Do you sing

[carguy1]

Ok for all you part and full-time worship ministers, do you sing. Do you "lead" worship in the since that you greet the congregation, and sing the lead part in some or all of the songs.

I finally had the chance to talk to pastor about my call. In discussing this he said that what he invisioned for a "worship pastor" at our church was someone who over saw everything worship related. Ok, I was still with him so far. He then went on to say that what he envisioned was someone that only over saw it and did not have an active role in the worship team. Or at least was not necessarily always there. That is where he lost me. Now I understand the overseeing thing, and I his vision of having mutliple worship "venues" going at the same time and obviously I could not lead them all and would therefore have to oversee the volunteers that lead these other venues. However, in the time that I have been at this church I have been in and out of the worship team (that is a whole other story in and of it self). Through that I have found that the only time I have really felt complete was when I was actively involved in a team with me now feeling the most complete leading the worship. Now, I am not saying that I have to be the man in front, but I need some involvement in the actual singing and playing.

Ultimately I think I just needed to get this off my chest. I know what you guys are already thinking, I need to discuess this with my pastor. I know, I know, but I needed to get it off my chest first. So, I will talk to pastor about this. I think he will understand. Some pastors may preach simply because it is part of the job. My pastor preaches because he enjoys it. Preaching is spiritual fuel for him. In the same way I find leading worship to me spiritual fuel for me. It is the "fuel" that I recieve on Sunday that get's me through the rest of the week. Anyways, sorry for the long post and thanks for listening.

[russhutto]

Good thoughts Matt.

Here's my 2 cents. First, I'd re-evaluate this phrase:

In the same way I find leading worship to me spiritual fuel for me. It is the "fuel" that I recieve on Sunday that get's me through the rest of the week

Not to slam you, but I would be careful about priorities here. Of course we all know that when we do what we love and get to "be" who we believe God has called us to be we receive some benefit (to an extent), but just make sure that the reasons you're serving (be it through worship leading, nursery working, toilet cleaning, etc...) are not about "you" first.

I try to keep things in this order (though it does get tough sometimes):

1) God
2) Others

I don't even like to think of in terms of, "I get up every Sunday and lead worship because it makes me feel good, or I am content, or fulfilled, etc, etc." I believe the very moment we begin to think that IN FRONT of "I do what I do" to serve God and to serve it can kinda get a bit warped.

Granted, you might be coming from this perspective. If so, carry on! :)

Second, I really believe a "leader" should be ready to lead from any position on the "playing field"...at times you might be the quarterback, calling the shots from right in the middle of the action. Other times you might be an assistant coach, relaying in plays to your specific "team" members. You might be a head coach, setting the overall mood and culture for your whole team. Or you might sit in the "sky box" never actually on the field, but calling in plays and helping shape the vision and philosophy of the "big picture" of your team.

Be open to being an overseer. I think we should always embrace a culture in which we are leading leaders. Especially if you have any desire to see MORE people impacted for the Kingdom than are at this present moment. If you have any vision that includes growth, you've got to lead leaders. Jesus did.

Now, this doesn't mean ou can't be involved in some aspect of leading/participating. But just be FREE in the sense that you don't HAVE to play to be fulfilled. Honestly, you don't. Be careful that you don't psyche yourself out into thinking that you aren't who God calls you to be unless you're singing or playing.

Again, I understand that we do use our giftings and do benefit when we use them as God leads, but we also have to be good stewards of those skills and not use them as an excuse to hoarde all the servant opportunities... haha.

Ok I'm rambling, does any of what I said make sense?

[russhutto]

P.S. To answer the original question:

Do you sing?

The answer is sometimes. We're in the building process now, have had some shift in our team, some players in some out, so we're in a rebuilding year, but I coordinate and plan all rehearsals. I run them on Wednesday nights & Sundai mornings. I may or may not sing a note during our gathering. My leadership isn't based on me "leading songs" but on leading the people in our ministry.

[worshiptheKing]

Although I love to sing I look forward to the day where I am not always the "in front" guy. My pastor has given me the responsibility of coordinating practices, selecting music and the execution thereof as well as pretty much the whole first half of the service. I do the welcome, lead the vocal, make worship comments, etc. He really defers to me a lot now that I think of it. I can place the prayer time or tithe/offering time wherever I like during the "worship" time. He figures I will know where it best fits/flows.

Right now I sing the lead but I am working with my team members to build skill and confidence so that they can sing the leads and do other things. I think I will always participate but my goal is to be such that a visitor can't tell who the leader is. That and to be able to take a weekend off without stressing over it.

[carguy1]

I fear I may have miss represented myself. While I will admit the thought of NEVER being able to sing or play bothers me, I don't need to play or sing to be fullfilled. In fact most Sundays I stay for our second services simply to be on the other end of the worship.

Anyways, I have addressed the "who is it about" question not that long ago. In fact it was only after I admitted to myself that I was making it about me and not about God that things started to move forward. That being said I thank you for reminding me. I think that in our positions there is always the chance of us forgetting that it s not at all about us. So, for that reason I thank you again for reminding me. As always, I thank you for any input.

[milepost13]

I sing. I'm singing less and less these days, on purpose. A great leader is one who replicates himself and works himself out of a ministry because he is helping to train others to do what he does even better. We have three other vocalists who are very capable of leading vocally, and who I'm teaching to lead between the songs as well.

I love to sing, and part my calling is to lead others in musical worship...another part of my calling is to help raise up others to do the same, and sometimes that means me taking a back seat.

Nate

[fretguy]

A typical service for us is about six songs, maybe one of them would be a congregational reading of a psalm but usually songs, then we may do a presentational (offeratory or communion).

I sing lead on about half of the songs, then others on the team will lead the rest. My keyboard player usually leads one or two, and then one of our 'angelic choir' will lead one as well. They leave it to me to highlight concepts and blend it with the days message.

The congregations need to be led (trying to not sound too condescending) and sometimes coaxed/convinced/coached/guided into participating. Joseph Garlington says you have to teach your congregation how to worship. I agree.

That is the biggest part of my role as a worship leader. I am there to worship too, but my job is to lead the congregation into the throne room.

[russhutto]

Great posts everyone.

I fear I may have miss represented myself. While I will admit the thought of NEVER being able to sing or play bothers me, I don't need to play or sing to be fullfilled. In fact most Sundays I stay for our second services simply to be on the other end of the worship.

Thanks for claryifying Matt. The last thing I wanted to do was make it sound like a slam.

I really belive the western church (that part that is truly growing) is seeing a huge shift in leadership paradigm. I believe it's something that's been going on for at least a decade, maybe more. You guys might have more insight into it than I do.

I really believe we're moving out of the lone-ranger leader mindset into an Apostlic frame of mind. It's the model Jesus put in place and was prevalent within the early church. Sure, there were key leaders, but the whole point was replication and multiplication, and in general increased impact.

One person as a leader can only be so effective, but one person who oversees a group of leaders has a greater impact. Paul wasn't a great influence on the early church because he wa such a dynamic personality. He poured his life into others like Timothy and Titus who led groups of others.

Granted, these were "pastors" who led a community church. The principle is the same within our growing churches. The diversity we see in our growing churches demands multiple pastoral figures. There needs to be oversight.

Bringing this into the arena of worship ministries. There is a definite need for us to adopt the less is more philosophy. As point leaders we should focus on leading less people for more impact.

Something I'm growing into here at HOJ is personal and relational leading. 3 major things I try and incorporate into my "leading" are:

1) A monthly casual gathering specifically for just hanging out and getting to know everyone better. This is above and beyond our regularly scheduled rehearsal time. We'll aslo briefly have a devotion about leading/worship/ministry/etc.

2) Pre-team date. Yeah I don't know what to call it, but I basically have incorporated a "get to know you" date BEFORE an audition. We are a rapidly growing church in a military and college town so we have a lot of people that move into the area. So we don't have a lot of spiritual hoops and churchy requirements that people need to fulfill before getting involved in our volunteer opportunities. That being said, I like to kind of hang out with potential team members a bit before actually offering them an audition.

3) Pinging: Steve Sjogren recommended this. I follow it pretty intesnely every day. I send brief text, email, and phone messages to members of the ministries I'm involved in. Sometimes it's letting them know how much I appreciate them. Sometimes it's observations from a rehearsal or gathering. Other times it's to ask specific questions. The team has really responded well to it and they really appreciate the "pings" :)

Anyways, just thought I'd share those few helpful things.

[Stevie Nature]

I sing on my team. In fact, I lead most of the songs, but that's mainly because most of the people on my team are nervous about leading. The funny thing is that they're all pretty good singers. I'm working towards bringing them out of their shells. They all sing harmony and it sounds nice and full. The only two who are willing to sing are my wife and a good friend of ours. I try not to let them lead too many songs because I'm worried about it looking like favortism. In general I think it's a good idea to work towards a team that can afford to have you leave one Sunday. We're not quite there yet, but we're getting close.

[garyhodges]

I do sing, but pass it around as well. I really do enjoy weeks where I can just be "in the band", and have someone else fronting.

In thinking about the original post here, I think it would be very challenging for someone who is overseeing a ministry to maintain a passion for it while never actually be engaged in it, such as in never leading worship, but only facilitating others. Rather odd, I feel.