I’ve been a musician for over 33 years.

In that time I’ve played in garage bands, bar bands, recording bands, outdoor festival bands and one national act, and I can honestly say that the toughest musical challenge I’ve ever faced is being a church worship leader (I’ve been one for 17 years now). For most churches, it’s like being in a different band every week doing different songs with different sound guys behind the board and everyone involved is at a very different place in the development of their gifts and their ages. Not to mention occasionally playing for sometimes unreceptive audiences with a wide variety of musical tastes. Don’t get me wrong, I love leading worship and God has taught me a lot about being a musician and a Christian through the experience. It’s just that to be successful at it, I had to develop a whole new skill set and mind set. Today’s worship leader needs to be a competent musician and vocalist, a good administrator, a shepherd, a leader, a good public speaker and a diplomat who is calm under fire and can deal well with stress. I read somewhere recently that the average amount of time that a worship leader stays in the same church is 3 years, and no wonder.

I’m still leading worship on Sundays, but being part of Blacksmith is a very welcome addition. It’s finally giving me the chance to work with the same group of talented musicians, developing and really refining original music. I have not lost my heart for worship leaders and worship teams though and so the next phase of Blacksmith and our website will be aimed at equipping them and connecting them with each other.

I remember going to a Willow Creek Summit conference years ago and sitting in a room with over 30 other worship leaders from around the country. We sat for a couple of hours just sharing secrets and tips, encouraging one another, helping each other with “sticky” church situations and just feeling understood. It was a powerful and empowering experience. Our hope for the next phase of Blacksmith is that we can create that same kind of experience on-line for worship leaders and teams around the world. We hope you’ll stay tuned to help build this “summit” with us.