Get Out of the Green Room

I watched a fantastic video via The Verge Network this morning.  It was a talk surrounding the fact, yes FACT, that worship leaders need to get off their butts, get out of the green room, and go connect with people!  I'm wrapping myself in here as well because I have absolutely been one of those leaders who goes and does his thing, and then gets a coffee, plops down on the couch and proceeds to "listen" to the sermon via the web stream.

Jesse Stone, of Austin Stone Worship, lays this out so perfectly and it fires me up!  Do you realize that you have an incredible platform?  You have the opportunity as a worship leader to connect with, love on, lift up, encourage, teach, and so many other things, the people in the congregation you serve.  Listen to the word I just used one more time... "Serve".

I'll be the first to admit that I used to use my platform as a spotlight for my gifts.  I was in college, playing professionally all over the Seattle area and saw it as an opportunity to do more music.  I was squandering the abilities God gave me and was incredibly fortunate to have leaders over me who recognized the potential in me and took time out of their own lives to mentor and teach. 

The bottom line here is this,
the green room is not a lounge, it's a place a preparation and prayer.  Use it as that, and then get out so you can connect with the amazing people around you!  Pray with them, encourage them.  Maybe God has a mentor opportunity just waiting for you.

Watch Jesse Stone's video via The Verge Network here! I loved it and I think you will too.

DOUBT: The Faith Fuel

I can't begin to tell you how often I've battled with doubt.  It's a constant struggle for me and sometimes I think it's going to drive me completely bonkers!  All around me I'm hearing "just have faith", or "trust in the Lord your God", which is all sound advice.  But is it advice that's really thought through?  Or is it an easy "cop-out" answer for Christian leaders who want to simply hand out the candy instead of the floss?
Here's how I see it...
Doubt can be negative, but it can also be fuel.  Doubt is gasoline poured on your fire and can actually crank up the heat of your faith!  Did you know doubt can actually be a sign of devotion?! WHAT!?  I know!!!  Now let me be clear here and say that doubt without action leads to nothing, but doubt that fuels action can lead to much deeper levels of faith and understanding.

I dug in to an awesome article on this this morning, brought to you by Relevant Magazine. You should check it out and tell me what you think!

Via Relevant:

Thomas has received a lot of criticism for this throughout history, and his nickname stuck: Doubting Thomas. But can we really blame him?
Thomas may have assumed that the disciples were hallucinating, or they may have seen a ghost, or just someone who looked like Jesus. If they hallucinated or saw a ghost, it would mean that Jesus had not truly, physically risen, so Thomas demanded not only to see Jesus with his eyes, but to touch Jesus’ wounds with his hands...

Read more...

How To Tell When Your Ministry Has The Wrong Focus

This is such an incredible word!  I've been under leadership like this in the past and have seen the damage a ministry can do to it's people when the focus is shifted from where it truly needs to be.
I encourage you to read through this article and maybe take some time to consider your own ministry.

Brought to you by Worship Links

JD Greear writes: Sadly, most of us can all too easily recount stories of pastors who betrayed their congregations, who hurt the very people God had called them to love, who—in short—made their ministry all about them… As a Christian leader, I don’t hear stories like that and congratulate myself. I hear them and tremble. Because the same pride that has shipwrecked countless other ministries lives in my heart. And in yours.
We need to be constantly vigilant for signs that our ministry has become all about us. Here are a few…  Read more...

Perspective: Creative Greatness

What does it really take to be a great songwriter?  Not just a good one, but a GREAT one.  I don't think the answer is the same for every songwriter.  Each of us has our own unique sounds and lyrical ideas, so it would be impossible for all of us to share the same idea of "greatness".  And let me be clear about the term "greatness".  I'm not looking at this through a "I wanna be gloriously famous and in the lime light for all of eternity" lens.  Greatness is not always seen by the public eye.
For me, being a great songwriter means looking through the eyes of someone else.  It means empathizing with what they might be feeling in their circumstances.  If it's pain, trying to understand it, crafting those emotions in to lyrics.  If it's joy, grabbing on to that, forming it in to a melody.

Much of the time we can become locked in to our own life experiences.  We forget that there is an entire world of creative inspiration right in front of us just waiting to be tapped in to.  So plug in!  Create a story line in your head, maybe even write it out, and then try to transfer it in to a song.  Use your creative muscles to break out of your usual box and try something different.

Here is a song I wrote back in 2009.  While the song sounds as though I'm singing from my own perspective, I actually wrote it with a dear friend in mind.  They were in the midst of a battle with their self image and the truth of who God created them to be.  I walked with them as a support beam, but it was hard to see them experiencing so much pain.  I imagined myself in their shoes, and composed this song.  Fast forward to today and I've found that this song rings truer now in my own heart than when I originally wrote it.

Comparison: Break Yourself

I love being a part of ground breaking events.  Being on the cusp of something new has always been exciting to me.
It was years ago, probably around 2004 or 05, that I ventured in to The Republic of Georgia with a small team of worshipers bent on bringing praise in to the atmosphere of the people of Georgia's homes and cities.  We literally had no other mission other than worshiping and loving on people.  We landed early in the morning and were amazed by the small crowd that showed up to greet us as we got off the plane.  The church we were partnered with had shown up in full force to welcome us to their home.  It was amazing!
As we ventured in to the next day, we were sent out in to the city to visit the homes of many of the church members.  This is where I learned a valuable lesson... When visiting a culture that welcomes guests with lots of food, take small bites.  I think I probably gained about ten pounds that day. I pretty much felt like Jabba the Hutt with legs.

Near the end of our trip, after seeing some of the countries most historic and holy sites, including what most historians believe to be the burial ground of Mathias, we were invited to hold an open worship concert at Tbilisi's national museum. This was a great honor since this type of event was pretty much unheard of.

The concert kicked off amazingly well!  We had a packed house!  We did a handful of our favorite songs, and then started in to a small set of jazz standards.  I was an aspiring jazz vocalist fresh out of high school, so this was an awesome opportunity to test my chops.  After a few more tunes we had 2 student musicians ask if they could join us for an improv jam session.  I was excited about this, at first... When the flute player started completely shredding an incredible solo, while playing piano at the same time, I pretty much decided that I would just go crawl in a hole and hide.  These two guys, who just came out of nowhere, were AMAZING musicians.  They hadn't even graduated high school yet!

Though I was enjoying our time, I began comparing my own abilities to theirs, slowly sinking deeper in to a state of self conscious, depression and ineffectiveness.

Comparing yourself to others can destroy you when you look through the lens of self consciousness.  So don't do it!  I know that's easier said than done, I still battle with this concept and probably always will to some extent.  The difference is that now I recognize it when it happens.  So I'm shining a light on it for YOU!  Recognize it!!!  God did not design you to be like that other guitar player, singer, or drummer on the stage.  he didn't design you to speak or preach like that other pastor at the church that's bigger than yours.  There are skills you can sharpen, sure, but you will never be exactly like another, so begin practicing rest.  Rest in who God's created YOU to be.

I'm not the wisest dude on the planet, so I'm not going to give you a step by step instructional video on how to "be you".  Talk to God, get some wise council if you need it, but just start reprogramming your mind and heart to recognize that YOU were created uniquely by your father.  If you continue to live life by comparing your own gifts to others, you will only succeed in breaking yourself.

Seasons of Songs: It's Not Time Yet

Ecclesiastes 3:1
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven..."

I recently came across one of my old lyric books (I've got a pile of them boxed up...It can drive my wife crazy lol).  Not to toot my own horn, but I was rather blown away at some of the lyrics I've written just a few short years ago.  There was incredible insight and metaphorical poetry taking place that I didnt realize I had in me at the time.  Needless to say, I had to jump on those papers immediately and start crafting the words in to songs.  

Like a swordsmith preparing a new blade, I unsheathed my Ipad and went to work on the words, lines, and phrases contained in one of my notebooks.  I would love to tell you that one of the most amazing musical works I've ever created came out of that time but I would be lying.  A big, fat, nothing came out of it. As hard as I tried, as much thought as I put in to it, I just couldn't come up with anything that felt right and I was frustrated as to why I couldn't put the pieces together.  Why wasnt this working?

Well, I've developed a theory (though I'm not usually one to theorize anything at all).  

Just as we go through seasons in life, I believe certain worship songs can be marked for a specific season.  It may remain locked to you until that season starts.  Even as I'm writing this to you I can recall moments in my own life where I've poured back over old lyrics that had frustrated me before and suddenly sprung to life in that moment.

My point in all of this is to encourage you to not become discouraged.  The lyrics you write are important and may not show fruit for a while.  Continue to create!  When the right season comes and the door is opened that song will bust open from the depths of your chest like a wild river.


“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
― Albert Camus

What You Can Do: Breaking the Creative Box

Being a student of vocal jazz, I was exposed to one of the more creative sides of the genre.  I can't put a label on exactly what drew me to vocal improv (or "scat").  I fell in love with jazz at an early age and have been border line obsessed with it since then.  As I began developing my abilities as a vocalist I started listening to artists like Kurt Elling and Mark Murphy, who are known for their incredible scat skills.

One of the reasons I love vocal improvisation is the fact that it is insanely creative.  What would happen if we included aspects like this in to worship music!?  Awesome is what would happen.  If anything it would be a venture outside the normal box that so much of worship music is stuck in right now.  I'm not dissing on what the current popular sound is, I'm just saying that we weren't created to be creatively limited.  So how can we bust out off the box?

Here is a cover I did of an oldy that I'm sure you'll recognize.  I put my own spin on it.



But Seriously, what are your thoughts on creative worship music?  What aspects and cross genre sounds could you incorporate to usher in a new sound?

The bible tells us that we are created in His image.  This means that God, being the ultimate creative being, made us with the ability to be hugely creative.  But how do we get those creative juices flowing?   How do we take old songs and make them feel new?  Here are a few thoughts I have on this subject:

1. Listen like crazy.  Not just to the stuff you usually stick to.  Venture away from your DC Talk CD's and branch out.  Charge your creative batteries by listening to other creative people.  David Crowder is a great example of a massively creative writer.

2. Play with what you're playing.  Try taking the worship tunes you're used to playing one way and take them in a different direction with a different feel.  Who knows, maybe Mighty To Save would sound awesome as a Ska song. 

3. If you're a songwriter, get together with other songwriters and bounce ideas off each other.  Let creativity inspire creativity!

4. Make time for yourself to sit down and create.  Even if nothing of real substance comes out of the time spent, you're still working those muscles.  Creativity takes practice!

Tale of the Tambourine Lady: Are You a Distraction in Worship?

It was a glorious Sunday morning.  The congregation was congregating, pastors were pastoring, and the worship team was doing that prayer circle thing where you're invited to lead out as the spirit leads but then just stand there in awkward, yet reverent, silence.  After our stirring "go team" we ventured out onto the stage and took our positions, readying ourselves for an encounter with the Father.
Throwing my guitar strap over my shoulder, I made sure everything was in tune and stepped up to the mic.  Looking out over the good people of our church I did what any good worship leader should do to start the service and inspire all those groggy, but dedicated, first service folks... I proceeded with a short series of irritating questions.

"Are you excited to be in the house of the Lord?  Are you ready to worship?  Won't you stand with me?"

As people began slowly rising from their seats I noticed a new face sitting in the second row.  She glanced up at me and I mouthed the word "welcome" to her as she smiled.  I'm always glad to see new people joining us, then I saw her retrieve the largest tambourine I've ever seen, which had somehow been hiding in her purse.  Had Mary Poppins come to church today?  Whose taking care of the Banks children!?  Who will give them their spoon full of sugar!?!?
Needless to say, a feeling of dread crept over me as if Miss Poppins had snapped her fingers and commanded it too.

We kicked off the first song, nice and up tempo, and I watched as our guest stretched out, wound up, and began beating that giant tambourine like it had just tried to steal her purse.
The problem here was that I did not have in ear monitors and could hear every single, delightful, thump and tinkle from our new self appointed team member who refused to confine her expression of worship to the prison cell we call "tempo".  She was flying her freedom flag and stomping those feet like the devil himself was directly under her pew.

Well, after repeated attempts to get the attention of one of our ushers I gave up and focused as best I could on the remainder of the set... Apparently the lovely lady and I had the same plan except she wanted a solo.

Why am I sharing this?  Because it is possible to be a distraction in worship.  I'll be the first to stand up and advocate for freedom of expression but you also need to be aware of the people around you.  Are you taking away from their experience?  Are you slugging then in the head with a gigantic tambourine?  You can argue that focusing on something like this will only take YOUR attention away from worship.  Its not a matter of removing all your attention from worship.  Just be aware of where you're waving your flag (I got clocked in the face by a worship flag once) or if the massive percussion instrument you toted with you to church is going to be appropriate for the setting.  You might need to just wait for a your Sunday evening family jam sessions.

Their Emotional Response: A Worship Leader's Idol

We are emotional beings.  God created us that way because emotions are powerful and can launch us in to action.  But, worship leaders, did you know that an emotional response from your church does not equal success?

I have worshipped in many different settings with various types of congregations.  Some have been seemingly excited and passionate in their worship, but then turned out to be dried up and only emoting a response from the song they were singing at the time, or acting as the worship leader directed.  I've been with congregations that seemed dry and uninterested in participating in worship but then ended up having an incredible touch from God because they were invested in what was happening.  The difference?  One is only skin deep while the other was all in, emotions and heart.

Right now is a very busy season for my family and I.  We've been in the midst of moving and I'm working at World Vision full time, teaching voice lessons, and leading worship for a youth group near here every Wednesday.  So yeah, its a little cray cray to say the least.  The youth group I am leading for right now is awesome and I have genuinely fallen in love with these kids.  I must admit though, when I first arrived and was asked to step in and start helping I got a bit frustrated with them.  I couldn't get them to respond to anything, and then I remembered something... "I" am not responsible for their response.  Once I readjusted my focus, realizing that all I need to worry about is worshiping God with MY heart, a shade was pulled back and I saw something happen.  I started to see these kids for who they are and who God designed them to be.  This charged my batteries and all I had to do was sit back and watch as the Holy Spirit began reaching in to start transformation.  Hearts were, and are, being struck by the incredible love and presence of God!

There is a shell that is being chipped away here and I cant accurately measure that with emotional response.  I believe this is the same for every church service really.  We cannot continue to see success as just another excited shout, hand clap, or raised hand, though they may manifest themselves in those ways.  Our success is in our worship of the Lord.  We succeed when our heart is fully invested in worshiping Him.

1 Chronicles 16 tells us to sing our praises to the Lord daily, proclaiming His deeds among all people.  It also says that "all the gods of the nations are idols".  I think we can label that success meter as an idol in our lives.  We can become so absorbed with squeezing that response from the people in front of us that we lose sight of the true reason we're there.

We are worship leaders, and so our responsibility is to lead with our worship.
I want to suggest you pick up a book called "The Invisible Worshiper", by David Binion.  The book dives in to the meat of this concept and is, in truth, where I pulled the idea.

What do you guys think?  Share some of your thoughts on this subject in the comments section!

I Don't Care: A Hymn is a Song is a Pslam

Ok kids, lets either agree to disagree or at least play nice... This probably isnt really that violent of an issue in the church but it is one that I've run in to countless times in churches of every type, size, and age group.

"Zach, why don't you do more traditional hymns?"

"Man! We need to stay relevant and get down with the newest Jesus Culture album!"

"I'm afraid of change... Can we just sing Shout to the Lord again?"

As a worship leader it can be a HUGE challenge trying to please every audience.  Some church cultures have a very contemporary feel, City Church (Pastor Judah Smith) is a great example.  They have a very contemporary and cutting edge sound but that sound doesn't appeal to everyone.  Nor does the traditional hymn appeal to the contemporary worshiper.  So how in the name of Pete (whoever Pete is, he must be important) can we please everyone?  Let me tune you in to a little secret I've learned to operate on...

I. Don't. Care.

That's right!  I threw care to the wind years ago when I realized something.  King David is one of the more famous musicians and songwriters we've heard about right?  He's known as the psalmist.  Well, that being said, doesn't that make any worship leader who writes songs a psalmist?  That means that, new and old, these songs are modern day psalms.  So why would I, as a worship leader, limit myself to one particular pocket of songs?  I want to experience the full spectrum of the music available to me and that means tapping in to everything from Phillip Paul Bliss, to David Crowder, to Robert Lowry, to Israel Houghton and so many more!

So my friends, this is where my "I don't care" attitude comes from.  i just refuse to box myself, as a worship leader and songwriter, in to the personal preferences of a few when there is such a massive tapestry of psalms available to us. 

A hymn is a song is a psalm.
They are the same.

Platform: Social Justice and The Worship Leader

Action.  It's that simple.
Being a worship leader is so much more than leading people in 1 fast song and 2 slow songs, or 3 slow songs if the spirit is REALLY moving.  Being a leader means living out your worship daily in non-music settings.
One of the most valuable tools I've learned to use is my "platform".  As a leader on stage every week I've gained a pretty significant amount of face time with people.  I love this fact, not because I get attention or any kind of spotlight, I would quite honestly be totally content not being on a stage at all, but because I can now use this clout, or whatever you want to call it, to connect with people and inspire them to take action.  When I was gigging around the Northwest I used to network with all kinds of artists, some who've really taken off now, and I would see them broadcast the work a charity they were interested in was doing.  I was very blessed to have played shows with some of these artists on multiple occasions and saw people take action and respond to the artist's prompting at every single one of those shows.  They were using their platform to broadcast and inspire.
Now I'm not suggesting you get up and interrupt your worship set to give a short speech on why the world needs clean water (although I am rather passionate about this subject... Check this out...) but I am saying that you need to recognize the platform you've been given and the potential impact you could make.
What this all boils down too is a responsibility to take action.  As worship leaders our lives should reflect the heart of our father (as every Jesus lover's should). 

Here is a fantastic article from The Verge Network that I think I you guys may find interesting.

I’ve always had a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of “justice.” In our culture, social justice has become a bit of a buzz word and it’s hard to figure out how we as Christians respond to overwhelming and tragic issues of injustice in our world. Growing up, I had a very narrow view of “justice.” Immediately my mind went to things like judges, prisons, and the TV show “COPS.” But a broader view of justice, and our role to be people pursuing justice, is essential to the life of the Christian leader.   Read More...

Can I Grieve the Holy Spirit When Leading Worship?

(Via The Verge Network)
I’ve been married for two months, and I have already discovered that I don’t have answers for every question my wife asks about the bible. 

Ephesians 4:30 says “do not grieve the Holy Spirit.”
So my wife asked “what does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit?”
I made up an answer: “Honey, it’s sin that grieves the Holy Spirit.”
But then she asked “Doesn’t sin grieve the Father and the Son too?
What does it mean, specifically, to grieve the Holy Spirit?”

Read more...

Lions & Kings

God’s intent for our lives, is to live as Kings in the kingdom. We were never meant to step back but to charge forward as warriors and I believe that God is calling out the warrior in you. He is calling out his mighty pride of lions!

There’s a book that I picked up back in 2007 when I was still interning at an amazing church called, The Rock Church, in Monroe Washington. There were about 14 of us at the time and during this particular week, we had been preparing for what would be one of the most memorable moments in our lives (well at least mine). All 14 of us piled in to one of the churches huge white passenger vans and took off on a cross country drive to Washington DC. There were all sorts of shenanigans that took place along the way, which made the 2 day straight shot survivable.

When we arrived, we were all exhausted but excited because we were there to take part in the national day of prayer. I had no idea what God was stirring in me at that moment.
we were blessed with the chance to tour some of DC’s historic sites, and then given an opportunity to meet and speak with an amazing author and pastor.

Mark Batterson pastors National Community Church in DC and has been on a writing rampage over the past few years. One of those books was gifted to us during our meeting with him, and would ultimately transform my life and continue to effect change in me as i moved forward.
The book is called “In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day” and it digs in to what it means to be a lion chaser, putting great emphasis on Benaiah the lion chaser/warrior.

2 Samuel 23:20-23 says this about Beniah:
20 Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, performed great exploits. He struck down Moab’s two mightiest warriors. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. 21 And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. 22 Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty warriors. 23 He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.
So lets pause here a second and think about this….
HE DID WHAT!?

Yeah thats right, Benaiah was one of the most hardcore guys in the bible. He single handedly killed 2 of Moab’s greatest warrios, took out a 7 1/2 ft tall Egyptian with his own spear, and then to ice the cake, chased down a lion, followed it in to a snowy pit, and killed it.
You see, if Benaiah had not believed in who God created him to be and pressed forward to face these challenges, he would not have ended up as one of King David’s personal bodyguards.
Benaiah knew without any doubt that he had been created as a king in the kingdom so when he was faced with challenges, he looked them straight in the eyes and said,
“I’m a king! I have dominion over you!” Then chased it down and took it out!
Well mighty men and woman,
who are you in the kingdom? Ask yourself that question because if you have forgotten that you are royalty, you NEED to be reminded!
You are sons and daughters of the one true King over all, and that means that you are royalty!
You can go anywhere in the world and ask the question,
“Who is king of the jungle?”
And no matter where you are, someone will probably answer,
“The Lion.”
Psalms 103:19-22 Amp
“The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all…”
His kingdom rules over all!!!
Our daddy, King of Kings, the Lion over all of creation, RULES OVER ALL. And he has roared in to your future already!!!
So stand up men and woman of the King and let the lion in you be stirred!!! Raise up your roar against the enemy because He has given you dominion!!!

Infants & Lions

This is a word that struck me pretty hard this morning. I’ve been digging in to a message series called “Prophecy: Make it personal”, brought to you by one of my favorite people and pastors on the planet, Pastor Clint Hatton. In the most recent installment, he challenges us to begin journal-ling as God speaks to our hearts because God often speaks through journal-ling. So I started to journal as I pumped worship music in to the atmosphere and prayed. This is what hit me…

I see the image of a lion, he is the leader of the pride. He stands calm and peaceful, yet terrifying and strong. He is pacing, circling an infant. The baby is crying as he circles, but its not because of the lion that the baby cries. The lion stops pacing and stands with his back to the baby, ready to defend the child. He suddenly releases a mighty roar! As he shouts, I can see the sound cutting through the atmosphere as if the air was water. The blast rockets out from where he stands, towards a great army that is approaching. It strikes like a missile and completely destroys anything or anyone in its wake. The roar carves a clear path straight through the giant wall of enemies.

The baby stopped crying and the lion turned and laid down, snuggling the baby close.
As the lion nuzzles the child, he turns and softly licks the him. Its as if the lion is bathing one of his own cubs, and with each touch of his tongue, the child grows bigger and stronger.

As they are peacefully sitting together, the enemy returns another attack. Its an attempt to flood the area where they lay. But the lion calmly rises to his feet and takes stance in front of the child once again. This time, he needs not even open his mouth. A massive wave thunders towards them and just as it reaches the two, it splits, completely missing them both. The child at this point has grown in to a man and is now sleeping. The lion turns back to the child after the water has passed and this time lays down on top of him. As his body relaxes, he fades from view into the body of the child.
The man awakens and gets to his feet. His eyes are full of fire and he has a main flowing like that of the lion. When he opened his mouth, the same roar that came from the lion earlier erupted from his spirit. It again cut through the atmosphere around him.

The enemy had come back once again at this point and this time was attempting to sneak up on him. But they could not hide, for his eyes were full of the fire of the lion and his spirit ears keen to their footsteps.

The enemies slowly came out of the brush around the area he stood, spears in hand. He turned to each one and let out a mighty roar, but the enemies did not die and were not even blown away… They were changed.

The blast of sound caused them to transform back to an infant state.
The man dropped to one knee and prayed, and the lion emerged, seemingly from his body, and nuzzled each of the infants, bathing them as well, each one growing just as the first child did.
When each of them had become full grown, the stood with the other man, all of them with majestic mains and fiery eyes.

Let It Die: Rebirth

To say that my God is good, would be the understatement of all eternity.  He has poured out SO much, not to mention salvation.  My desire is to be like Him, to love like Him, to see like Him…  But where does that start?

God has poured out great vision in my life.  There are HUGE things that have been on my heart for years and I’m sure things that I have yet to realize.  But something I am learning, is that as I grow, as I learn how to hear the voice of God, as I pour in to the vision that I think is right in front of me, my vision needs to die and be re-born.

Years ago I was given the opportunity to travel to NYC and perform at the IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators) jazz festival.  There I met and listened to some of my favorite jazz singers and players.  I remember listening to Kevin Mohoganey do his thing, and then our group from Bellevue College was set to go up.  My nerves were shot just knowing that it was possible for one of these artists to hear us… to hear me…

Well the performance went amazing, and I was approached by two young ladies who handed me a card.  They proceeded to tell me about a scholarship offered by Berklee College of Music.  This scholarship would have completely paid for my schooling and housing at Berklee.  If you don’t know already, Berklee is probably one of the absolute best schools any musician could hope to attend.  Of course, I about passed out after getting this information.  I was invited to come meet one of their scouts at their booth a little ways down the hall.  I began speaking with more people involved at Berklee, and set up the audition, which would have taken place in LA.  Every person I had talked with had heard samples of my work, and basically had told me that I was going to get the scholarship.  I all but had it in the bag, and was flying high with vision for my musical career as a singer/songwriter.

During this time, I had also been attending The Rock Church in Monroe, WA.  I was approached by some of the leadership there who began telling me about the internship program called The Quarry, which would take a year out of my life.  This program would require me to focus almost 100% of my time in to serving at the church, studying for bible classes, as well as various other challenges.  Logically, with Berklee knocking down my door, I was thinking, “No Way!”
I began praying and moving forward towards Berklee, but something felt disjointed.  something wasnt right at all.

What I was feeling, was my vision dying, and my first reaction was to fight for it and try to revive what was left.  But that’s not what God had in mind.

I remember sitting down one morning at the computer, coffee in hand of course, reading about Berklee again for the umpteenth time, and weeping.  Every word I was getting from the Lord was telling me that Berklee was not His plan for me, and that The Quarry internship program is where He wanted me.  So against all logic, and many family and friends opinions, I turned Berklee down to step into a year of serving and growing.  My vision had officially been pronounced dead at the scene.
But out of that death came a year of my life that would ultimately change me from the inside out.  From the death of one vision, life burst forth and new vision was birthed!  Or rather, there was a rebirth of my old vision.

You see, for life to truly begin, our vision needs to die inside of us.  It’s at that moment that the seed from that vision is buried in the ground ultimately bursts forth in new life!  So be encouraged!
You feel that your vision has died, and you havent seen it come back from the dirt.  Well maybe you need to pray about the rebirth of that vision!  Maybe you need to pray that God would open your eyes to see the vision HE has for your life!  We need to die, in order to live.  So give it up and let it happen!  hat doesn’t mean that its going to be exciting and all warm and fuzzy.  In fact, to be frank, its gong to SUCK!  But the life that God raises out of that ground with that seed will completely overtake you!!!

Leading Your Band – Practical Ways To Shepherd Your Band (Via Verge Network)

As a worship leader, having been shepherded by many different types of leaders and pastors, I've found that one of the most important things you can do to lead your band is to place relationship with them above their serving on your team.  I've been victim of, and perpetrated, the types of relationships that are always tinged with something having to do with their service to the team.  Your people need to know that you want relationship with them even if they're not playing a single line or singing a single verse.  You shepherd the heart first.

Here is a great article from one of my favorite sources:

Leading Your Band – Practical Ways To Shepherd Your Band  ~The Verge Network