No one has ever told me how much they were really ministered to by my new guitar.

I’ve never heard someone say that their life was changed by the new chord progression we used on the second verse of “Here I am to Worship”.

I haven’t heard of anyone seeing Jesus as more precious because of the new drum shield/acoustical panels we bought.

No one has ever been impacted more by the Gospel because we played a song almost exactly like the recording.

We got in-ear monitors a few years ago and I don’t think the Holy Spirit came down in tongues of fire that first Sunday. I think I’d remember that.

And it’s not like using in-ear monitors, drum shields, new progressions, new songs, and good arrangements is a bad thing. It’s just that they won’t change anyone’s life. Only Jesus will.

The assurance that “my shepherd will supply my needs: Jehovah is his name…” brought peace to a new widow and now single mother.

The truth of the Gospel that “from life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny…” comforted parents who had lost their infant son.

The good news that “…he must win the battle” assured a congregation after learning they will probably lose their building.

The grace of God that “breaks the power of canceled sin and sets the prisoner free” reminded a man lost in sin that there is always freedom in Christ.

I’m sure the equipment we used, the arrangements we rehearsed, and the time we put into choosing these songs all contributed to helping people sing these words. But the widow, the bereaved parents, the shocked congregation, and the lost man found no comfort, no hope, no peace, and no life in what we had to offer. Jesus is who shined through, and Jesus is who they encountered.

I think way too many worship leaders, worship teams, creative teams, video producers, choirs, and choir directors get lost in a sea of creativity and artistic expression and classic works and new songs and great equipment and fresh arrangements and ten rehearsals and burn themselves out trying to make great music. I love Bob Kauflin’s line that “music is a great tool but it’s a terrible idol”. Indeed.

All this is is a simple reminder that we have a great Savior and he is the one who will change people’s lives forever. Great music for the sake of great music is a waste of time and people’s tithe money. Great music to present our great Savior who is the hope of the world is why we (should) do what we do.

That your worship team would be unified in the Spirit
All of us have different gifts, but we all belong to the same body (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). Your worship team needs the Spirit’s help to act as one body, not a bunch of individual members.

That Jesus would be made central
John the Baptist said in John 3:30 that “(Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease”. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 115:1, “Not to us… but to your name give glory…”. These are our prayers, and we need the Holy Spirit to help us decrease and to help Jesus to increase (John 16:14).

That God’s word would be preached faithfully
The “sword of the Spirit” mentioned in Ephesians 6:17 isn’t a synthesizer pad or a cool transition. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. We should be praying that God’s word is preached boldly and faithfully, and that what we do supports it.

That people would sing from their hearts
In Matthew 15:8 Jesus lamented the people who honored him with their lips but whose hearts were far from him. One of our jobs is to help prevent lip-service to Jesus. We need the Holy Spirit for this, since he is the only one who can search our hearts (Romans 8:27).

That you would lead with Spirit-inspired excellence
If I wanted to, I could play an excellent guitar solo. But it wouldn’t do any good. Excellence on its own is useless. Excellence for the purpose of God’s glory and the congregation’s edification is commanded (Psalm 33:3). We need God’s help to discern the difference between being impressive for the sake of impressing, or excellent for the sake of serving.

That unbelievers would be convicted by the Holy Spirit
Here’s an understatement: there are certain things God can do that you can’t do. You might be a great worship leader but you can’t convict unbelievers of sin. In 1 Corinthians 14:24-25, Paul says that one advantage of prophecy is that an unbeliever can be “convicted… and declare that God is really among you”. This is why you should pray that God helps you lead prophetically, in the power of the Holy Spirit, so that even unbelievers will see God’s glory.

That you would be led by the Holy Spirit
Don’t just plow through your song list and rush through it without taking time to let God lead you to repeat, underline, emphasize, or even skip certain things. If the Holy Spirit lives in you, then (this is amazing) you can know the very thoughts of God (1 Corinthians 2:11). What you’re thinking is important. But what God is thinking is more important. Pray that the Holy Spirit speaks clearly to you what’s on God’s heart as you lead.

That the time of singing would bear fruit
It’s not enough to give people a pleasant singing experience on Sunday mornings. We should be changed every time we encounter God individually or corporately. One of the main ways our time of singing can bear fruit is for the words we sing to sink deep down in our hearts and stay there during the week, reminding us of the truths we’ve sung (Colossians 3:16).

That your sound engineer will have wisdom and energy
Seriously, pray for your sound engineer(s) anyone else on the AV team at your church. Too often worship teams treat their audiovisual colleagues like second-class citizens. Pray for them, honor them, thank them, and be understanding when something goes wrong. They need God’s help to stay attentive, to be able to engage in worship, and to maintain servants hearts while in the background.

That you would lead, sing, and play beyond your natural abilities
There are many instances in scripture when the Holy Spirit enables someone to operate beyond their normal ability (Moses in Exodus 31:3, David in 2 Samuel 12:32, Ezekiel (all throughout the book), Micah in chapter 3:8, Zechariah in Luke 1:67, Stephen in Acts 6:10, and Peter in Acts 11:12). These are normal people to whom God gives supernatural strength for the demonstration of his power and the proclamation of his good news. Worship leaders would be wise to ask for that same supernatural strength, every single Sunday.

Conversely, I always take a deep breath when I see an email in my inbox with something like “suggestions for you” or “can we talk?” as the subject line. Someone isn’t terribly happy and they want me to know about it. It makes me nervous. It makes me feel tense. And if I’m honest, it makes me a little angry.

No worship leader enjoys criticism. We all wish that every email could be affirming and that every comment could be congratulatory. However, if we never receive criticism, or if we haven’t received any lately, then we aren’t growing.

When I look back over my worship leading “career” (it feels weird to call it a career), from high school, through college, a volunteer, a part-timer, and now a full-timer, the times I have been most forced to get out of ruts, to break out of bad habits, and to step out of comfort zones have been when I’ve received criticism. Most worship leaders I know say the same thing. Somewhere along the way, when they were happy as could be, a critic came along and mentioned some way they thought the worship leader could grow. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t a “you’re awesome!” email. It was hard. But it was good in the long run.

Not all criticism is helpful, because not all people are healthy. You know this. Your church is made up of sinners (including you). Sometimes you’ll receive criticism you’ll need to ignore. Aren’t you glad we have the Holy Spirit to help us discern what is truth and what isn’t?

But don’t be so quick to ignore criticism. If you really want to grow as a worship leader – whether in leading a band, choosing songs, leading a congregation, working with volunteers, your musical skill, your “stage-presence”, praying out loud, exhorting the congregation, etc. – then you’re going to have to allow yourself to receive criticism.

Some people are bold enough to approach you, either in person or via email, to share an observation with you. If you can, thank them for coming to you. But other people aren’t so bold. They’re afraid they’ll come across wrongly. They appreciate you and don’t want to make you think they don’t. They think that all you hear is criticism. These people might be your colleagues, your worship team members, your friends at your church, or your own family. Maybe you could think about asking them from time to time if there’s anything in particular that they think you could grow in.

I had one of these difficult conversations a little under three months ago. It was hard, I was defensive, I was a bit surprised, and I didn’t really enjoy it. But I’ve grown since then, in small ways, but I’ve grown. I’m grateful for the criticism that God allowed me to hear in order to help me become a bit more mature. No worship leader can grow without hearing criticism, and the good news and bad news is that this includes you!

You would think that on Sunday mornings the congregation would be fearful, anxious, discouraged, or downcast. Not so. Since the ruling, our times of worship have been vibrant, heartfelt, and Christ-exalting. I haven’t seen this much freedom in worship in my 7 ½ years here.

We know we have difficult days ahead. The prospect of losing our campus and our property, relocating to temporary worship and office space, and perhaps building a new building is exciting but also daunting. I’m sure the excitement might wane after a few months (years) of not having a permanent space. Many of you reading this blog deal with this every week and I now have a new appreciation for you.

But this time of uncertainty (and others that our congregation has weathered over the years) has reminded me of the power of worship in the midst of trials. The words on the screen now become the cries of our hearts. The Jesus about whom we’re singing is now our very present help in time of trouble. The Gospel that we’re declaring is now our common assurance and defense. The Holy Spirit in whom we believe is now actively pointing us to Jesus and giving us peace.

Rahm Emmanuel, a former congressman from Illinois, White House Chief of Staff, now the mayor of Chicago, and an infamously shrewd politician is notorious for his statement, “never let a good crisis go to waste”. This is the unspoken creed of most politicians.

Overlooking the sneakiness of that statement, I see a morsel of truth and a lesson for worship leaders who serve churches experiencing crises or trials. Don’t let a time of trial go to waste. It is an opportunity for your congregation to experience so much more of the power of worship to point us to the glory of God in Jesus Christ. This can be taught, but it takes a while. In the midst of trials it can be caught, and this doesn’t take as long.

I’m not suggesting that you pray for a crisis for your church so that they can grow in worship. It’s also probably not a good idea to covertly create one.

But when trials come to your congregation (and they will), don’t pick phony triumphalistic songs, or pull back and treat Sunday mornings like they’re funerals, or ignore the elephant in the room. Follow Rahm Emmanuel’s advice to “never let a good crisis go to waste”. The power of worship in the midst of trials to point individuals and a congregation to Jesus can transform your church’s time of singing.

And whether we stay in this building or worship in a barn, we’ll keep exalting Jesus higher and higher. The power is in his name, not in our trappings.

Obviously, the more anchored a worship leader is, the less susceptible he will be to the normal ebb and flow and ups and downs of leading a congregation. But even the most seasoned, refined, smooth, mature, seen-it-all worship leader will experience thoughts along these lines when looking out at a congregation with the enthusiasm level of people waiting in line at the DMV:

“Would anyone care if I just stopped this song right now?”
“Why in the world did I pick this song?”
“I must stink as a worship leader.”
“Where is the reset button?”
“What is wrong with these people?”
“Is God even here right now?”
“I need to juice this service up somehow.”
“These people will never get it.”

And some (all?) worship leaders who experience these thoughts start to respond by doing impulsive things:

Pick really intense songs the next week in hopes that those really get people going.
Interrupt the time of singing to give a mini, unplanned, spontaneous, unhelpful
sermonette.
Shout out things like “come on!” or “here we go!” or “let me hear you” or “are you not
impressed?” (OK, maybe not the last one, although I have been tempted on many
occasions to use it.)
Revert to safe, tried and true oldie goldies.
Do what worked at the conference/concert/stadium.
Close your eyes and just go for it on your own, whether or not people are with you.
Tell people what to do.

And when none of your quick fixes seem to make any long lasting change you start to get discouraged. You lower your expectations. You get stuck on the spin cycle of worship leading. You’re not really motivated to try very hard anymore. You’re not particularly excited to lead worship but you do it. And once in a while there’s a bit of take-off, but mostly you’re on the tundra, but the prospect of taking off keeps you coming back.

(Some worship leaders don’t have to do deal with this. Their congregations are ready to blast off every Sunday. These worship leaders are like the kids in school who were really good at math and could also play sports and had nice clothes and were tall and got elected class president. They have it easy now, but just wait until they grow up and lose all their hair!)

Seriously, though, I think most worship leaders on planet earth experience what I’m describing. I’m not talking about one Sunday or one song when the congregation seems out it. I’m talking about weeks, months, and years in a row of seeing very little, if any at all, outward/apparent/obvious growth and enthusiasm in corporate worship. It can suck the energy out of you, little by little, Sunday by Sunday, and before you know it you’ve given up hope.

I think there are a few things worship leaders forget.

God is working his purpose out. You might not be able to see it. Actually, you probably can’t. You have no idea what’s bubbling underneath. Your faithfulness and your perseverance as a worship leader is water to the seeds buried deep underground. You can’t see the roots that are being laid.

You can’t base everything on what you see. Yes, what you see is important. But it’s not everything. You could have months and months of services that appear, outwardly, to be stale. But God may very well be working under the surface in ways invisible to you.

Outward physical expressiveness in worship is gratifying to a worship leader, but if it’s not an outgrowth of genuine worship, it’s not honoring to God. The foundation of a house is the most important thing. But you never see it. If the foundation is solid, then you can add things on top of it that will be secure. The same principle applies to worship. Physical expressiveness and outward engagement is important but it’s not the foundation. If all you focus on from week to week is getting the congregation “into it” to your satisfaction, then you’re veering close to emotionalism and manipulation.

I’ve used this before, but I love the analogy of a worship leader acting like a tour guide at the grand canyon. Your job isn’t to dictate how people respond to the beauty they’re beholding (i.e. “open your mouth and gasp now!” or “be amazed! Turn to your children and say ‘the grand canyon is amazing!’”). Your job is to point people to the beauty they’re beholding and then get out the way.

Worship leaders will become discouraged, disheartened and demoralized when their congregation regularly looks like they’d rather watch “Cars 2” on the tour bus then look at the awesome Grand Canyon. Especially when you’ve been leading the same group around for a few years.

Take a step back. It’s not all up to you, but is there anything you can do differently? Probably. Lower your demands for how people should respond. Instead of looking for an immediate response, aim to take people deeper and farther in to the beauty of Jesus. Don’t rely on a little sermonette to do the trick. Rely on Scripture – the sword of the Spirit – to wield its power. Don’t compare your congregation to other congregations. God has placed you where he’s placed you for a reason. For his glory. And his glory will keep us motivated through all the ups and downs.

Starting in the Fall of 2006 when my church started a Saturday service, I was the primary worship leader for the Saturday 5:00pm service and the Sunday 11:00am service. Two services a weekend. I would get a free Sunday the weekend after Easter when our student worship team would lead, and I would take two weekends off somewhere in the summer. Three weekends off per year.

So, I was picking songs, leading rehearsal, up front, and leading worship 49 weekends a year. And since we were doing two services each weekend, that means I was leading worship 108 times a year. This doesn’t count monthly healing services, Wednesday staff meetings, and other services and events. But you get the idea. It was way too much.

It was unhealthy for me. It burns you out after leading that many times in a row. You don’t feel fresh anymore. You don’t lead fresh anymore. Everything starts to blur. You get tired of choosing songs. You get tired of leading rehearsal. You lose energy. You fall into ruts. You get predictable. You get safe. Worst of all, you start thinking that your church would fall apart if you were to leave.

It was unhealthy for my worship team. It didn’t give other worship leaders in the church a chance to lead. There might have been an occasional spot for them for a men’s or women’s ministry event, but I wasn’t giving people an opportunity to get experience leading worship in the context of a service. I was hogging 108 opportunities all for myself.

It was unhealthy for my church. Whether they realized it or not, I was fostering an unhealthy dependence on me leading worship, so that when I did rarely get a service off, it was more disruptive than it should have been. If I really did mean what I prayed – that I would decrease and God would increase – then why wouldn’t I take a very practical step toward decreasing and get myself off of the platform more often?

I have resolved to push other worship leaders in my church into at least half of the 108 yearly opportunities. I lead worship very seldom on Saturday nights now. Other worship leaders take turns, sometimes by themselves, and sometimes with a band. I lead healing services very seldom now. Other worship leaders get experience by leading those. I still lead most of the time on Sunday mornings, but this year I’m planning on taking at least 6 off.

You can’t do this if you’re insecure. If you think your church really needs you, or if you’re concerned that if someone else leads worship then your congregation might forget about you, then you’ve fallen into unhealthy thinking. You have to be secure enough to step back and push others into the spotlight, so to speak. It’s more healthy for you, for your team, and for your congregation.

And you can’t do this if you’re needy. Without realizing it, you can begin to need to be needed, and if you’re not leading worship you feel like you have no purpose. This isn’t a good thing.

I remember meeting a worship leader at a church I visited while on vacation a few years ago (during one of my two weekends off). After a brief conversation with him, I said “I hope you get a couple of weekends off this summer”. Sadness fell over his face. He said “I wish”. It turns out that he was allowed – maybe – one weekend off per year.

For your sake and your church’s sake, make sure you’re getting regular breaks from worship leading. Even if you’re not going on vacation, schedule yourself to get a break. Your substitute might not be as polished, or they might even be better!, but just do it. It will keep you from getting burned out and it will keep your congregation from getting too dependent on you too.

I was honored to be asked by Bob Kauflin to teach a seminar on this topic at the 2011 WorshipGod conference this past August in Gaithersburg, Maryland. I had been attending those conferences since 2002, and had been profoundly shaped and molded as a worship leader by them, so it was a real privilege to be able to give something back.

If you’d like to listen to or download the audio of this seminar (for free!) click here. And if you’d like the outline for this seminar, you can get that here.

And all the other seminar and main session messages are downloadable (again, for free) here.

Silent Night (chord chart)

Hark the Herald Angels Sing (chord chart)

Angels We Have Heard on High: 

Joy to the World:

O Come All Ye Faithful: