Jason Hatley here – Pastor of Worship Arts at The Journey and Founder of WorshipLeaderInsights.com – Nelson asked me to share some thoughts on the Pastor – Worship Pastor Relationship. Here’s the first of a two-part series of posts – this one is directed to the Worship Pastors:
If you have been around Worship Leader Insights for awhile you’ve heard me say that the most important relationship inside the church is the relationship between the Pastor and Worship Pastor. (Pick up the FREE REPORT if you want to hear more on that).
There’s good reason for this . . . the pastor and worship pastor have the most influence on the worship service, you are the two most visible leaders in the church, and you both provide leadership to key people in the church.
So the health of the Pastor / Worship Pastor relationship really speaks to the health of the worship service itself.
This relationship is vitally important, but there is a catch… a paradox in fact. You see, it is the most important relationship in the church, but is also the relationship that tends to have the most tension. In fact, one of the major factors keeping many churches from reaching their full redemptive potential is that the relationship between the Pastor and Worship Pastor isn’t working.
Now you may both like each other and get along well, but I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about how you “work together”. There is a lot of misunderstanding about exactly what each person in the relationship is responsible to the other person for. So over the next two weeks, we’re going to take a look at what the Pastor needs from the Worship Pastor and vice versa.
Let’s start with 3 Things that YOUR Pastor Needs from You (the Worship Pastor).
#1 – Support Your Pastor’s Vision – The #1 thing your pastor needs from you as a worship pastor is support of his vision for leading the church. God gave the responsibility of the overall leadership of the church to the Pastor. Our role as worship pastors is to carry the flag for our pastors. To pray for them, to speak well of them, to publicly support them. You may have disagreements behind closed doors (that’s natural), but when the door opens you 100% support the leadership, vision and decision of your Pastor.
This is an area where I have honestly heard from many worship pastors that they struggle with. They feel their pastor isn’t clear in his vision (we’ll talk about that more next week). They feel stuck because they can’t get ahead in their current structure.
Let me lay a challenge at your feet: Things may not be perfect (they never will), but don’t just put this on your pastor. Remember there are two people in the relationship. Do everything that you can to succeed in your role, and go to work on the relationship.
#2 – Excel in Your Area – The best gift you can give your pastor is the peace of mind that you are leading your area well. When things are going well in your area you free him up to keep his eyes on other important leadership matters in the church. The Pastor should never take his eyes off your area because it is so important to the health of your services, but when you are leading with excellence he won’t have to give undue energy to
fixing things that aren’t quite working.
#3 – Evaluate and Improve Constantly – The #1 way to make your services better week-to-week AND make yourself completely irreplaceable is to develop the skill of evaluating and constantly improving yourself, your team, and your services.
On Sunday keep a list of things that are working and things that aren’t working. Make evaluation part of your weekly worship planning meeting. Assign responsibility to fix whatever is wrong and try to do it as quickly as possible.
By simply “reviewing the tapes” of Sunday, you can improve your service 1%-2% this week. Over the course of the next 6-12 months, you will have increased your service effectiveness by 100%!
So how are you doing? Rate yourself 1 – 5 (1 being not very well, 5 being very well) on how you are doing in each of these 3 areas. Take some time this week to discuss with your pastor what you can do to improve and continue to provide what he needs.
And next week, we’ll talk about 3 Things Worship Pastors need from the Pastor.
PS: These are just 3 of the 10 Responsibilities that Every Worship Pastor has to the Pastor. I teach all 10 of these (PLUS MUCH MORE) in the Worship Pastor Tele-Coaching Network.
The next coaching network begins in just 3 weeks on Friday, May 13. There are still a few slots available and you can have one if you apply today.
I want you to join with me and 25 other Worship Leaders from around the country for a 12-month hands-on coaching program where you will learn the EXACT systems that we have developed at The Journey for you can:
- Develop a personal growth plan that will help you lead at an optimum level
- Work with the Lead Pastor to fulfill your calling, and give him everything he needs
- Plan months (even a year) in advance and create more impactful services than ever before, all while reducing your weekly stress
- DOUBLE the number of people serving on your worship team
- Invest wisely in the Sunday service (including deciding whether to pay) and teach good stewardship to your Worship Team
- Create a culture of excellence for yourself and your volunteers
- Ensure that every Sunday service is successfully planned for and executed
- And much more!
There’s no travel expense or time away from the office. Just a proven training experience that has helped over 150 Worship Pastors lead their teams at the next level.
Is the network right for you? You will have to decide for yourself. But don’t wait . . . The network begins in less than 3 weeks!
Learn more and Apply Today to ensure you receive a spot.
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