Worship and the Church micro conference encourages attendees to focus on Scripture

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary hosted a “Worship and the Church” micro conference on Jan. 30, welcoming more than 200 pastors, worship leaders, church musicians, and ministry teams for a day focused on strengthening worship in the life of the local church grounded in Scripture, ending with a concert by Christian artists Shane & Shane attended by 1,400.

Presented by the School of Church Music and Worship in partnership with SBC Worship and The Worship Initiative, the one-day conference brought together participants from across the nation and a variety of ministry contexts for teaching, breakout sessions, and worship. The gathering sought to equip those serving in worship ministry with theological guidance, ideas, and lessons they could take back home to their churches.

The conference opened with a plenary session from Robbie Seay of The Worship Initiative, based upon Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 as he emphasized the importance of worship within a congregation.

“We look to the New Testament, which is filled with instructions for singing, filled with instructions for leading the people of God in worship,” Seay said. “We sing to God, we sing to one another, we sing always for the glory of God. We are commanded to sing.”

Seay addressed the role of worship leadership in shaping the church’s theology and practice, referring to the more than 400 times the word “song” or an act of singing is mentioned throughout the Bible. Seay also spoke of the importance of everyone in the congregation singing, regardless of talent level, clarifying it is the meaning of the action itself and not the quality that is most important.

“God gave you a voice not to impress Him, not to wow Him or others, but to cry out to Him and worship,” Seay said. “He wants to hear your heart when you sing. And when you do, that is the joyful noise unto the Lord that He takes great delight.”

A second plenary session was led by Joe Crider, dean of the School of Church Music and Worship. Focused on the scriptural calling to lead in worship, Crider preached from 2 Samuel 24 noting the Lord’s forgivemeness comes through correct and obedient worship.

“Literally, what’s at stake on Sunday mornings is our people’s view of who God is and their response to Him,” Crider said. “The work of worship leading is a weighty and incredibly important stewardship.”

Noting the “deconstruction” movement by those who once claimed to be Christian but have left the faith, Crider pointed to a lack of connectivity in the church being a root cause of this before pivoting to solutions through more intentional, Scripture-led worship.

“If your people’s definition of worship or your church’s definition of liturgy is woven together by a thread that looks and sounds like music, that definition of worship falls woefully short of what the Bible teaches,” Crider said. “… Brothers and sisters, we don’t gather around music, we gather around Jesus Christ who never changes, and the Word of God that never returns void.”

He encouraged the attendees to focus more on worship in their personal lives, woven more closely around the Scripture, saying the intentionality of it would lead into Sunday mornings.

“Worship leading on Sunday mornings begins with and is literally powered by the daily, beautiful habit of our individual worship life,” Crider said. “We cannot lead where we have not been.”

Attendees participated in a series of afternoon breakout sessions addressing both creative and pastoral dimensions of worship ministry with church worship leaders, as well as Southwestern faculty, students, and alumni leading many of the sessions.

In one session, Josh Duncan, worship leader from Northway Church in Dallas, spoke of the importance of encouraging new songwriting within one’s congregation, referencing Isaiah 42, Revelation 5, among a range of other passages that call for the church body to continue bringing new songs of praise to the Lord.

“It’s like the Lord’s way of saying, ‘We’re not dead,’” Duncan said. “We can write thousands upon thousands of new songs, and the Lord wouldn’t say, ‘Don’t sing your song.’ We’re barely scratching the surface of understanding His character, His heart for His people, His faithfulness, His grandeur, and His sovereignty.”

Duncan emphasized the importance of Scripture-based songwriting, focusing on the need to spread the Gospel through worship in the church. He encouraged the session attendees not to be motivated to write songs from “themselves” but from the sovereign Word of Christ.

“Grow to understand Scripture and what God is revealing Himself to be, and you will not only grow as a songwriter, but more importantly you will grow in your love of the Lord,” Duncan said.

Another session focused on ministering to and with your family. Led by Jerry Newman, a worship pastor at Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas, with four decades of experience, and Arianna Freelen, the director of worship at Cana Church in Burleson, Texas, the session began with a question of introspection.

“Am I building a legacy of faith with my family or am I building a resume in worship ministry?” Freelen asked. “Because it is possible to lead people into God’s presence publicly while slowly drifting from the people closest to us privately.”

They spoke on the importance of continuously fostering faith in the household rather than just before a congregation on Sunday morning.

“You can build beautiful worship moments on a platform and still neglect the house God asks you to build first,” Newman said. “If our worship only works on platform, it will not last at home. Which is why we’ve come to say your first congregation is your family.”

They spoke on Scripture-based lessons taught to their own children at home and the importance of consistency between the worship stage and the kitchen, emphasizing the importance of practicing what you sing. Newman recalled his own father, a worship leader as well, doing just that.

“One thing that helped me as a kid growing up was just to know that my dad was the same guy on the platform as he was at home,” Newman said. “He didn’t put something on. What I saw at home was exactly what they’re getting [at church]. People used to ask, ‘What’s it like to live with him?’ It was exactly like what you see.”

Additional breakout sessions addressed approaching the call to ministry, the importance of livestreaming in the modern age, women in worship ministry, how to solve conflict in ministry, how to build an audio/visual team to meet a church’s needs, and a variety of other topics addressing the spiritual and practical issues faced by worship leaders. These sessions encouraged participants to consider not only the skills required for worship leadership, but also the spiritual disciplines and communal support necessary for ministry longevity.

The conference concluded with an evening concert and time of worship with Shane & Shane, the combination of solo artists Shane Barnard and Shane Everett, who have been writing songs and touring the country for more than 15 years and founded The Worship Initiative out of a desire to provide resources and training to worship leaders. The concert was open to the community and also featured the SCMW choir performing with Shane & Shane for a portion of the concert.

Crider said he was pleased with the conference’s turnout and the effort put in by the students and Southwestern community as a whole to make it happen.

“We’re just really, really thankful,” Crider said. “I think the most amazing thing about this conference was the mobilization of our students and the way they volunteered and the way they served.”