Last year at this time, I was part of a team that launched Connexus Community Church. As the Associate Director of Music, my role was to lead a team of musicians that provided worship experiences for five different environments. I had been performing the same role when we were at Trinity, however at some point during the transition something changed. My role was becoming less about leading worship and more about leading people who lead worship.

I wasn’t ready for the switch. I was moving from the role of player to coach far too quickly for my comfort. It was a change I hadn’t anticipated (even though I had been warned).

Jordan at Worship Trench posted an email he received from his church’s executive pastor in response to a question about shifting into a more executive role:

Yes. You should start feeling much more like a coach than a player. A coach is watching his players and highlighting when they do things right and how they can develop the areas that still need work. You also begin to think of the “what if” situations and train and prepare for those. Probably the best teaching coach I’ve ever seen was John Wooden. There are a ton of books on his coaching and his development thinking. You may find them fasinating [sic].

It’s not that I don’t want to coach one day. However, I still feel like I’m learning the game, let alone being an all-star player! Now I haven’t played the game in over 8 months. I don’t know if I ever will.

※ Permalink for “Executive” published on date_to_rfc822