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Hey Everyone,

Last week I started a series in my “Worship Q&A” series called “Professional Worship Leader”. This series comes from a question posted on Russell’s blog last week regarding a fellow Christian who was aspiring to become what he called a “professional” worship leader.

For the sake of discussion, we’re calling this a full-time worship leader, music minister, etc … someone who is employed on a full-time basis, as their “profession”.

I’d encourage you to read the first post and the incredible (and still ongoing) discussion for Part 1.

Part 1: Training
Part 2: Calling & Giftings

In the comments area of Pt. 1, Joel Lindsey and several others commented about mere “talent” not being enough - there is the idea of one being “called” by God, and “gifted” in more ways that just music.

The original purpose of this series was to help provide some insights on how a “qualified” person could get that job … that “break” to get involved on a full-time staff. I’ll still discuss this later in the series, but this issue of “Callings and Giftings” really needs to be addressed.

As important as musical and/or vocal ability would be, it’s vitally important that the aspiring Worship Leader be equipped with the giftings necessary to operate in the role of a high-profile leader. As mentioned in my previous post, one shouldn’t just “decide” to become a Worship Leader - they should be called by God. The good news is this … God would not CALL SOMEONE TO THE TASK without EQUIPPING THEM with the NECESSARY GIFTS.

But what are some of these gifts? The answer to this question can vary but there are several that I feel should be woven throughout. Keep in mind, you don’t have to be a master of these gifts - but having them in place is helpful, and one should always have a humble attitude and a willingness to learn and grow.

• Leadership: as evident in the “title” of the position alone, a Worship Leader needs to have the gift of leadership operating in their life. Again, God seldom calls someone to a position that He’s not already equipped them for … or at least, placed a “seed” of this gifting in their hearts. Someone who is “afraid” of leading in front of people or who is “afraid” of leading a band and arranging musicians or vocalists probably would not be the person who feels compelled to the “Worship Leadership” position. To qualify for this position, strong leadership qualities are a must. I think it’s important to stress two things about “Leadership”. First, we shouldn’t confuse a “leader” with a “task master” or “dictator”. Some of the most powerful leaders I know are meek and very humble. Second, leadership qualities CAN BE LEARNED. Leadership is NOT a “you’ve got it, or you don’t” gifting. I have personally benefited from reading books on Leadership and applying those principles in my own life as a Worship Leader. Never be satisfied with your leadership skills, and always seek to excel and learn more in this area.
• Administration: this gift is NOT required. In many larger venues and churches there may be an entirely different staff person or “professional” who handles the administrative tasks involved with effectively leading a worship service. But if that’s not the case, there is a definite need for administrative skills. From scheduling to filing, there is always a good bit of tasks involved in planning, executing, and post-planning for a worship service. A Worship Leader who has some administrative gifting can be much more effective in this area. At the same time, if this is not your strong suit, find someone who can serve beside you to complement that weakness.
• Spiritual Maturity: being the Worship Leader is a high profile job. In most churches, the WL spends as much time (if not more) on the platform in front of the congregation as the main Pastor would. Having spiritual maturity is a must. It’s important to note that you shouldn’t measure this maturity in physical years. I’ve known people who were much more spiritually mature than people who had been a “Christian” for decades longer. A Worship Leader should be a steward of God’s Word and should study the Bible often. This helps in song evaluation, song selection , and helps assure that any vocal “exhortations” given during, before, or after songs are doctrinally sound.
• Teaching/Exhortation: these gifts can often look the same, and I’ve confused them many times. But an effective Worship Leader should have a natural tendency to teach and exhort. Again, this is one of those things that should be done from a humble spirit and should always be done in love. This goes beyond mere teaching of musical licks, rhythms, and melodies. It should extend into the pastoral care of your team - teaching, exhorting, and encouraging them in their walks with Christ. Where liberty and trust is given, it can also extend to your ability to teach and train your local congregation in various aspects of worship.

There are just a few of the gifts that surround the “calling” for someone in music ministry and worship leadership. Coming up, we’ll discuss some heart conditions, attitudes, postures, and of course … some practical ways to serve and make yourself available to potentially receive the honor of serving full-time as a “professional” …. again, a word I hate using, but only use for the sake of the original question asked and the context in which we’re talking.

What do you think?

For the Kingdom,
Fred

• Comments (14)

Hey Everyone -

This question comes from another blogger who is forwarding the question from someone he knows. Thanks to Russell (The Original Mudpuppy) for blogging this. I’d encourage you to check out his post and the numerous comments already posted.

This was a great question though, and to summarize his post it was something like this:

Q: “Both of us wondered out loud how one goes about becoming a “professional” worship leader.”

First of all, what is a “professional worship leader”? This is the main question that was addressed on Russell’s blog by the commenters. Some interpret this to mean a “worship leader” who is famous - touring, making records, etc.

For the sake of our discussion, I’d like to assume that a “professional worship leader” is one who is employed by a church of ministry on a full-time basis. For lack of a better word … it’s their “career”.

First and foremost, I’d suggest that one doesn’t “decide” to be a “professional worship leader” … one is “called”. That’s right - although we can call it a “career” from a practical sense, it’s a true calling. I’d go a step further and say that for those of you who are actively leading worship in churches or ministries and this is NOT your full-time vocation, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that you are any “less called” by God.

That being said, there are a lot of people out there who have talent in music, singing, or both. They are passionate about worshiping God, they enjoy leading others, and have a desire to do this … how do they get that break?

I’d suggest a few things, and would like to cover one step in this article:

1. Training:
In the Old Testament, we see several examples of where the worship leading dudes were “skilled” and “talented”. An example of this is located in 1 Chronicles, 15:22: “Chenaniah, leader of the Levites, was instructor in charge of the music, because he was skillful …”. (emphasis mine)

Granted, if “skill” alone was all that was needed, we’d have an overflow of worship leaders and church musicians. There are so many other requirements we’ll discuss, but skill is still very important. A person who feels called to being a “Worship Leader” should get training. There are schools that are totally devoted to this. At the same time, any education in music or theory can be helpful. I received my Music Degree from Georgia Southern University, a secular college - and I’m not sure if ANY of my professors cared anything about “worship”; however, the information and skills that I learned were vital to me. I also took professional piano lessons from the time I was in first grade all the way through my Performance Degree in college.

Educational institutions are great and necessary. At the same time, we can’t discount the incredible wealth of training we receive by “jumping in” and getting involved. I’ve seen too many young, enthusiastic worshipers feel the “call” to be a “worship leader” and immediately seek a place at the top. That’s not the path God would choose. Become a servant. Humble yourself. Ask “where can I serve” and be submissive to the authority around you.

This may not put you under a spotlight on Sunday morning in front of your largest audience. This may put you with a guitar in hand at a small group on Thursday nights. This may put you on a keyboard for the youth band. This may put you behind a vocal mic for the kid’s ministry. This may have you be proactive and visit your local nursing home once a week to sing and play a few hymns on the old spinnet piano in the cafeteria or rec room. This is a great start.

For me, I never “led” a service until I had been serving as an instrumentalist for years. Granted, part of that reality may be that I did not WANT to lead, because it required me to SING, which I hated to do in front of anyone. Thankfully, God delivered me from that. (those of you who have to LISTEN to me sing may not be so thankful, haha!). I played piano or keyboards for years. I began to use my arranging and theory skills I’d learned and write horn parts and help arrange the band. Then I had the opportunity to lead the college ministry band. It was a progression for me.

Musicians - you should seek to improve on your skill. Take private lessons. Purchase instructional DVDs. Hang out with players who are better than you are and ask for some mentoring.

Vocalists - ditto. Take private lessons. Be open to instruction. Work on technique and learn to become comfortable expressing yourself while singing .. memorize your lyrics so you don’t have to plant your face in a music stand. These are practical tips that will make you so much more prepared, more comfortable and as a result, more able to lead.

I realize that “training” alone doesn’t land you the job … there are several more things we need to cover in addition to some practical ways to get involved and position yourself so that you can be ready when that door opens.

Rest assured - if God is calling you to be a “professional worship leader” (I don’t even like typing that phrase), He will find you. Remember David? He was on the back-forty tending the sheep. He was nowhere in sight .. he wasn’t “posturing” himself to be noticed for the job. He wasn’t promoting himself - He was just worshiping God and doing a great job with his current assignment - tending sheep. That didn’t stop God from getting him … even to send for him to be brought out of the fields. Don’t worry - God knows where you are, and He knows how to “get you” where you need to be.

Your thoughts?
Fred

• Comments (33)

Hey Everyone -

Today is “Worship Q&A #2” … a series I started a while back where I’d like to offer my thoughts on specific questions that I get asked from all of you folks out there who are faithfully reading this blog. If you missed the initial post “Choosing Songs” you may want to go back and check it out as well, as this could be considered a continuation of that discussion.

Today’s question comes from India .. yep, you read that right .. not Indiana .. but India:

hey, i am zaseto from nagaland, india..i have a question regarding leading of praise and worship…is it important that all the song that is sung in a worship service flow on a particular theme or subject?

Well, first - let me say “Zaseto, welcome to the blog and thanks for your questions” … and I’m completely excited to have some Godly Worship Leaders over in India who are plugged in and asking great questions.

I’ve called this “Song Selection Strategy” and it’s a great question that is asked by worship leaders on a frequent basis. I do think that whenever possible, it’s a great idea to try and compliment the overall theme and “vibe” of a planned worship service. The songs and expressions of praise and worship [notice, I said "songs and expressions" ... keep in mind, our worship can and should incorporate more than just "singing songs"] should help to not only facilitate an authentic, spirit-led worship time with God, but also further communicate and clarify the theme or “word” that is being expressed.

What about the “un-planned” worship service, though? Some of you are already smiling as you read that, thinking to yourself “I never have a clue what Pastor is preaching on until he starts his sermon”. Sadly, this is the case in too many congregations but is a realistic evaluation of how things can be. This is especially true in situations where staff is limited, where the Pastor/Teacher may have another job and prepares his messages after hours, or when the Worship Leader is a volunteer and has seldom opportunity to brainstorm, pray or communicate with the Pastor/Teacher. You also have some situations where what was planned is changed at the last minute on Sunday morning.

Worship Leaders must be flexible in these situations and flow with what they have. When all else fails, there is a central theme that should be present in all of our corporate gatherings … the reality that Christ is Lord, that He is awesome, and that He rules and reigns forevermore. The reality that we must surrender to Him, embrace His love and destiny for us, and draw near to Him. Folks - that’s enough reality to craft a powerful song list any day!

On the other hand, there are those of us (like myself) who are blessed with pre-planning, prayer, and communication about what our services and themes will look like. Although I believe God can (and sometimes does) “change things up” from time to time, I also believe that God knows who is coming to what service, when, and knows the very thing that needs to happen far in advance. I believe that the Holy Spirit can equip us for a service 2 months out as easily as He can speak to us about tomorrow night’s service … if we allow Him. Far too often we’ve used “we don’t plan that far out because it limits God and gives Him no room to move spontaneously” as an excuse for the simple lack of discipline to pray, seek the Lord, and execute the plans that He gives. Uh oh … that’s a separate topic altogether though, isn’t it!

Back to the point … I’m blessed to know our Sermon Series as much as 2 weeks to 2-3 months in advance. I meet with the Pastor and a few other leaders each Monday morning to quickly recap the previous service, but more importantly, to plan and discuss what we feel God is leading for the upcoming week. This is when we massage my setlist and brainstorm on ideas.

There are a number of tools and resources available to help you choose songs by “theme”. SongSelect (from CCLI) is a great tool and I even categorize all of my songs in our database (we use PlanningCenterOnline) and I use this often. My primary focus is on that last song - the response time where we “respond” in worship, singing, altar ministry, or whatever … to the word or message that was delivered. If believe that if I can find a song that will tie that main point together and express it as worship back to God that this time will be more powerful and will have greater impact.

Finally, I’d like to encourage you to not feel “obligated” or “forced” to make this happen. Far too often, we “force” the songlist to work or flow with something that just doesn’t work, or just isn’t as effective. When it’s all said and done, I’d rather have a smooth flow of material with easy transitions, nice key changes, and active corporate participation than to have a “songlist” that echoes the sermon or theme perfectly. Keep in mind … the people God has entrusted to you are counting on you to lead and assist them into a time where they can encounter God and worship Him in Spirit and truth.

So in summary, whenever possible we should try to creatively use our song selection to enhance the overall theme and message of a given corporate gathering. At the same time, this shouldn’t be forced at the expense of using songs that aren’t as corporate-friendly or that don’t give themselves to a smooth flow. Keep in mind that regardless of what the “teaching” may be about, there is still an overall theme that we can always echo - God’s sovereign power, rule, and power in all the earth, and the response which that evokes in our hearts.

Any comments? How about the next question? Leave your comments or “Worship Q&A Suggestions” below!

For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon

• Comments (11)

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to the Worship Q&A #1 … I’m excited about this series. If you have a question that applies to worship leadership, please post it as a comment here on the blog!

This week’s question comes from Harry Offutt in Fallston, MD:

How do you find the current bell curve of “current worship tunes”. Is there are source? I need this for churches exploring Contemporary worship. Familiar is way more important than cutting edge, new worship songs to me. But not old familiar. I hope that makes sense.

For example, some churches have never even heard “Shout To The Lord” and it is no where near new. I hear Drew mention songs like “Hungry” and I have no idea which song that is. I listen to some CCM radio, but with dozens of Wow worship CDs on the shelf, how do you pick what is good and generally well received and not just the ones the labels are trying to push?? There’s a lot to pick from!

My Response:

Great question, Harry. I could easily create a “series within a series” to answer that one. There are so many resources out there to choose from. You are so correct in observing the plethora of marketing that goes into promoting “worship music” these days. Not only is there an overwhelming supply of new music, but there is also the process of figuring out what music “fits” your church, the congregation, the culture, and style. That in itself can be a huge challenge as many congregations have a wide assortment of age groups and culture groups represented in one service.

Resources:

Again, there are way too many worship resources out there to discuss in this blog article. I’ll give you a recap of some of my favorite resources that I pull from, and why.

CCLI Top 25: CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing Intl.) keeps track of the most popular songs as reported by congregations all across the world. As a result, they make their “Top 25 Songs” available online. This is one of the best finds for proven material. You may not have the “latest, most cutting edge” songs in this list, but you have proven songs that work in worshiping congregations. By the way … “Shout To The Lord” sits at #5 from the most recent reporting period. Not bad for a song that is older … but timeless.

Worship Leader’s SongDISCovery Program: I’ve been a subscriber of SongDISCovery since it first launched. This is a compilation disc that accompanies the subscription to Worship Leader magazine. As stated on their website, “Song DISCovery exists as a resource to bring you some of the best new music for worship. Our mission is to equip Worship Leaders with a broad and diverse selection of worship songs and resources that they can quickly integrate and use in their worship settings—the following Sunday and for years to come.” It’s a great resource, but I wish they would feature more indie material - the labels still have influence in getting material on SongDISCovery, which isn’t a bad thing … but I often wish there were more tracks available for tunes that aren’t already heavily promoted by the labels. I still give it a huge thumbs up as a great resource and think any church should foot the small bill for their Worship Staff to have a subscription to this resource.

Label Clubs and Subscriptions: most all of the worship labels have a “direct mail” or “club” where you can get their latest release. I did this for years - getting the latest Integrity release, the latest Vineyard release, Vertical, etc. This is where I got overwhelmed with material and I found that the great songs on those albums have a way of finding their way to worship leaders … meaning, you’ll hear those songs on worship radio, you’ll see them discussed online, and they’ll start showing up in CCLI’s Top 100 and at conferences.

Original or “Indie” Music: this is one area that excites me the most. Some of my favorite songs are those which I’ve discovered through networking relationships or online. It excites me to find a great corporate worship song that isn’t “overdone by everyone else”. It gives something new, something fresh for your congregation. Original songs are even better - assuming you have those in your midst who are composers, singing original praise and worship songs can be a powerful reflection of what God is stirring in your local congregation.

I do a podcast called the “Highest Praise Worship Podcast” (web | iTunes) where I feature some of the original or “indie” music that I’ve discovered online. Sadly, I’ve not been as faithful to crank out those podcasts ever month as I should, but that’s a discipline I’m working on. There are also lots of blogs and worship podcasts (and Worship Confessionals) that are becoming popular where worship leaders discuss their song selections. You can find out about many of those in TheWorshipCommunity.Com where this is often discussed.

Some of my favorite places to find original/indie music are:
IndieHeaven.Com (IH home | my IH Artist Page)
MySpace (there are some great worship bands with original material on MySpace)
ShoutLife (ditto from MySpace, plus you don’t get all the smut on ShoutLife that is on MySpace)

Enough Resources - Weed Down the List

Ok, so we’ve already posted more resources than any one person can keep up with. The next step is to prayerfully consider your congregation. Song Selection is a big chore, and it also will be addressed soon as one of my “Worship Leading Mistakes” articles. Some questions to ask when choosing songs:

1 - does the style of this music fit the culture of my congregation?
2 - is your church’s band capable of reproducing the arrangement, or if not … will a scaled down, more simple arrangement still work?
3 - is this a song that is condusive to corporate participation (not too wordy, too syncopated — these songs can still be used, but sometimes are better as special music or “performance” type songs)

If you can answer those questions with a positive outlook, you may have found a song that works for your congregation. I like to do a new song as “special music” or in our case at St. Simons Community … a “walk in” song and feel how the congregation responds to it.

Ideally, I’d like to keep these Q&A shorter .. but this is a HUGE question, and I’ve only scratched the surface. My main encouragement would be to NOT fall victim to “pressure” to do all the newest, greatest songs. Find what works, and don’t forget to always blend in the older choruses and hymns … there is usually a need for this and a demographic who not only desires it, but appreciates it when you consider them.

That’s a wrap on Q&A #1 … what are your thoughts and what questions would you like to see answered in a future edition?

For the Kingdom,
Fred

• Comments (3)