1. Become A Great Reader

Worship songwriters must be come great readers. Books without pictures – steal ourselves away from constant “film only” learning.

As creatives, someone would think of electricity, democracy, worship, etc.

Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman told him the story of John Quincy Adams (PBS Miniseries) – eloquent writer.

2. Listen to new music.

Expand your boundaries. Symphony concert, jazz concert, new genre. The composers wrote for the church and for the culture. There is something to be done in the listening.

Classical music now often exists in an academic ghetto. Listen widely.

3. Learn new words.

He’s writing with Derek Webb (controversial but fantastic writer) – ten songs a year, then stops, comes out with a record.

Social networking creates an instant culture; songwriting takes time to linger in.

Careful you don’t contribute to an epidemic of “sameness” in writing.

4. Avoid stale approaches.

We turn to stock things – sounds, etc. that we’ve seen work. A G chord played with the Open The Eyes Of My Heart strumming pattern.

You could set the bar, but usually after learning what others have done. Have integrity in what you write.

If not, we adopt the horrible part of culture – the disposable. We’ll run out of cliche. Take a philosophy that says “we won’t be disposable; we’ll be accountable to do things with creative integrity.”

5. Use different instruments.

Comfortable on guitar – not so comfortable on keyboard? Try the thing that’s more challenging, or pushes you a different direction.

6. Use rhythm tracks.

Much of today’s music is more rhythm-driven. Use the loops in Garage Band.

Just for exercise. Go to iTunes, buy the backup tracks for a great song, and try to create something new over it (don’t actually use it – that’s plagiarism) – but practice that way. It’ll wake you up.

7. Find ways to show, and not tell.

We are proclamation driven. But biblically, proclamation was after 30 years living out a revelation to folks, then proclaiming the point.

I.e. Reveal God first, as opposed to proclaiming God first. Show faith before you tell it. Show ideas before you tell them. Point to truth, with compelling ideas.

Writing with Derek Webb; sat for 10 minutes in co-writing session. He just sat there looking at Matt. “Are we stuck?” Then, he had an idea. Derek works it out in his head; Matt works it out verbally.

8. Co-write.

We’re a church for a reason, sent out in two’s for a reason. Empowered to do the things we’re supposed to do. A musical extension of life in community. Come with an idea. In the process of holding it loosely, you say I’m willing for this person to tear it apart for something greater.

It’s an exercise in humility. You actually may not be the only one with great ideas. God is Trinity; consider this communal creative expression.

When artists come together, we’re experiencing (maybe) a small taste of what the Trinity is like. Co-crafting.

Other Notes:

Don’t write melodies above E over middle C for congregations – tough for them).

Think singability when writing for corporate settings.

If you write 50 songs, and 4 are congregational, great.

Records ideas in phone. Uses “iRecorder.”

Lyric idea confront melody idea? Let one of them hack up the other if needed.

Pentecost is the culminating Sunday of Easter, rooted in the ancient Jewish celebration of the five (penta) books of the Law, is the birthday of the Church. A welcoming of the Holy Spirit is remembered, and the spread of the good news through a divinely empowered Church becomes the center of attention. This season leads us with the theme of the Spirit’s great inspiration through the remainder of the year, until Advent begins the cycle over again. (From the digital book Essentials In Worship History: Bearers Of Memory).

In this Season, we now enter into a time of immersing ourselves in the Gospels, the acts of Jesus, the acts of the early Church, the acts of the Church throughout history, and welcoming the Holy Spirit’s leadership in our lives, we run with God in the fields of Hope.

In this Season, now upon us, live, love, pray, laugh, encourage, imagine, heal; run like water to the lowest places. In so doing the Spirit of Jesus will empower you to do all that you need to do to bring your gift to calling this world back to its Maker.

With Joy, let’s embrace the Pentecost season!

Communion And Imagination

Mother Theresa once said, “When you learn to meet God in the bread and the cup, you can learn to see God in the poor.” In other words, she was suggesting that it is our capacity to imagine in worship that can lead to our capacity to imagine in social action. Embodied in her simple life in our generation, Mother Theresa drew the link between the symbolic acts of worship that occur within the Church proper, and the acts of social transformation that stem from their flourishing in the human soul.

The Language Of Eucharist

Celebrating the Eucharist (or communion) is the daily, weekly and seasonal reenacting of the themes of the Passover meal – namely that the God at the center of the universe became flesh and blood, and offered Himself to defeat death, disarm sin, resurrect the lifeless and restore the cosmos to its original purpose.

For the Church worshipping throughout history, it is no overstatement to say that the celebration of the Eucharist has been the primary and central act of Christian worship for almost 2000 years. All other worship actions have pointed to it, and the act of communion has sacramentally welded the Church together throughout intense seasons of forgetfulness of our purpose and mission in the world.

In addition to these ideas, Eucharist is perhaps the most participatory act of worship we see throughout Church history. The engagement of human beings around a table, eating bread, drinking juice, smelling, hearing, touching, tasting and reflecting the Story of Christ’s life, death and resurrection is a powerful theme throughout worship history.

The Christian Language Of Eucharist

We have perhaps some of the most vibrant language related to worship in the New Testament surrounding what we call the Lord’s Supper.

For Christians throughout time, the New Testament themes of the Lord’s Supper still resonate among us. The Eucharist:

Commemorates that God has acted as Savior to penetrate of all of human history, from creation, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, through our present, and to the final consummation (Acts 2:46-47)

Reminds us that we are part of the communion of saints in the family of God (1 Cor. 10:16)

Persuades us that a sacrifice has occurred to right the world (John 1:29)

Speaks of the presence of Christ among us (John 6:51-58)

Welcomes us to experience the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13)

Looks forward to the eschaton (1 Cor. 11:26)

Early Church Usage Of The Eucharist

For the Jews, the concept of table fellowship was an important cultural idea. One did not eat with those whose lifestyle one did not endorse. One did not sit to eat with enemies, nor with those who had disgraced one’s family name. Jesus, however, literally turned the table on table fellowship. Eating and drinking with tax collectors, prostitutes, drunkards and run-of-the-mill sinners was a theological statement embodied in his physical actions.

“The God who eats with these people is the God who embraces all of humanity in its beauty and brokenness,” his meal time habits would say; “He recognizes that all have sinned, and He draws near to bring new humanity to those who seem to be the worst off in society.”

This new paradigm of table fellowship led to some of the early Church’s most powerful statements of community. Now, not only had a former prostitute been baptized by a wealthy woman of tremendously differing social strata, but now they were declaring their essential “family” relationship by eating and drinking together at meals! What had brought them to this table of thanksgiving, this table of reconciliation and shared hope?

Jesus had brought them together, and their meal was a declaration that, just as God had caused the angel of death to pass over His people Israel in Egypt, so too death would now pass them by destroyed by the power of His resurrection life at work within.

Early Christians would share meals together, enlisting singing, the sharing of the apostles’ letters, prayer and mutual support as essentials at their table of worship. The Eucharist was originally known as the “agape feast,” or a meal that signified unconditional love between God and humankind, and humankind and one another. This meal was a central, defining act of worship for the earliest Christians, a commemoration of the Passover meal that Jesus shared with his disciples before stepping toward his final hours this side of the tomb.

This commemoration looked deep into the past of the Jews, remembering that God would provide the sacrificial Lamb that would “take away the sins of the world.” For the earliest believers, every gathering around this table was a celebration of resurrection life – that the true light had come into the world, and darkness had not overcome it. The agape feast looked toward the age to come, where no more tears would be shed as they were in this dark world, and all would enjoy unblemished fellowship with God and with one another.

In other words, for the early Church, the Eucharist was built around a celebration of resurrection, not primarily a revisiting of the death of Jesus. This is a later development in the approach to communion. Early believers reclaimed, every first day of the week, the Easter story – and the meal together, remembering Jesus’ words, was their primary act of resurrection remembrance.

The word “eucharist” is simply from a Greek word meaning “thanksgiving.” For the early Christians, they were thanking God for, and commemorating, Jesus’ life, teaching, death and resurrection in the eucharist, reminding themselves of God’s mighty acts through human history, being persuaded that a final sacrifice had been made for the world, speaking of the presence of Christ as they ate, welcoming the Holy Spirit in their midst and looking forward to the Kingdom coming in all of its fullness on earth.

The Eucharist In Worship Throughout Church History

Given communion’s centrality to the worship of the church across the ages, one can only imagine the myriad permutations that the actual symbolic act has taken as the Church has kept the breaking of bread and the taking of the cup a central expression of its worship life.

From the early Church meals, the Eucharist took on more symbolic (and possibly smaller and shorter) forms in the centuries of the persecuted Church. Then, with Constantinian Christianity, the Eucharist gained massive buildings and public displays to accent its mystery and beauty. This brought with it, throughout the medieval era, an errant magical significance being placed on the elements by clergy. The wine could not be spilled as it had actually become (in essence) the blood of Jesus, and the crumbs from the bread could not fall to the ground as it had literally become the flesh of Christ through the priest’s blessing.

The Reformation challenged many of these extremes with its emphasis on the priesthood of the believer, the centrality of scripture, and justification by faith – and not by doing all the right religious worship gymnastics.

When the Reformation came to fruition, there remained deep disagreement between many of the Reformers as to the exact nature of what happens in the Eucharist (a disagreement that pitted Luther and Zwingli against one another). For Luther, the elements were invested with the spiritual substance of the body and blood of Christ; i.e. the body and blood of Christ were in, through and under the substance of the elements though not changing them physically (consubstantiation).

For Zwingli, that was a silly idea. The term “transubstantiation” – the view that the elements actually transformed into the body and blood of Christ, was the Roman Catholic view, and was established as a sacramental idea in the 12^th century. From here, various reformers rejected transubstantiation, embraced consubstantion, or, like the Quakers, rejected all symbolic action altogether.

By the time of Luther, Christians had been used to centuries of the Eucharist primarily resting in the domain of the clergy’s altar, and therefore the common person would only take communion a few times per year (maybe four, at the major festivals). While Zwingli kept this the pattern, Luther pushed for a weekly communion given his sense of its vital importance to worship. Under Luther, some Eucharist services could last up to three or four hours.[1]

Following from the Reformation, the Church has taken the last 500 years to further process what actually happens during communion, with what frequency it should be taken, and what types of elements are acceptable. In many contemporary Christian worshipping communities in the West, communion is often largely forgotten as a central language of worship for the Church. In Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and other more liturgical traditions, it retains its historical centrality as the primary act of corporate worship.

Eucharist Throughout Church History

It is not uncommon for humans, let alone Christians, to overstate the importance of something in order to keep its’ meaning alive. One might suggest that some of the more “magical” language surrounding what happens in the Eucharist throughout Church history was intended to retain the mystery of our intimacy with Christ that can occur when one participates with a heart to encounter God in the elements.

Sometimes symbols, given their rightful meaning, can indeed welcome us into a sense of beauty and mystery in a way that words cannot. On the other hand, some have suggested that the taking of the Eucharist literally delivers salvation to the individual. Christians have taken many sides on this idea historically, but suffice it to say that the memory of what occurred in and through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus has usually remained of infinitely higher importance to the Church than the form the Eucharist takes.[2]

Eucharist: What We Can Glean Today

On some levels, the multi-sensory and participatory nature of the symbolic form of taking the Eucharist may be among the most important themes we can draw on for today, in addition to the content it adds to our worship life. In an age that elevates personal experience above any form of objective truth, the Eucharist is an inherently visceral and physical action that may provide the most holistic worship bridge to the postmodern sensibility.

Given that the Eucharist originated in a meal together, we can reach into our past to revisit how we do communion in light of its origins. Larger meals may be a fresh approach to the Eucharist in contemporary churches, in church buildings or in homes. Additionally, the emphasis on the Eucharist being primarily a celebration of resurrection life, light and hope entering the world is another vital reclaiming that can and should occur in the contemporary Church.

If we can find our way through our church backgrounds to see communion in a fresh light, we may find one of the most powerful worship tools of the two millennial old Church in our hands once again – this time inviting the world to a feasting encounter at the Table of the Resurrected Lord.

[2] It is important to note here the difference between magic and true worship. Magic, one might say, is the quest to manipulate divine forces in order to accomplish one’s own will. Whether by symbolic action, incantation or mantra, symbolic actions can take on the spirit of magic moreso than the spirit of worship. True worship, on the other hand, might be stated as being a yielding to the divine will, in order to see Another’s will accomplished. In the first case, magic is defined by the will of the person doing the spiritual action. In the second, worship is defined by the will of the One worshipped – in this case, the Lord Jesus.

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These worship leaders understand what mutual submission is all about. They recognize the mantle that the lead pastor carries for the congregation, and they do all they can to defer to, and support, that leader.

Great worship leaders know how to honor time limits, ask teachable questions, and share the pastor’s vision for the church in song selection and event preparation.

Great worship leaders do not push their way into worship leading or other roles – they offer their gifts, and then allow God to make a place for them to lead.  They are not pushy or forceful – they are centered, and full of trust in God to make a place for their leadership.

Great worship leaders graciously receive input, and even pursue it – especially from the lead pastor and common worshipers in the congregation.

Are You In Your Element?
Dan Wilt, M.Min.

Your life is a gift to the rest of us.

You were designed to live in your element, in that unique way that only you can live in this world.

When you live in your element, the rest of us are impacted – we’re grounded, we’re inspired, we’re empowered, and we’re connected to one another.

The New Testament says this about living in our element in 1 Corinthians 12:4:

“Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits.
All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!
The variety is wonderful….”

When you live from the center of who you were designed to be, we are all richer and inspired to live in our element.

There are 4 elements in life to which we all must attend if we want to live fully alive before God and people in this precious lifetime we each have been given.

The element of Earth speaks of the grounded life. The element of Wind speaks of the inspired life. The element of Fire speaks of the empowered life. The element of Water speaks of the communal life.

Earth – A Grounded Life
Earth speaks of a grounded life. When I was a young boy growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, I first learned the lesson of gravity. It wasn’t in a classroom. It was the day I decided I wanted to impress the neighbor girl on the playground near our home. I climbed to the top of the monkey bars while she stood watching, enthralled with my courage and wild daring. Like a superhero at the top of the Empire State building, I thrust my arms into the sky, and I leapt into the air.

My memory of what happened next is quite foggy. I remember my feet hitting the ground first, my knees second, my chest third and my nose and face, last. As I say wheezing on the ground, gasping for air and feeling the warmth of the blood pouring from my nose, I heard a young girl’s voice say matter-of-factly “That was dumb.” I remember thinking a simple thought in that moment: “I thought the ground was softer than this.”

Earth speaks of those things of that don’t move in our lives – those things that don’t break on us – rather we break on them. Earth speaks of life elements like faith and a healthy spirituality. It speaks of character and the quality of your soul: integrity, honesty, perseverance, courage, faithfulness, goodness. Earth speaks of our marital relationships, our relationships with our children, our extended families, our friends. Earth speak of our ability to live generously in a world that tells us to withhold for our own benefit. Earth speaks of a grounded faith.

Are you living in the element of Earth – are you tending to those elements of life that ground you, stabilize you, provide a foundation for living well, finishing well, in your lifetime?

Wind – An Inspired Life
Wind speaks of an inspired life. A number of years ago, I was sailing on a boat with my family and friends on a blustery afternoon on Lake Ontario. We decided to go swimming, and while the rest of my family were hanging onto a rope attached to the boat, my oldest daughter and I were not.

The boat quickly moved away from us, and I don’t swim well. We floated in the turbulent waves as we watched the boat rapidly become a small speck quite distant from us. My friend knew exactly what to do. He was familiar with the arts of handling the wind, no matter which direction it was blowing. He moved quickly, grabbed the rigging, threw his many sails into the sky, and masterfully found his way right back to us.

Wind speaks of those life elements that inspire us, that move us where we want to go, that deliver us from our belief that we can do nothing, to our belief that we can do anything. Wind speaks of life elements like art and beauty, gardening, great concerts, inspiring books, energizing friendships, passionate vocational work and spiritual encouragement. Wind speaks of our need to lift our sails into the wind, to learn the arts of riding the winds that are sent to us, and getting to the places we are  made to go.

Are you living in the element of Wind? Are you tending to those elements in your life that inspire you, renew you, that bring you joy, that provide you with the energy you need to move forward day by day through the responsibilities of life?

Fire – An Empowered Life
Fire speaks of an empowered life. I’ve interacted with many friends around the world who, like me, have endured life-threatening battles with severe depression. In each case, there are many layers, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual that can add up to the sense of powerlessness that many feel holds their life in chains. I have watched those same lives, in a time of prayer, or in a season of ongoing encouragement renewal and counsel, come back from the dead, burst through the chrysalis, to live a colorful, resurrected life.

Fire speaks of those life elements that empower us, that revive us and give us a strong and vivid sense of destiny and purpose in the world. Fire speaks of a spirituality that celebrates God’s greatness and our own. Fire speaks of ongoing personal development in areas of our passion and our skills. It speaks of study, risk, and placing ourselves in situations where wild adventure is the only option. Fire speaks of life elements that remind that we are someone’s hero in this lifetime, and that we have strength beyond ourselves to drawn on to accomplish our unique heroic mission in our lifetime.

Are you living in the element of Fire? Are you tending to those elements in your life that catalyze energy, passion, skill, hope and faith within your soul? Are you living in such a way that you are regularly empowered to do what you are called to do?

Water – A Communal Life
Water speaks of a communal life. I, like hopefully many of you, love flyfishing. One of my favorite summer pastimes to stand in a river with a friend down the way, casting my line into placid, lush pools where the fish are resting. In the river and its pools, one sees the very nature of water. H20 runs to the lowest places. It nurtures the growth in those hidden areas that teem with life and they become alive.

Water speaks of those life elements that connect us with one another in a deep and growing sense of community. Water speaks of friendships maintained over the course of decades, of lifetimes, that are nurtured on a daily or weekly basis. Water speaks of the hope that comes in a moment of tremendous distress, where lives with which we share both joy and pain come around us, run to the lowest places in our hearts and nourish the seeds that are buried in the soil of our suffering. Water speaks of our faith communities, spiritual friendships, our connection with our tribes, and our intentional connection with our communities.

Are you living in the element of Water? Are you tending to those life elements that nurture encouragement, accountability, shared wisdom and mutual inspiration in your life? Are you living in such a way that authentic relationships are running to the lowest places in your life, because you are running to the lowest places in theirs?

A Simple Question
I began with a simple question. Are you in your element? Are you tending to the elements of earth, wind, fire and water in our daily, weekly, monthly and lifetime basis, we will find ourselves at the very center of a destiny that begins and ends in a Story bigger than us all.

You were made for this kind of elemental life, to be who you were designed to be – to live in your element for the sake of us all.

To uoin others on the Elemental Life journey, dive in here.

Worship leaders who play their instrument well have a much longer sustainability factor within a changing congregation than do those who are weak technically and cannot handle a diversity of demographic or need in a local community.

Great worship leaders are able on their instrument. They are not always the most proficient musician on the team; in fact, they are sometimes the least! However, they can lead the band confidently with what they do know.

Great worship leaders have just enough arranging ability to take a rag tag team, intuitively know what songs they can pull off smoothly, and what songs they simply cannot, and make them sound sweet together in simple arrangements.

Great worship leaders practice privately, and keep their own chops up personally or with lessons.

WORSHIP LEADER ROLE PERSONAL EVALUATION
www.worshiptraining.com

This evaluation we developed at worshiptraining.com can either be done on one’s own, or in tandem with a pastor/overseer. In the latter case, it would be good for each to fill out their perspective on the following answers, then compare notes.

PART 1
Reflect on the many roles the worship leader must fulfill among those who we lead in worship.

Which roles come more naturally to you by personality, and which are areas of challenge for you to grow in? Use the following list to help you answer.

- Priestly (building bridges for people to connect with God)
- Teacher (communicating themes without music)
- Storyteller (retelling the realities of the Kingdom in music)
- Evangelist (leading others to a place of challenge and commitment)
- Pastor (relationally nurturing our teams, communities)
- Prophetic (challenging Christians to go to new edges in their faith)
- Administrative (organizing worship, planning, details, events)
- Intercessory (committed to pray for those we lead/lead with)

PART 2
When working with a worship team or group of musicians, what is your greatest strength? Your greatest challenge? How about when working with your pastor or those in oversight roles (small group pastors, etc.)?

Copy and paste the following in your answer, and rate yourself 1-10 beside it. I.e. 10 is “amazing at this,” and 1 is “oh my goodness, this is a rough patch for me.”

In cases where you’re not sure how the “w/pastor” rating fits, rate how you think your pastoral leader would rate you in this area.

- Honest communication? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Submission to another’s leadership? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Musical strength/leadership (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Pastorally supporting others? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Conflict resolution? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Being a team player? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Supporting another’s vision? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Being easy to get along with/likeable (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Mentoring other leaders/musicians (w/team: w/pastor: )

If you’d like to join our course, go to Essentials In Worship Leading at WorshipTraining.com to register.

GREAT WORSHIP LEADERS: Pastoral
Dan Wilt, M.Min.
Learning Community Director
WorshipTraining.com

These worship leaders have a wider skillset than just playing an instrument, leading worship and leading a band. Most churches cannot afford such a limited capability in a new staff member. Most pastors and leaders I know are looking for worship leaders stirred by Kingdom passion, and motivated by pastoral love for the church.

Great worship leaders are flexible. They can lead worship in a home group, or lead the devotional time, or speak before the church on Sunday morning if asked. Great worship leaders know their scriptures, and know how to sensitively pray for a cancer patient in a hospital, and for a congregation in the midst of a building program.

Great worship leaders actually care for, and shepherd, their worship teams.

Great worship leaders “pastor” the congregation as they lead worship. It is clear to the church that the worship leader is not primarily in front to express his or her musical preferences in worship. There is a keen sense that the worship leader is there for them to have a meaningful connection with God.

Great worship leaders know when to ask someone to join a team, because their hearts are right, and how to ask someone to take a break because their hearts are askew from the central mandate of the team – to serve.

Great worship leaders read history, theology and classic Church writers in order to understand what makes and breaks the people of God. That learning finds its way into everything from the prayers uttered between songs, to the songs selected each set.

See our Essentials In Worship Leading online course for training in these ideas.

GREAT WORSHIP LEADERS: Equippers.
Dan Wilt, M.Min.
Learning Community Director
WorshipTraining.com

The most appreciated worship leaders have a streak of a trainer and mentor running through them. They are not content to have the platform all to themselves over a few years. They are always looking for those they can train, mentor and release, either inside or outside of that local congregation. They are secure in the gift they offer, and in the face of the gifts that others offer.

Great worship leaders know how to enjoy the process of building lifelong friendships with developing worship leaders – particularly those who value their input and share like-mindedness on key levels.

Great worship leaders know how to co-lead with someone, and how to pre-brief and de-brief while all the while sustaining a confident atmosphere for the developing worship leader.

Great worship leaders know how to mentor over time, without feeling any pressure to release people to lead worship before they are developed musically, emotionally or skillfully.

Great worship leaders are not afraid to address the pride that comes with both youth, and musical platform.

Great worship leaders are capable of listening to, and learning from, a younger leader.

Great worship leaders know how to invite a young worship leader to fall in love with the community which they lead, and to call them to either love the Bride they lead – or to step away from the microphone.

Great worship leaders know how to vulnerably share their story as a worship leader, and how to encourage younger leaders to learn from their mistakes.

Great worship leaders know how to become older brothers and sisters in worship leading, and not to simply protect themselves in the “always-leading” worship leadership role.