If you’ve ever driven by a church with a clever saying on its marquee, you know how important a sign can be.

• “Call 911: This Church is On Fire!”
• “Exercise Daily: Walk with the Lord.”
• “Exposure to the Son May Prevent Burning.”

All of these signs say different things about their church:

• “We’re charismatic.”
• “We’re devoted.”
• “We believe in hell.”

Or “We like cheesy slogans!” (for more on this rich vein, check out Temptation Bangs Forever: The Worst Church Signs You’ve Ever Seen).

Of course, that’s not nearly everything there is to know, but for the passersby, it’s a good start. And it might be all they need to know before deciding whether or not they’re going to pull into the parking lot some day.

Besides the building itself, a church’s primary sign is its first impression. It’s our first chance to tell the community who we are, what we value, and what we do. It’s also one of our best shots at inviting people to join us. Here are some things to keep in mind when you think about your church’s primary sign.

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One of the dirty secrets of Christianity is that there are numerous crooked pastors, priests and church financial secretaries embezzling funds. The International Bulletin of Missionary Research projected that $37 billion would be stolen by Christian religious leaders in 2013 and this fraud will reach $60 billion annually by 2025.

Here are four possible signs that money is being embezzled by religious leaders.

• The pastor or priest lives an extravagant lifestyle.
• The church leader regularly fails to turn in receipts when using the church or ministry credit card.
• The church sends you a receipt for donations and the amount listed doesn’t match your own records of what you have given. (Anonymously given cash offerings will not be tracked.)
• The church suddenly starts showing large unexplained debts.

I’ve compiled this list of warning signs from numerous church fraud cases and future articles will describe how these thefts took place and how religious leaders attempted to cover up their crimes.

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Bruce Benedict on shepherding your team:

I recently had a worship leader ask me how I disciple my worship ministry. It’s a great question and one to which I’ve floundered quite successfully over the years. There are a surprising number of ways that we can gently and consistently disciple our worship ministries over a period of time (here I mean all of the volunteers that serve, not necessarily the congregation which is a different question).

Here is a list of intentional actions I have used over the years.

1. Meet first thing to pray on Sunday mornings before set up or rehearsal
– Read a psalm, pray through the service.
– Some churches have a pastor or elder serve communion to the musicians if that is a difficulty during the service.

2. Help your musicians understand how music serves the whole liturgy/gospel story
Dedicate some time each week whether at rehearsal or on Sunday to explain the gospel flow of your churches liturgy. Help them to understand how music fits into the larger story that is happening. The details and demands of playing and performing can often distract us from the biblical narrative that is unfolding week by week.

3. Have monthly/quarterly music gatherings where you intentionally shepherd
Every three months I have a potluck for all of the musicians where we meet for a time of fellowship, teaching, prep for the next sermon series/ season, and learn new songs.

4. Meet regularly with sound techs
I take my sound techs out to lunch every month or so. Sound techs are your most important volunteers and often the least positively attended to. They work incredibly hard to support all of the staff work that goes into church servies and they should feel loved. Their work on Sunday supports every level at which we want the gospel to be clearly proclaimed (music before and after services, preaching, prayers, scripture, music, etc). Make sure they know the spiritual impact of their technical work.

5. Consistent time with leaders
I plan to spend one-on-one time with my band leaders every three months and general musicians every 6 mo’s. This is time to check in with them and see how they are doing spiritually, with their service in the music ministry, etc. I also hold a yearly retreat in August for the whole worship ministry to talk over the year, teach, fellowship, etc.

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Gary Durbin on struggling with a congregation who doesn’t seem to worship:

“Don’t they love God?”

If you’ve been a worship leader for any amount of time, you’ll experience and/or ask questions like these eventually.

I know I have…MANY, MANY times throughout the last several years.

There’s been times where I’ve walked away from a service and felt defeated.

I’ve felt like a failure.

Why?

Because the church, for whatever reason, just wasn’t into worshiping together in song that day.

It’s discouraging…it’s hard to grasp, especially if you’re a worship leader that’s passionate about this crazy, awesome and sometimes frustrating thing called corporate worship.

Well…I want to…need to write this post.

Not just for other worship leaders, but for this worship leader.

One thing that has been consistent throughout my years leading worship is the inconsistency of focus and intensity in worship services and churches. It would be easy, if we could just walk in every Sunday to an atmosphere and crowd like the ones that flock to Chris Tomlin and Hillsong United concerts. It would be fun and effortless, but that’s just not the reality of a church.

A church is like a family. Some days are better than others. Some days I come home from work and my wife, kids and the dog meet me at the door like I’m Ward Cleaver, so glad to see their Husband and Dad, as I walk into the sweet aroma of a delicious dinner.

Then there are days when I come home and the kids are driving my lovely wife to near insanity and the dog pukes on the carpet, because he got into some chocolate left out.

It’s not always ideal, but it’s real.

Church is the same way.

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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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