WLL Podcast Ep 5 Sept 23 2019
The following is a transcript of the podcast. There are definitely some mis-transcribed words, I'll fix those up soon, haha. Thanks for listening!
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[00:00:00] Stephen: Hi, welcome to worship leader life podcast on your host Stephen Toon and we are here to disciple worship leaders.
So it's getting situated here. back in the studio. Been gone for a while and I think I said that last time it's it's been an interesting season for my family and I. I ended up going back to full-time work, working for a big tech company now, which I'm I'm enjoying but it was quite the transition.
So I sent an email to those of you who are on our mailing list kind of described a little bit, describe that [00:01:00] kind of season a little bit talking about being in the cave. So to speak, figured it's time to come out of the cave or maybe from within the cave to start podcasting again. So without further ado, it's me, Stevie Toonigal Stephen Toon, and I'm here to sip on water and talk about worship.
So yeah, welcome back to the worship leader live podcast. It's been a while. And committing, what would you call that? I guess marketing communication branding sin by starting something, stopping it, starting again. But who cares? Here I am and if you're listening that means here you are as well.
So want to talk today [00:02:00] about something that's been on my mind every time I gear up to prepare for a service and to lead worship again, these these are some of the things that kind of come to mind when I'm talking to other worship leaders, worship pastors. Especially ones who are doing it, you know week in week out at least once or twice a week.
or involved in the process. These are kind of the challenges that come up and, so I guess what I'm thinking about is the worship leaders mindset and I don't want to start on always on a negative note, but it's just hard not to think of the challenges that we've kind of face when we go to do something anything that's creative anything that's involved with Ministry service to others.
And so yeah, here's here's what's been on my mind:
Three challenges kind of [00:03:00] pop into my mind every time I go to start getting ready for leading worship.
Number one is: Sunday mornings or anytime that you're leaving depending on the situation can sometimes feel like babysitting. And, you know do not mean to disrespect or be condescending or patronizing to our people that we're leading worship to mean that's huge a huge part of my philosophy is that we're here to serve we're here to love and we're here to facilitate other people meeting with the Lord.
But yeah, I think so. Times you can feel like we are. Kind of either babysitting or cheerleading maybe is a good way to say it or or herding cats or sometimes, you know, just going through the motions and it could be really [00:04:00] discouraging because I think as worship leaders we are wired to be artistic and prophetic in that.
We are sensing something from God. We are experiencing something with the Lord in our walk in our journey, and we want to express that through song and and help others to do the same through the songs that were singing the ones that were making or the ones that we're preparing leaning on a Sunday morning, but when you look out and people are sort of staring at you waiting for you to come.
Make it happen. So to speak as opposed to congregants who are there and just ready to worship their ready to meet with the Lord and they're just so happy to have you there to facilitate it and help with that. So when you're looking out and you feel like everything's on you and you've got to kind of, you know, take people by the hand and say okay now sing this and now do this and now we're going to do [00:05:00] this it can be discouraging because I don't think that's really what our calling is. That's not what our job is the second thing that comes to mind is you can feel like you've been put on the spot and if you know, you know what it's like to open to be an opening band for somebody. Let's say a concert in the entertainment World ER or anywhere really when you're hired or or you're brought in to do something musical as a warm-up for either another artist or for something else. there's nothing wrong with that and it's actually pretty honorable position to find yourself in because you know, whoever's created the event is they're trusting you to get people ready for the main event, but when you're seen as that as a worship leader. There's something really backwards about that because as worship leaders, we aren't the main event but neither is the sermon right? [00:06:00] Neither is anything else that's going on the main event, so to speak is God. We're there to centre ourselves around the main event, who is the Lord. We're not, none of us are warm up bands, none of us are there to try to manipulate anybody or bring bring anybody into you know a certain place of say vulnerability or malleability so that the preacher or whoever can you know lay their either magic on them? That's not what we're there for, that's not what this is all about, but we can feel like that at times especially when working with say a pastor or leader who kind of sees us as filler and they're like well, why don't you do a you know, a three-song package here and then and then [00:07:00] we'll have the sermon and and then we'll see if we call you up at the end for any you feel like you're there just as a function and it's like, what's the word, like utilitarian like you're just, you're there to help somebody else accomplish their goal, which seems rather, you know their goal often seems rather self-absorbed, self-centered or at least self-aggrandizing . is You know, it's just self-serving and or even you know, self can be the organization as well. So now I'm not saying, you know, If you're feeling this if you're suspecting this is going on in your church.
I'm not saying that it is going on. I'm just you know, it's easy for us to go there. It's easy for us to feel like we are just filler or we're being used or were seen as lesser than and you know, what? In some ways we are but I hope that's the attitude of everybody that's involved in a service from [00:08:00] you know service coordinator to pastor preacher to worship leader. You know what? We should all be thinking of ourselves less than the other and we're there to serve at the same time, it's not healthy to be in an environment where you're just seen as a means to some other end, you know, because as worship leaders, we're supposed to be, helping foster and facilitate meeting with the Living God.
And we don't take that lightly and neither should anybody else and you know at the same time we're not the centre, God is the centre.
The other thing I think that can become a challenge is especially in a situation like the previous, you can feel like you're putting on a face. going on in your life, you got to get up on Sunday morning and you got to lead worship and you got to make everybody happy or you got to make [00:09:00] like everything's okay, even if it isn't and that can be discouraging that can be challenging.
I can create extra anxiety and oh my air conditioning just kicked in so you can probably hear that on the mic, but that's So those three challenges that kind of pop into my mind and I'm not it has nothing to do with my church. My present for this is just something that's always come up for me almost those little the little negative voices that say, oh this is silly or you're just a babysitter or look at look look at they're using you.
They're putting you on the spot. They're making you do the the tough lift the heavy lifting so they can come in and enjoy. Count the easy part or whatever or look Yugi. You gotta put on this face like you're being fake. Like what's what's the point in being fake? Like or maybe that little voice is telling you you are fake. Be at the voice of the enemy or the voice of your own negative self-talk, whatever it [00:10:00] is, none of this. None of these three things healthy or good to be central at you're, you know within your philosophy within your preparation within your just your peace of mind as a worship leader,
What also has come to mind a lot over the last I guess four years because it was probably about 4 years ago. I first read this but there's a there's a blog post by Josh Maze Five Things Every Worship Leader Should Learn from Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy Fallon is the host of The Tonight Show and these five things are he's always smiling. He's got great energy. He's humble. He's prepared and he's relevant and I won't go into the whole article now, but you can I'll link that in the show notes here and on the website, but the point is, if you go into you're week feeling like you're just a babysitter, you're being put on the spot and you're you know being used for your talent or your gifts or your time whatever or [00:11:00] that you are, you know a fake because you just putting on a fake face and really your life is this that or the other thing and on Sundays you're pretending to be all happy this article comes to mind and it almost makes it worse because it's like oh, yeah like. Yeah, I guess we are expected to be prepared and to be relevant and to be humble and to be smiling and to be this and to be that what I appreciate about this article is it speaks to the challenges that I brought up already, but it also speaks to the fix and I think the biggest thing I get from Jimmy Fallon and you know, I do actually watch him watch him probably more than any of the other shows is he comes across as so genuine, you know, like I don't know what he's really like in real life, but he sure is he sure seems like just a nice fun guy on the show and he and he kind of in [00:12:00] this maze says this in the article he makes every guest seems like the best guess. Ever like everyone that comes on. He's so excited about them and he stalks them up. Like this is the best best thing to ever happen to to The Tonight Show to have this person on and and you believe it you believe it every time and I think he believes it too.
I think he's just genuinely that kind of a guy. So got me thinking Jimmy Fallon is not a worship leader. He doesn't play guitar. He does singing incorporates into skits and stuff. But who are your favorite rock stars? And before you think I'm going sacrilegious, heretical, you know that I'm suggesting that worship leaders be rock stars, I want you to think about this for a second who are your favorite ones who are the artists that you would pay, you know, anything reasonable to go see live and that you've seen live or you want to see live or you've maybe you've met them you've experienced [00:13:00] them and they're just like. They draw you in their music speaks to you there music expresses things that are on your heart and mind and on top of that you feel like you're interacting with a real person when you see them or you hear them. For me, it's people like Bono or Springsteen or even the late Kurt Cobain. These are artists who you know wrote songs that I felt like I could relate to Eddie vedder's and other one that I love. And I've seen all of them actually, no, I haven't I never saw Cobain live and, I don't know. I don't think I've seen Springsteen live. but I've seen U2 live and a few my other favourites like Sting or Eddie Vedder. these people. I love their music. I love the writing and when I when I've seen them live, I feel like they're my friend [00:14:00] even though I've never met that I actually have met Bono but that's another story. But these well, whatever the true cases and everyone has their bad days and everyone has things they've done and said that they regret but. My favorite rock stars are not the ones that come across as Know-ita-alls, selfish, self-absorbed, you know, they want you to worship them. Those aren't the ones that that I that most of us really feel passionately about and really get anything from it's these artists who take you long for a journey and they provide music that's like a soundtrack to your life. And that's something Lisa and I we are writing music and playing together. And we just came out of the studio and our whole goal is like anybody who listens to our music we want it to be a soundtrack for their life. We hope that these songs can mean something to them and can kind of be [00:15:00] the music that they live to right? And with that in mind. that should be what we're doing is worship leaders to we're trying to provide almost like a soundtrack to the journey and that's what these rock stars are doing and I maybe I shouldn't call them rock stars because really honestly like I feel like when I've seen Bono or been at a Pearl Jam concert or, you know, I feel like I'm being led in worship because I'm having this true experience in community and they're picking at my mind and my heart and they getting me to think about things in a new way and quite honestly, I always come out of those situations feeling like God spoke to me.
God used that as a way to learn. I'm not saying everything they sing everything they say and do is right that's not what this is about. What I am saying is that you can combat all those challenges that I talked about earlier [00:16:00] by applying the stuff we've learned from Jimmy Fallon and remembering that your job is not to put on a fake face. It's not to babysit and it's not to promote any person or sermon or anything like that. Your one job is to worship and to do so in a way that invites others in so I think the fix whether you want to see it as you know. Follow in the footsteps of your favorite rock stars who actually make you feel like a it's a real experience or if you want to use Jimmy Fallon as the example or if you want to just forget all that and just just remember your job is not to put on a face your jobs not to babysit people your jobs not the hold their hand and make them worship. Your job is not to promote anybody or anything other than God, including [00:17:00] yourself, you're not there to promote yourself either. So, you should be worshipping you should be focused on worshipping and the reason we lead worship is because we are skilled musically and we have I guess enough wherewithal enough people skills to know what's appropriate and what's not appropriate. You know, we do, we play, we Worship in such a way that others can join in so you can combat all those little challenges by being yourself and meeting with the Lord trusting that you've been trained in the art of Jimmy Fallon that you are a real person like your favourite rock stars, that you've put in the time that you're prepared that you're you're aware that you're you're there to serve people but at the end of the day after all that you're there to worship. So, I'm hoping that makes some sense. I'd love to hear [00:18:00] from you. I'd especially love to hear from you. If you are a pastor or leading a worship Ministry, but maybe, maybe you're not leading worship yourself, but you're overseeing. I have some questions for you. I want to pick your brain. I want to I'm trying to develop a new kind of support system for teams that don't have a Worship Pastor.
Maybe you've got three or four or five worship leaders, but there's no one able to provide unified leadership for that team if that sounds like your team if that sounds like you if you're a pastor or leader and or you know, someone who's in a situation where they could use some more support, I would love for you to put them in touch with Worship Leader Life Stephen with a pH at worship leader life.com.
You can find the link in the show notes along with the Jimmy Fallon thing and the transcript from today's episode. But yeah, Send them my way. [00:19:00] Let me know if I can pick your brain because I want to ask some questions and find out how we at Worship Leader Life can develop something to support churches that don't have a worship Pastor basically love to hear from you. Can't wait to talk to you again. I'm working on finishing up a couple more episodes here, but that's that's what's been on my mind. Thanks. Talk to you soon.
This has been the worship leader life.com podcast. You can find us at worship leader life.com and we just released a new Mini ebook called four pillars of an awesome worship leader.
We'd love for you to check it out. That's that worship leader life.com. I'm your host Stephen Toon. I'm an ordained minister with the Christian Missionary Alliance in Canada. I was a pastor for almost 20 years and now. I support local churches by discipling worship leaders, and I look forward to serving you again.
Our next podcast is going to be released in a week, and I [00:20:00] really hope you join us. Thanks.
Bye.
Song: Ascended by Stephen Toon, available on Spotify, iTunes, TIDAL, YouTube or wherever you stream or purchase music. © 2015 Stephen Toon
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