TWLL #26: Looking For Where The Life Is In Your Worship Set

read time: 5 minutes 

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No one wants to lead a worship set that feels mechanical or cold— we want them to be alive.

But that doesn’t just mean putting more energy or feeling into the songs, though that can be good.  

We need to be actively looking for where the life is in our worship sets.  

In other words, we want to have our eyes open for the moments in the set where we sense life, or sense the Lord highlighting a certain theme.

Example

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about…

You’re two-thirds of the way through a worship song, and every time you come back around to the opening lines of the chorus it hits your heart deep, and you notice more visible engagement in the room.

That right there is a perfect example of life on a specific part of your worship set.

What I’m Looking For

With that basic framework in mind, let’s talk about how to recognize or identify these kinds of moments.

There are 3 things I’m looking for as indicators of life on a certain part of my worship set.

If I notice one or two of these, I pay closer attention.

Number one, something about this moment is hitting my heart deep.  In other words I notice that I’m moved by this certain part of a song or spontaneous moment.

Number two, the thought will cross my mind to stay in this moment— to not move on.

It doesn’t mean that this thought is for sure the Lord, but it might be- and either way it’s a tip-off to be paying attention.

Number three I notice that there’s an increase in visible engagement from the room in this moment (ie more people are singing, more eyes closed or hands raised, etc).

If this happening, it’s another indicator that there might be life on this moment.

How I Respond

Once I sense that there’s life on a specific moment in the set, I make the choice not to move on but to stay there.

What does staying there look like?  One of three things.  I’ll either repeat that section of the song or I’ll dive into an unplanned song with the same theme, or I’ll pivot into a spontaneous moment with the same theme.

If I decide to repeat the section of the song, I’ll probably change the musical dynamics to keep it fresh.  Maybe I’ll do a softer version of that section, then build it up, and do a bigger version.

If I go into another song with the same theme, I’ll try to stay in the same key and similar tempo so that it’s more like a song medley instead of two different songs— with the idea that I’m trying to maintain as much of a flow as possible.

If I go spontaneous, I’ll probably keep the music the same and then sing something on top of the music that has the same theme of what I was just singing a moment ago.  

For example if I’m sensing life on the chorus of a song that talks about the faithfulness of God, I’ll sing something spontaneous about His faithfulness and pull in a Scripture passage to support it.

There are multiple ways to stay in the moment when you’re sensing life on it, and I’ve mentioned just 3 ways here- but you get the idea.

The key is having your eyes open for the indicators that tell you to potentially linger in the moment.  And then making the choice to stay there, even if it’s just for a minute.

Conclusion

The next time you lead a worship service, remember that your goal isn’t to get through the song list, but to use the song list to connect with Jesus.

And remember that paying attention for those little moments where you sense life, is a great way to help you, your team, and your room step into that connection with Him.

That’s it for today— see y’all next week.

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Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you: 

1. The Summer Songwriter Zoom Group.  This summer about 12 of us will be meeting once a week for an hour on Zoom, to walk through the process of learning to write songs out of connection with Jesus.  If you're wanting to grow as a songwriter, email me at [email protected] for details on content, cost, and schedule for the group!

2. The Connection-Based Spontaneous Worship Course.  If spontaneous worship has been a struggle, you might want to check out Connection-Based Spontaneous Worship.  It's a self-guided, self-paced course that empowers you to lead spontaneous worship with confidence, enables your musicians to flow with you, and helps your room engage.