<![CDATA[ randallBradley.com - Blog]]>Tue, 22 Aug 2023 15:29:13 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[8 Characteristics of a Music Leader of the Future]]>Mon, 27 Jul 2015 22:26:05 GMThttp://www.randallbradley.com/blog/8-characteristics-of-a-music-leader-of-the-futurePicture
Preparing For the Future 
Recently Baylor hosted the annual Alleluia Church Music Conference which draws several hundred music and worship leaders to the campus each summer for training, inspiration, and enrichment. This summer, in an effort to nurture the next generation of worship leaders, we started a new event – Baylor Worship Lab – in which a dynamic group of high school worship leaders came to our campus to spend three days with David Crowder, Leslie Jordan, Shaun Groves, Robbie Seay, and a talented team of Baylor students. I was asked to speak to the students about worship leaders of the future and I believe the projections I mentioned might be helpful for all of us – young and old. Music leaders of the future will be people who . . .

…value worship diversity – musically, artistically, and culturally. The days of dividing into separate worship services based on style and preference are limited. The church will be seeking out leadership who embrace musical diversity – they love many styles and genres of music and eagerly accept them as good and beautiful. Similarly, they are at home with many artistic expressions, and they will find ways to incorporate them into worship. In the same way, they are open to all cultures, and they will find ways to draw from both world cultures and the varied cultures of their own local context.
…are creative and value change and innovation. Change and innovation will be accepted as normal among future worship leaders. Rather than spend much of their ministry lamenting change and attempting to work around it, they will embrace change and see it as necessary and positive. They will be adept at finding new ways to do worship and the work of the church. They will find value in designing and leading worship in ways that keep the liturgy of the church interesting and dynamic.

…have solid musical skills in many genres. Rather than specific training within single genres, they will be more broadly trained and interested. They will not carry the baggage of misplaced musical value judgments. They will be able to move from one musical genre to another with greater ease because they will value using their voices and other instruments both in conventional and not-so-conventional ways.

…value the team more than their individual communications. They will discover ways to move beyond the traditional ways of proclaiming the word of God in worship. Rather than one person being the spokesperson for the proclamation of Scripture, they will ask questions such as “How should this story best be told?” “Who is the most authentic person to proclaim this word?” “What medium best matches?” “How might this story be most poignantly received?”

…trust others and are collaborative in their approach. They will be more uncomfortable being lone rangers in their leadership. Being a part of a team will be a non-negotiable value for them. They will check their perceptions with others and move forward only when the team reaches consensus. They will be mature enough to recognize that they have blind spots, and the only remedy for blind spots is trusting others.

…are willing to serve the church without being full-time. They will be less concerned with making a living than they are with serving Christ. They will be comfortable doing a number of smaller jobs which will add up to the amount of work that they need to do to sustain the lifestyle that they have decided upon. They will choose to live in smaller homes, drive less expensive cars, and have fewer non-essential items in order to have more time for relationships, leisure, and taking better care of each other and themselves. Not only will there likely be fewer full-time ministers, there will be fewer overworked people in other highly-skilled vocations. We are already seeing the pattern of younger people working enough hours to maintain the standard of living that they value rather than working extra to get ahead of others.

…are entrepreneurial and inventive in their approaches. Future worship leaders will be adept at solving problems and finding innovative solutions to life’s complexities. They will respond to their local context and find ways to do church that works within the values of the group. They will be willing to take on the risk needed to find a new way. Likewise, they will find ways to do church without the immense financial capital that has come to define many churches of today. They will have less dependence on traditional buildings, materials, instruments, and other trappings.

…are multilingual and multimusical. They will learn to speak both the linguistic and musical languages of the people that they are called to serve in their local and global context. They will be less concerned with preserving their own heritage and belief system than embracing that of the people around them. This will mean learning to walk comfortably within the musical idioms of diverse musical styles and genres. However, they will understand that traveling within diverse musical styles does not necessarily mean that we have to be adept at all of them ourselves – we will be a part of a team in which others can compensate for our weaknesses.
]]><![CDATA[Keeping Your Eyes on the Big Picture in Ministry Leadership]]>Mon, 06 Jul 2015 22:18:20 GMThttp://www.randallbradley.com/blog/keeping-your-eyes-on-the-big-picture-in-ministry-leadershipPicture
Delegating For Success

One of the most important jobs is learning to delegate. Some people are not willing to work through others to accomplish greater ministry. Consequently, these ministers of music may experience burn out; they may not have long-term ministries.

Perhaps ministers of music resist delegation because much of their training is spent in isolation. They may also have an artistic temperment – deep down, no one else can do a job that pleases them! For long-term success, nothing is more critical to effective ministry than the ability to delegate appropriately.

Delegation is the ability to give the job to someone else, define the parameters for accomplishing the job, and granting the authority to get the job done. For many, the most difficult part is giving the job to someone else. Perhaps we are afraid that others will not think we’ re doing our work, or our ego doesn’t want to accept the fact that someone else can do a job well. Whatever the reason for our hesitations, we must learn to delegate some tasks to others. Once the job is delegated, determine the pertinent factors. Then, give the person the authority to make decisions related to the job’s ultimate completion. Without authority, the person to whom you’ve delegated the job will not be empowered and will not fully own the process. You must accept that the job will not be completed as you would have done it. Often the job will be done better!

What Should You Delegate?Generally, you should delegate jobs that (1) someone can do better than you, (2) someone can do instead of you, (3) someone can do with better timing, or (4) will help someone grow and develop as a leader.

Progress in churches, is severely hampered by administrators who keep too much work for themselves. Their need to control outweighs their desire to see the organization make progress. Ultimately, these administrators keep other people from thriving because work gets caught in the system waiting for someone to move it along, and they foster an organization with many undeveloped leaders!
How Do You Delegate?

Define the Responsibility – Define what is to be done. Be sure that the person to whom you’ve delegated the task knows exactly what to do. Write a definition of what is to be done and follow up with verbal instructions. Allow plenty of time for questions.

Establish the Parameters - Determine completion date, budget, who else should be involved, priority level, and how often you want to receive reports.

Let It Go – After building checkpoints into the process, let the job go. If you constantly look over people’s shoulders, they will not be able to do their best work, and you will not be able to do the work that you intended to accomplish by delegating!

Check Up – Although you’ve delegated the work, you are still responsible to see that the work is accomplished. It is better to build in normal check up times from the beginning instead of doing random checks.

Evaluate – Take time to evaluate once the task is complete. Evaluating assures the person that you value their contribution and input.

Express Gratitude – Always express gratitude for work that is done. Even when it’s not done according to your specifications, be grateful for someone’s attempt. Give praise for work that succeeds, and share responsibility for work that is less than desirable.

Avoid Upward Delegation

Upward delegation happens when the person to whom you have delegated work hands it back to you. Once a person realizes that you will take work back or do their work when they don’t do it, you will have the problem through the remainder of the relationship. This might happen for several reasons:

Instructions were not adequate - The directions must be clear. Give plenty of details and ask questions to make sure the person completely understands what is expected.

Ownership of the task was not clear - Be sure the person understands that the project is theirs, and they are fully responsible for every aspect of the task.

“I’ve Got a Problem” - When the person comes to you with this phrase, before meeting with them, ask that they come prepared to discuss two or three options for solving the problem. Force the person work on the problem before they reassign it to you.

Avoid saying “Let Me Think About It” - This phrase puts the ball back in your court, and they’ve successfully handed the task back to you.

Procrastination - Some people will wait until the last minute, which creates a crisis. If you can possibly survive without rescuing them, do so. If the organization depends on the task, you may have to rescue someone. When this happens, confront the person and let them know that, in the future, you will not come to their rescue.
]]><![CDATA[ 7 Steps for Dealing with Pain in Leadership, Ministry, and Life ]]>Mon, 01 Jun 2015 14:25:29 GMThttp://www.randallbradley.com/blog/-7-steps-for-dealing-with-pain-in-leadership-ministry-and-lifePicture
Pain is a Pain
The old adage “Pain is inevitable” is often repeated, and as we look around us and listen to our own lives, there is certainly strong evidence to support this claim. A colleague is recovering from brain surgery, the mother of a student had spinal cord surgery day before yesterday, my wife is recovering from a broken toe, and our son from a sprained ankle.

Yet physical pain only tells a part of the pain story – a friend is grieving the estranged relationship between her and her young adult daughter, another is mourning the dream job that he didn’t get, another is in shock over the news that her husband may have only a short time to live, a student is struggling with ongoing wounds of sexual abuse, while another friend wonders if he will ever find ministry a position again after the turmoil that plagued his last post.
Yet, pain is not equal in intensity or longevity — while some pain has a clear end in mind, others have the potential to alter our current reality and perhaps the rest of our lives. However, the pain that we are in the middle of is real to us, and whether intense or long lasting, its sting alters our reality even if only for the short term.

Dealing with pain as well as Dealing with Disappointment is inescapable. If we choose to live an active life involving others, relational pain will result. If enough years rack up, physical pain will come. If we choose a life of isolation and reclusiveness, the pain of loneliness will find us. If we serve others as their leader, the pain of rejection and misunderstanding will be ours. So if pain is ever present in those around us and an always-looming possibility in our own lives, what are we to do? If pain can’t be avoided, how are we to deal with it constructively? These questions are certainly worth exploring.

Assessing Pain’s Sources 
Acknowledging our pain is a first step toward eventual healing. Carefully considering relationships and recognizing both the pain and the joy that they bring allows us the potential of doing our part to help the pain to heal or to move toward a place where the pain may hurt less. Even when dealing with physical pain, the source of the pain may not be the origin of the real problem. Finding the true source of pain – past rejection, unacknowledged abuse, subtle slights, and misinterpreted motives – helps us to get the help we need to start the journey toward wholeness.

Acknowledging Our Situation 
Denying that you are hurting is not going to help you get well. Whether the pain be physical, spiritual, or emotional, covering up our pain with positivity, soothing it with dysfunctional habits, or calming it with retaliation will not take the pain away, although it may send it to other areas of our lives and inflict it on others. Once we admit our physical symptoms may point toward greater problems, our physician can offer helpful suggestions, and when we concede that our pain is too intense to endure on our own, others can help us move toward recovery.

Gaining Perspective 
Pain is inevitable, and each of us will have our portion of it at some point. Although healing takes time and patience, healing is possible — in most cases healing is easier than we might expect. Just as the therapy that can be required after surgery is tedious and painful, the new perspective that eventually results is worth the deeper pain of the surgery and therapy. Being healthy is always good, and when we find ourselves openly embracing unhealthy habits, relationships, dreams, and possibilities, we must listen to the voices inside our heads and those caring friends who offer us insight.

Offering a Healthier Response
A counselor friend of mine often talks about how difficult and lengthy recovery from significant trauma can take – sometimes weeks, months, or years. Sometimes we get lulled into thinking that our pain is ours and there is no other way for us but a painful path. I have even known some people, as have you, who were defined by their pain. In other words, the pain of the past was allowed to become the defining moment of their lives, the place that they often visit and the place from which everything else was expressed. Pain does not have the final word in our lives unless we allow it such unleashed power.

Stepping into Pain 
 Since pain is inevitable and different types of pain will be ours with which to contend, we must learn to offer healthier responses to pain – we must learn to function healthfully in the middle of our own pain and the pain of others. For instance, we can choose whether we allow the same people and the same circumstances to hurt us over and over. We can choose to ignore physical and emotional situations that point toward deeper root causes. We can choose to embrace habits that give us strength and energy even when those around us choose destructive paths. We can choose to take time away and limit the work that we accept even when others continue their work-addicted behaviors.

Learning from Pain 
 Ultimately, pain can be our teacher, and many of the most important lessons in life are learned through pain. While some people are geared to learn from the mistakes of those around them, others seem to have to experience pain themselves before they truly learn. Both options can be good teachers; however, the latter leaves us with far more scars and bruises along the way. In talking with people whom I consider wise, I have learned that many of their most impactful lessons were learned in the middle of intensely painful situations and experiences.

Moving Forward 
 There is life in and beyond pain, and it is ours to choose. What are your sources of pain? What pain is yours that you’ve learned to numb and not feel? What pain has plagued you for months, years, or decades that you are not acknowledging? What physical or emotional pain needs the diagnosis and attention of a professional health care provider? What pain are you experiencing that simply needs time away in a different climate and atmosphere to heal?

Serving others well requires us to be in the best condition – physically, emotionally, and spiritually – that we can muster. Investing large sums of energy in personal pain management when it can be avoided is always a poor waste of our time and vigor – time that could be better invested in those we love and those who love us.

]]><![CDATA[4 Critical Building Blocks of Music Ministry]]>Tue, 05 May 2015 20:05:39 GMThttp://www.randallbradley.com/blog/-4-critical-building-blocks-of-music-ministryPicture
The Music Ministry Quadrilateral

Being a musician of the church has never been more challenging. With an ever growing body of knowledge, skills, and materials, a diverse body of believers to whom to minister, and a complex cultural context, ministers who serve through music need to do, be, know, and understand more than ever before.

At Baylor, our students have given David Music, Terry York, and me, the designations of “Dr. What,” “Dr. Why,” and “Dr. How.” With our new church music colleague, Monique Ingalls, coming on board soon, there’s already been speculation of where her distinctive skills and abilities will fit into this morphing quadrilateral configuration. Speculation is that she might be dubbed “Dr. Who?” These designations by our students, however much in jest they might be intended, have caused me to think about what students should be equipped to know, be able to do, challenged to believe, and empowered to be.
What?

What is it that we do? What do we need to know?

Such information as theory, history, vocal pedagogy, technological know how, theology, and biblical studies fit within this category. In order to function in music ministry for a lifetime, we must be knowledgeable about what we do. Facts and information are important. While much (most) information is readily available to us, a large body of knowledge needs to be recalled without hesitation. This often-used information is the “stuff” that we call forth in rehearsals, the fodder for after worship conversations with congregants, and the knowledge base that allows us to have meaningful conversations with our colleagues in other churches and with musicians in the larger community with whom we are always building bridges and collaborating.

Why?

Why does music ministry matter? What philosophical linchpins ground your church’s music and worship ministry?

Without a solid understanding of why we do what we do, music ministry will lack depth and substance. While worship may occur, and leadership may be enlisted and go through the motions, the foundation that sustains others and us will be missing, and we will find ourselves continually in shallow waters. While others around us are asking deeper questions and pressing for substance, we will be unable to help them explore more profound ideas.

How?

What are the tools of our trade? How is knowledge assimilated and philosophy enacted? How is theology lived out?

Without a solid preparation in worship leadership skills, conducting, singing, playing, administrating, facilitating, etc., our knowledge and depth will fail to be shared with others and make its intended impact. I have observed a number of music and worship leaders along the way who know “what” and “why” but lack the practical and strategic abilities to enact ideas, and motivate people. Being able to use as much of what we know and believe as possible helps to ensure ministry effectiveness.

Who?

Who are the people we serve? What motivates them? How are they influenced by their culture, and how do we engage them meaningfully?

Ultimately, people are at the heart of all ministry. Without people there is no church, there are no ministers, and worship in community is not possible. As we move forward in the work of ministry, deeper understandings of people will be increasingly important. As individual needs become greater, an increasingly complex cultural milieu more challenging to negotiate, and choices more varied and enticing, our understanding of the people to whom we minster must be more sophisticated and our approaches more nuanced.

Conclusion

These four markers that we might use to anchor a balanced music and worship ministry are not hierarchical with one being most important and another being least important. They are all valuable and should be fully integrated in a way that they are free flowing and hardly recognizable as independent entities.

In an ideal scenario, all are present; yet, none draws attention to itself. For example what we know doesn’t overwhelm the people we serve, and our philosophical and theological identity is in line with our methodology. Getting stuck at any point in this “What,” “Why,” “How,” and “Who,” quadrilateral can hinder us from the steady flow of each component that is needed.

Going Further

So, what do we do with this? What effect does who, what, how, and why have on the local context of the ministry in which we are engaged? Consider the following:

• Discuss with a trusted congregant or colleague how he/she sees you related to these four components of ministry.

• Write these distinctives down and post them in a prominent place to remind you of needed balance.

• Evaluate your rehearsals and ministry encounters based on these four pillars and discern where you stand.

• Attend a workshop this summer, and participate in classes that shore up areas where you perceive you need strengthening.

]]><![CDATA[ Four Useful Worship Leadership Options ]]>Mon, 06 Apr 2015 14:21:19 GMThttp://www.randallbradley.com/blog/-four-useful-worship-leadership-optionsPicture
Musicians of the Church Are Artists 
 Musicians of the church are artists, and we value creativity and innovation. We thrive when we minister in congregations that call us to imagine new ways of designing and leading the work of the church – for us, mainly worship.

Artists who serve the church become discouraged when liturgy is locked-in by stifling sameness, lack of permission to experiment, colleagues who fail to search for fresh materials, and congregations who defend lackluster worship participation. However, the good news for music and worship leaders who serve in this time in history is that creativity and innovation is prized and valued.
Most congregations and ministry colleagues value leadership that is characterized by freshness and imagination. In fact, I haven’t heard of a music and worship leader being dismissed for innovative leadership in a long time – perhaps for not valuing the church’s tradition and moving too quickly to impose his or her ideas without authentically listening to the stories and experiences of the congregation – but that is quite a different ministry misstep.

However, a word of explanation might be important to distinguish between true creativity and innovation and “radical change.” What the church needs is not “radical change.”

All good leadership within the church is characterized by the leader’s ability to learn carefully the church’s liturgical history, listen to the worship experiences that have shaped the congregant’s lives, assess the skills and abilities of its current music and arts leadership team, gauge the flexibility of other ministry colleagues, and gently lead the church to experience new worship forms and expressions over time. In discussing ministry, the words “radical” and “leadership” do not usually coexist. How do we lead in this positive change that we have described?

We minister in an ever-changing culture in which very little could be described as static. When we go to our local grocery, we expect the displays to change each week and occasionally for the store to be rearranged. When we frequent a favorite restaurant, we expect sporadic new dishes and daily specials – but not replacing the tried and true favorites. When we visit a department store, we expect new merchandise, seasonal fabric and color shifts, and updated styles.

Yet, for some churches, these normal and expected shifts are minimal and sometimes even hard to detect. In a rapidly changing culture, the church should be a stable and foundational component of our community; however, the church must also be characterized by fresh expressions which reflect the newness of the Christ we serve.

Four Design Options 
 As we look to leading in creative and innovative worship expressions, the following four worship design/leadership options have been helpful my students and me:

Repetition (same place, same method) 
 This worship design model in which we do the same liturgical elements each week in the same manner is not creative nor innovative. For instance, this method retains the same liturgical order (which for some of our congregations is important) but also carries out the liturgical element in the same way – the congregational songs are accompanied by the same instruments, introduced in the same way, led by the same group from the same position, etc.

Interestingly, this is not a method that is exclusive to a liturgical congregation in which all musical elements are led from the organ; it is just as prominent in a congregation in which all congregational songs are led by a band in a similarly-designed twenty minute continuous song set each week. Both formulas are lacking creativity and innovation.

Refreshment (same place, different method) 
 This worship design/leadership model offers a constructive option. It allows for developing or maintaining a consistent liturgical pattern (which offers stability to the congregation) while also providing interest and freshness through presenting and doing liturgical elements in different ways – introducing songs in different ways; accompanying musical elements differently; praying in different patterns, locations, and methods; and reading scripture in different places, by different people, etc.

Reposition (different place, same method)  
This worship design/leadership model might be described as a “cut and paste” option since it retains the same elements but mixes up their sequence in order to offer worship that might be perceived as fresh and different.

Refreshment and Reposition (different place, different method) 
This worship design/leadership model is the most radical of the four options mentioned because it has the ability to make the congregation uneasy since they can neither readily predict the order of their worship nor the methods utilized. However, it is an effective model for some innovative and experimental groups who have been conditioned to be flexible and adaptive. Most often this model works well for special seasons of the year, large celebrations, infrequent worship gatherings, and other times in which the congregation’s expectation is set for something novel.

Moving Forward 
While “repetition” is rarely an effective worship design/leadership model, neither is “refreshment and reposition.” However, “refreshment” and “reposition” offer tremendous possibility for congregations desiring greater creativity and fresher worship experiences. In my experience, I have found that “refreshment” with occasional “reposition” offers the level of innovative expression that most congregations desire and affirm.

Simply moving elements around for the sake of creativity can quickly become gimmicky and trite; and furthermore, this option often leaves the congregation feeling groundless and confused. Continually seeking ways to introduce and lead the basic elements of worship that comprise worship of all congregations regardless of liturgical tradition or style preferences offers both an ongoing challenge for artistic worship leaders and a welcome departure from the sameness that might have characterized worship of a different era.
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