The Call to Lead: New City Music
MOSES. For most the name conjures up thoughts of this great leader who lead God’s people out of an enslaving nation. Some thoughts may even harken back to the bearded Charlton Heston. Moses, a guy who fearfully obeyed God’s calling to stand before the Pharaoh and brazenly ask to let his people go, his entire workforce mind you! The guy who lead people through dry land through what I can only imagine the most magnificent hallway made of ocean water anyone could ever imagine, escaping the Pharaohs pursuit. The one who's face was glowing after conversing with God Almighty and brought down the ten commandment written on stone tablets. Talk about some HUGE mile”stones” to tell your kids and grandkids!! (See what I did there?)
There’s one accomplishment of his that I have overlooked: Making disciples. As great as Moses was, he was finite. Life would end eventually. The people would still need a leader. “He understood that leadership is always a temporary assignment—always.” In Exodus we read as Moses was carrying on his duties and his life in general, Joshua was there by his side. He personally invited and invested in Joshua. Joshua was by his side on Mt. Sinai when God gave Moses the ten commandments, when Moses smashed the Ten Commandment tablets with a righteous anger, when Moses communed with the Father in the Tent of Meetings. When the time came for Moses to pass on, Joshua was ready to lead the people.
In recent weeks the staff and elders have been going through Designed to Lead. The book urges for leaders to be raised up in the church. The motivation here is not to have others do the work. Rather, the motivation is to see God’s work continue on and be done well as well as to see God’s work in the hearts of His people. How irresponsible it is to think that the entirety of going and making disciples and reaching the community is left up to one or a few on staff!
The leadership at New City has been planning and discussing how to best disciple others. How do we go about this? What is the best system for this? We have been working on leadership pipelines in our respective areas of ministry. There’s still a lot of tweaking and fine tuning but we believe it is going to be great for the future of New City and ultimately for the future of God’s work here in Macon, GA.
WORSHIP PIPELINE
Each of the pipelines are based on this flow chart:
In the area of Music/Worship, here are the levels of leadership:
Lead Self: Musician | Talented and gifted with the ability to play instruments or sing and are willing to serve and lead through music on Sunday mornings
Lead Others: Liturgist | Writes, plans, and leads through the gospel-centered liturgy on Sunday morning
Lead Leaders: Music Director | Organizes and leads musicians in band practice who is well-acquainted with song structure and music theory
Lead Ministry: Worship Director | Guides the mission and vision of the ministry and supports the leaders
“After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. ”
Though the transition of leadership from Moses to Joshua was smooth, natural, and well thought out, Joshua’s leadership tells a completely different story. Nowhere do we see Joshua actively raising and discipling others. The tragic conclusion of his leadership was that the next generation did not know the Lord or His works. (Judg. 2:8,10) This is a sobering warning to the church and it’s leaders. We need to be continually discipling leaders more and more leaders. Our desire is not to simply replace ourselves or lighten the load, but to prepare leaders to go and serve and lead not only within the church body but wherever God has planted us in life.
If you want to read our previous blogs in this series click here and in the search bar type, “The Call to Lead.”