What I wish I could tell every ...

        Many of you know by now that MLC is in search for a worship pastor for our church right now. Finding someone who can lead worship while also sharing  a Pastor's heart and call to shepherd, love, and develop people over time is a real challenge, but something we have always felt strongly about. pray for us.  We have some great leads! In the mean time, I've been thinking about some things I wish I could share with every .  Please share these around the world!

What I wish I could tell every :

• Don't just worship. Lead people in worship. Work on keeping your eyes OPEN more and making eye contact with the people. DRAW them into worship. THAT'S a 's role.
  
• Think through the language you use. Don't feel like you have use "Christianeese" words like "magnify," "exalt," "glorify," and "sanctify" to lead worship.  Just talk about  loving Jesus when we sing. People understand THAT !
• Explain the words behind many of our praise and worship songs, Many of the lyrics are no more clearer than the language in hymns. Disconnected people do not know why they need to "run into the marvelous light" or worship God as the "Beautiful One" (that's scary if you think about it).
• Ask yourself every week after you've created the flow of service: "OK, if a person disconnected from Christ and the church came into our service would they understand everything we're doing, saying, and singing?" If not, change it.
• How things LOOK is  more important than how they sound. 95% of people can not hear if the sound is "off" a little.  Their ears are not trained like yours. However, their  EYES are.  How we look is more important than how we sound.This means lighting is probably way more important than sound.  This means having worship teams that show ENERGY and enthusiasm  is more important than having people who can hit all the right notes.
• Don't feel like songs have to be down-tempo to be holy. Fight the temptation to end every song in a holy whisper. We need more celebration  on the weekends! It will actually help your pastor if the last song  the congregation sings before the pastor speaks is up-tempo most of the time!
• be more transparent. tell stories on yourself that have nothing to do with God. People will be drawn to your leadership if they know you are human.
• Don't just dress to impress the other artists you lead with. MOST people we lead are not artists. They are professionals. I wear jeans a lot of the time when I teach, but I still try to dress SHARP.
• Support your pastor publicly and privately. Public loyalty will give you private leverage to bring about change alongside your pastor.
• Demand to spend time with your pastor every  week to plan out the services and do some life together. If you ask for it adimately enough, he will do it. Squeaky wheel gets the oil.   
• Decide that you are going to plant your life somewhere and allow God to use you there for the rest of your life. The grass will always be greener on the other side of the fence. However, Pastors with the longest tenures make the most Kingdom difference. Proven fact. If nothing else, your family needs a church family!
• Believe in the power of the local church. Invest your life into the local church FIRST, and then, as God uses you to build a dream team around you and replace yourself, when God gives you the opportunity to travel, your Pastor will have no problem with it.   
• Love God. Love people. Can't go wrong with that plan.
• The church would not be complete without you fulfilling your function in the Body! You are valuable to the Kingdom! Thanks for using your gifts in the church!

Hope this helps...

Comments

[shayne young]

great stuff Shawn, but must admit that I don't entirely agree with some pointers.Yes a definite must read for all worship leaders and pastors.Love God, love people...great plan, keep it real, Shayne.

[elizabeth bennett]

yup.. i agree, although not entirely. i think worship leaders should really read this and so they may be reminded that it's not about them being the center of attention on stage,but its always about them bringing people closer to God in worship... sometimes the temptation to forget about that is almost too strong that they fall into it..

[Marie Suzuki]

yes, it helped a lot. thank you so much for this. it made me cry. God bless you and your church.

[Ralph]

So glad this blog was linked through Pastor Steve Murrell's site. In a few months' time, I will lead worship and these tips gave me more excitement!

[Terence]

Hi Shawn, this is fantastic, thank for your relevance,and natural approach. A must read article for every pastor and w/leader. Terence (South Africa)

[Keith Bicar]

Great post Pastor Shawn... Just the right kind of stuff for worship leaders.. Especially now that we are in a season of recruiting new people into the team. Maybe I'm gonna create a link of this post. thanks for everything

[Edrei]

"Love God. Love people. Can't go wrong with that plan."

Amen brother... it will never be us, it will always be a service to Him and for Him and then service to the people, if anything, we are servants bringing them to God's throne...

[Stefan Suarez]

this is super awesome.
thank you for sharing it.

ps ill keep my eyes open more.

[Los]

Great list.
I don't agree with everything on the list, but the heart behind it seems legit. Thanks for sharing your heart toward worship leaders.
Los

[steve murrell]

great post. very helpful. i linked it on my blog with a note for all our worship leaders to read (we have 60 weekend services so that's a lot of worship leaders)