Worship Leader 101 Podcast

Even if your goal is to be a worship leader, you can learn a lot by serving on another team. Even if you're an experienced worship leader, you can get better by being an instrumentalist or vocalist for another worship team. Here are 5 ways serving another worship ministry or even another worship team inside your church makes you a better worship leader. 

Worship leaders have enough pressure on them. Creating set lists, organizing teams, learning new songs...the list goes on. The good news is that there are many things you're NOT responsible for as a worship leader. In this episode, I interview Spencer Cormany of the popular Instagram channel Leading Worship Well. He reviews what your job is as a worship leader, and what you are not responsible to do. After this encouraging episode, you'll feel much less pressure as you lead worship.

If you're an experienced worship leader, you should be finding and building up those who will eventually take your place. In this episode, I'm interviewed by Jake Gosselin of Churchfront.com about how to mentor up new worship leaders. Whether you're a current worship leader or want to become one, here are some practical tips on mentoring and being mentored into this important role.

I got together with Jake Gosselin of Churchfront.com to discuss how you can introduce tech into your worship ministry. Jake is known as the worship tech guru and he breaks down the best technology to start with, from pads to digital chord charts to loops and lighting. Even if you're a new worship leader, this conversation will ignite your desire to use tech to facilitate and improve your worship leading. 

You might think that someone who gets on stage should be an extrovert so they can lead, interact, be emotive, and all those things we associate with public figures. And there are those kinds of worship leaders, and they are great. But that personality is not a requirement for worship leaders at all. In fact, as an introvert and a shy person, you may be a fantastic worship leader in many ways. But I'm sure many would-be worship leaders have talked themselves out of pursuing this craft because they are a severe introvert. They can't imagine themselves up in front of people, or worse, having to speak in front of them.  But avoiding this call on your life could be a mistake. Take it from a severe introvert like me, that you can lead worship with this personality type.

Rehearsals are an essential part of leading worship. If you want to be a worship leader, you need to learn how to run efficient and effective rehearsals. You might think that rehearsals aren’t your thing. You don’t need them because you like to be spontaneous. But what you end up with is a messy group of songs where all the musicians are kind of doing their own thing. Rehearsals bring everyone together! Rehearsals are the lifeblood of any worship ministry and they should be treated as such. So how do you make sure you have great rehearsals?  

Before you started to lead worship, it may have seemed like the worship leader just got up and started singing on Sunday. If you’ve led worship, you know how wrong that assumption was. Now you probably know that you need to prepare yourself to lead worship spiritually and practically. Building good habits is the key to solid worship leading over and over again. Here are 5 habits every worship leader should build into their routine whether they are on or off the stage that week.

A transition in worship is simply what you do musically or verbally between songs in worship. If you play 4 worship songs you'll have 3 transitions between those songs.What you do -- or don't do -- in between those songs can make or break a worship set. One of your main jobs as a worship leader is to eliminate distractions. We usually think of distractions as things that happen, but they can also be things that don’t happen. For instance, transitions between songs.You come to the end of a song, hit the final note, then nothing. No one starts the song. The band is looking around at each other. No one knows what to do. The worship leader looks uncomfortable. So, the people are uncomfortable. Here's how to avoid that situation.

The worship song arrangement (ie how the verses, choruses, bridges, etc. go together) can make or break the worship experience. You want to have a plan for the song and bring in dynamics and interesting, creative elements. In this episode, I review 4 tips to make better song arrangements for worship. The worship songs you lead never have to be boring!

You may think a worship leader just gets up on stage and starts singing songs that he or she likes, almost at random. But if you've ever led worship, you know that a lot more goes into it. The worship leader has to consider many factors from tempo to key to theme, and a whole lot more. In this podcast episode, I review 4 of the most important elements to think about if you want to be a master at creating amazing worship set lists.

As a new worship leader or even as an experienced one, you tend to just sing songs that you like. While that’s important, that’s just the beginning. You should be reviewing songs and looking at some other things to make sure they are good songs for your church, youth group, or small group. Worship leaders have the second most influence over what your group experiences, only behind the pastor or speaker. This is a big responsibility. You control what people will be singing that week and what songs will be stuck in their heads. Knowing that, you want to be choosing songs that are accurate and appropriate for your congregation. I dive into 10 things to consider when finding new songs for your church, youth group, or anywhere you're leading worship.

You want to lead worship, but you're not sure where to do so. There's already a team that leads Sunday mornings, and you don't know where else you can lead worship. Contrary to popular belief, leading worship for a Sunday morning service is not a good place to start if you're a new worship leader. In this podcast episode, I review 4 better places to lead worship that where it will be quicker and easier to gain permission with much less pressure to perform a perfect worship session as a beginner.

Most music you see as a worship leader or worship musician isn't spelled out for you. You have to figure out melodies, lead lines, and even chords all by yourself. If you grew up as a classically-trained musician, or even if you're just starting out, playing by ear might seem scary. In this episode, I dive into why it's so important to be fast and good at playing by ear as a worship leader, and five of the best ways to learn the skill. 

Playing an instrument and singing at the same time is one of the most important skills as a worship leader. At the same time, many instrumentalists or singers think they'll never be able to learn. The good news is that you CAN learn to play and sing at the same time. There are many advantages to doing so. If you want to open up opportunities to lead worship AND be a part of many worship bands, you should learn to play an instrument and sing at the same time. Your opportunities to participate in worship teams is almost never-ending: You can fill in as a background vocalist You can be an instrumentalist who can also add vocals You can lead worship by yourself even if you have no band If you can play an instrument or sing, but not simultaneously, this episode is for you. Let’s dive into 5 tips on how you can learn to be your own instrumentalist as a worship leader. Get more free resources and show notes here. Get started leading worship, or get help training others at https://worshipdeeper.com/book/

So, you don't play an instrument...but you want to lead worship. It can be done! In Episode 2, I reviewed the importance of learning an instrument as a worship leader. But if you don't play one yet, you can start leading worship while you're learning. There are a number of tricks and secrets -- many of them free -- if you don't have accompaniment for your worship leading. This episode breaks down those ideas and will get you leading worship fast. For more episodes, check out WorshipDeeper.com/podcast.   This episode is sponsored by the book "Learn To Lead Worship In 14 Days" by Tim Lucas. Check out what the book has to offer at WorshipDeeper.com/book  

A lot of worship leaders don't play an instrument, and that's okay. But if you want to give yourself TONS of opportunities and take your worship to the next level, you should learn an instrument. In this episode, I take you through why it's so important to learn an instrument as a worship leader. Then we dive into specifics. Which instruments are best for worship leaders and why? It's true that learning an instrument is no easy task. Especially when you'll be playing and singing at the same time. But it's well worth the effort. For more episodes, check out WorshipDeeper.com/podcast.   This episode is sponsored by the book "Learn To Lead Worship In 14 Days" by Tim Lucas. Check out what the book has to offer at WorshipDeeper.com/book

Ever wondered if you're "meant to be" a worship leader? Well, this episode of the Worship Leader 101 Podcast will cover 5 things to consider to find out if you might be called to this exciting and important role. Do you love the arts? Are opportunities to lead worship opening for you? Are you seeking out worship resources? These could be signs that you are called into this ministry, either as a volunteer, or eventually, full time. For more episodes, check out WorshipDeeper.com/podcast.   This episode is sponsored by the book "Learn To Lead Worship In 14 Days" by Tim Lucas. Check out what the book has to offer at WorshipDeeper.com/book