Effective leadership in the praise & worship leading team

Okay, let’s get back to matters relative to Praise & Worship. The last time, we discussed a few tips on having effective praise and worship rehearsals and we established the fact that rehearsals greatly prepare the way for what will happen in the worship service at church on Sunday. While it is true that the Lord will do his thing and move as He deems necessary, we as musicians, singers, sound people etc on the team need to rehearse & prepare in an effective way. Back to this important maxim- PROPER PRAYERFUL PREPARATION PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE. A key element in praise and worship is that of Leadership. Everything rises and falls on leadership, so let’s talk a bit on this important area.

The Worship Director or Leader must always strive to be an effective God-fearing leader. Consequently it is critical for leaders to develop a sound understanding of leadership principles and strategies. Remember ‘everything rises and falls on leadership’. The mantle has been given to lead a team of musicians, singers, and most often, sound and overhead personnel. People follow as leaders lead, and we can discuss a myriad of areas of Praise Team leadership right here, but we will only touch on a few crucial areas.

A praise team leader, worship leader, director, should always be reading, equipping his or herself and endeavoring to know more on leadership. We can observe a principle of Leadership that Christ used in the Gospels. He is our greatest Leadership example, after-all. He used the principle of SERVANT LEADERSHIP – “He, who is the greatest among you, let him first be a servant”. Mathew 20:27. Great praise & worship leaders/ directors are not only about giving orders and commands, but they serve, and lead by example in humility, prayer, sensitivity, always willing to show the way, always willing to keep the visions, goals, and objectives of the team alive and in perspective, always positive, constantly growing and learning in this area. Christ Himself, led by example. What is your attitude like as a leader or director on the Praise and Worship Team? Are you willing to serve? What is your leadership ability like? Here are 2 good books on Leadership that I highly recommend for general reading: “Developing the Leader within You”- by Dr John C Maxwell (ISBN 0785270272) and also “The 21 Indispensable Qualities of A Leader”- by the same author (ISBN: 0785274405).

Another important element of leadership I have seen work very well on my team is that of EMPOWERMENT; empowering and training members of the praise and worship team to be more effective in their roles. Always remember that the praise and worship team is actually a leadership team because we lead, yes that’s right, and we lead people into the presence of God. It’s a Praise & Worship Leading Team. There are people on any praise team who may have a natural inherent gift to be a leader while others may not but the fact is that leadership can be taught, learnt, and implemented so the entire team benefits. Can you imagine how much more effective your praise team can be if every member is taught that they are actually leaders? Why not share with them about leadership, what an effective leader is, does, and behaves? Do some training, organize a training workshop, set up a seminar, encourage the members to read and study The Word of God continually and also to read good books on leadership. Keep empowering and equipping your team on praise and worship principles through DVD & Video training instruction or other means. Don’t forget ongoing sessions in vocal technique, musicianship etc. Maybe you’re asking the question, “how and where can I obtain good resources for empowering and training my praise & worship team?” I will list a few resources at the end of this article. Empowering and continually training your team is very important.

A third important principle of leadership in the praise and worship arena is that of DELEGATING. This is tied closely to empowering. Look for members on your team who you observe possess certain abilities and giftings and are dependable and responsible and then help them to help you. In other words, give them something to do to help you lead even more effectively, and in the process, they themselves are receiving hands on training as leaders. Remember that you cannot do it all as a leader. Good, effective, and successful leaders, not only empower but they also delegate responsibility. Why not look for some one on your team who is gifted in typing and computers and let them be the praise team secretary who will be responsible for all typing of new songs, ensuring that every singer on the team has a list of all the songs and song lyrics, and also for taking minutes of your team meetings? If another person on your team has a natural ability to organize events and to rally people together to accomplish a task, how about appointing this particular person to be responsible for organizing social events, parties and outings for your team? Have you already spotted out an assistant on the team, one who has the leadership ability to be your immediate successor as leader and are you grooming this individual, pouring into and training him or her to observe you as you lead the team so that in your absence, things can keep moving on smoothly?

These are just 3 examples of what you as a leader can accomplish by delegating responsibilities and tasks. Whoever you appoint to lead or be responsible for a particular area, always officially inform the entire team so that every member is clear as to who is doing what. In that way, total cooperation and support can be facilitated and roles clarified. Also too, always encourage those you have given such responsibilities to report back to you and keep you informed on what’s happening, progress being made and difficulties experienced so that you can have overall supervision of your appointed team leaders and assist in those areas where problems of respect and work load may arise. The team will realize that selfishness is not an issue on your praise team. When you delegate, you are inviting people on your team to participate in the overall excellence, development and success of the entire Praise Team. God gets the glory and He continues to bless and increase your efforts. Leadership as a praise and worship team director and or leader is about influence, empowering and delegating for the Glory of God. It is team work. No man is an island. The day you ever think or conceive that you can do it all alone is the day you are destined to fail miserably. It’s a God thing, not your thing, so hey, go out there and be a better leader on your team for the Glory of God.

Below are 2 excellent websites for purchasing resources I highly recommend for you and your praise and worship team:

www.oasishouse.net The Worship resources here are excellent and they’re by Bob Sorge. Check out the 3 DVD training session set Exploring Worship Seminar (DVD). Very excellent Code: EWSD Price: $60.00 us

www.worshipmusic.com This site has all kinds of excellent resources for the worship band, singers, sound people etc. When you get on this site, look at the itinerary on the left side on the page and click on “INSTRUCTIONAL.”