Kenny Lamm, worship ministries strategist for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, knows that leading worship in the 21st century can be overwhelming. That’s why earlier this year, Lamm released “The Worship Ministry Guidebook: Engaging Your Congregation in Transformational Worship” for those who need help but can’t attend one of the three-day worship training sessions that Lamm conducts.
“Part of what I wanted to do was set out to write a book that starts out with biblical foundations and an understanding of what worship is, what worship leaders’ roles are, and build on top of that the nuts and bolts of how to go about leading the worship ministry in your church in a way that truly changes lives,” Lamm said.
When Lamm felt God was calling him to lead worship, he had access to resources for worship leaders. Lifeway Christian Resources (and formerly the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention) printed how-to books with topics such as how to lead a choir. Those books are out of print and no longer as relevant to today’s worship practices. Lamm searched but couldn’t find anything similar.
He never planned to write a book, but while in Cambodia leading a worship conference, a missionary with ACTION Cambodia told Lamm he was looking for a book on worship and suggested that he write one for the Cambodian Church based on the material he covered.
After praying and thinking through the idea, he decided to do it. He wrote it first with the needs of the churches in Cambodia in mind and later adapted it for the United States.
“Over the last 21 years, I’ve had lots of opportunities (to teach worship leaders) in Southeast and East Asia. Thirteen years ago when I came to this job, I was able to replicate the training in the United States as well. It’s something I’m passionate about,” he said.
Mentality
Written for both bivocational and seasoned leaders, the U.S. version is based on the training he does with North Carolina Baptist worship leaders and curriculum developed for one of his classes at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Factors that can overwhelm both new and experienced worship leaders are choosing songs suitable for the congregation and sermon while keeping in mind who is on the worship team that week, preparing the music and tech teams, choosing appropriate keys for the songs and doing it all within the timeframe allotted for musical worship.
These can easily change something made to glorify God and edify the congregation into a performance.
“I think one of the things that is widespread — and it’s not just in the United States — is something of a mentality of worship leaders. They may not be thinking this. They seek to emulate the look and sound of artists they see on YouTube or other places,” Lamm said. “There’s really not a great understanding of what their actual role should be in worship.”
He doesn’t fault the worship leaders for falling into this trap, explaining that he feels sure they have great intentions and great hearts, but they are following misdirected models.
This is why Lamm begins his book with 13 topics about understanding worship, addressing the foundation first.
“The reason the book starts with those foundations is that you really can’t begin that discussion about what songs to choose, what keys to put them in, what the lighting will be like, what you wear, what you say between songs until you understand completely biblically what worship is and what our role as worship leaders is. Then all of the other stuff grows out of that,” he said.
Preparing
After this section, he tackles another fundamental area in “Understanding Worship Leadership.” Here, Lamm discusses everything from discipling the worship team, to mentoring, to noting the difference between the volunteers and the called.
The last half includes sections on planning, preparing for, leading and evaluating worship. This is where Lamm highlights the day-to-day problems that contemporary worship leaders face and offers suggestions.
One of the topics Lamm is most adamant about is the nine reasons congregations don’t participate.
“Maybe what’s happening on stage musically is amazing. The technology utilized is amazing. As you look around, everybody is just watching for the most part,” Lamm said. “Nobody’s participating; nobody’s singing. The lights might be so dark in the congregation that you can’t see people around you. That just loses that whole biblical mandate that worship should be vertical and horizontal in times of corporate worship.”
When asked to name the top two reasons congregations don’t participate, Lamm said that the “worst abuses” were having a congregation sing in keys that the majority find too high or too low and changing songs so often that there is no familiarity with any of the songs.
Overall, Lamm’s focus is to help worship leaders do what they were called to do — lead worship.
“Once you understand what your role as a worship leader is, there are so many nuances that come to light that you maybe never thought about before. It’s kind of like an ‘aha!’ moment, and then you can start designing and leading worship services in a way that’s really going to be engaging.
“That’s what I’ve tried to address in the training I do and in this book.”
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