Free Guide: Basic Roadmap / Connection Based Worship Leading

If you’re wondering about basic steps to grow in connection based worship leading, here’s a short stack of things I’ve done over the years that have made a big difference for me- offstage and onstage.

OFFSTAGE

1 - Build Time With Jesus into your daily routine.

Developing a strong connection with Jesus doesn’t happen on the run.  Set aside specific time each day where the phone is off and it’s just you and Him.

2 - Silence and Solitude

Take 5 minutes to sit before Jesus in silence.  No reading, journaling, or even verbal praying.  Just sit at His feet in silence.  The goal is to simply be present to Him. 

3 - The Word

1. Read through the New Testament (NT).  When you get to the end of Revelation go back to Matthew.  Read like you’d ready any story- you’re just getting familiar with the different parts.  Eventually do the same thing with the Old Testament.  Don’t measure your success by how long it takes- because it will take time (months, years).  The goal is just to be consistent each day and read.
2. Pick a passage and do a deep dive.  Some of my favorites are Psalms and passages about Jesus (Ps. 16, Ps. 23, Ps. 45, John 1, John 17, Colossians 1, Revelation 1).  Break up the passage phrase by phrase.  For each phrase, pray it back to Jesus slowly, and then repeat.  Then search for other Scriptures that have the same theme as your phrase.  If you go through a passage like this, you’ll really get under the surface and it becomes a doorway into the heart of God.  

ONSTAGE

1 - Meditate On Revelation 4

This part is actually still offstage.  Take a few minutes to pray through phrases of the throne room scene in Revelation 4.  When I did this I would take a phrase, like “there’s a throne standing in heaven” and I would pray it back to God in the form of thanks.  “Father, thank You that there is a throne standing in heaven.”  And I would move phrase by phrase through the passage this way.  As you do this consistently, you become more familiar with the throne room and the One seated on the throne- which is where and Who we sing to when we lead worship.

2 - Picture the Throne Room Scene

Probably the thing that most consistently centered my heart and helped me connect with Jesus in the middle of leading worship onstage was picturing the throne room.  As often as you find yourself distracted when you lead worship, try to picture that throne room scene.  Remember that when you lead worship, though you’re leading a team and a room, you’re primarily singing to Jesus.  The more you can visualize the Person you’re singing to, and the place He sits in, the deeper reach you’ll have for Him when you lead worship.

3 - Remember What Happens When We Worship

Worship is always happening around God’s throne.  Every time we come together to worship Jesus, we’re not mostly initiating a time of worship- we’re coming into agreement with Heaven and with the worship that’s already happening around His throne.  When I would remember this as I led, it would increase the faith and reach in my heart for Him.  It also took the pressure off of me having to try to create some kind of “moment” in worship- and instead it reminded me that we simply need to join in with the worship that’s already happening in Heaven.

Whenever you’re ready, there are three ways I can help you…

1- Join A Zoom Group.  Every 3 months I host small zoom groups- one focused on worship leading and one on songwriting.  Each group meets once a week for an hour on Zoom over a 12-week period, as we walk through the process of leading worship or songwriting out of connection with Jesus.  For more details on schedule and cost email me at [email protected]

2- Join other subscribers who receive the worship leading letter every Wednesday morning.

3- Promote your service or business to 6500+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter.