give three ‘ shifts ’ that will help you start to take steps out of the Worship Leader Crazy Cycle . These are a combination of mindset and ‘ how you work ’ shifts .
SHIFT # 1 : GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO TAKE REGULAR TIME OFF THE PLATFORM .
Even if the quality of Sunday diminishes that week . Your emotional and spiritual health are more important than the quality of a few Sundays a year .
Read last month ’ s article ( January 2023 ) where I talk about how to triple your time off ( and not get fired ).
SHIFT # 2 : THE QUALITY IS NOT THE POINT . The excellence in musicianship and production is not the main point of what we do . It ’ s to encourage and accompany the gathered worship of your church family . Since the quality is a means to an end , look for ways to get to the ‘ quality ’ done quicker and easier .
A great example of this is our process for song rotation and management . I don ’ t have time to teach the whole ministry system . But here it is in five words : rotate fewer songs more often . You get ‘ quality ’ quicker because your team knows the songs and don ’ t have to invest as much time learning and relearning songs . But more importantly , your congregational engagement is higher ! Since all the songs are familiar , they ’ re singing more from the heart than from the screen .
SHIFT # 3 : GIVE YOURSELF LESS TIME TO COMPLETE YOUR SUNDAY WORK . Worship ministry is a weekly operation . Because of that , most of our work is fairly predictable , whether you do it weekly , or you batch some of it together and perform it monthly ( like scheduling , planning sets , etc .).
Each week , set a timer for specific tasks and attempt to get the work done in 5 - 10 % less time . The timer keeps you focused on the task at hand and doesn ’ t let the work balloon out . ( This is something called Parkinson ’ s law , if you want to look into it more .)
Right away , you ’ ll find 20 , 30 , even 60 minutes freed up just from reining in your work . Once you have this space freed up , you can reinvest that time into other time-saving and lifegiving work : efficient and delegable ministry systems , growing leaders , and team member development .
I said it in the beginning : as a worship leader , you have ridiculous demands on you . But if you start to make these three shifts , you can begin to take control of your situation and get yourself out of the Worship Leader Crazy Cycle . Your family , team , and soul will thank you !
Jon Nicol Jon lives in the middle of Ohio with his wife Shannon and their four kids . He ’ s the founder of WorshipTeamCoach . com and WorshipWorkshop . com , two sites that help worship leaders make every Sunday exceptional . If you want to explore coaching or mentoring with Jon and his team ,
visit this page . WorshipWorkshop . com WorshipTeamCoach . com
( No matter who ’ s scheduled and without burning out you or your team .)
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