Steven Potaczek on getting back to basics:

Several years ago, when I was doing any odd job to make enough money to get by, I got involved doing studio session work. As a keyboardist/pianist, my job was to make the song shine as brightly as I could. The producer would take the most expensive studio gear, the best sounding rooms and instruments, and pair those with the strongest session players to hopefully create something beautiful for his/her artist.

The only problem was that no matter how boutique the mixing console, how stunning the guitar amps, and how virtuoso the players were, if the song wasn’t good, there was only so much us session musicians could do. One producer I still do work for used to call working on poor songs “polishing turds.” Crass, but quite accurate. When the song is good, it doesn’t really matter much what you do to it: a great song is a great song.

The reality is that worship leaders do many things: they plan and design meaningful services, create vision and goals for the community, research and develop arrangements, schedule volunteers, create drum loops, pastor, conduct meetings, repair and/or replace broken musical equipment, etc, etc…

All these things are important. But like the expensive mixing console, killer drum kit, and talented players, they are only meaningful if the #1 thing is actually happening: what a worship leader does is walk the Bride of Christ down the aisle.

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Dr. Tim Spivey on the pastor/worship leader relationship:

There are certain ministry roles have more conflict between them than others. Senior Pastors and Youth Pastors, Church Administrators and Youth Ministers, for example. There is also sometimes significant tension between the Worship Leader and the one preaching Sunday. This is obviously not the case in every church, but it is in many churches.

Truth be told, I understand, but haven’t experienced it a lot. I had the unusual experience of spending nearly five years as a Worship Minister before entering the pulpit. I’m sure that’s helped me empathize with the trials and travails of those called to the lead God’s people in worship. It’s also given me a profound appreciation for their ministry–and I hope that comes through on a daily basis.

In my 17 years of ministry, I’ve been blessed to serve alongside two worship leaders. I hired both of them within a year of my arrival at the churches I’ve served, and we have served together until either I transitioned out (Chad Higgins–who just celebrated 10 years of ministry at HOCC) or…we’re still serving together (Peter Wilson at NVC). We’ve been not only partners in ministry, but true friends.

I don’t want to leave the impression I’ve never had conflict with a worship leader. However, I have no question the degree of unity between me and the worship leaders I’ve worked with has been an enormous contributor to our church’s success over the years. God blesses unity, and ongoing tension between those leading God’s people in worship and leading them in study of His Word will impact a church–even if they keep it under wraps as best they can.

Here are some things I’ve observed over the years that have blessed my relationship with Chad and Peter. Note that many of these are attitudes, not tasks.

1. Hire a worship leader you trust at least as much as you trust yourself to plan the service. You need to respect them musically and theologically. If you don’t trust them, you’ll meddle. If you meddle repeatedly, it won’t go well. If you find yourself needing to “guide” things all the time…you’re either a control freak, hired the wrong person, or both.

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Adelle M. Banks and Angela Abbamonte from ReligionToday.com report on the effects of contemporary worship on church growth:

When a congregation moves from a traditional to a contemporary style of worship, the change can often lead to painful conflict in the pews but also, according to a recent study, higher attendance.

Almost two-thirds — 64 percent — of congregations that switched to contemporary worship in the last five years saw an increase in worship attendance of 2 percent or more, the latest Faith Communities Today survey shows.

David A. Roozen, author of “Faith Communities Today 2008: A First Look,” said the findings on contemporary worship held true regardless of the congregation’s denominational affiliation (or lack of one).

“What it seems to suggest is that if you make the change, you’re going to get an immediate impact, positive impact,” said Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and professor of religion and society at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, in an interview.

“And if you …just had been doing the contemporary for a while, you’re still going to be more likely to be growing than more traditional (congregations).”

Roozen’s findings, known as “FACT 2008,” may be reflected in the results of a new list of the nation’s fastest-growing churches. Outreach magazine, in conjunction with Southern Baptist-affiliated LifeWay Research, announced Tuesday (Sept. 15) that the fastest-growing congregation is New Life Church in Conway, Ark.

The church, which features a contemporary worship team and has grown 61 percent to 10,000 members in just one year, is where 2009 American Idol winner Kris Allen served as an assistant worship leader.

Abe Smith, New Life’s associate worship pastor, believes the contemporary music at the church “affects how people see the church as relevant,” and may make them feel more comfortable.

“If they feel like clapping, they can clap,” said Smith. “If they feel like raising their arms, they can raise their arms.”

(Rounding out the top five fastest-growing churches in LifeWay’s survey were Calvary Temple Worship Center in Modesto, Calif.; Cornerstone Church in National City, Calif.; Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C.; and Faith Church of St. Louis in Fenton, Mo.)

Smith said the contemporary music is sometimes supplemented by modernized hymns as a way to reach people who may have been to church in the past and are now starting to return. The church also uses video screens and lighting to supplement its worship, and recruits church members as singers and instrumentalists for its worship team.

The FACT 2008 study found that more than half — 53 percent — of houses of worship that had already featured contemporary worship more than five years ago and have kept it saw at least 2 percent growth in worship attendance.

That’s compared with just 44 percent of congregations that maintained their traditional worship over five years that were able to report a comparable growth in attendance figures.

Congregations that changed their traditional worship style without adopting contemporary music were the least likely — 41 percent — to see a 2 percent or more growth in worship attendance.

The Faith Communities Today survey is based on an analysis of 2,527 questionnaires from a random sample of congregations that were answered by clergy contacted by mail, phone or e-mail.

The Outreach Magazine/LifeWay Research Special Report is based on contacts with more than 8,000 churches that self-reported their information. Researchers confirmed the statistics by reaching the churches through phone, e-mail, fax and certified letter.

Larry Taunton: When a Christian foundation interviewed college nonbelievers about how and why they left religion, surprising themes emerged.

“Church became all about ceremony, handholding, and kumbaya,” Phil said with a look of disgust. “I missed my old youth pastor. He actually knew the Bible.”

I have known a lot of atheists. The late Christopher Hitchens was a friend with whom I debated, road tripped, and even had a lengthy private Bible study. I have moderated Richard Dawkins and, on occasion, clashed with him. And I have listened for hours to the (often unsettling) arguments of Peter Singer and a whole host of others like him. These men are some of the public faces of the so-called “New Atheism,” and when Christians think about the subject — if they think about it at all — it is this sort of atheist who comes to mind: men whose unbelief is, as Dawkins once proudly put it, “militant.” But Phil, the atheist college student who had come to my office to share his story, was of an altogether different sort.

Phil was in my office as part of a project that began last year. Over the course of my career, I have met many students like Phil. It has been my privilege to address college students all over the world, usually as one defending the Christian worldview. These events typically attract large numbers of atheists. I like that. I find talking to people who disagree with me much more stimulating than those gatherings that feel a bit too much like a political party convention, and the exchanges with these students are mostly thoughtful and respectful. At some point, I like to ask them a sincere question:

What led you to become an atheist?

Given that the New Atheism fashions itself as a movement that is ruthlessly scientific, it should come as no surprise that those answering my question usually attribute the decision to the purely rational and objective: one invokes his understanding of science; another says it was her exploration of the claims of this or that religion; and still others will say that religious beliefs are illogical, and so on. To hear them tell it, the choice was made from a philosophically neutral position that was void of emotion.

“I really can’t consider a Christian a good, moral person if he isn’t trying to convert me.”
Christianity, when it is taken seriously, compels its adherents to engage the world, not retreat from it. There are a multitude of reasons for this mandate, ranging from care for the poor, orphaned, and widowed to offering hope to the hopeless. This means that Christians must be willing to listen to other perspectives while testing their own beliefs against them — above all, as the apostle Peter tells us, “with gentleness and respect.” The non-profit I direct, Fixed Point Foundation, endeavors to bridge the gaps between various factions (both religious and irreligious) as gently and respectfully as possible. Atheists particularly fascinate me. Perhaps it’s because I consider their philosophy — if the absence of belief may be called a philosophy — historically naive and potentially dangerous. Or maybe it’s because they, like any good Christian, take the Big Questions seriously. But it was how they processed those questions that intrigued me.

To gain some insight, we launched a nationwide campaign to interview college students who are members of Secular Student Alliances (SSA) or Freethought Societies (FS). These college groups are the atheist equivalents to Campus Crusade: They meet regularly for fellowship, encourage one another in their (un)belief, and even proselytize. They are people who are not merely irreligious; they are actively, determinedly irreligious.

Using the Fixed Point Foundation website, email, my Twitter, and my Facebook page, we contacted the leaders of these groups and asked if they and their fellow members would participate in our study. To our surprise, we received a flood of enquiries. Students ranging from Stanford University to the University of Alabama-Birmingham, from Northwestern to Portland State volunteered to talk to us. The rules were simple: Tell us your journey to unbelief. It was not our purpose to dispute their stories or to debate the merits of their views. Not then, anyway. We just wanted to listen to what they had to say. And what they had to say startled us.

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The former 4 Him vocalist answers questions about how he does worship ministry:

1. How do you implement new songs? How often do you put in new songs? Is there a process to put in new songs?

We don’t have a specific timeframe for new songs being added. We are always looking for new songs that we feel will connect with our crowd and when we find one, we get it in there for a test drive. As far as a process or implementation we just make sure that the new song “feels” like us. Our current set up of players and singers seems to be a little more adept at playing Hillsong and Jesus Culture styles of music. And we’ve come to that conclusion through much trial and error. Bottom line, we don’t mind trying new styles but we try and limit the awkward moments as much as possible.

2. How do you rotate your band and vocals (volunteers) and keep them motivated and happy? How are you developing new leaders? Recruiting?

We are always looking to add new singers and players so we try and rotate as much as possible. Team members will never get better unless they get up there and do it. I think it shows your church members that you are serious about growing when they continually see new faces up there. Having said that, I believe you need to have as many familiar faces up there every week as possible, too. I am always up there, every service, along with my associate worship leader, my band director/keyboard player, and my lead guitarist. This also helps with continuity musically. You are playing with fire if you don’t have your top players covering the essentials every weekend.

I’ve never really concerned myself with keeping my team members “happy”. I continually cast the vision of our department before them: we will be diverse and always growing. If you are connecting with people and growing as a musician you’ll have a place on the team; otherwise we’ll use you only in a pinch. I’m upfront and honest with all of them, constantly evaluating them. And they deserve as much. As a leader I do them a disservice by not helping them get better and letting them know when they are putting it on auto-pilot, or worse, just punching their spiritual service time card. They are the happiest and most fulfilled when they see the church thriving and reaching the lost. And if they can’t rejoice in that, I release them to find a church that will satisfy their need to sing and play more.

As far as developing new leaders, we have started an intern program here called NEXT. I’ve been able to pour into young leaders daily through this. We’ve also started Church on the Move Creative to help us connect and spend more quality time with those in our church who have specific artistic gifts. It’s a great chance for me and my team to continue to pour into our younger players and singers off the stage.

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