Monday, December 30, 2019

Victory through Vulnerability

We love a perfectly executed moment in music, but whether or not we love the musician depends on their vulnerability, not their ability.

This is true for preachers, too. We want them to show us truths we’ve not yet seen, or inspire us to do what we know already. The better they do it, well, the better. We like great preachers, but we love great pastors. The difference is often found in vulnerability.

When I lead from a position of strength and authority, I might feel important, but a negative--perhaps unintentional consequence is that sometimes I make others feel less important.

Vulnerability does the opposite. It makes me feel less important and others feel highly trusted—more important.

In worship leadership there are several ways to do this. Probably way more than these few I’ve learned:
  • Tell appropriate stories where God is the hero and I am the one being rescued. (Not where I am the rescuer!)
  • Sing songs that affect me emotionally and show the emotion.
  • Own up to mistakes and failures. Everyone knows when I blow it. To hide it is to be prideful. To acknowledge it is to be vulnerable.Here’s the surprise. When I “let my hair down,” I lead better. But when I hide my flaws, I fail even more.

This platform behavior has to be consistent with daily living. I say things to my team all the time like:
  • “I’m terrible at details. Help me. Ask me questions. When you ask about a detail, you make all of us better.”
  • “I am a terrible solo leader. Without a team around me, I would be useless.” 
  • “I can’t do much of anything but sing and tell others what to do. I don’t play guitar or piano or…” 
This maximizes my weaknesses and maximizes the contribution of others.

Of course the apostle Paul was right, “I am glad to boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

And C.S. Lewis captured it beautifully: “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken… Wrap [your heart] carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.”

How about you? How do you experience vulnerability when being led? How do you do it in healthy ways when leading?

Monday, December 23, 2019

Lower the Stage; Raise the Seats

In our fallenness we tend to venerate people based on their platform. 

This is so unhealthy. Whether Labron James in the NBA or Tom Brady in the NFL or Scarlett Johansson on the movie screen… we give them authority they haven't earned. In some churches this even happens with preachers and worship leaders.

All of this is in direct contradiction with the teachings of our faith. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. The teaching of James the brother of Jesus is that you are to “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up in honor.”

In Romans 12 we’re told to outdo one another in honor. 

And so in worship ministry, our effectiveness is maximized by "lowering the platform." Doing everything we can to make ourselves appear the way we really are—the same as everyone else. Here are some things we do:
  • I ask the folks on our team to greet people before the services. First time I saw this happen in earnest was at Passion City Church. It made a huge impact.
  • I sometimes encourage people to scan the crowd from the platform and pray for the needs they see, and even the ones they don’t know about. 
  • We don’t call it a stage; we call it a platform. The platform is for truth. The stage is for actors. (This is a general principle; we don’t punch people for calling it a stage!)
  • Speaking of the platform, we approach it from the congregation, not the “wings.” The leadership emerges from the congregation; it doesn’t appear from some mysterious place.
There’s a second half to this, though. We want to both lower the platform AND raise the seats.

The role of the congregation must be core to the planning of--and execution of--the experience of worship.

Philippians 2:3 says, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.”

When those of us on the platform think of those in the seats "as better than ourselves," the whole paradigm shifts. We aren’t trying to impress them with our musicality, but with the reality of Who God is. What Jesus has done. The role of the Spirit in the gathering and in our lives. 

If our goal is to get the souls in the room to sing about Jesus, it reduces nervousness and surpasses pride. A double win!

A handful of practical ways we do this:
  • Songs are choses to give voice to the congregation. 
  • Keys are picked so the most people can sing, not so the person on stage sounds great.
  • Very rarely do we include “presentational pieces” in our services. If we do, the goal is to have someone sing something a congregation can’t or have instrumental music that points people to scripture.
  • The loudest voice in the room — both by virtue of instrumentation and audio mix — is that of the congregation.
  • Nearly every Sunday there is a moment (or more) of a cappella singing.
Help one another out. Leave a comment. How do you do this? See it done in other places? Let’s build a tribe inspired to serve “so every soul sings."