Before you read the rest of this post, I want you to slow down. Pause. Breathe deep.

Seriously. We are in such a rush to get more done – to cram information into our brains and forget what matters most.

This is a blog post about God, His glory, and our responsibility to see and stand in awe.

Our worship services can become so busy for God that we longer take the time to notice God.

We’re not just coming together to sing, we’re coming together to see.

We’re not just gathering to praise, we’re gathering to peer deeper into glory.

It’s standing in awe more than it is standing in line to ask for more of God’s good gifts.

Recapture A Fresh Vision

What is worship if it’s not amazement?

It’s obvious that we have needs – that God is a good Father who provides for us. But God can almost become like a cosmic genie service that we call upon when we have need – not a Person that we adore.

So rather than coming to have your needs met, what if your only agenda was to see Him more clearly? What if this was your daily pursuit?

“Father, as I open Your word today, allow me to see a deeper facet of your character.”

“Jesus, as I move about my day today, let me behold your glory around every turn.”

“Holy Spirit, as I lead worship allow me to see you moving, reaching, and restoring your glory to throne of our hearts.”

What’s even more fascinating about this idea of seeing, is it’s the enemy’s main tactic in destroying us. If he can keep you from seeing Jesus he can keep you from your destiny as a worshiper.

“The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing…the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” ( II Corinthians 4:4).

Worshiper, don’t forget to keep your eyes open to the glory of God. Ask God to shine His light into your heart more and more.

Heaven gives us a beautiful picture.

Heaven Help Us

There is no worship more inspiring than the worship that happens around the throne of God in heaven. Why? Because it goes on and on forever and no one gets bored.

Take a look:

“And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures…And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’”

Did you catch what is so fascinating?

Full of eyes. God created them to behold His glory. The very essence of their being is beholding.

And guess what? They never cease to say ‘Holy’. I have the tendency to get bored after 45 minutes of worship. But in the very manifest presence of God in heaven, there is no boredom. Only complete and utter awe. Forever.

What Difference Does This Make?

If you have the time, I would love to hear how this relates to you as a worship leader, musician, or worshiper.

Yes, this blog is always better when you share. Leave a comment below!

Question: What difference does this idea of beholding make in your worship? How will this influence your preparation, practice, leadership, and discipleship? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Tweet

Like what you read? If so, please join over 2800 people who receive exclusive weekly online worship ministry tips, and get a FREE COPY of my eBook, Beyond Sunday! Just enter your name and email below:

There is a big difference between leading worship and leading people.

To lead worship, all you need is a musical skill set. To lead people requires so much more.

In this podcast I sit down with Rick Muchow. Rick was the Worship Pastor at Saddleback church for 25 years, working under the leadership of Pastor Rick Warren.

He had some fantastic insights to share as it relates to pastoring people in worship.

Click to Listen

Notes From This Episode

• Love God and love people – the DNA that never dies.
• Rick Warren read one book a day for 15 years because he wanted to continually grow as a leader.
• Anyone can be brilliant if they spend a lot of time learning.
• When you lead worship, don’t shoot for a home run…just get a base hit every week.
• Saddleback was built on the weekend experience – people came and got connected.
• An artist is like a fire – people say “wow”. A worship leader lights the fire – they connect people to God.
• The “Wow” experience in worship comes from being connected to God.
• The goal of a worship pastor is to recruit, shepherd, train, delegate, encourage, love the team, and pray for the team.
• A lot of worship leaders feel that the church is there to serve them – it’s their audience. Rather, see them as an army waiting to be released.
• Recruiting tip: Look for people who need to use their gifts so they will feel fulfilled as a person.
• Break down the jobs in your ministry. Then recruit for them!
• Hire people that are better than you at certain things.
• Don’t be intimidated by talent. Leverage it.
• Delegate. Delegate. Delegate.
• Stick with what you’re good at and put people around you who can do everything else.
• Whatever you demonstrate will be caught. Your team will become like you.
• Worship “flow” is about taking people on a journey.

Resources

• Rick’s website: http://rickmuchow.com
• The Worship Answer Book by Rick Muchow
• Brandon Muchow Music (Rick’s son)
• Rick’s Best Key Finder app

Subscription Links

• Subscribe via iTunes
• Subscribe via Stitcher
• Subscribe via RSS

Your Feedback

If you have an idea for a podcast you would like to see, a special guest you’d like to hear from, or a question for an upcoming episode, please email me.

If you enjoyed the show, I would be so appreciative if you would rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That helps me so much! Thanks.

Question: What do think are the primary roles of a worship pastor? How does that look practically in your context? You can leave a comment by clicking here!

As worship leaders, we love those times when the congregation is with us.

We ask them how they’re doing, and they respond. They sing the songs we chose. They are visibly expressing themselves to God.

Maybe they’re even chanting your name as you take the stage. Ahhh…worship leading bliss.

But what happens when people don’t worship – when the room feels frozen over?

Is this how your church greets you?

Sometimes, it’s because you’re violating one of the rules of engagement. Other times, it’s difficult to diagnose what is going on.

Sure, you could scold them for not showing up ready for worship:

“Excuse me, before we launch into this next brilliant arrangement of a song, I just have to ask, ‘Why in God’s name are you not worshiping? How dare you show up to church with your arms crossed and a blank stare on your face. Do you know how hard we worked for this? Show a little respect!”

Might not be the best option.

A more productive question to ask is, “What can I do now to engage people?”

Maybe your song list isn’t working.

Maybe what you said was irrelevant.

Maybe your plans aren’t what’s needed right now.

It’s time to take courage and change direction.

5 Leadership Actions to Take When People Aren’t Worshiping

Here are a few actions I take. Get your comments ready, because I’d love to hear how you approach these situations.

1. Pray – It’s in these moments that I allow a little extra space between songs. The main reason I do this is because I want to pray. I’m asking God – “What are you doing right now? What direction do we need to take?” I try and tune into the theme that the Holy Spirit is emphasizing. Don’t be afraid of the in-between moments. Your best worship leading is waiting to happen there.

2. Simplify – Sometimes the moment calls for something simpler and you need to change direction. So many times I’ve had these grand arrangements planned that just didn’t connect the way I thought. What to do? Sing a simple, familiar song on your acoustic guitar or keyboard. Stop what you’re doing and simplify. Sometimes “I Exalt Thee” is more effective than the latest and greatest worship hit. Because this isn’t about innovation or songs. It’s about connecting people to Jesus.

3. Speak – Oftentimes people aren’t worshiping with you because there hasn’t been a genuine human connection. People will follow those they trust. But they won’t trust you unless you speak to them on their level. Put them at ease. Endear them to yourself. This is all about the deliberate practice of public speaking. Learn how to break into a dead moment with a few words that connect.

4. Read – When songs and words fail (which they do), don’t forget about the power of Scripture. Find a passage of Scripture and read it. God’s Word is live giving. It penetrates. It cuts deep. Sometimes you just have to let God do the talking.

5. Share – This may or may not apply to you. It only sometimes applies to me. But sometimes I lead worship with another capable worship leader. In these moments when I don’t know what to do, I’ll pass the baton. This takes humility but can be so empowering for other leaders. I’ve seen services break open because I had the courage to share my platform – to allow others to step out.

Here’s the main lesson: Be courageous. Don’t be afraid to change direction. Become skilled at changing direction.

It’s in these moments that you have to make decisions, flex your leadership muscle, and rest in the anointing of God. He’s called you. And if He’s called you, He’s equipped you to do what you’re doing. Rest in the confidence that the Holy Spirit is moving through you.

What about you?

When you’re in a situation when nobody seems to be connecting, how do you change direction?

Let’s discuss in the comments!

Tweet

Like what you read? If so, please join over 2800 people who receive exclusive weekly online worship ministry tips, and get a FREE COPY of my eBook, Beyond Sunday! Just enter your name and email below:

Who are you noticing?

Disciple is an old-fashioned word but it might be the most important word as it relates to your leadership.

You see, the kingdom of God isn’t about you using your talent. It’s about many people using many talents.

If you have been given leadership, it is your role not just to do, but to equip. It’s your job to release, stir up, disrupt, call out, challenge, and awaken the dream in others.

Remember this?

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12).

If you’re a worship leader, you could have any number of these gifts.

It’s time to use your leadership responsibility to call out the destiny in others.

5 Ways Jesus Made Disciples

Jesus did this so wonderfully. In this post I want to simply outline 5 ways that Jesus made disciples. And these are ways you can too.

1. Notice the Unnoticed – When Jesus set out to form his “band of brothers”, he didn’t go to the synagogues to round up some Pharisees or smart officials. He went immediately to the tax collectors and sinners. He recruited humble fisherman. You can do the same. If you’ve said these words – “I wish I just had more talent” – take Jesus’ advice and notice those who’ve gone unnoticed. Call them out, believe in them, and watch them step into a surprising destiny.

2. Ask Powerful Questions – If you’re a leader, there’s probably some things you know how to do. You have competencies in certain areas. That is the understatement of the century as it relates to Jesus. He knew everything, yet he would ask his disciples questions in order to teach them. Rather than just spitting out facts, he would grow his disciples by asking powerful questions. Look at this:

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do (John 6:5-6).

Jesus could have just told Philip the plan: “Here’s what we’re going to do. You are going to gather all the food you see in this crowd. You’re not going to believe this but I’m going to flex my miracle muscle and multiply that food so it keeps appearing the more you pass it out. In the end we’ll have tons of leftovers. On your mark, get set, go!”

Nope. Rather, Jesus leveraged his knowledge to teach by asking powerful questions. When people start following you, they will ask you questions about everything. Since you’re the expert, they ask and ask and ask. Learn to bounce questions back at your disciples. Teach them to think and come up with solutions.

3. Don’t Do Ministry Alone – I’m no scholar, but I picture Jesus as an introvert. I mean, that’s how the pictures at Family Christian seem to portray Him. As God Almighty in the flesh, I’d imagine He’d just want to be alone. People wouldn’t understand him, relate to him, or know the fullness of who he really was.

But that’s not what happened. Jesus never did ministry alone. He always had people around. Every miracle was a moment to teach. Every ministry trip was a time to equip.

What would this look like for you? What if you never led worship alone but always had an apprentice with you? What if you didn’t plan your services alone but brought that 13 year old kid into the office and planned it together? Opportunities arise when you adopt the “never do ministry along” mantra. Try it and see what happens.

4. Send People Out – Jesus not only believed in His disciples, he trusted them. Matter of fact, before they were even ready, he sent them out to do ministry. Think about how risky this was. These were inexperienced, self-absorbed, disrespected civilians whom Jesus sent out to preach, teach, and heal the sick. He could have done it all Himself. He could have slapped Peter on the hand, breathed heavily, and barked, “Fine, I’ll just do this myself! Incompetent idiots!” Rather, he sent them out.

5. Delegate, But Don’t Disengage – This is amazing. Here we are 2,000 years after Jesus left talking about what He did. The church continues to grow with each new generation. Jesus built his ministry to scale. He wasn’t going to be on the earth forever. He left.

But in his leaving the church didn’t fall apart. There’s an important distinction here. Jesus left but He didn’t disengage. He sent the Holy Spirit. He continued to do what only He could do – save, heal, restore, and redeem people. Convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement. But he trusted the leadership of the church to people. People like the Apostle Paul, Peter & John. People like you. People like me.

Leader, you can never disengage. But in order for you to continually grow in your effectiveness, you have to learn to delegate. Don’t start something and then disengage from it. It may fall apart. Delegate, but don’t disengage.

OK, now it’s your turn. The ministry of Jesus is inexhaustible.

What are some other ministry lessons you learn from looking at the life of Jesus?

Share your thoughts in the comments. Trust me – blogs are always better when you contribute. Why?

Because you’re brilliant, that’s why.

Tweet

Like what you read? If so, please join over 2800 people who receive exclusive weekly online worship ministry tips, and get a FREE COPY of my eBook, Beyond Sunday! Just enter your name and email below:

If you’re a worship leader, you know the frustration of leading worship for people who aren’t with you.

Besides the noise of your band, you could hear a pin drop in the room – people aren’t singing, lifting their hands, or having a good time.

Most of the time, there is something we can do about it.

As worship leaders we need to be students of our congregation – choosing the songs, sounds, and experiences that encourage participation. That’s what this podcast is all about.

Click to Listen

Notes From This Episode

7 Reasons Why Your Congregation Won’t Worship

1. Your music is too confusing

2. Your songs aren’t singable

3. Your songs aren’t familiar enough

4. Your band is disengaged

5. You don’t connect with the generations

6. You perform your worship set

7. People aren’t ready

Subscription Links

• Subscribe via iTunes
• Subscribe via Stitcher
• Subscribe via RSS

Your Feedback

If you have an idea for a podcast you would like to see, a special guest you’d like to hear from, or a question for an upcoming episode, please email me.

If you enjoyed the show, I would be so appreciative if you would rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That helps me so much! Thanks.

Question: What are the challenges you are experiencing when it comes to engaging your people? What progress are you seeing? You can leave a comment by clicking here!

Tweet

Like what you read? If so, please join over 2800 people who receive exclusive weekly online worship ministry tips, and get a FREE COPY of my eBook, Beyond Sunday! Just enter your name and email below:

There’s something that every worship leader loves.

Without an ounce of disagreement, we all crave of a well prepared band. Worship leaders lead better when the band is awesome.

But what does awesome look like? Well, it’s when musicians:

• Know the songs
• Know their parts
• Balance creativity & simplicity
• Carry a passion
• Have a great attitude

Wouldn’t it be beautiful if our team members were like this? There’s a couple routes we can take.

First, we could moan and complain that our worship team isn’t like Elevation Church – that we don’t have a lot of people, resources, or talent. Or, we could take baby steps towards creating the culture we want to see.

You probably know where I’m going with this. Let’s opt for the second route. Though it’s not easy, it’s way more productive. As the leader, you need to set the tone for the culture of your team. If you hold them to excellence, they will arise to the challenge.

The Purpose Of Rehearsal

So let’s take one step towards that today – teaching your team how to prepare for rehearsal. First of all, I’m assuming you have the following values regarding rehearsal:

1. Rehearsal is a time to perfect songs, not learn them.

2. Rehearsal is a time to connect as a team

3. Rehearsal is a time to hear the vision

One of the greatest decisions I made regarding my worship team culture was to have my musicians show up prepared. I used to mention it in passing, but it rarely happened.

When I decided preparation was going to be a foundational element to our success, I began to see glimpses of awesome. But I failed to cast vision for how to prepare. I noticed a lot of my team members weren’t hitting the mark because I never showed them what effective preparation looked like.

So I decided to get detailed.

How To Prepare For Your Next Rehearsal

Here’s the process for my team. Feel free to use, copy, and adapt as you see fit in your context. There’s even a free chart you can download in the last point.

1. Pray – I encourage my team to pray for the service. Pray for the people. Before you look at or listen to any music, get a passion in your heart for what you’re doing. Every team member should own the service spiritually. They are a worship leader, not just a musician.

2. Know the Flow – I also challenge them to look at the service flow. This helps them see that it’s not just about the worship. Their contribution is part of a whole service, designed specifically to reach lost people and lead people into the presence of God.

3. Listen – The next step is to listen to the songs. But for the first listen, don’t hold your instrument. Don’t try to figure it out. Don’t play along. Close your eyes, listen, and feel it.

Allow the unique colors of the song to wash over you. What is the song about? What is the musical feel? Why does the church need to sing this? How do all the instruments contribute to create one sound?

4. Create Charts – After you’ve listened through each song for Sunday, go back and listen again. This time, you’re going to create song charts –  detailed notes on what your instrument is doing. You want to document exactly what you’re hearing.

If you’re a bass player, for example, write down exactly when you come in. Document when you drop out. Are you playing eighth notes, quarter notes or just downbeats? Is the tone clean or gritty? Notice the simplicity or the complexity of your part. Get as close to the original as you can. To make this easy, I’ve created a free song diagram chart you can download and use for your team.

My goal with this post was to give you something practical and empowering for your team members.

But I need your feedback. What do you think of this process? Is there anything you would add? Anything you would take away?

Please share your ideas in the comments. We all benefit from that.

Tweet

Like what you read? If so, please join over 2800 people who receive exclusive weekly online worship ministry tips, and get a FREE COPY of my eBook, Beyond Sunday! Just enter your name and email below:

Have you ever asked this question?

Have you ever probed the depths of your own heart and wondered, “Is my worship acceptable to God…really?”

It’s scary to think that some worship is pleasing to God and some worship is detestable. To think that I could approach the throne of Grace, lift up my voice, and bare my soul – only to be rejected.

What kind of worship does God seek?

Throughout Scripture we see the kind of worship God is seeking. It has more to do with your closet than it does the stage. It has more to do with the unseen than what is seen.

God loves singing. God loves music. But it’s not all that He is after.

Consider this:

“My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; the one whose walk is blameless will minister to me. No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence” (Psalm 101:6-7).

There’s a lot of worship buzz words in this passage that we all like to use.

Dwell with God.

Minister to Him.

Dwell in His house.

Stand in His presence.

But we tend to think that this just means hanging around the altars a little longer on Sunday morning. Maybe being in church an extra evening this week. Or having devotions for a half hour rather than 15 minutes. Can I just tell you? – it is none of this.

None of this is what God is after. Sure, they are beautiful, healthy habits. But God is seeking something deeper – worship that is stained with Kingdom action.

Worship that reaches out to the broken. Worship that obeys God. Worship that isn’t self-centered.

How to Bring Acceptable Worship

Let’s pull apart this Psalm 101 passage. It outlines three qualities of acceptable worship:

1. Pursue Faithfulness – The most passionate person isn’t always the most Godly. Just because someone can jump around, waive their hands, shout, and sing at the top of their lungs in a church service doesn’t mean they are where God wants them to be. God’s eyes are on the faithful. The steady. Those who are pursuing obedience at all costs.

2. Walk Blamelessly – God isn’t after passion. He didn’t ask you to just be “on fire” for Him. People like this travel from one Christian event to the next, seeking another spiritual “high” to carry them through life until they hit rock bottom. Rather, focus on living a blameless life. Live in such a way that nobody can point a finger at you and say, “He doesn’t life what he speaks. He’s a fake!”

3. Live Honestly – It’s easy to manipulate – to tip the scales in your favor. God searches for honesty – honesty in your words, your business dealings, and in your relationships. It’s not just about songs. Want to stand in God’s presence? Speak the truth.

Consider this:

“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 6:21-24).

How would you like to be greeted on Sunday afternoon (after all your hard work) with, “Take away from me the noise of your songs. I’m not listening.”

Again, God is after something deeper.

Look at this:

“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8-9).

The heart.

How close is your heart? You may say all the right things and know all the churchy phrases, but where is the position of your heart? Far? Or right up close to the heart of God?

I don’t know about you, but I want the eyes of God to be on me. When he looks at my life, I want him to see a faithful, blameless, honest heart – a heart that acts justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly with God.

God sees all things at all times but His eyes aren’t on all things at all times. Like our passage in the Psalms – His eyes are on the faithful. They have His full attention.

Live in such a way that you capture the full attention of God (tweet this).

“The true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in Truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks” (John 4:23).

Question: How do you become the kind of worshiper the father seeks? What would it take to lead your team and your church in this sort of worship? What does it look like? 

Let’s talk. You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Tweet

Like what you read? If so, please join over 2800 people who receive exclusive weekly online worship ministry tips, and get a FREE COPY of my eBook, Beyond Sunday! Just enter your name and email below:

What if you could ask any question to a leader in the worship music industry with a passion for music ministry?

In today’s podcast, I chat with Craig Dunnagan. And that’s exactly what I did.

Craig is the VP of Music Publishing and Ministry Alliances at Integrity Music/David C. Cook. He’s also one of the co-founders of worshiptogether.com.

In our conversation we cover a lot of ground. From songwriting to the music industry to leading and loving people in the local church, Craig had some great ideas to share.

Click to Listen

Highlights From The Episode 

Types of Songwriters

1. The Psalmist – pastoral, leadership in the local church
2. Carriers of Songs – vocal talent, but maybe not the heart of a pastor
3. Prophetic Voices – United Pursuit, IHOP

• Raise up others to multiply your impact on the world
• Know your place and what God has equipped you to do
• Don’t write good songs or even great songs. Write transformational songs.

Practical Songwriting Tips

1. Simple – keep it simple, but simplicity doesn’t always mean that a song is great. Simplicity sometimes means that it’s not skillfully done.
2. Accesible – musical accessibility for a church to accomplish it
3. Memorable – is the song unique in the way it presents Biblical truth?

The Path to Getting Your Songs Heard

1. Make sure your songs are finished lyrically and melodically
2. Create a great, appropriate demo
3. Put it out there (YouTube, SongDiscovery, Worship Leader Magazine, Noisetrade, Facebook)

• Don’t emulate what others are doing. Hear from God about how to reflect your creativity in your church environment. What’s the little distinctive that will help my church and my people?
• Whatever touches your people is bound to touch other people

Types of Songs

1. Songs of Truth (the Word)
2. Songs of Response (emotional)
3. Songs of Prayer (songs birthed from our prayer closets)

• The songs you sing are not just for you to enjoy, or simply be innovative. Think about the people in the pews.
• If we get caught up in our creativity instead of our calling to bless God’s people, we’re missing the point.
• Think about the people we’re leading, not just the ministries we’re leading

Episode Resources

• iWorship videos
• Darlene Zschech’s Revealing Jesus
• Worship Central’s Let it Be Known

Subscription Links

• Subscribe via iTunes
• Subscribe via Stitcher
• Subscribe via RSS

Your Feedback

If you have an idea for a podcast you would like to see, a special guest you’d like to hear from, or a question for an upcoming episode, please email me.

If you enjoyed the show, I would be so appreciative if you would rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That helps me so much! Thanks.

Question: What was your biggest takeaway from this episode with Craig? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

There’s a tension we worship leaders face each and every week.

Sometimes it’s paralyzing. Stressful.

We want to worship God, but we also want to sound awesome.

We want to the church to sing, but we also want to do our favorite songs.

We want the glory of God, but we also want to progress in our creativity.

So often, its either one or the other.

It seems that our identities are easily wrapped up in our performance. At the end of a worship service I’m content with a good performance.

Sang well? Check.

Stayed on the click track? Check.

Band was tight? Check.

All important.

The technical and the spiritual. We already know this should be a balance. You can’t have one without the other.

But how does balance happen? How can you be spiritually in tune and also technically excellent?

4 Balancing Tips

Here are a few tips:

1. Emphasize What You Tend to Neglect – Some of you are gear heads. You love talking about the latest guitar pedal, drum shell, compressor, and can talk for hours about the circuitry of a bass amp. Or, at the end of a worship service you can deconstruct your performance and articulate to a “t” what you could have done better.

But if I asked you the question, “What did you see God doing?” or “Did we serve our congregation well?”, you fall silent. Begin to emphasize the spiritual. Or maybe you have spiritual passion but lack understanding when it comes to your instrument. Start to emphasize the technical.

2. Teach the Spiritual in the Midst of the Technical – If all you do is bark technical orders and your “spiritual” time consists of a quick 30 second prayer before stepping on stage, something is wrong. Spiritual truth should permeate your practical rehearsal.

Don’t compartmentalize. Teach truth when you rehearse. Create a culture where your team pursues God during practice.

3. Rehearse the Spiritual – I know you need to have the songs ready for Sunday. I know you want to avoid a musical train wreck where the whole church is laughing, rolling, and pointing the finger at you. But have you ever thought to rehearse the spiritual aspects of what you do?

Rehearse worshiping. As a team, get comfortable seeking God together. Rehearse declaring truth. Rehearse your stage presence. Musical excellence is only half the battle.

4. Get Outside the Box – Something that’s healthy for worship teams is to do something outside the box. Organize activities where you can step away from the stage, from rehearsal, from the routine. Go on a missions trip together. Visit a nursing home. Worship in a team member’s house.

Activities like this help your team catch a vision for God’s kingdom on the earth. It goes beyond music and roots people in the church and what God is doing.

What would you add to this list? How can we do a better job balancing the technical and spiritual?

This blog is all about conversation and I want to hear from you!

Let’s get some discussion going.

You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Tweet

Like what you read? If so, please join over 2800 people who receive exclusive weekly online worship ministry tips, and get a FREE COPY of my eBook, Beyond Sunday! Just enter your name and email below:

I can’t tell you how excited I was to sit down with one of my songwriting and worship leading heroes, Martin Smith.

Not only has Martin’s music inspired me as a young worship leader, but he really inspired an entire generation through the music of Delirious.

There was a freedom, a fire, and an innocence about the music that called us to a deeper level.

With the Delirious chapter coming to an end, Martin has now released a solo project of music (with more to come later this year).

At the end of this post, I’ll let you know you can win a FREE copy.

Click to Listen

Quotes from the Episode

• “You can get a lot done when you’re in the will of God”
• “The antitheses of cynicism is staying amazed”
• “The Spirit of God in you will always keep you young”
• “As a creative, be intentional about your environment. Your environment speaks to you”
• “The songs are important, but what’s more important is the space in-between”
• “Humor can usher in the presence of God”
• “When you sense God is moving, be slow to move out of it”
• “We’re not just a performing monkey. We shouldn’t be afraid to teach people”

Winners

• Aaron
• Albert
• Amanda Valentine
• Matt
• Daniel Pape

Subscription Links

• Subscribe via iTunes
• Subscribe via Stitcher
• Subscribe via RSS

Your Feedback

If you have an idea for a podcast you would like to see, a special guest you’d like to hear from, or a question for an upcoming episode, please email me.

If you enjoyed the show, I would be so appreciative if you would rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That helps me so much! Thanks.

Question: What was your biggest takeaway from the interview with Martin? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Tweet

Like what you read? If so, please join over 2800 people who receive exclusive weekly online worship ministry tips, and get a FREE COPY of my eBook, Beyond Sunday! Just enter your name and email below:

Oh, in case you wanted to see the music video for Martin’s “Back to the Start”: