We all know that we want more than just great music on Sunday morning.

We desire more than a tight band, innovative programming, and well executed services.

We want the presence of God. We desire for God to be lifted up and glorified in our midst.

We want to decrease as the glory of God increases. But how does that happen?

For my entire life, I’ve heard a particular word mentioned in the church.

Every worship leader wants it, whether you know what it is or not.

It’s the anointing.

So when we speak of the “anointing”, what do we mean?

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It’s one of the tensions of being a worship leader.

Every day, every conference you attend, every recording you listen to, you will find someone who is better than you.

And you’ll also encounter those who are not.

When we encounter someone who is better, we experience jealousy. “Why was I not given a voice like that?” (no, I’ve never said that before).

When we’re better, we envision the angels patting us on the back. ”Well done, good and faithful, butt-kicking worship leader. You’re WAY better than him!”

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I want you to think about your work.

Ponder what it is you’re really good at.

Now ask yourself the question, “Do I need God to accomplish this?”

Because if your answer is “no”, you may be too self sufficient for your own good.

When I first started leading worship, I nearly wet my pants…every time. I wasn’t just nervous. I was paralyzed.

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[I recently sent this to my newsletter list. I'm reposting because a few people wanted to comment and share]:

Casting vision is hard.

It’s like a journey that never ends.

When you feel like slowing down and celebrating your progress, you realize…there’s much further to go. A new momentum is needed.

How do you maintain it?

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It’s quite possible that you’re stressed out of your mind right now.

If you’re not, you will be soon. Why? Because it’s Christmas time. Not only is it the season for wrapped gifts, christmas parties, egg nog, red cups at starbucks, and lots of gift cards…

It’s the season of long rehearsals, massive productions, and many services. For the normal American, Christmas time is a season to relax.

For the pastor, it’s work.

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There’s something that you can expect when you work with people.

Bank on it.

Put it on your calendar.

There will be drama.

Personalities clash. Opinions fly. It’s messy.

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Do you know it’s possible to be a worship leader and not really know God?

But you already know that. You know your own tendency to go through the motions. To fake it. To pretend your passion.

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From David: Today I have the honor of featuring one of my favorite bloggers, Michael Perkins. Michael is an incredibly kind, gifted, insightful leader who blogs over at The Handwritten. Check out his blog and follow him on Twitter. And don’t be shy when it comes to commenting. He won’t bite

I pastor a church in Louisiana.

And up until a month ago my wife lead worship for us. You would think having your wife lead worship would be awesome (it is), but it’s difficult when she’s not called to lead worship.

To be honest she was filling a need. And she was coming dangerously close to burning out.

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Lift up your eyes and look.

See the 80s rock & roll guitarist at the altar checking out your pedal board. He wants to talk to you about the good ole days.

Right beside him is the 14 year old, punk rock drummer twirling his sticks.

He doesn’t want to talk as much as he wants to sit behind your drum kit and show you how it’s done. But he’ll just want a few more toms and a double bass pedal before he does.

It’s the new guys.

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For those of you who downloaded my ebook yesterday, thank you.

Thank you for serving your local church so faithfully. Thanks for being a visionary leader. And thanks for helping make this community what it is. I appreciate you.

Today I wanted to present a follow up post to the message in Beyond Sunday.

There’s always a tendency among visionary leaders to lead from their task lists – to plow through and get things done. Many call it “hustle”.

It’s the place where we stop depending on God and simply work hard to achieve.

We forget that “all things are possible” with God and simply buckle down and work hard to accomplish goals.

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