The Goal As A Worship Leader | Phil Wickham

hey guys Shane here talking about the theology podcast so glad you came to join us to learn about theology today and and nice to be yeah to learn about that this is my dear friend Phil we're just asking doing some worship talk here today we're at the leader conference and he swooped into our little room and welcome Phil [Music] get you a lap all right got it out okay here too so I have a question yeah the first thing that came to my mind is you're about to lead worship for us and I've always been taken by you know you know it's like a person who has several records worth of content and then several records worth of content that you've never put on records as far as songs and like you come into a place and you might play two of your songs out of ten sometimes if I'm leading just there to serve the moment and yeah whatever songs are gonna well best speak to that I mean that I just love how like loosely you've modeled like holding on to this is my thing and I need to get do my songs and and like just out of you to speak into that as as well as people are putting sets together as they're writing songs are choosing songs of like what goes through your mind when you're like okay I'm come in and I'm coming into my church or I'm coming into a place and I want you wanna serve folks yeah well I think he just the last thing you just said that word serve there's something I've been learning a lot about in the last couple years I regularly led worship at a church when I was in high school and then about 12 years went by where I was touring almost all the time it wasn't at one place normally or regularly and then just about a year and a half ago I started leading worship regularly again a couple times a month at a church called harvest Christian Fellowship and something for Nia and there's been something so life-giving and grounding to that and it's even with this new record I've been riding and actually mixing at this moment it might be up by the time someone's watching this but it's it's really shaped a lot of not the songs themselves but the vision of where I want the record to go because I'm learning more than ever and like you said how do you serve that moment or whatever you you said it it's really in that word of wood a worship leader I'm finding and I found out I think you know and is less of an artist than they are a servant yeah you know it's it's it's interesting because any time a musician picks up and and wants to write a song almost every time your turn is I think what's my voice what's my expression what do I have on my heart and another good good questions to ask yeah and and they're not and some people are called to do that be poets and express life and even as Christians and you do it you're one of my favorites and like dude expressing your heart in a poetic way but when it comes to like I want to write a song for my church you kind of you go from Shane or Phil the artist or you guys the artists into no no I'm gonna serve I'm gonna serve my community I'm gonna ask God what what is what is God doing in our church now what is what is the what's on the pastor's heart in the pastor's vision for this year and this season and this series that is going through like what what is God speaking to our church now and what is what is the language that kind of comes alongside of that that all of us can sing together and and so you start thinking of these songs you're writing and the sets you put together if you're not even a songwriter you're just a worship leader you start thinking about the sets you put together and what the band plays and even your countenance onstage and what your face looks like when you're saying blessed be your name you know it's like it's all going from an expression no longer of us to like okay what is the way I how can I serve this moment the best to accomplish the goal and I think you know you've probably word the goal in different ways for every worship leader but ultimately I think the goal is to use music to create a moment where people can be can encounter the presence of God and respond to the revelation of Jesus you know through song and it's a beautiful thing in music how I I say it often on stage so I think it's so cool that music is one of those things that has been there since like almost the beginning of time but it's something we've never needed but it's just like a gift God has given us to express ourselves and also it's like a very communal thing there's nothing else like in such a physical real way but also a spiritual way that gets like the whole church together a whole body a whole family of in a house of worship together like music if you think we're on the same rhythm singing the same words at the same time singing melodies same truths same thoughts same lyrics it's like such a picture of unity and when and when it's it's a unified thing of like we're worshiping God living the name of Jesus it's kind of a picture of what the church does on a bigger scale outside of the walls of the church so all that being said like you're there to serve that moment to create that moment of unity where the church comes together the family of God come and celebrate what God is doing in the community and also pray for God to move in the community you know that's blood there's the praise I blessed be your name and it's also Holy Spirit you are welcome here there's prayers you can pray to and worship to so ultimately to get to your question of like how do I think about that as far as coming into um you know like you said I have I don't know 100 songs on records now that I could come in and play that's but you know I'll come into some conferences or some situations maybe even hear it linger and just think like the prayer is God like what is your vision for this for this day for this moment for this event what's your vision for that and how do I come alongside of it you know that's a that's a prayer that internally I pray often like what is your vision when I know what your vision is for the world it's to for your kingdom of be here and to be spread and how does that vision play out today and how do I come alongside of that and and sometimes that's in planning and all the times that's in the moment you know it's like maybe I planned like I'm gonna tell a story about how I wrote this song where this came from and then it just like well I started the first song there's just a spirit I just tell like in the room there's this moment there's a yearning for God's presence or there's just people are hungry to just just say I love you to Jesus you know and so okay out goes the story out goes the artist moment and in comes like man I talked to the worship leader earlier and they said that this song or that song is just working in this church so we're just gonna or that's that's what needs to happen right now yeah and so that's again like I think it's coming into any situation you know not saying like how can I have how can I get my band sound as cool as Hillsong UNITED or you know how do I get to pie sing as high as Shane Barnard or it's not like how do I get there it's more like how do I come in and serve this moment and I'm talking on really long time you know I and I think that I mean that speaks really well into just the conversation of how they want they want me to do hymns they just won't stop saying god we just need more hymns or maybe you all you do is hymns they're like can you guys just please get with the you know the new wave here and that just speaks to that conversation of like golly come together like don't be scared to just come together as a team and go Lord what would you have like what's the median age of our church let's do the math yeah you know is it 65 years at 35 and maybe they would like this I love musical maybe that would that would kind of help them to carve out the lyric would come and they would hear it better if we just carved it out and we you know if we you know drop the electric and had an extra keys player or you know I mean it's just like holding loosely to say like Lord how can we serve these folks I mean maybe we need to be mostly hymns and add you know one contemporary worship yeah and fill with my song I'm per month instead of per week or maybe we need to start adding two hymns you know whatever that is I'm holding loosely and I just think you've really modeled that well I mean every time I'm with you and we've done like lots of tours will fill and and this conference he's been here every year we've done it but one and I'm always just taken back by you know how many just normal worship songs happen and then honestly like the response of people that well that was just such a blessing because they knew those songs you know and they could they could fit into that language and they could actually pray with you in that moment instead of I mean there is a place to share I mean I love I was a massive place for you know in that and that is it's a beautiful thing but just how you've helped loosely to that in and so I appreciate that's cool yeah even to just one more like kind of ending thought if I don't know for anything right now but anything even speaking to I think if there's one thing I could tell my like 21 I'm 33 now so but I've been doing this for almost 20 years they're leading worship when I was 14 in high school I bet as some I could tell my 14 years itself 14 year old self and even if you're a 50 year old self but you think like well I don't have records out I don't I'm not a songwriter like sometimes I get like even especially in your own church like taking just that place of authority and like God given like God has given you this place to Pastor almost the heart of the church really the heart of the church into a place of deeper intimacy with him as a worship leader and even speaking to like man but my church all I do is do hymns you know or all you do is this or that it's like it's such a what a cool honor and responsibility and it's something there's been a shift between the whole team at harvest where I lead there's been a real shift from though from the bottom from the top to the bottom on the leadership of like really trying to get away from over slicking up the whole thing and just like hey we we just want to be after the presence of God and that's been a real thing we've been chasing after but to implement that like we as worship leaders I've just taken on a bigger role of pastoring you know so to speak of like like hey we've seen come thou fount of every blessing we got through the whole hand safe your church does hands you know and to my heart is singing praise you know and if it's like man Lord we'd want to sing your praise cuz you're so good and even talk to the audience like talking to the congregation like and there's a new song I just heard and you know it just talks about his goodness and it just praising for his goodness how it's like and we just saying about that income like even we are so prone to wander but it's great still finds us and it goes like this you are good good oh you never never going to it's like if we sing it together just and we're just singing come that fountain singing you know it's just like it's a part it I think it's a cool like you guys little by little can if you feel like maybe the churches is here and it hasn't continued towards with the vision that maybe a year ago or something yeah you can man pass turned into that situation it's so exciting yeah that responsibility and honors is kind of there for the taking is amazing you

Channel: The Worship Initiative

Views: 42,317

Rating: 4.907104 out of 5

Keywords: worship leader training, worship leader, podcast, phil wickham, shane and shane, linger conference, worship music, the worship initiative

Id: X0Sp-vy4LDM

Length: 11min 31sec (691 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 07 2018