Figure It Out On Your Own, Kid!

I've finished the book, Worship Foundry (press here to purchase), and it's being prepared now for print and e-book. I'm excited that Westbow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson, will release it—hopefully by Christmas, or soon after. I have published bits and pieces of the book on this blog over the past several months, and I wanted to post its introduction here today. I hope you enjoy it!

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It was a life-changing decade for me, but by 1979 I was in a quandary as to what to do with my life. A small church in my neighborhood needed a young leader for their youth group. As a 19-year-old, I was only a year or so older than some of the ones I would be leading. I jumped into the job wet behind the ears. Only four years earlier, in the spring of 1975, I made Christ my Lord, and now I was called to step up and be a leader—no longer just a follower.

I soon realized how the pastor of that small church was disrespected and bullied by the very congregation he tried to lead. I made a mental note that I would never find myself in that kind of situation. But all of us who have spent time in ministry have learned that church leadership is in stark contrast to simply being a church member—one of the flock. Unfortunately, the pastor of that small church would continue to be bullied, and his ministry was basically reactionary; he spent most of his time dodging stones that the church counsel would fling at him.

At that early, tender stage in ministry, I had no mentors or anyone to come around and tell me that being on a church staff could be something fulfilling, something that could actually bring joy. By January of 1980 I was invited to leave Fullerton, California—the place where I was raised and home of that little neighborhood church—to tour the world as a professional musician. I put ministry on hold for a time. After all, who would want to invest their life in ministry when the very people you serve become the enemy? Regrettably, many ministers have come to ride out their careers just like the pastor of my first church: hunkered-down in a defensive position. Could ministry be fun? Could there be a place in a church for a musician like me? Could I become a full-time minister and encourage others to be the same?

A year earlier, during the fall semester of 1978, I asked one of my professors at Golden West College—who was also a Christian and a music professional—if he thought I should become a secular musician or a Christian musician. He seemed amused at first, but said that I'd have to figure that out on my own. It seems as though I've been figuring things out on my own ever since. I must say that the Lord has guided me through it all, but in the ensuing thirty-plus years since those early days, I have come to realize that not much has changed in the Church. I feel it's about time we seriously mentor young people, to help guide them, to help form them into effective ministers—way before they enter college and before they go on to seminary. I eventually returned to ministry, but what I would learn in college wouldn't be near enough to prepare me for the real-world of working on a church staff and leading people.

We have an incredible opportunity to raise up dynamic, Spirit-filled, well-equipped, powerhouse ministers to take the Gospel into the 21st Century. Great musicians and ministers are in demand, but we have done a poor job of putting especially those with a high-degree of musical talent onto our church stages without first giving them a solid foundation in leadership, ministry team building, theological, musical and technical training, and proper time for their own spiritual formation.  In short, I feel that many of the young worship leaders of our era are fatherless; they have been put out there in ministry because they are good guitar players, singers, performers, artists, or whatever. They've been given a platform without proper oversight, support and training. The results can be damaging to the individuals and to the churches they serve.

This book, Worship Foundry, is a self-contained mentorship program of sorts. Its pages encompass just about everything I would want a student of worship to know—the most important items that I feel a successful worship leader must have in their toolbox. If there was a desert island list of things I would leave with someone, these pages contain the nuggets that I feel will get them started on the path to success.

A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Worship Foundry is not a factory, but it's a way through which worship leaders, ministers and musicians of all ages can be shaped, formed by the hand of God, purified with fire, and made into vessels for the Holy Spirit to use in a world that sorely needs Jesus.