WOMEN WHO WORSHIP // FINDING COURAGE WITH RITA SPRINGER by Haley Morgan
Editor ’ s Note : When I heard that Worship Together was going to release a Women Who Worship project with an all-femaIe worship team I knew two things right away . 1 ). [ WM ] Worship Musician needed to cover this . 2 ). I wasn ’ t the person to do the interview . Then I remembered Haley Morgan from the band Natural State . Haley had written an article for us before on being a female leader worship leader in an all-male band .
Check it out here … I reached out and asked Haley to help us and thankfully she jumped in with both feet . One of the mentors and leaders of this Women Who Worship event is an old friend of mine – Rita Springer . So we put Haley and Rita in touch and the following good content is what came from that candid conversation …
[ Haley Morgan ] Rita , it ’ s truly such an honor to be able to talk with you about your heart for worship and the next generation . You ’ ve had such an impact on so many lives , and you ’ re just a pillar of wisdom . I ’ d love to just start from the beginning . What led you to want to lead worship and when did you feel God put that call on your life ?
[ Rita Springer ] You know , I don ’ t have your typical story . If you were to ask a 20-year-old or even a 30-year-old that same question , I think it would be completely different . I ’ ll be 55 this year and I didn ’ t grow up training to be a worship leader because there wasn ’ t really any training to be a worship leader . You went to college to get a music degree , to be a music director or something like that . The churches that I was a part of , they had music pastors , but they would , more or less , direct the choir . My early days we were at a Baptist church . And then when I was in my teens , my brother started going to a church called The Vineyard . That was my first experience with the kind of worship that we see today . My Mom was a Baptist church secretary , so I was used to the pastor ’ s wife playing the piano and the music