Todd Agnew shared great list of tips for worship leaders this week. I’m sure many of you lead on the worship teams at your churches all over the country, and Todd has awesome insight on leading well!
Worship 101: Basic Tips for Music Leaders
By Todd Agnew
1) Get to know God in a deeper way.
Studying your Bible, prayer, everything you can do in your relationship with God will have a greater impact on your worship leading than the things you work on musically. As a worship leader, you are leading people to love God. So, the better you know Him, the easier it is for you to help them.
2) Remember that you cannot force anyone to worship.
I used to try to coerce, to mock, to drag people into the presence of God. But that doesn’t work. In its simplest form, worship is loving God. And you can’t force someone to fall in love. The most you can do is introduce them. So, in leading, we must lift up the person of Jesus and let Him woo His beloved into worship.
3) Don’t ramble.
In this current worship culture, worship leaders feel the need to talk, oftentimes talk a lot. But just remember, the pastor is about to preach a sermon that he/she has spent hours and hours preparing. They studied, edited, and crafted a message for their people. So don’t just talk for five minutes because a thought jumped into your brain. Your people were just singing a song, focused on the presence, might, mercy, and majesty of their Redeemer, and you are now distracting them from that. So you better have a really good reason for doing so.
4) Prepare. And be flexible.
Spend time studying the scripture passage. Pray over the service. Search your song database for the right songs. Don’t just play songs you like, or even just songs your people like. Plan out your whole service to the best of your ability. But when it’s time to go, listen. Listen to your congregation, to your band, and most importantly to the Spirit. Following the Spirit requires knowing His voice. And you’ll find that most of the time, the Spirit will have been with you in every stage of the planning.
5) Practice.
Being spiritual shouldn’t mean being mediocre. Strive for excellence in what you do. Show grace to yourself and to others. But work hard.
6) Remember you are a servant, not a star.
As worship leaders, we serve. We serve God as worshippers. And we serve others as a leader. We are not intended to receive attention or glory. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be gracious when people are complimentary. It just should not be your goal. God’s plan is for Him to be glorified, not you. We can be a part of that as a worshipper ourselves, and by helping others in their worship journey.
7) Worship is a part of every moment, not just Sunday morning.
You probably know this already. We’ve taught on it a lot for the last few years. But I find it much easier to follow leaders who I have seen love God off the stage as well.
This is just the beginning.
You never know everything. This list is not comprehensive. It just has a few ideas I’ve found helpful and hopefully you will too. Every one of you could teach me something about worship, because your journey has been different than mine. Every worshipper you encounter has a valid and valuable opinion. You can learn from everyone. Sometimes they may share that opinion in an unkind way, but you can still receive it graciously.
What do you think of this list? I think Todd makes really valuable points! I’m so glad he shared! If you lead or have ever lead worship at your church, comment and tell us for a chance to win his latest album!
Contest is over and winners have been chosen! Thanks everyone for entering!
I think his comments are great. Worship comes from the heart. If we are real, then others may follow. If we are not real, we will turn others away.
I agree. Follow God's leading for choices then help others be comfortable in "Making a Joyful Noise" both in church & in their daily lives.
Awesome thoughts from a humble servant. Todd's heart and powerful music are truly gifts to the Church!
I appreciate Todd's thoughts. Often, as I have helped lead worship, I have had an urge to "force" people into God's presence, as Todd warns about. But one can never really force someone into adoration or love. Todd's point is well made.
And this is one of the greatest reasons Todd is one of my favorite, if not THE favorite, Christian artists of mine- his HUMBLENESS. I attended the Rock and Worship Roadshow and I can tell which artists really love God and want to glorify His name and which ones would rather have the glory for themselves. Lecrae is another favorite of mine. (Background) A piece of advice that I have for leading worship at church is to willingly allow the Holy Spirit to work in you so that God may shine through you. People will notice that you are genuinely praising God, instead of putting on a show, allowing the Holy Spirit to touch their hearts as well.
I used to lead worship at my church, Family of God. And then I just played bass for Southside Christian. I love Todd Agnew's work. We used to periodically do "Grace Like Rain" as part of our opening worship.
We need to remember that worship is not about me (or you). It is all about Him (meaning God).
I agree with Todd. The more you know God, the more effective you are as a worship leader. And, as a worshipper yourself.
I agree with the comment about what you do off stage as well. That is when people are watching more closely. They want to see if you "Practice what you Preach."
Good thoughts - I've expressed these before in certain circumstances. It can be a hard line to walk as a worship leader, not drawing attention to yourself or just "going through the motions"
Todd has great thoughts that anyone can use when they lead worship. In my youth group, my youth pastor says he doesn't care how, but he wants us to connect with God in our own way. He has told us he is just a tool to help us. It's not a performance, just a tool and that is important to realize.
do lead... creatively curating worship ~ i entirely agreed with Todd i purposefully create sacred space - stepping into a space prepared for encountering God.. intentionally putting distractions behind/away from us allows a fully focussed expectancy and heart directed in worship of God ~
Thank you Todd. Great insight. I have been leading worship at a small group for several years. It was hard at first as I don't think myself as a leader, although apparently God wanted me to do this. First, I needed to get over how difficult it was to move past the thought that now the thing I love most, worship, was like a job, something I needed to 'lead' others into. When I was able to lay it on Christ and let Him do His thing, and let me forget myself in the process, then it became an amazing thing. I do study and prepare as you suggest and though I fear any 'being in front', as I leave it to God, He is faithful and always shows up and is worshipped. I am able now to simply show up myself and worship my God, and let Him bring others to Himself as He chooses.
thanks so much for your insight Todd