he has to drag, kicking and screaming into leadership rather than people who appoint themselves. (Think Jeremiah, Moses, Isaiah, Jonah, etc.) Speaking of being in situations that are over our heads . . . Every year my church sends me to a gathering of worship leaders from all over the U.S. It’s a very humbling time as I’m often in the company of some of the best and brightest Christian recording artists around. And then there’s me! YIKES!!!!!! Always a very humbling time.
Good wisdom, Tom. What’s the gathering you attend?
It’s an annual Vineyard Worship Leader’s Retreat. In years past it was held in Estes Park, Colorado but last year it was in Cannon Beach, Oregon. I go to a Vineyard Church here in Chicago.
Awesome. Who are the main guys teaching the Vineyard conferences these days? I’ve been heavily influenced by the older guys David Ruis, Andy Park, Brian Doerksen, etc.
David, yeah, all of those guys are still there as well as Jeremy Riddle, Casey Corum, Ryan Delmore, Chris Lizotte, Sheri Carr, etc. Very humbling to be among these folks.
Awesome.
Hello Tom,
Thank you for your comments. I am in this same position. No music training, surrounded by music students, and graduates. Yikes, is right! I am so blessed to now have 2 others on our team, seeking to Lead. I am able to take a break every 4 weeks now, and I’m taking steps to encourage one of our vocalists to step out of her comfort zone, and lead a song every now and then. God has definitely placed me here, and ONLY by his grace am I still here leading worship (5 yrs. now). Kicking and Screaming was how I got here, but I do have to say, I am amazed at how He has used me. I Always have that deep terrified feeling in my gut every Sunday morning, but after prayer, and giving it over to Him I am able to worship with a calmer, confident, and grateful heart.
I would love the opportunity to take some of our team members to this “gathering” in Oregon. Is it open to eveyone, and when do the have this event?
Thanks again for your comments. I found it very similar to our music ministry, and very encouraging at the same time.
May God bless you, and continue to flow through you as you lead His people in Worship.
Blessings,
Karen Sorenson
New Life Assembly
Surrey, British Columbia
Canada
In reality, we are never alone. When we worship, our “audience” is at least ONE; God our father. 🙂
Something our congregation started doing over the summer is break into small groups the first hour hour of our worship service, and use the 2nd hour to worship through music. This has become very effective in corporate worship because we worship along side those we just spent an hour with in personal conversation. It’s beautiful to see.
Very interesting. You break into small groups on Sunday morning?
Yes! Right now, just for the summer. Since we have a small congregation, it’s a little easier to manage.
As a side note, did you know the Jewish/messianic churches have something similar called the midrash. They break out into groups every Shabbat and talk bible (share understanding of it) in small groups. That’s not the reason why we started doing small groups on Sunday mornings, but it does show it’s not a new concept.
That’s awesome. We have our small groups midweek. I’m trying to picture our church having small groups on Sunday and can only imagine mass chaos 🙂
It may not be as bad as you think. Just make sure everyone knows it is expected, and they will adapt. I’ve been in very large church buildings where the pastor gives the congregation 5-10 minutes to “get to know the people around you.” It’s kind of the same thing. Give people the time to “get to know each other” for half your worship service time, and see what kind of worship that turns into once the music kicks in. 🙂
It may not be comfortable if chairs are bolted to the floor, but they will get over it quickly once they get to know each other. It’s amazing to see the unity when that happens.
In looking at pictures of your church, it’s certainly doable. If your pastor is interested in seeing if something like this can be done on a larger scale, would it be feasible to have your pastor talk to my pastor? Who knows, it may be a new trend in Sunday morning seating arrangements. 🙂
I love the idea, Melanie. That’s what’s awesome about these comments. I learn new things every day!
Melanie, this sounds like a fantastic practice. Cool to spend time together, get real with each other and then enter into God’s presence. How beautiful it is when brothers live in harmony. Like the oil that flowed down Aaron’s beard! I’d love to find a way to incorporate this. Might not work for my church on Sunday morning but it could be a great mid-week type of service to have. Thanks for suggesting it.
That’s kind of the idea. Doing our worship this way reminds me of Psalm 100: we enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courtyards with praise. That’s the community part. As we hang out in the “courtyard,” we’re essentially sharing what God is doing in us and through us, and use that time to encourage and pray for one another. By the time we get to sung worship, there is so much unity as we move as ONE church to the Holy Place and then the Most Holy Place. I pray this continues. I’m loving this format A LOT!
Tom, something to note about what your Pastor says about “kicking an screaming” is that I always notuced throughout the scripture that God’s chisen leaders ran from the call. Moses complained of his speech problem, Saul hid himself amongst the “stuff”, Elijah hid in a cave, etc… Jesus spoke of sheep and goats. Have you guys ever noticed the nature of a goat? It will always climb to a high place. Sheep are humble and follow a leader. Just some food for thought to absorb along with Tom’s Pastors’ statement. I think that guy gets it. The self appointed creates a bad culture. An evangelist friend of mine says “If you cant sing, for the love of God don’t. Noone wants to hear it!” he is hilarious but he drops a deep point within his humorous delivery.
Enjoying the conversation here. Even though I feel like God may be moving me out of music ministry (I’m one of those that ‘if you can’t sing, for the love of God don’t’) I love learning from every department of the church!! Thanks for the post David!
Thanks for stopping by, Ruth!
Interesting conversation here!
I have a slightly different take right now on “raising up” leaders as it’s usually framed as the older cat mentoring the (much) younger cats, pouring in all his years of wisdom and experience. I’ll actually do that at our youth rock-n-worship band camp in a couple of weeks.
Where I’m at now, I see those I’m serving more as peers, and my role is to empower and release them to use their gifts with greater skill and confidence in the Lord.
Good point, Rob. Because, in reality, the old can “raise up” the young and the young can “raise up” the old. It’s all about humility.
One thing that people at is to be leading and when such a character builds in a worship team, that totally means destruction.
Sometimes we make it hard on the new guy and he ends up leaving just because we are keeping standards…. even Jesus had standards but would turn away people..
Worship Leaders are likely to block out everyone else and remain the rule and law on what goes and what stay and this kills the ability of the Holy Spirit as he is limited and can not work throught the drummer this sunday and during the week he works through a backing singer and another sunday he work through the violin .
I second what you wrote about there Sir
in reality, the old can “raise up” the young and the young can “raise up” the old. It’s all about humility.