Planning Ahead

When I started leading worship in youth group, songs lived in a giant folder. No planning center, and no digital chord charts to be seen - apart from the Word documents I would type myself. It would be normal to arrive at youth group, or Sunday evening Bible study and see other leaders flipping through a folder of chord charts asking, ‘What songs should we sing?’ And yet even with all the advantages of modern technology and resources that are accessible to worship leaders today, I’m surprised how many people still lead from a ‘folder,’ mentality. I often sense - particularly for those who lead as volunteers or are bi-vocationally - that this kind of execution is not a lack of care, thought, or intentionality, but of time.

I have led worship as a volunteer, while working multiple jobs, and on full-time staff. Here are four things I’ve learned that have helped me plan:

Batch work.

I find it easier to get ahead when I can work on one thing at a time. So I will often batch my work by focusing one day on building set lists for the month and scheduling teams. Focusing another day on learning new songs, building tracks, propresenter, and chord charts. Reading, prayer, and long-range planning on another day, etc. This helps me feel like I can do deep work by building rhythms that will help me week to week.

Communicate expectations.

Communication with the team is important. But the team also needs to know what to expect from me. Likewise, working effectively with your pastor requires intentional communication as well.

Determine what is most important.

The artistic sensibility means that I often am aware there is a gap between what I envision, and what I will be able to execute. Is this song as perfect in its transitions as we can make it? Likely not. But we also have four other songs this morning that require attention. This is an example of where I have determined - being able to communicate the larger idea of the liturgy is more important than the tiny details of song transitions that will likely go unrealized by the congregation. Give your time and energy to the things that are important to the Lord, to you, your team, your leaders, and your community - open your hands to the rest.

Recognize the season.

Having a baby? Upgrading your audio visuals? In school? Rebuilding a team? Developing new leaders? Every season we inhabit will shift and change our capacity. It is unfair, and unrealistic to expect that every season will be the same. Life moves in seasons and stages, so allow the seasons and stages to help shape what is most important, what is worth fighting for, and what can fall away.

What would you add?

Questions To Consider

One of the things that our team has spoken about is the need for a deeper dive into our songs and services apart from a weekly service evaluation. And that would open up questions, and facilitate discussion for our whole team around the purpose and movement of our gatherings, apart from song choice, and how each of us can play a part in moving our services in the same direction.

One of the things that sparked these categories in my mind is Mike Cosper’s 10 Questions to Consider at the end of every year. I appreciated how he was able to open a view of the gathering wider than song choice and simply judge a service. The categories below are certainly not exhaustive, but will hopefully fuel deeper thought:

SONGS

• What new songs are we singing, and how are people responding?

• Which songs consistently have high responses (loud singing/participation, comments, humming in the bathroom)?

• What holes are in our master song list (content)?

• What are we singing too much (themes, songs, style)?

• Is the liturgy balancing an awareness of the people, while continuing to lead toward a direction that more closely embodies our values and mission?

COMMUNICATION

• Is it clear?

• Are we equipping our verbal communicators to understand and navigate the movement, tone of the morning, and the moment while still being themselves?

• Are the announcements leading people in worship, and moving them toward mission, not just giving them information?

• What has been confusing?

• Where have we dropped the ball (for the congregation, for the team, with visuals, with helping equip those on the platform knowing how to effectively communicate)?

FORMATION

• What is missing?

• What is stale?

• Are the ordinances being thoughtfully navigated (within the service and by the communicator)

• What has been surprising?

What would you add?

Here are some other similar resources you may find helpful:

Don’t Judge The Service.

Service Evaluation.

10 Questions to Consider.

Keeping Things Fresh

The world we live in shapes who we are. Our world is absorbed in entertainment. In subtle and significant ways, our people arrive at church in a world that has trained them for novelty, change, quick cuts, and the regular expectation of dopamine. So how do we combat this reality, while also maintaining an intentional and focused philosophy of worship as we plan our Sunday gatherings?

Maybe even for you as a worship leader, or person planning and executing weekly services things feel stale or tired. It can be easy to play the same number of songs, in the same order, pray the same prayers, and say the same words, thoughtlessly, mindlessly, and endlessly.

First, recognize that there is a difference between things feeling familiar and things feeling stale. At some level, you want a level of consistency in your gathering, so that people know and understand the general shape of your gathering. Especially if you are trying to tell the whole gospel story in the shape of your gathering. C.S. Lewis said:

“Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to do these things best – if you like it, it “works” best – when, through long familiarity, we don’t have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be the one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.” [C.S. Lewis, The Joyful Christian]

What are some simple ways that you can freshen your weekly service rhythms?

Change the structure of a song. I like to think of each element of the song (Verse, Chorus, Bridge, etc) as building blocks. These are the raw materials I can assemble, and move around to create and build something unique to a service. Start with a chorus, create a medley, repeat a certain line for emphasis, etc.

Change the dynamics of a song. Let the voices carry a chorus, drive the verses. Build and drop in different places than normal. How can you use the music to shape the way a song speaks?

Allow others to lead musically, or verbally. A new voice always offers a fresh perspective - whether that is literally in the tone and texture of a song or the way that someone besides yourself can articulate the what and why of the gathering. Allowing others to speak will require training and development from you. It will also force you to be able to verbalize things that too often live exclusively in our minds as leaders. It will also help loosen your grip on something we can easily be possessive, rather than open-handed about.

Shepherd people through different aspects of worship. When I feel like my leading, or liturgy has become tired, I spend time teaching or speaking about different aspects of our gathering - why do we sing? Why do we gather? Why do we raise our hands? How can you use extra space and time to help build meaning and understanding for those you lead?

Ultimately, your liturgy in all its familiarity and repetition should not be confining, but instead, it should be freeing. And if you are going to make changes, it is important to communicate those thoughtfully and use a rubric that will serve your people.

“O Beauty, ever ancient, ever new…” - Augustine

Lead Like Yourself

We all learn by imitation. And as we become comfortable and familiar with whatever we are doing, we slowly settle into our own rhythms. I think the same is true when it comes to leading worship.

There are some aspects of how I lead worship that I do from conviction - like saying ‘Let’s hear God call us to worship from His Word…’ rather than ‘Let me call us to worship…’ There are some things that I do when I lead worship that are about my personal preference - like changing the keys to easily flow from one song to the next without stopping. And as we train worship leaders, I think it is important to help them see the distinction - what is conviction (the how and why of what we do here), and what is personal preference (will look different depending on the leader and the team).

After helping to lay out the difference between conviction and personal preference, I often say to worship leaders - I want you to lead like yourself, not like me. I lead the way I do after many, many years of leading in various environments. I am not interested in making little versions of Aaron, but in helping develop worship leaders who can lead like themselves with clarity, and conviction - even if what they say, and how they lead looks different than the way I would lead.

Every one of us is seeking to imitate Christ. So the question shouldn’t be - how would Aaron lead in this environment - but how would Jesus lead in this environment. Lead like the Spirit of God inhabits you as a follower of Christ - because He does.

Surviving The Summer

You have survived the Advent season.

You have managed through Easter celebrations.

You are almost home free - until Summer.

If your experience is anything like mine - whether your team is made up of a handful of volunteers, or many - Summer is hard. School is out, people travel, the pace of life slows, and most people want to chance to take a break from responsibilities, and recharge. But Sunday happens whether we are ready or not. And that means, we still need to be prepared to lead sung worship each week. So how do you navigate this season so that you can get a little rest, remain tender-hearted towards those with whom you serve, and execute a weekly corporate gathering? Here are a few thoughts:

Try something different. Smaller gatherings and teams create a safer environment to try things that may seem riskier in the normal rhythms of our serving. A new, or less experienced team member? Have them serve for the first time. Give a new worship leader you have been developing the opportunity to build a set list, lead a rehearsal, and lead the congregation in sung worship. Or perhaps you want to try incorporating some more liturgical rhythms in your gathering - corporate confessions, or readings, you can begin to formulate the why behind these choices as you incorporate these new means of worship in your gathering.

Think through song choice. With attendance - even for church members - being mostly inconsistent through the Summer, this is probably not the time to entirely revamp your master song list. Introduce songs sparingly, if at all. You would not want your regular attendees and members returning in the fall to a completely new set of songs they have yet to learn. Stick to a smaller pool of songs, and maybe try different arrangements to add more variety in the midst of the familiarity.

Simplify. The team, as well as the responsibilities. Maybe you go unplugged or build smaller, acoustic teams for the weeks of the Summer. How can you pare down the moving pieces of your order of service, including the number of songs.

Create space for vision and long-term planning. Where might God be leading you, the team, the congregation in the next months and years? What have you been putting off that you can accomplish now? For me this Summer, that will look like creating a comprehensive inventory of our gear. What we have, the model number, where it was purchased, and where we can buy replacement parts. As well as clarifying our onboarding process for new team members, and ongoing training for the team.

I find, when I acknowledge that something will be different than normal (e.g., Summer and the amount of people I am able to schedule to serve), I am much less likely to be frustrated and discouraged. Summer can be life-giving rather than soul-sucking if you embrace, rather than fight against reality.

Shifting The Culture

We are always building culture.

We shape the culture and the culture shapes us.

As leaders, specifically, those who oversee an area of ministry, we have a responsibility to intentionally form, clearly articulate, and faithfully model the culture we are seeking to cultivate.

Intentionally form. You are forming the culture of your team right now. Rather than haphazardly letting it grow wild, cultivate, till, prune toward the kind of culture you believe with honor God and serve His people - both the congregation and the team - well.

Clearly articulate. Much teaching and training is caught, but it is also important to teach, train, and articulate the kind of cultural values you are seeking to develop among the team. We cannot expect people to embrace and embody a culture if we articulate it one time, this is an ongoing, repeated conversation.

Faithfully model. Our behavior reveals our values. I can say that I value being healthy and in shape, but if I do not consistently eat well, and exercise, those are just words, not values. As leaders we always go first - we must show our team how to carry the culture. Do not give up, or lose heart. Consistency is essential in establishing and shifting anything meaningful.

Ultimately real change is only possible through the empowering and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. But if we neglect to continually cultivate our culture, the strongest personalities and cultural forces will shape, and disciple our team. Our cultures will grow either way, so why not intentionally invest beauty, goodness, and truth into what is growing in your team?

Identifying Team Culture

Last week I wrote about identifying the culture of your church. This week I want to take a look at how to identify the culture of your worship team. In many ways, identifying the culture of your team is similar - to identify the culture of your team you must be in relationship with the team members, you need to observe over time, and you need to ask questions. But as a church has a unique culture, so does a team functioning within the church community.

Are you stepping into a team that already exists?

No group of people is a blank slate. These are people who have served together, who have history, who have been formed and discipled, who have shared together. What things have historically been normative? What does the team value? What is the shared language and understanding of the mission and vision of the team?

Are you building something from scratch?

If you are church planting or beginning a new area of ministry within your church - you are the culture. Vision is important - without it, the people will perish (Proverbs 29:18). But we must also be open-handed enough to shift, change, and grow and God gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6).

Much of the work of identifying the culture of your team is so you can determine what needs to be celebrated and redeemed, and what needs to be rejected entirely. In what way has the team been formed? In what ways do they need to be counter-formed?

When I was living abroad a fellow American once shared with me, ‘The goal of serving here is not to make people become more American, it is to help them be more like Jesus.’ What would it look like for the people on your team to serve in this culture, with these skills, on this team as Jesus would serve? What would their life and ministry look like free from the weight of sin?

Culture-making is discipleship. And discipleship is the long-long, ongoing work of the Spirit and the community. Learn. Grow. Celebrate. Reject. Be counter-formed by the Gospel.

Cross Cultural Worship

I am obsessed with culture. Culture is invisible, powerful, and hard to articulate. And because we are swimming in its waters, we are often unaware of how powerfully those currents of culture are shaping who we are, what we do, and why we do it.

My family and I lived abroad for four years. Serving on staff as a worship leader at a church in the United Kingdom. When you are removed from the familiar, your invisible culture quickly becomes visible. The same is true when you inhabit a new culture. In returning Stateside, I assumed that navigating American culture would be easier - it was my culture after all. But armed with the experience of another culture, and with an awareness of my own, I realized that all ministry is cross-cultural.

All ministry is cross-cultural because we live in the world but as followers of Jesus we are not of this world (John 17:16). All ministry is cross-cultural because although we may be citizens of a particular country, our true citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). All ministry is cross-cultural because we are all temporary residents, passing through as exiles in a foreign land (1 Peter 2:11, Jeremiah 29:7).

We minister to those inhabiting a world and a culture that seems normal and familiar. Part of our role is to show there is a greater kingdom, one that is near, now, and not yet. We live as ambassadors of this heavenly kingdom. We must be students of the culture - the one we inhabit right now, as well as the one to come - to point people to the beauty of the better Kingdom. As we study our cultures we can see that all culture-making is an attempt to build what is only truly realized in the culture of Christ’s kingdom.

There is beauty in this world and in our cultures. There are things that can be redeemed, and things that need to be rejected. And part of the work of cross-cultural mission is helping people identify the difference between the kingdom that is fading away and the kingdom that will last forever.

With Expectation

It is easy for regularity to breed repetition.

And repetition to breed familiarity.

And familiarity to breed contempt… apathy… indifference.

But if we believe that God is living and active, He speaks to us through His Word, and He desires to meet with us, to confront us, comfort us, and conform us - there is no such thing as just another Sunday.

In your planning and preparation, in your rehearsals and communication, in your set up and serving, do you expect God to speak?

Do you expect Him to move?

Do you expect Him to do what only He can do?

As those leading and serving week in and week out, we have to fight against the ease with which we can go on autopilot - just plan another setlist, just schedule another team, just set up and sound check another time, just lead another service.

May your leadership, your team, and those you serve be marked with expectation and desperation for God to do what only He can do in, among, and through His people. Because there are no such things as just another Sunday. So come expectant.

Form The Gathering, Form The People

The past few weeks I have written about the corporate gathering as being primarily about the spiritual formation of God’s people. The corporate gathering is counter-formational for the individual, but we are also being formed as a people. But how does spiritual formation (discipleship) actually occur in our corporate gatherings?

Ultimately, the true formation of God’s people cannot happen apart from the empowering and illuminating work of the Holy Spirit. We may be able to inspire, uplift, encourage, and exhort people - but we possess no power to change people. This is why before we seek to lead, we must be led. Any attempt at trying to form people in our own strength will inevitably lead to malformation at least, and manipulating of people into our own image at worst. The goal of spiritual formation is to see people become more and more like Jesus.

Formation happens when Christ is glorious. We become what we behold, so again and again, over and over we must look to Christ, treasure Christ, celebrate, worship, and behold Christ. We lift up His heart, His completed work, His character in our songs, in our transitions, in our sermons, and in the movement of our gatherings.

Formation happens with a long view. Cultivating any new habit or disciple happens over time, never in an instant. This is how we have to view our gatherings they are habit-forming over the long haul.

Formation happens in community. We have not been saved to be an individual, we have been saved into a family, into a body, saved to be a part of the community of God, His Church local and global. Iron sharpens iron. We are being formed as we die to ourselves (our preferences and our comforts) and count others as more significant than ourselves.

Formation happens with intention. We are being formed passively by our culture, as followers of Jesus we must be counter-formed as we gather as the people of God. As leaders, we must be intentional in our approach to the corporate gathering. To do this we must acknowledge the cultural currents that are shaping our people, and continually call them back to the beauty of the Gospel.

Our people are being formed, and we are forming our people. Do not resign the responsibility of formation to the culture, or abdicate your role by being unwilling to put in the hard, deep, slow, often unseen work of spiritually forming the people of God in the corporate gathering.

Shepherding Slides

My first ‘role’ in leading worship was running the transparency slides on a projector as my parents led worship. The church we were attending at the time was small, and this was the first time they had used anything other than a hymnal to display song lyrics. I learned so much during those days about the important role that lyrics play in enabling the people of God to sing and respond together. Thankfully, technology has progressed and churches today have more options at their disposal than a projector and transparency.

That being said, as creative and artistic people, we can often fall into the trap of looking for the latest and greatest - the newest technology, the best font choice, the live video work, the motion graphics, and moving backgrounds, the ‘look’ that is being created by churches we admire. Although I do not think there is anything wrong with appreciating a particular style, the question I want to propose is: how are our lyrics slides and videos screens helping or hindering the people of God to see, read, meditate, sing and respond to God together?

Lyrics need to be visible from multiple areas in the room, for those with great eyesight, and those who may be partially sighted - so the point size of our font is important. Changing the lyrics in enough time for people to begin to read and prepare to sing the next line is crucial - best practice is changing to the next slide on the third-to-last word of the current slide. Keeping phrasing and ideas together in the way they are being sung also helps the congregation follow smooth transitions, rather than feeling like there are stops, starts, and breaks that do not naturally exist in the song. My personal preference is to include no more than four lines at a time on a slide - this is enough to contain a full thought or idea, but not so much that you can lose track of where you are on the slide as you are singing.

While listening to a Doxology and Theology breakout session with Michael Bleecker, I heard him encourage worship leaders to intentionally ‘clutter our slides’ for the sake of leading and teaching people. He went on to describe how he will often provide brief definitions of words or phrases that are unfamiliar to our people, or Scripture at the bottom of the slides for easy reference.

Over the last five years, I have included Scripture at the bottom of each slide when I lead worship. This is a time-intensive investment early on, but it is both a challenge to my own process of song selection - if I cannot find Scripture that speaks directly or indirectly to what we are singing, we should probably not be singing it in the first place - it has been the thing that people have commented to me time and again about being helpful, encouraging, and heart-focusing during sung worship. Here are a few examples of what that has looked like for me:

How might you use lyrics, and projection to further communicate the truth and beauty of the Gospel? How might you make the most of every opportunity to more deeply disciple the people God has brought to your church?

Conferences and Coaches

A pastor - who was also an author - once joked that the subtitle to every book, if it were honest should read: ‘How to be more like me.’ Truthfully, the same could be said of most conferences. And perhaps that is the point? We admire what people do, and are curious about how and why they do things in certain ways. For worship leaders, I believe there can be an amazing benefit to attending worship conferences, like observing and learning from the wisdom and experience of people who have worked, lived, learned, and led in different contexts. Ministry can feel isolating, so just being in a room with other people who do what you do can be a reminder that you are not in this alone. Worship conferences can grow strength and courage for you to persevere in leading and serving God’s people well. And there is even the opportunity to grow relationships and camaraderie that outlast the event. I have attended several worship conferences over the years and have loved and benefitted from my time. But for me, I have often been unsettled about a disconnect I experience at conferences - the aspiration verse my reality. When I have the opportunity to attend a worship conference and learn from the ‘best of the best,’ it is so easy to compare and contrast myself, my team, and my church over and against what I am seeing and learning at a conference. I have to constantly guard my heart as to not allow bitterness, resentment, or discontent to take root. Truthfully, we need to guard our hearts against these things at all times. And we can just as easily compare ourselves over and against those we view as less capable and get ourselves in the same vicious cycle of pride and vain conceit.

I believe there is a way to be trained and equipped as a worship leader, with your team, and for you church in a way that leaves you feeling more encouraged about where you are and where the team is headed. I believe that way is hiring a coach.

When I was serving in a previous church, I brought in a worship leader friend of mine to coach me, our leaders, and our team. It was enormously helpful in at least three ways:

An outside perspective. It is easy to overlook or miss people, problems, talent, and opportunity simply because of our proximity to our work, relationships, and ministry. A coach can make observations from their experience and background that bring a new perspective to your specific context.

Personally crafted. When I brought in my friend, Shelly, to coach one of the teams I led, I did so specifically because she was a female worship leader who did not lead from an instrument. Many of the worship leaders I was working with at the time were female who did not lead from instruments. I wanted our worship leaders and team to benefit from Shelly’s knowledge and expertise, but I too wanted to know how I could encourage and equip these worship leaders whose experience of leading would be different from my own. This is a massive benefit to hiring a coach rather than attending a conference. Because a good coach can craft training and development that is specific for you, your team, and your church.

Questions. Many conferences will have the opportunity for a time of Q&A. The benefit of questions with a coach is the context and relationship. A coach will be more familiar with you, your team, and your church. They will have a better understanding of the skills, gifts, and struggles you are trying to navigate and will be able to ask you questions to personally craft training and offer their outside perspective. You too will have the benefit of more than a few brief moments for questions, and hoping for a helpful response.

So should you take your team to a conference or should you hire a coach? The answer is yes. There are benefits to both. But if you are looking for a place where you can ask as many questions as you like, have a development plan crafted specifically for you, your team, and your church, and have the observations of someone outside of your context, a coach is the way to go.

If you’d like to explore what coaching with me would look like, you can sign up for a free 30-minute assessment call here.