Song Leaders
{SONG LEADERS and DEVELOPERS}
One of the most fruitful worship leaders I know is a 58-year-old mediocre singer who’s DEAF in one ear. He leads a racially diverse worship ministry of over 100 volunteers in a church of 2.5K.
Another worship leader I know is 65. He’s taken a very dated service to a well done, technologically savvy worship expression with one of the best social streams I’ve seen. He rarely leads a song but has developed DOZENS of young worship leaders in a church of 500.
I know worship directors that DON’T play guitar or piano, yet they lead the whole worship ministry from a soundboard or drum set. Churches of 3K+
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Most senior leaders think TOO SMALL when imagining their next worship leader. Their goals are typically someone young with exceptional stage presence, high anointing, and low cost.
It’s been my joy to help multiple churches find their next worship leader. Probably 100 phone calls in the past 5 years – helping pastors expand their idea of “I need a worship guy”.
What if I told you your next best worship leader would be a much better PASTOR than a PERFORMER.
What if I told you they might do things that build God’s kingdom in ways that don’t translate well to YouTube.
What if I told you they would need to be paid a significant living wage – but in return might disciple 10 fold your other candidates.
I appreciate that each church has a unique journey and this advice might be something for 5 or 10 years down the road. This very well might be the time you need a solid chief musician on stage, but consider the idea that the right
PERSON may not fit the PERSONA (of a typical worship leader).
A not entirely unrealistic binary to conclude my point:
1. A+ stage savvy worship leader. Anointed, brave, bold, worker bee. Impressively, makes the weekend “happen”. Prone to burnout or acquisition from a bigger ship.
2. C+ stage savvy worship leader that develops dozens of A’s, B’s, and C’s across all positions for years and decades. Makes weekend “happen”, but it’s a little messier. Prone to irrelevance or church planting 😉
Helping your worship leaders and teams tell the story of God in worship. My name is Mike O’Brien and I am passionate about teaching and mentoring worship leaders and teams. My calling is to use my experience as a producer, worship leader, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist to come alongside musicians, helping them more fully worship God with their instrument and lives. Find out more about how I can help your worship leaders and teams HERE.
Revival FOMO Are You Missing the Next Big Move of God?
{REVIVAL FOMO} Have you heard? “God’s about to do something big! Don’t miss out…..”
For years, I followed leaders that told me to keep suffering and striving hard because something BIG was about to happen. The big payoff was just around the corner. They could feel it. They saw a sign. A month turned into a year, turned in a decade of “just you wait, it’s gonna happen.”
Sometimes church leaders use this language to justify the overwork of volunteers or employees. It’s false hope wrapped up in spiritual language. It’s an illusion like the MC Escher Stairs where you keep moving up while going nowhere.
Sometimes church leaders use the optics and stories of other “revivals” to push their teams to exhaustion. “What kind of microphone does Furtick use??”. If you thought it would be less during quarantine church, think again – the competition for the best digital church is at an all-time high!
Sometimes church leaders want revival for some kind of kingdom bailout. Bailout our inadequate leadership, procrastination, lack of diligence, overspending, etc…
I’m ALL ABOUT expecting good things. I’m all about positive, forward-moving leadership. Nothing worse than a stick in the mud, critical team member (I have admittedly been that guy) – but we must stop baiting future revival as an excuse for exploitation or mismanagement. Ministry should be sustainable, to quote Eugene Peterson, more like “a long obedience in the same direction.”
Helping your worship leaders and teams tell the story of God in worship. My name is Mike O’Brien and I am passionate about teaching and mentoring worship leaders and teams. My calling is to use my experience as a producer, worship leader, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist to come alongside musicians, helping them more fully worship God with their instrument and lives. Find out more about how I can help your worship leaders and teams HERE.
It’s OK If Your Church Never Sings That New Song
NEWER is BETTER + POPULAR is GOOD
That is what our consumer culture tells us.
As those entrusted with choosing songs for our church, we must look beyond the YouTube hymnal and social virality of a song. We must be able to see and hear beyond the slick productions.
A nutritionist for a pro football team does not feed the same meal to a kicker and a linebacker. What’s good for a 10K church in the burbs might not make sense for a recovery group in the city. Are there songs better made for your small church that a large church would never consider?
Some new, famous worship songs should be avoided in your context. Some should be sung immediately. Some should wait a bit. Some will be sung forever in your church. Many will be quickly forgotten.
Here are considerations for selecting NEW SONGS for your local church:
1️⃣ Choose songs that could live in your active setlist for 3, 5, 10 years, or more.
The increasingly short shelf life of trendy worship songs really concerns me. I love that there are some songs in our repertoire that have been with us for decades and continue to feed us. We keep them from being worn out by using different arrangements and allowing them to rest for seasons. For instance, the song “Jesus Messiah” is no longer marketable, but for our church the lyrics do incredible work.
2️⃣Avoid becoming a radio DJ that capitulates to every song request (yes, including your pastor).
Over time, if you are doing your job well, people will learn to trust to eat what is in front of them vs. constantly asking for chicken fingers and cake. If you are constantly trying to please people by entertaining requests, it will never end. When people (my pastor) ask for a song I always ask them “what about the song speaks to you?”, “What in this song, gives voice to what our church needs to say to God?” Often times it’s a deeply felt, short-lived emotion that is completely personal and not corporate.
3️⃣ Dive deeper to find songs that fit your context.
There are hundreds and thousands of beautiful songs and hymns that are not in the top CCLI 1000. This might include your original songs. I recently found a song by Daniel Bashta “Praise the Lord” which has absolutely blessed our gatherings. Listen to more indie worship artists and hunt for songs that will feed your church. Don’t just wait for the big churches to feed you your next moment.
Helping your worship leaders and teams tell the story of God in worship. My name is Mike O’Brien and I am passionate about teaching and mentoring worship leaders and teams. My calling is to use my experience as a producer, worship leader, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist to come alongside musicians, helping them more fully worship God with their instrument and lives. Find out more about how I can help your worship leaders and teams HERE.
Three In-Stock Video Tools Every Pastor (and worship leader) Needs Yesterday An easy video set up
Welcome to the new reality of the online church, online small group and ZOOM video conferences galore.
These 3 in-stock items (at the time of this writing!) from Amazon will up your video game immediately. You might not care what you look like, but if what you are communicating is important, then you might as well have it look as good as possible. With these three items, you will be able to FRAME your face is a variety of ways, both standing, and sitting. Things will look and sound better.
A nice HEAVY BOOM STAND to hold your phone. A microphone stand is 100 times more adjustable and easy to use than a typical camera stand.
A nice METAL ADAPTER thingy to affix the adapter.
A nice PLASTIC ADAPTER to cradle your phone.
Bonus Tips:
Up your lighting: Like Kim Kardashian, buy THIS SELFIE LIGHT – it really helps.
Up your audio: FREE: Talk louder, get closer, close the door or get into a more acoustically dead space. If you want to spend money, try this highly rated microphone for iPhone and here is an option for Andriod.
Helping your worship leaders and teams tell the story of God in worship. My name is Mike O’Brien and I am passionate about teaching and mentoring worship leaders and teams. My calling is to use my experience as a producer, worship leader, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist to come alongside musicians, helping them more fully worship God with their instrument and lives. Find out more about how I can help your worship leaders and teams HERE.
Worship During Quarantine: BEST PRACTICES and What We Are Learning Informative Zoom call with some of my smartest tech friends
My name is Mike O’Brien and I am passionate about teaching and mentoring worship leaders and teams. My calling is to use my experience as a producer, worship leader, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist to come alongside musicians, helping them more fully worship God with their instrument and lives. Find out more about how I can help your worship leaders and teams HERE.
Encouragement Is Free Using Words to Build Your Team
Recently a friend asked me what I would do with a blank check for the church. I love that question. I rattled off a list of wonderful band gear, design projects, and potential hires for needed areas. Reflecting the following day, the Lord revealed some areas of my heart that were needlessly operating under a burden of scarcity. He led me once again to the Psalmist’s proclamation:
For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.
Psalm 50:10-12
Money is usually the grid by which I’ve seen this text, but when it comes to resources, the reality is that there is so much more to consider. At that moment the clearest resource the Lord was pointing to was my words.
Here are a few ways that we, as worship leaders, can use our words as resources to edify our teams:
15 Gift Ideas for Worship Leaders Unique ideas to bless the musician in your life
It’s that time of year again where you want to get the perfect gift for the church musician in your life. Buying something thoughtful or useful for a musician can be hard; they know what they like and they know what actually works. Because finding the perfect something can be a tall task, I’ve put together a list of creative gifts that any worship leader or church musician would enjoy. I’ve already vetted all the options, read the reviews and chose the perfect product.
Buying presents for a creative person means that your gift will not just be consumed, but be used to multiply goodness into the world. Happy shopping and giving!
1. Books on Worship/Creativity
Here are some great titles that would bless the worship leader in your life. These are “easy” reads, but still intellectually rich and lasting. Even if they already have one of these titles, these are all classics and will be a welcome duplicate to share on the bookshelf of any worship leader.
For All God’s Worth – N.T. Wright
You Are What You Love – James K.A. Smith
A Brief History of Christian Worship – Jame F. White
The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
Worship Leading Takes Work Have you stalled out?
“Ambitious parents who are currently playing the ‘Baby Mozart’ video for their toddlers
may be disappointed to learn that Mozart became Mozart by working furiously hard.” ― Geoff Colvin, Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
Worship Have you had those weeks in worship when you have prepared diligently, rehearsed the team, practiced the cues and got everything “right” but then when church happened, it all fell apart? Inversely, how ‘bout those weeks where you hardly make a plan but somehow everything was pure fire? Worship ministry can be mysterious; sometimes it feels like the results are out of our hands. If you are like me you’ve had seasons where you’ve taken this dynamic for granted and rested too much on the mercy and favor of God.
My Number One Congregational Participation Tip Start with strength and give it away
My name is Mike O’Brien and I am passionate about teaching and mentoring worship leaders and teams. My calling is to use my experience as a producer, worship leader, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist to come alongside musicians, helping them more fully worship God with their instrument and lives. Find out more about how I can help your worship leaders and teams HERE.