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.

Fine Art Of Worship

Worship is a fine art. As in any art, love is involved, and so is discipline. - Father Thomas Pinkel

More than songs.

More than music.

This fine art of worship is a reflection of Romans 12 - responding to the mercies of God in sacrifice to Him, and in-service toward others.

Love toward God comes from first experiencing God’s love toward us. Experiencing the love of God frees us to give love to even our enemies.

Discipline is the result of deep discipleship. As we offer ourselves in obedient, spiritual worship to God, our lives are given away for the glory of God and the good of people.

More than songs.

More than music.

May our leading in worship look like love and discipline in action.

Learning to Listen

I read somewhere that singing in-tune and on pitch has less to do with your ability to vocally hit a note, and more to do with your ear’s ability to hear a note. If it wasn’t obvious, playing music involves listening. In my experience, musicians are often so concerned about playing the right thing at the right time, that they have not created the space for listening to one another. Thus making it difficult to pay attention to what we are trying to create at the moment.

Communication is key in any relationship. And communication is as much about listening, understanding, and interpreting the other as it is about speaking and responding. Musicians who are leading worship together need to learn to listen to one another, but also listen individually and collectively to the voice of the Holy Spirit. In fact, I believe that learning to listen to the Holy Spirit is the first step toward being a team that can listen well to one another. As we grow in attentiveness to the voice of the Holy Spirit, we naturally grow in attentiveness to the voices - or instruments - around us.

You will know your team is struggling to listen to one another when there is no awareness of what other people are playing or singing. There will be multiple points of contrasting melodies and harmonies, as well as dynamics. One practical step is speaking to dynamics before you begin a song. Describe where certain instruments, tones, and voices should layer into the song. Be more specific than vague and general - especially at first. If you are using in-ear monitors, rather than have each musician have only what they want in their ears - there should be a little bit of everything. Same with floor monitors, there should be a little bit of everything so that those who are serving can become aware and conscious of what the other team members are playing and singing.

Ultimately as leaders, we must model what we would like to see. We need to listen to our team on and off the platform. We need to listen and obey the voice of the Spirit in His leading. We need to listen to our team as they play and sing and give specific feedback and encouragement in humility and love that is able to be executed with the team we have, not the team we wish we had.

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…” James 1:19

Technology In The Gathering

Last week I wrote about what makes a good song.

Production is important in our corporate gatherings but it cannot be paramount. Technology is a beautiful tool, but a terrible master.

I love that we can project lyrics and see the faces of our brothers and sisters as we sing together. I love that we can use sound to amplify a room, instead of having to shout over one another. I love that lighting can illumine and focus our attention as we worship. I love that we can meet indoors at temperatures that are comfortable in the heat of Summer as well as the cold of Winter. Yes, technology is an incredible resource and tool. But technology can also have a mind of it’s own. Malfunctioning or breaking without warning in a moment. Does this mean we should avoid technology all together? Of course not. We receive and use technology in the corporate gathering as a gift of God.

In a similar way to what makes a good song - stripped down to all it’s simplicity - I think we should consider what makes the best use of technology in the corporate gathering. If our corporate worship is completely hindered or halted by a technology failure, is it worship that we are leading, or an experience?

Matt Redman shares the inspiration behind his song ‘Heart of Worship’ in this video. Maybe we do not need to remove the entire sound system from our church for a season, but perhaps it is always worth evaluating our use and reliance of technology as gift or god.

Dynamics

I have had the opportunity to lead in many different settings. Large churches, and small churches. Higher church liturgy, and lower church spontaneity. I have served with professional musicians, and those who had only recently picked up an instrument. One of the things that I have observed as having the biggest impact on the quality of the musical production regardless of the location or skill level is the intentionality of dynamics.

I believe that it is not what we play or sing, but what we do not play or sing that makes the dynamic difference.

A musician will play. A vocalist will sing. What I have noticed among worship teams is that people often feel confused, or not useful if they do not play and sing from the very start to the very end of a song.

As worship leaders, we need to be able to coach our teams to understand how to lead in silence as much as in their playing. Our teams can lead in their silence by learning to lead off the platform, but also in their presence and posture when it is not their ‘part.’ Encourage your team to sing along, be at worship, listen intentionally as the worship leader guides and directs the congregation. I have often felt more intentionally led by musicians and vocalists leading in their silences than by the primary worship leader.

But what about leading in our playing and singing? How do we create movement, tension and release, builds and drops, particularly for those churches who are serving with smaller, or less experienced teams? Percentages. One of the sound guys at my church was a band director in a former career. He started suggesting to me that instead of saying ‘build and drop,’ or ‘big and quiet,’ or even using the classical musical terms, we started coaching our team in percentages. If we want the bridge to be the loudest part of the song, that would be 90% or 100%, and the chorus being the second loudest part of the song would need to be in the 70% to 80% range. If we are looking to incorporate a dynamic drop without going completely acapella, maybe the band goes to 10%. This kind of language has been so helpful for our team in being able to identify the higher dynamics in contrast to the lower dynamics both within a song, but also across the setlist.

If you’re struggling with every song sounding the same, and no movement in dynamic range, try using percentages as a way to lead your team to listen for dynamics. Much of this will begin with the worship leader thoughtfully and intentionally leading the team through rehearsal. Here are some ideas on how to run a rehearsal.

Competition

Have you ever felt envious or jealous of someone else’s gifts?

Perhaps they seemed to naturally possess that for which you had to labor?

Or do they exude a confidence and charisma that easily engaged the congregation when they served?

Maybe they had more visible, prominent, or frequent opportunities to lead?

We are prone to comparison. Especially when roles are visible, and gifts are similar. Just because we are followers of Jesus, does not mean that we are free from the trap of comparison and competition. Just because we seek to employ the gifts that God has given for His glory and the good of His people does not mean that our motives are always God-honoring and pure.

If jealousy or envy has surprised or saddened you as they ran hot through your body, you are not alone. Whether serving in the same church, city, or across the internet, we are all tempted to compete by comparison. In the parable of the talents we see that in God’s kindness, providence, and grace, some of us have been given little, and others much. But each is called to invest our talents ‘according to his ability’ (Matthew 25:15). Here are some ways that I am attempting to shepherd my own heart in those moments:

Thank God. For the individual with whom I feel jealous. For their gifts. Their skill. The way that they are using their God-given gifts, and the way that reveals the generosity, and beauty of our Creator.

Confess. To God and to others the natural inclination of my heart is to devalue that which is entrusted to me, to covet what is not.

Practice Gratitude. In confession, I realize that I do not value what God has given. In practicing gratitude, I learn to value what God has given.

Pray. For those with whom I feel jealous, and for myself. All we do is give back to God what always has been His. May we be open-handed toward the one who gives and takes away.

How about you? What are the ways God is teaching you to celebrate the gifts, skills, talent, and opportunities of others? What are the ways that you are learning to grow in contentment, and practicing gratitude for the talents God has entrusted to you?

Two books that I have found so helpful in putting language to the kind of Jesus-follower and leader I want to be are The Prisoner in the Third Cell, and A Tale of Three Kings, both by Gene Edwards. If this short post resonated with you, and you’d like to dig deeper, I highly recommend these books to you.

Easter Recovery

You made it.

Whether your Easter celebrations went exactly as planned, or you would prefer a redo - you made it. Although there can often be additional time, energy, and effort that is spent on Easter, the truth is that every Sunday is a mini Resurrection Sunday.

Every Sunday we remember and rehearse the truth that Jesus is alive, and that Satan, sin, and death have been defeated.

As you recover physically, mentally, and emotionally from your Easter celebrations, don’t let this coming week be just another Sunday - let your heart be steadfast as you view all things in light of the resurrection of Christ. Lead your team and congregation toward the Hope of the Gospel again this week, and the week after that, and the week after that, until we arrive at Resurrection Sunday once more.

The First 48

They say the odds of solving a murder go down drastically outside of the first 48 hours. Now, as worship leaders, you probably are not having to solve many murders, but one of the things I have found happens best within a 48-hour window is feedback. It is so important to create, establish, and maintain a culture of feedback when serving together.

I have both given and received feedback that was too early as well as too late.

When we give feedback that is too early, often we are reacting rather than responding. It is easy to speak from being held hostage by our emotions, rather than taking a moment to collect ourselves to respond with love, grace, and humility. Waiting a day or two gives us the ability to calm down, and ask ourselves if addressing this is really necessary. It gives us time to consider the individual and their story - is the most loving thing to address this, or simply let it go?

When we give feedback that is too late, we are often remembering our emotions more than the ins and outs of the experience. Bringing something up so far past the time it occurred can begin to seem petty or silly. As though you’ve been holding onto something for the purpose of hurting someone rather than healing what may have been broken.

How can you better love, serve, encourage, and equip your team by finding the sweet spot of feedback?

Grumbling and Complaining

People can be hard.

Ministry can be hard.

And there is something about corporate sung worship that feels personal to those within a church community. Congregations have ownership of songs and singing in unique ways - more so than maybe any other area of ministry. Because of this, songs and singing can often feel precious to the people and can feel tied to people’s experience of God, His Church, and worship.

So how do we deal with grumbling and complaining from the congregation?

Or our team?

Listen. I love how Tim Keller talks about listening for a kernel of truth, even in harsh critique or criticism that seems unfair. What is really being said? Is there a thing under the thing? How can we make sure that people feel heard, rather than ignored or disregarded?

Learn. We must learn our people and context. Is there a history for which we are unaware? Have we inadvertently or carelessly stepped over a line or triggered something? We must be willing to admit that we don’t know everything and that in seeking to lead and serve the people of God our posture must be one of humility and teachability.

Communicate. Some of the best advice I was ever given was - you have thought deeply about what you’re doing and why, you have to help your team see the thought process. In a spirit of humility and gentleness, we must be able to clearly articulate the reason for our decisions. Have you thought deeply about what you are doing and why? Have you taken the time to ‘show your work,’ and lead people through a process of understanding?

Love. Let even the painful interactions be an invitation toward dependence upon the Holy Spirit for the grace necessary to love. To lean away from your own strength and toward the strength and grace of Christ. How might God be using people from your congregation or team to keep you humble and tender? How can you watch over your own heart to not respond in kind? How might you see this person the way that Christ sees them?

Discipleship Without Agenda

Making disciples - without exception, this is the work to which Jesus called every single one of His followers. Go therefore and make disciples…

In America, we love to make things as efficient and productive as possible, and as followers of Jesus, we desire to be obedient to the commands of Christ. So we can be tempted to approach our Christian calling (make disciples) through Western means (pragmatic, efficient, productive). We think if only we can create the right curriculum, and make sure everyone has a mentor and is investing in another, all we need is twelve weeks for a fully formed disciple to emerge! But humans are not machines, or math equations. We can’t simply plug in the right information and expect a neat, tidy, and timely response. Discipleship is messy work.

Discipleship is the work of a lifetime.

Another subtle way our discipleship looks like less Christ and more self-serving is when we make disciples for the purpose of meeting our own needs rather than to fulfill the Great Commission. When we make disciples for the purpose of filling holes in our team, or leadership, rather than encourage, equip, and enable people to be more closely conformed to the image of Christ we are not actually investing in people we are consuming them.


There is a difference between cultivating the people God has placed under our care and exploiting their gifts for selfish gain.

I am learning that real discipleship has no agenda other than to see Christ be more fully formed in an individual. As I can surrender my agenda, and humbly confess my needs and desires to Christ, I am freed to love and give myself away without ulterior motive. I am observing that this keeps my heart tender, my expectations lowered, and my hands open.

Our teams and churches have needs, yes.

We are called to make disciples, yes.

What would it look like if we were obedient to Christ without reservation or agenda? What if we invest our time, energy, blood, sweat, tears, and prayers into someone who takes that investment and serves another church, or another area of ministry, or walks away completely?

No agenda-free investment into people is ever wasted.

Thanks be to God.

Learning To Lead During COVID-19 (Two Years On)

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wrote about learning to lead worship during COVID-19. Two years on I am still learning. Maybe you are too. I hope these brief reflections can at least make you feel less alone, and hopefully encourage you to keep going…

I believe that hard things do not change us as much as they expose us. And our hearts and lives have been exposed by COVID-19 in ways that many of us have previously been able to avoid or ignore.

What do we value?

Whose lives matter?

Are masks a sign of fear, and going maskless a sign of faith?

Are vaccines helpful and useful, or reckless and untested?

Are there only ever two sides and two options?

Is everything black or white?

What is selfish and self-serving, what is foolish and careless?

Can I be friends with people who think and believe differently than me, or must we now become enemies?

Are we going to be discipled by culture and politics or by the Gospel?

The ugliness of my heart has been exposed in the pandemic: my tendency to judge other people, other followers of Jesus against myself and my own decisions. To look for specs through a log.

When I am attentive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit within rather than an outward condemnation of the pharisee within, I can see these places of friction as opportunities for repentance and prayer.

If we are willing these are opportunities for iron to sharpen iron. For the Church to truly be what we already are - one people, one body, made up of every tribe, tongue, nation, and language. This is an opportunity for us to image to the world our unity not through ideology, politics, or socioeconomic brackets, but by the unifying blood of Jesus.

This truly could be an opportunity to display the beauty of the Gospel.

To make obvious our adoption as sons and daughters of God.

My prayer as I look out on the faces of the congregation,

as I run into people as they stumble over why they have not been serving or attending,

as I field questions about why we are doing this, and why we are not doing that,

as we wrestle with what it looks like to love and honor God and care well for His people,

as we stumble forward,

and as I become more aware of my own sin, is:

God give me Your eyes to see these people. Let me grieve over my sin more than over the differences of my brothers and sisters. Keep me close to You, and tender toward especially those who are loud, vocal, and combative in the opposite direction from my own convictions. Give me the compassion of Christ, who ‘When He saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ (Matthew 9:36).

May our divisions be an opportunity for repentance. May our divisions turn us to Christ, the One who has torn down the dividing wall of hostility between God and man, who has reconciled us to become people of reconciliation, who has comforted us to be people of comfort. Amen and amen.

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?