I was leading Sunday morning worship at this church. I greeted the assembled worshipers and… got back a very wimpy response. I felt like I was looking at a room of corpses.

So I had this experience where I realized that I had been lulled to sleep. Maybe you can relate to this, because I had forgotten that God is actually steadfast. He’s actually good. He’s actually all-powerful. He’s actually able to do what He said He would do.

The other night, I was tucking my son into bed and noticed some trash on his bunk bed shelf. It was the remains of an old, burned-up plastic Coke bottle.

Praising by only singing is like golfing with only a putter, baking using only a ¼ cup measuring cup, drawing a rainbow with only a blue crayon, or fixing a car with only a ½” wrench.

• “I guess we’ll go ahead and get started.”

• “Please rise to your feet.”

• “Good morning…um, good MORNing! ...That’s better.”

Every week, when we make music together as worship teams, we have essential musical decisions to make. So here’s a humorous yet insightful story of what it takes to make music together.

Today, I’m giving you an outline rather than paragraphs. That’s obvious.

But what’s not obvious is how much what you do impacts congregational engagement. I want to challenge us, as leaders, to grow in BEING:

How modest is modest enough? The most common internal answer is “the same as me or more modest than me.”

“So let me see by a show of hands,” I once asked when leading worship, “how many of you have never raised your hands in worship before?”

(now that wasn’t so bad, was it?)

I was preparing for a coaching session with a new worship leader and reading a chapter in the book we’re working through called “How To Lead Worship Without Being A Rock Star.”

What if our singers’ primary role is to prophesy, to declare the emotion and heart of God?

Going it alone really, really stinks! Oh, it can kill you too. You may have friendly people on your teams, but how do you become true friends?

My typical planning schedule…

Have you ever been frustrated, confused, or saddened by a lack of response from the congregation you’re leading in worship?

Why do we gather each week as a church?

When was the last time you took a breath, ready to sing the next line, only to slowly exhale, mumble, or watermelon through the next line because the words weren’t up in time?

What if worship is display? Are you comfortable with that?

I love what Todd Henry says in his podcast The Accidental Creative: “It is the age of creativity. Cover bands don’t change the world. Don’t be a cover band. You need to find your unique voice.”

Almost every week, I lead a new team of musicians. Sometimes all we have is a Sunday morning rehearsal.

Do you wish that rehearsal would go deeper than just pulling the music together?