Does your church have non-leaders leading, non-singers singing, non-musicians playing, non-communicators communicating, etc.? Many churches live in this uncomfortable reality.

I’ve been looking at lots of worship leader job descriptions lately as we help several churches look for staff. Almost all of them have some kitchen-junk-drawer statement at the end of the responsibilities

I was reading 1 Peter 4 and was struck by verse eleven.

As a leader, uncertainty is your life. It’s your sweet spot.

We often misunderstand equality, authority, and equity in the conversation about women in church leadership.

I’ve been getting up at 4:30 AM the last couple of weeks to spend quiet, uninterrupted time writing and editing my past Fertilizers.

What am I taking to heart?

I was leading Sunday morning worship at this church. I greeted the assembled worshipers and… got back a very wimpy response. I felt like I was looking at a room of corpses.

The other night, I was tucking my son into bed and noticed some trash on his bunk bed shelf. It was the remains of an old, burned-up plastic Coke bottle.

Doesn’t this just have a great ring to it? Campfire. Eating together. Relaxed worship. Late-night talks. Teaching tailored to your team. Friendships deepened. A break from your routine. God speaking...

As we approach the end of the year, I encourage you to take a moment between sips of 'nog (stay tuned for a killer recipe) to reflect on the state of your team's relationships.

My pastor was a college professor who had just finished the semester.

What’s your worship team like? And by “worship team,” I mean the musicians and techs together.

Are you like a Worship Family? A Worship Indie Band? A Worship Elevator? Let me describe each one.

Every leader disciple needs to learn how to work with people.

It took me quite a while to figure that out.

Today, I’m giving you an outline rather than paragraphs. That’s obvious.

But what’s not obvious is how much what you do impacts congregational engagement. I want to challenge us, as leaders, to grow in BEING:

How modest is modest enough? The most common internal answer is “the same as me or more modest than me.”

Have you ever wished your teams, pastors, and congregation were great at giving each other feedback?

“So let me see by a show of hands,” I once asked when leading worship, “how many of you have never raised your hands in worship before?”

(now that wasn’t so bad, was it?)

I was preparing for a coaching session with a new worship leader and reading a chapter in the book we’re working through called “How To Lead Worship Without Being A Rock Star.”