5LQ Episode 297: Mike Harland and Worship Wars

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Mike Harland, director of Lifeway Worship and author of Worship Essentials. During their conversation, they discuss current worship culture. BEST QUOTES “Years ago, I realized that music was not the point, it was only the language.” “The idea that you can unify a church around a music style is insanity. You better unify it around Jesus.” “When an artist is leading congregational music it can be problematic.” “There needs to be a really healthy awareness of the shepherding role that a worship leader has to have.” “When we began to print lyrics and project lyrics, suddenly the hymnal wasn’t the source book anymore.” “What I’ve seen is the church believing that a worship approach could be a growth strategy for their church, and I just can’t see that in the Scripture.” “The way a church approaches worship becomes such an identifiable mark of their ministry approach.” “In a healthy worship culture, there is a singular focus on the person of Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done.” “If your chief musician is a disciple maker, the ministry he leads will be a disciple making ministry that will be part of the overall strategy, not something that competes.” “Healthy worship cultures measure their impact not on how well the set was executed but how engaged the congregation was.” “Your people’s prayer vocabulary will be built on what they are singing.” “The body should prefer each other to any music style.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Worship Essentials by Mike Harland Text “leadership” to 888111 to be entered into a book draw New Churches Q&A Podcast This Episode’s Sponsor: What happens when the Bible and humanity collide? Not what you’d expect. Living & Effective, a podcast collaboration between Christianity Today and the Christian Standard Bible, journeys through history, current events, theology, and the human condition to uncover surprising ways the Bible accomplishes God’s plan in the world.”