Gaining Perspective

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy with a couple of important commitments the last couple of weeks. One of them was the Sunburst Half Marathon Race and preparation. The other was an opportunity to give the message at my church instead of leading worship. Both events required copious amounts of energy, both mental and physical, and I'm glad to finally be back on the keyboard.

The Sunday I was preaching however, I had my first opportunity to do something I had not done in over 3 years: Attend a church service where the Worship Leader... was not me. It's true. I hardly ever take vacation, (tisk, tisk, I know) and when I do its normally for another Sunday worship event where I'm leading anyway. So all week, I was able to spend time learning, dissecting, and overseeing the church's worship team instead of actually rehearsing and performing. Then come Sunday morning, I was able to just sing, clap, raise my hands, and worship from the seats with everyone else.... It was an awesome experience! And it helped that it was being lead by a very capable and talented worship team lead by A.J. Miller. (name drop ;)

"Walk around the sanctuary and see what everyone else sees. "

So as Worship Leaders, I encourage you to get a new perspective. Create a system so that you train up leaders within your worship team so that you occasionally have time to step away from the microphone and focus on other aspects of running a worship ministry that need you... Like:

     1. Spend some time in the sound booth. Talk with the media team and ask them about their needs. Let them know that you care about them and want to work with them to help them succeed. Relationships are everything.

     2.  Proofread some slide shows. Maybe there is a small typo that keeps bothering you but you always forget it needs a permanent fix... such as it reading "every body" instead of "everybody".

      3. File and organize your music. Couldn't find enough copies of "How He Loves" so you just printed off 10 more? Maybe sometimes you accidentaly pass out music in two different keys? Spend some time organizing your music library so you can save some paper, time, and frustration later.

      4. Give some direction in rehearsal. Walk around the sanctuary and see what everyone else sees. Maybe change up the staging a little if the piano is blocking the congregation's view of the guitarist, etc.

      5. And the best part: WORSHIP on SUNDAY MORNING! It's an awesome and relieving feeling to be able worship without responsibility. Not only will you be filled, but your worship team will be proud to have been trusted to play on their own... and the trust you build there is priceless.

Get a New Perspective. Learn. Apply. Improve. Worship.


Cody Collier is a graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA and serves as Worship Leader at Goshen First Church of God in Goshen IN, and as Midday Radio Host at Family Friendly 104.7/93.7 WFRN.