‎”A worship leader is a doorman in the master’s house. He is not there to entertain the guests with himself, but to take them to the master!”
~ Scott Wesley Brown

Before going into ministry full time a little over six years ago, I made my living in Nashville as a session player and touring musician for different country and christian artists. A couple of days ago I was going through some of the projects I played on and thought I might list a few of my favorites, a story about the session and possibly even photos or a video of the session. I love working in the church now and wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I do miss being in the studio each day and making music with some of the most creative and gifted musicians on the planet. Oddly enough, my favorite sessions ended up being artists you’ve possibly never heard of before – so, let’s get started.

Anne Davis: Awakening
from the album – Letters, Prayers & Journal Entries

The first song is by singer/songwriter, Anne Davis. I played all the guitars, electric & acoustic, on this project for Anne. We met in college at Mississippi State and she is, hands down, the most eclectic and spiritual person I’ve ever known – she’s also one of the most gifted singer/songwriters I’ve ever known. Anne is a poet in the truest since of the word and she’s also one of my best friends.

What made this project so special is that it almost didn’t happen and took over 7 years to finish. We started recording it in 1997 and I was only 24(so keep that in mind as you listen), but shortly after we started, Anne became very ill. Doctors ran test after test and no answers. Somedays, she would be so wiped out she could not get out of bed and the recording got put on hold. She ended up leaving Nashville and moving back to our hometown, Jackson, MS., but would make regular trips back and forth to Nashville over those 7 years to work on her record. Still undiagnosed, we eventually finished the project around 2004 and Anne learned soon after she had CFIDS and Chronic Lyme Disease.

I always felt Anne got a bad wrap because I think the world missed out on hearing her music but, Anne believes this was her cross to bear and in her sufferings counts it all joy as she uses her illness to lift up the cross as well as be an advocate for others. She truly is a talent and an inspiration. I hope you enjoy the track.

Artsist: Anne Davis
Song: Awakening
Album: Letters, Prayers & Journal Entries
All guitars: Shane Martin

(visit Anne’s website: www.annedavismusic.com)

2. True prophets don’t give dates.

3. And don’t say, “live this day like it’s your last”. If you knew today was your last day, you’d be curled up on the floor in the fetal position with a bottle of whiskey. Just live.

1. Write everyday. You may be a natural, you may not; but, talent alone will not make you a good songwriter. Try to set aside 30 minutes a day for writing. You don’t necessarily have to write but use it to try out chords, rearrange hymns or even write a jingle or two. It’s a good habit to start.

2. Listen to music EVERY DAY! Focus on the lyrics and melodies you hear. I guarantee you’ll hear things at some point that strike your fancy.

3. Weird does not mean creative. When I first started writing for Sony Music in Nashville as a staff writer, my very good friend, Rivers Rutherford, gave me some great advice. He said, “You don’t have to be wordy; and, if someone hears your song and you have to explain what you are saying, you didn’t write a good song.” Songs don’t have to be complicated to be deep or meaningful.

4. Don’t listen to just one style of music, especially if you’re a worship leader who wants to be a writer. Most worship music has become very homogenized and sounds very similar; to be a really good writer, you need to be stretched. Listen to things you never thought you’d listen to before and pay close attention to what’s happening in the song. Typically jazz, blues, country, folk and even hip-hop are great places to start.

5. Lay down your pride! Just because you think you have something really cool, unique or creative doesn’t mean everyone else will think so. Rewrites and edits are all part of songwriting, so be open. A closed minded songwriter is usually not a good songwriter. Get away from your pastor, worship team, family and others who tell you how great you are. Find songwriters who are better than you, even if they are non-christians, and offer yourself as a “sacrifice”. Give them free reign to really be honest and be willing to learn. Just because you wrote a song that was “very well received on Sunday morning” doesn’t necessarily mean it was good.

6. Read! Read! Read! If you’re not a reader, become one. You’ll be amazed at the way reading will increase your ability as a lyricist. But, don’t just read anything. Read things like: Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, The King James Bible, etc. – primarily because of the type of language that is used.

The past six years have revealed much about me I never wanted to see or believe was actually me. I’ve learned how critical I can be. I’ve seen a whole new level of arrogance and pride rear its ugly head. I’ve seen how something as simple as not returning an email or phone call to someone in a timely manner can hurt them and make them feel unimportant. I’ve seen how quickly people can write me off as undependable because I say, “Sure! I’ll get right on it” and then never follow through. I’ve learned using the excuse of, “I’m just one of those flighty musicians”, doesn’t cut it. I thank God for putting people in my life who love me enough to confront me with these things and pursue me out of love and compassion because they want me to grow in grace rather than complacency.

What’s my point of vomiting all of this out? I simply hope that it will encourage and challenge all my fellow worship leaders, ESPECIALLY, those of us who would identify ourselves as “reformed” or “calvinists”, to return to the heart of the gospel. Returning to the place where God opened our blind eyes to reveal what God-haters and rebels we actually are and then out of love and mercy and grace says, “Come to me. You…are…mine!” It is the place where, if only for a moment, any sense of pride and arrogance was out the window. It was all about Jesus and seeing how helpless we actually are. I think B.B. Warfield paints a great picture of what this looks like when he spoke of John Calvin’s daily service of surrender: “Here we have the secret of Calvin’s greatness and the source of his strength unveiled to us. No man ever had a profounder sense of God than he; no man ever more unreservedly surrendered himself to the Divine direction.” Is this what we are doing? Daily? Unreservedly surrendering ourselves to our Savior? Sadly, I cannot always answer in the affirmative.

I don’t think we fully grasp the weight of responsibility thrust upon us as worship leaders. It’s easy to get caught up in rehearsals, meeting with people, planning worship services, teaching new songs, etc., the list goes on and on; but, we must remember our main role – HEAD WORSHIPPER! It doesn’t mean we do it perfectly. It doesn’t mean we do it right all the time. It doesn’t mean we worship non-stop. God knows I’ve had my moments of not even wanting to be in church on some Sunday mornings for the sake of feeling like an A-1 hypocrite. We’re human. We’re fallen. What it does mean is that we strive to pursue the same thing Warfield said of Calvin: A profound sense of God! Seeking more and more to unreservedly surrender ourselves to the Divine direction. Our job, before we ever strike the first chord, sing the first note or lead the congregation in song is to set the example of leading in humility, repentance and brokenness. Leading the way in falling on our faces and crying out before our Creator and Savior just like the tax collector in Luke 19.13 as he beat his breast and cried: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” 

Not everyone is born a great leader but, with the willingness to be humble and repent along with some other key ingredients, one can grow into a good leader. I thought I’d use the next couple of posts to focus on leadership. Why? Because we are…worship LEADERS…and it can make or break a ministry.

Most people can spot the signs of a poor leader, but there are also elements that can make someone a poor and dangerous leader. Sadly, many churches and companies are filled with these types of leaders and they can be nothing more than a hindrance and detriment to ministry or business. Over the last several years, I’ve come to a greater understanding of the importance of leadership in ministry and I’ve also seen firsthand the trauma poor and dangerous leadership can cause.

Below are just few warning signs of these types of leaders. You may even see some of these elements in your own life. I sure have. But, part of the process towards being a good leader is being willing to recognize and acknowledge our shortcomings and then proceed with repentance, accountability and a good mentor…just to name a few. We’ll unpack that more as we move along, but for now, we’ll start with the warning signs.

Poor and Dangerous leaders…

• are never willing to fail and learn.
• are very authoritarian and have no real accountability.
• become belligerent and intolerant when questioned or confronted with any type of constructive criticism or inquiry.
• never develop or produce other leaders.
• operate very secretively and will usually only surround themselves with “yes” people. These are usually always the same 2 or 3 people.
• micro-manage; management is not leadership, especially poor management.
• immediately feel insecure or threatened by someone who is a leader or does lead.
• are never willing to acknowledge a good leader nor do they encourage others to follow a good leader.
• constantly blame shift and accept no responsibility. “The reason the church is not growing is because of what everyone else is doing.”
• have a consistent pattern of inflicting the same grievances usually shared by everyone on a staff or in a group.
• always avoid conflict and usually undermine and become manipulative towards others when there is a threat.
• show a pattern of constantly “back tracking” in order to cover themselves. They live in a state of constant insecurity.
• demean, tear down or constantly critique others who have been successful in order to hide their own failure or inability.
• are always right. Repentance is usually very general in nature and never of anything specific. “I’m sorry if I…” or “I’m sorry that you…”, that’s not repentance, it’s a way of saying, “I don’t really think I’m wrong, but if this makes you feel better…”.
• constantly play the victim.

I’ve been off the blogging circuit for a few weeks due to our recent move to Opelika, AL where I am now the new Worship Director at First Presbyterian. Let me just say that we love it here! The past two years have undoubtedly been two of the hardest years in the life of my family but, instead of me trying to explain it all, I’ll let my wife do it. Here is the link to her blog, To Feast or Famine, with our story. I hope you’ll check it out and find comfort in it as well. I’ll be back stirring the pot…soon! Peace.

A couple of years ago I had the honor of leading worship for the ordination service of my dear friend, Jake Hunt, at Uptown Church(PCA) in Charlotte, N.C. Jake now serves as the Assistant Pastor of Faith Community Church in Prague and is one of the finest teachers to stand behind a pulpit. When he initially sent me the song list, the song that jumped out was the old hymn, “It Is Well”. Jake and I had actually taught a Sunday School class together earlier in the year about music in the church as well as the history and theology of certain songs. One of the songs I had used was “It Is Well”. The story of how that song came to be literally moved me to tears so much, that is was hard to finish preparing my lesson, let alone trying to teach the class.

Above is the video from Jake’s ordination service with me leading, “It Is Well”. It was one of the most incredible times of worship I’ve ever experienced. Something truly supernatural was happening that night, and it was nothing short of a glimpse into heaven from earth. It was that powerful! Pay close attention to the congregation singing for you cannot help but be moved. I’m convinced angels were present. Simply amazing!

For anyone who is interested, the story behind “It Is Well” is below. I hope you will be as blessed, humbled and moved as I was after reading it.

Soli deo Gloria!

 It Is Well With My Soul

 Author: Horatio Gates Spafford (1828-1888)

 In 1871, Horatio Spafford, a prosperous lawyer and devout Presbyterian church elder and his wife, Anna, were living comfortably with their four young daughters in Chicago. They were still grieving over the death of their young son when the great fire broke out and devastated the entire city. Two years later the family decided to vacation with friends in Europe. At the last moment Horatio was detained by business, and Anna and the girls went on ahead, sailing on the ocean liner S.S. Ville de Havre. On November 21, 1873, the liner was rammed amid ship by a British vessel and sank within minutes. Anna was picked up unconscious on a floating spar, but the four children Annie, Maggie, Bessie and Tanetta had drowned.

A fellow survivor of the collision, Pastor Weiss, recalled Anna saying, “God gave me four daughters. Now they have been taken from me. Someday I will understand why.” After receiving Anna’s telegram, Horatio immediately left Chicago to bring his wife home. Her telegram read simply, “Saved Alone”. On the Atlantic crossing, the captain of his ship called Horatio to his cabin to tell him that they were passing over the spot where his four daughters had perished. He wrote to Rachel, his wife’s half-sister, “On Thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down, in mid-ocean, the waters three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs.” Horatio wrote this hymn as he passed over their watery grave.

 After the tragedy, the Spaffords had two more children: a son, Horatio, born in 1876, and a daughter, Bertha, born two years later. Sadly, young Horatio contracted scarlet fever and died at the age of four. Then in August 1881, the Spaffords set out for Jerusalem as a party of 13 adults and 3 children and set up the American Colony in Jersualem. Spafford died in 1888 after contracting malaria.

Before going into ministry full-time as a worship leader, I made my living as a guitar player. I was a session player and toured with a lot of different country and christian recording artists so I’ve been around…and I saw a lot of cheese! But, by far, the sharpest cheddar I’ve seen produced has come from worship leaders within the church, especially those within the denomination I’ve belonged to for the last 11 years.

Just for the record, I’m not saying ALL worship leaders do these things, just the ones who don’t know any better. So, I thought I would start the Worship Leader “please don’t do that again” suggestion list . These are things I’ve actually seen some worship leaders do during a worship service and I pray they never do them again…if they want to be taken seriously.

1. Please don’t uses these phrases again.
“Anyone come here to worship?” / “How many here today love Jesus?” / “Come on! Sing with me!” / “Isn’t it great to be in God’s house this morning?”

2. Please don’t play a guitar solo again.
If you’re a worship leader who “tries” to play a guitar solo, here’s a tip: DON’T! Worship leaders for the most part are rhythm players and not guys who can “tear it up”. You have guys like Lincoln Brewster and others but they are the exception and not the norm. Sometimes it appears as though worship leaders don’t seem to understand electric guitars are completely different animals and simply think it would be cool to lead with one in hand. They generally have a loud-crappy tone(very buzz-saw-esque) and a delay pedal they hoped would make them sound like the Edge from U2 but didn’t know it actually had to be set to the same tempo as the song. Solos are not always sinful for worship music; only when played by a worship leader who’s not a good guitar player. Solos leave people in the congregation twiddling their thumbs and usually serve no other purpose outside of an ego-booster for the worship leader who wants to prove to people “he really can play”.

I never will forget the first real session I got hired to do in Nashville. I was 22 and playing with some stellar session musicians. Guys whose names I saw on actual CD jackets! I thought I had to prove myself and was playing all over the place. A couple of times through the first song, the bass player said, “Hold it! I need to grab something from my car real quick”. He asked me to walk with him and said the following: “Hey, you play well enough to be here so just play the song. If you think what you’re doing is impressing us…it’s not. So stop. Cool?” I never forgot that and it was one of the best pieces of advice I ever received. If you’re a worship leader, focus on being a worship leader first and an instrumentalist second. Continue to practice your instrument and get better. If they’re are really good musicians in the congregation, chances are you’re not going to impress them with your playing. It’s your ability to lead worship that will have an impact on them, not the fact you stumbled through a solo. So stop. Cool?

3. Please don’t play more than one instrument…at the same time…during a worship service again.
This one I had to see to believe. A friend sent me a video of a guy leading worship “a la” Mumford & Sons during a worship service: not a member of the band mind you, but the actual worship leader. Guitar, kick-drum…the whole thing! Are…you…serious?!? It reminded me of Bert from Mary Poppins walking through the park doing the one-man-band thing. Apparently this is the new “hip” and “trendy” thing in some churches. Leave it to christians to try and copy the latest “flave” of the month. There are a ton of comments I could make about this one but I won’t. I’ll keep it short and sweet. Distraction! Distraction! Distraction! As worship leaders, we are not there to entertain. We are not there to “WOW!” people. And, most importantly, we are not there to draw attention to ourselves. I’d say this one pretty much violated all the “Worship Leader Don’ts”.

4. Please don’t play a different instrument every Sunday again.
Stick with your instrument. Don’t try and learn enough chords for a song that Sunday just to skirt by on another instrument(mandolin, kazoo, banjo, etc.). If you’re not that good a guitar player or whatever your instrument you typically lead from, it’s very likely you’ll pretty much stink on something you’ve never played. Again, practice other instruments and stretch yourself as a musician but also be objective and honest enough with yourself to know your limits. The only people you’re probably going to impress are your parents and grandmother; others simply walk away laughing. Let your goal be humility and leading others without distraction, not trying to be cool, pseudo-creative and “artsy-fartsy”.

I know much of this sounds like I’m picking on worship leaders and to be honest…I am. We, who are worship leaders in the church, more than anyone, need to understand our limitations as musicians, stop worrying about being cool and hip, and focus on leading worship. Reach out and stretch yourself. Be creative. But, don’t become a distraction or a laughing stock and a bad carbon copy of the culture.

These are just the ones that come to mind right off the bat for me. If you have some “Please don’t do that again” suggestions, I’d love to hear them, so send them my way.

]]> http://95songs.wordpress.com/2011/06/29/worship-leader-please-dont-do-that-again-suggestions/feed/ 9 worship2573 SONY DSC http://95songs.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/weekly-worship-tip-for-guitar-players-only/ http://95songs.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/weekly-worship-tip-for-guitar-players-only/#comments Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:13:29 +0000 Shane Martin http://95songs.wordpress.com/?p=437 ]]> I’ve been a guitar player since I was six and for as long as I can remember, it’s all I ever wanted to do. My first real gig came when I was seven years old and I got to sing and play at the local high-school beauty review(yes, that’s me in the photo at said event). It was a western theme and I played “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash. I still remember it as though it was yesterday. The crowd. The applause. The feeling of singing for people. I don’t recall a shred of nervousness and I remember thinking that night, “this is what I want to do!” I can tell you, at the time, the thought of “worship leader” never entered my mind.

Well, now that we’ve all had a good laugh, on to the main point of this week’s topic: guitar players. And, not just any guitar players but worship guitar players.

The overwhelming majority of modern worship music, and even hymns, are guitar driven. Also, the vast number of worship leaders in churches lead with a guitar. It’s not a bad thing. I’m very much in favor of it as you might imagine. But, because so much of worship is led from guitar, there’s a greater responsibility put on guitar players as they take the lead on Sunday mornings. Luke 12:48 points out, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” I know this is not the context in which this verse was written, but I think by the end of our discussion you will see how it fits into the topic at hand.

A guitar can make or break a worship team. Why? Because it is first and foremost a rhythm instrument and if the individual playing can’t make chords clearly, have a good strumming pattern and a good sense of rhythm, it is going to make for a painful and distracting time of worship. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am by no means saying you have to be a GREAT player to play guitar in a worship band or lead worship, but you must be competent and have the basic skills necessary to accomplish such a task.

Below are just a few things I think are crucial for a guitar player when it comes to your worship team.

Tuning: LEARN TO TUNE YOUR GUITAR! Nothing makes me cringe more than a guitar player who is out of tune and continues to play, especially during worship. If you don’t have a tuner…BUY ONE! Tune before you play.

Tempo: Practice with a metronome. Get your timing into shape! Guitars are rhythm instruments and if you can’t keep time it will throw everyone off.

Rhythm: Learn how to strum rhythmically. Learn the difference of strumming in 4/4 compared to 6/8. You can’t just chunk away on the guitar in an up and down pattern or play a few strokes and stop for two beats and expect people to stay with you. Listen to the song. Listen to how its sung. Learn different strumming patterns and apply them. Don’t get lost in your own little world and forget about everyone else. The goal is to lead and whether you think so or not, right or wrong, people notice rhythm and sometimes will become disengaged because they simply don’t “feel” it.

Humility: Finally, and most importantly: BE HUMBLE! I am primarily directing this to my fellow worship leaders but I think it applies to all guitar players in the church as well. Don’t focus on being the next great guitar player or impressing someone in the congregation. Chances are…you’re not! Focus on being a solid leader with your playing. Be humble enough to let someone else take the lead if they are better than you…and don’t be afraid to let them. If you’re the leader and the one who is creating the distraction rather than eliminating it, it could be time for a serious heart and ego check.

Earlier I quoted Luke 12:48 because I think it applies to this subject. We see more guitar-led worship these days, regardless of denomination, and those who aspire to play on a worship team should realize the weight of that responsibility. It’s not enough just to be there and fill a spot. You’re there to lead. You’re there to serve. You’re there to worship. Much has been given to guitar players concerning worship music in this present time period and now, much is required.