Worship ministry is personal. It’s a beautiful weaving of the human and the Divine. It’s logical and unexplainable. It’s predictable and mysterious. But…

Maybe we feel disoriented because God is trying to reorient us.

As churches, we’ve been forced to rethink virtually everything about our weekly gathering rhythms.

I was leading worship, and I felt like the congregation could take it or leave it. 💔

I got off the airplane when we first entered Costa Rica, and the customs official asked me, “¿A que te dedicas?” “Músico,” I’d answer.

More and more worship teams are beginning to play with a click.

Have you ever tried to actually measure how loud the congregation sings?

Maybe you’re a worship leader who is caught in the unrelenting cycle of leading weekly worship gatherings while managing songs, arrangements, schedules, teams, relationships, and life.

You feel the need for... 

• A deep walk with God (Intimate, Consecrated, Scripture-soaked)

• A deep love for people (Shepherd, Launcher, Encourager, Leader)

• A deep understanding of music (Listener, Craftsman, Fluent)

The worship leader announced the song, started it, and then sat down in the pew with the rest of the team. The lyrics continued to scroll on the screens. Would the congregation keep singing?

We ended the song with the entire room singing loudly. It was a reflection of what was happening in their hearts – they were “all in!”

How can I better prepare to play bass without a team so that I can arrive at rehearsal prepared? (I feel like I’m more prepared when I get to play with the team)

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.”