How do you know when you’re going from being detail-oriented, exacting, meticulous, and nuanced to... nitpicking? Where’s the line?

Every Fader must answer this critical question.

A worship leader sent me this question: “Our team has been growing in building musical dynamics that really create openings for people to enter in.”

Stop right there! I’ve never heard it said quite like that: “Musical dynamics create openings for people to enter in.”

One of the most biblically mandated yet commonly neglected roles in worship ministry is discipling those on our teams. Why? We over-focus on the weekly grind and under-focus on the long-term spiritual formation of our team.

Experience is NOT the best teacher. Experience can be cruel. It can flatter you. It can lie to you. But evaluated experience is a fantastic teacher. Debriefing after leading is a must.

As we continue the series on how each Fader approaches the main tasks of worship ministry leading, today, we explore that moment of leading worship.

Every professional athlete has a pregame ritual.

Here are five unique and famous pregame rituals that athletes are known for:

Three short stories. (they include your goals for 2025)

We are living on a coffee plantation. Most weekday mornings, the small crew of coffee pickers come through the gate, dragging along their nine and eleven-year-old children to play while they pick.

Next week, I fly to Columbus, Ohio, to encourage a worship and creative team. I’ll be rehearsing them and leading the Sunday services as part of the training weekend. In preparation, I’m sending them notes on one of the songs we’ll lead.

Imagine this: the students who bravely stepped into high school amidst the whirlwind of the pandemic are now on the verge of graduating. Wow!

I was speaking with a church that has been without a staff worship leader for nearly a year.

The Five Faders is the single concept that will likely create the most dramatic, positive change in your leadership and your team’s health.

I’m working with a worship team that has been trained well.

The Producer is an Architect that designs excellence and transcendence. They plan to exceed the usual limits and love to have a well-planned service executed with excellence.

I found out about a recent conference called “ALTARS.”

We invited some friends over for Sunday brunch and worship at our farm.

I was twenty-six. Having recently moved cross-country, leaving the long summers of South Texas for the short ones of Pennsylvania, I was learning many new customs in this new culture.

On Sunday, we visited a church we hadn’t been to before. While the eight of us filed in a few minutes past starting time and found our seats in two rows, two leaders addressed the congregation.

I read a job description for a Director of Music and was struck by the first “Core Competency” required.

Today, we highlight the strengths each Fader brings to preparing for great rehearsals.