Going to college didn’t prepare me for leading worship.
Taking music lessons didn’t prepare me for leading worship.
Worship songs didn’t prepare me for leading worship.
Theology didn’t prepare me for leading worship in the local church.
Of course, that’s not entirely true. I learned some invaluable things in college. Music lessons taught me discipline. It’s hard to lead worship without songs. Good theology ensures your leadership is rooted in scripture.
But there’s so much more to leading…than that. And that comes down to the people. It comes down to having compassion for the people you serve. It comes down to leading with bold faith and a broken heart for the needs scattered across the room.
Without sounding too cliche, it’s leading like Jesus did. He was busy yet he could always stop for someone in need. He spoke to large crowds, yet he had compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
He balanced big ministry – the most massive ministry in history – with loving “the one”.
No…I wasn’t prepared for this kind of ministry. But I’m so glad to be learning it.
Today’s Young Leader
Today’s young worship leader is unique in history.
Fewer are going to school for “church music” yet talented, passionate worship leaders are springing up everywhere. But it seems to be happening by accident.
I’ve noticed many worship leaders who aspired to have a music career, to be an artist, but found that it just couldn’t pay the bills. So they end up leading worship in a local church. Some full time, some part time, some volunteer.
This both excites and concerns me.
I love to see artists finding their place in the local church…provided they have the right heart or are learning what it truly means to lead in a local church.
Because the truth is…
- We are anything but rockstars, as Stephen Miller taught us.
- We aren’t creating fan clubs.
- We aren’t entertainers.
- We aren’t in this for a career climb up the corporate worship ladder.
At our core, we are servants – called to go before our churches and create a context where their eyes can be lifted to see the glory of God.
We are spotlights – shining a light on a beauty outside of ourselves so the church can put their hope in God.
We are reminders – reminding the bride of Christ who she is – spotless, beautiful, redeemed, forgiven.
This role is more pastoral and missional than it is about tour buses, selling merch, and signing autographs. And young, talented worship leaders need to understand this in their core.
The Challenge
What I see in a lot of young worship leaders is a passion for music. A love for artistry. A striving to be “cool.” That was me, for sure.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being cool. If I had the choice of being “cool” or “irrelevant” I wouldn’t choose the latter. But if we’re pursuing “cool” at the expense of serving our people, something is off. A lot of worship leaders can give off the vibe that they just “don’t care” about anything except what they care about, which sadly, can is only themselves.
It’s the “build it and they will come” mentality – be awesome and talented and cool and people will just engage. Well I know for a fact that doesn’t work. I remember all the long hours I used to put into creative song arrangements to impress and no one “got them”. No one understood my subtle “genius.”
That’s because the local church isn’t the worship leader’s fan club. They are coming to meet with God. And if we don’t understand that, serve that, make that happen, we’re missing the point.
This is the challenge of today’s worship leader: to love people more than art. To use creativity in a way that serves their community.
How do you deal with these challenges? How are you pushing creativity and fostering relationship with your congregation?
Let’s discuss this, friends. As always, these posts are better when you contribute.
Also, I’m very excited to introduce a new online course I created called Learn Worship Keys. The special “launch price” actually goes away tonight. You can check it out at learnworshipkeys.com.
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“That’s the challenge of today’s worship leader: to love people more than art. To use creativity in a way that serves their community”.
Our primary calling is to love God and love people. Everything else we do should flow from that. We are children of the King first and foremost, not worship leaders or pastors or mothers or fathers. Our identity, is in Him, not what we do. I think sometimes in our worship culture (and it is a culture) we forget who we are and what our purpose is. We are part of a Body, created to work alongside, the other parts so it can function in a healthy way. When we remember these things our focus, our priorities, fall in line.
Interesting article. What I’m seeing in young worship leaders is massive underdevelopment. In scripture you see a pattern of mentorship and apprenticeship before leadership. Many young worship leaders have talent but come across as arrogant because they haven’t developed their character and personal values or at least unable to communicate them to others outside of the stage. They are simply immature and insecure as leaders and churches don’t invest in them or they refuse to invest in themselves.
I’m an old guy still leading modern worship in churches doing all the modern songs in a variety of places and I can tell congregations are more relaxed when I lead because I have nothing to prove. One pastor told me about a young person in his church with talent, “He’s good but he needs more time in front of the congregation.” What he meant was he needs to be developed and I don’t have time to do it so he’s learning in front of the people.
My biggest fear is that the role of worship leader has diminished in churches to be the role of an artist. Don’t get me wrong, I love the pay….sing my 3 or 4 songs and leave with my check, but I think many times where the church will be in 10 years because no one is being developed, not in music or singing, but in spiritual leadership to guide a congregation in worship.
We’ll be great at doing the latest songs, but what will we be missing that we need. We will be missing the ability of a leader to connect people through art that causes them to draw closer to God.
Agree totally. What happened to character making a path for us as opposed to “talent!” Where is that in the Bible. We should be following Godly leaders. Their heart for God should be the reason they are leading, not their creative ability. That word creativity gets so much cred today. I’m sick of it. I’m not impressed by anyone’s talent, until I know they love God and His Kigdom.
Nailed it, David. Well said.
“…the local church isn’t the worship leader’s fan club. They are coming to meet with God. And if we don’t understand that, serve that, make that happen, we’re missing the point.”
Worship leaders remembering that our identity is in Him, and our role is to help our people engage with Him, helps stave off the temptation to seek approval & affirmation from those we’re called to lead.
Thanks for expressing it so well!
Yes! We need to lead people to Jesus and get out of the way. Thanks JD.
Sadly the above I reported has been magnified. Over the course of a year or two when we left that church, we’ve been in contact with a lot of members who are still there and they report the new “leader” has gotten worse. He has managed to alienate several members of the church board who brought him in without vote and has really made some of the audio/visual tech staff mad at his complete lack of cooperation and collaboration and “I said do it MY way!” attitude. All this stuff from someone who is many years younger than those to whom he is “ministering”. It’s obvious this WL has no compassion or desire to get along with others and believes his buddy, the senior pastor who he has worked under at two other churches, will always have his back and that he can do whatever he wants to do – within reason and confines of the church. Looking back at the vibes and mannerisms I got from him after we first met each other and after going thru 1 rehearsal and 1 worship service with this guy it’s completely obvious now that his massive ego is totally out of control and he has no leadership or managerial skills whatsoever. He uses his massive body size to intimidate people and uses that as an offensive weapon (I studied Tae Kwon Do for 5 years and helped teach it and this was taught to us that big men use their body size to intentionally intimidate others’ to get what they want. This has been proven time and time again.) His worship services completely lack genuine-ness and it’s obvious he only wants to be a rock star, but couldn’t pay the bills going the secular route. I’m just waiting until this WL is asked to leave. Once he begins working for someone else who will not put up with his selfishness and egotism he will be forced to either humble himself and grow up and lose the junior high school arrogance or resign and pursue some other form of employment. If I sound upset it’s because I am. I am angry that this is allowed to continue at such a fine church in Arlington, Texas.
Thks a lot and God bless you David for allowing yourself to be used by God to bless us, especially how u have blessd me with this post. As a young worship leader I will heed to this advice so that God will take the Glory
I sincerely wish young worship leaders had the “ministry” part down instead of the “rock star” mentality so many have nowadays. What I’ve seen however, is many young worship leaders sponsored by one or more people who have been in that particular church for a long time, think they have the “plan” to move the church forward to the next level, and blindly go forth selling their new worship “leader” to the professional staff and congregation. Yet, these sponsors have no clue how well their new charges lead worship, lead a praise band, interact with others, organize, plan, direct, etc. All they see is someone young, energetic, and acting polite to them. Sadly, behind closed doors in rehearsal with he band and choir, these young turks’ true nature and personality comes forth: it’s always the “my way or the highway” attitude and and “know it all” mentality. Their massive egos clearly show through. I quit a praise and worship band I had been in for four years simply because of the new “leader”. The church didn’t get to vote this person in, the band didn’t get a chance to vote….this person was just thrust upon us by a blind group of individuals who thought they knew better than anyone else. What caused me to make up my mind very fast to leave was his total lack of respect of the band, NOT wanting to meet the band members before and and socialize, then treating the members – who were at least 10 to 15 years older than he – like children who had to be taught how to play an instrument and sing. Treated us as though we knew nothing. His speech to the band the very first rehearsal was all about his talent and how he demands cooperation and “you can go up against me, but in the end I’ll win because I get paid to do this.” His exact words. I thought what an arrogant, egotistical jerk! Who wants to serve under an egomaniac like that? Clearly this guy wants to pretend he’s a rock star and has no desire to minister.