Worship Team Outing: Tommy Walker, Road Trip and Community
I am so blessed to be the worship pastor of this group pictured here and the many more they represent from Sunridge Community Church. Fifteen of us took a 35 mile road trip to Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA thanks to an invitation from Tony of Saddleback Church. Tommy Walker led a worship class with a couple hundred or more folks from various church worship teams in the area.
Tommy Walker surely is a
gifted musician and worship leader, but simply hearing him share right
from the heart was a treat for us. Tommy shared a bit of his story
about being an 11-year-old who felt called to lead worship. My
14-year-old worship leading daughter on the way home said, “Dad..I was
11 when I knew I wanted to lead worship, too.” That made the trip worth it for me to hear her say that!
Our team has such community and being a rowdy bunch we know how to have fun. Mike,
our band leader, behaved himself…sort of. What an awesome night:
everything from mini-pranks such as driving away in someone else’s car
to the fun time at dinner at Wahoo’s to the nice words Rick Muchow had for our bunch. David Upton was also there hanging out with us.
Thanks to the Saddleback team for offering this to us! We had 15 of us drive over the 91 to Saddleback. That is a group of
volunteers who are committed to Jesus and to learning more about the
craft in leading worship through music, tech and video. What’s not to love about that!
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Last night ROCKED!!! We have a great team and I stayed out of trouble(for once) when I went to Saddleback
I really enjoyed last night’s event with Tommy Walker. I didn’t know what to expect, but I know the Lord wanted me to hear what he had to say to worship leaders. I especially loved his exortation to faithfulness in serving. Tommy said he realized that if he was faithful in the small things, such as being faithful serving in his local church, that God would allow him to do even more. It was refreshing to hear this humble perspective, and to hear him say that he had great joy in serving the Lord as a worship leader, even during busy seasons like Easter and 7 services. His joy was testimony to me that God was his strength.
Another thing I agreed with was the conviction he felt to stop “worshipping worship”, which is so common in this generation. I’ve witnessed a few worship leaders get caught up in the fame game, trying to make a “name for themself”, a weakness common amongst even the most spiritual of men and women. He said that he realized he had to stop looking at himself and trying to perfect his “worship techinques” and performance. His focus is to look at Jesus, at HIS work of grace on the cross, and to lift high the name of Jesus and not his own.
This was one of the most humble and encouraging talks I have heard on worship leading. It was fun hanging out with you guys before and after the event, too! Thanks for the invitation, Rich!