From late high school, I have assisted in the music ministry in the churches I attended, and in early 2006, I began my first position in an official role as Minister of Music.
Since that time, I have led a church with a regular attendance of about 30, another with a regular attendance of nearly 380, and several in between. I have led choirs, handbell choirs, orchestras, and praise bands. I have led by conducting alone from the pulpit in the front of the congregation, to singing with an ensemble, and most preferably, to leading from my keyboard with an ensemble and a praise band. I lead worship with scripture, with contemporary music, with praise choruses, with the old hymns, and the gospel songs. What I do and how I lead flows from my philosophy of church, of worship, and of music ministry. Below are answers to common questions that will help you understand my foundation as a Worship Pastor.
Describe your call to ministry.
My father has been a pastor my entire life, and that has had a profound impact on me. I knew in early high school that God was calling me to ministry, but it really wasn’t until junior year of high school that I sensed His call to music ministry.
In preparation for music ministry, I applied to Moody Bible Institute and earned the music degree in composition. Seeking to further strengthen my skills in music, I attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and earned a Masters degree. Upon graduation from Seminary, the Lord moved us to southern Illinois where I began serving in full time music ministry.
It was during my time in Illinois that God opened the door for me to also serve in a local Christian college. God has gifted me in administrative tasks and I thrive with coordinating and running programs. I sensed very clearly the Lord telling me that my ministry was BOTH music and education, and since that time, I have been serving in both—full time Christian higher education, and part time church music ministry.
What do you perceive to be the major purposes of the church, and what do you see as your role in Music/Worship Ministry in those?
I believe the major purposes of the church are:
- To come together as a body to worship the head, Christ. The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. This is priority one for all believers. He is the center of our universe, and He should be the center of everything we do.
- To come together as a body to care for one another. The second commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. This starts within the church, caring for, nurturing, teaching, loving, etc.
- To proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to our community and our world. This is most clearly articulated in the Great Commission of Matthew 28.
Music/worship ministry, if done well, touches on all three of these. Obviously, music helps us articulate our worship in a powerful way that engages both the mind and body/emotions. Music helps us love and teach one another as we proclaim truth, share our God-given talents, and encourage each other. In relation to evangelism, there can be no greater, more profound demonstration of evangelism than for the unsaved to see a group of believers genuinely worshipping the King of kings and living together musically in harmony. Evangelism can also happen at special events outside the church as we sing about our Lord.
What do you see as the primary focus of church services? What is your passion in music ministry?
I believe the primary focus of the church service is worship, which includes seeing/proclaiming God for who He is, seeing/proclaiming ourselves as sinners reconciled to Him by the blood of Jesus, learning from the Word as God speaks to us through His servant, and responding to His call. This of course prepares us to live among the world, being ambassadors of Christ to everyone we meet on a daily basis.
I believe that the church service is NOT about entertaining the audience, promoting an incomplete and cheap version of the gospel as part of a bait-and-switch (i.e. the seeker-sensitive service model), or merely learning factoids about God that would help us in some future eternal cosmic trivia game.
Genuine, authentic, God-focused, Word-centered, well-prepared, distraction free worship is my passion in music ministry! I want to help people be able to praise and adore the Lord, to be able to see themselves before Him—as sinners yet as reconciled to God through Jesus’ work on the cross, to be willing to serve Him in whatever way He would use them. This is my passion—using music to help bring people before the King of Kings!
In my ministry, I have always worked to make Him the center of what we do. I remind those I serve with regularly that our primary purpose is not to ‘bless’ the congregation, or make beautiful music, or enjoy ourselves, but that our purpose is to worship Him, to give Him the glory, to ‘bless’ Him and allow Him to enjoy our praises. Second, I have been very intentional about the centrality of the Word of God in our services. This focus and commitment removes the spotlight from our own desires, our own preferences, our own expectations, and moves everything to spotlight the One who is worthy.
I love the planning, the organizing, the practicing with people, working with all of the technology, and most importantly, I love hearing a congregation full of people (including the ensemble, instrumentalists, etc.) using their voice and talents in praise to our Lord!
When we have finished a service, with tremendous opportunity to praise Him, to listen to His Word, to respond to Him, with our whole hearts, and all without distraction—that is success!
What are your views on traditional and contemporary worship styles?
We come to church to worship God, not satisfy our preferences—it’s all about Him, not us. When we get over ourselves and our traditions and preferences, then and only then can we truly worship Him.
I’m far less concerned with the style differences than I am with the condition of our hearts, the content/theology of the songs we sing, and the ability of the congregation to sing with one voice in praise of our Lord.
I use the old hymns of the faith, songs like Come Thou Fount, or I Stand Amazed in the Presence, or To God Be the Glory, or How Great Thou Art. All of these are great songs that are theologically true, singable, and have a quality to them that makes them very helpful in worship. I use more contemporary songs, even songs written in the past few years—there are too many to name—songs that also are theologically true, singable, and are helpful in worship.
My goal though is not to set quotas, or make sure I have something for everyone in every service. I choose music based on its ability to get us to where we need to be in worship, using the best of the older stuff, and the best of the newer stuff, always with a focus on the One who is worthy of our praise.
Describe your philosophy of worship and music.
For a philosophy of worship, I look to an awesome example of worship in Scripture, from the sixth chapter of Isaiah.
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Worship begins with seeing the Lord for who He is; Isaiah was caught up into heaven and he saw God (vs 1-2). Of course, the only way we have to truly see God now is to read His word, so worship must be grounded on the reading of the Word. This should include more than just the sermon text, and we should not limit the scripture reading to the preaching part of the service.
Worship is an opportunity to praise the Lord, to celebrate and proclaim who He is and what He has done. In verse 3, we see that the angels are proclaiming “Holy, holy, holy.” Surely Isaiah was blown away by what he saw.
Third, as we see God for who He really is, in all of His glory and holiness, we cannot but help see our own sinfulness before Him. And yet, in our sinfulness, God has provided a way of salvation (vs 5-7). Worship proclaims not only who God is, but the salvation that He has given to us, not based on anything we have done, but only through His work (through Christ on the cross). We can also worship by having times of personal or corporate confession—giving voice to that which reminds us of our need for the grace and mercy of God.
Fourth, true worship includes our personal response and surrender before the Lord. In verse 8, we see that God speaks to the room, which obviously included Isaiah, asking who will serve Him, and Isaiah volunteers.
Worship happens when we see God for who He is, when we proclaim and adore Him, when we see ourselves as He sees us and accept salvation and forgiveness that only He can offer, when we respond to the Word of God as it is proclaimed and surrender ourselves in obedience to Him.
So, my philosophy of worship is simple—create an environment that is conducive to genuine worship through the reading of the Word, through music that properly describes God and His work, through transitions that are seamless and do not distract from the glory of God, through music choices that help the entire congregation join together in all of these aspects.
My philosophy of music is also simple—choose music that helps us worship; present the music in a way that is God-honoring, well performed, and points every one of our hearts to the King of kings!
What is the Gospel?
Most simply, the gospel is the good news that though we are sinners, separated by God eternally, Christ died for our sins, providing a way of salvation for us to be reunited with God. The foundational elements of the gospel—the most basic truths a person needs to believe to be saved—are as follows:
- There is a God, and the Bible is His word. (Genesis 1)
- God created mankind perfect, with Adam and Eve, but they sinned against Him, and as a result, we are all separated from God without any possibility of patching that relationship on our end. (Genesis 3, Romans 3:10, 23)
- Our sin requires eternal punishment and eternal separation from God in hell. (Romans 6:23)
- But God loved us, and sent Jesus to take our place, to suffer our judgement. (John 3:16, Romans 5:8)
- If we place our faith in Him, if we surrender our lives to Him, if we confess Him as our Savior, Master, and Lord, then we can be saved from the consequences of our sins and live with Him eternally. (John 3:16, Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:9, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 10:9)
If you believe this, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10 ESV)