Vision-Part Deux

One of the most important things a worship leader should grasp is this truth:

Your vision must fit together with your pastor's vision.

I share this because I've seen this scenario too many times:

1. Worship leader attends conference/seminar/event.

2. Worship leader is creatively inspired by the passion and excellence of what they see.

3. Worship leader returns to own church and tries to replicate what they saw.

4. Pastor isn't on board with direction the worship goes.

5. Pastor and worship leader disagree on vision-the relationship is strained.

6. Often this scenario ends with arguments, and sometimes with the worship leader leaving the church, usually grumbling about the pastor's lack of vision, or that the church is "stuck" and isn't willing to move forward.

This can play out in almost any church, in any denomination. But, there's hope! Worship leaders can add a few steps into this process, and the whole thing turns out in a way that strengthens and edifies the local church. Here are the keys.

Make sure your vision for worship aligns with the overall vision your Pastor has for the church. Like a puzzle, each piece must fit perfectly with the pieces around it, or chaos ensues. We as worship leaders are prideful if we think we can do whatever we want and not have to submit to the vision of our overseers. For more on that, read Hebrews 13:17.

Pray that your vision is birthed from God, and not simply copied from someone else's vision. What God is doing in Australia, England, India or California may not be what He's doing in your community. He may not be interested in having you do what someone in Atlanta or Charlotte is doing. God is creative and unique, and He reflects that in the fact that He makes us unique. Pray and chase after God for the vision He wants to birth in you for your church.

What vision does God want to birth in and through you? It's up to you to find out.

Worship Set Lists-Whaddya think?

If you are a worship leader and you read this blog, I want to know your thoughts on something.

There are different schools of thought on worship for local churches. Simply from a song selection standpoint, here are the models I know of:

1-The worship leader has total freedom to pick whatever songs he feels led to do.

2-The pastor picks all the songs, and the worship leader simply does them.

3-The pastor and the worship leader sit together each week and choose the songs.

Which one is the model you do right now, and what do you think about it? For example, our church is a #1, within reason.

Whaddya think?

What A Pastor Said About the New Style of Worship

Extract from an American Paper objecting to new trends in church music.

“There are several reasons for opposing it. One, it’s too new. Two, it’s often worldly, even blasphemous. The new Christian music is not as pleasant as the more established style. Because there are so many new songs, you can’t learn them all. It puts too much emphasis on instrumental music rather than godly lyrics. This new music creates disturbances making people act indecently and disorderly. The preceding generation got along without it. It’s a money making scam and some of these new music upstarts are lewd and loose.”

Who said this? A pastor attacking Isaac Watts, writer of ‘When I survey,’ in 1723!

Kudos to Tim Hughes' Blog for this quote......