WORSHIP TEAM LEADERSHIP
THERE IS A ROAR | Michael Farren
It seems completely impossible, but the against the idea of my role as a worship leader As I recall the men and women I’ve known
wrinkles on my face and the beginnings of being that of a pastor. My job, as I saw it, was through the years who have had amazing
gray in my beard serve to remind me that I to do all of the catchy quips that most of us impact on their churches and communities, the
have now been consistently leading worship in have heard the role requires like facilitate holy one singular trait that they all share is that they
some capacity for more than twenty-five years. moments, curate the corporate expression of have walked out their lives as pastors above
What started off as merely a favor for my youth worship, declare the greatness of God, etc. everything else. No one has ever had to tag
pastor uncle, would eventually propel me into And while all of these things are right and true, them in an Instagram post of one of the above-
this grand adventure that I could have hardly what the last decade has taught me is that all of mentioned definitions to keep them on track,
comprehended in my 18-year-old self. these things are the effortless, natural overflow because all of those notable quotes already
of anyone who has simply stepped fully into beat in the heart of someone who is called to
their calling as a pastor. be a pastor. Rarely has anyone had to push
I’m sure many of you have probably lived out
some version of this all too familiar story. Our them to constantly improve their craft, because
recollections usually revolve around badly they instinctively know that’s what pastors do.
decorated musty youth rooms, sound systems
and gear that had not been updated in decades,
boxes upon boxes of the cheapest, greasiest
pizza available in the city, and of course a group
of generally less than enthusiastic teenagers.
Couple all of that with the fact that most of us
were completely clueless as to what we were
doing, much less why we were doing it, and
you have all the makings of stories that only
God himself could write.
Thankfully, however we got started, most of
us eventually got to upgrade from our cheap
keyboards and particle wood guitars. And
hopefully, most of us started to figure out that
there was a whole lot more to this thing of
leading worship than we first imagined. If your
story is anything like mine, somewhere along
...somewhere
along the way
we started to
figure out that
our “rock star”
dreams didn’t
line up so well
with what the
heart of being a
worship leader
was all about.
And no one has ever had to sit them down and
challenge them to love their people more than
they love songs or lights and hazers. It’s just
what real pastors do.
Another observation is that it has never
mattered what the nameplate on their office
door said they were.
Worship Leader, Minister of Music, Creative
Arts Pastor, even Choir Director, a pastor will
be a pastor no matter their title, job description
or confines and parameters. They literally
can’t turn it off. They intuitively know that that
their musical gift, whatever that may be, is a
gift to help them be a shepherd of the sheep
that Jesus has called them to serve. They are
pastors first, who happen to be musical.
the way we started to figure out that our “rock
star” dreams didn’t line up so well with what It’s the difference between someone