Let me start off by saying that I am not in full-time vocational ministry; I’m not a full-time, or even part-time, worship pastor, associate pastor, youth pastor or any of the like. I am a construction superintendent by trade and my full-time ministry relies more on a tool box than on a pulpit.
I have been playing guitar since I was 13 years old and started playing at a large church when I was 15. Through the years of playing in multiple churches with varying styles since then, there have been ups and there have been downs. I continue to faithfully serve my church when it hurts and when it’s great because Jesus is worth it and I want to emphasize this fact. This isn’t a “dirty laundry” kind of rant. This is a way for the simple volunteer musician to convey their heart for worship and some steps to take if your worship team is in crisis. After all, the pool for musicians that love God is so thin already; we aren’t doing very much good for the Kingdom if we ostracize the ones that passionately serve alongside us every Sunday.
I have developed seven fundamentals that every worship leader should consider and pray over. I’ll share these over the next three weeks here, so be on the lookout for future posts:
1. Be a leader, not a boss.
No one would argue that the Disciples were the leaders of the church after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. Let me re-iterate that. They were the leaders, and in the context of a worship team, there may be a leader at the front, but everyone on stage and behind the scenes is a leader. One of the most profound things to me that the Savior of the world, the Beginning and End, the Great I am, did was wash their feet just before His sacrifice at Calvary.
“So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel He had around Him.”
John 13:4-5
He sacrificed His robe and donned a towel in order to serve His friends. Is that the kind of leader we are within the confines of our worship teams? Are we present, accountable, dedicated, whatever other leadership jargon you want to use in our teams but not sacrificial for our team? Let’s face it; this is beyond the normal conversations that happen at rehearsal and the “I’ll pray for you.” Do we recognize that our fellow leaders on drums, vocals, bass, piano, ukulele, insert instrument here, need to be led from the front and mentored as they walk in Christ? I think we have a tendency to come with the assumption that because they are playing on the worship team and are a worship leader that they have it all together. Unfortunately, though, this approach creates an atmosphere of musicians instead of true worshipers. What if, as worship leaders, we were more concerned with the status of our team’s walk with Christ than the chord they keep missing in the chorus? Could our worship be in service to the team members that fill the stage with us every week?
