Impacting Your Church to Worship

By Dwayne Moore

My father passed away when I was 10. God immediately began to send godly men into my life to mentor me. Out of their love for the Lord and love for me, they took me under their wing. They made a huge impact on me. These men taught me how to worship God and love Him in my daily life.

Even more than those pastors, the person that influenced me the most was my mom. Her name was Virginia Moore. She had a bakery, and she worked very hard. She had a phenomenal sense of humor. All the students at church loved her. She built a youth group on the biscuits and gravy she made every Sunday evening at her home. Mom didn’t have the appeal of being young. But she didn’t let that stop her from trying to minister to students. Her appeal was through their stomachs with her cooking, and she built a youth group on great food and sincere love!

One day she called me and said, “Dwayne, I want to take my youth group on a trip.” She’d built a youth group in this tiny church because nobody else would work with them. She stepped up and worked with them when she was nearly 70 years old. She took 15 students with her on this retreat and 5 of them got saved. It was awesome. 33% of her youth group got saved. This is the legacy she left. When people came into her bake shop, she witnessed every time she could and shared her faith. I saw that growing up; I saw her passion. She was my greatest example and mentor in my early spiritual and leadership formation. She modeled for a lifestyle of true worship to God.

I share this to talk about legacy with you. Whether you’re part time, full time or a volunteer in a ministry position, whether you have a small band or a large choir, this teaching applies to everyone. One of our primary reasons to being on the earth is to pass on to others what God has taught us and teach them to worship Him.

Mentoring is the key.

Like 2 Timothy 2:2 says, Paul said to Timothy, “The things you’ve heard from me, share with others that are trustworthy that they will share with other reliable people.” Paul listed four generations of passing it on; it’s what we’re supposed to do as well. But somehow along the way we’ve separated, we’ve missed the point. We’ve separated the idea of discipleship from mentoring. However, they were never supposed to be separated. That was Paul’s way of making disciples. He poured in to key people like that.

There are people we should intentionally pour into that will help us build a ministry that lasts. More importantly, we can help build people that last.

The last verse of Psalm 90 says, “May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us. Establish the work of our hands. Yes, establish the work of our hands.” Because David knew his life was short. That’s what that whole chapter is about. We may live 70 years or 80 if we have the strength, and then our days quickly pass, and we fly away. In other words, we die. David said, “Teach us to number our days correctly, that we may gain a heart of wisdom,” and then he ends it with “May the favor of the Lord rest upon us. Establish the work of our hands.” That should be our prayer too.

The priority of mentoring came strong on me when I was 23 years old. That’s when this reality began to land in my heart, so I know it’s not about an age. It’s about when God gets us to a point in our maturity that we can begin to think beyond ourselves and our little world, and we begin to look around to who’s around us that God wants us to pour into, regardless of whether they help us or not. This is extremely important when mentoring. You don’t do it so that you’ll get helped. That’s what training does; however, I’m talking about something at a higher level than that. It’s when we feel called to pour into people–regardless of whether they ever come back and help us or not. We do it because it’s our passion. That’s what those pastors did for me. They didn’t do it hoping I would work at their church one day. They did it because they loved the Lord and they loved me.

What is something you want others to remember?

If you leave a ministry or a church and go somewhere else, what are you hoping people remember from your time with them? The reality is we will all be replaced at some point. We have whatever time God allows us to have to make the greatest impact we can make. But the question is, what kind of impact are we hoping to make.

Imagine a drop of water lands in a pool of water and it ripples out from the center. It starts with our own personal influence, which begins with our own personal heart. It begins with us. We have to work on ourselves first. That’s influence.

Then it ripples on out to impact. Out of your own personal growth and the Holy Spirit flowing from you, you can begin to impact your team and church.

A couple of weeks ago I was at The Pointe Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana leading a ReNEW Conference. I met with the leadership of their worship ministry on Friday evening before the conference on Saturday. We met in a gorgeous penthouse on the top floor of a downtown apartment building. Their worship pastor, Josh Anders, brought his key leaders together for me to teach and get to know.

The next day at his church Josh wanted me to listen to their youth band practicing. The youth pastor was there leading the group. He’s a sharp young guy who is working with their students and leading the youth band. He was so proud of what those students were doing. On the way out, Josh turned to me and with a big smile said, “That guy was one of the very first people I mentored here.” He said, “He wasn’t even on staff at the time. He was volunteering as our drummer. We had no idea he would become a staff member and pour into others like he does.”

I believe that is why God is blessing that church and ministry. As I looked around that night in that penthouse at those 20 or so leaders, every one of them had been poured into and impacted somehow by Josh. Some had been mentored by others on the team who had been influenced by Josh and was passing on what they’d learned.

If you want to build a lasting ministry, build a culture of mentoring within your ministry.

If you’ve read my book, Pure Praise, you know how I followed the life of Asaph. I love how God kept elevating his leadership over time. If you look years down the road, Asaph continued to make an impact. Even after he was dead, there were still references of people he’d trained. They were all excellent musicians that God was still using. It was from the influence of Asaph.

Why should we teach our congregation about worship?

I believe the most important way we can leave a legacy is through teaching others to love God and other people. This is your opportunity through your church position to influence people to understand and experience deeper worship.

“When God spoke from Mount Sinai, his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise. Once again, I will shake not only the earth but the heavens. Also, this means that all of creation will be shaken and removed so that only unshakable things will remain since we are receiving a kingdom that is unshakable. Let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. Our God is a devouring or consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:26-29 NLT).

The way we please him is by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. Therefore, we need to be about the business of teaching people how to do that. If what pleases God is worshiping him with holy fear and awe, then who’s teaching them how to worship Him in spirit and truth? I think we need to be intentional. The passage in Hebrews is vitally important because it raises the standard of true worship way up.

So, why should we teach our congregation about worship? Because worship is a big deal to God. Another motivating reason is that discipleship is important to God (and hopefully to your pastor as well).

You and I have to be pouring into our own team. We need to also make sure the congregation, as much as we can, is being taught. We can’t and shouldn’t try to take the place of the lead pastor. I’m certainly not suggesting you preach a message on Sunday mornings when you should be singing. However, there are ways we can all influence our congregations to greater depths of worship. We can make a lasting impact through worship that carries into our church members’ daily lives.

This article is taken from Dwayne’s teaching in his LEGACY Coaching Phase. For more information about Worship Leader Coaching, go here.

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