A friend called the other day to tell me he was just offered the job of worship leader in his church. Apparently, the person who held that position for several years abruptly decided to move on. My friend is a wonderful musician and singer, a Godly man, and a great husband and father. With past worship leading experience, he seems to be a great candidate. But with this opportunity, he now faces the challenge of holding down a regular 40-hour-per-week job while handling the demanding leadership duty at church. He is hopeful but I sense his anxiety.

These days, with a tough economy and limited budgets, churches, like for-profit businesses, are having to pare down their operations to accommodate income challenges. Volunteers are being called upon more and more to fill positions once occupied by paid staff. If you are one of those people invited by the pastor to take a worship-leadership role in your church, I have a few suggestions that might help you decide. Some of the questions my friend asked me may help illustrate:

What am I getting into as a worship leader? What should I expect?

Being an effective worship leader isn’t just a title. It is a great responsibility that requires character, leadership and skill.

First, it is a people related job. If you are not excited about leading, equipping, serving or generally being around people, this job isn’t for you. It is a team sport!

Second, It is a spiritual role. Your positive Christian testimony and your walk with Christ are very important to the job. People are watching you on and off stage. Do you behave one way at work or home, and another way at church? As a spiritual leader, you are an extension of the pastor’s pulpit and care ministries. Many of the people in your church see you at the pulpit almost as much as they see the pastor. Are you ready for such a task?

Third, it requires musical and technical abilities. It takes a basic knowledge of instrumental and vocal music, plus some performing skills. It helps if you know some technical basics like how sound, lighting and video systems work. You are essentially the “producer” of the service; you pull it all together. You don’t need to be an expert, but you need to know how everything cooperates in the service. If you don’t have experience in some of the areas mentioned, you need to be willing to learn.

Fourth, It is a leadership role. You prepare, come early, stay late, solve problems and usually take the blame when things go wrong, even if it’s not your fault. Your professional demeanor is contagious (start on-time–end early, if possible!). Sometimes your experience in production and performance is greater than the pastor’s. So, to make sure you both are on the same page, understand what the pastor expects from you as a leader. Since most of your work will be done at home and after your work day is through, you will have to manage your own work habits. Have the pastor draw up a “big picture” view of the product he/she wants from you each week.

After you know the expectations, and the time it takes to complete these duties, create a weekly time budget and present it to your family or spouse. If your family can live with the arrangement, move to the next step and take the offer. If they are not on board with it, do yourself and the church a big favor and decline the offer from the pastor. If the time budget is too costly for you to fulfill as a volunteer, you may suggest some kind of financial compensation (If these things are not open for discussion with your pastor, you should think again about taking such a position. This is fair warning as to how the future of such a position will most likely end up–a disappointment).

Fifth, It is a servant role. The job of worship leader isn’t to showcase our wonderful singing abilities, our incredible songwriting or smoking guitar licks. The ultimate aim should be to help facilitate a one-on-one encounter between each participant and God. If we serve with skill, excellence, love, encouragement, patience, humility and grace, it’s a success!

Ask the pastor: “Is this position temporary–to fill-in for a while until you find a permanent replacement– or do you expect me to be the leader indefinitely?” If so, you are entrusted with the responsibility of creating and maintaining this ministry from which you will operate, make decisions and grow. This will demand an incredible amount of time, made more challenging with a full-time job elsewhere. It’s fair to let your pastor know your time limits. Put your job description and the time requirement in writing! In the process, you may find that it’s too much for you to take on. If it all seems overwhelming in the discussion stages, pass the opportunity to someone who can better serve your pastor and the church.

Is it important to maintain weekly communication with the pastor?

Yes. It may be impossible to meet on a weekday since you have a full-time job. But it is important to establish some kind of weekly meeting (breakfast, lunch, evening) as a forum for the worship leadership. Maybe just you and the pastor need to meet weekly to discuss technical needs, staging, video use, sermon theme support, special events, set lists, stage transitions, etc.. It’s also a good time to evaluate last week’s service and to make changes and improvements.

I have a saying that holds true in most church situations: “You can’t go faster than the pastor!” That means we as worship leaders take a subordinate role to the pastor. We are there to serve, encourage and support. They set the pace–we follow.

Where is the best place to find new music and resources?

I get this question from a lot of people. It is incredible how much time it takes just to pour over songs, CDs, music books, etc., and choose worship music. The best place I have found is on the CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International) website. Your church should consider establishing a relationship with CCLI for several reasons:

First, to procure a church copyright license. This covers over 200,000 worship songs for congregational singing. There are licenses for special events and mobile licenses for traveling ministries. The reality is, churches must pay for the rights to project words on a screen and provide lyrics in printed form.

Second, one of the greatest values in using CCLI is their SongSelect® service. This subscription service features lyrics, samples and transposable lead sheets, chord sheets and hymn/vocal sheets for churches to customize and print.

Third, CCLI lists the top 25 worship songs in the U.S. (and all over the world) right there on the website. That’s a great place to find popular songs. Of course your church’s music style will dictate which of those songs you can use, if any. But the top songs–the ones used the most in churches–are listed there. For more information, including permission to make photo copies, internet streaming and rehearsal CDs, visit CCLI, or another great licensing resource, my friends at Christian Copyright Solutions.

Where can I find other helps in my new position as worship leader?

I have written several installments in this series that may be relevant to your needs. If you want to learn about building a ministry from scratch, or just taking it to the next level, here are some helpful topics:

-A worship leaders spiritual task

-Wearing proper worship attire

-Building a worship band

-Leading with excellence

-Celebrating our successes

-When things go wrong in a service

-Rehearsal tips

-Preparing for rehearsal

-How to flow in worship

-Choosing team members

-Planning a service

-Creating great moments

I would love to personally help you and your church find solutions for your worship ministry. I am available for consultations. Contact me if you have any questions or comments at: jamie(at)jamieharvill.com

I was nosing around the garage Saturday and came upon a box containing what was hilariously titled The Librarian Action Figure. Brenda received this “doll” from one of our children as a gift because they knew their mother always aspired to one day become a librarian. Brenda gravitates to books, so the action figure was the perfect gift. When I turned the box around to read the fine print on the back, I was struck by the wisdom written there.

The action figure is based on the likeness of famous librarian, author and literary critic, Nancy Pearl. The “pearls” of wisdom she promoted on the back of that cardboard box referred to reading books, of course. I have tried to read certain books, patiently stuck with them, and came to the conclusion that I had no desire to grit it out to the end. I am surprised that editors and publishers allow authors to write such material. Some books are obviously “fluffed” with extra gibberish just to fulfill a certain quota of words or pages. I swear, some books should be pamphlets!

Nancy Pearl helps those of us who buy a lot of books to make serious judgements on those we read before getting too deep in a hopeless quagmire of words. She offers the simple “Rule of 50.” The words of wisdom on the back of that action figure box state: “If (you are under the age of 50 and) you still don’t like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you’re more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages.”

I feel relieved that Nancy has gotten me off the hook! I will continue to read books, but I will be getting the free sample from Kindle before committing my valuable resources and time on another boring read! Looks like in July, I can put a book down after 49 pages–Nancy Pearl says so!

I searched my DVR for something cool to watch yesterday as I took a break from the day’s duties. I knew that one of my favorite shows, Hollywood Treasure, had started up a second season a few days before, and there sat two fresh episodes waiting to be watched!

Hollywood Treasure follows an auction house based in southern California and it’s proprietor/leader, Joe Maddalena, as he searches for movie props, artwork, clothing etc., to sell. Last season, he brokered the sale of the Wicked Witch hat from The Wizard of Oz, among many other cool movie memorabilia and artifacts. Joe finds stuff all over the world to carry back to L.A.. Some items are coy– quietly waiting to be discovered and sold for more money than one can imagine.

In the second episode last night from Hollywood Treasure, Joe was approached by a career film industry guy named Dave Gregory, who had been holding on to the original title card from RKO Studios. In the end, this item sold for a whopping $85,000…a piece of forgotten cardboard propped up behind Mr. Gregory’s door for 20 years, rescued from a trash heap!

Lauren Vogt, a San Francisco resident and longtime prop and makeup artist, was in need of a financial miracle to save her home. Joe scoured an outdoor shed behind her home, piled to the roof with various memorabilia, in hopes of finding some valuable artifacts. In his trouble, while ruffling through crumbling boxes and rat-infested containers, Joe discovered models from James and the Giant Peach and Nightmare Before Christmas, and masks from Enemy Mine. During Lauren’s time in the movie business, she created these models, as well as painted cells for Saturday morning cartoons–many of which were found in the shed, on the verge of rotting and being tossed into the garbage. She simply took stuff home over the years after the productions were through, only to eventually amass a treasure-trove in her backyard. But she never knew it. Thank God that Joe found some cool stuff, collectors made a new home for the objects, and Lauren took home enough money from the auction to turn her dire circumstances around. Little did she know that this decrepit backyard shed would hold the key to unlock the cell door of her difficulties.

Sometimes we stop short of a miracle. Sometimes the mother lode is just a trowel-scrape away from revealing itself. When our hope is hanging on by an ever-fraying thread, the answer to our trouble might just be hiding in the backyard, or somewhere else we may never expect.

The thought of moving away from life patterns that have been present for years and decades is frightening. Isn’t it our goal as “responsible Americans” to create a world in which security rules, where anything that threatens to topple that reality is an arch-enemy? It would seem that retiring from a position at a company after 35 years of dedicated service is the ultimate goal for our careers. But in today’s reality, in contrast to my father’s work-world of an earlier generation, that notion is as broken as last weeks’ McDonald’s Happy Meal toy.

In keeping with the theme of my recent entry called Doors, I want to take a more sober look at the things that keep us from walking in a new direction–into fresh starts and opportunity. You know well that the #1 reason for not making a change in life is fear. Fear can be broken down into sub-categories with questions such as: what about income; health insurance; will I need to move to a new city and find a new home; what would people think of me–would I be letting someone down? Change takes a great amount of energy to implement, therefore we sometimes shy away. As the title of this entry clearly states, change can scare us to death! It’s not change that kills us but the fear of change that can stop us dead in our tracks.

In one example for me, I realized that the flow of significant income from a career-long publisher was becoming sporadic–the checks that were once in my mailbox like clockwork every quarter started to arrive later and later. That stability started to flounder. Things had to change–I had to wake up and make a plan for the future–a pro-active plan to replace that income. I also had to take a cold, hard look at other areas of my life that weren’t producing the results I needed.

Dr. Spencer Johnson’s little book, “Who Moved My Cheese?” made a significant impact on me when I read it several years ago. The moral of the story is when our income sources dwindle, or opportunity dries up, it’s wise to look elsewhere, rather than coming back to the same place again and again. The mice in the allegory should have seen the decline in their cheese supply coming at some point and made provision for other sources. It sounds easy until change faces us down. In the book, the mice named Hem and Haw debate in response to the looming reality that they should search for cheese elsewhere:

“ ‘It is too dangerous out there… we might not find any cheese for days, and there might be a trap somewhere in the maze.’ Haw sat there thinking about what Hem said and started to waver in his decision. So they sat there again for days hoping to get new cheese. Whenever Haw started thinking about going out into the maze, Hem will quickly remind him of the danger out there.”

Change is scary; its dangerous–Hem and Haw have a point. But we cannot let fear scare us to death–or to the point of paralysis.

I serendipitously crossed paths in the grocery store with a book called “Necessary Endings” by Dr. Henry Cloud. In it Dr. Cloud helps the reader to recognize when it is time to end something and move on to greener pastures, whether it’s regarding stagnant relationships, businesses, a job, or just to clear out “dead branches” littering our lives in general (sounds harsh…but isn’t it about time?). The problem most of us have when our “cheese has moved” is that we probably saw evidence of dwindling “cheese” supplies earlier on. For whatever reason, we missed the earlier clues, and in the process, possibly lost time, effort and emotional energy to fear.

It’s not too late! Just coming to the realization that a change is needed can be invigorating and will bring energy to start the process. Our greatest “locked door” is fear. I guarantee that there are options for you to unlock that door and move into a new direction. It is scary, but don’t let that fear scare you to death. Rather, use the adrenaline to run toward a wonderful future. Life ain’t over, my friend!

I love Memorial Day, the symbolic doorway to summer and all the promise it brings: warm weather, travel, backyard barbecues, and opportunities to visit family. I also enjoy when Labor Day rolls around; the doorway to fall opens with it’s own opportunities. I guess I like the thought of doors and doorways because they are always leading into something new and exciting.

Doors are intimidating. There are three ways to deal with a door: 1) Open it and walk through; 2) Stand there, knock, and wait for someone on the other side to open it, or; 3) Turn and walk away. The intimidating part is what lies beyond the threshold on the other side. Is it the boogeyman, a challenge, a burden, a surprise? Or is it a new opportunity–an entree into something fresh and exciting?

Today is the first day of the summer season and, coincidentally, the first day of a new journey for me. I have been praying for God’s leading over the past several months and have made some changes in my professional life that, in the implementation, have opened new doors into the future.

I am re-energized about writing. My songwriting is still a very crucial part of my creative life. But to add to that, I have been writing this blog and have also been putting together a book for over a year now. The passageways that I am walking through are leading to new ones. I feel like Don Adams in the intro segment of the old Get Smart series–I’m sure the journey will be replete with many more exciting doors to open. Life has never been dull for me!

I also want to pause today and remember the fallen American heroes in every war, conflict and peace-time effort, who sacrificed their lives to keep our nation free–at home and abroad. My dad served in both WWII and the Korean War. I am thankful that he came home, otherwise I wouldn’t be here today. But many others perished and were left behind in a foreign land. Some died right here on their own soil to protect our freedoms. All of these sacrifices made by men and women over the centuries have afforded me the opportunity to pursue the dreams I speak of today. The doors I walk through are made possible by many people, most of whom I will never meet. Thank you for your sacrifice.

So as I walk along the path, I have the responsibility to open doors for other people to succeed and find new opportunities. What an exciting time…the open door to summer and new things to come.