Direction is the 3rd aspect of 5-D worship leadership process. Read the intro blog here. Direction comes into play as you have a team assembled and ready to lead. One pastor leading worship and preaching can keep all this in his or her mind until it pops out on Sunday. But, anytime you had another person, it has to be spoken or written so that everyone is in the loop.
Dedication – Development – Direction– Delivery – Debriefing
A solid, developed band will never be at it’s fullest potential without advance planning and direction for the service. If there are to be any creative components that aid, inspire and engage people, it has to come through direction toward a particular service, style, or theme.
My attitude has changed as time has passed. Being mostly a guest worship leader over the years, I have always kept the door open on the song list/worship flow. Granted, it’s easier to change the flow when you sing the same basic set of songs and just change the people weekend after weekend. In the church, however, it’s the same people and I have to change the songs each weekend. Either way, what has changed for me is the fact that we can’t limit the Holy Spirit to only working during the one hour we are leading in worship. The Holy Spirit can lead us in that same way days, weeks and months before. We need to allow time for direction to be given to us as we prepare. And we need to allow time to create ways for direction to be given to the parties involved in worship. Who needs to know what’s happening? Music team. Drama Team. Staging/Worship Space team. Publications team. Media team. Video team. Hospitality Team. And the list goes on.
How does direction play into the other aspects? If direction isn’t given, how can the team be developed? What are they striving for? If direction isn’t given, how do you know what your ending product – delivery – is supposed to look like? Direction is one of the five critical steps to the worship leaders process. Here are practical ideas for setting direction:
- Monthly or quarterly scheduling
- Sharing the vision on a regular basis
- Meeting with and talking to team members
- Keeping the team moving ahead with focus
- State the goal often: to help the congregation worship
Dedication – Development – Direction– Delivery – Debriefing
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