Jamie Brown

Leading Worship with a Heart of Love for the Congregation

Did you know that the microphone you sing into each week amplifies more than just your voice? It also amplifies your heart. You can lead the most well-rehearsed, polished, carefully-selected set of songs in the world, but if you’re leading from a place of frustration or irritation or pushiness, then that’s going to come across loud and strong. This should give all of us worship leaders cause for concern!

But this shouldn’t be a surprise to us. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul said that even if he could “speak in the tongues of men and angels” but didn’t “have love”, then all he would be is a “noisy gong or a clanging cymbal”. He went on to say that even if he was full of all sorts of prophetic powers, but didn’t have love, he would be “nothing”.

That’s some serious stuff. Think about that. Able to speak in tongues of men and angels? That’s pretty impressive. Full of prophetic powers and able to understand all mysteries? I would say that’s awfully impressive too. But Paul warns that all of this impressive stuff is canceled out if love isn’t present.

If a worship leader isn’t leading with a heart of love for the congregation, he runs the risk of coming across like a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. Do you enjoy listening to noisy gongs or clanging cymbals for an extended amount of time? No. And that’s the point.

How can we lead worship with a heart of love for the congregation?

Not by faking it, that’s for sure. Not by trying harder to smile more and be nicer to the cranky person who always finds time to complain to you five minutes before the service starts. And it’s certainly not by trying to muster up more love from within yourself.

The answer is, of course, that we need Jesus if we want to have a heart of love for the congregation. We know he loved the church so much that he “gave himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:2). His heart is a heart of love. And one of the amazing gifts of the Holy Spirit is that he “pours God’s love into our hearts” (Romans 5:5). We don’t have to muster anything up. We have to run to Jesus each Sunday and ask him to fill us with his Spirit.

Only then will our worship leadership be able to be characterized this way:

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Those are the characteristics that will bless your congregation and make you a more effective worship leader. Jesus will put those qualities in you, and those qualities will be amplified by your microphone, not by your own trying harder, but by the power of his Spirit.

Another Free Song: Here is Love (Grace Takes My Sin)

I’ve always loved the hymn “Here is Love Vast as the Ocean“. It’s a beautiful melody, but most importantly, it’s a beautiful description of God’s great love for us in Jesus Christ.

The first two verses, written by William Rees, are probably familiar to you:

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
Heaven’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

The third verse is less familiar, and the fourth even less familiar than that. They were written later by William Williams.

We’ve used this song at my church for years. Either just the first two verses during our communion liturgy, or for a while we used Matt Redman’s adaptation. That version had the chorus added: “No love is higher, no love is wider, no love is deeper…”. Great version, which also added the third verse, but the chorus never really seemed to catch on very well with my congregation.

So I was really pleased to come across Kate Simmonds’ version a year or so ago. You might recognize Kate’s name as she used to lead worship at the Church of Christ the King in Brighton, England, along with Stuart Townend, Lou Fellingham and others. Kate’s version put the song into a 4/4 time signature, incorporated the third verse with more modernized language (and a different chord progression), and added a fantastic chorus.

Here are the lyrics to the chorus she added:

Grace takes my sin, calls me “friend”
Pays my debt completely
Love rescued me, seated me
With my King forevermore

I love that! So good. This really caught on with my congregation, and we recorded it on my church’s recent CD. By the way, you really should purchase the whole CD.

Kate has very kindly agreed to let me offer the mp3 and chord chart for free here.

So here is the mp3: Here Is Love (Grace Takes My Sin) MP3

And here is the chord chart: Here Is Love (Grace Takes My Sin) CHORD CHART

The vocalist on this recording is the amazing Jordan Ware. Jordan is the worship leader at Winchester Anglican Church in Winchester, Virginia. She’s a gifted worship leader and musician and it was a joy to have her sing on this project!

Free Song: More Than Conquerors

Earlier this year as my church was receiving word that we would need to leave our property, then actually leaving that property, and then transitioning into being a “portable” church, we were also studying the book of Romans in our Sunday morning sermons.

You would have thought our pastor had known we’d be losing our building when we decided to preach through the first eight chapters of Romans. But that wasn’t the case. As always, in God’s perfect timing, he had led us to study just what we needed for that season in our life together.

It was during this season that my church recorded its first live worship CD. One of the songs on the CD that I wrote is called “More Than Conquerors” and was written for my church and based on the amazing truths in Romans 8.

The chorus, based on Romans 8:28 and 8:37 says:

We are more than conquerors
Through Him who loves us
Nothing can keep us from His love
We are more than conquerors
Through Him who saved us
All things will work together for good
‘Cause He is good

Verse one is based on Romans 8:18-25 and says:

These present sufferings – they are nothing
Compared to all that is to come
So we are waiting and celebrating
Our hopes is in a sovereign God

Verse two is taken from Romans 8:1-3 and 8:35 and says:

What can condemn us or separate us?
Jesus has bought us with His blood
Through tribulation and persecution
Our freedom song is growing louder and louder

And finally, the bridge is almost word-for-word Romans 8:38-39:

Not death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers
The present, the future, nor any powers
No height, no depth, nor all of creation
Can keep us from Your love

It didn’t seem right for this kind of song to be slow. So it’s upbeat and celebrative. This is good news for us to declare as God’s people – especially when we lose a massive court case!

You can download the free mp3 here: More Than Conquerors MP3

And here’s the free chord chart: More Than Conquerors CHORD CHART

You can purchase the whole album at www.tfcamusic.org.

Here’s the lyrics video:

Don’t Treat Sunday Morning Like It’s Youth Group

I cut my teeth leading worship at youth group for my church. Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, retreats, and mission trips provided invaluable opportunities to grow. I got to gain experience, make mistakes, learn, receive input, run something resembling a rehearsal, learn how to operate a basic sound system, and enjoy some sweet times of worship.

I think every worship leader should start off this way. Even if they’re out of the youth group age bracket, starting off small, starting off in a casual setting, and starting off with lots of freedom is a great way to build confidence and competence.

But for those who grow up or start off leading worship in a youth group environment, an important shift has to take place at some point. When we begin leading worship on Sunday mornings we can’t treat it like it’s youth group anymore. We can’t be as loose, as cutesy, or as casual anymore. We have to grow up, the way we lead worship has to be more mature, and the way we present ourselves has to be different.

I recently saw a worship leader start off a service this way:

“Good mornin’ everybody! Get on up ya’ll. Hey Willy! Everybody say hey Willy! (Scattered hoots and hollers). If ya’ll don’t know who Willy is just clap anyway. Let me read you this Scripture now…”

Seriously? You’re going to start off a Sunday morning worship service that way?

Call me old-fashioned (and I’ll laugh at you) but I think a teeny bit more decorum is appropriate for the central worship gathering of a congregation. Having everybody clap for Willy is fine for youth group. But on a Sunday morning it smacks of flippancy, and I’m not sure that does a worship leader any favors, especially with the older generations in the room.

My guess is that a good majority of worship leaders who are serving churches right now and leading music of the more contemporary flavor started out doing so in youth group. Many of them serve under pastors or music directors who have helped them mature in how they present themselves. But others haven’t. Maybe they serve under a pastor who’s the same age as them and doesn’t really care if they treat Sunday morning like it’s youth group. Maybe no one has ever mentioned this to them.

Here’s why this matters.

If you treat Sunday morning like it’s youth group, the young and young-at-heart won’t really notice, but the older and old-at-heart will. This will turn them off.

If you treat Sunday morning with a bit more maturity and preparation, no one will complain.

If I were you, I would choose the second option.

Yes, be yourself. Yes, relax. And yes, help people feel comfortable. But don’t take that too far. Don’t be flippant. Don’t be cutesy. Don’t draw attention to your relaxed-ness by being so relaxed that people can’t help but notice how relaxed you are.

You should lead differently depending on a wide range of factors: the venue, the time of day, the average age in the room, the average (can this be measured?) spiritual maturity in the room, the repertoire they’re used to, time constraints, etc. The list is endless.

But the point is that part of growing as a worship leader is growing up and learning to adapt how you lead and how you present yourself in order to serve God’s people more effectively. No two services are the same. No two sessions at a retreat are the same. You need to adapt.

Don’t treat Sunday morning like it’s youth group. Treat it like it’s Sunday morning. Treat youth group like it’s youth group. The two are very different, and so should your approach to them be.

A Thousand Amens: Live Worship with The Falls Church Anglican

At long last, the live CD my church recorded in March, has been released and is available to order/download at www.tfcamusic.org.

I couldn’t be more thrilled with this recording!

Here’s what we say about the heart behind it in the first page of the booklet:

How can a congregation lose nearly everything – its buildings, its property, and most of its money – but worship God with more unity and joy than ever before?

When that congregation knows that it has everything it could ever need in the precious cornerstone and sure foundation of Jesus Christ.

These songs are a taste of the vibrant, Christ-centered, Spirit-filled worship that has become a hallmark of The Falls Church Anglican. They were recorded in the Main Sanctuary over two evenings in early March, just two months before we vacated our property. This was the end of over 275 years on that campus but not the end of our church.

So, at the close of this sweet chapter in our church’s life, we went out lifting high the name of Jesus and thanking God for his faithfulness.

This recording captures the cry of a congregation that has learned and clung to the reality that Jesus is worthy of costly worship. And if that means we lose everything to gain Christ, then we say a resounding “amen”. So be it, Lord. We believe you’re all to us.

The CD features 14 congregational worship songs, a mixture of existing songs, original songs, and hymns. The songs are:

1. Behold Our God
2. Praise My Soul the King of Heaven
3. Praise the Lord
4. God of All Power and Grace
5. Here is Love (Grace Takes My Sin)
6. Now Why This Fear
7. More Than Conquerors
8. Come You Sinners
9. The Lord’s Prayer
10. All My Fountains
11. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
12. All to Us
13. To Him Who is Able
14. A Thousand Amens

It was a joy to work with the amazing musicians on this CD. We used musicians from our own church (Jairo Viquez on electric guitar, Matt Brown on percussion, and Simon Dixon on the pipe organ). We used musicians from our sister churches (Jordan Ware singing and Chris Rothgeb on bass). And we used musicians from Nashville and L.A. (Carl Albrecht on drums, Luke Moesley on piano, and Russell Crain on electric guitar). Our own staff and volunteers engineered, recorded, and tracked the project (Jon Crocker, Andrew Schooley, Nathan Mitchell, Daniel Harlan and Tim Larson). And we got the project mixed by Paul Salveson and mastered by Jim DeMain in Nashville.

Here are just a few of the things I love about this CD:

It was recorded in our former Main Sanctuary. This was a beautiful space and I really miss it. You feel like you’re standing in that room with the bricks under your feet when you listen to it.

You can hear the congregation loud and strong. I told the congregation when we recorded this CD that we wanted this CD to sound like you’re standing in the midst of the congregation. I think we achieved that. The congregation sounds great.

All of the songs were recorded in congregational keys. We covered several songs that had been originally recorded in virtually un-singable keys but were still great songs. We brought them down to be more singable and accessible.

The songs reflect variety. We cover some Sovereign Grace songs, Passion songs, and a few songs from other sources as well. We have some fresh new arrangements of old hymns. And we have some original songs of mine (“God of All Power and Grace”, “More Than Conquerors”, and “Come You Sinners”) and Simon Dixon’s (“The Lord’s Prayer”).

The songs on the album are in the order we recorded them. We tried to make sure the songs flow into each other well and make sense not only musically, but thematically.

The packaging looks great. I know it’s much easier to download a CD on iTunes or Amazon or somewhere else, but if you can bear the wait (and pay a bit more) and order from www.tfcamusic.org, I think you’ll love to hold the actual copy in your hand, and see the pictures of our church and of the recording.

This CD has been a labor of love, and I just hope and pray that it blesses and refreshes and encourages everyone who hears it.

Order it through the link above, and in the meantime here’s a video with some pictures from the recording set to the last song on the album.

A Thousand Amens Promo Final-Vimeo Upload 720p from Daniel Harlan on Vimeo.