Worship Leaders only work on Sunday mornings.
We all know this.
OK, maybe there’s a couple busy seasons around Christmas and Easter.
In all seriousness, what does a worship leader do all day?
Why do we have “full time” worship leaders? How can we maximize our time to make the biggest difference?
Has your day ever looked like this?
You sit in your office listening to Matt Redman thinking about what to do. You pick out songs for Sunday. After that’s done, you still don’t know what to do. So you listen to Matt Redman again. Maybe some Hillsong.
After a few hours you just go home and repeat the routine tomorrow.
This is a question I receive over and over: What is your routine? What does the daily life of a worship leader look like? What is your job description?
The stage is filled with vision. Leading people in corporate worship is exciting. Monday morning can be a drag. How can we harness our workdays to make the biggest difference?
Here are a few practices I focus on:
Discipleship
Worship Leaders should invest themselves in discipling others.
How are you making disciples? How are you raising up worshipers? How are you pouring into those on your team?
I believe a worship team experience should be life-changing for people. But too often it’s simply about being used as a volunteer. As a worship leader, you need a discipleship strategy and plan to take your take your team to the next level spiritually and musically.
Communication
If you lead in any capacity, you know how important it is to communicate.
Band members need scheduled. Song lists and tech sheets need to be shared. Connection must be made. Don’t allow your busy-ness to distract your communication.
Great leaders lead; and in order to lead well, you must communicate often.
Vision
Part of your daily routine should be to connect with your vision. It may not feel “productive” but it will ensure you’re working on the right things.
This has been so important to my routine – scheduling times to review my worship team vision, the vision of my church, and making sure I’m investing my time wisely. If this doesn’t get scheduled, it doesn’t get done.
Every day, revisit your vision.
Music
A worship leader should take time to not only pick out music, but arrange and plan a service of worship. It’s not just about what songs fit together but about creating a musical & spiritual journey for your congregation. This takes tremendous skill to do well.
It’s pastoral. It’s musical. It’s teaching. Don’t just consider your own preferences. Think about who you lead and what they need to sing. Go about your planning in a prayerful manner.
Creative Brainstorming
You need space to dream. You need time to step away from the tactical to simply brainstorm. As you do this, don’t think about how you’ll pull these ideas off. Just write them down.
I’ve found the more I do this, the more I look forward to work. My leadership is better when I know where I’m going and I’m taking risks.
Recruitment
We all know Sunday comes before you know it. We need musicians. We need singers. We need a sound guy. We need a tech team.
We should invest ample time into recruitment. How are we connecting people from within our congregation? How are we reaching out beyond our church?
Don’t approach recruitment from a desperate, last minute phone call perspective. Put some vision and strategy behind it. Start recruiting even when you don’t need musicians. Because you will, soon.
Here we go, worship leaders. What else do you invest your time in? Let’s dialogue in the comments. You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Practical question for you David… How do you go about recruiting back-up members for your band when there is not currently space on the team? How do you keep your “bench” full?
The key for me is to not put a limit on “space”. I know that sounds idealistic, but I want to position myself to grow as much as I’m able to. Some musicians I’ll keep use on an “as needed” basis. Others I will channel into other areas of the church. There’s always a need for musicians, even if it’s not on the main stage. Another option if you have tons of musicians is to organize different teams. Maybe different teams can own different services or different weekends. Does that help?
I know at my church, we have a cycle so that whoever wants to service the Lord with their spiritual gifts, they get the opportunity. I mean, there’s an audition process and everything, but there’s always room for more 🙂
“It’s not just about what songs fit together but about creating a musical & spiritual journey for your congregation. This takes tremendous skill to do well.”
As pastor always told us to think of corporate worship like a Airplane.
You take off slowly…make your way up…stay flying…and start making your way down…slowly….land carefully…
all this in terms of the tempo and sound of songs. Sometimes we do a really fast up tempo and drop down to a really really slow song….it’s gets kinda weird…you’re so hyped up and then slooooow down suddenly…not cool…
Not to Jesus Juke you here, but I was surprised to not find Praying For Your Team Members on this list. If we really know your team (and we should) then we know their struggles and their successes.
It’s important to carve time out to pray for, and celebrate with, our team members on a regular basis.
This actually reminds me of when I was in the Marine Corps. As a leader, I used to hand out sheets that junior Marines would fill out. Things such as hobbies, interests, kids, hometown, and a number of other things. Some thought of it as nosy, but good leadership is sometimes more than just saying get behind me and follow. Sometimes it’s about getting behind them and pushing. Hope that made some sense haha.
I agree with you, Ryan. I guess I consider “praying for my team” something different than what I do while I’m working. That’s definitely something that I do, though. I’m typically doing hands on projects during the day. Prayer for my team happens in the mornings, evenings, or other times when I’m in our prayer chapel. Do you carve time out for this every day?
This is awesome! I would add: creatively encouraging/celebrating your team, connecting with other worship pastors, learning from others (reading blogs like yours), writing worship songs, regularly evaluating and updating your systems, and working to enhance not only your times of worship, but the entire church service experience.
I so appreciate how committed you are to this blog. It is so helpful and beneficial, and I know it takes quite a bit on your part. I hope all of my worship leading friends are getting the updates.
Good stuff. I would also echo Ryan’s sentiment of adding “praying for your team members” to the list. I am not a full time WL, but I still do this often.
The other addition I would make is that I feel all WL’s especially those who are full time and paid should be writing worship for their local community. Songs written in the community for the community are always impacting.
excellent thoughts Daivd.
Thanks, Mat. I think songwriting for your local community is important and wonderful, but I’m not sure I agree that every worship leader needs to do it. Everyone should try it, but you can be an amazing worship pastor and not write your own songs. Know what I mean?
Thanks Clayton. That means a lot!
I love your comment on evaluating and updating your systems. Systems can die over time. They need constant attention. And you’ve reminded me I need to do this 🙂 If you don’t mind me asking, what systems do you currently manage and how often do you evaluate/update them?
What’s awesome about today’s blog is that I was going to email my worship pastor and ask him that exact question, “what do you do all day?”
When taking all things into consideration, it looks like a WL can get quite busy in a day’s work. The biggest thing you mentioned, to me at least, was vision. I think it’s important to be sure you stay on the path God wants you on. This seems like it will help to keep you from getting self-centered (intentionally or not) and stay God-centered. Great post!
God-centered…not man centered. Love that, Jason. Vision is such an important part of my day. Without it I would just waste time doing meaningless stuff. So you’re not a worship pastor?
Not yet. I’m the lead guitarist but God is opening up opportunities and I should begin doing some type of interning soon! I’m excited for the doors God is opening up.
I’ve been reworking my own schedule quite a bit trying to put a routine in place and make sure I don’t forget anything throughout my week. I’ve also found the need to have a document ready that I can send out to anyone who seems to have questions about how I spend my time.
I am responsible for designing and leading worship celebrations at our Firehouse campus, coordinating the band for Ignite (our weekly youth event), and making sure our facility is scheduled out properly and maintained. We have a cleaning company that cleans twice a week, but there are times I have to do some cleaning or taking care of things they don’t do.
Here’s what my routine looks like:
http://worshiparts.newarknaz.org/Documents/Firehouse/WorshipDesign/Misc/MarkTenneyRoutineSchedule_Aug2011.pdf
Mark, thanks for sharing this! I love the attention to detail here. What do you mean by “worship design”?
We have a Worship Design team made up of the lead pastor, creative arts director (who is the worship leader at the broadcast campus), executive pastor (who directs media as well), graphics coordinator, video producer, stage designer, administrative assistant (who is a good writer), children’s pastor (who is good at articulating ideas into language), and myself (worship leader representing video venues). We meet to determine the felt need that the scripture for that week addresses, the outcome that we desire, the theme, title, and look, and some ideas for songs or other illustrations. From there, the creative arts director organizes those ideas and plans the worship celebration for the broadcast campus. I meet for a breakout worship design meeting with my campus pastor and the children’s pastor to plan the Firehouse worship celebrations, which are a week behind in theme, feature a video venue, and intentionally engage kids and adults of all ages for at least part of our celebration. This makes us a very different experience compared to the broadcast campus which is geared toward adults.
Hey guys! I’m Ross Fishburn’s brother-in-law on staff at IHOP-KC. As I read the title of this question, I thought to myself, “What do you think it would have been like be a worship leader in the Old Testament?” 1) sacrifice bulls and goats, 2) make the showbread, 3) prepare the incense, 4) make sure I’m ceremonially clean, 5) study diligently the law of God to make sure I know what ceremonially clean means so I don’t get killed, etc.! I’d much rather be a worship leader under the New Covenant that was wrought through the precious blood of Christ, though I admit that I am jealous that they Levites in David’s day got to visibly see the manifest glory of the Lord when they worshipped! How much more should we value, and treasure, even the “menial” things that accompany the occupation of a full time worship leader, now that we have the indwelling Holy Spirit, the shekinah glory of God on the inside! Oh that our vision would be for the manifestation of the Glory of the Lord in our generation. He is worthy! May King David’s zeal burn in our hearts, “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, or go up to the comfort of my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” (Psalm 132:3-5)
Kyle, great to meet you! Ha, yea worship leading in the OT was quite different! I love your passion here. Being on staff at IHOP-KC, what does a typical day look like for you?
Surprised Intercession didn’t make the cut.. Most worship leaders work full time yet make sacrifices to have time to intercede for service. Yet the paid ones don’t make it a priority. I have heard much complaint about lack of fruit and power in the church. It’s all starting to make sense now.
James I agree with you that intercession is very important. However I think the point of this article, which has helped me immensely by the way David, is really to answer the question of what a paid worship leader does at the office or with “paid time.” As a leader I am called to intercessory prayer for my ministry period. That’s not something I expect takes up time the church is paying for. In my secret place and quiet time with the Lord I intercede for the team he has given me not because I have to but because I want to. The church as a whole could use us all interceding for it as much as we do our individual churches. More interceding all around is good.
I find that I need some “scheduled” time each day to be creative. It doesn’t necessarily need to be songwriting for my congregation or songwriting at all, but just something to keep my creative juices flowing. Keeping that spark alive outside the walls of ‘have to’ is important for me to combat the art vs. job battle.
Great insight, Christopher. “have to” tends to kill our creativity. Even if you have to do something, giving yourself enough creative space and time to do it makes all the difference.
As always David, I appreciate how you process Worship (Leading) and Leadership.
I agree with Clayton the “Networking” aspect of the Worship Pastor / WL is huge, I think it is important to glean from other’s that are struggling with the same thing. Both face to face or online… I’ve found both to be important!
I’ve “gleaned” a lot from your blog David – and so many others that have commented on this post and others.
I might add to “celebrate with others” too… not just share struggles (althought that is easy).
How do you celebrate with others on your team? This is something I need to get better at.
Taking a collegue / team member out for lunch or coffee to simply listen to their story or testimony of how God pulled through is a great way to celebrate. I’ve found the lunch or coffee setting normally leads to other conversation that you are able to learn more about them, yourself and God 🙂
btw – I need to get better at it too! I don’t want to come across that I’m great at this. Often it’s hard to find the TIME, and (quite honestly) the EFFORT.
Thanks Jason. That’s always been my passion for this blog – to connect worship leaders with one another and to provide a place of teaching and refreshing. I appreciate you sticking around!
I’m not a worship leader, but I know it’s a super stressful job. I know our WL stays pretty busy trying to find additional elements to add to worship – art, graphics, interactions, etc. All different elements to enhance the worship.
True that. It can definitely be stressful. But I also think that if you’re skilled at it you can minimize stress over time. Build a great team and your stress decreases significantly. What do you do, Seth? (thanks for stopping by!)
I recently graduated with a bachelor’s of worship arts degree. I am on a rotation of worship leaders at a church over an hour away from my home. I recently set up a blog where I post set lists and link to .pdf files of chord charts for the team. I also write a weekly devotional aimed at discipling them as a team of worship leaders. I have also thought about writing another devotional that is for the congregation on the same site. I password protect all the team posts until after that particular service where the “finished product” gets copy pasted into a finished post for the congregation to use as a resource. Do you think posting a devotional on worship that is for the congregation each week would help them get to know me more (since I do live an hour away) and would also open the door for coffee/lunch appointments with members of the church? I just want to be faithful to the passion I have burning inside me for Jesus and for others to know him and love him just as passionately. Let me know what you think. Thanks David for all you do!
Carolyn, that sounds like a great idea! It’s so important for worship leaders to connect not only with their team but with their congregations. Love it. Btw, thanks for checking out the blog!
Im a current senior about to graduate. I believe singing, worship leading is my calling. I applied for music CC and some CSU’s. 2 weeks ago i had my college life some what planned out..about a couple days ago it came to my mind that if i went to one of those schools id have to be in an ensemble/choir. Ive talked to many current college students that are in the choirs and they pretty much all say the same thing, “yeah, our practices are from 4-6 hrs a day”. I sat on my bed a late afternoon and really tried to picture my life. I realized that im not ready to be in another choir in which i have to be commited to. Id like to be more involved within my church or A church this upcoming year. If i choose to go to a “non christian school” and get in the choir i wont have much time for the rest of my walk with God or be invovled like i long for in a church or should i try a Christian school? Im 110% sure that i would learn soooo much at a regular school, but its not what i want. I want full on WORSHIP i want to learn how to be a leader, i want that involvement with a church, that warm soothing fellowship in where i can spiritually grow. What did you do?
Hey Diana. Sounds like you have a lot to think about!
I would suggest writing out your options and the pros/cons for each. David and I both went to the same bible college and it was an incredible experience. I’m sure going to a secular university for music would allow for an intense college experience, but if you really want to pursue leading worship, I would suggest looking at a university or school that will teach classes specific to that.
The bible college I went to had classes on music theory/history and all that good stuff, but I also took classes on pastoring, worship leading, songwriting, and theology. There’s so much more involved in being a worship leader/pastor than just music.
I would never discredit a worship pastor that went to a secular university, because at the end of the day, nothing really ever prepares you for ministry better than actually doing it. But my college experience was amazing and it allowed me to grow spiritually and be as prepared as I could be for being in full-time ministry.
Hope that helps!
Hi Diana, as Ryan said, we both went to Bible college. I definitely recommend it, but it’s not necessary. In my opinion, it depends how driven you are. Are you relying on your college education to make “worship leading” happen for you? Because it won’t. You have to pursue it with all your passion. You have to be committed to learning, to improving your craft, building connections, and seeking God on your own. I have friends with “worship leading” degrees who are not using and others with no degrees who are quite successful. It has to do with how bad you want it!
David has a great way of coming in and saying what I wanted to say, but better 🙂
Wow, thankyou! That was incredibly a blessing & extremely helpful. I dont have much help from the people that surround me, not including my family simply beacuse no one really know’s what goes on in a “worship leader’s life” when they’re not leading a conference or something relative to that. My parents and I are also freaking out because they feel like focusing on only music will not allow me to be fully substantial on my own. I dont mean to be so personal but did you major in anything else? Or do you work in any other industry outside of music?
Those are some great questions, Diana.
Before coming to my current church, I worked at a smaller church for 3 years that could only afford to pay me part-time, so I worked other jobs to help pay the bills. Everything from office-work to the midnight shift at UPS to being a barista at Starbucks.
If you really feel like worship ministry is where you’re calling is, just know that God won’t hang you out to dry. If you can get a full-time gig, great. If not, the pastor at your church should understand that you can’t work full-time hours for part-time pay. He/she should have no problems with you working another job to make ends meet.
There are plenty of bi-vocational pastors out there, so be encouraged.
Thankyou very much Ryan. Your answers and advise have been very helpuful! I will keep praying and move on from there. Hopefully this upcoming year will be better for my life and as well my walk with God. This blog has been extremely helpful so once again THANKYOU Ryan, & God Bless 🙂
Gotta be a practicing theologian too. Read, read, read. Study Scripture first, good theologians second.
Interesting subject, I am not a a worship leader but a lead pastor; planted the church 3.5 years ago and we use mp3 for our praise and worship. not because we do not want a worship leader we just have not come across anyone who is open to leading for us. My two sons play drums and guitar but not voice.
I am from the UK and members of the worship team had day jobs I know two who were accountants; but most people who are capable of leading worship that I have come across here in the states, see leading worship as a full time job; I must also say that I am an advocate of education, law;medicine; accountancy;plumbing;Architecture then use your talents to glorify God; Pastors are barely able to draw a salary fro themselves let alone pay a worship leader. As the opportunity comes along where a WL can be hired full time; then they can devote their time to evabgelism; prayer and other areas of ministry during the week, just as Ryan mentioned earlier. This will bring about stability and spiritual growth of the individual rather than jumping ship too quickly when $$$ signs are waived.
Very interesting subject; I pray that the Lord will continue to saturate our musicuians with his anointing. If you are available and not in a church in the Tampa area or are relocating to an area where the sun always shines; you can get in touch.
Good Lord! I wish I was asking what to do with all my time! I’m only part time and I could easily make what I do full time…and still not fit it all in! Are there really some of you who only have to worry about what songs to sing on Sunday?? I have Creative Team meetings to plan for, The whole service flow to plan design, videos and other elements to pick out and decide on, A TON of admin…scheduling people, rehearsals, making sure songs and all their info are loaded into our system so people can prepare, keeping my media director on track with all the requests for videos, graphics, etc… , Making sure all my tech guys are Ready for Sunday, and doing and set design changes that the creative team may have decided on. And in all of that I WISH I could find time for dreaming and vision, as well as learning and growing as a worship leader and pastor. I certainly don’t show up and sit in my office wondering what to do!
Hey Brandon I would love to get where you are. The only reason I would find myself asking what to do is because I have a small church of about 60-70 people on a Sunday and am trying to find ways to grow. We have an every week electric guitarist, bassist, and singers, and myself as a worship leader on acoustic. Our drummer is only part time. I work a full time job and am trying to work into more hours for the chruch. What would you or David, Ryan or anyone suggest for growing the position and moving forward?
Jake, I’d dare say you’re doing it right! Work that full-time job. The gospel doesn’t need a podium, pulpit nor a percussionists.
Become a student of the word of God. Examine the songs you present against scripture and exclude any that seem askew from scripture. Center the focus on the awe of God and the Gospel.
maybe evaluate whether or not the various meetings and programs are actually forwarding the great commission. The points of the blog post above are things that all christians should be doing (discipleship, vision-based, communicating, etc).
Consider removing items from the worship. eliminate lights, limit the instrumentation… get to the basics. That isn’t to say three 12-string guitarists, 4 horns, 2 drummers, 8 pianists, etc are bad. That’s saying that worship is Christ, cross & gospel centered and pointed toward God’s glory.
Discipleship
“Worship Leaders should invest themselves in discipling others.”
Really? That’s a reason to get a full time paid position? Not sure if you’ve read, but in Matthew it wasn’t just (worship) pastors that were given this as a mandate. This isn’t a justification of a full time position.
Communication
“If you lead in any capacity, you know how important it is to communicate.”
Okay, a good qualification for a job. But this is also a qualification of an elder and just a growing person. Seriously, sending a few emails and having some meetings (which could likely be replaced by emails) isn’t a reason for a full time position… not even when stacked with the previous point (see discipleship).
Vision
“Part of your daily routine should be to connect with your vision….”
2 things
1. “Your” Vision? Your vision is not a useful thing if it isn’t scripturally aligned.
2. While this may be a nice how-to & philosophical point of being any type of leader, this does not justify why many of these church positions are “full time,” paid positions. Note: “full time” in quotes indicates I have serious doubts as to the actual time investments. I’ve frequently said that I believe pastors should be accountable for their time spent on the job… even if it’s just to a local board of elders who
(1) aren’t just golf buddies w/ the pastor, (2) fairly and rightly evaluate pastors based on expectations and limitations… i.e. if a pastor had 8 weddings this month, there may be other items that had to be put on hold.
Music
“A worship leader should take time to not only pick out music, but arrange and plan a service of worship. It’s not just about what songs fit together but about creating a musical & spiritual journey for your congregation. This takes tremendous skill to do well.”
Here’s the first point I’ll agree with in totality. However, this is likely doable within a single day… maybe 2 and does not justify a full time position. If your church has more than 1 unique service each week, sure, a touch more time… but it’s not 40+h of work even when it includes practice(s).
Creative Brainstorming
“You need space to dream.”
It’s called your bed and / or your home. As a creative in a creative workspace, I have seen my share of people padding their time sheet with “creative processes.” I call BS on this from experience with people who have worked for me. Lastly, this doesn’t justify why this is a full-time paid position.
Recruitment
We all know Sunday comes before you know it. We need musicians. We need singers. We need a sound guy. We need a tech team.
3 things:
1. I think you have your “needer” confused with your “wanter.” I’ve seen powerful corporate worship with no instrument at all and led by the “group” as someone just “Started” a song from the crowd. I’ve seen powerful corporate worship with a full band, lights & stage crew. The “need” has little to do with the equipment and environment.
2. It’s not like musicians and singers just fall off the earth and never come back. Sure, some quit. But you know the people in your church who will show up every sunday and contribute without leaving you hanging. The discipleship (which is what we should all be doing) takes care of the flaky folks.
3. I know folks who are professional recruiters (both job recruiters and MLM folks). I’ve seen recruiters in action. I’ve never seen a worship pastor actively recruiting beyond an announcement in a bulletin, on the screen and from the podium on sundays. In fact, many of those people on stage actively sought out those positions. Sure, they auditioned, but those aren’t daily activities… and even if you’re in a HEAVY audition cycle, you can schedule it around a real job.
I’d dare say I believe that many (worship) pastors should have 2nd jobs. There is precedent set for this throughout in scripture.
A bit of math: There are 168 hours in a week. You’re not a hero because you “worked” 40 of them. not even 25% of the time in a week.
NOTE: Pastors can be a paid position. I’m good with that. It can be a full time position. AWESOME! Even worship pastors can get paid. I have a hard time justifying why 8-10 songs chosen for a sunday requires 40 hours of paid time, insurance & all the employment trimmings. I dare say, it could be done in 10 hours. Also, I’m not against pastors nor Church. However, plenty of things that are placed under the “church” umbrella are, in fact, NOT “church.” The definition of “church” is fairly clear within scripture. Much of this event-based, human-centered activities can become heretical and idolatrous.
Worship is important. Gathering is important. But those aren’t the central core of Christ’s church.