Every Resurrection Sunday

The Sunday following Holy Week can feel… well… anticlimactic. Likely you have invested more time, energy, creativity, and intention during Holy Week than almost any other time of the year. Does the Sunday following Easter just mean ‘business as usual’? My personal conviction is that there is no such thing as just another Sunday. That every Sunday as we gather with the people of God matters to our formation as the people of God, and matters as we declare God’s worth and value corporately. But I get it, you’re still recovering, and the excitement can sometimes feel deadened by the normalcy of life.

But the truth is, every week is a mini-resurrection Sunday.

That is why Christians gather on Sunday rather than Saturday. We are reenacting this day, orienting our lives around the day that Jesus rose from the grave. Every Sunday should stand as a marker in the week and in our life that Jesus is still alive, still ruling and reigning, and that He is worthy of our worship.

Remind your team, remind your people, and remind yourself that this Sunday is a mini-resurrection Sunday.

Good Friday

The Gospel is good news.

Good news that God saves sinners. Good news is that on the darkest day, God shines forth as the one who is good, and does good.

When God made the world, he called it good.

When God made humanity he called man very good.

And then He rested, having completed His work.

When Jesus remade humanity, he said it is finished.

He gave up His spirit and rested. Rested in His completed work. Rested in the love and joy of the Father. This same rest is offered to all who trust in Christ’s completed work on this Good Friday. This day that by any standard would be called evil, wicked, and fruitless. But not for a Good God. Not for the One who works all things together for good, and glory.

No one is good but God alone. And today on this Good Friday, we can again celebrate His goodness.

Judging The Service

It is very difficult to assess week to week if you are making progress. Because week-to-week evaluations can largely become asking the question ‘Did people respond the way we hoped or anticipated?’ If the primary purpose of the corporate gathering is for the spiritual formation of God’s people than we can only tell as we look back over months and years if we are making progress in the work that we feel called to do as worship leaders.

So how do we judge the service? Honestly, we can’t. I encourage a service evaluation. But ultimately, we aim for intentionality and consistency. We labor to build trust in and among our people so that as we stand in front of them and lead them in sung worship, that they feel safe, and trust that we will lead them to a good place.

Ultimately, as followers of Jesus, our main job is making disciples. And part of making disciples is realizing that discipleship is a lifelong work. It is slow, ongoing, and never ends. So rather than judging a result, we have to become comfortable with tension. We have to be comfortable in allowing the Spirit to guide us into using the best of what we can offer to do what only He can do - lead people to Jesus, and transform their lives.

Go slow. Be consistent. Formation takes eternity.

Head and Heart

When it comes to life, I tend to lean heart. When it comes to song choice, I tend to lean head. Something I learned from worship leader, Charlie Hall, is that our congregations will always be best served when we can balance head and heart in our worship songs.

Our congregation must have their minds informed, and filled with the truths of Scripture, and the weight of God’s character, but if all we do is give them knowledge, we so easily become brains on sticks. If all we do is sing rich theology, every corporate gathering will feel more like an intellectual exercise, heavy and dense, rather than an opportunity to respond to God’s revelation of Himself through those truths. Likewise, our congregations must have their affections stirred for the person and work of Christ. We must give people the opportunity, space, and language to express the full scope of their lives and response to God. Simple songs of devotion, honest prayers of confession, joyful celebration, and raw lament have to find their place within the life of our congregations.

Ideally, these two things would live to together - songs that are deep and true, while yet simple and emotive. Maybe you have a few of those songs in your rotation now. What I have often seen is that songs - like me - tend to lean one way or the other. So as you are building your master song list, taking an inventory of your songs, and building set lists that reflect the Gospel story, one of the rhythms you can incorporate is building set lists where songs that lean head, are next to songs that lean heart. And songs that lean heart, are next to songs that lean head.

Soundchecks

In many ways, sound check is the foundation of a good rehearsal. But in the scope of our preparation, the sound check can often receive the least amount of attention.

Like most things, the main work of a soundcheck begins before a soundcheck. Have you ever walked into a soundcheck where things are still being set up? It is a bit like being invited over to someone’s house for a meal, and they are just coming home from the grocery store. Whether it is a team, you as the worship leader, or the person running sound, you have to make sure that the right equipment is set up for serving.

Whatever the rhythm for your context, communicating that expectation to all involved is essential. Will they show up to plug and play because someone else has set up the sound? Are you a mobile church that requires all hands on deck to get the equipment set up and torn down each weekend? Whatever the situation, the instruments, inputs, layout, lyrics, any printing, and set lists need to be ready for the band to run with their primary responsibility - leading musical worship. Don’t waste valuable rehearsal time on set up.

Once the space is set up, finding consistent rhythms will help your team have a plan as to the way you move through soundcheck. I’ve worked with some sound people that like to dial in the EQ of each instrument before the band begins to play a note. I’ve worked with some sound people that like to do a line and level check, and EQ on the fly. Knowing the rhythms that work for you and your sound person will help you know how to plan, prepare, and communicate to your team about what they expect during a sound check.

For a team to be able to play well together, they need to be able to hear. This means part of your soundcheck needs to be spent making sure that everyone can hear in a balanced and clear way. Whether using in-ear monitors, or floor wedges, rehearsals will feel disjointed and discouraging if there are constant starts and stops to adjust levels of monitoring for the team.

One of the things that I have experienced slows every soundcheck to a stop is musicians playing or talking over the top of the sound person attempting to check, or communicate with a specific member of the team. There is a level of respect and care we provide for one another when we are aware that there can be time for conversation and playing around on our instruments - and the sound check is not that time.

Worship leaders need to help lead the team through a soundcheck so that they can ultimately lead a team through the rehearsal.

Kenyan Reflections

‘We would like the team to lead worship in several languages…’ That request came along with the invitation to lead worship for the global assembly of a large missions organization that would be hosting its annual conference outside of Nairobi, Kenya. I had led worship in English and Spanish before, but never on this kind of scale. But part of leading worship is learning how to serve the people.

And this gathering would be made up of over 200 missionaries from multiple countries. Graciously, the Lord provided a team of amazingly talented musicians to help me lead, who could also carry some of the languages needed for our time in Kenya.

I have a post coming in a few months that will outline some of the things I have learned about leading worship in various cultures, but for the moment, let me leave you with this encouragement: the Church is global, diverse, and advancing. I pray that these small glimpses of a global church will fuel joy and enthusiasm in my daily serving within my local church… I hope you have the opportunity for those glimpses as well.

SUNDAY

• Doxology (English, Spanish, French)

• Abide

• Goodness of God (English, French)

• 10,000 Reasons

MONDAY

• Mambo Sawa Sawa (Swahili, English)

• Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (English, French)

• O Praise The Name (Anastasis)

• Yet Not I, But Through Christ In Me

• How Great Thou Art (English, Spanish, French)

• I Love You Lord (English, Spanish, French)

• In Christ Alone

• Abide

• We Fall Down (English, Spanish)

• Agnus Dei

TUESDAY

• Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) (English, French)

• Is He Worthy

• Great Are You Lord (English, Spanish)

• Our God

• How Great Is Our God (English, French)

• Yet Not I, But Through Christ In Me

• Blessed Be Your Name

• Wonderful, Merciful Savior

• Abide

• There Is A Higher Throne

• Jesus Paid It All

• Doxology (English, Spanish, French)

Charity, Keith, Aaron, and Akim. The outdoor event space where we led. One of our speakers, Rene.

Worship Leaders And Presence

The music really ushered me into the presence of God this morning.” I’ve heard it said, and I’m sure I’ve said it myself. Does this sound familiar to you? Certainly, as musicians, there is an affection that we experience for the Lord as we play or listen to music. It speaks to something of the transcendent life for which we have all been created. But the truth is there is no combination of chords that usher us into the presence of God. There is no perfect set list, no skill level of musicianship, and no flawlessly executed liturgy which ushers us into the presence of God. Because there is only one who ushers us into the presence of God - the God-man, Christ Jesus. For followers of Jesus, there is no moment where we do not stand in the presence of God because we stand in Christ who is before the Father in this moment making intercession for us (Romans 8:34).

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…” 1 Timothy 2:5

There is no place in all of creation where God is not present. But as followers of Jesus, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we carry the presence of God with us everywhere we go. When the people of God gather to worship, God is present and enthroned upon the praises of His people. As we open the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit is present and active, lifting our eyes to behold the beauty of Jesus.

We may sense God’s manifest presence in a unique way as we gather, sin, and expectantly wait for God to speak to us through His Word - but God is no more present in these moments than he is as our people get ready for work the next day, fight with their spouse, take their kids to school, and go to sleep at night.

Nothing ushers us into the presence of God or the throne room of grace apart from the God-man, Christ Jesus. And nothing can separate us from the presence of God. So when people tell you that something you did ushered them into the presence of God, remind them - and yourself - it is only Jesus who has done that.

J. Ryan Lister is a clear and helpful writer. If you are looking for more resources when it comes to learning and studying about the Presence of God, I found this short article very helpful.

Spirit and Truth

Dualistic thinking is easy. Black or white. All or nothing. No grey. No nuance. We can bring this same idea into the way we approach a passage like John 4:23-24:

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

As worship leaders, we will all have a proclivity toward being ‘word-focused’ or ‘spirit-focused.’ And likely our congregations and denominations will have a similar preference or leaning. But the Word of God and the Spirit of God are completely uninterested in false dichotomies. In fact, we see from this passage that true worship and true worshipers are those who worship in spirit AND truth. It is the Spirit who inspired the written Word of God, it is the Spirit who leads us in all truth, it is the Spirit who illumines the Word of God, and it is the Spirit who awakens our hearts to know, love, and obey God. It is the Word that is sharper than any two-edged sword, reveals the character of God, and acts as a mirror to our own sinfulness.

We need head and heart, weight and wonder, beauty and depth, spirit and truth. All of these realities should make up not just our songs and services, but our lives of worship.

Leadership Growth

Leadership is important. Just look at the top sellers on Amazon and the most downloaded on your favorite podcasting app. We all carry some level of responsibility and influence and are trying to figure out how to steward those things to become a blessing, rather than a curse on those we serve.

I’m not a leadership expert. I have not written a book on the topic, or hosted a podcast. But there are a few questions I ask myself regularly to help gauge where my team may be situated under my leadership:

Are there more leaders here than when I started? This is not the Aaron show. I want to constantly be working to raise up other leaders. Whether that is someone who can build a set list, run a rehearsal, lead a band, or lead the congregation. Or if that simply means that people are seeing themselves as worship leaders not just musicians, vocalists, and sound or production volunteers.

Are people growing in their knowledge and discipleship with the Lord? Are the people I am serving alongside increasingly looking and leading like Jesus? Or am I so focused on equipping them musically and practically, I am failing to invest in their hearts and lives and point them toward Christ?

Am I calling forth the gifts of others? Those leaders who have - and continue - to have the most significant impact on my life have been the leaders who called out and forth gifting I didn’t know I possessed. Am I looking for people that have heart, skill, passion, and potential that they may overlook in their own lives that I can fan into flame for the glory of God and their good?

Am I giving away leadership and authority? This is one part of raising up leaders, and another part of guarding my own heart against being too precious and possessive of a role, title, or responsibility.

Are the people I lead increasingly buying into the vision and direction? This means that not only do I need to have vision and direction, but I need to clearly and repeatedly articulate those truths to the team, and allow them to equally shape and be shaped as we serve together.

What are the ways you know that you are growing in your leadership?

Practical Growth

Sunday is coming whether you are ready or not. The thing that will often surprise me with worship leaders is that they can seem surprised that Sunday is coming. It is a mad dash to throw together songs, communicate to a team, get through a rehearsal, and get lyrics and sound pulled together for a Sunday service, not to mention the preparation of your own heart.

Certainly, there are seasons and stages of life where we feel like we can never get ahead. And certainly, there are people who live swinging chaotically from one day to the next regardless of their season.

One of the things I have experienced is the more prepared I am, the freer I feel. The more prepared my team is, the less anxious they feel in preparation for a Sunday. The more consistent I am, the more my team, and the congregation can trust my leadership, and the direction we are headed together.

One of the most practical things I do every week is print off a new worship leader checklist. You can download the version I use for free here. This helps fewer things live in my brain - especially those things that have to be done every single week. Here are a few other suggestions for growing practically as a worship leader:

Get ahead. I schedule my teams, and my set lists a month at a time. This means at the end of every month, I have requested the team put in their blockout dates on Planning Center, and I have built rough set lists for the following month based on the sermon series and texts. People decline, and songs and liturgy change - but having a baseline allows me not to scramble week-to-week while also keeping a 30,000-foot view in mind as I am serving.

Communication. Both with your team, and with your pastor. When possible, create standing weekly rhythms.

Considering all of the elements. We need to think critically about the gathering, and how all of the elements influence and impact one another. If you want to spend time introducing a new song, you should consider sandwiching that song between songs that are more familiar to the congregation. If you want to add in a time for testimonies, taking the Lord’s Supper, or baptizing someone in the service - these will add time that needs to be made up somewhere else. Think about how these things need to be communicated to children’s volunteers, and people with other responsibilities within the corporate gathering.

Heart preparation. It is funny that when I am frantically trying to pull a service together, the first thing to drop off of my list of preparation is preparing my own heart - reading, slowing down, studying, worshiping, and praying for my team. All of these things are aspects of the way I desire to prepare my heart before serving - but can easily be the thing we rationalize as ‘less valuable’ when in reality it should take precedence.

Rehearsals are another place where I see many worship leaders fail practically. Showing up late or unprepared. Having not spent time thinking through songs, and dynamics, not being warmed up. These are all simple adjustments that can see tremendous growth in the practicalities of leading worship.

Musical Growth

If you have to choose between being a competent musician and being a competent theologian when it comes to sung worship - choose a competent theological. But being a competent theologian should lead you to desire to grow in excellence in your musical craft.

Yes, leading worship is pastoral before it is musical. But music is one of the tools we use to shepherd-well the people of God. Whether that be through song choice, dynamics, or transitions.

When we do not seek to become the best musicians we are able, we begin to create distractions for those we are serving. Our inability becomes a hindrance rather than a help, enabling the people of God to sing and celebrate who He is and what he has done.

If this is describing the way that you lead worship - what can you do? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Find free resources. Youtube has millions of tutorials. Find a friend to help give you feedback and give direction about how you could improve.

Get to the woodshed. Go ahead, spend an hour on a single part, a single piece, a single song. Work at it until it feels like your hands, legs, and throat couldn’t stand to play it one more time - and then play it one more time.

Build time into your schedule to practice songs. One of my work goals last year was to get better at memorizing my music. This meant that along with blocking out time for all of the things that were important to me during the week, I needed to find a few spare hours to work intentionally on the songs for any given Sunday, and the new songs that we would add to rotation - this was hard work and seemed less ‘important’ initially to me, but I was surprised how free I felt during sung worship to actually engage the songs and the people - without being conscious of the chord chart.

Listen to songs and artists outside your personal musical preference. Are there genres that you avoid, or have never considered? Familiarize yourself with the techniques, tones, and tricks of other musicians and genres. And return to what is familiar with a fresh awareness and musicality.

Not every musician will be a world-class musician. Not every musician is ready for a Nashville recording studio. But I do believe that every musician can work to hone and build their skill to the glory of God and the good of His people.

Worship With Your Mind

In Luke 10:27, Jesus said, “…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind…” As worship leaders, we know that worship is more than songs, that worship is the right response of our whole lives to God’s revelation of Himself. Over the last four weeks, I have spent time exploring what it means to worship God with our hearts, with our souls, with our strength, and today, our minds.

We are easily distracted people. With so much knowledge, information, and entertainment available, we bounce from one thing to the next without any real, or lasting ability to concentrate and give our full attention to one thing. Even while watching television we are scrolling through social media on our phones. If we are to worship God with our minds, perhaps one of the ways we are counter-formed in our worship is by learning to focus our minds and attention on and toward God.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” - Romans 12:2

One of the critiques I have heard often of sung worship among those from my theological stream is that much corporate worship in the church is overly emotional, repetitive, and shallow. The criticism is that these kinds of songs feel more like love songs to Jesus than declarative statements about the truth of who God is, what He has done, and who He has called us to be. As you look through your master song list, we need to make sure that we are balanced in our songs that primarily help us to think, and songs that primarily help us to emote. The same is true with the way that we communicate, the way that we navigate our liturgy, and current events - are we helping people engage and form their minds through the corporate gathering, or inviting laziness?

I hope and pray as a worship leader there are many things that I do, say, and plan that help to engage the minds of the people I serve. But weekly there are at least two things. First, I think of my lyrics slides as another opportunity to shepherd the people with Scripture and definitions. Second, I include hymns in my set list because they can often include rich truths and ancient language that requires us to use our minds to think while we sing.

We give our time to that which we treasure and value. Or you could say we give our heart, soul, strength, and mind to that which we love most. How are you helping the people you serve to engage in worship with their whole heart, soul, strength, and mind?