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

I was leading worship for a group of YWAMers this week, and in my first song, I noticed that my left hand had a tight grip on the neck of the guitar.

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.

So I had this experience where I realized that I had been lulled to sleep. Maybe you can relate to this, because I had forgotten that God is actually steadfast. He’s actually good. He’s actually all-powerful. He’s actually able to do what He said He would do.

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.

Do you know which Sunday marks the end of the Church calendar year? (Did you know the church had its own calendar?!)

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

Praising by only singing is like golfing with only a putter, baking using only a ¼ cup measuring cup, drawing a rainbow with only a blue crayon, or fixing a car with only a ½” wrench.

• “I guess we’ll go ahead and get started.”

• “Please rise to your feet.”

• “Good morning…um, good MORNing! ...That’s better.”

Every week, when we make music together as worship teams, we have essential musical decisions to make. So here’s a humorous yet insightful story of what it takes to make music together.

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:

“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?)

What if our singers’ primary role is to prophesy, to declare the emotion and heart of God?

My typical planning schedule…

I hope you were inspired by the last Worship Fertilizer to begin creating a Growth Plan, but chances are it collected about seven days of dust by now. Poor little Growth Plan.

I love questions.

Have you ever been frustrated, confused, or saddened by a lack of response from the congregation you’re leading in worship?

We know how to lead a worship set, a meeting, an event, or a moment.

But what about a team, a ministry, a department, an organization, or a decade?

As leaders, we must have the energy and determination to move large initiatives forward, to hold the line, and to shift cultures.

Do you wish that rehearsal would go deeper than just pulling the music together?

I was planning a worship set. Feeling crushing pressure and tension.