“Be thankful no matter what. This is the way God wants you to live”. 1Thes5:18 // I post a sunrise pic from my deck with a word on worship most mornings. You can get them on my Instagram, Facebook and Twiiter  #worship #sunrise

This post I would categorize as worship leader “shop talk”.

I lead worship almost every Sunday somewhere. That is a great joy and blessing. Honestly, the more I do it, the more I enjoy and appreciate the privilege of serving.

The worship leaders job requires an intense amount of focus and concentration.  You burn up a lot of physical and emotional energy.  So typically, I’m  a pretty tired puppy on Monday. How about you?

One thing that has helped me is some routines for “after the service” to close it out and prep for the next time.

Sunday occurs with amazing regularity.  Then it’s “game on.”

[Here I should insert some humorous/clever/witty riff like “don’t let  your Sunday’s resemble a scene out of Ground Hog Day”]

Three  Practices for “After The Service”

1. Give Thanks

I experienced this in a dramatic way during my first missions trip to the Philippines. We had just finished an amazing night of ministry. Afterwards, off in a corner all the Filipinos on the team had gathered and were on their knees, simply thanking God for all he had done.  It profoundly impressed me.

Since then I’ve tried into include the practice of praying as a team immediately after our worship set or service.

Honestly, I don’t always remember. And it’s not always feasible to pray as a team afterwards.

But it’s a good goal I think. At the very least, take time to thank the Lord personally for all he did that weekend and answering your prayers.

2. Debrief.

Have some kind of intentional time to review the service with the pastor, your team and others responsible for the service. Declare your intention to develop a safe culture where we can “speak the truth in love” so that everyone can get better.

Ask the four questions of debriefing:

1. What was good?
2. What was not good?
3. Was anything confusing or unclear?
4. What was missing?

Take notes on lessons learned, what worked, what did not.

Be intentional – decide what you want to do differently next time.

3. Plan ahead.

Every service every week can be fresh if we keep growing. God’s creativity is inexhaustible.

Learn from your success and as well as your mistakes. Be intentional – decide what you want to do keep progressing as a church and ministry.

Maybe it’s changing the worship plan or the order of an element in the service. Maybe it’s adding or repeating a new song. Maybe it’s changing the key of a song next time out. It’s not hard to make a punch list of “stuff to do better next time”. Then do it.

Over to you

OK that’s all for this article. I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below or send me an email – rob at robstill dot com

Does worship leading leave you tired on Monday? Do you have some routines that you would suggest?

Coming oh so very soon! My new worship e-book. 

I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.