Live Talk with Dwayne Moore

The topic of how much structure we should have in our worship gatherings is often on the mind of worship leaders. A few weeks ago at one of our Worship Leader Lunches, a worship pastor from a large congregation said to me, “Dwayne, how do we maintain being Spirit-led when we are so restrained by time and technology?” Well, I certainly don’t have all the answers to that question. However, I do have some thoughts that might help us with this healthy tension of planning vs. spontaneity.

How do we reconcile 1 Corinthians 14:33, “God is not the author of confusion,” with 1 Thessalonians 5:19,“Quench not the Spirit”? I believe those two verses can come together quite tastefully, especially when we as God’s chosen people come together to praise Him.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]A well written, pre-planned “Order of Worship” is like one of those popcorn buckets at dollar stores.[/perfectpullquote]

For the past several years, I’ve had the privilege of putting together the tech schedule for the Strength to Stand Student Conference in Pigeon Forge, TN. It’s 15 pages long! I can say with no hesitation that of the thousands of programs and services I’ve planned over the years, planning this conferences’ schedule is by far the most difficult (but also one of the most rewarding)! Scott Dawson and his team lead this amazing student conference that has grown now to close to 10,000 students each January. I actually helped Scott start this conference and led worship at it for several years.

Just imagine 10,000 students spread out in 4 different venues (theatres) across Pigeon Forge. Then try to imagine a total of 8 groups of students, 2 at each venue, meeting back to back. One group of 1500 finishes then another group comes in 15 minutes later! On top of that, our speakers and concert artists move around from venue to venue to minister to all 8 groups! Talk about a logistical nightmare. A person can get dizzy-headed just thinking about it!

Normally everything runs like a well-oiled machine. However, there was that one time when it looked like things were about to go off the rails. Mid-way through the conference I was informed by the conference director of a serious problem. As it turned out, the tech crew of 70+ people had mistakenly been given the wrong schedule, and it didn’t coincide with the schedule the students and their leaders had been given. We had Casting Crowns coming in that afternoon for sound checks, but now the times we had scheduled for them to set up was wrong. As the reality of this unwelcome news set in on me, I could just imagine those students arriving before Casting Crowns was even finished sound checking!

The only thing I knew to do was get away by myself and pray. I had to have time to rethink the schedule and see what we might do to salvage this potential fiasco. Well, long story short, the Lord showed me a way to rework the schedule so that it was better than I had originally planned it. In fact, the reworked schedule allowed extra time for the invitation that evening. Over 250 students came forward trusting Christ as Savior, and the students never knew we ever had an issue. Isn’t that just like our God?

I share that story to emphasize that both planning and spontaneity are vital. It’s necessary to plan and structure the events of the service in advance, so every element – every song, testimony,

Let’s say you’re a lead pastor, and you need someone to lead the music in your church. You have enough money to hire a permanent worship leader, but you’re thinking about trying a different approach. Instead of paying a worship leader a full-time salary, you could use that same money to bring in some professional worship bands and leaders from outside your church to play each week.

Now, before you write that off as an outrageous idea which no church would consider, let me tell you this: I know of a church in our area that’s already doing that very thing. They don’t have an on-staff worship leader. Instead, they rotate four different professional bands each month from outside their church. The bands’ only responsibility is to come and lead the musical praise in Sunday services.

So, why would a church contract with outside worship leaders rather than hire a permanent leader on staff? Maybe it’s because they don’t see a worship leader’s value beyond the platform. Could it be that we who lead worship as a vocation have allowed some pastors and church leaders to think of us mostly for what we do during services?

What Churches Need

A valid question that worship leaders should ask themselves is “What’s my real worth to a church? Why would a church want to have me on staff?”

To evaluate our “hiring appeal,” we first need to understand what pastors and churches look for in worship leaders and worship ministries:

• Churches want effective and excellent worship services—services that people want to come back to again and again. This is the “tip of the iceberg,” the part of our job which everyone sees each week. The band’s got to be tight, the music well prepared and the flow of the service carefully thought through.

• Churches need worship leaders who are competent in their skills, mature in their faith, trustworthy and full of character. They want leaders who know God’s Word and try to live by it.

• In addition, pastors and church leaders want their congregations to be worshipers who love God with their whole hearts. They want their churches to grow both spiritually and numerically, and they need worship leaders who can help facilitate that growth.

What Worship Pastors Can Provide

In truth, pastors and churches need what permanent worship leaders can best provide. Think about what the term “worship leader” means: A true worship leader influences people toward a lifestyle of worship. Through their own lifestyles and how they love others, permanent worship leaders can call people back to a heart of worship—which goes far beyond singing from a stage.

On-staff worship leaders can also help build a system to improve the culture and experience of worship in a church. Here’s a powerful maxim for a worship ministry: “Our goal is not to build quality worship services, but rather, to build quality worshipers, who will, in turn, help us build quality worship services.” Churches who reach for that goal will steadily see the excellence and effectiveness of their services rise. It’s important to be intentional and systematic in pouring into the worship arts team and into the church over months and even years, teaching them and training them about worship and leadership.

Three Goals for Worship Ministries

In Psalm 34:3 David wrote: “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together” (NIV). In that one simple verse are three distinct purposes of a worship arts ministry. Permanent worship leaders can focus a church’s worship ministry toward all of these important goals—something a contracted platform artist simply can’t do. These goals can be summed up in three simple words: Lord, Leader and Laity.

1. Lord.

In Part 1 and Part 2, we looked at “What Is Lifestyle Worship?” Part 3 of this 4-part teaching series is “Whom Do You Worship?” Today we will consider some reasons we should worship… When my boys were young, they could almost always make me smile, no matter what they were doing. I remember watching them

This is the third episode of a 4-part series on the theology of true worship. The question isn't if you worship, but whom you worship. All of us worship something or someone. God created a vacuum in our souls. It's always looking to be filled. If we don't fill it up with God, we’ll seek to fill it up with something else, and that will be what we worship. While there are thousands of objects we can worship, they all fit within only a few categories. They are society, Satan and our sinful nature.

Want to LISTEN to this article? Simply click the arrow above. In Part 1 of this series, we learned that lifestyle worship means walking through our days with a surrendered heart to God, so that everything we do brings glory to Him. Today we’ll look at the three directions of worship: inward, upward, and outward.…Read More

Want to LISTEN to this article? Simply click the arrow above. The term, lifestyle worship, has been around for a while now; yet, it seems a lot of Christians still don’t quite understand it. A girl in the Philippines and her youth group were going through my book, Pure Praise. On her blog site she…Read More

How can we know if our congregation is really worshiping?

To find the answer to that question, first we need understand the 4 stages of congregational worship. Everyone in our congregation is in one or more of these stages. The stages are progressive: one stage leads to the next that leads to the next. In this episode of Worship Q&A Dwayne Moore unpacks those 4 stages and explains how we can help move our congregations forward in worship.

Knowing when it’s time to leave a church ministry position usually starts with one of two things. In this episode, Dwayne Moore looks a way God often gets our attention at times--through circumstances around us. He says, "Perhaps your recent circumstances are God's way of saying it's time for you to leave, to step out on faith, and see where He will take you next."

In this episode Dwayne Moore looks closely at inner restlessness. As leaders in the church, we’ve probably all experienced some restlessness at times. Knowing when it’s time to leave usually comes down to one of two things: 1. Restlessness inside us or 2. Circumstances around us. God has uses both of these as signs to help get our attention when He’s preparing me for a change in ministry assignment.

How to Start a Praise Band in Your Church Dwayne has worked with hundreds of bands over the years, and he has started several successful praise bands in churches. Whether your church has a hundred or a thousand in attendance, you will get some great advice and practical insights that you can use to build a strong worship…Read More