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: 

And Jesus is right in the middle of it.

Revelation 5:11-14 gives this account:

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. 

In John Stott’s The Cross of Christ he talks about the centrality of Jesus, the Lamb, in the book of Revelation’s account of worship in heaven. He writes:

One cannot fail to notice, or to be impressed by, the seer’s repeated and uninhibited coupling of ‘God and the Lamb’. The person he places on an equality with God is the Savior who died for sinners. He depicts him as mediating God’s salvation, sharing God’s throne, receiving God’s worship (the worship due to him) and diffusing God’s light. And his worthiness, which qualifies him for these unique privileges, is due to the fact that he was slain, and by his death procured our salvation.

That last line is key.

“…his worthiness… is due to the fact that he was slain, and by his death procured our salvation.”

Jesus is worthy of praise because he died for us and saved us.

So if Jesus is worthy of praise because he died for us and saved us, how clear is that fact in the songs we’re singing at church this Christmas season? Are we choosing songs, hymns, and carols that help people celebrate the one who came as the “Savior who died for sinners” or songs, hymns, and carols that help people celebrate the Christmas season?

Worship leaders, worship directors, music leaders, choir directors, whatever other title might be bestowed upon the guy or girl who picks songs at a church, must ensure that the opportunity isn’t wasted this Christmas to point people to the cross of Christ, to the suffering servant, to the one who allows us to sing “God and sinners reconciled!”

It’s not too late this year to make sure the words you put on your congregation’s lips declare the good news and proclaim the reason Jesus is worthy of praise.

From “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”:

Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

From “Joy to the World”:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found…

From “What Child is This” is this refrain that many hymnals omit:

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
The cross be borne for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

All of heaven worships Jesus as the Lamb that was slain. Let’s make sure we do too.

So then it’s important not to annoy them. You want to be on the same team, striving for the same goal, building one another up in love, and not harboring resentment or frustration. An annoyed sound engineer will either (a) quit, (b) not care, or (c) both.

Some worship leaders might not realize how they’re annoying their sound engineer. Here are ten ways:

Unplug your guitar without making sure the channel is muted first. News flash: your sound engineer often has 89 things on his mind. Catch his eye and make sure he’s muted your guitar before you unplug it and make all the old ladies jump out of their skin.

Look at your sound engineer like it’s his fault when you do something stupid. I’ve mastered the art of this one. Let’s say I unplug my guitar before the channel is muted. Old ladies then jump out of their skin, and parents throw themselves on top of their children to protect them from the sounds of gunfire. What do I do? I look at the sound engineer like he should be ashamed of himself. For some reason this annoys them…

Always ask for more. I need a little bit more of my voice. OK now I need less Susan. And can I have more of my guitar? OK, now I need a lot more of my voice. I’m still hearing too much keyboard. Can you turn my guitar up please? Now I could use less electric. I can’t hear my voice. Is my guitar in this thing? (kneel down and put your ear to the monitor) I don’t think this monitor is on. Can you turn me up in it? I just need a lot less of everybody else and a whole lot more of me. Yes, just turn me up. Turn the rest of the band down. I could still use a lot more of my guitar. Can you give me some reverb please?

Assume that your request is the most important thing in the whole wide world. News flash: your sound engineer often is having to deal with burned out batteries, bad cables, setting gain structures, EQ, feedback, running monitors, recording the sermon, making sure the preacher has a mic, fixing the projector, dealing with complaints, and guitarists who are unplugging their guitar before the channel is muted. Just because you’re the worship leader and your guitar is too loud at the moment doesn’t mean he can drop all those things to attend to you.

Can you come down here and move this monitor three inches while I stand here with my guitar and watch you run down from the sound desk and back again? Sure, I could move it myself, but I’m the worship leader and I have to protect my hands.

Assume that your sound engineer can read minds. You want your back-up singer to start off the third song? Do you think you could tell your sound engineer ahead of time? No, it’s probably a better idea to keep that a secret and let him read your mind.

I know that you’re a sound engineer and have been setting up for three hours and have carefully considered mic placement and how to avoid feedback, but I’m the worship leader and I’d like to move everything around please. I’ve done this and it’s not pretty. You’re now moving beyond the realm of annoying your sound engineer into provoking his wrath and indignation against you.

Expect your sound engineer to defy the limits of the sound board. OK, so this Sunday I have four vocalists, 2 guitars, an electric, a bass, drums, keyboard, hand percussion, a small choir, a trumpet player, a synthesizer, and flute. Nevermind we have an 8-channel board and 2 monitor mixes. Jesus multiplied the fishes and loaves, right? Get on it, sound engineer. Work your miracles.

Treat your microphone like it’s contagious. I like to sing with my mouth 8 inches away from the microphone. That way it lets the “space” get into the sound. Treat the microphone like it’s contagious. It’s awesome. It’s the new thing. My sound guy loves it. But for some reason it’s never loud enough. Go figure.

Oh, yeah, I’m sorry, we didn’t tell you that we decided half an hour ago to change the order of the service and what person was assigned to speak at different times. There was a moat filled with hungry alligators that was keeping us from reaching the sound desk, and those alligators had cell phone blocking technology which kept my text messages from going through, and those loud popping noises you heard were the hungry alligators unplugging my guitar when the channel wasn’t muted. You should really be more attentive.

The album was released a few weeks ago and here are my thoughts on each of the songs.

There is One Reason
I liked this one a lot when we sang it at the conference. Too often, upbeat/celebrative songs sacrifice lyrical integrity and biblical truth. The lyrics of this song are solid, biblical, and Trinitarian. As often happens, you hear the song in a different way when you try to introduce it to your congregation. My congregation struggled with the melody, and I found myself getting mixed up on the chorus (i.e. I kept singing “Christ the Lord, our Son, the Savior” but it should be “Christ our Lord, the Son, our Savior”) since it was all going by a bit quickly! I think this one depends on where your congregation is. The key of A is the best for the verses and keeps the chorus from hitting an E regularly, but it does hang out around a D a lot on the chorus.

Greater Than We Can Imagine
Great song. We’ve sung this in our church for a couple of years (it was first released on Sovereign Grace’s Psalms album) and it’s a solid, biblical (based on Psalm 145), celebrative, singable song of praise. The recorded key of G is much more comfortable for congregations than the first recorded version which was in B.

Come Praise and Glorify
Excellent song. It took 3 or 4 times for my church to get the hang of it, but I think we’ve finally gotten it. I love how each verse is full of different reasons why we should praise God, leading up to the chorus declaring “to the praise of your glory, to the praise of your mercy and grace… you are the God who saves”. The key of Bb helps this song sit in the right range.

Shine Into Our Night
Beautiful lyrics: “Jesus Christ, shine into our night, drive our dark away, till your glory fills our eyes”. A beautiful melody which is accessible and congregational without being predictable. We’ve sung this song twice at my church and I’ve had many people ask me for the lyrics and where to download it. The key of E is perfect. But then again, I do love the key of E.

Have Mercy on Me
A prayer of confession without an assurance of pardon is missing the good news of the Gospel. This song gets it right. “Have mercy on me…” followed by the assurance that Jesus was given “to make atonement for wrongs I have done” and that “there’s forgiveness with you, God”. It’s a good song, a good confession, and full of good news.

Now Why This Fear
I can’t wait to teach this song to my church. This might be my favorite of them all. Really, really good.

Isaiah 53
I love the groove of this song. And I love the lyrics. So I don’t know why I don’t love the song, but I don’t. I think the main reason is that I know it would be a challenge for my congregation to get into it. Maybe yours would be different!

Generous King
One of the other highlights of the conference for me was standing in the back during the closing session and singing this song while holding my two-year old daughter in my arms. That was the first time since she had been born that I had held her during a time of worship (I’m usually the one leading!). What a gift to sing of his “mercies unending, and love never failing”. This is a great song. The octave jump on the bridge might be tough for some congregations, but I really like it. We haven’t tried it yet at my church.

When You Move
I don’t often hear songs of pleading for God to “come and move” that are this biblically saturated and God-centered. This is a great song/prayer for the Holy Spirit to fill our lives and minds “with the radiance of Christ”. It’s specific, solid, and singable. I like it.

Your Words of Life and Show Us Christ
Two great songs to add to your church’s repertoire for preparing for and/or responding to the preaching of God’s word. Too many worship leaders don’t see that as their job or their concern, and that’s a shame. If we really believe that the bible is the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17) then we shouldn’t see the preaching of the word as competition. These songs help the congregation articulate a longing to encounter God in his living word.

All I Have is Christ
I used to have a hard time with this song, since I had a fairly straight-laced Christian upbringing, and the verses are from the perspective of someone who “once was lost in darkest night…” and “ran (a) hell-bound race”. I didn’t think that described me. Then I read Ephesians 2 and was hit in the head when Paul said “…you were once dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.” That meant me. Yes, indeed, I once was lost in darkest night and thought I knew the way. “Alleluia! All I have is Christ”. This is a great song, and the refrain of every person who has come to put their trust in Jesus Christ.

We Hunger and Thirst
A good song to sing during communion. I’m not crazy about the bridge, not because I think it’s bad, but because I think it could be better.

Lift High the Cross
This album has the highest number of songs I could see really “clicking” my congregation of any other album in recent memory. Having said that, this particular song is not one of them. I really want to like it. And I think I like the pre-chorus and the chorus. But every album has to have at least one song you don’t like, and this is it for me.

As You Go
A great song to close a service, as we “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom…” (Colossians 3:16) to go into the world, “in the grace of Christ… in the power of the Spirit” to bring God glory. The lyrics are full of great, biblical exhortations, the melody is really singable, and the key of A is just right.

This is an excellent album, full of congregational, biblical, God-glorifying songs. The musicianship is fantastic, and the arrangements will give you and your team some great new ideas for how to approach songs in a fresh way without being showy. Out of the 15 songs, I could envision using 12 or 13 at my church. If you’ve ever owned any other worship albums, you’ll know that that number is usually unthinkable. Not so with “The Gathering”. It is a gift to worship leaders and their churches.

Get it at the Sovereign Grace store.

Two years ago I wrote some posts on songs that work well in Advent.

The first post had to do with “what to do with Advent” and some good hymns to sing. The second post had suggestions of newer, more contemporary songs that work congregationally. The third post had a couple of songs that worked as special/not congregational songs.

Here are some other songs I’ve become aware of that might work during Advent.

Soon (Brooke Ligertwood)
- Slow, tender song about when we will finally see Jesus
- Either a congregational song or a solo, but probably better as a solo
- “Soon and very soon, my King is coming, clothed in righteousness and crowned with love…”
- You can listen to the whole song, read the lyrics, and download the music here

All to Us (Redman/Maher/Reeves/Tomlin)
- Slow/midtempo song
- Either as a congregational song or a solo
- The recorded key of C is too high. I find A to be better
- “We are waiting on you, Jesus”. “When this passing world is over, we will see You face to face…”
- You can listen to the whole song, read the lyrics, and download the sheet music for free here

We Belong to the Day (Mike Morrow)
- Midtempo song
- Either as a congregational song or a solo
- “We belong to the day, to the day that is to come when the night falls away and our Savior will return…”
- Bob Kauflin featured this song on Worship Matters in June and linked to free downloads of the recording and the music

How Long? (The Reckoning) (Andrew Peterson)
- An upbeat song of lament/longing for Jesus to return
- From his excellent CD, “Counting Stars”
- Would work as a special (not congregational) song
- “How long until this curtain is lifted? How long is this the song that we sing? How long until the reckoning?”
- Justin Taylor at The Gospel Coalition featured this song last year. Click here to listen to the song and read the lyrics.

God With Us (Jamie Brown)
- Slow song
- OK, I wasn’t going to share this song because (a) the recording is awful and (b) I don’t want to push my own stuff. But, hey it’s free, you don’t have to like it, and it it’s helpful, then great
- The verses describe different people and situations that look hopeless, but actually “God with us”, Jesus, is right there in the middle
- Would work as a special (not congregational) song
- A female vocalists should sing the response part in the chorus. But again, this recording is so bad, from several years ago, that I tried to take care of both parts
- The lyrics are below the audio player

In the long, cold winter of waiting,
Every day a new door is closed
No job for so long and no money
Every letter, every call, a new “no”
God with us

She has cried, she has prayed for a husband
Still she lies in her bed all alone
Every Christmas, every birthday, every morning
Every baby – another one that’s not her own
God with us

Surely he has borne our griefs (God with us)
He has carried all our sorrows (God with us)
His chastisement brought us peace (God with us)
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow
God with us

He has lost his ability to fight it}
It has stained every corner of his mind
He is drowning in the darkness in private
Every click – a step back from his bride
God with us   (chorus)

The baby in her womb is not her husband’s
They have fled from their home to hide
But she believes what the angel told her
That she would bear the Son of the Most High: God with us

Surely he will bear our griefs (God with us)
He will carry all our sorrows (God with us)
His chastisement will bring us peace (God with us)
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow
God with us

Jamie Brown. © 2011 Worthily Magnify Music. CCLI Song # 6026949.

They got me thinking. What are the best ways to cover up worship leading mistakes? Here are some ideas.

1. Blame it on the sound guy. He didn’t have the processor on that handles the compression in the subwoofers and so the gating was all out of whack and that’s why you heard that wrong chord.

2. What mistake? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

3. Blame it on the drummer. Oh, those crazy drummers. You just can’t tame ‘em. He’ll get better with some more rehearsal. He just threw me off. That’s why I shouted like a cat before the bridge of “Happy Day”.

4. I was too busy worshipping to notice.

5. Blame it on the Holy Spirit. I just really sensed really strongly that the Holy Spirit was really leading me to take the song to the next level of worship and so that’s why we sang the chorus twenty-eight times. We were breaking down walls, man!

6. We were just trying to break the ice. That’s why we had to stop the song and start over. Didn’t it just really change the dynamic in the room?

7. Blame it on spiritual warfare. Why else would my D string always break when I lead worship? Maybe because you use cheap strings, or use the wrong gauge, or need the bridge to be smoothed, or never change them? No, it’s spiritual warfare.

8. The congregation just needs to get more into it!

9. Blame it on how smart you are. I’ve got the song lyrics to like 400 hymns and 4,000 contemporary songs all right here in my head. And I know the chords by heart too. When we got to that third verse of “O for a Thousand Tongues” I was remembering the other hymn that Charles Wesley wrote, “And Can it Be”, and so that’s why I started singing the verse from a completely different hymn. It’s because I’m a walking worship encyclopedia.

10. Seriously, it really was the sound guy’s fault.