While we aren’t responsible for others’ ability or willingness to sing, our planning and actions can make a big difference.  Creating an environment that promotes a wide and active participation in worship is one of the most important goals of a worship leader.  It's not the ability to lead a band and singers, but the ability to lead a congregation that makes a great worship leader.

    This series of blogs entitled "Engaging the 80 Percent" deals with techniques you can use to be more effective in promoting communal singing in your congregation. Check back for the next installments on this topic.

Please comment and be a part of the discussion.

 

A couple years ago a good friend turned me on to a great little book: "The War of Art," by Steven Pressfield.  It is composed of several short chapters, each with a provoking thought about what keeps artists from producing art, and the defining characteristic of a professional.  See a brief excerpt below (which actually reads as a whole chapter in the book).

"Resistance and Being a Star
Grandiose fantasies are a symptom of Resistance.  They're the sign of an amateur.  The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work.  The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not to come, whatever they like."
Pressfield, Steven.  The War of Art, New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2002. 

It is with this sentiment, then, that I have started this website as a platform for my work.  I will be especially writing songs for the church and sharing my pastoral perspective on the task of the worship arts leader.  If it is of some use to you, fantastic.  I know it will be of great use to me.

Be Well,
Steve Zank