RussHutto.com

Inspired by an article on theworshipcommunity.com by Sarah Markley.

Dear Worship Leader Person,

I am a churchy person. I’m what you would call a Believer, Christ-follower, Christian. I’ve been in church for a while. I know most of the ins and outs of this thing we call faith.

I mean, I know that I grow when I read and study Scripture, when I pray, and when I hang out with others who know God. I know that I get stronger when I serve others.

I know that we get together to sing to and about God and call it worship. I know that worship is supposed to be about my heart. But most of the time it’s really about the music. In fact, I’m pretty comfortable using the word “worship” to talk about the music time. Even when I don’t worship during the music.

I love it when you challenge me, though. Not by little mini-sermons between songs, or by awkward sung prayers that don’t make much sense. I am inspired by your passion, by your heart for worship. The music is cool, the arrangements of songs are nice, but it’s really the look on your face when I know that you are in the zone. That place of connection with God.

When I see you out and about and it really LOOKS like you’re walking with Jesus. I’m inspired by that. Oh sure, I like to sing along with the latest modern worship chart toppers on Sundays, but man, oh man, I am INSPIRED by your worship on Mondays through Saturdays.

Problem is, I don’t know how to tell you this. So, I just say, “Worship was great this morning.” Hoping, that you’ll thank me, of course, and then somehow hold me accountable. Ask me about my week. Anything. Show me you care about something more than just the music, even though technically, that’s what we “hired” you to do at our church.

I’m not worried so much about being impressed by the music. I want to be INSPIRED by your worship.

Thanks,

Churchy Person

P.S. My friend Un Churchy Person is writing you a letter too.

Head on over to The Worship Community for the review!

I really enjoyed listening through this one!

1) Serve them.

Make it your purpose and intention to serve them through every rehearsal, through every note sung, played, or written. When you “lead” worship, it’s not for you, it’s for GOD and for them. When you plan and sing songs that are singable, catchy, rich in truth, encouraging, moving, inspiring, and memorable you are serving them. Don’t view Sunday mornings as your personal “dive into the depths of abandoned worship” moment. View it as a moment to show them you love them by serving them [have your deep dive in moments in smaller groups or in your prayer/worship times during the week].

2) Teach them.

Take opportunities to teach about worship. I don’t mean a 12 point sermon on what worship is. I don’t mean an hour long teaching on Hebrew Words for worship. I mean teach them by your actions. Live a worship life before you ever speak on “what worship is.” THEN, take opportunities to share periodically about worship activities: clapping, singing, kneeling, lifting hands, etc.

3) Lead them.

Building on the above. People in your faith family need to SEE YOU worshiping. Obviously, Sunday mornings are a great time for them to see you worshiping through singing/playing. I’m talking about more than that. They should see you serving OUTSIDE of the music team. They should see you participating in the life of your church! They should see you at community events. They should see you serving (which IS worship).

4) Write for them.

Let them know you care by sharing your songwriting with them. I know sometimes it seems like it’s hard to compete with the quality production and songwriting coming from the latest modern worship chart toppers, but that’s not the point. The point is (from #1) that we serve them by writing for them. And when you do write something for them, don’t be afraid to tell them. When my congregation knows we’re singing a song I wrote it’s an opportunity for them to SEE that I love them and care about them enough to write FOR them.

5) Be transparent.

I fail in ALL of these areas. My worship team knows it. My closest friends know it. And now you do too. And you know what, the world doesn’t end when I admit my shortcomings. In fact, the world seems to make more sense when I SHARE my weaknesses and lock arms with those around me to tackle those areas. You don’t always have to appear to have it all together. Sometimes you need to cry in front of your people. Sometimes you need to laugh. Sometimes you need to say you had a hard week, and that you’re excited to come in and focus on Jesus WITH your people. Be real.

You can do it.

Sure there’s a place for the latest Tomlin or Houghton tune, the latest Hillsong or Jesus Culture tune, but I’m calling worship leaders out worldwide:

WRITE MORE MUSIC FOR YOUR CONGREGATION.

Yes, you.

Worship music isn’t more “anointed” or “holy” because it comes from a big modern worship label or because it comes from the pen of the most famous worship tune writer.

Worship music isn’t more pure or more right because it’s sung by churches all over the West.

Worship music isn’t great, in fact, it isn’t worship at all, because of the arrangement or instrumentation. It doesn’t matter if the guitars shred or the drums are smoking. It doesn’t matter if the pipe organ bellows or the piano sparkles.

Worship music is simply music that you use to worship with. It’s the worshipers who make worship music worship. The hearts from where the worship flows from.

Worship is a response to God. Teach your people that THEY can respond simply and personally to God by exemplifying that by your own songwriting.

Lead them in singing new songs to God. It doesn’t mean that they have to write full fledged songs, but I guarantee that if you begin to share your own songs of for worship, people will be inspired to sing their own songs; be it in the car, in the shower, in the yard, in the house, etc.

Serve them by sharing your music with them.

Bless them by giving them a “voice” that is theirs. Not the megachurch down the street. Not the big record label over in Musictown, USA. But theirs. Nothing wrong with those other songs…God surely loves when we sing songs in unity. But I know that He also loves creativity!!

Write.

Teach. Lead. Share. Bless. Write.

The Power of One Worship Leader Edition [Israel Houghton]: Integrity Music

I was pretty excited to be notified by a dm on twitter that I had been selected to review Iz’s latest offering. Probably more excited because I had already purchased The Power of One and was very familiar with the music. I knew there was going to be more behind the scenes, in-depth information geared towards worship leaders and worship teams (which is my heart) so I eagerly tore into the package the day it arrived.

From the get-go I was impressed by the packaging. I hadn’t quite known what to expect, but it made sense to me that Iz and the gang at Integrity would include a bunch of very useful goodies.

DVD

The DVD is very informative and is a GREAT resource for teams. One of my biggest desires is to see music for worship becoming more accessible to everyone, from megachurch bands to small church bands, and including stripped down, casual performances and tutorials of most of these songs is definitely an epic win.

You’ll also enjoy the stories behind the songs and some of the behinds the scenes stuff from the making of the album.

ENHANCED CD

What’s not to love about chord charts, lead sheets, and lyrics? You’ll hear some of the stripped down arrangements from the dvd recording, which are a lot less complex than the original album recording, which is handy if you’re looking for a place to start building arrangements. A lot of times it can be a pretty daunting task to pick up the latest Iz release which comes with a full choir, horn section, and amazing rhythm and lead sections, and arrange it for your piano and flute led worship band, but Integrity does an amazing job of packaging together a great set of tools to give worship leaders and teams a head start.

CD

This is the original recording, and although I had already purchased it for our church, I think it is a great move to package them all together. I would personally love to see Integrity (and others) actually pre-release worship leader editions BEFORE albums hit the streets, say by maybe 2 weeks or something.

MY THOUGHTS

Overall, I love this concept. I believe that any church that would possibly interested in using Israel’s music for worship times, but has been overwhelmed by the funky, soulful goodness of IZ and New Breed can approach the songs on this album armed with the knowledge that Iz will meet you half way and provide you with an amazing resource to get you started.

For people that already rock Iz, this is still a very useful tool. At our church we love to remix songs. Breathe new life into them. So, even though the stripped down sets are a little too casual for our Sunday morning sets, it’s nice to see the same songs in a different setting. It can be a tremendous teaching tool in helping our band members see that variety is a GOOD thing, and that we don’t have to do every song exactly the same way each time.

Like I said earlier, I hope Integrity carries on this offering, and sees the tremendous education, training, and equipping potential in this type of packaging. I’d love to see every major release get this sort of treatment.

If you’re a worship leader, worship band member, or even just a church goer and you love a little bit of funky, soul/gospel infused musical worship, Israel is one of the prime leaders in this genre. Buy this for your church you won’t regret it.

The Power of One Worship Leader Edition [Israel Houghton]: Integrity Music