Foreign hello and welcome back to the Worship Leader Pod.

I am your host, Amber Fugate and this podcast is to draw you worship leaders, musicians and all worshipers alike to return and to remain at the heart of worship, which is Jesus.

I normally do a interview style and I have a guest with me, but today I'm Roland Solo and I'm going to bring you some things to ponder and be inspired.

Inspired by today.

So I'm really excited to do this.

I'm a little nervous.

You wouldn't think I'm nervous because I'm by myself, but I feel a little bit more nervous today.

But it's going to be awesome.

I'm excited to jump into today's topic.

And so today I'm going to share seven things I quit doing as a worship leader that helped me lead with more freedom.

And this is going to be a two part series so hang with me as I'm going to share today on seven practical.

I'm sorry, seven spiritual applications.

And then part two will be more of the practical applications of things that I quit doing to be more confident as a worship leader and lead with more freedom.

So I do have a disclaimer.

Okay, I have not arrived.

I do not do all of these things perfectly.

And I am on a continuous journey of being pruned and made into new wine every single day.

Like I'm on a walk with the Lord and He helps me and he guides me and the Holy Spirit brings me to a place of awareness so that I can live in freedom in him.

And not just even as a worship leader, but as a mother, as a wife, as a friend, as a sister, as a daughter.

I'm, I'm being more be made more aware of his freedom in my life.

And so I have not arrived.

But these are definitely things that with the help of the Holy Spirit, he has helped me change my habits for his habits and he's helped me change my thinking for his thinking so that I can live and lead in freedom.

So when I go through these things, these are definitely things that I I on, on purpose avoid in my life.

And with the Holy Spirit's help, He keeps me from those things.

But sometimes, you know, not perfect, I, I may slip up from here and there, but these are just seven things that I've were holding me back from leading worship in a more freeing, authoritative way.

And so anyway, so I just invite you, if you're listening to this episode, whether you're a worship leader, worship musician, whether you're a parent, whether you're a teacher, A business person, whatever.

I'm just going to invite you to listen and to ask the Holy Spirit to give you eyes to see and ears to hear.

Ask him to give you awareness.

Being aware causes you to take a step back and to see what he sees and to hear what he hears.

And then it allows you to operate by the Spirit.

It allows you to basically, you know, come out of agreement of the lie and the deceit and come into the truth of the living king.

So I want you to lean in.

I want you to lean in.

I want to lean in and let the Holy Spirit speak to you on any of these points here.

So speak Holy Spirit.

Your servants are listening.

Let's get into it.

Okay, so number one, now.

Okay, hold on.

Before.

I.

I know I just did a big intro, but one more thing.

These aren't necessarily in order of, like, importance to less important.

They're all important.

I honestly didn't even change them into order.

I told my husband I was going to put them in a specific order, and I didn't do that.

So these are all important.

So there's no, like, specific order.

But.

Yeah, just wanted to disclaimer that.

Okay, number one, I stopped or I'm sorry, I quit doing the bare minimum when it came to prayer, reading my Word, and communion with the Lord.

Okay, I know this seems obvious, but sometimes to assume is.

Can.

Can be not great.

Now, I know that if you go to a church and you see a worship team, see worship leaders, you see the pastor, you see all these people, you assume they pray a lot.

And I'm not saying that they don't pray a lot, but we should not live by assumption that we are definitely called to do more than what we are probably doing.

And life happens.

God knows we are human and we're not praying 24 hours with a prayer shawl.

But I believe that God has called us as servants to make him our priority over anything and everything else.

So I know that my number one priority as a mom, as a wife, as a follower of Christ, and as a worship leader and any other title that you want to attach to that is my communion with the Lord.

And it's not.

It's not to, like, spend all this extra time praying and reading the Word just so that I can be a good worship leader so that I could, you know, sing really good and be anointed.

That.

That's not the goal.

The goal is just to be with him.

Like, the whole point of this podcast is about Jesus.

It's about getting out of the busy and Coming back to the heart of worship and to remain in the heart of worship.

And so I think sometimes when life gets busy, you know, our prayer time, our devotion with the Lord goes down.

We got rehearsals, we.

If you're a parent or a wife, you're married, you have kids, if you're a student, you're in school, you have a job, there's all these different things.

And sometimes there are weeks where, you know, you do do the bare minimum.

You know, all you have is that 20 minutes or all you have is that throughout the week.

And God knows that.

God understands that.

But don't let that be a habit.

I know that when I wake up every single day, it is my honor and it is my privilege to come to the throne of God to fix my eyes on him so that he can lead me through the day.

So spending time with God in prayer and reading the Word and communing with the Lord is number one.

We shouldn't skimp on that.

We shouldn't.

I think, you know, it's part of the, like, don't say yes to everything and say yes to the right thing.

It's like doing the most important thing that you can do.

You know, I was at a woman's conference recently and the speaker was talking about distraction.

And she was talking about how like sometimes we wake up and we think automatically digit, digital, like devices, Internet screens.

But God wants us to wake up and consider divineness being divine, being in union with Him.

And so I want to wake up and be filled when I lead worship with everything that he is with His Word, with prayer, knowing that I am filled in because we are unable to take people where we, where we have not been.

And for the honor of the Lord, we must be devoted to seeking God's face.

We must be in God's face all the time.

Again, not just to lead worship, but for our like, sanity, for our survival.

Like God's presence is my survival.

It's how I survive.

And so we need to make sure that we are devoted in God's Word.

We know what his word says.

And this will help you as you lead worship, because as you lead worship, scripture is inside of you.

So what, what's going to come out?

Scripture, you're going to be able to lead in truth and biblical truth and, and what God says and, and by his spirit.

And the other side of this is, you know, for those who are naturally gifted and talented in singing or playing, it's very easy to rely on our gift.

Yep.

To carry us.

But your gifts can only Take you so far.

You can.

Like, I naturally feel like I naturally am gifted in singing, I think, you know, I didn't really take singing lessons when I was younger.

I can hear things by by ear.

I pick things up by the.

By my ear and.

And so I have that natural tendency.

I know how to, you know, connect with people.

I've.

I have a gift that God's given me.

But you can't ride on the gift all the time or ever, really.

You shouldn't.

You should rely on the Holy Spirit.

The gift is extra.

The gift is bonus.

That's what God uses, but that's not what sustains us.

And that's not what God is like longing to.

That's not the.

That's not the only offering.

We must humble ourselves and be completely filled with his heart, his power, and not our own.

So don't do the bare minimum.

Spend an extra 15 minutes.

Wake up early, stay up late, whatever works for you.

But spend time with Jesus.

You are a worship leader, or you're a mother, or you're a father, or you're this or you're that.

Spend time in God's word and in his presence, because it is survival for you.

Okay, number two, I quit putting my hope in the songs.

Now, I know that sounds, like, really weird.

It's like, well, of course no one's going to put their hope in the songs.

But I think sometimes, you know, as a worship leader, you get super excited when there's like a new song, right?

It's like a new song.

Finally, I have a new song that I can add to the list.

We can introduce it to the congregation.

It's going to be awesome.

And there's nothing wrong with being excited about a new song.

Like, I'm, I'm all here for it.

And you get so hyped about it.

And then you micro focus on this song and you practice more than probably you've ever practiced for any other song.

And you go deep in it and it's awesome.

And it, it.

And it probably is anointed and it probably is amazing and all these things, but then you put your hope in all this song.

Then you get to Sunday and you are super pumped, the team's pumped, everyone's ready to go.

And then the pastor comes up, said, you know, there's a shift.

I think we're gonna skip worship today.

Or I only want to do one song today.

And what happens is your soul feels crushed.

You're like, no, we were going to do this song and it was going to be awesome.

And I understand that excitement.

But again, my expectation isn't.

Isn't relying on the impact of how the song is going to go or what the song is going to do.

My hope is in the Lord.

My hope is in what God's going to do.

The song has its place, and God loves when we sing.

God loves when we come to a gathering place of other believers and we sing together in unity.

God loves that.

But sometimes I think we need to pay attention to.

Are we idolizing songs?

Are we doing the song because it's the most popular right now?

Like, it's okay to do a song that's not popular.

If there's a new song that every church is doing it, you don't have to do that song.

You do what the Holy Spirit tells you to do.

You are living out of the pulse of the Holy Spirit.

And so don't put your confidence in the song or in the set or all the songs in the set.

Because God can show up and he'll mess up everything.

And I know most of us are like, and it's fine.

We want the Holy Spirit to come mess things up.

But I have experiences for my personal self where I was like, man, I'm pretty bummed that we didn't get to that song.

But I put, like, a sliver of hope in that.

And that is idol worship.

And that is something that we want to stray away from.

And so be careful doing that.

The song has its place.

It has an opportunity to do what it wants to do.

But just remember that God is the one who we are worshiping.

And it doesn't matter what we sing or how we sing it.

He just loves that we sing to him.

So number three, let's move on.

I quit putting pressure on myself to make something happen.

It's extremely important to remember that you are not the one doing.

In fact, when you say that or think that it's saying, God, I got this.

Now, again, I'm saying these things out loud.

And some of you may be saying, if you're a mature believer, you're like, yeah, I don't.

Right, I know that.

But I think there's some subconsciousness in us that we get in the middle of leading worship where we're excited or we feel like, oh, we gotta push it, we gotta make it.

We gotta come on, we gotta do this thing.

We gotta exhort like this and do this and do that, and it's like, us and us and us and not the Holy Spirit.

And we.

We can battle sometimes and not even really Recognize it.

Let me give you an example.

So I was leading worship and man, the presence of God was in the room.

It was tangible.

You could cut it with a knife, right?

It was so amazing.

And in the middle, there was a moment where there was kind of like a.

What I call a pregnant pause.

It was like a God is here.

Don't talk.

Right?

And for whatever reason, I had this unction to blubber something, a scripture I was exhorting, and God said, you're pushing.

You're doing it in your might.

Sit back and let me do the work.

And when you're being convicted in the middle of leading worship, that's another level of humility.

But I'm grateful for that moment because it caused me to be sensitive to God's presence from that point on.

But something that I heard Brooke Liggerwood say years ago in regarding to stewarding the presence of God is, it's not in your push, it's in your posture.

It's not in the push that God's revved up about.

It's in our posture.

It's in our humility that he's.

That he's interested in.

We don't need to make anything happen.

God has not called us to do that, Right?

It's not by might, and it's not by our power or our strength, but it is by God's power, and his might is by him.

And sometimes I think that there's moments where you don't know what to do.

You don't know how to lead the moment, right?

There's moments where it's like, well, God's presence is here.

Sometimes it's best to not say anything.

Sometimes it's just.

Best to just let the music play and just sit in the silence a little bit and not try to push and make something happen.

Because sometimes when you, you know, if you're in the presence of God again and it's tangible, right?

I've had this in my head too, where it's like, wow, the presence of God is here.

And it's so amazing.

And in my head I go, amber, don't mess this up.

Don't mess it up.

But you know what that does?

It just puts pride in my heart as if, like, I.

Am I going to mess everything up?

Like, it's up to me.

Rather than reverence.

Now, there is a responsibility as a worship leader to steward the presence of God by being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to not try to maintain or fabricate, but to honor him, obey him.

And maybe again, like, I Already said, maybe that means taking a pause.

Maybe it means not moving on to the next song.

Maybe it means going back to the bridge even though we repeated it 10,000 times.

Maybe it means not, you know, skipping a song.

And maybe it just means being quiet.

My personal conviction is, is this presence over performance and pause over push.

Presence over performance and pause over push.

That's my lens.

When I lead worship, I can, in the middle, take inventory as I'm leading worship in the middle of worship, I can say, am I performance driven right now, or am I presence driven?

Am I pushing or am I pausing?

And I can take inventory in the moment.

Because God asks us to be sensitive and to follow him.

And when we do that, guys, the pressure's off.

Like, it's easy from that point on, because God's got it.

He's always got it.

God's gonna move no matter what, and he wants us to be a part of it.

Yes, he wants us to, you know, engage with it and be active in it and participate in it.

But he's not calling us to carry it.

That's too heavy.

He wants us to come under what he's doing.

I read a book years ago.

It's still on my shelf.

It's one that I honestly like, should probably read every year, and I'm going to recommend it to you.

It's Sensitivity to the Spirit of the Spirit by R.T.

kendall.

And I will link this in my.

In the show notes of this podcast as well.

And it talks all about being sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and it refers to the Holy Spirit just like it does in scripture, as the dove.

And so RT Kendall goes on this story about doves and understanding what doves do and how they, like, why they flinch by sudden movement and all these things.

And, you know, in the scripture, when Jesus was baptized, the Bible says that as.

Or like a dove, you know, a dove flown over Jesus, and it was like a representation of the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit isn't a dove.

He's like, as a dove, has similarities of a dove.

And so that book really goes through what it means to be sensitive to the spirit.

So I highly recommend reading that if you are really thinking, like, okay, I want to know how to lead a room.

I want to learn how to lead and steward the presence of God in a room.

That is definitely an amazing book.

Presence Over Performance number four.

I quit questioning if I belonged there.

I used to think that I kind of fell upon worship leading.

Like, the lies that would circulate in my head would be like, oh, well, they couldn't find anyone else.

I was their last resort.

I'm just filling a spot.

They're in need of volunteers, so here I am.

And all those are lies from the enemy.

But as I was thinking that, I wasn't even thinking that leading worship was a call in my life or even just to step into the gift that God's called me into, because I really, honestly, like, didn't feel like I was gifted to do that.

So I would lead worship, think, like leading worship or singing.

And I'd be like, I'm singing, but I don't know if God really likes this or I don't know if I'm supposed to be doing this.

There's a lot of questioning.

But then, you know, like, as the Holy Spirit gave me awareness, it was like denying God's power, denying his creativity in me and denying the gift that he's given me and relying on me to be this.

I don't know, this person or this type of worship leader in order to look successful or look like I'm supposed to be here.

Like, what is.

What does that look like?

You know, I think about, like, the disciples, they're like, yeah, we're followers of Jesus.

And people are like, you guys don't look like you're followers of Jesus.

Look at you guys, right?

And so the enemy just boxed me in in that lie.

Let me tell you a quick story.

So I.

When I was In Bible College 2007, or 2004-2007, there is a season in my life where my voice was very thin.

Like, I have a.

As you're listening, I have a very raspy ish voice now.

But then it was, like, thin.

It was, like, hard to talk.

And it was like my voice would go like, you know, it would clip from time to time, or it would cut off all the time.

And it took a lot of energy to actually speak.

Like, it was exhausting.

And, you know, I was a part of a church and a Bible college where it was charismatic with a capital C.

Okay?

We prayed at 5am we prayed loud.

We prayed long.

I never took care of my voice.

I just spoke at any volume possible.

I would, you know, we're gonna scream and yell to the Jericho Walls fall down.

Like that type of vibe, right?

And I remember being in a prayer meeting.

It was.

I think it was like a worship night, actually.

And there, you know, the songs are going and people are praying, and someone gets up and said, I want you to sing this real loud or pray this out loud or something like that.

And I literally could not like it.

It was so loud in there that I couldn't even muster any of that up.

And I just became so frustrated because it was.

It's.

You can only, like, lip sync for so long, you know.

Like, you can only for so long.

It gets kind of exhausting, and I feel kind of like, you know, an imposter.

Like, you know, I was like, are you really.

Are you really singing to the Lord?

And so I remember going back to my dorm room and praying, and in my own quiet, raspy voice, praying to God and asking him, God, please heal me in my voice.

I want my voice to return.

Now, one thing I did forget to slip in there, to give you a little bit of context, is that, you know, I.

Now that I look back, God has always put me in a place to operate in the gift of singing, but I denied it.

And I kind of explained that a little bit, a little bit ago, but I denied it.

It felt like I was just, like, I bumped into it, and it wasn't like God wanted me to do that.

Okay, so fast forward back.

I'm in my dorm room.

I'm praying.

I'm praying to God saying, God, please heal me.

I want.

I want my voice back.

And I was frustrated.

I was like, God, this is.

I'm so upset, and I, like, want to be able to pray and sing out loud and all these things.

And God says something to me so, like, sharply, but with mercy and love, he said, if you're not going to use your voice for what I've given it to you for, then why do you need it?

What do you want your voice for if you're not going to use it for what I've called you to use it for?

Right.

Exactly what I was thinking.

Wow.

Okay, well.

And in that moment, I just completely surrendered to God.

I said, God, you want me to use my voice?

I don't understand it.

I don't even like my voice.

I can't even barely talk at this point.

But I know that I can sing, and I would love to be able to sing out loud without being exhausted.

So if you want to use my voice, anywhere that you put me, I will go.

So after that time, literally maybe a week later, someone calls me, and he's a really good friend of mine, and he says, hey, Amber, we.

We're really in need of a worship leader for our middle school service that we have on Sunday nights.

Would you be down to lead?

And inwardly, I'm like, no.

The flesh is like, nah, bro.

We're not doing that.

I can even barely talk at this point.

You know, like, how am I even going to do that?

And before I could even mess her up, no.

God said, remember?

Right?

And I completely said, yes, I'll do it.

And really, from that point on, I've just been saying yes to using my voice and being a vessel for God in any way, shape or form.

Like, guys, this whole podcast thing is also something really scary for me because I go from, like, leading worship, which feels so comfortable for me by now, to now, like, talk about worship seems really hard for some reason.

And to talk with words and not in singing, it's just.

It gets kind of.

Yeah.

Overwhelming and scary.

And I have had times in this podcast, my husband can attest to this, where I'm like, you know, I don't think.

I don't think I actually belong in this space.

Like, I want to quit.

And he's like, we're doing it.

We're in it.

We're going.

God's given you a gift.

God's given us these things.

We're going to do it.

And so I understood that even though I under.

You know, there's a vulnerability that comes with leading worship or doing a podcast or doing anything that's new, because it's like we're doing this thing for the Lord, and we don't want to mess it up, right?

If God has placed you there, he wants you there.

You are.

You belong there.

God has given you a voice.

He's given you a gift.

And maybe you're not even, you know, you haven't even discovered the full length of your gift yet, but God has placed you there for a reason, and he wants you to be there.

We are able to lead people in worship, and I know that can feel scary and it can feel vulnerable, but it is an honor to worship, and it is an honor to lead worship and to steward the presence of God.

So if God put you there, he wants you there.

So we can relate this to Moses, right?

Moses doubted, right?

Moses said, I have a stuttering problem.

Here's some.

Here's some things that I can list off to you that would make me not a good candidate for this.

But God responded with, what's in your hand?

Meaning as, what have I given you?

What's in front of you?

And then God gives Moses detailed instruction, which I would have loved.

A little detail.

I love a good detail instruction, right?

Like, if you're going to tell me to go here, give me all the steps to get there, right?

But God gives Moses detailed instruction of what to do.

And then Moses continues to doubt God.

And he gives God all the excuses, more excuses of why he was unfit, why he's unable to do what he God's asking him to do.

And then God responded with, who gave the human being their mouth?

Is it not I?

Is it not I that causes the mouth to speak for the deaf ears to open?

Is it not I that can fill your mouth with words?

And again, Moses said, I just don't feel confident about this thing, Lord.

I'm just not real sure if I'm supposed to be doing this.

And then God starts getting angry.

But in his love and mercy, God gives Moses help.

And he pulls aside Moses brother Aaron and says, I'm going to help you.

I love this story because I can relate to it.

But also I'm identifying that even in the midst of our.

The lack of our confidence, God will bring someone in our lives that will help us, that will put us on the path to walk and operate in the gift that God has given to us.

He will give us people to do that.

Your confidence cannot come from your credentials or lack of credentials.

You can't say, and I used to do this.

I'm a worship leader, but I don't know how to read music, or I don't understand, you know, the chord progressions or the number system, or I don't understand X, Y, and this.

And you, you try to base your confidence on everything that you must know versus just operating in the confidence that God has called you to be there.

You know, when I started leading worship, I didn't know how to lead the band very well because I didn't understand music.

I didn't understand.

I mean, I would be off the click all the time because I didn't understand time and tempo.

I mean, you know, I didn't understand different things.

And I didn't know how to lead the band.

I didn't know how to tell the band where I was going or what I wanted to do.

And so I shrank.

And I was like, I don't think I could do this.

This is so scary for me.

But I know that as soon as I was convinced that I was supposed to be there, God gave me the knowledge and he gave me the ambition to know those things, to learn those things, and to be able to operate in the way that God's called me to operate in.

And the moment that I was convinced that God has called me to be where I want, has called me to be where I am, that confidence that God gave me caused Me to understand my role as a worship leader in more depth.

And so as you lean in Godfidence, God's confidence, you will be able to lead out of a place where you know, I belong here, because God has called me here.

Okay, number five, let's move on.

Woo.

Number five.

This is a good one.

They're all good.

But I quit thinking that leading worship was only for on stage on a Sunday.

Whoo.

Yep.

There's no part time worship leaders, y'all.

You lead worship somewhere all the time.

And I'll explain that to get to a place where you are living beyond a Sunday and tapping into that awareness, you gotta stop thinking that leading worship is just for the stage on a Sunday.

So I am a mama to three.

We also homeschool.

And there are days, y'all, that are long, okay?

Everyone's asking me questions after questions and they're talking and they're talking and they're making noise for no reason.

And there's just so much.

All the time, all the time, all the time, right?

And I've had a couple incidences where I was, like, trying to put a set list together and my kids were just bonkers.

I don't know, they're just all over the place.

And I remember being short with them.

Like, I'm trying to put this worship set list together.

Everyone be quiet.

I like, how can you be upset right now as you're literally preparing a set list to lead people to encounter Him?

It's kind of like an oxymoron.

But I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

And he said, leading worship is not part time, it's full time.

And you were called to create a space on stage, at the grocery store and in your home.

It's not just for that space.

You are creating a space for my presence everywhere.

And you don't take the worship leader hat off and put the mom hat on.

You keep them both on.

And that stuck with me because my kids watch everything.

And if you're a parent, you understand that.

And I just started, like, almost crying because, like, they watch me leading worship on a Sunday, and then they come home to a mom that's roaring like a lion.

Like, that's just not.

That's not God, you know?

And I had to really beyond just, like, how I look in front of my kids.

It's like, what does my heart look like?

You know, how am I loving God in every area and every space that he's given to me?

I was listening to a homeschool podcast, shout out to Deborah Wilson, she's amazing.

If you're a homeschool parent or want to be a homeschool parent, Deborah Wilson is your woman.

She's amazing.

She's faith, faith based, spirit filled, amazing woman of God that talks about homeschooling and Christian viewpoint.

And she says something to me that has literally stuck to me forever.

And it says, you set.

She said, you set the tone in your home.

You set the tone in your home.

So I'm encouraging you.

You set the tone in your home, you set the tone in your classroom, you set the tone in the store, you set the tone in your workplace.

As a worship leader, I understand that my role is to lead people to be aware of his presence.

I'm say it again.

As a worship leader, our responsibility and our role and the gift that God's given us is to lead people to be aware of his presence.

We can set the tone in our home by also leading worship in our home.

And I'm not talking about grabbing your guitar and singing three hymns with your children or grabbing your guitar and singing worship songs in a store.

However, do that.

I'm down for that.

Sure, why not do it?

But I'm not saying necessarily do, just that.

It just means create awareness of the presence of God everywhere that you are, everywhere that you are.

So I started doing this thing with my kids where we just take.

I put a timer for one minute, and I want them to be quiet and I want them to just listen and be aware of the room shifting.

Because when we are aware of the presence of God, we encounter Him.

And so mom and dads, you have the right and the privilege to set the tone in your home.

And you can do that.

If you're not a parent, you're a student, you're in a workplace, you have the opportunity and the privilege, even if you're not a worship leader, to create awareness of the presence of God everywhere that you are.

It's an honor to do that.

That's called being carriers of his presence.

And that is what God longs for us to do.

That's what he's called us to do.

It just means that we are setting an atmosphere again for people to encounter Jesus in our conversation and in our home, in our workplace.

Similar to, like John the Baptist, right?

John the Baptist, Prepare the way of the Lord.

There is one coming that is greater than I.

When he was doing that, people thought he was crazy.

But one thing for sure, it caused people to pay attention.

It caused people to be aware, to say, oh, is that what he means?

Oh, Is this what this feels like?

We can create that.

Not necessarily out of our own.

Like, we're creative.

We.

God has given us the authority to create a space for us to be aware, right?

And he comes in like a dove, and he sits and he feasts with us.

So pay attention to that number six.

I'm almost done.

Oh, this is a good one.

They're all good, but this is a good one.

I quit overthinking everything.

Lord God, stop overthinking everything.

I used to get so stressed out, like, for real, while leading worship.

And then after leading worship, especially if there was a song that was pretty challenging.

Like, I remember, Raise your hand wherever you are if you know the song.

So Will I by Hillsong.

Yeah, it's got like, six verses and it's like three pages long, right?

And I remember having to leave that song and had to memorize it.

And we didn't have a screen in the back.

Okay.

There was no confidence screen.

And I would overthink everything.

I would think, first of all, am I on time with the click?

And do I know the words?

Just constant, right?

And I would overthink everything and overthink how I say things and overthink this and overthink how I sang that note.

And I just would overthink everything, right?

Which the overthinking is going to tie into when we do part two of Seven Things.

I quit Practical.

Practical Applications.

So we'll come back to this portion.

But I would just overthink.

And then after worship, I would overthink everything that went wrong.

I mean, everything that went wrong.

I missed a cue.

I was flat on that note.

The click went off and the band was off.

I missed the transition.

The list goes on, right?

And I.

Legit.

This is legit.

I think it still happens, actually, till today.

The Enemy always comes after me the day after I lead worship and he attacks my identity.

I could be done with the list, are done with leading worship.

And I have no.

You know, I'm not worried about what happened or what didn't happen.

But the next day, the enemy will come and attack my.

He said, well, you didn't do that, right?

You didn't say that, right?

You didn't.

I don't know.

People probably think you're really weird, and we just go through all these different things.

So I started this thing called lead and release.

And it basically is a process where I get to lead and I write down all the things, the good things, the not so great things, things I can learn from.

And then I Release it.

I say, God, thank you for allowing me to learn these things.

Thank you for what you did.

And I release right things go wrong, and that's just evident.

And we can learn from those things.

We don't need to dwell on those things.

And the enemy wants to keep you in that, because if he can keep you in being fearful of messing up the next time, you will lose your confidence.

And then you will start putting confidence in your own strength instead of in God.

And so I want to encourage worship leaders, worship musicians, preachers, moms, dads, whoever.

Lead and release.

Lead and release.

Give Jesus the glory.

Make notes and release it.

And last but not least, a part of number six.

Just have fun.

Like, it doesn't need to be so serious.

You don't need to overthink so much that you.

You forget to actually have fun.

It's like, when I'm leading worship, I have a.

Like, it's.

It's not a creepy smile.

It's just like a pleasant smile.

Like, I am so happy to be in the presence of God and be happy, be joyful.

What you're singing about, it should.

What you are singing about should be what you are showing forth in your external.

Your hands, your face, your movement.

Right?

Have fun.

Don't overthink everything.

Learn from it and release it.

Give him the glory and release it.

Number seven, last one, coming at you.

This is big.

Good one.

Last one, too.

I quit caring about what other people thought more than what God thought.

I quit caring about what other people may or may not be thinking of me.

Now.

I've already shared with you.

I really struggled with the sound of my voice for a very long time.

You know, I got that low, raspy voice, you know?

You know, nowadays songs, you know, that come out, you know, the guys are singing at the alto, which is like my jam, you know, and then it does, like, the octave flip, like those, you know, starts low, and then there's an octave, and like, oh, my gosh, I can get the octave because I can sing that low, you know.

But in the 90s, it was all like, hillsong, Carrie Jobe, you know, just high voices, sopranos, and.

And so I struggled with, like, I don't know if my voice fits.

And so I used to be super insecure about the way my voice sounded and that.

That caused me to not operate fully in who God's called me to be.

Like, God has given me a voice.

He's given you a voice for a reason.

He's given the tone that God's given to you is the tone that he wants to hear.

The style that God has given to you is the sound that.

And is the style and the sound that he wants you to release.

Every time that you release your voice in singing or you operate in the way that God has created you to operate, it is showcasing God's signature.

It's showcasing God's creativity, God's power, God's love.

You know, it's similar to, like, I don't know.

I know most girls can relate to this, but you have a pen for everything, right?

There's like, I have the specific pen for my planner, but I have a specific plan for journaling.

You know, they're just different, but they're both beautiful.

I both love them.

Not that much love, but I really appreciate them.

I like using them, and they do something that I like.

The way that they write, they're different.

But me writing, I'm going to write the same words, and as I'm writing, I'm able to basically release my language, my penmanship.

It's just the same thing.

God wants to use your voice and your style and the way that you lead to display his penmanship.

And so you don't have to compare yourself to other people.

You don't have to say, I wish I sound like that.

I wish I sound like that.

God doesn't want you to sound like anybody else.

He wants you to sound like you because he made you, because he loves you, and he wants you to sound like you.

That is the bottom line.

He wants you to lead and sing and be a mom, be a student, lead your family the way that God created you to do that.

And you never have to apologize for that because God has called you to that.

Your voice is unique, and it's a signature of God on display.

You know, I used to have a very freestyle of leading worship.

I should say I do move around quite a bit.

I try not to be distracting, but I just.

When I lead worship, I just feel the fire of the Holy Ghost and I just.

Just can't stand, you know, I'm just moving.

I'm being active in leading worship.

And my.

My style is.

Is.

Is freedom.

It's chanting.

It's.

It's.

I don't know, it's just me, you know, And I remember years ago when 2020 hit and we were doing, you know, church online, and I remember we went from doing, you know, church in.

In the building with a bunch of people to just the cameras, right?

And for whatever reason, just me by myself and the camera, and they're saying, like, you have to stand here.

You can't move from here to here because the cameras can only go here.

And this is your time, and this is the only how much time you have.

Like, I became so constrained, and I was not leading the same way that I was because I was afraid of what people that hundreds or maybe ten people or however many people were gonna watch that, what they were gonna think.

And it caused me to water down the way that I lead.

And I remember.

I actually don't remember who told me this, or they said, lead the way that you are called to lead.

Don't worry about anything else.

You be free and you lead the way.

God's called you to lead.

And I just feel like sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves to sound and to be like, so and so.

I mean, there's.

There's so many amazing worship leaders and to tie into other people.

There's so many amazing moms.

There's so many other amazing business companies and tactics and styles and teachers and you name it, right?

There's so many different people that do different things.

And it's amazing.

But we are not to compare ourselves to those people.

It's not a competition.

We are to fully operate and lead and live our lives the way that God has called us to lead.

Because if we can't lead out of the way that we are called to, we're doing a.

We're dishonoring God, really.

And he wants us to live in that freedom and so be free from caring about what people think about you.

That went out the window a long time ago.

I just don't care.

It's not that I don't value people's voices.

If there's obviously something wrong or weird or something, you know, that I have someone that I trust can tell me about something, give me some feedback.

I love feedback.

But don't water down the style and the gift that God has given to you because he gave it to you to showcase his glory.

And it's important.

So don't ever water that down.

So those are the seven things.

Now I feel like I'm on a continual journey of quitting things.

I got to quit doing all these things, and the list will continue on.

And maybe you have a list of things that you quit or that you need to quit.

Maybe write those down.

Maybe bring them to the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to give you awareness of those things and help the Holy Spirit to walk you through removing those things from your life so that you can lead and live in freedom.

Because that's how God wants us to live, in freedom.

So I'm going to pray for us all and our time here as we close.

God, thank you so much for the way that you reveal yourself to us and you highlight the things in our lives not to make us feel shameful, not for us to feel bad, but to draw near to you, to come closer to you, to be encouraged and inspired by your word.

Lord, help us to live only by the impulses of the Holy Spirit, not in our flesh, not by what people say, not what the world or the culture is telling us to do, but that we fully operate out of your word and out of who you say that we are.

Teach us to live this life with more reverence, with more honor, with more love.

And Lord, I just pray over every person that's listening to this episode, whether they are a worship leader, worship musician, maybe they're a pastor, maybe they're a mother, a father, a teacher, maybe they're a student, they work full time somewhere.

God, I pray, Lord, that you would call them to deeper intimacy with you.

Because as we step into deeper intimacy with you, we become like you.

And the things that are not like you, that are attached to us fall off.

And you help us to maintain that freedom.

And we just ask God that you would give us new eyes and clear hearing to hear you and to see you, so that we can live in this life that you've called us to live with.

Freedom with no hindrance of what people think about us or what culture is saying or what church culture is saying.

But we are living this life according to the truth of your word.

Teach us to be more like you as we fix our eyes on you.

Help us to remain and return to the heart of worship.

To remain and return to you.

Thank you for this time, Jesus.

Have your way in our lives continually as we surrender to you daily.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Amen.

If you ever need prayer for anything, or if you have questions about worship leading or anything that we talk about on this podcast, I want to know about them.

You can email me at infoorship leader, sorry inforshipleaderpod.com or you can visit our website, worshipleaderpod.com and if you scroll to the bottom, there's a box for prayer requests or suggestions or anything like that.

I want to pray with you and I want to link arms with those who listen to this podcast that might need some pouring into, might need an extra arm to link with, to pray with, and to stand with.

And if you ever have questions about anything Worship, leading mom life, whatever that is.

Feel free to email me.

And I'm happy.

I'm so happy to connect with you.

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Because really, the heart of this podcast is not just to give you all these tips to be a better worship leader, a better lover of Jesus, but it is to draw you to return and to remain at the heart of worship.

And what these conversations do is they inspire you and they stir up passion in you to live in the presence of God daily.

And that is my heart, that is my goal.

And I want you to be a part of the community, be a part of what we're doing and share it with anyone who might need it as well.

But this time has been so special, and I'm so thankful for the times where I get to just come here by myself and chat through things that I think about and that I've gone through in my own personal life and be able to walk us through this and talk with you all.

And thank you for listening.

Thank you for being here.

And we will see you next time right here on Worship Leader.

Pod.

We're out.