I’ve asked Jason Hatley, my Pastor of Worship Arts at The Journey and founder of WorshipLeaderInsights.com, to share some thoughts today on a topic that affects many pastors AND worship leaders every day:

What are your Pressure Points?

Jason Hatley here . . .  Pastor of Worship Arts at The Journey Church.

“Pressure Points” is a phrase I use in my Worship Pastor Tele-Coaching Networks to describe any area of your ministry that is putting extra pressure on you right now.

It could be the pressure of adding a new service, dealing with a difficult team member, needing to add new volunteers to your team, implementing a new system in your team, or a rift in your relationship with your pastor.

(If you have all five of the above I would say you have more than a Pressure Point . . . you have a Pressure Cooker in the works).

Pressure Points can be new initiatives, current challenges, or old problems that won’t go away.

We will always have Pressure Points in ministry. And some are better than others. Let me explain.

For many pastors and worship leaders their greatest pressure points come from old issues that haven’t been dealt with. For instance, the member of your team who is wrecking your sanity, your leadership and your team culture that you just haven’t had the hard conversation with yet. It creates undue amounts of pressure on you and your team and left unchecked will blow up on you.

Not to be overly obvious, but that’s the kind of pressure point you don’t want.

However, some Pressure Points are good. They are new ideas that you are trying out. It’s causing some extra stress, but you know when you get through it your team and your ministry will be better for it.

You will never eliminate Pressure Points from your ministry. Like the human body, you must have some good ‘stress’ in your life because that’s what allows your muscles to work and literally hold you upright. This good stress is called “eustress”.

However, what we want to try to do in leading our teams is eliminate the bad stress, or what we call “distress”. (Just saying the word adds stress to your life).

So – here are 3 ways to overcome your Pressure Points.

#1 – Confront Your Pressure Points.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but some people in ministry deal with Pressure Points by running away from them. It could be avoiding a difficult conversation with a staff or team member. Or putting off finding a solution to a difficult challenge indefinitely. Some even try to escape the pressures of ministry through wasting time on less important matters.

As those in my coaching networks have heard me say many times before, we have to “Run to Conflict” and deal with our Pressure Points head on. The longer you ignore a Pressure Point the more difficult it will be to solve.
#2 – Grow Through Your Pressure Points

The reason your current Pressure Points exist in your life right now is because God wants you to grow through them.  As Rick Warren said in The Purpose Driven Life, “God is more interested in your character than your comfort.” So look at your current Pressure Point as an opportunity for spiritual, personal, and ministry growth.

These leadership and growth challenges are areas that the professors in my Sacred Music program didn’t prepare me for in college.

But they are at the very heart of leading thriving worship teams in our churches.
#3 – Get advice from someone who has been where you are . . . and succeeded through it.

One of the best ways to grow through a Pressure Point is to talk to someone who has “been there, done that.”

This is something I find myself doing regularly. After all learning from the mistakes and successes of others is far less painful than learning the same lessons on my own.

And then be ready to return what you’ve learned to others who may find themselves in the same place down the road. That’s the kingdom mindset that I have used for the past 5 years as I have personally coached nearly 200 Worship Leaders through my Worship Leader Tele-Coaching Networks.

You see, every year I personally coach a select group of worship leaders and for 12 months we work through how to implement proven systems to help you overcome the major Pressure Points and challenges in ministry that we face. Challenges like:

- Personal Growth and Leadership Development

- The Pastor / Worship Pastor Relationship

- Systems for planning God-honoring, life-transformational worship services

- How to double your worship team and lead them at the next level

- And many others.

It’s a fast-paced and fun learning environment with a great group of growing leaders. It’s not right for everyone, so you will have to decide, but if you are interested in learning how you can join the next network starting on Friday, October 14 the complete details can be found here – www.worshipleaderinsights.com/coaching.

Your partner in ministry,

Jason

P.S. Now is the time to apply for my new Worship Pastor Tele-Coaching Network – for all the details and to apply now, visit:

www.worshipleaderinsights.com/coaching