At Stonebrook / The Rock, we don’t have a specific “worship pastor” (and I don’t think one is required for a church), rather we have volunteer, mature(ish) men leading bands, but I believe strongly that this kind of character is something each member of a “worship band” needs to be growing in and toward, and desire to obtain.

One statistic that surprised me was how little a churches style of music or service mattered in a “young-unchurched” person’s decision to attend a church or not.

Read my review over at my personal Web site.

The Sojourn Music blog has a good little write-up about Epiphany and why we should recognize it.

It’s a time to focus on the gradual revelation of Jesus’ person and mission in the minds and hearts of his disciples as He ministered on earth, and a time to realize our own mission: to spread the gospel, declare “the Kingdom is at hand,” and carry the “ministry of reconciliation” wherever we go.

The literal definition for “liturgy” is “the work of the people.” It come from the Greek Leitourgia. In Ancient Greece, before Jesus came, this word referred to work done by citizens of a community, for the community. When we assemble together as a community of faith, our “liturgy” is the work we do together. The reason it’s helpful to think of our worship service in this way and to instruct our congregations is that it helps us all to remember that corporate worship is not a concert or a spectator sport.

Top 5 things I miss about 90s worship.

Key takeaways:

• Use a click track
• Pay attention to tuning
• Pay attention to dynamics (and arrangements in general)
• Pay attention to transitions
• PREPARE

Check out the list.

He shares my perplexity over the term “worship” and “worship leader” and gives a very helpful analogy to describe it. Worship life as a metropolis:

While no metaphor is perfect, this analogy helps us to understand worship. Consider the terms proper and metro: In the metropolis of worship, there is a worship-proper which consists of seeking God in prayer, learning the Judeo-Christian story as told in Scripture, and talking with God through the mysteriously vulnerable language of song–all of those “churchy” things. These things are the core, the urban center, of the worship metropolis. From this core, Christians “commute” from worship-proper out to worship-metro – to the suburbs of the Christian life. Suburban sprawl is a good thing in this context–it’s called building God’s Kingdom.

Check it out: The Metropolis of Worship.

This letter is an attempt at defining a few points of what it takes to be a worship leader, lead worshiper, and maybe on more general terms, a mature follower of Christ. I believe that at a very basic level, a growing follower of Christ with musical skill and some leadership skill (that is a combination of organizational and relational skill) can lead worship. However, throwing a young (immature) Christian in this position too soon can lead to pride “the condemnation of the devil” (1 Tim 3:6). By the grace of God alone, I have made it thus far (why Come Thou Fount is one of my favorite hymns) and I want to attempt to identify some key areas in which God is working on me that sustain me in this ministry.

I hope that this letter will help challenge, instruct, and motivate young and aspiring worship leaders, as well as older members of the music ministry in understanding what it looks like to “offer your life as a living sacrifice, which is our spiritual act of worship” which I believe is what will happen if one has truly accepted God’s grace (the gospel).

This list is not comprehensive and I should probably go and put the scripture references I draw this from in-line, but it’s a list of things I see the young guys in our church who want to lead worship needing, and thing I myself need constantly.

In that spirit, a worship leader is:

A passionate lover of God

Read the psalms. What is David’s (and other Psalmists) reaction (physical and emotional) to God’s work in their lives? Dancing! Shouting! Singing! Playing of instruments! Raising of hands! Bowing prostrate in humility, reverence and awe. Surrender. Repentance. Utter, complete, and unique reliance on God as sustainer. Weeping. Tears. Inability to sleep because of obsession with connection with God. Verbal proclamation of God’s work, majesty, power, and dominion to everyone they come into contact with. Public humiliation of themselves because they are so exuberant about God. Utter hatred of God’s enemies (note: in present day, these are not people… Ephesians 6:12). Utter rejection of the ways of God’s enemies.

• Do you hunger for God’s word?
• Do you yearn for time to get away alone with God?
• Does your soul pant for God as a deer pants for water?
• Are you anxiously awaiting the next time you can get together with God’s people to praise him?

In Acts (and reports from the epistles) how did the early Christians’ lives change as a result of reception of the Gospel? Persecution, martyrdom, selling of their possessions as needed. Constant proclamation of the gospel. Also: uniquely and signally:

A lover of people

A majority of the New Testament commands to Christians fall in this arena. It is our chief mark as a follower of Christ. It is the first and foremost thing on God’s mind. People.

As Christians we genuinely care about and desire to love, serve, build, help, and heal people. We care about the destiny and health of their souls. We grieve to see one in need.

This is purely a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is not something that comes naturally to me. I am an introvert. People, by nature, bother me. I’d rather be alone with a book, my wife, and my daughter, or my close friends. Being with anyone else is draining on my soul without Christ’s Spirit in me. But his Spirit in me causes me to see people as he does, like sheep without a shepherd, helpless and harassed, and His Spirit causes me to want to care for them.

As a worship leader, this is our desire for people.

They do not exist for my benefit. To make me feel good, serve me, praise me. Women do not exist for my use. This is why a worship leader is:

Pure in their relationships

• How do you treat your sisters?
• What is in your heart and head about women?
• Are girls in the church potential mates or sisters to be protected and served?
• Are non-believing women objects of my lust or enslaved, dead, souls, in need of Jesus to rescue them?

For years as a Christian, I looked at women as potential dates. My interaction with them was for the purpose of impressing them and subtly seducing them and capturing their hears for my use. One particular summer, Christ pinned me to the floor and changed my mind about this. My heart was broken and the way I saw women changed totally from that point forward. Christian women are LITERALLY my mothers and sisters. Non-Christian women are enslaved souls that are constantly abused by men and in need of rescue and regeneration of the Holy Spirit. My interaction with them is solely along this line. My desire now is to protect their hearts from myself and other men around them. This must be a worship leaders heart or you will become (or remain) a distraction to women in worship leading. This is the most common problem I hear of with women and young men leading worship.

I believe this is the primary stumbling block of young men in relationships, but it is certainly not the only one. Peace and unity with our brothers and sisters is paramount in our position as worship leader. Proactive pursuit of reconciliation is the mark of a mature Christian (Romans 12:9-21). This requires a great deal of humility which is why a worship leader is:

Humble

This is my weakest area. It is a weakness that is passed on to those around me. It is a weakness my wife suffers from (in different ways) because of me. It is the biggest stumbling block in my life.

I have always been a very confident person. I have always been told that I can do anything I want. I got excellent grades in High School (and not so good grades in college). I pride myself (there it is again) in my non-conformity and “bucking the system” and “rocking boats”. I have experienced a lot of success in my life and have been given a bit of skill in a few areas that garners a lot of praise. I have always been fairly sharp intellectually and thus (along with my large size and loud voice) I have always “won” arguments frequently.

This is something I pray continually God will route out of me.

We must realize that this ministry is not “my” thing, but is God’s thing.

We must never be demanding of our own way. (1 Cor 13:5)

We must submit our ideas to council rather than simply move forward on our own.

We must actively seek, listen to, and act on reproof and correction from ANY source!

We must be aware that we have blind spots (though by nature we will not know what they are) and seek help in identifying and bringing accountability and support to them.

It is difficult to say enough about this area. I am grieved at my own life in this area and what I have seen result from people close to me catch this (or not be helped in their own) weakness. It has hurt relationships and hindered spiritual grown and effective ministry. We must repent of our pride and be humble, or else be humiliated.

An interestingly related area is that a worship leader is:

Unafraid of man’s opinion

Leaders of the music ministry probably receive the second greatest amount of criticism (next to pastors leading the church) of anyone in the world.

Having sought God’s will in his word, through prayer, study, meditation, and discussion in council, and being confident of his direction (a confidence that must not be arrived at quickly or carelessly), we must not shrink back because of complaint and criticism. However, we must address our critics in love, patience, and gentle instruction, examining their criticism in humility and with council to see if there is truth in it, or benefit to be drawn from it. We must view our critics as our teachers, not our enemies.

A skilled musician and artist

Last and least, a worship leader must care about the art. We must not settle for the status quo or for mediocrity, but must seek always to strive for the highest possible (possible is a key word) level of excellence.

There is no biblical command to have music in a church gathering. There is a command that we must do everything with all our heart as if serving the Lord.

We must constantly pursue creativity and progression of our craft. We must realize that we are never “great”, and that there is always another level to be achieved.

In seeking for “relevance” we will find that it is not so much a stylistic concern as an authenticity concern. As long as we are making the music that is really in our heart, and everything listed above is in place, we will do well.

> Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. > > – Colossians 3:16

The following are submitted as requirements of a member of The Rock Music Ministry. They are not intended as a set of legalistic requirements by which one will be measured and judged and found worthy or unworthy. We are all severely lacking in all of these areas when we are measured against The Standard of Christ. However, all of these components have been prayerfully considered and found through experience to be vital to a healthy, growing, and effective music ministry in the context of The Rock in Ames.

Level of “achievement” in these areas are not the point. That is to say, we don’t care how “far” one is “down the path” so long as it has been determined that one is actually “on the path” and headed in the right “direction”.

1. A passionate lover and follower of Jesus

It is said that music is the language of the heart. Our job is to communicate The Gospel and draw attention to the magnificence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, through our music and our lives. Therefore, a Rock Musician must first and foremost be a passionate lover and follower of Christ.

We must all recognize two things: (See Ephesians 2)

1) There was a point in our lives that was “before Christ”. We were lost, helpless, selfish sinners. All of us deserved an eternity of hell for who we were and what we had done to God. No one was born a follower of Christ. 


2) If you are a Christian, there was a point in time that God revealed himself to you, revealed your need for him, and enabled you to come to him. This required a response of repentance from “doing life” your way, and instead trusting in God’s way of doing things: acknowledging your sin and failure to love God, and banking on Jesus’ sacrifice on The Cross as payment (atonement) for your sin.

This recognition leads you, on a daily basis, to seek his way for your life, and give up doing it your way. This change might have happened in a moment, or gradually over a period of time, but it is the life of a Christian. We don’t submit perfectly every day, but now, through his power, given by grace, we have the ability to choose to.

Recognizing this Grace breaks our hearts. It causes us to say and do crazy things about and for Jesus. It makes us different from the rest of the world in the way we think, conduct our lives, and make our decisions.

Our job is to communicate the gratefulness we have in our hearts through music, the way we carry ourselves on stage, and most importantly by the decisions we make in our daily lives. This leads to:

2. An example of a life of worship

Being an example of a life of worship is not something we set out to do as a goal, but is something we become as we obey Christ’s commands, which is how he says we will show whether or not we love him. (Obedience, being a result of love for him, not obedience leading to love for him, though it often does…)

As worship leaders, we ought to have lives that can be pointed to as an example, no matter “how long” we’ve been “at it.”

Romans 12:16 is a hugely powerful summary of part of what it means to “live a life of worship”:

“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.”

This verse has three parts that are hugely applicable to us:

a) “Live in harmony with one another.” How are your relationships with your family (physical and spiritual)? A worshiper’s life will mean doing what is necessary to have - Peace with your parents (physical and spiritual) - Peace with your husband / wife - Peace with your children - Peace and Purity with your brothers and sisters (physical and spiritual)

b) “Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.” Another way of putting this is “give yourself to humble service.” What an amazing thought.

We as Rock Musicians are nothing special. This is one of a hundred ways to serve the church that are all of equal importance. Of course, when everything is working together as it should, there is very little that is more fun than playing music together, but there is a lot of pain and hard work that goes along with this.

The humble service piece is an important one. We are instituting an new piece to Rock Music this year. “When you aren’t playing, pick up a broom.” We are going to aid the facilities team in preparing [The Venue] for The Rock every week. The weeks we aren’t playing, we are going to be doing the dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, setup and tear down that is necessary to make The Rock happen.

c) “Never be wise in your own sight.” We are all young, and in various ways, immature. We have ideas and pet projects that seem like “the right way of doing things” that really aren’t. (You probably aren’t believing me on this point. I’m talking to you. If you are scratching your head as to what I mean, good.)

It is critical for us as believers to be submissive to authority. Do a word search for “authority” in the new testament some time, look at the results in the epistles.

We, as a ministry, exist to serve the vision of Jesus for this church. He tends to lead the leaders. Therefore, we are to be submissive to the pastors, and the various ministry team leaders appointed over us (team leaders, production team leaders). We are here to make their vision happen, not to impose or further our own vision.

Since it will be difficult to get to know all of your personally and meet with you all on a regular basis, I need to rely on your team leaders to keep a pulse on how you are doing. Therefore, in order to be involved with Rock Music, you need to

• Have been serving in another ministry in The Rock for 12 months
• Have been an active member of a Life Group for 12 months.

3. A skilled and committed musician

“‘Great works’ (of art) and ‘good works’ (of charity) had better also be good work. Let choirs sing well or not all. Otherwise we merely confirm the majority in their conviction that the world of Business, which does with such efficiency so much that never really needed doing, is the real, the adult, and the practical world; and that all this ‘culture’ and all this ‘religion’ (horrid words both) are essentially marginal, amateurish, and rather effeminate activities.”
C.S. Lewis, “Good Work and Good Works” from The World’s Last Night, and other essays

This is not scripture (though I argue that it is scriptural), but it has haunted me ever since I read it.

There is no biblical mandate for a New Testament Church to have a band. We exist as a display of gifting God has given the church. We are called to do everything we do with all our heart. We serve a God of excellence. We take our music seriously. I need you to take your music seriously as well.

We need to be a ministry of skilled and committed musicians. Therefore, in addition to the heart of love for Christ, the Church, and Service, a Rock Musician:

• Is skilled at their instrument. This is determined by the leaders of the music ministry. It is a rather subjective requirement, but please trust our judgment.
• Has consistent access to (ownership of) high quality equipment necessary to your music.
• Has consistent attendance at practice time
• Has consistent personal practice time
• Is involved in the local music scene (going to shows, getting to know other bands, involved in ISU music, etc.)
• Studies the pros (go to concerts, watch concert DVDs, etc) in an effort to progress in their art.

Communication

Because of the way we facilitate and communicate with the music ministry, you must be able to check e-mail at least once a day. You will be held responsible for announcements that are older than 48 hours, emergency requests may be made within 24 hours. Last minute requests tend to happen as well.

We coordinate our services via planningcenteronline.com – you must be able to access this site regularly.

Being Lead to serve in Music Ministry

All Christians have been “called” by God to salvation. We have been created as a new creation by Christ for good works, which Christ has prepared for us to do. (Ephesians 2). Discovering what it is that God has for us to do is one of the great challenges, and joys of the Christian life.

God has given each of us gifts, skills, talents, and abilities. We are told that we are to use what we have been given to serve the church.

It is our desire to help you learn what it is you are supposed to be doing (and these things may change over time!) and to let you use the gifts and talents you’ve been given to serve the church.

How your gifts should be used is most often determined in community and under spiritual authority. There are many ways for music talents to be used in The Rock. We have a very specific vision and standard of excellence for how music is used on Friday nights and Sunday mornings. There are many opportunities, however, to use your skills on a small group level. If your skill level is not yet up to the standard of Friday night, you will be asked to “keep practicing”. Our sincere desire is for you to improve in your skill so that you can play. A great venue to learn to lead worship is in small groups, and of course, by being a worship leader in character, which is more important than skill, and is described above.