Leading – Page 45 – Worthily Magnify

Keeping it Fresh

Copy I can always tell when I’m holding a document in my hand if it’s a copy of a copy or if it’s an original. A copy of a copy has a worn-out, old, slightly fuzzy look to it – kind of like the worksheets you get in middle school that you’re sure your teacher has used for the last 45 years. An original is crisp and up-to-date – like the first page you print after you’ve installed a brand new printer.

After three or four times, a copy of a copy starts to show its age. If quality is a concern, it’s worth taking the time to make up an original again. But if quality isn’t a concern, it’s certainly a whole lot easier just to use the same thing you’ve always been using.

I think the same principle applies to the songs we choose for a service. A copy of a copy will result in loss of quality, however subtle, every single time. Taking time to make each service’s song list “original” helps keep you and the services from getting stale.

A few practical ideas:

Don’t always use the same song in the same spot
It’s hard not to fall back on using the same song that worked last time. Stretch yourself and do something different.

Don’t always use the same kinds of songs written by the same kinds of authors
Try to choose songs that don’t all sound the same, aren’t in the same key, aren’t written by the same person, weren’t written in the same decade, and don’t say the same thing.

Take risks
When I introduced Tim Hughes’ “Happy Day” a few months ago, I knew that it would either really connect or really bomb. Thankfully, it really connected with people and it’s been a helpful song for people to celebrate that Jesus is alive. But even if it hadn’t connected with people, it would still have been a good idea for me to try it. Don’t be afraid to try new things.

Visit other churches/watch their services online
Make a point of visiting other churches from time to time, and watching other churches’ services online. You’ll get ideas from seeing things they do that really work – and learn from seeing things they do that don’t seem to work.

Prioritize personal times of bible study and singing
If you’re spiritually malnourished, you’re not in the best position to be feeding sheep by leading them in worship. But if you’re being fed by God’s Word and singing to him when no one else is watching, your planning, preparation, and leading will be fresh and heartfelt.

Lessons Learned from This Weekend – Pt. I

mirror From time to time, usually on Mondays, I think it might be helpful for me to post some reflections on the previous weekend’s services. Perhaps some ways I could have handled certain situations better, some specific ways God was at work through the music, or various other lessons learned (however major or minor). I’ll get it started this week with some situations that, looking back, I could have handled better.

Memorize the words
You would think that I would follow my own advice (“Put the Music Stand Away”) and spend some time during the week getting familiar with the songs so that I didn’t forget lyrics, fumble for the right chords, and come across as unprepared. I wish I had. This past Saturday night we used Andrew Peterson’s song “Invisible God” as a special song during the collection/offering time, and I mangled the first verse pretty bad. Oops. Lesson learned: I need to practice too.

Multi-tasking isn’t as easy as it seems
On Saturday night, in addition to leading the music, I also opened the service, led the time of prayer, and gave the announcements. The pastor who normally does this was on vacation, so he asked me to step in since I would be at the service anyway. I have to confess that I didn’t prepare for these responsibilities as thoroughly as I should have. At 4:45pm (15 minutes before the service started), I was trying to figure out what to say to welcome people, how to lead the prayers, etc. A few transitions were awkward, especially getting from the announcements to the offering. Lesson learned: Don’t ever wing it.

There are good ways to get your sound engineer’s attention and there are bad ways…
We had a crazy morning at my church with baptisms at both services, short transition times between them, and very little time for a sound check. In the midst of a noisy Sanctuary about 20 minutes before the service, I was having a difficult time getting the sound engineer’s attention, so I thought it made sense to yell “Andreeeeeeeewwwwwww!!!!!!”. There are about eighteen reasons why this is always a bad idea. Lesson learned: Never yell at your sound engineer. Sorry Andrew.

These are just a few of the lessons I (hopefully) am taking away from this past weekend. It’s good to look back and thank God for his guidance, his presence, and his grace – and pray that he’ll keep teaching me lessons each time I lead.

Do You “Worship” When You’re Not “Leading Worship”?

judge Last week I enjoyed some great time off with my wife, visiting family in central and south Florida, and on Saturday night we went to a service at the church where my grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousins are members.

It’s always refreshing for me to visit other churches – not having to pick the songs, not knowing what’s coming next, learning things, getting ideas, feeling what it’s like to be a visitor, etc.

It can also be a challenge for me to visit other churches – trying to not be critical, fighting pride, not comparing ways I think I could do a better job or ways I would do a worse job, etc.

I thought the worship leader and worship team did a great job at the service we attended. They were prepared, engaged, expressive, skillful, and tasteful. I had the joy of meeting the worship leader after the service and he was a kind and humble guy.

But going into the service, I had no idea what to expect. What if the worship team was unprepared, disengaged, made up of really weak musicians, and played really loud? What if the songs were poorly chosen? What if the worship leader had a lot of ticks? What if no one in my family sang along or was comfortable with being physically expressive?

As I drove to church with these questions on my mind, God reminded me that none of the questions mattered. Only one thing mattered: he is unceasingly and unconditionally worthy of worship – whether the band is good or the band is bad. Whether the songs are great or the songs are horrible. Whether the worship leader is experienced and skilled or inexperienced and riddled with ticks. He deserves my worship. God is not interested in picky worshipers who will only do so when all their preferences are catered to. Rather, these are the “…kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshippers must worship him in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23b, 24)

My guess is that all of us who have a role in leading corporate worship in our home churches could always grow in this area. It’s not a good sign if, when you’re not the one leading worship or visiting another church, you become Simon Cowell. “I would have done that differently.” “This is a dumb song.” “Why is that guy leading worship?” “I can’t hear the bass.” Fill in your own critical statement here.

It’s also not a good sign when you’re engaged in singing and worshipping God with passion and conviction when you’re up front – but then doing the exact opposite when you’re not.

God calls that pride – and he is clear on what pride will bring about. “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2) “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) “‘Scoffer’ is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.” (Proverbs 21:24)

You and I will be fighting pride until the day we’re in heaven. Until then, it’s a good idea for us to pray for God to be making us humble, and making us worshipers who will worship him in Spirit and truth.

It was an incredibly freeing experience for me to turn off my critiquing, put aside my silly “what-if’s”, fix my eyes of the worthiness and glory of God, and sing to him from the congregation. Hopefully, by God’s grace, I’ll be a more humble and genuine worship leader because of it.

The Importance of Leaving Space

open_field_homepage One common mistake that worship leaders make is failing to leave space either during or after songs. Instead of viewing that space as something that is biblical and helpful, it’s seen as either being awkward or a waste of time. So where the worship leader could just play for several measures after a chorus and allow room for the congregation to consider what they’ve just sung – he jumps in and talks the whole time. Or where there could be a time of silence after a song, the worship leader rushes on to the next one.

It’s helpful to leave space for a variety of reasons:

Sometimes I don’t know what else to do
Oftentimes I’ll get a sense as we’re singing that we should move in a direction I hadn’t planned. This could be going back to a verse we sang earlier, offering a word of encouragement, a prayer, skipping a song, singing a different song, highlighting a line we sang, etc. Other times I’ll get a sense that we should do something – I just don’t know what. I’m learning to not be afraid, when this happens, to just pause (I’ll usually play quietly) and wait for clearer direction. This gives me time to consider where the Holy Spirit might be leading, how to smoothly transition in that direction, and how to communicate it to the congregation and worship team. If some time has passed and I still don’t have a clear sense of what I should do, I’ll just move on in the direction I had planned.

Sometimes we need to think about what we’ve just sung before moving on
We can be singing amazing truths but be thinking about whether or not we like how the drummer is playing. Our minds can wander so far off during a song that we can get to the end and realize we weren’t even paying attention to the words that were coming out of our mouths. Leaving space after or during a song is one way to help re-focus on what we’re singing. A little bit of direction can be helpful, such as: “before we sing that verse again, let’s take a moment to allow the truth we’re singing – that all of our sin, every single one, is ‘nailed to the cross and (we) bear it no more’ – to sink in to our hearts”. A little of space here could go a long way.

For many people, the only time they’re ever “still” is on Sunday mornings
I would suspect this is true around the world – not just for people who live in the crazy pace of Washington D.C. Many people who walk into the service on Sunday morning have been going non-stop, making no time to be still and quiet before God since they left church the previous week (if they even made time for that!). I can serve these people by giving them an opportunity to experience a few minutes of stillness and quiet on Sunday morning.

After we’ve sung 4 or 5 songs, and before we sit to hear the scripture readings, I might say something like: “let’s be still for a few moments and allow God to speak to us” or I might not say anything at all.

If people aren’t comfortable being still before God in a church service, how can we expect them be comfortable with it at home? Intentionally leaving space is not only a good way to stretch yourself as a worship leader, but also a good way to stretch your congregation.

Leaving space is certainly a biblical value. In Psalm 62:1, David wrote: “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.” And throughout the Psalms, the word “Selah” appears, which was most likely a direction to stop and consider what was just sung. David prayed in Psalm 131:1-2, “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.”

It’s good to leave space in our times of corporate worship to “calm” and “quiet” our souls before God. Rushing through the songs does a disservice to the congregation in the long run because it makes periods of “calm” and “quiet” look like wasted time.

The main reason why I think most worship leaders make the mistake of failing to leave space is that it makes them nervous. We think that if we leave some silence at the end of the song then everyone will either be really bored or staring at us wondering how long it will last. We’re afraid that if we pause after a verse then everyone will think we’ve forgotten the lyrics. If this is you, I’d suggest two things: First, pray that God would fill you with his Spirit when you lead – reminding you that “…God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (I Timothy 1:7) Secondly, practice stillness with your congregation. The only way people will get used to “space” is by experiencing it. It might be awkward for some at first, but through your sensitive and strong leadership, they’ll grow in it and learn to value it.

Handling Awkward Moments – Breaking a String

string If worship leaders (who lead from guitar) had to list their number one most-dreaded moment, breaking a guitar string would most likely be at the very top.

One moment you’re happily strumming away, oblivious to the trauma your guitar is about to inflict upon you. The next moment, in the blinking of an eye, the string has snapped, your guitar is out of tune, your face is red, your band is confused, keen-eyed congregation members are snickering, and all of the sudden it feels like you just started playing guitar about eight minutes ago.

What do you do?

Don’t freak out
This is the first and most important step. The fact that your guitar string just broke is the biggest deal in the world to you – but not nearly as important to anyone else in the room. There is nothing you can do about it now. Your string is broken. Take a deep breath and stay focused on helping people encounter God, not share in your wallowing.

Keep singing
You would be surprised at how many people in the room have no idea when you break a string, if your drummer is in 6/8 but you’re in 4/4, if your singer is clapping on beats one and three, if your bass player is playing an A instead of an F#m, etc. Either they’re not sensitive enough to the music to notice such things, or they’re (thankfully) too focused of the greatness of God to be distracted by relatively minor issues. Don’t do anything (like stop singing) to draw people’s attention to your broken string. Play it cool, lead with your voice, and pretend that part of the song’s arrangement was for you to sit out. Most guitarists could play less anyway.

Unwind the broken string while you keep singing
The broken string will dangle and rattle around against the other strings unless you do something about it. You don’t have time to be picky about what to do, so either just yank it out by the bridge or unwind it from the tuners. (Note: don’t unwind it from the tuners by turning the tuning knob. This isn’t necessary because there is no longer any tension on the string. Grab the string near the top of the tuner and unwind it until you can pull it out). Once you’ve done this, just let it fall to the floor. You can pick it up later. Do this carefully so you don’t make a lot of noise!

If the guitar is relatively in tune, keep playing
You’ll be thrown off without all six strings, but you’ll still be able to provide at least some degree of rhythm and instrumental support.

If the guitar is out of tune, stop playing
Either go a cappella or let your other instrumentalists carry the rest of the song. Depending on the strength of your other instrumentalists this could go a number of different ways. But, it’s not a good option for you to keep playing with an out of tune guitar. It will be less distracting for in-tune instrumentalists to play weakly, than out-of-tune instrumentalist to play stubbornly.

Change your string after the singing is over
If I break a string during our opening time of singing, I’ll replace it in the back room during the sermon so that it’s ready to go for the closing song. In order to do this, I’m always sure I have a full set of guitar strings in my case.

Change your strings early and often
I’m always amazed when guitarists are playing on strings that they put on eight months ago. This is not something to brag about. These strings not only sound bad, but they’re hard to play on and they’re at risk of breaking. As a preventative measure, try to avoid playing on beat-up, corroded, or old strings in a service.

Have a back-up guitar close by
Whenever I lead from the guitar, I have a back-up guitar set up, tuned, and within close reach. Yes, it’s a bit of a hassle to carry two guitars around before and after the service. It takes some extra time to get them both tuned. I only end up needing it about once every two months, at most. But when I do need it – it’s worth every bit of the hassle and more. Both guitars sit on a double guitar stand, reducing the amount of space they take up. Setting up two guitars has become part of my routine and it doesn’t seem like too much work anymore. When my string does break, I am incredibly grateful for the back-up.

Don’t think you’ve ruined the service
If you handle this awkward moment with patience and self-control, the likelihood of anyone remembering your broken string by the time Sunday dinner has rolled around is very small. Use this as an opportunity to be humbled and reminded of your total need of God’s grace. Laugh at yourself too.