Rich Birch says it’s your job as a leader to take responsibility.

Some weekends at your church are better than others. Things seem to fall into place and everything clicks. The band is in the pocket. The announcement time goes well. People connect with the message.

Then there are weekends that seem like a total train wreck. Everything goes wrong. Nothing seems to work.

The chances that you are going to have a few of these weekends every year are high. In fact, the odds are stacked up to ensure it will happen!

Here are some actions to take on Monday after a tough weekend at your church:

Take Responsibility // When good stuff happens in your church it’s always because your team did such a great job. When things go wrong it’s your job as a leader to take responsibility. Take a deep breath, figure out what part of the problem is yours, and own it all. Owning the problem and finding the solution will grow your leadership influence. Assigning blame and pointing fingers will only shrink your influence.

Write Some Thank-You Notes // Even during the toughest day there are always team members who shine. Sometimes it’s because of a tough day that they shine even brighter. Take time to thank those team members before you jump into the details. It will help focus you on the “people side” of solutions.

Don’t Waste a Crisis // This is an amazing opportunity to learn and grow as an organization. Lead your team publicly through this process so you can spread the learning as far as possible. Show how fixing this problem is part of the vision of your church.

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Adam Bond explains that the Musical Director adds unity and strength to the worship team.

A Musical Director is a voice of leadership on the platform that helps to run the rehearsals, navigates the band through musical transitions, and fuels the worship leader with clear ideas that can create a moment where people can interact freely with God.

A Musical Director adds unity and strength to the team on platform, by verbally communicating people through upcoming sections in the service/session. They’re also the go to person for the pastor during worship. The pastor can communicate with the MD if he or she wants the worship team to do something specific. I.e. Reprise a song, end the song in a certain way, or completely change the set list. He or she can pretty much ask for anything, and the musical director will try his up most to facilitate it.

The MD is an extension of the worship leader. They act as another set of eyes and ears, and are aware of his or her surroundings. They’re looking to the worship leader, pastor, and congregation for direction on where to take the music. The MD also acts as the bridge between the worship leader and the musicians. He or she communicates confidently to the team on platform. They’re using what they have in the natural to help people worship.

I view the MD as a musical guide. You’re offering the worship leader different routes to achieve the end goal… people encountering with God. At our Church, the MD is one of the musicians on platform. They might not be the strongest musician on team, but they have been chosen to be a voice of leadership because they have a great deal of experience. The MD has a silent microphone, where he or she can communicate with the rest of the team. And he/she can communicate with F.O.H, and the stage managers sitting by the pastor.

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Tim Suttle says the assumption that bigger is better pervades the church leadership culture.

1. Faithfulness, not success, is the goal of the church
The church’s job is not to grow, multiply, or expand. The church’s job is not to take back the culture for Jesus. The church’s job is not even to survive. The church’s job is to be the church—to be the faithful people of God who organize their common life together in such a way that they image God to all creation. Sadly, most American churches do not image God so much as they image American story of bigger, better, stronger, higher, and faster. The story of God is quite different. This story says the last will be first and the first will be last. Authentically Christian leadership does not embrace success as a worthy objective. Instead the Christian leader must embrace the way of descent, and the cruciform life of dying to self and others. The American way is up. The Jesus way is down.

2. A fixation on success creates anxiety and burnout
When a church chases ministry greatness, and makes growing attendance their primary metric for success, the most consistent outcome is not growth. The most consistent outcome is anxiety. CEO style church leadership may or may not produce growth, but it always produces a consuming anxiety in the lives of the members and leaders who constantly feel bad for not being bigger. All of that anxiety adds up over time. It usually falls to the pastor to try and keep the system healthy. The megachurch pastor is like the liver of an alcoholic body. The anxiety, pressure, and stress generated by the megachurch are not shared equally but are focused primarily on the pastor. Just one person cannot cleanse those types of systemic toxins, and eventually the pastors will burnout.

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