Love and War Worship

We had a conversation with Jo Saxton to discuss women in modern worship leadership. For us, this quickly became one of the most enlightening discussions regarding what women feel when they look across the landscape of leadership and growth opportunities in their contexts. We discuss the theology of women leading in congregational settings, as well as the issues of confidence, and the opportunity cost of not allowing women to lead. That’s what today’s episode is all about.

We believe that many worship leaders want the ability to hear from their Heavenly Father and a better working theology of the Holy Spirit. Yet, we don’t always know what God's voice is and how to begin to recognize how he may be getting our attention. So we brought in some help, our friends Michael and Terri Sullivant, to begin to demystify hearing God’s voice. That’s what today’s episode is all about.

All of us want a genuine, passionate relationship with Jesus, but all too often things feel flat - sometimes it even feels like the lights have gone out, the passion has faded, and the joy we once felt is gone. Is this the life God intends for us? Can we find a way back to a joy-filled life in God? We believe you can, and we’ve personally found help. We are glad to introduce you to our friends, John and Sungshim Loppnow, who we believe can help you find a way home to hearing God once again through the practices of quieting and interactive gratitude. That’s what today’s episode is all about.

We know today’s worship leaders want to be healthy leaders who can remain their best selves when life gets tough. Leadership can be hard - we know what it’s like for the whole PA to go down during rehearsal - or for half the band to be late on Easter Sunday, or trying to lead after a fight with your spouse. In these moments people in our lives become problems we’re trying to solve, rather than people we enjoy and to whom we can relate. So we’ve brought in some help! In today’s episode, we talk to author Marcus Warner about what both brain science and scripture tell about healthy relationships - and how joy is key to becoming a healthy person and leader. That’s what today’s episode is all about.

All of us want a life that looks like Jesus’ life. But it just seems there is a gravitational pull away from a life shaped by Jesus, toward a life that is shaped by other things. In this episode we examine the things that shape our life as leaders - and we take a good, hard look at the shape of Jesus’ life - and ask what we could do to grow a more Jesus-shaped life ourselves. That’s what today’s episode is all about.

We know today’s modern worship leader wants to live from their best self, the truest self, their real identity. Many find themselves battling with the insecurity of false-self and unhealthy ego that leaves them grasping for approval and acceptance, rather than resting in the simple truth of who they are in Christ. In this episode, Bart Tarman shares wisdom on how to discover our healthy ego and ways to offer it back to God as an act of worship.

We know today’s worship leaders live in a world that’s largely shaped by performance on Sunday. Yet many worship leaders are waking up with a hunger for a life that looks more authentically like Jesus’ life, which was not shaped by performance, but rather his identity in his father and the development of others. So in today’s episode we talk to Mike Breen about the difference between performance-based culture and identity-based culture.

All of us want to know we have a place to belong, and a purpose to live for that’s bigger than our own life. We believe young leaders today hope for friends who follow Jesus together, in what feels like family, and purpose in their local context that exhibits the love of Jesus and the power of his Kingdom. If we had to give this longing a name, it would be “spiritual family.” That’s what this episode is all about.

We would bet the worship leader that is still with us at this point in season one is asking questions about living life on mission. In today’s episode we are defining what “mission” means to us, and giving some practical tips on how to live on purpose where you live. That's what today's episode is all about.

What is the primary calling of our lives as modern worship leaders? Our time, thought, energy and creativity go to all things related to worship leadership; yet, Jesus has given his followers a universal command found in Matt. 28: 18-20 known as the Great Commission. The call is to make disciples that can make disciples. This call is Jesus’ plan to fill the earth with the Good News of the Kingdom of God, and he apparently gave us no plan B. That is what Episode 9 is all about.

In this episode, Jon and Jack answer recorded questions submitted by the Love and War community. We explore questions like: - The role of women in this movement. - The relationship between the Senior Pastor and the Worship Leader. - What about worship in missional communities that have no skilled musicians? - What does multiplication look like? - What does taking worship on mission look like for those who are trained worship leaders but are no longer working at a church? - How to take these ideas into the contexts we currently work in. We hope you enjoy this episode!

Discover Your Base Gift (Episode 7) by Love+War

In last week’s episode, we examined the two primary themes of scripture - Covenant and Kingdom. We considered how God has called us, like a father, into a covenant RELATIONSHIP through his son, Jesus. God is not only a good Father but also a good King who has given us a RESPONSIBILITY to extend his kingdom in our world in his authority and power. So today - Jon is sharing a story of a vision God has given him - modern worship leaders taking worship on mission.

We believe today’s modern worship leader needs a better, simpler, working theology of worship. The Bible, if it were boiled down to two primary themes would be this - God the Father has called us into a covenant relationship with his son, Jesus, the King, and Jesus has given us a responsibility to manifest his kingdom through our lives - and the life of the church. In this episode, we are going to discuss how the covenant theme has predominantly shaped the modern worship movement - and what it might look like to mature and develop kingdom themes - both in songwriting and in our real lives.

We believe there is a new kind of worship leader who is becoming more and more fascinated with living more like Jesus beyond Sunday. We also believe because this is also our experience, that nearly everything in life, many times even ministry, itself, feels like it’s going against that desire. So, In today’s episode, we are discussing three ways to live a more Jesus-shaped life.

We believe success and greatness for today’s modern worship leader are being defined by what they see and hear coming from the worship leaders who have gone before them. Many times that success looks like celebrity, notoriety, influence, and greater bandwidth. Our question is what is success for the modern worship leader according to Jesus - and how could an audit of his life change the landscape of modern worship leadership into the 21st century? That’s what today’s episode is all about.

We know today’s modern worship leader loves the church. We do too. But, we are hearing, after many, many conversations, that though they are giving most of their time, energy, and creativity to making a church service or organization BIGGER - most young worship leaders, on a heart level - are craving something SMALLER. We hear they want friends that feel like family beyond Sunday and more purpose in the world outside the church. So, as much as we love the extra-ordinary church services, arena conferences, and concerts too - we believe small, authentic and personal environments are something to talk about in regards to the future of worship leadership. That’s what today’s episode is all about.

Welcome to the Love and War Worship Podcast! We want to welcome you to what we believe will be a new conversation in modern worship leadership. We love the modern worship leader. We love all they care about - their church, their bands, how to lead and rehearse their band, their songs, how to find new songs, how to help your congregation worship more passionately, on and on - we would love to talk about those things with you over dinner soon. However, as much as we love talking about this stuff, we want to host a conversation that we just don’t hear happening these days. We want to look deeply into the life and example of Jesus. We want to look at where his time went, who he spent his time with, how he went about doing this thing we all do called “ministry.” In essence, we want to have a conversation about how to re-learn him, and how to re-learn making him known in the respective places we all live. Things are changing in America pretty quickly these days. The assumptions we used to be able to make about a lot of things probably need to be reviewed - we’d throw this thing called “modern worship leadership” at the top of the list, because, well, it’s what we do, and it’s who we are. We would love to see a movement of worship happen that moves toward ordinary places, authentic places, broken places, places that need hope, and healing, and promise, and we’d love to encourage the worship leader who has been tracking with us in this conversation. We want to be the wind in their sales. So, let’s get started.