A Leader of Worship

The hardest thing about being a worship leader isn’t trying to come up with a musically dynamic set list. It’s not working with a band or figuring out the dynamics of a worship team or learning how to dance with church leadership.

In my opinion, the hardest thing about being a worship leader is remembering that you are not just a song leader or a service leader; you are a leader in worship.

Anybody can sing a song (well, almost anybody) and it’s not hard to find someone to lead a service. Now, their skill level may determine the quality of the event, but it’s not hard to find someone to fill the spot.

But leading worship is not about performing a function; it’s about embodying a way of life.

If you think that worship is a song or a service, then you will have trouble understanding this concept. If you approach Sunday morning or any other regular service with the idea that this event is worship, then you no longer become a worship leader; you become a service leader or a song leader.

Being a worship leader has little to do with performing a primary service function on a Sunday and everything to do with embodying a lifestyle and permanent expression in response to God’s grace on our lives. Our lives are the expression of worship. Every moment of every day we embody what true worship is and the whole world looks at us to see if it’s authentic. How do they love their spouse, what kind of work ethic do they have, what kind of things do they talk about, do they live in accordance with the message they preach?

The way I always describe worship is this; worship is a life lived in response to the worthiness of Jesus as King. That’s a mouthful to chew on, but that is what true worship is.

When you apply this to a musical expression, you become acutely aware that worship has little to do with the four chords that I play or even how well I play them. If worship was excellence in music, then we would all put on Adele’s CD during our services and lift our hands in wonder and worship (forgive me those of you who don’t like her music. It’s not an endorsement, it’s just an example. She did sell almost 6 million of her 21 album last year).

Worship as a musical expression is more than just excellence and skill. While they are important, they alone do not make a song “worship”. And that is the thing most easily forgotten as a worship leader.

The hardest thing about being a worship leader is remembering that you are a leader in worship, not just a leader in music and song. While you can be a worship leader and be excellent in music, you cannot be excellent in music and assume that qualifies you as a worship leader.

John Piper says it like this:

“All of life is the outshining of what you truly value and cherish and treasure. Therefore all of life is worship. Either of God, or something else.”

If you desire to be called a leader in worship, then make sure your life is lived as worship to God before you step on stage. Then your worship will be a result of the life you live, not the song you sing.

-Ben Woodward

Ben Woodward is an award winning singer/songwriter and worship leader who travels all over the world teaching on worship and prayer. His new worship EP entitled The Worship EP is available from www.somethingelserecords.com or on iTunes.

Corporate Repentance: A Missing Ingredient of Worship? – Part 2

(Guest post by Chris Gambill. This is part 2 of a 2 part article. click here to read part 1)

Fortunately, God extends to us the promise of grace and mercy through Jesus Christ as we confess. We often turn to the promise of 1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. This isn’t just “we” as individuals, but “we” as a church body.

So, what if you realize that this is something that needs to be a part of your church’s liturgy and situation? What do you do? How do you address this? After all, it’s not enough to just help people think about sin, we have to lead in the repentance of it.

Let me start by saying that I don’t recommend you popping up on your stage one Sunday morning, announcing what you think the corporate sins of your church are, and that people better be sorry for them. Especially if you’ve been the recipient of some of these sins.

Here are some better ways to approach this:

As you sing repentance songs, use “we” in them instead of “I”. There are a lot of repentance and confession songs out there. Some are written from a corporate perspective, but most have a more individual approach. Change the pronouns to plural ones. Maybe do one verse with an individual focus and one with a corporate focus. This will help people to start grasping this whole concept. Or if you can’t find a good song, write one.

Pray personally. Before you ever begin to address this issue, begin by praying on your own. Ask God to show you who to talk to and how to approach this. Praying on behalf of your congregation (like Daniel did for the nation of Israel in Daniel 9) is powerful. Many times, the need for corporate repentance is a result of deep-seated and long-standing sins that have deeply entangled the church. These spiritual bonds will not be broken easily. Begin by interceding on behalf of your church, or you may get attacked.

Don’t try to do this on your own. Dealing with corporate sins is a big thing. Some may stretch back to a time before you were at the church. Some may currently be happening. Take time to talk with the spiritual leaders in your church. Ask them about history. Talk with your pastor about what you are sensing and ask him and the elders to join you in prayer. Without necessarily being specific, ask other intercessors to join in prayer. Ask God to show multiple people what needs to be addressed and why.

Confess and repent of the sins. This is where leadership will be key. Leadership not just from the pastoral staff, but also from the elders of the church. It will need to involve teaching to help people understand why these things are being addressed. Most will wonder why not let the past be the past. There will be times for sensitivity, and times for boldness in calling people to God. Discernment will be required. If significant patterns and history are identified, it may be necessary to hold a special gathering like a solemn assembly to fully address them instead of using just a few minutes on a Sunday morning. The pattern of Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9 is a good template to follow in walking a church through corporate repentance.

Sin is a big deal to God. Sin is a hindrance in our congregations. Sin chains people and churches up so that they are ineffective in spreading the kingdom. Sin is scary.

But, sin is not the last word when we are in Christ. Our past does not define our future. There is hope, forgiveness, grace, and renewal all available to us as we confess and repent in Jesus Christ.

Will you step into a role of spiritual leadership for the health and well-being of your local body?

Corporate Repentance: A Missing Ingredient of Worship? – Part 1

(Guest post by Chris Gambill)

Do you know what a liturgy is?

While the word sounds heavy, and probably conjures up images of churches we would describe as traditional or liturgical, the reality is every church has a liturgy.

Even churches that say they don’t.

Liturgy is basically the forms we follow when planning and conducting a public worship service. Most churches have a liturgy that consists of singing songs, prayers of thanks or for needs, a message, giving, a time of response or confession, announcements, and a special creative element. There could also be elements of testimony, communion, and the like.

In most cases how these elements are combined result in a service that is generally celebratory toward Christ and corporate success while calling people to individually deal with their sin.

In fact, we do a pretty thorough job of calling people to recognize and deal with the sin in their personal lives so they can grow in their relationship with Christ. When I lead worship, I often try to have some aspect of personal confession built into the flow. This is an important aspect of our spiritual lives, and there are many ways to do it that aren’t scary.

But, there is one aspect of our corporate spiritual life that isn’t as prevalent in most services. I’ve lead people in understanding corporate worship, corporate prayer, and caring for one another as a community. But I haven’t often sought to lead people in this element even though it has a clear spiritual precedent and implications that shouldn’t be ignored.

Perhaps you’ve experienced the effects in a church of the absence of this element. Maybe you’ve wondered why a church is struggling. Maybe the congregation you lead is having a hard time breaking through in corporate worship. Maybe your service is lifeless and dull. Perhaps people or leaders in the church are having a hard time hearing God speak.

Maybe the reason for those things has nothing to do with song selection, preaching topics, service flow, attendance demographics, how loud it is, or how skilled your worship team is.

Maybe it has everything to do with corporate sin.

One of the elements that we haven’t focused much on in our churches is that of corporate confession and repentance. It can be scary to come face to face with sin. It’s hard enough to do in our personal lives, but even harder to do as a group. To realize that we’re a part of the sin of a group is humbling.

Maybe that’s due in part to the culture of individualism rampant in our churches today. We emphasize personal responsibility and accountability to a large degree. As a result, people don’t understand that it’s not just about them as individuals, but that they are part of the whole. This lack of understanding makes it hard to deal with corporate sin.

But, if I am part of the body, then I am part of the body’s sin. Just like I am part of the body’s ministry and victories (check out 1 Corinthians 12). Whether I personally participated or not, I am part of the results and the effects of this sin left unchecked and unconfessed.

Do you remember the story of Achan in Joshua 7? As Israel began to claim the land of Canaan, their first battle was at Jericho. God told them to completely destroy everything. Every single thing. Achan, however, did not obey the Lord’s commands and took some valuable things for himself. As a result, the Israelites were defeated at their next battle. Achan was the only one who sinned, but the entire group suffered for it. Once the sin was dealt with, the favor of the Lord was restored.

Our corporate sins today as a church probably won’t involve someone taking stuff after a battle that they aren’t supposed to take. But it could involve gossip, lack of faith, failure to support God’s leaders, poor stewardship of time, talent, and treasures, unwillingness to live out the Great Commission, dependence on man’s wisdom, ignoring the needs of members, and more.

Sin is a big deal to God. We know that God’s character exists in contrast to sin. We know that God’s complete holiness stands as the total opposite of sin. If we don’t acknowledge and repent of our sin, we’re not going to be able to hear, respond, and fully enjoy God as His people. Sin hinders our communication, our worship, and our relationship with God.

And this is important to God. Throughout the Scriptures, God repeatedly calls people to repent of their corporate sins. Remember the example of the Ninevites as Jonah spoke God’s message? They repented and God relented. God also tells the Israelites in Jeremiah 3 that if they confess and repent, He will show mercy instead of sending them to exile. They didn’t then, but eventually do in Nehemaih 9-10 as Jerusalem is repopulated after years of Babylonian exile.

(In part 2 we’ll discuss ways to approach corporate repentance.)

Welcomed or unWelcomed Worship Leader?

written by Chris Kuti (formerly of Chris and Conrad)

Have you ever had a person over to your house who seemed to forget that they were a guest? Did it seem like everything they did got on your nerves? They didn’t take their shoes off, left things a mess, and forgot the coaster. We’ve all been there, and more than likely the person isn’t intentionally getting on your nerves, they just don’t know.

The same is true of many worship leaders who’ve been given the opportunity to be a guest in other churches. If you’re at the point where other churches are asking you to be a guest worship leader, be thankful. The idea of handing over the spiritual direction of a particular worship service to a “stranger” is scary for a Pastor and his staff.

Whether you’re a guest worship leader at other churches regularly or periodically, don’t allow yourself to become the unwelcomed guest. In these situations, first impressions are everything and that’s why I’m here to help. So here are a few practical ways to make sure you don’t leave the per viable water ring on the coffee table of any church you visit.

BE KIND - I know what you’re thinking, “is this guy serious?” Yes! You wouldn’t believe how many musicians I’ve come across who somehow forget simple manners when communicating with the people who are hosting them as a guest. Take it from a guy who’s had a bad day and allowed that to effect his mood in a few guest situations. It’s not worth sacrificing your credibility because things aren’t going as planned. Whether you’re taking a call regarding the planning of the service, or communicating with the band and tech crew, pay extra attention to your mood. Go the extra mile to be kind to everyone you meet, and remember, you’re a guest in their church.

CONNECT - All too often worship leaders make it their agenda to do the songs they want to do. As a one time guest in a new place, you already have the disadvantage of people wondering “who’s the new guy?” It needs to be your focus to cancel out any other hindrances that you could be in a service that is not at all about you. A great way to lose people in this context is to do a bunch of songs that you love, but they’ve never heard before. Can you be yourself? Absolutely, but not at the expense of losing people. A great rule of thumb is to ask the church worship leader or production staff for the set-lists of the past two months worth of services. With this list of songs, you’ll be able to get a great understanding of what the worshipers there are familiar with.

GET ALL THE DETAILS - We musicians can be a weird breed sometimes. We tend to fly by the seat of our pants, and this can be destructive for a guest worship leader. In your preparation for an upcoming guest date, make sure that you have all the details about the church and what their services look like each week. What’s their desired set length, do they want you to bring your own band, are you playing with their band, leading acoustically? How is the service starting, when are the announcements, how should you transition into the message? These are all valid questions that you should commit to memory because the flow and details of every service that you’re a part of are an important piece in the leading of God’s people. Another great rule of thumb is to try and keep communication detailed, yet limited. Try not to be the guy who calls every day with a million questions. Instead, schedule a few scattered conversations that cover all the details at once. These conversations should be far out from the date, after the set list is put together, and a few days before the date.

PROVIDE A TECHNICAL RIDER - To some, the word “rider” is considered a cuss word. Let me ease your mind, it’s not! Without communicating what you’ll need and what you’re providing, you can quickly become an unwelcomed guest. This rider needs to be simple and detailed according to multiple configurations (leading alone, leading with your band, or with their band). A technical rider only works correctly when you communicate with the technical volunteers or staff directly. This will give you a clear idea of what they have so you’ll be able to work with their equipment. Without communicating openly, your rider will seem like demands instead of a clear, effective communication of details. If it helps to ease your mind, you could call it a “technical stress reliever sheet.”

Here are a few things to include in this technical rider:

• # of DI boxes & XLR cables needed

• # of microphones and mic stands needed

• if you’ll need to use any of their backline (drums, keyboard, amps)

• how many channels you’ll need on their console & the name of the instrument on every channel

• how many (monitors) needed and their position (if you travel with your own, communicate how many aux’s you’ll need on their console)

KNOW YOUR MUSIC - This is important whether you’re a guest or not. However, if you find yourself in a situation where you’re having to lead with the band that normally plays at the church, it’s even more important. You need to be rehearsed long before you run rehearsals with their band. This will allow you to feel comfortable and be able to work through any problem areas or limitations with the church’s band. Do your research about the band that is playing along with you, and try to pick songs and arrangements that match the skill set of the players present.

PROVIDE A DETAILED FLOW – When working through the arrangements of each song and elements of the service, type out a detailed text file of the lyrics and flow. This will be important for whoever is running the presentation lyrics. You can’t expect a stranger to know your leading style. So in order to skip this potential train wreck, provide the flow of lyrics in the exact order that you’ll be doing the songs. This way, whoever is running the presentation software will only have to press the down arrow after every slide.

GIVE YOURSELF PLENTY OF TIME – Show up early to the rehearsal, get comfortable with the gear, stage, and sound before the congregation starts showing up. The more time you give yourself in preparation before the service, the more you’ll be able to be focused and comfortable in an unfamiliar place.

CONNECT WITH THE PASTOR - If at all possible, schedule a few minutes before the service begins to connect with the pastor. Thank him for trusting you and be sensitive to any desires that he has for the segue into his message or during the invitation.

We’d love to hear of any more tips that have helped you become a better guest worship leader. Join the conversation below!

The Addiction of Worship Leading

Imagine yourself on a big stage with hundreds of people looking at you. You’ve got a band of musicians and singers behind you ready to take cues from you. You’re holding a guitar in your hands and singing amazing worship songs into a microphone. The spotlight is on YOU…

I’ve been leading worship for over 12 years now. Before I was an “official” worship leader, I started out as the transparency guy (back in the day) when I was in 7th grade. Then, I learned drums from my youth pastor and learned guitar from the choir director. Then, I was involved on my youth group’s worship team as a bass player. And, eventually became the lead guy as a freshman in college. In my 12 years of leading worship, I’ve experienced first-hand what it’s like to be a volunteer worship leader as well as a full-time worship pastor.

When I first started leading worship as a young college student, I had the oddest experience. After leading worship at the Sunday morning service I would go home and feel VERY down and depressed. I couldn’t figure out why. I would come home from an amazing worship service where I really felt the presence of God while leading, but spend the afternoon feeling so discouraged and depressed.

As I continued to grow and mature as a worship leader, I began to realize what was happening. I realized that I was putting my identity in being the “worship leader”. My identity was so wrapped up in my role of leading worship and leading the youth worship team that it sort of became an addiction.

Leading worship became the highlight of my week. Yes, I loved the Lord! I was passionately in love with Jesus! However, I let the experience and “high” of leading worship become an idol in my life. I was essentially addicted to worship leading.

When I was in the congregation while someone else was leading worship, I found myself judging their worship leading and comparing myself to them. I was either jealous because they were better than me or full of pride because I was better than them.

During my recent conversation with my friend, Michael Farren, I was reminded of how I wrestled with finding my identity in the title and role of worship leader. The fact that I was a child of God (who was crazy in love with me) was not enough. I had to get my fix of leading worship.

In my current season of ministry I am ministering and training up worship leaders more than actually leading worship myself. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I led worship in the past 2 years. It feels a little weird sometimes, but I’ve grown to be content in being led in worship by others.

I no longer rely on the title of “worship leader” to define me. I don’t find my identity in it. I no longer treat it as a spiritual high or addiction. I no longer somehow feel more spiritual because I’m leading worship…

Yes, from time to time those thoughts try to occupy my mind, but I’ve learned not to allow any title or role that God may bring for a season define who I am. I am content just being me…even with no title people may envy…and no important role in the spotlight.

Worship leaders, beware of the addiction of worship leading. Don’t let worship leading define who you are. Worship leading is something you do; it’s not what defines you.

article written by Wisdom Moon

Ministering to the Lord – Thoughts From Paul Baloche’s Workshop

This past weekend, I had the privilege, along with 9 others from our worship ministry, to attend the Leadworship Workshop in Minneapolis, led by Paul Baloche and his band, along with Jared Anderson. It was a wonderful time of refreshment, training, refocusing and encouragement for our whole team! There’s so much I could share about what we experienced there, but what probably had the biggest impact on me was the session on worship leading with Paul Baloche.

One of the main lessons that came through in this session was that we can’t lead others into something that we’re not practicing ourselves. This simple thought has so many implications. Our ministry to others really begins with our ministry to the Lord. Paul started by bringing 1 Chronicles 25:6-7 to our attention, which describes those who were leading the singing in the house of the Lord as being “trained and skilled in music for the Lord”.

He encouraged us to truly work at being trained and skilled on our instrument, challenging us to set aside 20 minutes a day to practice our primary instrument, with a metronome. Also, he challenged us to learn and memorize the top 20 songs of your church, so they are at your disposal. That way, if you’re in the middle of leading a set and the thought comes to you that you would like to do a song, you’re not stuck if the music is back in your office!

In addition to the practical musical training, we also need to work at developing our ministry “for the Lord”. Paul described our role as a worship leader as focusing on three areas – the priestly, prophetic and pastoral. In 1 Chronicles 16:4, those who were charged with leading the music were given a job description – to “extol, thank and praise the Lord” in His presence before the ark of the Lord. Our role begins as priestly, offering praises to the Lord. As important as this is, it’s probably our most neglected. But, if we don’t minister to the Lord in private, it will feel fake when we try to do it in public.

To build up our comfort level, and familiarity with ministering to the Lord, Paul recommended spending a focused time with the Lord on a regular basis. Worship works best when Sunday morning is just doing publicly what we’ve been doing privately on our own. I’ve heard this before, but I guess it just hit home when I could see Paul’s heartfelt desire for each of us there to really put this into practice.

He was so passionate in his desire for us to understand how important it is to take the time to do this. He described how he goes into the sanctuary alone, when no one else is around armed with a list of familiar songs in similar keys and the Psalms. He just starts to sing out songs to Him in prayer, praying the lyrics of the songs, and singing through the Psalms, just making up melodies as he goes. It’s a time to forget about yourself, your ego, and just be yourself, singing and speaking your prayers to Him. As we do that, little melodies will come, we’ll be getting the Word of God in our heads, and get comfortable playing, singing and speaking at the same time.

Sometimes, he said, we’ll sense His presence as we do this, and sometime it may feel mechanical. That doesn’t matter, though; just the act of showing up speaks to Him. Then, as we continue to do this from week to week, pretty soon on a Sunday morning, things start popping out of our mouth, and we wonder – where did that come from!? Phrases we say in our private worship, phrases from the Psalms, the cries of our heart, will flow freely from our hearts and out of our mouths. If we put these things into our hearts, the Holy Spirit can pull it out. He challenged each of us to make an appointment with the Lord, and to start doing this on a regular basis.

Along with our priestly role of ministering to the Lord, we also have a pastoral role of ministering to those around us. God wants us to be people who love His people first, then use music as a tool to accomplish that. We’re there as pastors with instruments in our hands. Everything we do should go through this pastoral filter – “Will this help other people worship?” Our goal is to help them worship, not show off our own skills. Do you have a love for the people in your church? Not just those in the worship ministry, but the ones you look out at on a Sunday morning from the stage?

As we spend time with the Lord, we need to pray for God to give us a heart for those who we serve, to break our hearts for what breaks His. In our private times with Him, as we pray and sing to the Lord, we’re also praying for God to break our hearts for the people we are leading in worship. Picture the people who sit on the right in the 3^rd row, the teenager in back with his arms crossed, the couple going through marriage problems. Then, as we do this week to week, God will honor that, and over time it will look the same on the outside, but everything is different. We see people differently; we see them as people who need the Lord, not just the people who complain about the music being too loud, or the songs we choose.

This was a challenging reminder to make sure we are spending the time needed for the Lord to build up in us the tools we need to be effective in what He’s called us to do. “We need to bake the cake before we add the frosting.” In other words, the songs are the frosting. Our ministry can’t be all about the frosting. For one thing, it tastes good at first, but then if that’s all you eat, it gets kind of sickening! We bake the cake when we spend time with the Lord. That’s when we get grounded and filled up with what really matters. Once that is solid, then we’re ready to add all the good, tasty frosting (chocolate, please!) as we learn new songs, practice, prepare and lead from week to week.

-Barry Westman

What Will You Sacrifice?

(guest post by Ryan Egan)

Jesus’ ministry of coming “not to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45) did not end with him.  We are clearly called by Jesus (Matthew 20:16), Paul (Romans 12:3), Peter (1 Peter 5:3), and James (James 2:1), to serve others willingly and joyfully.  While we can never compare any type of sacrifice we offer to the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus gave for us, we can apply this concept in our ministries.

As those who are tasked to present an accurate picture of who God is in order to worship him rightly, one way we can do that is by demonstrating His character.  What do you need to sacrifice as you head into this new year of ministry that will serve others and allow them to succeed?

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by Ryan Egan

Ten Secrets of Life I Learned While Leading Praise

Worship Leading Lesson #2: Failure is Essential to Success

Reaching back to a prior post where God was really teaching me some good lessons.  There are seasons in ministry life…and this was a time where I needed some good reminders.

Recently I attended a short conference for Worship Leaders and Pastors. It was something I needed personally and really came at an integral time for me.  The conversations there brought back to remembrance the cause I have been called to as a Worship Pastor.  There were great insights and reminders for me, one of them being the need to remember every leader must allow space and openness for failure.

Failing Forward
Since taking on the role of worship leader at our local church some seven – eight years ago, I’ve learned that some things will always be.  There will always be a desire to achieve perfection…and there will always be failure. Balancing these two certainties in ministry can be quite an act. There are a few principles that can help.

Each week there is a review of our weekly services between our Senior Pastor and myself.  We sit down and walk through the most recent worship service talking about anything from reviewing the time, the flow, the technical, the spiritual, the good, the bad, ugly and amazing.  We’ve been doing this for many years now and find it very helpful in our desire to continually improve the worship experience at Grace Church.  One of the factors we understand as being important, is the need to fail.

I’ve had conversations with fellow worship team members, fellow ministry leaders, fellow worship leaders and leaders in general about this topic.  It’s difficult to grasp the importance of allowing failure to happen during a weekend service. Some folks are of the belief that there should NEVER be a mistake made…and if there is one…heads must roll. Not exactly the best environment to thrive in. There are others who believe, “Hey…it’s just the church man….let it ride…it’s not a rock concert”.  This one is not helpful and will ensure disaster week in and week out.  While it’s true church is not a “rock concert”, the attitude of letting the same failure happen each week is not bringing your best before the Lord.  Really both attitudes can be cancerous to any team environment.

A principal that I’ve adopted and truly believe in, is the need to allow team members to “Fail Forward”. Taking a risk by letting a “green” musician step up and fill a gap, even if conventional wisdom might tell you to NEVER allow that person onstage is creating an attitude of “failing forward”.  Taking a risk by allowing a unique stage setting be implemented…even if it means the band will have to readjust how it sees the other band members is creating a culture of “failing forward”.  Or perhaps adding an element to a worship service that might seem out of the ordinary or completely unorthodox to what your church body is used to.  Whatever the case, I’ve learned that an environment of being open to failure is critical. If you don’t take those risks, you might be missing out on something amazing that could become an integral part of your worship time.  Allowing a younger/newer musician on the team to play that solo, or lead that song, gives them that one additional step in their ministry service journey which molds them into a more mature musician…and more importantly, a more mature Christ follower.

When you adopt an attitude of openness to failure, you begin to create an environment on your team that allows people to take risks without the fear of rejection.  I’ve tried hard to communicate to people on our Weekend Service Team (lighting, audio, video, band, stage etc) that it’s ok to fail…just make sure you’re learning from the failure. Make note of the environment surrounding the moment the failure happened.  Asking questions like these:

1. Where did the preperation breakdown happen?
2. What ways can I change the environment around me to influence a more positive experience?
3. What ways can I respond differently to the failure?

I’m sure we could each come up with our own list of questions…these are just a few.  Whatever your questions are, make sure you’re asking yourself something in order to ensure you and your team are “Failing Forward”. If we aren’t failing…we aren’t taking enough risks to improve ourselves and the ministries we lead.

For a righteous man may fall seven times
And rise again,
But the wicked shall fall by calamity.
(Proverbs 24:16)

-Ben Abu Saada

Landing A Record Deal

Yesterday’s post, “Seven Easy Steps to Become A Signed Worship Artist”, generated more visits to our site in one day than any other day in the history of AllAboutWorship.com. I find this fascinating. Does it mean that there is an overwhelming number of worship leaders wanting to learn the secrets of getting a record deal? Were people reading it for the entertainment factor?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but today I wanted to briefly share my thoughts on becoming a signed worship artist. First of all, I am not a signed artist, nor do I have a desire to become one. I personally know many signed artists, great friends with great hearts. Being around and somewhat engaged in the Christian music industry for the past several years, I’ve observed some things. Here are a few myths I’d like to debunk:

1. Getting a record deal will make you happy. I think many worship leaders have a glamorous view of being on a record label. I recently spoke to an artist who said that last year they were on the road, away from their family, for over 250 days. That was with saying “No” to 90% of invites. I could not even imagine being away from my wife and kids that many days.

2. Getting a record deal will make you rich. Another myth of getting signed is that it will make you wealthy (or at least that you will be set financially and won’t have to worry about money). That is the farthest thing from the truth. These days the majority of signed artists don’t make enough money from music sales to support themselves. With the advance of technology that allows people to download CD’s that use to cost $16.99, for only $9.99 with a click of a mouse, the future of the music industry has changed forever.

3. Getting a record deal will make you famous. Although most worship leaders probably would not admit it, one of the factors that attracts us to the idea of becoming a signed artist is the fame and recognition. I believe this is a serious issue today with worship leaders and I believe it goes against what you are called to do if you’re a worship leader. We are not called to attract people to ourselves and gain recognition for ourselves, we are called to point to Christ; to help people recognize Him for who He is and worship Him as a response to that revelation.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with musicians using their talents to write worship songs. It’s the motive behind it that I find issue with at times. Signed or not, I have noticed some songwriters writing songs with the purpose of wanting to get in CCLI’s top 100. They work hard on perfecting a song with the fantasy in the back of their minds of writing the next “Revelation Song” or “How Great is Our God”. All the while, their songs are not inspired by the Holy Spirit, but by greed and envy.

I would like to challenge all of us who are endeavoring to write worship songs to really check our motives. Step back for a moment from all your dreams and aspirations and take a prayerful, sober look at your heart. I believe there is a danger today in our worship shifting from God-focused to personality-focused. Today’s worship culture, with its worship leader focused conferences and products, may encourage that mindset.

Today, I saw an amazing quote on a shirt that said: “Play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.”

I would like to ask you…how can we, as worship leaders, shift our focus from the song (or the songwriter) to the Creator of the universe? From the desire to be recognized for our talents to an unstoppable passion and drive to use our talents and every fiber of our being to point to the Giver of our talents?

Wisdom M.

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