Whenever you lead worship, do people leave talking about your talent? Or are they amazed by the greatness of God?
I don’t know about you, but that’s my goal – to lead people to a place of encounter with Jesus.
Then, get out of the way.
Last week, my post “10 Habits Of Highly Effective Drummers” really seemed to resonate with people.
We all want to know what habits will get us where we want to be. The same is true for worship leaders.
How can you develop yourself more fully? What should you really be working on?
7 Habits You Can Develop As A Worship Leader
When I think of effective worship leaders that I’ve known, this is what comes to mind:
1. They Study God’s Word – They are people of the Word. When they begin to sense boredom with the Bible, they know the problem is with their own heart. They press in to the truth. They realize they can’t lead where they’re not going.
2. They Equip People For Ministry – Effective worship pastors don’t just focus on the advancement of their careers. They advance others. They find joy in sharing the spotlight.
They don’t simply lead worship, but inspire others to lead as well. Their life is about equipping, not just doing.
3. They Serve Within the Vision of the House – Don’t get me wrong. Worship Pastors are vision oriented, but they realize that in order to have an effective team, everyone has to serve the same vision.
They execute the lead pastor’s vision because they know God has appointed him or her to lead.
4. They Build Teams – Great worship pastors make room. They recruit others. They get people involved. They are constantly building, growing, expanding.
5. They Cast Vision – To be lead by a great worship pastor means that you are infused with vision. You know the “why” behind the “what”. If you’re not sick of hearing your own vision, you don’t share it enough.
6. They Love to Worship – There’s a difference between loving to lead worship and loving to worship. Nothing wrong with either, but something is wrong when you’re a professional worship leader who doesn’t love to worship.
The best worship leaders guard against this. They answer altar calls. They cry in the presence of God. They worship in secret.
7. They Study the People They Lead – Effective worship leaders aren’t just great singers and musicians. They have people skills. They are experts at serving the people they lead.
Never stop loving people. Never stop crying out to God. Never lose your innocent dependence on His strength.
Your church doesn’t need more talent on stage. They need more invisibility.
Question: When your time has come and gone, what do you want to be known for as a worship leader? Leave your answer in the comments. It’s always better when you share!
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Love the list, each one should be burned into our hearts and minds.
When my time is done, I’d like to be remembered for authenticity and servanthood.
Me too. Great stuff.
Worship leaders (I’d use Lead worshippers) endeavour to allow the Holy Spirit to sharpen they spiritual senses (as much as they sharpen their musicianship)… They allow Him to be the worship LEADER that leads them to do the task at hand.
Lead worshippers never cease to be fascinated by God. His nature is like a diamond – with many facets. Thereby, lead worshippers seek to see a side of God they’ve never seen before; and to point that to the Body of Christ.
Lead worshippers always give away any revelation they were given… they impart, they inspire, they exhort their team members, whom hey consider as family – as part of their lives. Freely receive, freely give.
I want to be remembered as one who never stop being fascinated by God’s beauty, one who loved Him dearly, one who loved people no matter the risks were, and one who knew she’s dearly loved by the King.
Thanks for sharing your heart. Blessings galore to you!!!
I like this very much, Mary – thank you and AMEN!
Fantastic.
I love that time in the Word was at the top of the list. Great reminder to be continually seeking Him.
Love to be remembered for being sensitive to the Spirit and people knowing my love for worship beyond the platform.
I second that!
My hope is that a worshipper in the pew was led to a place in his/her heart where my influence as a leader helped them know that they had a stronger connection to God and felt closer to Jesus. There is something about a melody line within a rhythm that relays the spoken word that helps that to happen.
Beautiful.
I think the one is most important is “Worshiping in secret”, because then it is not all about the set list, and making sure you coming in at the right spot. It’s just about worshipping the Savior King.
Thanks for the reminder David.
So true, Wes. This can be the hardest discipline to maintain!
Do not all of those traits demonstrate the heart of a pastor? Shouldn’t all of those traits be in each of us, as we attempt to disciple others? Is that not the meaning of Romans12:1? I agree with Dennis about the music part. But when we inject music into the equation, it seems as if everything gets complicated by an exponential factor. Sometimes I think someone that is tone deaf my have a less cluttered understanding of what worship is about. At the same time, I wouldn’t want to live in that world. David, please expand the topic you started (paraphrased) “How to worship when there is no music”.
Don
Are you referring to a different post?
Leading for eight years has brought many highs and lows. So thankful that I have gotten to the point that although I feel a sense of accomplishment when people say that the music was really good, its not my main concern.
For the longest time I had this idea that as long as we were crisp, knew all of our parts and sang the right notes, everything else would take care of itself.
Going through a season of wanting more and growing more caused me to look at worship in new lights. I love the fact that people thought the music was great and that we sounded really well. However, what I am concerned with is, how was your personal time during our worship service? I think it is easy for music to be appreciated when it is well done, but what purpose is it filling.
As a worship pastor my eyes have opened to the fact that although I want to give God our best and I want to always be spot on, its not my first concern. I want real genuine people who wholeheartedly go after God. I tell my team the reason I stress so much to know their parts is because I want them to have no other distraction during that time. Prepare before hand so that you can be prepared for him.
It’s great that your congregations thinks you sounds good, but if that’s all they get, we’re missing the mark.
Preston, I really can’t disagree with anything you said. But here is what I experience. Being a lead guitarist, I have to pay so much attention to so much detail to get through a service with 5 or 6 songs. Things like following corrected and marked up lead sheets, playing cues for players not there, weaving together 1st, 2nd, and sometimes 3rd guitar parts from a recording. Switching effects, changing banks or patches etc. I am a very experienced and educated and most say talented guitar player. It is just a very intense time to do anything except deeply concentrate on the music. I know it is worship time. The leadership has asked me to do some very specific things to facilitate that worship time for everyone else. I worship by taking care of the business at hand. That is my contribution to worship. Then, when I go home, I try to deal with Romans 12:1 for my own life. Psalms 33:3 tells us to play skillfully. I don’t think it is wrong to concentrate on that. If we are going to do music, we must do it well. I just don’t know any church musicians that do it, if their heart is not ready to serve others. Lets go back a couple hundred years and put things in a different context. What about the organ player? Were they supposed to concentrate on worship while they were playing layered keyboards with both hands and feet and directing the choir at the same time? I think their concentration was pretty taxed. Then what about the 2 guys in the basement hand pumping the billows for the organ player? Were they supposed to worship while they were working up a very heavy perspiration? What we are calling worship stopped if they stopped. Whatever you do, do it with your all, as unto the Lord. I believe Colossians 3:23-24 qualifies as worship.
What do you think? Don
Don,
You have really good points. I use to be the one who would trigger all the loops and patches with my ability controller. The thing I had found was that I had to concentrate more on triggering the correct thing at the correct time. Although I LOVE having our music sound well, i found myself becoming more concerned with hitting marks instead of leading and being led.
For me, I gave that up. I gave that job to someone else and also starting making loops with full tracks. If we deviate from the loop, they just know to stop it. Never do I want to get so wrapped up in the arrangement of a song that I miss the leading of God.
I totally agree that if we are going to do music we need to do it well. If you are anything like me, I always wanted (want) to trigger because I feel like I can do it all if need be at the exact time it needs it. The reason I was so hesitant to give it up is because I feel like I could do it best. Is there a possibility for you to be free from that responsibility every once in a while?
Many people have a vital role in the entire process of a service, all are important. I just know from personal experience, too much of a job for church turns out to be a burnout. However, again, if you are like me sometimes when you are off you think about if the band is still hitting the marks and all that as well. There has to be a medium found to be able to sit back and enjoy the service without having to be involved.