PASSION

Are you passionate?

Are you passionate about leading worship? Are you sincerely fanatic about having the Holy Spirit turn up and move in your worship service? 

I have written and spoken many times about the passion of Worship Leading; it is something I'm passionate about. Those of you who listen to our weekly podcast: "the worshipleaders podcast"  will have heard me talk many times about the importance of preparation, prayer, a great well prepared songlist, etc.   But the one ingredient that leads to great worship is Passion. 

Passion is the Glue

Passion is the glue that holds everything together. In life, love, work and play, we see time and again that those who are passionate about what they do succeed well. My eldest daughter is passionate about anything to do with art, craft, or creativity. The result is she's a great cook, photographer, knitter, sewer, jewellery maker and general craft person. Her blog  will testify to that. 

My son is a brilliant musician. We gave him drum lessons when he was younger, but then later when he wanted to take up the bass guitar, I told him he was on his own. Well, with the help of some friends, some chord charts and a whole lot of YouTube, he became a brilliant Bass guitar player. He did the same with rhythm guitar, and is currently doing a music degree at University.  

What makes these two so good? They are passionate about their interests, and will put serious time into getting it right. When they get it wrong, they don't simply give up and say:"well that's too hard", they keep practicing until they get it right. 

The reward of Passion

Part of my profession is as a furniture designer. There is a lot that goes into getting the final design right. It has to be practical, useful, workable, and safe. When I design a chair, it needs to be comfortable, it has to tick all the boxes that require it to be a saleable item. A single design can take over 12 months to come together to finally reach production. And the cost is often many hundreds of thousands of dollars. But when I get it right, many people benefit from the design. 

I am passionate about good furniture design, and the result is people buy my product.

The light globe you switch on when it gets dark is the result of someone's passion to create light without the use of a naked flame. It was not an instant success, but many failures went into getting it right. The car you drive is the result of decades of passion poured into getting a better, more comfortable, more efficient mode of transport. 

Great Passion equals Great Worship.

Great music is the result of Passion. Great preaching, the result of Passion; great worship-leading, the result of Passion. 

Today you can overcome mediocrity by firing up your passion. 

2 Timothy 2:15

Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Jude 20 Says: Beloved, Build yourself up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

There are many scriptures exhorting us to draw near to Him (James 4:8).

When we allow God to envelop us with His presence daily, when we draw near to Him, when we study His Word, and spend time getting to know not just about Him, but also to know Him, our passion will rise. And when you are passionate about God, and about great Worship, you will have great Worship.

 Luke 10:37b: Go and do likewise!

Have a great Sunday!

Erick

When is it too loud?

When it's too loud

Years ago when I was in a Christian rock and roll band, we used to have a saying :" if it's too loud, you're too old. "
it's a funny saying and for a rock band it's probably right. However, As a worshipleader I'm not sure it fits in the music service.


When we lead worship, we have the amazing opportunity to bring people into the very presence of God. This is our calling, our priestly responsibility and our privilege.
When we lead people in worship, there is a number of essentials that go into the mix to make for a great worship service.

The Essential Mix

Prayer and preparation are on the top of the list.When I lead worship,  I spend a number of hours in prayer and preparation. I give myself to reading God's word and there are a number of devotionals I love to read. During this time I pray about the songs that I am going to do for that meeting.
Another important ingredient is great unity in the band. At practice and on the day of the service, it's important that we have a like mindedness and a singleness of purpose. This includes every member of the team: drummer, bass guitar, lead and rhythm instruments, vocalists and the sound man/woman. Unity is imperative to a great worship team. Scripture says that when we have unity, God commands the blessing.
Song choice and good flow from song to song is also very important, as is knowing when to modulate, when to have light and shade (loud and quiet).


The last thing I want to mention here is the reason for and the theme of this blog.
I visited a Church recently and while I enjoyed the service, in the worship I was "confronted" by a wall of sound. While the music was good and the mix was balanced, it felt more like I was at a concert than at a worship service. As I observed the band and the interaction with the congregation I couldn't help it think that something was missing.

Worship involves everyone

Worship in a church service should be a corporate event. That means that everyone should be involved in the worship, the band and the congregation. I could not hear any of the congregation singing. Come to think of it, I couldn't hear my own wife. Her lips were moving but I couldn't hear her. If you are in worship and you can't hear the congregation, it's too loud.
It's important to have a good sound balance coming from your front of house. If its too soft you have no control of the intensity of your mix and people can't hear you. If its too loud, people can't hear themselves, and that doesn't lend itself to great corporate worship.


Everyone involved in the production of the Worship service is important and a good mix is vital to the success of each service. 


For more help on this subject and many others, check out our website and free weekly worship leaders podcast on www.worshipleaderonline.com 


Have a great week!


Erick

Keeping the worship passion alive!

By way of introduction. This blog is dedicated to my pastor Brian Clothier who preached on the subject of " Having a fervent spirit for serving God".
The blog is based on my notes taken during the message.

Life is tidal.
It has its highs and lows, its ups and downs. One day you feel great, the next day not so great. You will hear the preacher exhort you from the pulpit: "Don't allow your feelings to determine your level of greatness. "
That's easier said than done. Bad things happen to good people. Life can be tough, and the pain of life is sometimes insurmountable. Excitement wanes, and it causes us to reconsider; do we want to go on and continue doing what we have been doing, or do we just give up altogether?
Here are 5 keys which I believe will help you keep the worship fire well lit and the passion alive:

1) God will give you the energy to keep going.
When we are in ministry, and obedient to God's call, the Holy Spirit energises us. Jesus said: "my food is to do the will of God"(John 4:34). What God has called you to do and what He has gifted you in will energise you. I have known of friends in the ministry and even myself, who, even though tired from the ministry workload, are continually amazed at the strength and vitality they continue to have when doing God's work. My brother once shared with me about a time he was ministering overseas, and the people kept coming to him for prayer. The Holy Spirit was moving in a mighty way and miracles were happening left and right. My brother said that even though he knew he should be really tired as the time was well past midnight, he was amazed at the amount of energy he had. This continued right up until he was back in his hotel room and he collapsed in bed and slept 10 hours! God made sure he had the energy to continue in his anointing as long as was necessary.

2) Don't burn out.
When God finished His creation work, the bible says He rested. Was God tired from making all that stuff? Certainly not! I believe this was set in place for our benefit. No one can continuously work seven days a week. Sure you can do it for a time, but sooner or later you are going to crash and burn. We are not designed to just keep going constantly without a break. What am I saying? Keep a healthy balance between work, ministry and down time. I have been in situations that have required me to work hard and long hours to provide for my family, my Saturdays were then taken up with looking after the maintenance around the house, and looking after kids, etc and then the expectation was for me to be at church early on Sunday morning, ( usually around 7:30am) and be there until 12:30, go home, have lunch and a quick break, ready to start back at church at 4.00pm to get ready for the 6.00pm service thigh would take me through to about 8.00pm. By then I would stagger home, looking for a weekend! This is not sustainable!!! If you are a worship leader and have that sort of demand placed on you, be careful; you run the risk of burning out. Make sure you get down time, and if at all possible, share the load.
Romans 12:11 says: "Don't burn out, keep yourself fuelled and aflame in serving the Master. " God wants us all to serve Him with fervency and zeal.
Successful sports or business people constantly reinvigorate and re-invent themselves. Don't be so driven that you burn out. Maintain the balance of work, rest and play. If you stretch yourself too far you will snap.

3) Passion and Persistence Pays.
Education and/or intelligence by themselves are not enough to make you successful. You may have great musical ability and a beautiful voice. I have met plenty of people with lots of technical knowledge about music and song structure , and yet they have not been able to turn that knowledge into great worship. There is a difference between being really talented and being passionate. Recently I watched a music class give a performance. There were 2 young ladies in particular who both had nice voices. The stand out difference between the two was one girl's passion with which she presented her song. My observation was : she was living her music.
Persistence, consistency, tenacity, passion, desire and enthusiasm are the ingredients that will make an average person superior. Lethargy, complacency and indifference are the ingredients for making a superior person average.
People are looking for strong leadership (including in worship) and generally it is those with a passion that will draw followers, rather than just great and knowledgable thinkers who have no spunk.
If you don't want your fire to go out, watch out for complacency.

4) Watch out for familiarity.
After having done the same thing for so long you become bored with it. We see it in marriage, work, friendships and on the stage. Worship leading is not just about putting together another bunch of songs for this Sunday's service.
How many times have you found a new app for your iPhone, or a new fad going around your circle of friends; you are totally taken in by it and consumed by it until after a while you become bored with it and it dies its natural death.
We often hear about a familiar spirit, one which causes us to lose respect for people or things we should consider sacred or holy. Familiarity is a very dangerous attitude in the ministry. When we become too familiar with worship leading, complacency can cause us to lose our passion. And, let me say, people will notice, and so does God. And I want to warn you, this is not acceptable to God. In fact I believe it is offensive to Him. The anointing will be affected.

5) Let others' passion rub off on you.
God's call on your life is about impacting people for Jesus. It is important to be around fervent people, whose excitement will rub off on us. Be spurred on by the passion of others.
John prophesied Jesus would baptise us with fire
Matthew 3:11 says: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
Get together with God and ask him to revitalise you. Rekindle the fire in your spirit by prayer, reading God's word, getting around great worship, and letting others rub off on you. Don't forget, a jug can not pour out what is isn't filled with. And once you empty a jug, you have to refill it before you can pour more out. I know that statement sounds really simplistic, but the truth of it runs deep. You can not continue to give of yourself in ministry without filling yourself up.
I love going to other churches where I am not known and drowning myself in their worship. I love listening to great live worship music while I travel, and I love getting around my good friends and pastor who regularly encourage me and whose passion for Jesus keeps me charged up!

Well, there you have it. Five important keys to keeping the passion alive. Be encouraged, worship leader; you have an important role to play in the economy of God and in the worship service. Treat your ministry with the honour and respect that God deserves. If you are offering your worship to God, let it be a sweet smelling fragrance to Him. It will be the most important thing you do this Sunday.
Have a great one!



Erick

Life changers, World changers.

The Man in the mirror

Michael Jackson got it right. In the song : "man in the mirror" he sings 

I'm looking at the man in the mirror

I'm telling him to change his ways

No message   could be any clearer

If you want to make the world a better place

You gotta look at your self and make the change"

…Change the world, begin with yourself. 

World Changers

Each one of us has a purpose in life; a holy calling. 

It has been dawning on me in recent weeks that God has put us in this world at this time and in this place for a special purpose. There is a reason why we exist, why here and why now. This is a very important thing to realise, because it validates who I am and who you are. Our place and time on this earth is no mere accident, no matter what anyone says. 

Throughout time there have been people whose actions have had a major influence on the course of history: Some to a large extent and others to a small extent, but history makers none the less. These people I call World changers.

Heroes

In a previous blog, I spoke of the Biblical heroes of the faith who died not ever having seen the fulfilment of the promise of God. Did that make them failures? Certainly not! The fact that they obeyed God in the face of defeat, without seeing the fulfilment of their purpose made them heroes. These people were life changers whose actions changed the World. God had radically influenced their lives to bring them to a complete change of direction. Through their obedience and faith, God was able to change the course of history to set it in the right direction to achieve His ultimate purpose. 

I wonder sometimes what my purpose in life is, and how I could ever make a difference I this world; how I could change the course of history. You know, I may never know. 

Your calling and mine are no different. Who knows just what God has planned for the people that we touch. 

Worship Leader, Life Changer

I love that as a worship leader, I have a privileged opportunity to bring people into the very throne room of God. Only God knows what he will do with that person in that place.  And if that one has an audience with the most high and has a revolutionary revelation, which  changes their life and in turn the course of history, we share in that. I can't stress enough how important you are in the scheme of things.

We have an amazing opportunity to be used of God to be life changers.  

Every piece in a puzzle is needed to complete a picture. I don't know if you have ever completed a puzzle, perhaps one with a piece of blue sky in it. There are many pieces which all look the same. You might say their position in the overall puzzle is not important; they don't display any particular colours or shapes which set them apart and give an obvious clue as to their position in the picture. However, when the puzzle is done and all the pieces are in place, if a piece of that sky is missing, the puzzle would not look right, the missing piece would leave a very obvious hole, and the picture would not be complete as the designer intended it to be. Not only that, but no other piece will fit in its place.  Do you see? 

As a worship leader, your part in the church is vital; you are called to be a life changer. When you lead your congregation in anointed worship, you are bringing them into a life-changing place where miracles happen and where God meets his people face to face. 

As a Christian you are called to be a life changer. Find where you fit. There is a special place for you, and the Designer is looking for you to fill that gap and be that part of the puzzle designed uniquely for you! 

Have an amazing week. 

Erick. 

=

Letting Go!

Someone else’s turn

The other day my daughter led worship, and again she did a great job. 

Her song choice was good; her song order was well set out. However, some of the song arrangements were not the way I would have done them. 

This of course was a test, not for my daughter but for me; I already said she did a great job. Everything went really well.  So what was my problem?

Personality reflected

One of the special privileges of being a worship leader is God's ability to use an individual's personality, taste and flavour in a worship service. This means that every worship leader should be unique in their leading.  God has given us a unique personality as individual as our fingerprint. He has created us individual to be a unique blessing to this world. 

In worship leading this is no different. God is not about cloning the "successful" worship leaders of this world, he never wanted me to be Phil Keaggy. If He did, I would be a really good guitarist. Instead He created me an average guitarist, with an anointing to lead people into His throne room through worship. People respond to the way I lead worship, because of my unique anointing. I can't expect the up and coming worship leader under my tutelage to imitate me in the way I lead (although imitation may be a compliment to my leading); I need to encourage them to find where the Spirit is leading them in their ministry. My ego would like nothing better than if there were a dozen or so mini Ericks running around leading worship just like I do. However I get the distinct feeling this would not go down terribly well in the heavens.

My challenge then, is as demanding as the young bird who is about to learn how to fly. I need to let my apprentice fly: not so I can watch her fail, I am there still and ever to back her up and take over if the situation demands it. No I need to let her find her wings. I need to enable her to find her unique anointing and empower her to pursue that calling in order to bless God and bless the house. In short, I need to learn to let go. 

Worship Leaders with personality or Clones?

I was talking to a friend of mine recently who has been a successful worship leader for some decades. He is anointed in bringing the congregation into the throne room of the Most High. He has a unique style and uses a vast repertoire of songs. He was asked recently to lead worship in the church he has just started to attend. "no problem" said he and he proceeded to prepare his worship service. The music director then said to him that he could only do the songs which she sanctioned and those songs just happened to be a group of songs from one particular church and brand new, which meant he wasn't familiar with the songs or their arrangement. And in looking at the songs, he wasn't so sure that they would fit into his unique style of worship leading anyway. He put his case to his music director and in short she replied that he could only do the songs which she said he could do. Out of exasperation he replied: "You don't want a worship leader, you want a clone!"  His music director was not prepared to let him go. 

How many songs in your database?

Interestingly, another friend of mine is also a music director at a church, and he has no less than 6 worship leaders, each with their own team of musicians and backup singers. When I asked him how many songs he gives his worship leaders access to, he replied that he has about 460 songs in his data base, ranging from hymns to country and Western to modern day worship music. He told me that each of his worship leaders is so different in their approach that it adds a real unique flavour to the  worship each Sunday. 

He told me that one of his worship leaders loves hymns so she uses them a lot. One of the worship leaders is quite young, and so there's a lot of Planet Shakers songs in his leading, and so on: True worship with individual flavour which brings great variety to the worship service. 

How to Let Go!

In letting go, I don't mean we let the new worship leaders "sink or swim" ; we are still teaching them in the art of leading and pastoral requirements like timing, sensitivity, when not to do a certain type of song; and technical aspects like flow, key change, etc. 

There's a lot still for you to do, but do it sensitively and encourage your new worship leader to exercise their individuality. Most of all, let go the rope! 

God bless you this week! 

If you are looking for more resources regarding this subject, check out our website: www.worshipleaderonline.com 

Erick

How to become a great worship leader.

It looks easy

I have been a worship leader for a long time. I have seen worship leaders come and go. Some have done well, while others failed miserably.

Like any role I'm ministry, leading worship probably looks a lot easier than it really is.  I mean surely it can't be that hard to pick your 5 or 6 favourite songs each week and have great worship where people are touched, healed, delivered, set free:  

Well in my experience I'd say "if only". Over the years I have had some real struggles even just choosing a few songs. If you have read any of my previous blogs, you will have caught my suggestions on preparation for worship leading. 

The first step: Serving

So if just choosing a few songs is not the key to being a great worship leader, what is?

Jesus said that if any of us want to be great in the Kingdom, we have to be the servant of all. Now there is a key! Serving. 

Serving is about being others focused and Christ -centred. It is about taking my eyes off me and how cool or great I think I am or want to be, and looking at ways to serve others. In worship leading, we are doing just that. We are gently taking the congregation member by the hand and ushering them into the presence of Jesus. The same Jesus who says: "come unto me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you for my burden is easy and my yoke is light.";  is the Jesus that people need to know and be reacquainted with. You see, it's not about me or you, it's about Jesus. 

Step 2: It’s not about me

   Worship leading is not about me and how great I am.  It is about my willingness to serve. 

And if God chooses to raise me up to lead worship in front of thousands, I'd better have the same attitude to leading worship in a home group or a small country church of a congregation less than 20, otherwise I'm not what Christ has commanded me to be. 

Want to be a great worship leader? Love people, honour them where they are at, notwithstanding that their week may not have been as trouble free as yours. Value them; To Jesus they are important enough to die for, let's see them through Jesus' eyes.  

Do all the preparation required to produce excellent worship. Never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit and what He is capable of if you let Him. If you are standing in front of a large congregation, your commitment should reflect ( in fact it will be reflected ) in the success of your worship service. 

Step 3: You’re a part of a Team

Remember you are part of a team, who include your Pastor, your fellow musicians, backing vocalists, other Worship Leaders, Your sound engineer, Even the greeters at the door are there for the same reason you are: to bring people into the welcoming arms of Jesus.

Submit to your Pastor in love. Communicate with him (or her) bounce ideas off him, ask him questions like: “What is your theme for the week?” or “Is there any particular song that has been on your heart that you would like me to do?” Work together with your Pastor and Leadership to show Unity and a common vision.

 Step 4: What happens on Stage

You may have any number of co-workers with you on the stage, (unless you only do solo); so value them (your team) as fellow Workers. No one is less or more important than anyone else. I have had people on the stage who could scarcely stay in tune, but their attitude and heart for worship was a vital ingredient to arousing the congregation into Worship. Make sure that the stronger, more confident singers and Musicians are there to support and encourage the less confident members. Remember Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:21 “The eye can never say to the hand: “I don’t need you...”” We need each other. You are an anointed Worship Leader, others are anointed with their instruments, voices, gifts of helps, you get the message...

Step 5: It doesn’t happen without the Holy Spirit

I have put this last, but it is first and foremost. Without the Anointing of the Holy Spirit we are like the Corinthian Loveless vessels: Noisy gongs and clashing cymbals. Pray constantly for the infilling and outpouring of the Holy Spirit: On your leading, on your songs, on your team, on your Pastor.

Want to be a great Worship Leader? Here’s a few steps to take you towards that goal.

And remember: Your idea of Great and God’s idea of Great may well be 2 different things. Remain faithful, humble, and obedient. You can do it, I know you can!

If you would like more information on how to become a great worship leader or could use some great tools, check out the www.worshipleaderonline.com website. There is also a great podcast with weekly uploads on which we discuss all sorts of great topics on this site. Check us out!

God Bless you

Erick