For over 20 years, Todd Fields has led worship leaders at North Point Church in Atlanta at their campuses, and more recently helped worship leaders around the world get better at their craft.
Todd talks about the constant change in worship, working with Andy Stanley and Louie Giglio and offers advice to senior pastors and worship leaders on the future of worship.
Welcome to Episode 154 of the podcast.
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Email Todd@worshipcircle.com
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3 Insights from This Episode
1. Music has come a long way in the church and trends are constantly changing.
For years, music has played a huge role in church service programming and it’s grown quite complex in recent decades. We moved away from traditional hymnals into a season of singing catchy choruses, to now experiencing dynamic, track-driven anthems. Music is constantly morphing. Creative teams take on the role of filling their auditoriums with stimulating ways people can experience Jesus through stage design, theatrical lighting, and big budget sound.
But have advancements in production quality and highly stimulating worship sets put attendees on overload? Todd Fields sees the future of worship gravitating towards a more foundational approach where participants feel a greater connection singing theologically based lyrics with simple melodies.
It may not be time to pull those brown hymnals out of storage just yet, but It will be interesting to see what’s next for worship in the church.
2. Don’t sacrifice authentically led worship just because you have a great performer.
It’s tempting to put microphones in the hands of the talented singers at your church, but if they lack the ability to lead authentically you’re losing everything. There’s a big difference in a performer and a worship leader. Performers may sound great and be interesting to watch, but if they don’t engage the hearts of people they could create stumbling blocks. Worship leaders know how to connect in pastoral moments and deliver the message of Jesus through the words of each song. Their presence is strong and their dialog is relatable – reminding believers that God is there and offering seekers an experience that could point them toward the cross.
Are you putting people on stage because they sing well or because they lead well? Take the time to invest in those talented voices who may be struggling to connect so they can go from entertaining on your stage to authentically sharing the truth of Jesus to the church.
3. Invest in a healthy relationship between your pastor and worship leader to watch your ministry grow.
The pastor and worship leader are co-laborers with the shared mission to bring people to Jesus. Here are things both parties can do to invest in the relationship:
Pastors – Your worship leaders need to know you’re here for them and that you have confidence in their abilities to lead. They need to see you involved and participating in worship on Sundays. You are just as much a leader during worship as they are.
Worship Leaders – Seek out the heart of your pastor. Support and pray for your pastor. Find out what your pastor needs from you to lead people as you prepare them to receive each message.
Put time on your calendars to invest in each other and try not to compartmentalize your roles. Bringing your worship and message together in a cohesive way will add to both of your ministries and can take your Sunday programming to the next level.
Quotes from This Episode
CNLP 154: Todd Fields on the Constant Change in Worship Music, What Makes a Great Worship Leader, Working with Andy Stanley and More Click To Tweet CNLP 154: Todd Fields on the Constant Change in Worship Music, What Makes a Great Worship Leader, Working with Andy Stanley and More Click To Tweet CNLP 154: Todd Fields on the Constant Change in Worship Music, What Makes a Great Worship Leader, Working with Andy Stanley and More Click To Tweet CNLP 154: Todd Fields on the Constant Change in Worship Music, What Makes a Great Worship Leader, Working with Andy Stanley and More Click To TweetThe podcast releases every Tuesday morning.
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Next Episode: Matt Engel
The amount of data we have on people doubles every single year. But what does the rise of big data mean for local churches and even businesses?
Matt Engel talks about what big data is, how it’s everywhere, and how to use it to better pastor your church and reach your community.
Subscribe for free now and you won’t miss Episode 155.
