Team Leading

The Coops were out of town for a funeral this weekend, so I was asked to lead worship Sunday. Even though it was kind of last minute and the preparation time was less than normal I really enjoyed it. There were a few awkward moments during practices - mostly because the songs that I'd chosen were not familiar to all of the team. I really appreciate their flexibility. Things went pretty well, and the feedback has been positive.

I have done a lot less leading music lately and I've missed that. Our Wed. night student crowd seems to like it when we do music, but I haven't been able to put together a team to lead. So usually I'm leading with just my guitar. It was nice to play with a band again!

This weekend reinforced for me a couple thoughts I've been having lately:
1) I need to be doing more worship musically with our students. There are a few students who have been learning guitar and drums. I need to do more to foster their development and encourage them to use their musical gifts to lead people in expressing our love for God. When I first started in ministry, I could barely put three chords in the right order. God broke through that wall and enabled me to lead anyway, then eventually provided some students who learned to play. For whatever reason, I've been hesitant to follow that same path here. I've been afraid to let kids play who are more prone to mistakes - too concerned with the shiny, glossy finish on the music. I'm done with that. If the rhythm is off or a chord is out of whack once in a while - it's still worship if the heart is right.

2) I need to be leading the student ministry with more of a team. There are a handful of wonderful youth leaders here who really care about the students and are heavily investing themselves in the students. But we need more - we need to be functioning cohesively. Which is why I'm hosting a brunch this weekend for a group of people that I hope God is moving toward a place in that team. We need to define our process of discipleship more simply and make sure we all see where we can most help in that process.