WORSHIP LEADERS
THE 9 HIGH COSTS OF BEING A DISORGANIZED WORSHIP LEADER ( PART 2 ) | Jon Nicol
“ I love administration .”
Said no worship leader . Ever .
OK , in all fairness , there are worship leaders who are administrative , orderly , analytical , and enjoy the organizational part of the job – and yet are artistic and creative . But they aren ’ t reading this article . Why ? Because the title told them , “ This isn ’ t for you .”
It ’ s for YOU ! ( In fact , you ’ re wondering right now . “ how ’ d I miss Part 1 ?!”)
6 . INCONSISTENT RESULTS The Issue : Leading wildly inconsistent Sundays .
From one week to the next , the quality of my church ’ s Sunday experience was inconsistent . I blamed it on the fact that I couldn ’ t schedule my best vocalists and instrumentalists each Sunday . While there ’ s a little truth to that , it was just an excuse . I wasn ’ t owning the real problem .
One of those bigger issues was that I was difficult to follow for my team . People outside my team found it tough to work with me – other ministry leaders , my senior pastor , the janitor , etc .
I think most people liked me , so they had grace for my ‘ all-over-the-map ’ approach . But that didn ’ t keep them from being frustrated with me . Early on , people excused my absent-minded , disorganized artist schtick because of what I brought to the church musically and creatively . But there was a relational cost .
Administrative work is to you what veal is to a vegan . You ’ re probably creative , artistic , leftbrained , enjoy spontaneous moments , function well in chaos , and thrive when pushing projects to the last minute . Your desk might be a little messy , too .
And , when you start hearing someone talk about ministry systems , ministry structures , processes , workflows … it all just fades into the voice of Charlie Brown ’ s teacher : wah-Wah , wah-Wah , wah-WAH .
That was me , too . I told you in Part 1 about my struggles with being a creatively-driven , administratively-challenge worship leader . In fact , I prided myself on being a loosey-goosey , no-structure leader . My excuse : I ’ m … an artist .
But reality quickly set in . My Sundays were subpar . My team was ticked-off . And my senior pastor was secretly regretting his decision to hire me . There is a high cost of disorganization .
In this two-part article , I ’ m going over nine distinct ways that disorganization costs worship leaders . We covered the first five last month .
My disorganization kept me from developing the team towards a consistent standard of excellence . In fact , now in our private coaching groups , I help leaders build worship teams that create exceptional Sundays every week , no matter who ’ s scheduled — their A , B , or C-level players .
The Cost : I didn ’ t give my church family the best experience possible .
Remember , our job isn ’ t about delivering a great performance or production . It ’ s about creating a meaningful and powerful journey of worship consistently , week after week .
My disorganization diminished every part of that : set planning , song rotation , personal practice , rehearsals , and developing my team to be engaging lead worshipers , including the spiritual development all that required .
7 . HARD TO FOLLOW The Issue : Working with me wasn ’ t fun .
As you can probably guess , all these issues compounded to create more significant issues .
The Cost : I lost respect .
After the new position honeymoon was over , I started losing the respect of my team , other ministry leaders , and my senior pastor . They might ’ ve still liked me , but they didn ’ t respect me as a leader . And that lack of respect was also fueled by the next issue that I alluded to earlier .
8 . NOT TAKING OWNERSHIP The Issue : I made excuses for my disorganization .
“ I ’ m an artist . I ’ m creative . I ’ m a high-I . 1 I ’ m … Spirit-led !” ( If your gag reflex just kicked in , it ’ s OK . Mine did , too , as I remembered those days .)
The Cost : I wasn ’ t growing as a leader .
When we make excuses for our shortcomings , those excuses keep us from doing the arduous work of self-management . Not only that , we ’ re not taking ownership of what God ’ s entrusted to us . 2
1 If you ’ re not familiar with the DISC Profile , an immature ‘ high-I ’ is basically Chris Farley ’ s character in Tommy Boy . 2 See the Parable of the Bags of Gold ( Matt 25:14-30 )