Lesson 6: Working With Your Worship Leader

The relationship between the Music Director and the Worship leader is key to there being unity of vision across the platform!  We mentioned earlier that one of the main success measures for an MD is the Worship Leader feels supported and followed.  At our church, the rostered Worship Leader for a service carries the mantle of authority and responsibility for the tone and direction of the set, while the MD is responsible for executing and translating that vision.  The Worship Leader needs to be freed up from the trenches of the logistics to focus on hearing from the Holy Spirit, connecting with the congregation, and leading them well. If something goes wrong with the logistics, the Worship Leader pays the price upfront.

The First Servant and Armor-Bearer

Essentially then, the MD is the Worship Leader's first servant and armor-bearer. In fact, the first time worship is mentioned in the Bible (Gen 22), it gives us an example of this relationship: Abraham sees the mountain from far off (vision) and carries the fire (passion) and the knife (the Word) while Isaac carries the wood (logistics).

In 1 Samuel 14, Jonathan makes a bold, tactical decision by attacking behind Philistine lines while his armor-bearer follows Jonathan and finishes off enemies in his wake. The heart of the armor-bearer is shown in verse 7 where, just having heard the risky plan that involves the enemy having the high ground, he essentially says “Go ahead. Do what you think best. I’m with you all the way.” Let’s always have that heart when acting as the armor-bearer for our rostered Worship Leader!

Building Trust with a Worship Leader

The most important thing you can do to enhance your relationship with a Worship Leader is to build trust.  The best way to do this is over time, to have their back week in and week out.  Trust can’t be microwaved based on how experienced of an MD you are or even how well you work with other WLs.  Every MD-WL combination needs time to develop that relationship, learn how the other approaches things, and build trust over time.

Communicating with your Worship Leader Mid-Week

A great MD will be in contact with their WL mid-week to ensure they have the overall vision solidly down. If we’re to act as a translator for our Worship Leader with all things musical, we need to fully understand the vision and direction they feel led to take the service.

If, for any reason, you have concerns with how the WL wants to run the service musically, whether they’re a newer WL or not, it’s essential to hear and understand not only the WL’s vision but the heart behind the vision. What are they looking to accomplish in the service? Once we know the overall goal of the vision, we can have an alternative option in our back pocket to suggest that would still accomplish that vision. As MDs, we always come into a meeting with our worship leader with strategic options in our back pocket to accomplish the vision or cover a transition, but are careful not to overstep by sharing it prematurely. As the first servant to the worship leader, we need to listen to the heart of this week’s vision laid out by the WL. The more you get to know and build trust with a specific WL, the easier this flow will become with them. Remember, this is a collaboration, but ultimately, the Worship Leader is responsible for the service, and we’re called to be their armor-bearers.

Working With Your Worship Leader On-Stage

A great way to understand your WL’s vision through the set is to ask good, simple questions.  If you’re flowing on a section and aren’t getting communication from your WL, asking them specific yes-or-no questions will give them a chance to give yes or no answers on the fly instead of having to verbalize or mouth their answers. For instance, if a worship leader said in rehearsal they may want to do the whole song or potentially cut it short, during the service a great MD wouldn’t ask an open-ended question like “where do you want to go next?”, they’ll ask a question like “do you want to keep going?”  Not only does this get a definitive answer from the WL, but let’s them know that the MD has some question marks in their mind and needs communication and direction. Also, notice in that example that the question wasn’t “Do you want to end here?”  If a team member hears only part of that question and just hears “end here”, the team member might interpret that as a note to the team, not a question to the WL. It’s important to safeguard against miscommunication as much as possible!

Worship Leader’s Eyes and Ears

Lastly, it’s also important to mention that you are the Worship Leader's eyes and ears. A great WL’s focus should be forward, leading the congregation 95% of the time, not looking side-to-side or back, so if there’s an element or person on stage they don’t know about, it’s the MD’s responsibility to let them know. For instance, let’s say a guest pastor ends their preach by handing the service over to the worship team and walks off the stage. Eventually, the pastor closing out the service will need to come back up to do an altar call, ministry time, close out, etc. They may be hanging out at the back of the stage for a minute or two while trying to find where’s a good time to walk up and take the service back. If a WL doesn’t know this is happening, they could start a whole new section of the song while the pastor’s walking up behind them and cause some awkwardness. A wise MD would say something like “pastor coming to the front of stage” to let the WL know a handoff of the service is imminent.