“What do worship leaders do most of the day?” was the search term that caused someone to spend over nine minutes on the site yesterday. This got me thinking a bit about what the congregration’s perception of a worship leader might be. After all, we just get up on Sunday mornings (or whatever day we happen to lead worship), play our songs, read a little Scripture, and that’s it right?
Although full-time (and even part-time) worship leaders know that this is far from the truth it’s good for us to take a step back from our world, step into the shoes of a church attender who is sacrificing a piece of their finances in order to pay for “the guy that helps us sing songs.”
I’d love to spend some time hearing from all of you on what you “do most of the day” so that we can gently encourage and enlighten those who might not understand the responsibilities that come with the worship leader vocation. I’ll get things rolling with a very inexhaustive list of some things I think are worth paying the worship leader to do that does not include leading music during corporate gatherings:
- Spending time researching and choosing quality music (both from a content view and a singability view)
- Equipping and mentoring folks who would become worship leaders in the congregation (or even all the members of the worship team)
- Working with the pastor to plan meaningful worship services
- Practicing an instrument and memorizing music (Yes, I think worship leaders should be paid to do this, I also think pastors should be paid to practice delivery of their sermons)
- Spending time in God’s Word and prayer in preparation for what they will say during their time of leading worship during a corporate gathering
As I said, this isn’t an exhaustive list, so it’s your turn. Have at it. What do you, as a worship leader, “do most of the day?”
