Worship leader, I have an important question for you today.
How do you view your role?
Worship leading isn’t just for those with exceptional musical talent and the charisma to “work a room”.
It’s all about being a pastor.
When I started leading worship full time, I saw the ministry as a place to further MY goals, MY influence, MY agenda.
It was a platform to build my global worship enterprise to epic proportions.
More lessons in missing the point, wouldn’t you say?
Worship Ministry Is Pastoral
My lead pastor has taught me more about worship leading than I ever thought was possible. If there was such a thing as “Musician Quiz” (musician’s version of Bible Quiz), I could destroy him.
But having musical knowledge isn’t enough.
Having boatloads of talent isn’t enough.
Knowing all the worship songs isn’t enough.
Being charismatic isn’t enough.
Great Worship Leaders Are Pastors
I’m not just talking about credentials.
I’m talking about:
- How you care
- Who you are reproducing
- Loving the church
- Having a discipleship strategy
- Worshiping with your worship team
- Having patience with immature worshipers
- Loving Jesus
- Preparing your team for spontaneous worship
- Bearing each other’s burdens
- Teaching people to worship through trials
- Teaching people to worship through distraction
- Being sensitive to what people need
- Leading your team through change
- Praying for your congregation
- ______________________?
A pastor is a shepherd – sensitive, protecting, and caring. A pastor watches over his flock to see that they grow spiritually.
A worship pastor wants to see his congregation grow as worshipers.
Worship Leader vs. Worship Pastor
When someone asks me what I do, I say I’m a “worship pastor”. I prefer that over the term “worship leader”. You may think I’m getting a little nit-picky, and maybe I am. But I believe it’s important to emphasize what you value.
“Worship Leader” seems to emphasize leading a service. “Worship Pastor” is about leading people.
Do you lead “the worship” or do you lead “people”?
I believe we’re in need of worship leaders who see themselves as pastors.
It’s time to focus less on your talent and more on what your people need.
It’s less about executing flawless music as it is leading people to Jesus.
It’s less about singing well as it is guiding the church in declaring theological truth.
It’s less about 5 songs as it is about encountering the manifest presence of God.
Worship leader, pastor your people.
Question: What are other characteristics of a worship pastor? How can we better pastor our people? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
For further reading:
- Is Being A Worship Leader Even Biblical? (my guest post on ChurchMag)
- The Difference Between A Lead Musician And A Worship Pastor
Well said. And what’s even more amazing is that when you see a worship pastor and the first thing you think about is how the command the worship experience and have such amazing “presence” on stage, you can usually know that they understand the difference.
True, Chris. My pastor likens it to the difference between a “conductor” and “trumpet player”. The conductor is more concerned with the big picture and who’s participating than just playing their instrument. We worship leaders can’t just sing and play. We need to have a heart for the congregation and engage them.
“Worship Leader” seems to emphasize leading a service. “Worship Pastor” is about leading people.
Do you lead “the worship” or do you lead “people”?”
sooooooo sobering! Thanks David!
Great Post!
that is sooo true!
I spent a weekend with Grant Norsworthy, the old bassist from Sonic Flood, and we had some fantastic conversation about the way we use the word worship. I was curious to hear your opinions on his thoughts. In our language, we use the word worship as a noun, “Worship starts at 10:00.” We also use it as an adjective. “Worship team, worship pastor, worship song.” Grant noted that the word worship is really only effective to its true meaning when used as a verb. The noun form would be that I am a worshiper. At first glance this may seem like excessive, but it has some powerful implications. If I am a worship leader, who leads worship at 10:00, in many ways this can suggest that before 10:00, you weren’t worshiping, or that you can only worship to “worship songs” and not regular songs.
He used a great analogy of a box with a switch, 10:00 worship turns on, 10:30 turns off. Start to pray…whoa turns on, get in my car to drive home, boom turns off. The bible is clear that worship is a 24/7 act. Should be constantly, and unfortunately our christian culture has narrowed down worship to music in the church when that really is only one form of worship.
Using the word worship as a verb, and not any other way, really does change the way you view and understand what worship is. When I start to be careful how I use the word, I remember but worship shouldn’t start and stop, it is ongoing. So in regards to that. I choose not to label a song a worship song, because that may imply that once this song is done, worship is also done.
Very interesting a thoughtful ideas, and Grant explained it much better than I, but it made me really consider how I view worship. Worship originally stemmed from the word Worthship. When we worship we are expressing to God what his worth is to us. Worship is never about getting, but only about giving. Grant gave a great analogy. Grace comes in, worship flows out. Worship is always a response, and it comes in so many forms.
I have found it hard to address this topic while not attacking others use of the word, and so I have chosen to address it very sensitively.
I am curious to hear your point of view on this topic. 🙂
Thanks!
Hey Brian.
I hear what you’re saying and completely agree with you. There is an unfortunate mentality in the church today that says worship starts with the music and ends when the preaching begins. Or, my personal favorite: worship = 2 fast songs and 2 songs.
The idea of worship 24/7 is what I believe every author in the Bible meant when they talked about worship (I’d list some authors and passages, but there are a bajillion of them). It’s always good to challenge ourselves to think beyond what is considered “normal” and I’m glad God is revealing Himself to you in the ways that he is
I love how Louie Giglio defines worship in his book, ‘The Air I Breathe’:
“We are created by God, for God… and for one purpose alone – to reflect back to God his matchless Glory… Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God – for who He is and what He has done, expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.”
Hey Brian, good to meet you my friend. I agree with you and Ryan…and I love your insight. Worship is a 24/7 act, absolutely. But I also think the Bible places special emphasis on the corporate worship of the church. It’s healthy for our spiritual growth. So saying worship is 24/7 is absolutely true, but if I’m challenging a new Christian and I say, “Go and worship 24/7.” They might have a hard time understanding that so early in their journey. But I might say, “It’s a good thing to build the habit of worshiping Jesus with your church family.” It’s more specific.
All that said, I agree with you 100%. I just don’t think it’s necessary to discredit the corporate experience. We should also emphasize its importance rather than downplaying it. Know what I mean?
Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely, and I wasn’t trying to say we should discredit or downplay the corporate experience. Rather I meant to say that I want to avoid using the terminology in a way that may cause a new believer to think that the only way for them to Worship is here during 10:00am songs. I agree that expecting a new believer to understand the idea or be able to worship 24/7 is too much, but I think it is more healthy to explain that this time we’re having here is a wonderful form of worship to God. This time of singing praises, in and of itself is not Worship in that this isn’t all that Worship is. Rather these songs are songs that are meant to facilitate an act of worship, and this time spent together is one form of Worship. I know its being pretty specific with how the word is used, but I believe it is important in order to fully define what worship really is.
I guess I just consider it alot like this, for myself personally. I lead the songs from my guitar and with my voice on Sunday mornings. Sometimes I may get into my car to drive home and think to myself, “Wow worship was so exciting today, there was so many praises being lifted up to our God!” If I say something like that. It may be easy for me to get cut off and get very angry at the driver in front of me. I forget that worship should still be happening, and that my reacting with love and patience to that driver, is another act of worship. For myself, when I start using the word only as a verb, it helps me to remember that worship should never end. Praises can end, I may not always be singing praises, but I should always be worshiping.
I love how you’re thinking, Brian. Great worship leaders think like this – the heart, the essential truth of what worship is. Keep it up!
Sorry one point I forgot. A good friend of mine shared with me recently that in Spanish, they have two words that they use. Adoracion means worship as a lifestyle 24/7. Alabanza means praise. They both translate into English as worship, but it seems we do not separate the two with our use of the word worship.
“‘Worship Leader’ seems to emphasize leading a service. ‘Worship Pastor’ is about leading people.”
Love this. This is something I try to remind myself constantly. My lead pastor could let me go and easily get a number of people to come in lead a worship service. He hired me because he saw how passionate I was about people.
As worship pastors, we have to stay committed to growing the whole church, and not just our ministry.
I think you nailed it Ryan. I tell young worship “pastors” that their driving passion has to be to equip people and the church. Music is just one of the tools that they use.
Love it!
Challenging thought, Ryan. I love it. When I started, I can’t say that was the case for me. I was more passionate about “my ministry” than I was about “people”. Ironic, isn’t it?
Ah but if you want to get technical, a pastor is not a leader at all. A pastor is one who cares for others. A pastor is a nurturer. That’s why I still find it baffling that we chose to lift the role of pastor as one who “leads” the church.
I don’t mean to derail the conversation but it’s something for which I have pretty strong opinions.
The apostles were the church leaders in the NT. Then elders were put in place to guide the local churches.
When I hear of a worship leader, I think of one who leads people into worshiping the Lord. When I hear worship pastor, I think of one who pastors other worshipers. One who cares for and encourages them.
Do you think we can use the terms pastor and leader interchangeably? Does it make sense to do that?
I guess if we want to get technical, we could put the whole thing to rest and just say that one doesn’t require a title to lead, pastor, or encourage others 🙂
I would disagree with your statement that a “pastor” is not a leader at all. Sure they are. In order to be an effective pastor you must lead in one way or another.
And I don’t think we need to get too technical with labels like, “oh, I’m not a worship leader, I’m a worship pastor” or vice versa. I’m saying those who lead a congregation in worship should seek to pastor/nurture that congregation, whether you’re on staff at a church or chris tomlin in an arena. If what you do is congregational worship music, you could learn a lot from what a pastor does.
Love your comments, Tony. Thanks for challenging.
My reply was in response to your question, “How do you view your role?”
I absolutely believe that a pastor CAN be a leader. But if we’re looking at roles by definition, a pastor is a care-taker. A leader leads. If you want to get Godin-esque, the roles of a pastor and a manager are similar. The role of a pastor is to manage. That doesn’t have to be all that a pastor does, but it’s the job description, if you will. (That’s why I don’t agree with the popular pastoral mindset, but that’s a whole other discussion!)
Ryan nailed it. In the kingdom, it isn’t about titles at all. Anyone has the ability to fill a role when necessary. Sure there are those that excel in a particular role, but it isn’t to the exclusion of others. And titles are definitely not necessary. That’s what makes us beautiful and unique.
I’m always up for getting Godin-esque 🙂
Amen. That is the beauty of the church, isn’t it?
Ok Tony…that’s enough…
Now all you are doing is trying to climb the “COMMENT LATTER”! LOL….
Hey, let’s be nice now 🙂 Tony, you can climb as high as you like. Step on Arny’s hands while you’re at it! Oh snap!
LOL!!!! Buuuuuurrrrnnnnn!!!!
Hey David…did you get my email with my completed song?…
I did! I probably won’t get to it till next week. Bro is getting married. Busy busy. Looking forward to it man!
On the technicalities:
I think a pastor IS a leader. Period. But leaders are not necessarily pastors. Leadership is creating a culture where people WANT to follow you by allowing for the people to nurture and grow their gifts and abilities.
Whether it is communication, music, drama, design, creativity, whatever the medium is, as a pastor you accept this responsibility.
The difference is the relationship that follows.
Seth Godin leads me because he creates environments where I want to follow what he has to say. But we have no relationship therefore I will never call him my pastor.
You can choose to lead people in worship but if leave just at that, while people might have experienced worship, you still just gave a concert. A worshipful one and that’s great, but you have no right to pastor people.
As a director of a student ministry, i would never hire a worship leader.
So would you hire (a term I loathe, by the way) a worship “pastor”? If so, then you contradict yourself, Chris. You say a pastor IS a leader but not in worship?
The essence of a leader is one who takes you from one place to another. One who seeks out change and progress. If most churches are honest, they don’t want someone to come in and shake things up. They don’t really want change. They want someone to “manage” the status quo. If things get a little better than great, but let’s not get carried away.
We’ve tried to change the role of a pastor to be a leader but with strict boundaries. It is a detrimental thing to do. We want a pastor to lead the local church but then we get upset if he doesn’t visit us in the hospital.
So which is it? Leader or caretaker? It’s not healthy to ask one person to be both. That’s what they were talking about in Acts 6:2. The leaders couldn’t wait tables AND lead. Not without burning out.
We’ve asked pastors to lead and leaders to pastor and we’ve put them in a catch-22.
Solid insight, Chris. To clarify, are you saying it’s not possible to pastor people in a ‘worship concert’ setting?
Sooooo….
I something goes wrong in a chruch, Who Gets the blame?
most would say the “pastor”. right?
Why?…
Well…because he is the leader. no?….
Not that a church does anything wrong…i think…
Tony-
You bet I would hire a worship pastor. You better believe its in the job description too.
It’s not contradictory. You keep going back to this shepherd mentality of pastor. A caretaker. Let’s run with that. The sheep will never let the shepherd take care of them if they werent willing to follow him in the first place. In order to care for people they must let you and they won’t let you unless they want to follow you.
A Pastor IS a leader. But a leader is not necessarily a pastor.
I can teach students on Wednesday nights as I normally do. I can rattle the cages, make changes, not “manage” the status quo, as you put it, but when I am done. I pray and say amen. If I walk out the door without engagement or response, what does that make me? Some students might follow me because I am teaching biblical truth so I guess that makes me a leader. Am I pastor? Not in the least sense.
But if i choose to accept the responsibility of being a pastor, which I have, then I do more than just lead the sheep to greener pastures. I teach them, nurture them, encourage them to grow on their new hillside. I intentionally raise up new leaders to have the ability to be pastors.
That’s what the Apostles did. That’s what Jesus did. He didnt just lead. He invested.
“In order to care for people they must let you and they won’t let you unless they want to follow you.”
This is some really great insight, Chris. I heard a sermon by T.D. Jakes recently that leaders are most easily identified by whether or not people are following them. If no one is following you, then you aren’t a leader. And you’re right on, because that’s exactly what Jesus did with the 12, and that’s what they did with the 72, etc…
On a side note – I had to laugh at your thoughts on preaching and walking out the door, because often that’s what evangelists end up doing (osnap – can open, worms everywhere… :))
One final thought and I’ll have spoken my peace. Just because you’ve been given authority, it doesn’t mean that you are a leader.
The shepherd mentality is one of safety, protection and care. This mentality is one that minimizes risk and danger. Those are not the top priorities of a leader. I’m not saying that leaders are reckless, but they definitely don’t shrink to the “popular vote”.
We set up so many checks and balances to keep pastors from actually leading that I hesitate to say that “leading” is actually what they do. Maybe it’s a semantics thing but I believe words have meaning and that meaning is significant.
On the other hand, a leader can have shepherd qualities but those aren’t his/her focus. Absolutely a leader must have compassion and care for those he leads. Otherwise you have a monarch/dictator. But ultimately, a leader isn’t concerned with waiting tables. She can’t be.
We’ve given pastors authority and we call that leadership. But authority is not synonymous with leadership. There are too many voices speaking of leadership and water it down. We get this “manager” mentality of what a leader is. A manager manages what exists. A leader leads to new places.
And I don’t mind agreeing to disagree, Chris. I think generally we agree more than not. It’s just a matter of words and roles that makes me a stickler for what people run with.
Thank you for stretching me and bringing some great thoughts to the discussion. I’m sure David appreciate it too! 🙂
Tony, I love your thoughts. What kind of church do you go to? Mine has no checks and balances. I’m not kidding. It’s sort of tyrannical at times, but that’s why Jesus has me there, to point these things out. HA. I’m kind of kidding- that’s a lie, I’m not kidding at all. Regardless, I think submission is an issue here. In order to be led, you have to be willing to follow. In order to lead, someone has to be willing to get behind you. Leadership and authority aren’t synonyms because even though someone might have the authority to _______, if they’re a giant tool, nobody’s going to follow…. well… Jesus-people can be dumb, so I’m sure somebody will jump into that parade, but regardless, the humans whose heads aren’t firmly placed in their own backsides probably won’t follow.
David-
I think people can have amazing experiences at them and can be led to amazing places that allows God to be heard speaking into our lives. God speaking demands a response. I think it depends on your response and the Intentions of the worship leader. I think the real pastoring starts after the response.
My official title at church is Music Director. When I took the role (as a 21-yr old), our church leadership team said that they wanted me to be able to lead the music team but not feel like I have to do pastoral care for everyone in the team (team of about 30 from ages 15-60) so they specifically did not want to call me a Worship Pastor.
Do you find that weird?
I’ve started to call myself a Worship Pastor more and more (because it makes more sense to people outside the church when I explain what I do for a job). And the funny thing is that to be an effective leader you really do need to do some pastor them. If it’s all about running rehearsals, doing rosters and teaching new songs…instead of nurturing, encouraging and leading people then it’s probably not going to work so well.
In saying that, PASTORING takes more time. You can’t just send an email. I just met with a younger musician from my team yesterday who is struggling with depression and his relationship with God. It’s going to be a journey and it’s going to take time.
Hey Rachel.
I wouldn’t call that weird, per se, but I would call it unfortunate. Like you said yourself, things just don’t work as well when you’re not investing in people.
Before my current church hired me, they had never had a full-time worship pastor – only part-time worship leaders. It’s been an amazing opportunity for me to invest in a wonderful group of people that had never been nurtured, encouraged, or pastored before. We’ve laughed together, wept together, and formed close-knit relationships that have directly affected our ability to lead worship together.
In a nutshell, the closeness we’ve shared together off-stage has created a deeper musical and spiritual intimacy on-stage, and things keep getting better.
If you’re leadership is ok with you investing in your team members, I would encourage you to do so, both collectively and individually. You may want to check out David’s blog post from a couple days ago about discipling worship team members. You may find the post as well as the discussion very helpful. Here’s the link:
https://www.davidsantistevan.com/2011/07/discipleship-ideas/
Rachel, to be honest, I don’t think it matters what your title is. I don’t even really know what mine is 🙂 It’s more about what you do than what you’re called. Even if you’re not called a “worship pastor” I believe you can start functioning like one. It does take more work (physically and emotionally) so be smart, but I would say go for it. It seems to me like you’re doing a fantastic job.
Thanks for sharing!
I think it’s fascinating that after all this conversation about whether or not pastors are leaders, I don’t think I found the words serve or servant in there anywhere. Pastors are ministers and to minister is to serve. I think this might be one of the underlying issues here. David started out by asking, “Are we putting on a show or serving people (prayer, teaching, making disciples etc. are all forms of serving).
I think many pastors have forgotten how to serve. It’s not the cultural norm anymore, especially when it comes to big churches (and America likes big churches). David, pretty please run with this. Do us all a favor and remind all your pastor buddies that service rests at the very foundation of their “ministry”. I loved the post and loved the commentary, too.
Amen. Service is tied into being a worship pastor. Thinking through the lens of “servanthood” will influence all your decision as a worship pastor. What songs to do, how to do them, what to say, how you structure rehearsals, etc. It’s all about serving. Agreed!
Why do you think big churches have forgotten how to serve? Interesting…
Great thoughts, David. I’ve always considered myself a pastor first who gets to focus on the area of worship. One of the things I’ve learned that is really important is prayer. It is vital to place as important an emphasis on prayer as it is preparation. Both individually and with your team. I can say that I’ve seen a correlation in the ability to pastor people effectively in worship and the investment of prayer. The other thing I think is important is for a worship pastor to see themselves as part of the larger leadership team. We shouldn’t singularly focus on Sunday morning to the exclusion of all else, but on the broad development of disciples. How does worship play a part in that and how can we support the other ministries in the church?
That’s a really great point, Chris. How do you work worship into your discipleship process at your church? What does that look like?
I wish I had an answer to give you in that regard, David. I’m actually in between churches right now, so not in an active role to influence that type of thing. In my previous ministry, we never were able to get to the place of being intentional about that.
I think that the answer to that question starts with a clear definition (by church leadership) of what the purpose of the Sunday morning gathering is for the church, and how that fits into the process of discipleship in the church. We need to stop seeing each element of church life as individual elements (ie, worship service, small groups, classes, children, etc) people need to be a part of, and see them as part of a greater whole that develops whole disciples. Then, we will be in a better place to determine what needs to happen on Sunday mornings, what needs to happen in small groups, etc. Those things shouldn’t compete, but should complement each other. Part of it is getting away from the mentality that Sunday morning is where everything needs to happen.
There also needs to be an intentionality of teaching about worship…beyond Sunday morning. Equipping group leaders to be able to have times of worship in smaller group settings. Training mentors to help people they are mentoring to grow in worship just as they do with prayer, Bible study, service, etc. Making sure the worship pastor isn’t the only one teaching about worship. Not only the senior pastor, but all senior leadership need to set the example of worship participation.
“Worship Leader versus Worship Pastor”
I think you are right: the title is not as important as the action.
It does give you an opportunity to teach your team the importance of worship 24/7. You have given me a lot to think about on how I use “worship” as a word and how it’s perceived! My “official title” has been Associate Pastor, but as I talk to the team about the duties of worship, I call them all Worship Leaders because the family is looking at all of them as they reflect the spirit of worship as they lead through playing and singing. I have adopted Matt Redman’s phrase of “Lead Worshipper” instead of “Worship Pastor.” I think that as I mentor others, “Lead Worshipper” is a little easier for them to swallow! This might start a “who does the pastoring” discussion! 🙂
Doug, great insight. Thanks for sharing!
I attend a small church where I call my home church, but over a six year period, God called my family and I to leave and start attending a much larger church where I was part of a large scale worship team. Through many trials within that church, I feel God was teaching me to use my gifts and talents. We have returned to our home church for the past six years, and God has still been pursuing me in the gifts and talents of Music. I am going to be 43 years old and recently God has been guiding me in self taught guitar playing, I have lead worship with some very great leaders in the six years I was away, but never on my own, until recently, It is such an amazing feeling to be able to look out and see God working in and through others as you worship through music. there was a time in my life, I felt the ” all about me” syndrome, but recently I feel I may have the calling to do more. I read some where in one blog where your church gets someone who makes it feel like more of a dictator style of worship, I feel like our church congregation is going through that situation right now, and is in need of changes, not so much as to take over but to be taught how to feel the love of God through the music, and not the perfection of the music but the heart of it and how it can set your heart and mind for a more meaningful message. I am new to all of this but I do feel a calling to help others through music leadership,Ministering, or what ever you choose to call it, it is all the same if you truly believe it is not about you! I really could use some advice on what to do? I have no formal training, I don’t read music at all, but God has given me a gift and I am struggling to make decisions on what to do? Help and Advice?
I am a little late to this conversation so no one will probably read this but the reality is that within the context of the church (even in considering the “offices”) a Pastor is a leader. In my view we have incorrectly labeled things and that leads to confusing discussions about semantics. As a worship leader you are a pastor in the minds of the congregation whether you have a title or not. When your congregations think about the “leadership” of the church they look at the platform to see who is leading them. As a “leader” (notice the small “l”) you have a choice whether you will function and walk in the office of a pastor but that is solely up to you. The question is are you just going to lead the song part of the service or are you going to take on the mantle of of Ephesians 4:11 where your primary role shifts from the music to equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry. This is when we move beyond the song leading even the modeling of a worship life into literally training up the people of God to make disciples. I like what Scott Wilson at the Oaks Fellowship says. I am not going to pay someone to do the work of the ministry, I am going to pay someone who will train up leaders who will equip the people of God to do the work of the ministry. That is a very different view than many churches. It is also a view that is, at it’s core, sets up multiplication. As my church grows I’m now having to make a shift that is difficult for me. Do I get paid to lead songs on Sunday and register people for small groups or do I get paid to pour my life into people to equip them to do what God has called them to do in order to build His Church . The Sunday service is very important, and so is living out your faith over the course of the week. We all know that. The issue here is what is our role in the context of the church. I look at it like this, worship leading is leading the music, even leading the musicians and modeling living your worship to the congregation. Pastoring takes place when you are equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry. When you are raising up people who are discipling others into the Kingdom. It is about multiplication. In my opinion every worship leader not only needs to be excellent in the music craft but also in the leadership craft, the equipping craft. You have to know how to pastor. You have to study and work on that skill just as much if not more than the music. I have so much to say and learn on this but I hope I communicated effectively. Just remember, the music will not be your legacy, the people will.
Mac, I’m reading this 🙂
Dude, you nailed it. I feel like I’m in the same position at my church. I’m transition from leading ministry to leading leaders. It’s such a difficult learning curve when you’re just used to doing, doing, doing, you know? Raising up volunteers, equipping people – that’s what it’s all about. Thanks for joining in!
Our church is looking for a Worship Pastor currently… With other opportunities in Audio and Video
http://www.mission68.org/about-mission/job-opportunities/
In Gilbert Arizona
Jesus asked Peter a similar question… “Peter, do you love me?” to which Peter answered, “Lord you know I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” Are we pointing to where Jesus is, or are we leading people to Christ?” FFT (Food for thought.)
I just happened upon your blog and I am really enjoying it. This post was fantastic! In the past couple of years, I felt like God defined my role as the worship pastor instead of worship leader. It changed how I viewed everything. It gave me courage to do the hard things and not shy away from conflict with team members. It basically gave me permission to do the work God was asking me to do. Thanks for addressing this in such a concise and lovely way. I appreciate how you are allowing God to use you through this blog. Thanks!
Interesting article and comments as well. I must say, worship leader or worship pastor, it’s not so relevant. What’s most important is your heart and objectives.
I think the issue is from how people have been thought to perceive these roles, which has resulted in how they execute their responsibilities. A worship leader is employed to lead the congregation in singing. A worship pastor is employed with pastoral responsibilities in mind. So in a church service a worship leader is made to realise that his only duty is singing. If he does more than that in the timeframe he’s meant to sing, there could be problems for him.
I think the titles are not the issue the church or ministry that employs and how they see your role.
Simply looking through the mind of Jesus alone, any Christian knows you have to care about the people you lead or work with.
I still call myself a worship leader and I know have to lead people with utmost responsibility and humility. It’s not about showing off my musical skills. One doesn’t have to be called a worship pastor before you can do it right.
Thank you.
Hi David,
I love how in one of your podcasts, someone quoted Louie Gigilio using the term ‘lead worshipper’. I’m just so on board with everything that it conveys! Sometimes as a ‘worship leader’, I feel a sort of isolation from the rest of the congregation, almost as if I was conducting the worship as opposed to being one with it. ‘Lead worshipper’ is simply a worshipper who is going before and showing what it looks like to be a worshipper of God, in church, in music, and in life.
(As a side note, can I just say that you have matured so much as a host. Your flow has become more natural and you just seem a lot more comfortable. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and have been helped by many of your interviews!)
I really love this.
Pray for me
for one day I have a dream to be worship leader
Amen.
love praising Jesus when I m some where in Spirit.
If 1 Cor 14:34 is correct, and I believe it is then all you are saying affirms my conviction that a worship pastor is a leadership role in the church and should not be handled by women. Also 1 Tim 2: 11-12.
The first essential for a worship leader is that he be authentic. That means he or she actually worships God in private on a regular basis…in their car, in their office, in the woods, in the pool, but IN PRIVATE. When one stops doing this on a regular basis, that is when they should resign the job of worship leader, but usually they won’t because they like the position, the fame, and the money:). Lenny
With havin so much content and articles do you
ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement?
My website has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either created myself
or outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my authorization. Do you know any ways to help prevent content from being stolen? I’d genuinely appreciate
it.
I thank you and all of the people who took the trouble to describe their own worship leadership situations in some detail. Keeping this brief – I’ve been helping lead contemporary worship since 1999, and besides playing and singing, I do song writing, song selection, arrangements, and team scheduling (since we rotate a dozen-ish musicians in a band that generally fields 6 or 7 musicians on a given Sunday.) Our church does pay me and the other musicians a stipend like they do for our organists. This has been a huge blessing and opportunity to use my gifts. I’m about to turn 60 and suddenly I’ve been faced (it’s a strange story) with the the unexpected possibility that God is calling me to be “a pastor”, something I pursued when younger but set aside. I don’t know for certain what He might mean by “being a pastor”; as a Lutheran my church’s pastoral ministry and the path to entering it is highly defined and the title “pastor” is not self-assumed or bestowed. I’m in a time of waiting to see what exactly God has in mind (while digging out my Greek study materials.) I do not want to presume it must mean some further aspect of my music ministry; but I don’t rule that out, either, hence I am grateful for the conversation here that gives me much to ponder.
In particular, when I stopped considering a pastoral ministry while a college undergraduate, in part it was because I had been to hundreds of churches (another long story) and have family in ministry, and doubts about whether I had the kind of love for God’s flock and the gifts to lead and care for them/about them that I could see was the heart of the job, made me take a different path. The discussion here challenges me to reopen all of that. Thanks again.