Here are 3 common worship leading mistakes to avoid:

1 | Arranging songs so YOU sound as good as YOU can at the expense of allowing your CHURCH to participate

Your responsibility as a worship leader is not for YOU to sound as good as possible.

Despite everyone (including myself from time to time) pushing you to "play with excellence," the pursuit of personal excellence is not the primary pursuit of musical worship. God is.

Excellence is the byproduct of the FOCUS of our worship.

It happens when we realize how good God is and that He deserves the best that we can bring.

But, there is an even bigger piece to excellence than the musical side of singing in tune and playing the right notes.

We aren't just MUSICAL worshipers. We are worship LEADERS.

And that leadership piece takes precedence over the musical piece.

So, seek EXCELLENCE in your worship LEADING.

2 | Making decisions with ONE PERSON in mind instead of your WHOLE CHURCH in mind

It's so easy to make decisions with the person who is right in front of you in mind.

Someone asks to join the worship team who clearly has no musical talent. You don't want to hurt their feelings so you have them lead with you next Sunday.

It's easier to say "yes" than "no" in that situation because the consequence is immediate.

If you say "no" you have to deal with how that ONE person responds immediately. If you say "yes," you don't have to respond to anyone because that person will be satisfied and the rest of your church (who the decision affects even more) will probably never say anything to you even though they don't agree with it.

Good leaders make decisions with their entire church in mind - even when it's harder in the short-term.

3 | Relying on the Holy Spirit "in the moment" but not throughout the week

The Holy Spirit is not just available to you on Sundays. He's available when you pick out your song list on Monday. He's available in your preparation at worship rehearsal on Thursdays.

Things are no more "spiritual" when they spontaneously happen on stage on Sunday morning due to your lack of preparation than they are if you have properly trusted the Spirit's leading in your preparation BEFORE Sunday morning.

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