All About Worship Live: “Sr. Pastor and Worship Leader Relationship” Roundtable

On Monday, August 16, Ben and Wisdom will be recording a “Roundtable” session for an upcoming podcast episode. This is our second roundtable since our initial “Manly Worship” back in October, 2009. The topic this time around…”Sr. Pastor and Worship Leader Relationship”.

How many of you worship leaders have struggled with your relationship with a “controlling” Sr. Pastor? How many Sr. Pastor’s have struggled with your “free spirited” worship leader? The Sr. Pastor/Worship Pastor relationship is extremely important in leading a local church week in and week out.  Join us live on Talkshoe as we discuss how we can work together as a team with some experienced leaders in the local church and worship leading community.  Meet our roundtable guests:

Tim Howey. Sr Pastor of Grace Church in Overland Park, KS. Tim and Ben have been working in ministry together for ten years. Visit www.TimHowey.com to learn more about Tim.  He will be joining us live from the palatial All About Worship studio.  If you’re going to talk about a Sr. Pastor and Worship Leader relationship….why not ask a Sr. Pastor to join us? Tim also facilitated a breakout session at the All About Worship Retreat in 2010.

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Troy Kennedy. Songwriter/Worship Pastor from Kansas City will be joining us.  Troy has taught classes on worship leading ministry in conferences around the nation including the recent National Worship Leader Conference 2009 & 2010 and also at the All About Worship Retreat 2010.  Log on to www.NewWorship.com to learn more about Troy.

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Fred McKinnon. Songwriter/Worship Leader from St. Simmons Island, GA will be joining the roundtable discussion.  With the “Sunday Setlists” and TheWorshipCommunity, Fred has become an influential member of the online worship community.  Visit www.FredMcKinnon.com and www.TheWorshipCommunity.com to learn more about Fred.

If you have any thoughts or questions that you would like to see discussed regarding this topic, please drop a comment and we’ll try and get to your questions.  You can also join us live on Monday on Talkshoe at the link below and discuss with other listeners in the Talkshoe chatroom. The fun begins Monday, August 16 at 10 p.m. EST/ 9p.m. CST. Hope you can join us!

FREE Acoustic Night of Worship This Friday – Streaming LIVE

A Special Acoustic Night of Worship

When: Friday, May 21, 2010 at 7:30pm

Where: Grace Church of Overland Park, KS (or watch live online)

Who: Michael Farren (Pocket Full of Rocks), Jared Anderson (Desperation Band), Tommy Walker, and Darrell Evans

Cost: Free

Brought to You By: All About Worship, K-LOVE, and Air-1

Print-ready color posters: letter size OR legal size

Show Notes for May 27, 2009: Interview with Tommy Walker

This week Ben and Wisdom (AKA Worship Moon) interview Jason Henderson, a friend of the AAW Podcast. Jason shares his role as Worship Director at Grace Church in Overland Park, KS.

Our featured interview this month is with worship leader/songwriter Tommy Walker. You’ll hear about Tommy’s recent trips to the middle east and his heart for worship around the world. You’ll also hear two songs from his newest album, I Have A Hope.

Show Links

• Songwriting Teleseminar with Darrell. Download the recent seminar at the All About Worship Store here.

• Worship Huddle with Jason Henderson. Watch Jason in action as Worship Director before a recent service here.

• Tommy Walker. Visit Tommy’s website here to download his newest single, “He Knows My Name”, for free. Visit Tommy’s blog here.

• Songs from Heaven. Check out Tommy’s book on Amazon here.

• National Worship Leader Conference. Tommy will be there. Have you registered yet?

• Carl Cartee. Join us next month for an interview with Carl Cartee. Check out his site here.

• Join us live. Wisdom, Ben, and Darrell will be live Monday, June 1 at 9pm CST on Mogulus and Talkshoe. Come prepared to ask questions on worship or songwriting during the Q&A time with Darrell.

• Bumpers. Like the new music transitions during the podcast? They are SICK!!! Thanks Mandy for lending your talent!

• Contact us. Visit Wisdom’s blog here. Visit Ben’s blog here. Email us at allaboutworship(at)gmail(dot)com or call us and leave a voicemail at 206.984.2441. You can also follow us on Twitter.

You can listen to this episode of the podcast online here. Or go subscribe here.

10 More Things on Worship Leading

That’s right…because nobody asked for it…here are 10 more simple things that I’ve learned…so far! Check out the first 10 here.

• Practice it all. Don’t get too comfortable.  After a few successful Sunday’s, you may be tempted to skip individual rehearsal. Been there done that!  Spend time alone with God prior to that Sunday.  If you play guitar, pull it out and sing the night before.  Play and talk to God as you worship privately. Practice speaking to the church.  Stand before a mirror if you have to. Practice it all!
• Get some rest. You don’t need to see another Saturday Night Live.  Turn off the TV and sleep.  Be ready to lead the next day.  Nobody wants to be lead by a grumpy worship leader!
• Read your Bible. Get it in you!  It’ll come out during your worship leading.
• Pray for your team. They need you. You need them.  Most importantly, God needs all of you. I make a point to pray specifically for each member of the praise team, audio team, video team, lighting and stage team.  These people put in a LOT of work without any recognition. They sacrifice coming to church with their families, many times leaving behind a spouse to deal with children on their way to church…alone. YIKES!
• Silence the noise. Turn off the radio on the way to church Sunday morning.  Talk to God.  Recognize His creation and praise Him.  I LOVE seeing the sunrise on the way to church.  This would also be a good time to pray for your teams.
• Positive attitudes. How many times have you arrived at church feeling a heavy negativity/tiredness amongst your team?  You’ll be surprised to find out how much a smiling face, encouraging word, and a pat on the back can uplift your team.  Remember why you are doing this service…it’s to change lives for Christ!
• Tune up. Try and tune up before arriving at church if you play an instrument.  We all know temperature changes affect guitar strings. As close to being tuned up as possible means less time spent in the morning. Tune up your voice before arriving. And as mentioned above…tune up your heart. Did I mention read the Bible and prayer?
• Watch what you eat. I’ve tried those Mcdonald’s sausage and egg buiscut runs on the way to church.  If you’re leading worship and you have eaten one of these babies, be ready for a lot of belching.  I’ve found myself dropping out of the audio mix during these Sundays. It’s hard for people to follow a leader who is too busy burping and cleaning his/her teeth than leading. I recommend something lighter than a butter baked biscuit (maybe a yogurt) and substitute that Coke for a water on the way to church.
• Deal with sin. Gotta do it.  The Devil will use it against you while leading.  People look to you to lead them in worship, not just singing.  Display a holy, separated life.  When you fall, deal with it and move forward. Don’t let sin keep you from reaching the potential God has for you.
• Support your pastor. Pray for the service as a whole. Pray for your pastor who has the burden of shepherding his flock and communicating God’s word each week.  Find out what his vision is for each Sunday.  Prayerfully choose songs that will enhance the messages and help people open their hearts. Don’t just randomly do things based on your preferences.  The pastor sets the vision for the church, your role as worship leader is to support that vision.

This was originally published on Ben Abu Saada’s blog June 22, 2005. Ben is the worship pastor at Grace Church in Overland Park, KS and co-hosts the AllAboutWorship Podcast.

10 Things on Worship Leading