Taking Time off the Platform

Aug

Taking Time off the Platform

Posted on August 22nd, 2011 in Church Life, Faith, Sunday Setlists, Worship Confessionals, Worship Leadership by Fred McKinnon

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Hey Gang,

For all of you worship leaders … when was the last time you got off the platform? For all you church goers – when was the last time you saw your leader off-stage?

I’ve been off the platform for the past two Sundays at SSCC.

Two Sundays ago my wife and I took the weekend (sans kids, thanks to my mom!) and went away to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary together. I tuned into our worship services via our SSCCLive.Com internet broadcast and enjoyed seeing my friend Russ Hutto lead the worship. You could say I was truly “off” that Sunday, except for about 15 minutes of emailing and texting when our scheduled drummer for the youth service was a no-show.

Yesterday I was back at work, but off the stage. My friend Shannon Lewis led worship for us. (read his recap of the service and the setlist on his blog) It’s so funny to hear how many people come up and say “you’re off today”?

I believe that as leaders, we have a responsibility to raise up and empower other leaders. As we work to duplicate ourselves and multiply our efforts we have to step aside and let other leaders flourish.

This Sunday, Shannon’s leading in our main sanctuary gave me the ability to do several things:

1. give him a chance to lead and bless our congregation with his gifts (we all lead differently, and the diversity is good)
2. gave me a chance to mingle more with our people as they came in and connect with them relationally
3. gave me a chance to worship in the congregation and get the much-needed perspective of what that’s like
4. gave me the chance to observe the culture of worship in each of our venues (Tiny Town, Kid Jam Clubhouse, Youth Rooftop)

Being off the stage brings so much perspective. From the congregation I can see how the audio mix is sounding (great job, Ben!), I can observe how people are engaging, how our lighting feels when it’s adjusted in the room, what other distractions may be occurring that we miss from the stage, etc.

Some of you are in a church where you have nobody else to lead worship. It’s you, or it’s a CD. I’d like to encourage you to really pray and ask God to bring in more leaders. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you eyes to see who on your team may be that next leader. Begin to mentor them. Take the “you lead with me, I lead with you, you lead” approach.

My goal is to be completely off-platform 2-3 times per quarter. I typically adhere to that unless I have a very specific reason for not doing it.

How about you?

(this recap is a part of the “Sunday Setlists” event hosted by TheWorshipCommunity.Com each week)

http://www.journeyofworship.com Chris Gambill

Fred, thanks for this reminder and challenge. I didn’t do so well at this in my last ministry. I’m hoping this will be an area I grow in and do better with the next time around. Thanks for the encouragement.
Chris
http://www.journeyofworship.com Chris Gambill

Fred, thanks for this reminder and challenge. I didn’t do so well at this in my last ministry. I’m hoping this will be an area I grow in and do better with the next time around. Thanks for the encouragement.
Chris

http://www.fredmckinnon.com fmckinnon

Chris,
I hear ya, bro … we learn as we keep moving forward!

http://www.onevoiceworship.org Harold

Fred, I think this is crucial, for all the reasons you mention.

I’m fortunate to have a team of four friends to share the worship leading responsibility with. We’ve got a 50-something (me), a 40-something, and then a 30-ish young lady and 25-ish young man. Both the younger ones have grown up here. I’ve had the privilege of being involved in discipling them and training them, and now leading with them.

We all support and help one another, being mindful of each leader’s strengths and weaknesses (who leads from an instrument, who needs a leader on an instrument to support them, etc.). I only lead once or twice in a two-month period, but I play guitar another two or three times.

It’s great to share the load, and it gives me freedom to travel to work with friends in other churches, or just to be home and participate in what’s going on. It’s amazing how refreshing it is sometimes just to ‘be the guitar player’!

Also, as you mentioned, the diversity is great. We don’t get in a rut with songs, styles, etc. (‘I am of Apollos, I’m of Peter’ mentality can really apply to our worship habits and preferences).

Thanks for the encouragement!

http://www.fredmckinnon.com fmckinnon

Harold,
Great feedback – sounds like you’ve done an awesome job bringing up that culture of leadership and diversity! Great.
Thanks for jumping in!
Fred

Alastair Vance

I’d actually love to be off stage more than that.

I’m aiming for at least once per month to be off stage. I guess if you are full time employed by a church it’s a little different. I have a full-time job elsewhere and on top of that lead worship every weekend. I can feel worn out if I don’t work in a weekend off somewhat regularly.

** EDIT – ha, I first read 2-3 times a year in your post Fred. 2-3 times a quarter is really good. So glad you can do that. We sure need to pray that more leaders come through our church. I totally believe in raising leaders to replace me.

http://www.fredmckinnon.com fmckinnon

Alastair,
Man, I can only imagine – that’s tough, for sure … definitely work it in. It’s also important to make sure the leadership understands the culture. Sadly, in too many churches, the leaders think “I’m paying you to lead worship” as opposed to “paying you to create a culture of worship and leaders”. Big difference.

Debbie Flack

I’ve been a singer on our church’s worship team for many years (somewhere around 20+ years). I long to lead worship, but alas there has been very little progress in mentoring new leaders on our team. We have a new Pastor, and my hope is that he has a vision for training new leaders and will push for progress there.

Whatever happens, I still love to worship my Jesus, and strive for contentment right where he has placed me. Thank you for posting this. I am truly enjoying all the resources that the Worship Community has here.
Matt Goss

Great blog! I think for some, they may feel it as a “threat” or an encroachment of territory to have someone else doing their “job”. For me, it is a blessing to see others rise up to the challenge. Not to mention it keeps the home life healthy!!!

http://www.fredmckinnon.com fmckinnon

Matt
Thanks man. I think one could definitely feel that way if the culture isn’t there expectingnusnto create leaders.
Sent from my iPad

laurarice247

I’ve been off the platform the last two weeks also, and several times this summer due to travels and letting other “configurations” offer the music worship. Our congregation and pastor like the variety and it stretches us all. I’m the only one with church and worship experience, so the various musicians who take turns (and the congregation) experience the difference between talented music and worship, but it’s all working together for our good!

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