 Right welcome once again For the worship ministry course before we go ahead with this session Let me just say that we finished the course syllabus for the worship ministry course, right? We've completed the course content for this For this course and so today will be the last lecture the last session and For this course and it's we are only going to have one hour of this session today so And for the rest remainder of the class I would I've recommended some of the books for you to read on worship And Deborah has actually posted the PDFs in the stream section, right? I did you see that were you able to see that? Right, okay, so for the remainder of the classes, you know in the month of November until I post the assignment the final final exam quiz Please use the that time to you know, go read some of you can choose any book that you want to read And it will you know help you You know in your journey as we continue with this course, okay, so but we will not have any further lectures From from next week onwards. Yeah, is that is that clear? Yes, sir Okay, all right good. So as the last Session today what I wanted to do is like as I mentioned we finished the course content I Wanted to I wanted to play a video that talks about leading off the stage Right as pastors as ministers as leaders In a ministry it is very crucial and important for us to be leading not only on the stage But off the stage. So this is the video all about okay? I hope you are blessed by that. Let me go ahead and share the screen and We can watch it together and I would encourage you to make notes and and if you have time We can discuss on some of the things that's being shared All right, here we go what I want to do this afternoon I actually want to talk about leadership and I had another another theme I was going to go after but I talked to my brother last night and I said hey man I'm feeling a different direction to go for it so I want to talk a little bit about leadership and obviously this is a worship school and I think any any level of worship Especially what you guys are here for is going to have to do with teams going to have to do with people and Going to have to touch on leadership on some level So I like to just talk a little bit about leadership for many reasons because I think one of the dynamics that can take place Especially in the worship world that that we're talking about it. It's really easy to think that the stage is The destination is the goal is the is the I've arrived. I've made it and honestly, you know I tell people all the time Just give a little backdrop I've been in full-time ministry in a church setting since I was 20 21 years old. I'm 38 now So would that be 17 18 years and and so this is my life This is what we do and then this house is unique in many ways just because of Bethel and what we do here and what we're all about and Something that I tell people all the time especially in school Whether it's bssm or worship school or any other type of school setting. I said this this right here The pulpit or the stage or leading worship is really, you know, it's really at least for me It's 10% of what you really do It's if not less than that And I think it's important to talk about that because sometimes if You know, how many have ever heard something but you didn't realize how true it was until you actually experienced it yourself You know and and so I want to talk about leadership I'm not level one of the dynamics that happened with any type of stage ministry. It is really easy to Allow the stage to separate you from people and And it allows you to have a Misalusion if I can use that an inaccurate picture of how good of a leader you really are It's one thing to lead on a stage, but the whole another thing to lead off the stage And I have a pure strong conviction that leadership on the stage should really be an overflow of leadership in your life not just on the stage and And so I want to just touch on that real real briefly today a little bit just to paint a picture in mind This is not your goal What I do up here is not I don't get my leadership from standing up here I get my leadership from what I do off the stage This is really the product of who I am off the stage And I think it's really important especially when you get into the supernatural realm We start getting into worship the prophetic and in the kingdom and God and all these things I think it's really important to remember that This is a huge piece of it But this really is the should be the product of what you do in your own life off the stage And I'm sure you've heard that by now in a week and a half into this school But it's really a big deal because what happens one of the dynamics that can take place if you don't if you don't get that ingrained into your systems is that because the stage ministry comes with Comes with some pretty pretty hefty responsibilities. It comes with fame come with notoriety. It comes with everybody want to talk to you and It comes with You start people think you're bigger than you then you know, you really are and so an incredible amount of pressure comes with having a Some type of stage in front of people ministry And if you don't manage this stuff in your heart then what will happen is that fame that notoriety that recognition all those things will Actually cause you to create more distance between you and the people and remember you're leading people and This was probably two years ago What Brian and Jen do you hear I believe it's every month they gather the worship community There's 75 to 150 I don't know how it every month and they put a couple years ago before they're having it They're in their backyard. We were over in the great room And we were one of these nights and my wife and I we're just we're just interacting with anybody involved in the worship community and one of the one of the members of the community said What are what are some advice? What are what are some things that you serve that's and the first thing I said and do everything possible to erase the line between the stage and the people Work extra hard at that Because what will happen as your as your notoriety as your recognition as your authority all those things start piling up on your life Which is very much the Lord. I believe it is is that I know for me This is just a gauge if I can give you a gauge that I use personally Just with with my own influence and recognition and authority here and Obviously to a lot of to the planet is that the more anointed I am the more I serve It's just it's my gauge that I use that the more authority I get the more recognition I get the more anointing that increases all these things that increase in my life I work even harder at serving more What I mean by that is I do a lot more off the stage than I do on the stage And so there are some things around here that that we do and I don't think we ever really talk about it I thought it'd be worth the while to share with you, you know if you come to Bethel, you know any given weekend you have You know on Sunday morning, you know whose first-time visitors, you know half the room goes up. How many live in Reading a Lot of those hands go back up What's the point? We have people from all over the world that come and One of the things that I know I do and everybody's different, so I'm not saying it looks like this I want to show the principle, but this is how the principle manifests in my life Is I work really hard to not go home after a service? Because I know the moment I get off the stage There is a line of people that want to talk to me ask my thoughts on this Some are really broken really needy some they come to you every week Some are what you know, Chris Valentine calls the sheep that bite There's all kind of people that are waiting to talk to me And it's really easy because that group continues to grow over the course of my life It'd be easy for me to just get out that door and go home as quick as possible Now I'll be honest with you there are times I do that because I'm absolutely exhausted And that there's a differential that I know they're leveled engaged on this But as a principle I was a 99% of the time I get off the stage I go down and I hang out in the front on purpose and I know that I will get I will get Bombarded with people from all walks of life stages of life But for me that keeps me that erases the line between what happens up here and who I am to people around me And so it's really a big deal and I want to challenge you especially when you're dealing with worship and music There's even another level of of oh my goodness. I want to talk to that person There's another level of notoriety and recognition that comes on that level I want to challenge you you know if you're not experiencing it yet You probably will at some point and just remember that I told you do whatever you can that you've raised the line between the stage and the people You know where if you're not leading people off the stage you shouldn't be up here leading worship Let me say that again. If you're not leading people in normal life. You should not be up here I don't care what skill you have. I don't care how how gifted you are. It doesn't matter to me I will honor that but to be honest with you It's really important that you know how to lead people and influence Influenced people and live within community with people because when you're up here guess what happened when you're leading people off The stage guess what happens when you're on the stage They'll follow you And sometimes I find worship leaders are amazing worshipper I mean if you put them in a room God will show up no matter what but the question I have is will people follow them How many of ever let's put it this way This might be I'll just I'll just ask the question How many have ever been in a setting where someone leads worship and no one's following and God's there I'll be honest with you some of that have to do with the connection and the relationship with the people and the person leading Okay I want to challenge you it's really important to Daniel drink out of this Some of you are saying yes This is fresh. Okay. I'm a big germ guys, especially with drinks Sorry, I processed out loud with you. Some of you are thinking the same thing though One of the first things that you need to do as a leader is you need to assess who you are to them Who you are to them now that could be from a worship leading standpoint or that could be just living life standpoint and Sometimes they're the big disparity between who you think you are and who the people how they view you I've seen this happen. I've seen it happen in my life and You know just experience over time you learn to do this very quickly One of the things that I do in any setting like right now. I'm standing in this room I have several different feelings going on. These are not bad feeling these are just feeling the what's happening in the room I know for some of you you view me as a father and of the voice in your life Why because you've been reaching you've been looking at Bethel for years And you respect me as a leader of this house and the father in this house Other of you don't have a clue who I am and so I'm a complete stranger to you and other of you Know me through someone else. What's the point? All of you view me differently. It's not bad It's just a reality and I can tell by just a feeling in the room And it's not bad, but it's something that's important as a leader because sometimes if I'm trying to be a father to a stranger That's a really awkward relationship And I see a lot of leaders they think they're a father and they may be But if the people around them see them and they're strangers, that's a really weird dynamic So it's really important that you assess who you are to the people that you're leading Now you may think I'm supposed to be a father. I feel like I'm supposed to be father Okay, that's all good, but to be honest with you relationships take time They just take time to build trust and relationship And if you want to create a team of people that you either lead with or live life with it doesn't matter This should across the board leadership stuff here You need to find out who you are to them and then work from there If you're a crazy uncle to them then all right You're a crazy uncle to them if you're a cousin if you're a friend if your brother I see a lot of brothers trying to be fathers to their brothers and sisters It doesn't work And so it's important that you're able to assess who you are to the people that are that you're influencing There are there are three levels of connection that you have with leaders whether you realize it or not They're just spiritual connection especially in the in the church setting their spiritual connection There's an emotional connection and there's a mental connection Spiritual connection an emotional connection and a mental connection. What do those look like spiritual connection would look like this This person is my spiritual leader. I They can influence my spiritual life. I look to them for spiritual spiritual thing I'm connected to this person. It doesn't mean I have an emotional or mental connection, but spiritually. I'm connected Now I mean in some weird way I mean, this is the spiritual leader in my life that that is that is leading me an emotional connection Is this is that this person can influence my emotions? That I have actually allowed this person to influence my emotional life The mental connection look like this is that this person can affect the way I think in the way I process When you find a leader and When you find a group of people following a leader at all cost one of the reasons why it could they have all three connections happening at once Like if you come to Bethel and they I can only use that as an example One of the reasons why my father at Chris Valentin Danny silk all these are wonderful leaders here One of the reasons why they have so much momentum in the life apart from the favor of God Which I believe it all part of this is that because people are emotionally connected to them They're spiritually connected to them and they're mentally connected to them So it's important as a leader that as you're leading people and it's not something okay They don't have a spiritual connection So I'm gonna try to be a no you don't you don't go there just leave it there But it helps you to assess okay the people the people that I'm around right now they view me as a Brother and They have an emotional connection and that's it so I'm not going to be an idiot and try to be a spiritual leader to them I'm going to be a leader to them on this level and as trust develops then the other doors start opening It's a natural progression of relationship and sometimes we don't realize it leader There is a relational dynamic whether your relationship person or not there's all you're always going to have to work through relationship And it's important to realize this is a leader because sometimes we get in situations And we get so frustrated that people are not hearing us not following us not doing what we ask them to do And I want to challenge you instead of complaining and getting frustrated back up a little bit and go okay who is Johnny How did Johnny see me? Well, he sees me as a friend No wonder why this isn't working is because I think I'm a father to him And I'm trying I'm coming at him as the dad and he doesn't view me as the dad So I need to get off of that whatever that is and become a friend to him and relate to him that way No, can is now we've been like I said, we've been in full-time church ministry for 17 18 years and the last three years We are are the local the senior passage of the local church here at Bethel and We've been here about been not been here. We've been in that role for three years. It was about six months ago I couldn't tell you what what day it was I know it would around a window of time about two and a half months ago that I Realized that the church body views me as a father now that took over 12 years of my life to pour into a church body to Get that if I can say it that way. What's the point? It takes time It takes a lot of time to develop relationship on a level where people begin to view as fathers and mothers in their life Not for control not to be you know not to be that it's a relational thing So we talk about leadership one of the things I want to challenge you with Is that we've got who are you to the people around you? Who are you figure that out real quick? Part of part of what we do that travel do conferences and schools and churches and blah blah blah And every time I go in every time when I get in that room, I will quickly assess who I am to the environment around me. Oh Bill Sun's here. Okay. I'm Bill Sun I'm not Eric Johnson. I'm Bill Johnson's son That's a whole another dynamic then Eric. I'm an Eric Johnson to them that makes sense. Are you guys alive? Oh He's from Bethel. Okay, there's there that that's how they view me There's other places I go where it's clear as day like they view me of the spiritual father And they want me to come in and a spiritual dad on that house Every time I meet with leadership teams around the world whether they come here or I interact with them when I travel I will quickly assess who am I to the who am I to these leaders? Am I am I just a young 38 year old guy? Or am I you know what am I doing? I'm assessing why because my goal is to build bridges My goal is to be able to serve as best as I can and if I think I'm this and I'm not it's a disaster So for you as young and old leaders seasoned and unseasoned leaders Doesn't matter what stage you're in it's important for you to realize that it takes time To develop and what's frustrating for leaders? They have a prophetic word that they're this But they're not experiencing it How many you've ever been in that position? God's called me to be a father. He's called me to be this and I and so you come in with this prophetic word Like it's permission to be that yes, it is permission, but sometimes you need to go through a process to actually see that fulfilled So prophetic words are in my opinion are very rarely ever wrong. It's all about timing So this whole thing of leadership the big deal. So assess who you are making assessment. Oh, I'm a brother I'm a friend semi-recently This was on Good Friday Just this last spring before Easter. We did a Good Friday service and What we decided there's another local pastor in town who's a really close friend of mine He passed through the stirring church, which is right down the road here a close friend of mine and we're brothers We're total brothers. We're champion We just we champion each other for the cause of Christ here and globally and we had in our heart to gather the whole city to a Good Friday service and We we have been doing it on a small scale the last couple of years and when two years ago We did it at another church in town and we gathered like four or five different pastors from different churches to help Do the meet the service the Good Friday service was communion and stuff and so that would break in ground Well, then after we did that one all a bunch of other pastors. Hey, we want to be involved. We want to be involved Well, there's an interesting dynamic here for us is um relationship like Bethel has some pretty strong Stances on some certain themes if I can say it that way we have some very strong convictions when it comes to Pacific things about God in the kingdom and we we declare that unashamedly every week and There are other pastors in the community. They don't have the same conviction completely respected. It's normal I get it and So here we are we're going to gather we're going to gather pastors from all over this region and to do a Good Friday service together And so my friend and I if we are planning and preparing we were both kind of walking the line of like man Who are we to everyone else here? What what do what does that church think now? Well? I want to be clear here. It doesn't mean that you put yourself underneath what they think of you This is only for observation and the reason does that make sense? Okay? They think I'm good Okay, now. I've got this pressure on me. No, it's not that if for me. It's okay I just know how they they see me, so I want to do a really good job to build a bridge with that person One of the things on my life is to build bridges That's just one of the mantles on this house is to build bridges so oftentimes we think through those lenses Yeah, I want to build bridges I want to build bridges with that if even if it's not Denominational or stream of the body of Christ that's way over there doesn't matter to me They love Jesus so do I I want to find a way to build a bridge So that's just how that's how we think this is how this is just how we operate around here And so I'm thinking in those in those through those lenses And so we you know my buddy and I we got together and we're planning a man We got a so we in the middle of this process. We're trying to get who Who how how are they everyone see everyone? It's a really weird dynamic if you if you've not been in a pastoring type of ministry and working on a city level This might be a little foreign to you some of you may have it's very interesting dynamics that happen when you start interacting with Pastors from other churches and other beliefs and you know different theology Especially when they're different than yours and you're you know, everybody's like we've got to figure a way to work together But how do we do this when I think this and you think this? And so one of the things that we made very clear from the onset of this thing was this is that the only purpose for this is We're gathering around the cross. That's it. We're not gonna we're not gonna deal with anything else We all know the cross is real. It's legit and jesus guide on it and he rose from the grave So we just made that the whole thing even our even our promotional or average banners and graphics One city one cross that was our deal. We're just here to gather on the cross and what that did that helped to diffuse some of the Oh, well, you know, they they believe that or what would I group over there? I heard them preach that and did you hear this guy and he just kind of Alleviated all of that it brought it down to another level or to a much more calmer peaceful level So we get together we ran at the largest facility in town and we put on this Good Friday service and it's hard to describe. It's probably one of the epic most epic moments That we've ever had on a city level we packed out this auditorium this big auditorium in town twice in the same evening and We had I don't know how many churches represented it But it was an absolutely beautiful moment and I want I'm sharing that with you for one reason is you need to find out Who you are to the people around you Not so you live under it is so you know how to build a bridge and it gives you perspective It gives you wisdom it gives you it gives you an ability to actually begin to lead and move into places of relationship You guys with me okay, so assess who you are to the people around you One other thing I want to touch on we have just a couple minutes left be thankful when you get insecure Be thankful when insecurity jacks up Why because it's God's unique way of exposing Something that needs to be dealt with It's part of grace Grace brings truth where there's not truth Grace brings life where there's death and anytime something that is is ugly is Had death at its core has sin at its core anytime grace touches that it will it would get jacked up It will it won't it can't be quiet So when you as an individual When you start feeling insecure you should take a moment to God. Thank you for showing me this area of my life and then be really smart and Be diligent and do whatever it takes necessary to deal with that insecurity One of the biggest insecurity to my life this happened between 23 and 24 years old I'm sorry 25 26 years old right in there. I was a youth pastor up in Weaverville about an hour from here little town of 3,000 people and I My wife and I grew up there, but we went back at the married couple for six years to be youth pastors And to be honest with you I had no I Had no desire to preach whatsoever It wasn't because I was scared of people. It wasn't anything to do with that I just don't want to preach so I would make worship go really long and one day nights a Worship leader for leap worship really long and then we go right into a ministry time. I just avoided preaching I just didn't want to and In this season of my life I was beginning to realize that fear of man was pretty with a big big deal in my life But it reared his head in a different way. What is fear of man? Let's talk about that fear of man is usually two things one It I'm scared of you I'm so scared of you you're My fear of you controlled everything I do There's another one that I think is more common and that is I care more about what you think than anything else So I had that one going on. I'm scared of you really wasn't a big deal I've always thought fear of man with I'm so scared if I can't do anything the one that was most familiar with was I really care What you think more than anybody or what he thinks I really care what you think so when the night would go by I would you know this one I was learning how to preach and and Which would probably horrible to be honest with you But I would I would going for it and I would preach a message, but I would never ask someone. I would never say Hey, how did I how did that go or I wouldn't do that? I would actually get around people after the service or maybe the next day in the office And I would actually cut myself down in front of somebody. What did that look like? Yeah last night didn't go really well I just felt really you know, I just all they're doing I was sabotaging myself in front of people What was I looking for? I was looking for confirmation or encouragement. What would I do? I was soliciting encouragement because of a fear of man Well, be honest with you that went on for a while I didn't realize I was doing that until I found out I would be acting so insecure about a whole bunch of stuff and The Lord began to push on it and said you have it you have an issue with fear of man And I began to realize he I remembered I remember the moment he did I begin to get all these images and pictures and conversations that I was having in disguise With people all around me trying to get any type of encouragement that I was doing a good job What was happening? I would be coming a slave to people the pinions and thoughts and Encourages I would I was waking up with the idea that I need someone to tell me how I'm doing Because I would care more about what they thought than what even what God thought So any time you have an insecurity arrived take a moment. Thank God for the opportunity to deal an insecurity in your life It's probably one of the greatest treasure God can give you is exposing your insecurities I What you'll learn when you when you begin to be thankful for God exposing insecurity you'll see incredible growth Very quickly in your life You want to know why? Because the joy of the Lord is your strength You guys are quiet. Are you guys okay? So anytime an insecurity pops up And I may be I may be extremely insecure. I take a moment. All right. Thank you for showing me that now I'm gonna go deal with it now I'm gonna figure out what it is this causes this thing to surface But I believe joy is key to that because joy actually gives you the strength to deal with the situation of the issue And you'll be able to move from there Okay, so assess who you are To people around you and become a bridge builder The days of the days of war. We don't live in the days of war anymore We live in the days of Solomon and we learn how to build bridges and alliances with people that are different than you And David day if you didn't agree with them, you were dead Larry Randolph said it this way David would kill you Solomon would marry you We don't live in the days of David right now I'm telling you is the season of the body of Christ will live in the days of Solomon Learning to build bridges with people that are completely different than you so assess who you are to them and learn to build bridges Secondly learn to erase the line between the stage and the people Become a leader off the stage before you attempt anything on the stage This should be an overflow an extra outflow of what you do off the stage And do whatever you can to serve people more than you do before I don't care how tired exhaust you to get make sure you serve people. It's huge. Okay, and the third thing is give thanks When God exposes insecurities it means you got a promotion coming and it's it's it can happen fast As long as you're thankful for it. It'll give you the strength to get through it Thank you. Have a great day Okay Well, thanks for watching I hope there was something that you could take take away from that but I mean in in the beginning the session I encouraged us to take notes and I hope you were able to I hope you did But just to reiterate some of the points that you know, he mentioned Is leading off the stage and the importance of it? Just to highlight a few pointers that I made a note of Says do everything possible to erase the line between the stage and the people Sorry I Do everything possible to erase the line as in there's an invisible line I mean that people kind of perceive between the stage and the congregation and he says Let let them not feel that like there's a distance between the people on stage and people off the stage Okay, you got to make them feel like though they are one right the congregation and the ministry team is one So do everything possible to erase the line between the stage and people and that happens by leading off the stage Right. So and he also mentioned on stage ministry is only 10 percent That's another interesting thing And another point he said was more the anointing more my serving is The more God has anointed you the more we are to serve Anything else that you know, you remember you made a note of That you want to share Any points that any point that kind of stood out to you if you are not leading people off stage You can't lead people on stage. That's another point that he made which If I can repeat that it says If you are not leading people off the stage, you cannot lead people on stage Right and then very important points that he makes is As a leader, we need to assess Who you are to them and who you are to the people that you are leading or to your congregation It's very important, right? So he made three important connections as the leader. He said There's a spiritual connection emotional and a mental connection So you need to assess the way how people view you as if they view you as a pastor or as a father Or as a worship leader and so and you can connect with them in the way that they see you Right and I hope you were able to see that Um In person with a pastoral heart are discerning are discerning and in fact an empathetic A person with a pastoral heart are discerning and empathetic And the handle confrontations, etc, etc Okay Yes, um, so I mean those were all just some of the points that I had made a note of But I want to ask this the one last time before we conclude Was there anything that you could take away any point that As you were listening to that kind of stood out to you. Okay. All right Well, that's about it then As I mentioned in the beginning of this class that this will be our last lecture for this course We have completed the course syllabus for worship ministry And I really hope as I always say that there was something that you could take away from this course And I hope that it's that it will help you practically In your in your journey as as a minister or as as god's leader Okay And so please use the month of november when we do not have classes We will not have classes from the next week. Please use that time To read some of the book suggestions that I've made A debora has posted PDFs in the stream sections Okay, so please make an effort to You know To go ahead and and read okay reading will always help you. So don't ignore it. Don't neglect reading And so once again, please go ahead and read the books that's being posted Okay Yes, yeah, thanks for sharing that. Yeah, thank you Thank you god for my insecurity so we can work on it. Yeah Wait, thanks, Aaron for sharing. I'm reading your comments in the chat section Okay, uh, it's been a wonderful experience for me personally in sharing some of the lessons that I've learned You know with you guys and I hope it helps. All right, you've been a guys. I've been an amazing class Hoping to see you all sometime soon in the near future Okay, you guys take care You will get an uh A notification on The final assessment the final quiz until then Keep going through the texts and the notes. It's going to be a very easy assessment. All right Thank you guys. I will uh, let's pray and we'll bring this whole thing to a close. All right, father So we thank you. We are grateful for this opportunity once again to uh, to learn father Uh So that we can get better we can serve your people better we can serve you better uh, lord, I pray that even as we Continue to grow as your ministers as your leaders father help us to remember that we are here to serve One another always help us to remember to take on a towel to put it on our hands And to be ready to serve and to be humble ourselves just as you did father That ministry is not about us or about positions or about any titles But it is about serving you father. I pray that to each one of us lord wherever you place us father uh I pray that we will be a beautiful servant father lord taking uh, just just learning from uh, how humble you are father I thank you for everything that you are going to do in and through our lives We give you all the glory on our power and praise In Jesus matchlessly my pray Amen Amen God bless you all. Okay, you guys take stay safe. I'll see you. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. Bye