How Prepared are We?

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I am a stickler on being prepared. I feel that if you are going to do something then you better be prepared to do it right and to the best of your abilities or you shouldn’t even bother at all. So many times though I feel as if we as worship pastors get into the daily “grind” or routine and enter unprepared into one of the most important things we do each and every week… leading congregational worship!

You might be saying, “Woah! Woah! Woah! Hold on to your horses there hotshot… you don’t know my life or my habits.” That may be true… but I believe that if we prepared ourselves and our congregations to worship on a regular basis then we would be seeing so much more true, authentic, and Spirit-filled worship in our local churches.

I’ll put it this way… being prepared for a worship service means more than having faithfully practiced and rehearsed the songs to your accepted level of excellence. Being prepared is more than having a strict minute-by-minute or song-by-song schedule to abide by, a team of professionals who could play the songs forward or backwards at any desired speed, or having all your segues and cues polished and ready to go.

Being prepared for worship includes being ready to lead, sing, and play… but it also includes so much more.

God is on a search for true worshipers. John 4:23 says,

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”

Are we being faithful to worship and lead in spirit and truth? Unfortunately for some of us that means we may need to make more time to prepare ourselves, and our teams.

Let me clarify one point before we dive deeper into this subject. We MUST prepare ourselves musically to lead worship. We CANNOT expect to properly lead people if we don’t know our stuff! So, take that as you will. We all prepare differently, but we should settle for nothing less than excellence. Our God is deserving of more than mediocre unprepared worship… and when we continually thank Him for the opportunity to do what we do and yet we don’t spend the time and effort to adequately prepare then we are blowing the opportunity we have thanked Him for. God doesn’t NEED us to accomplish His task and will, but He desires to see us used in His purposes. Prepare well and be ready to be used.

Now that I’ve made that one clarification lets take a look at how we can and should prepare for leading worship.

  • Prepare your Heart and Mind

It is of absolute importance that we take time to prepare our hearts to worship God before we set foot in the sanctuary on Sunday morning. True spiritual preparation takes time and effort and isn’t done in the fifteen minute gap between sound check and service.

In fact, God made this crystal clear when He gave the law in Exodus 19. Verses 10- 11 say,

The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

God called the people to prepare to come into His presence, or even near His presence when He came down onto the mountain where He would speak to Moses. The people weren’t even on the same mountain and they had to prepare! We are actually approaching and entering into the Lord’s presence with our worship… we should seriously prepare! We see consistently throughout Scripture and history that God wants His people to get ready to come near to Him, to prepare themselves for an encounter with Him.

When we take the time to think about what we are doing when we enter into worship, and lead worship, suddenly personal preparation becomes a priority. Take the time to think about the God that we are worshipping.

  • Prepare your Congregation

We know that corporate worship is of central importance. Psalm 22:22 says,

I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you

We are to praise God in the midst of the congregation! Worshipping Christ together is vital for us as Christians. Life wasn’t meant to be done alone… and neither is Christianity. So think about it, you’re worship isn’t for you… it is ultimately for God and also for encouraging your brothers and sisters in Christ.

A runner wouldn’t enter into a marathon without specific training the same way an individual wouldn’t climb into a ring with a boxer without having at least put on gloves before. We should prepare ourselves for worship as least as well as we prepare ourselves for other things that don’t hold a portion of the weight eternally.

Work to both prepare yourself for worship as well as teaching your congregation to prepare for corporate worship. When we place specific value on something people handle it differently. Place value on your corporate worship.

  • Prepare through Prayer

This point may seem like a given, but when we get scattered and rushed it is typically the first to fly out the window. Part of our preparations for leading corporately needs to be specific prayer for our corporate gatherings. If we can make this a priority I guarantee you that it will help and encourage you and others in your congregation to keep your focus on the Savior King who alone has the power to save, heal and deliver all who call upon His name and who is worthy of all our worship and more!

We must cover our gatherings in prayer. Commit yourself to praying over your services. We can do nothing alone. Here are some prayer points that will get you started.

–Pray for direction. Pray that we are receptive to the Spirit and willing to go against our own plans if called to. My Pastor has repeatedly said to me that Pentecost didn’t occur because it was placed or scheduled in the bulletin.

–Pray that Christ be glorified. We must continually pray against any sense of pride that may develop within us. Our worship should be about Christ and for Christ. If He isn’t in it then we are just singing songs. All that we do needs to point to the Father.

–Pray for change. We must petition the Father for the hearts of the people within our congregations. We can have great services, but if nothing changes then all we’ve done is provided false security. I challenge you to pray for conviction and repentance, it isn’t pretty… but it is necessary and will bring change.

–Pray against the enemy. Satan wants nothing more than to make us as believer’s weak. A sense of comfort or idleness is a scary thing. Let’s pray against the works of the deceiver that can invade our gatherings and congregations. We serve a mighty God, a roaring lion that crushes the head of the serpent. Pray against the devil and his works constantly.

John 14:13 says,

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Hopefully through this non-exhaustive list we have all seen the importance of our preparations. Being prepared keeps us focused on what matters. When we’re spiritually prepared, we’re not as concerned about songs and arrangements (which are important), but the engagement of the congregation and the presence of God take the front seat.

When we begin to ignore the preparation of our heart, trivial matters tend to steal the show.

We also must remember that we have no right to come into God’s presence on our own. No amount of preparation that we can do is enough to make us fit, but we must be faithful to do our part!

Do Others See What You See?

Posted on by Tanner Royalty

Have you ever had a goal? A vision?

The word “visionary” is defined by Merriam-Webster as:

: having or showing clear ideas about what should happen or be done in the future

: having or showing a powerful imagination

Think about some true visionaries from throughout history and our culture… What do they all have in common? It’s not necessarily resources (before their success at least). It isn’t a certain level of education. It’s not a location, race, gender, or economic class. Really their similarity isn’t a person, or a place… it is a thing. They all share a passion, a dedication, or a drive to cast a vision and to pursue it relentlessly until it happens or their vision is altered. True visionaries work towards accomplishing their ideas, goals, and visions. If they hadn’t taken steps towards achieving their goals and visions we would merely call them dreamers or idealists… but they did.

You may be asking…

Why are we talking about visionaries? How is this important to my ministry?

Well… you know I am going to tell you. The church in America is in need of a revival. We have gotten so complacent in remaining exactly the way that we have been that often times tradition has leapfrogged right ahead of Jesus without us even taking notice. Who are we? Why do we do the things we do? I would dare to say that the average church-goer has no idea of the vision or desired direction of the church that they attend. Some churches in their entirety might not have ever nailed down a vision… or certainly not made it known enough to work towards achieving or accomplishing it!

If our vision has been to stay exactly where we are, and to always have comfort and a security blanket then I think 90% of us have been successful! Awesome! Go us!

I’m being harsh here… but how do we ever expect to truly be effective if we aren’t organized and working towards the same desired goal. Vision is important. Goals are necessary. Helen Keller was quoted saying that, “The most pathetic person in the world is some one who has sight but no vision.” One of my favorite NFL coaches named Tony Dungy talks quite a bit about casting vision and setting goals that inspire people to better themselves for a greater cause. Tony Dungy says:

The first step toward creating an improved future is developing the ability to envision it. Vision will ignite the fire of passion that fuels our commitment to do whatever it takes to achieve excellence. Only vision allows us to transform dreams of greatness into the reality of achievement through human action. Vision has no boundaries and knows no limits. Our vision is what we become in life.

Develop a vision for yourself. Develop a vision for your ministry. It will change who you are and the way you do things. It will unite and enable people to accomplish a decided goal. Things don’t necessarily become easier with a set vision, but they do become more understandable and focused in light of a defined greater purpose.

Here are some thoughts about being a visionary within your ministry:

  • Seek the Lord

Too often I have “visions” that aren’t of the Lord… they are actually just my desires and I am doing my best to justify them using the banner of Christ. Sometimes we pursue ourselves and our own wants mistakenly without even knowing it. It’s too easy for me to say that, “God wants my ministry to write and record hit songs to be used by churches all over the world.” When in reality that is what I want and God’s plans may be entirely different than mine.

Trust the Lord. Seek the Lord. Pursue the Lord.

It is so easy to say… but much harder to do. Let us seek God first and allow His vision to become our own and then let’s see that vision through until the end.

  • Get others involved… Share your vision

Stop signs would be pretty useless if they were camouflaged… something that isn’t seen, heard, or known about might as well not exist. The same goes for a vision… a vision in leadership should be visibly clear and understood by the entire congregation of a church. It does no good to have wonderful visions if they are kept secret. When asking a random church member, they should be able to say in a few short sentences what the mission of the church is, and it should be visibly obvious and evident. This allows people to focus where there needs to be focusing and it also encourages servant-hood. A vision of the church should be something that the church can live into and come along beside. We aren’t meant to do “church” alone… include other people in your vision and see how much farther it can go. As a minister not only are you a shepherd… but you are also an enabler. Enable people to serve and accomplish purposes that are far greater than themselves. You never know… they might become part of your vision.

  • Pray. Pray. Pray.

Obvious right? But, prayer is vital to our ministries and visions. We must saturate our entire lives and all that we do with prayer. If we even stand a chance at discerning the ideas and desires that the world throws at us then we must be in constant conversation with the Father.

Want to hear from God? Pray.

Want to see lives changed? Pray.

Want to develop a Godly vision? Pray.

Develop a vision, work towards it, and pray it in!

  • Pursue your vision out of faith

Not all visions are easy. God doesn’t grant us all with the glamorous visions and plans that we would hope for, and we should thank Him for that! Some of us will have to give up a lot to pursue God and the vision He has given us for our lives. It won’t be comfortable, it won’t be glamorous, or self-glorifying… but it will be worth it. Step out on faith and pursue God relentlessly. Chase the vision that God has given you!

  • Do not give up!

Not all visions given by God are a walk in the park. Some will last a lifetime and we may die before seeing our vision fulfilled. Look at Moses… he delivered the Israelites with a vision of redemption and seeing the Promised Land, and although He was able to see the Promised Land from Mount Nebo before he died he was never actually able to set foot within it. Moses did his part, and eventually his vision was fulfilled and came to pass. Set short term and long-term goals to keep yourself motivated and pursuing a larger purpose. Rejoice in your successes and regroup after your failures… but always press on.

So… what is the vision God has given you? What are you doing to accomplish that vision?