I am a planner. I think most worship leaders can relate to the way I approach a sunday. I carefully work out my transitions with the team, I walk through the song parts intricately with my band, I make sure everyone gets detailed information about the service programing and I even walk through different aspects of the sound with our engineers scheduled for that particular sunday. Not to mention how much I love rehearsal and try to effectively leave nothing to chance. I try to think of all the little variables that could possibly trip us up. The cold truth, however, is that there are thousand little things that we never think about just waiting in the shadows to throw little monkey wretches into the mix. Based on the odds alone we can’t have those perfect Sundays every single week. There will always be days when you feel like everything that could have gone wrong does go wrong. Your band is unprepared. Your sound guy is late. The pastor changes something last minute you didn’t plan for. Some piece of pivotal equipment malfunctions such as your in ears or guitar amp. Someone in leadership or on your team is upset with you. The list goes on and on. I even wrote an article titled Worship Leader Fails where I shared some of my recent hiccups and blunders. As a worship leader I clearly dislike having all my plans fall to the wayside when stuff just doesn’t work, but it is something I am learning to deal with better. I am still a very young worship leader, but the longer I do it I realize a true sign of good leadership is how you react when it all goes wrong verses when it all goes right. I am not sure it is something someone can teach you, you just have to experience some “fails”. This I truly believe is how God teaches us grace, patience and self-control. I have even learned that people notice your leadership better when it all goes wrong than when it all goes right. So Below is a list of 5 things I have learned and am still continuing to learn as a worship leader when things… completely fall apart.
1. Critical Eyes
The first thing I have learned and something I always tell myself right away is that, as the worship leader, we notice mistakes that no one else ever notices. Sometimes after the set I will touch base with the band and bring up a botched area and notice they were not even aware. If the musicians playing on stage didn’t even notice a particular mistake I think it is safe to note that the congregation didn’t notice either. We usually have the most critical eyes. When you feel yourself getting discouraged because something wasn’t spot on, just remember that in everyone else’s eyes it was probably great. The tiniest things can seem so horrifying to us in the moment. Just remember you are doing a good job and no one expects you to not be human at times.
2. Teachable Moments
Ok so let’s be honest here. There are definitely times everyone will notice that somebody messed up, and that’s actually completely ok. Henry Ford says “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing”. What that means is that when something goes wrong, view it as a way to learn and do it better next time. Even if it is something you as the worship leader stumbled over. It just means next time you are that much more prepared. I remember one time we started playing the first song and my mic was dead. That is no one else’s fault but mine, and you better believe I check that mic’s battery level before the 5 minute countdown every week. The same goes for your team. Whether it is be a production issue, sound issue or musical issue, whenever it happens just approach it with grace and humility. This leads to my next point.
3. Grace For Your Team
Relationship always come first. For most of us, counting myself, we are surrounded by volunteers. That means everyone around us is freely giving up their time, energy and resources to be led by us. We have to steward that time and energy with great care. This even applies to those who may be paid on your team, just because they may get compensated doesn’t effect how much grace you extend. Your team members are going to mess up and they are going to flub stuff. You as the leader cannot express frustration with them or let your disappointment come across with them. I sadly have let this come out to my volunteers before, but we are all human and we learn as we go. Does that mean you don’t discuss mistakes, absolutely not. Just as I mentioned earlier, every moment can be a teachable moment. If you have a volunteer who us unprepared every week and clearly misses expectations every week, that is a different situation entirely.
4. Take Ownership
Taking ownership means to own up to the rough stuff, even if you feel it wasn’t your fault at all. It can be very easy to take ownership when things go great, but not when it doesn’t. The funny thing is that when I dismantle any pride I may have and let it all fall on me, I find it actually takes the weight off in a strange way. Your team will take notice and you will earn trust chips with them.
5. Move On
So you get home after your usual sunday craziness and it was rocky. You had an embarrassing moment on stage, if not multiple. Maybe you don’t even know what went wrong, it was just a mess. Just move on and don’t dwell on it. You will have to consciously move your mind off of it, but remind yourself of what counts. You have a brand new week to do it all again, God is still Sovereign and leading worship is still an honor.
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