Are Worship Pastors Becoming Extinct?
The Key word here is “Pastors”. We have tons of technicians, musicians, etc. etc. but a shortage of pastors.
Glenn again nails it here. So I will re-post in total
Thanks Glenn:
Over the past seven years, I have served as the Director of the New Life School of Worship, a 9-month program designed to train worship leaders for local churches. We believe that to effectively prepare our students for local church worship ministry they need to be trained in more than music. They need to be grounded in theology, familiar with church history, and responsible with their handling of the Scriptures. Moreover, they need to learn what it means to be a pastor: to shepherd the people under their care.
But it seems that some churches aren’t looking for that. They would prefer a musician who can lead the “singing”, oversee the tech team, and produce recordings of their original songs. None of these are bad expectations, of course. But are we looking for these trade skills at the expense of other, more essential pastoral qualities? Are worship leaders simply highly skilled technicians who have a “steady gig” at a church?
Today’s worship leader may spend more time with his Macbook than with a real book. She may be more familiar with GarageBand than the people in her band. He may be better versed with directing the choir than providing spiritual direction.
Of course, the trade side of being a worship leader and the pastoral side are not mutually exclusive. A person can be good at Pro Tools and at pastoring the people on his team. The trouble is we’ve lost the sacredness of the pastoral vocation. Any person who says their core role is to pray, study, and provide spiritual direction is not as “useful” to the corporation we call church. What else can you do? we ask. Then we proceed to fill so much of their time time with scheduling bands, arranging music, and working with the latest recording software that they are no longer doing any pastoral work. Musicians and singers become cogs in a wheel, things we use to fill slots. True, the administration needs to be done. And yes, musical excellence is valuable. But at what price?
Ross Parsley, the long-time worship pastor here at New Life, is fond of saying that music ministry is not about music; it’s about people. Worship ministry is first a sort of a “helps” ministry that serves the Body of Christ. But more to the point, it is an excuse for us to connect with one another. Music is the table we gather around, the place where we see each other face to face, and then learn how to walk alongside one another in this life of faith.
Perhaps the question every church who hires a worship pastor– and every aspiring worship pastor– should answer is this: What will Jesus ask us about: the music we produced, the services we programmed? Or the people we pastored, the sheep we fed?
Take time today and think about the people on your team. Pray for them. Pick up the phone and call them. Break bread with them. Talk to them about more than the setlist. Remember your calling as a worship pastor, not a music program manager. Clear some of the clutter from your week. Maybe it’s time to appoint others to do the tasks that are keeping you from your role as a shepherd. You have never met a mere mortal. Our music will not last forever; these people will.
Walking Together
Our family has only one car and in a city the size of Colorado Springs with a family as active as ours this can present quite a challenge on some days.
Recently Kim and I were looking at our schedule for the day and realized we needed to be in several different places at the same time. Since I ride my bicycle a lot and don’t have to be dressed professionaly I volunteered to walk from a meeting at the church which is about 5 miles.
It was a beautiful day I had plenty of time and was in no particular hurry so I strode away from the church at a purposeful but leisurely pace. Very soon I began to catch up with a young man just ahead of me. As it became clear I was going to overtake him I began the conversation in my head.
Should I just walk on by? should I acknowledge him, engage him in conversation? should I walk with him? Very soon the decision was made for me. He turned and said “Good Morning, where are you headed?”
As I walked with him I learned he is 21 yrs old from Nevada where he was the son of a prostitute and grew up in a crack house. Began selling drugs at a very early age and at the age of 17 he and his fiance came to Colorado to deliver some sold product where he was arrested and placed in jail in Colorado Springs. While there he received his GED and a certificate in computers. He now holds a good job but does not know how to drive and must rely on others to drive him. Today the ride didn’t show up thus the hike.
We also talked about his faith and his understanding of God and how God had a plan for him. At the end of the line for him I was able to give him my phone number, pray for him and encourage him to press into relationship with the Father who loves him and wants him to walk in the fullness of all He has created him to be.
The longer I study and consider Jesus time on earth the more I am convinced He came at a time without mass media, email, public transportation or interstates. He came at a time when people walked together. I think of Jesus walking for hours along the road with His disciples and the day of His resurrection when He walked to Emmaus with two men. Things were discussed and taught in ways we very seldom have opportunity for in our cars driving 4.5 mph over the speed limit.
Teaching classroom style certainly has it’s place but it’s only the beginning. We must spend time with those entrusted to us walking with them and answering questions in context using our surroundings to teach and illustrate. So much is missed and incorrectly inferred when we download information to those entrusted to us and leave them to work it out on their own.
This week as you are considering the conversations your going to have with those entrusted to you or with your wife, husband, children etc. etc. consider going for a walk.
This is how we should stand
It has been my experience over the last couple of years that most of the time when discussing politics we argue based on a faulty premise.We accept things based on assumptive language without debate or discussion about the foundational issue.
So today when I ran across this post from The American Thinker I had to post it for you. If your not reading The American Thinker on a regular basis your missing brilliant commentary.
Here is the money quote:
I haven’t read the health care bill, HR 3200. It’s not because I don’t care what’s in it; rather, I oppose the bill because I don’t accept the premise that it’s needed or even constitutional.
Click through and read the whole article and before you go off on your next conversation consider the premise. Is it even valid?
The American Thinker: I Don’t Accept the Premise
10 keys for effective worship leaders (10)
3. Preparation
5. Excellence
6. A Lifestyle of Personal Worship
7. Humility
8. Vision
Todays Key:
10. Love for Gods Word
Last but certainly not least and maybe the most important of the list.
Psalm 1:2 says “blessed is the man whose delight is the law of the Lord”.
Job 23:12 says “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
Jeremiah 15:16 says “Your word to me was the joy and rejoicing of my heart”
1 John 5:3 says “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome”
His commandments are not burdensome. As worship leaders we must know and have a love for His Word. We must be able to rightly divide the word of truth. It is in His word we find wisdom and understanding of how to lead those entrusted to us. Our team day to day and the congregation on Sunday. Unless we have heard from God we have nothing of value to give.
I’ll leave you with this thought from
Hans Ur von Balthasar:
Harassed by life, exhausted, we look about us for somewhere to be quiet, to be genuine, a place of refreshment. We yearn to restore our spirits in God, to simply let go in him and gain new strength to go on living.
But we fail to look for him where he is waiting for us, where he is to be found; in his Son, who is his Word.
Or else seek for God because there are a thousand things we want to ask him, and imagine that we cannot go on living unless they are answered. We inundate him with problems, with demands for information, for clues, for an easier path, forgetting that in his Word he has given us the solution to every problem and all the details we are capable of grasping in this life.
We fail to listen where God speaks; where God’s Word rang out in the world once for all, sufficient for all ages, inexhaustible. Or else we think that God’s Word has been heard on earth for so long that by now it is almost used up. That it is about time for some new word, as if we had the right to demand one. We fail to see that it is we ourselves who are used up and alienated, whereas the Word resounds with the same vitality and freshness as ever; it is just as near to us as it always was.
Hans Ur von Balthasar, Prayer. Trans. Graham Harrison (San Fancisco: Ignatius Press, 1986)
If we are going to be effective in ministry at any level, or in life, we must develop a love for Gods Word. They are the words of life where else can we go. In the busyness of life and ministry I exhort you to be unbalanced in the time you spend with Him.
Blessings
10 Keys for effective worship leaders (9)
3. Preparation
5. Excellence
6. A Lifestyle of Personal Worship
7. Humility
8. Vision
Todays Key:
9. Love for Gods Church
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says to Peter “I will build My Church”.
The Church is His. They are His people. We have been asked to steward it until He returns.
The Church is not a place for my self actualization, or primarily an outlet for my gift. I have stated many times as leaders we must recognize, call out, equip, and release people into the fullness of their calling and gifting.
However the Church is not a vehicle to be used by me.
Phillipians chapter two says Jesus divested Himself of any self interest and was obedient to the point of death on a cross “therefore” God placed Him. We must have the same attitude.In order to be placed in the fullness of our calling we must lay down our life for the Kingdom.
We must serve His people.
When we have a proper understanding of our position in the body and our responsibility to serve Gods people it brings perspective and gives us more patience knowing God has our best interest at heart. The desire in your heart was put there by God and He wants it for you more than you want it for you. Lay down your life for the kingdom and watch God do a miracle in the body and in you.
Blessings,
Number ten is here.
10 keys for effective worship leaders (8)
3. Preparation
5. Excellence
6. A Lifestyle of Personal Worship
7. Humility
Todays Key:
8. Vision
Vision is a word we throw around a lot. I always hear people quoting Proverbs 29:18, we have all heard the importance of vision, I just don’t hear much vision casting going on.
Vision is what you see, the end result of what your doing. It’s not a goal or an elevator speech. It can be very long and drawn out. It all depends on what you “see”. The best example I know of is the Hillsong vision, “The Church I See“. Don Cousins asks the question this way. “What will it look like when your done?”.
Every time we stand in front of our people we should be casting vision. What is your vision for the ministry entrusted to you? It needs to be big enough for people to come under and have their own vision flourish. (yes those entrusted to you have their own vision and yours needs to be big enough for theirs to fit into). What is your vision for the service this morning. What is your vision for the event were working on? What are you expecting God to do in this rehearsal?
Lets stop talking about vision and start casting it.
Blessings,
Number nine is here.
10 Keys for effective worship leaders (6)
3. Preparation
5. Excellence
Todays Key:
6. A Lifestyle of Personal Worship
Your personal worship time is where it all begins. It is in these times God brings you into the fullness of your calling and speaks to you things too wonderful which you do not know.
Only when we go to the mountain do we have anything of real value to give to the congregation. We cannot take people to a place we have not been.
There are times when I have known exactly what God wants to say to His people. There are other times when He is silent and I have learned when this happens often He is saying “what do you have to offer me this wee”. Either way He is faithful and will meet me where I am and at the same time meet with His people. I am constantly amazed by Him.
Don’t ever allow busyness to take the place of personal worship.
Number seven is here.
Know Your Music Culture
In the midst of our 10 Keys for effective worship leaders I found this great post from Russ Hutto, Check it out.
As a worship leader it’s good to know WHO you’re creating worship spaces for. You have to view your “worship leading” as an act of worship through serving. You’re not up there to get famous or to worship mindlessly in front of a crowd. You are there to GIVE. Not to take, not to consume, but to give.
Be sure to click through and read the whole thing.
Know Your Music Culture (RussHutto.com)
10 Keys for effective worship leaders (5)
3. Preparation
Todays Key:
5. Excellence
This is a big one.
I often hear people saying things like “that’s good enough” or “It doesn’t have to be perfect”. We have to be very careful with that attitude. We must always remember we are representing the Kingdom and God always gives us His best. We should offer Him no less than our best.
Excellence does not mean perfection and means something different in every context. What is excellent for your church could be completely different at the church down the road.
It means representing the Kingdom as well as possible with what you have. Offering our best is an act of worship in itself. Everything we do should be well thought out, well prepared, so we will represent the God we serve in the best possible way.
This could go several different ways. I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences with this idea.
More reading here.
Number six is here.
10 Keys for effective worship leaders (4)
3. Preparation
Todays Key:
4. A Lifestyle of Obedience
What I’m talking about is obedience to God and His word.
In John 14:15 Jesus says if you love me you will keep my commandments. It’s a comment about fruit similar to saying if your healthy you will have a temperature of 98.6 degrees. John 14:15 is talking about obeying the the Word. those things that are known, written down.
In John 15:14 Jesus says you are my friends if you do whatever I command you. He is referring to hearing His voice. Do what I tell you to do.
If we are going to be effective in ministry of any kind we must have a lifestyle of obedience both to His Word and to His voice.
Blessings,
Number five is here.
My Songs
