For those of you who didn't hear, I started a new worship leading job last week! You can read more about it in last week's post

[CLICK HERE TO READ THE ANNOUNCEMENT]

Over these past 10 months of not leading worship, I've had a lot of time to reflect. And as I started the journey of getting back into professional ministry (I don't know if I like that term but I don't know what else to call it) - I've thought a lot about what I'd like to do differently in this season of ministry.

I thought it might be helpful for you to hear what I'm focused on.

Here are 3 things I'm focusing on as I start a new worship leading job:

1 | Relationships over doing things

At my last church, I feel like I always prioritized doing things over building relationships.

Listen, there is no doubt that there is A LOT to do in ministry. But, if you never build relationships, all of the things you do will be meaningless.

People want a person to lead them. Someone who knows them and cares about them. They don't just want a machine that makes sure lyric slides are perfectly typed up, a new stage design is implemented on a quarterly basis, and does "other ministry duties as assigned."

People won't CARE what you DO until they know that you CARE.

2 | True rest instead of a "day off"

Another thing I feel like I failed at in my previous season of ministry was finding true rest.

There is a HUGE difference between a "day off" and true rest.

Believe me. I made a commitment to taking a day off without fail every single week - I even preached the importance of it ad nauseam to the Leading Worship Well community.

But the truth is a "day off" does not equal rest.

I took plenty of days off but rarely experienced the rest I was looking for.

So in this season, I'm reflecting on what "true rest" looks like. I don't have an answer yet but I'll let you know when I find out.

3 | Spiritual refreshment outside of church

At my last church, I was ALWAYS in charge of something. I never had a chance to just be and receive with no responsibilities.

Even if I wasn't "officially" in charge of a gathering - my mind still told me I had responsibilities.

And the truth is - as long as you are a leader at your church - you WILL have responsibility AT your church.

That's why it's important to find spiritual refreshment outside of church.

For me, that looks like focusing more on my spiritual disciplines - reading my Bible and praying on a daily basis - not for the sake of my professional ministry but for the sake of my soul.

Also, over these past 10 months I've gotten connected to a small group at the church I was attending.

I plan on still participating with the group even though I no longer go to the church. It'll be good for me to have a church environment where I can receive and not have to be in charge of anything.

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