Fellow worship leaders, you will find many nuggets of wisdom and experience in the following letter. Although it was written with a very specific leader in mind, I would encourage you to ask yourself if this letter could’ve been written to you. Do we need to grow in the same areas as this leader? And are we excelling in the same places as this one? Find challenge and encouragement in the words. ~mandy thompson
My Dear Worship Leader and Friend,
First, please let me reaffirm that I hold you in the highest regard. Your commitment to Jesus and the desire to serve him wholeheartedly blesses my socks off! Because everyone has areas of strengths and weakness I want to help you know what I find that to fall in those categories.
Spiritual leadership-I respect your study of the word and your pursuit of holiness. I would like to see you develop a plan to encourage the same from other team members.
Musical leadership-Your skills musically are a true gift of God, that you have developed to serve Him better. Please don’t hesitate to demand excellence in your teams musicianship. If a team member doesn’t have the skills or gifting to perform excellently, it’s best to have them put in the work before they are part of the team. I also appreciate the accountability you demonstrate over what we sing and it’s biblical accuracy. Your sensitivity to the church over lyrics that some might find offensive is very honoring of your elders. You are able to lead a wide variety of people into the throne room of worship, not an easy task.
People skills-Your people skills stem from your love for your fellow man. Your love of others is obvious and it draws people to you. Perhaps, at times, your love for others may make it difficult for you to set limits and enforce rules for team members.
But, your grace and forgiveness is Christ-like. I trust your leadership in this area and want to say thank you.
Time Management-I rarely feel that practice time is not well used. You are always on time and well prepared. I know that you spend a lot of time in prayer over what we offer for worship. I would like you and God to get the set list to me sooner so I could have longer to prepare, but I understand it is not only your time schedule. =)
Communication-I feel I have the schedule in plenty of time and I appreciate that you send it in multiple formats to accommodate everyone. I know what you are thinking regarding what God has laid on your heart for the worship set and the monthly meetings are informative and encouraging. Communication is a definite strength of yours.
Teachability-You welcome constructive observations and apply improvements if possible.
If there were one thing that I could challenge you to do differently it would be just an encouragement to continue to write songs for the church and share them more widely. The songs you have written are God inspired and call His church to worship.
Thank you so much for all you do,
Anonymous
