Churches And Worship Ministries Working Together: A Case Study

I met Pastor Brandon Little and worship team leader Brian Simpson of Cincinnati’s Landmark Baptist Church  at Sojourn’s January songwriting seminar, and we had a fascinating conversation about the work God is doing in their church community.  When they asked me for some thoughts on how Sojourn has engaged in worship planning and team building over the course of our eight years, starting as a core group of around sixty Sunday attenders to a current average attendance of 1200+, I was fortunate to be able to point them to Sojourn worship leader Lorie King.

Lorie has been an integral part of our worship ministry since nearly the beginning and has led worship on four continents and from coast to coast in the U.S.   She also holds a Masters in Worship from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  Her initial conversation with Brandon and Brian (pictured above) led to frequent email exchanges and an invitation on their part to spend a Sunday with the worship team at Landmark in order to dialogue with them about the practical and theological aspects of music ministry, which she accepted. 

I asked Pastor Brandon to share some things about Landmark and the fruits of their relationship with Lorie:

Bobby Gilles: Tell us a little about Landmark Baptist, and about your music ministry.

Pastor Brandon Little: Over the past few years our music ministry has gone from the traditional “piano and a guy waiving his arm” to an amazing mix of voices and musicians. God has gifted our church with many talented individuals and our challenge has been to learn how to be good managers of all these gifts. We have also been able to transition from traditional and often aimless or man-centered music to more Christ-focused music in a blended style. Our mindset in some ways used to be “If it’s in the hymnal, it must be of God”.  Now we are becoming much more discerning about songs no matter where they originate to ensure they are glorifying to God.

BG: How are you seeking to grow or adapt the music ministry?

BL: God has allowed us to incorporate several of our singers and musicians in planning the weekly liturgy. This has presented many opportunities for growth individually and as a group.  Our liturgists are each given the opportunity through their preparations to go deeper in their understanding of Christ and communicate what they learn to the church.

One of our biggest challenges has been nurturing the “one another” aspects of our group’s relationships. Throughout the hurried, week-to-week preparation there are ample opportunities for us to sin against each other and learn about ourselves.  We are learning how important it is to take time to work on the relationship dynamics of the group (loving each other).  We are also working on presenting the gospel more clearly in our liturgy and to communicate well with the congregation as we lead them through a worship gathering (loving the church and the community).

BG: What kinds of things have you been dialoguing with Lorie about?

We have been dialoging with Lorie about many things including liturgical elements, expectations and qualifications for worship team members, preparation time, how to serve the singers, musicians and church, worship resources, etc.

BG: Was she helpful during her visit, and if so, how?

BL: Lorie is an incredible blessing to us. While she affirmed many things we have been doing, she has helped us to see some of our shortcomings and helped us to take a fresh look at what we do. The thing that stands out above all is the fact she is biblical, really seems to care about us and takes a great interest in our situation. We are certain she is busy and yet she takes time to correspond with us and offer not just quick responses, but thoughtful and detailed ones. Her friendship itself has been such an encouragement to us and a challenge to us to be a friend to other ministries.

One other significant help has been focusing us on gospel liturgy.  Lorie introduced this to us in a neat way.  During her visit she challenged us to plan a set while she wrote it out on the board!  For most of us, the starting point was an idea or a song.  Lorie graciously pointed out that we really needed to begin with the gospel and Scripture.

The rest of the time was spent helping us to learn how to present the gospel throughout our corporate worship service. Now, if a person attends only one service with us, they will be presented the entire gospel message in song, speech, prayer, etc.  Lorie shared many great ideas with us that will not only help us now but well into the future.

BG: Anything else you’d like to express about the work you’ve been called to do in your community?

BL: God is helping a traditional, self-interested congregation to reform in our thinking about God and neighbor.  We are seeing the need to be less about us and more about loving our community for the sake of the gospel.  Our goal in the next few months is to simplify much of what we do so that we prioritize relationships over programs. 

Too often people are sacrificed on the altar of sacred programs and personal agendas.  God is showing us that our main focus needs to be the Gospel.  Our tasks are reaching out (evangelism) and maturing (discipleship).  We see that as moving people from the outside community to the cross of Jesus Christ. 

Since ultimately all believers will worship one God before the throne, then we must be about steering people from worshipping many gods and idols (polytheism) to worshipping the One, True God (monotheism). We thank God for our friends at Sojourn who are helping us weave the gospel into all we do so we may better serve the church and community God has called us to love.

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Read worship leader Lorie King’s article “Worship Leading: Is It For Anyone,” and hear parts one and two of a short interview where Lorie spoke on the subject of integrating hymns into contemporary worship services, using Sojourn’s early years as an example.