Sound Check (Kurtis Parks)

(I bolded certain sections that I found inspirational for my own studies. )

Written by a worship leader, son of a pastor, who admittedly in his earlier years wanted to become a ‘rock star,’ auditioning for national talent contests, the author discovered his true calling as a worshiper. The thesis of the book is to check various aspects of our lives, so that we can effectively lead others in worship.

“Until we find complete affirmation in who God says we are in Christ Jesus, we’ll never truly walk in the identity He’s given us.”

Parks admits the difficulties of the times we live, regarding leading worship and training others to lead.

“…in an era when connecting is easier than ever, we’ve lost the face-to-face value of relationship, and that threatens the church. A worship leader can’t learn how to lead worship on YouTube. You can’t take a five-day course on ushering in God’s presence…It’s wild to me that it takes four years at a major university to earn a bachelor’s degree, and yet when it comes to the responsibility of leading worship, many out there take the stage just because they know how to play an acoustic guitar and sing on pitch.”

A theme which comes up again and again throughout the book is that of authenticity.

“So how do you avoid the autopilot disease? Simple: authenticity. God doesn’t need the most-talented, best-looking musicians or songwriters leading worship. He needs people who are authentically chasing after His heart.”

Check Yourself

Under the chapter, ‘Check Yourself,’ Parks discussed the importance to: Check Your Timing (be willing to be tested); Check Your Actions (by preparing your heart); Check Your Motives (is it for man or for God?).

“The moment leading worship, writing songs, and operating in ministry becomes about building my kingdom instead of building Thy kingdom, it’s time to pull back.”

Check Your Sight

Each year Parks has a ‘theme’ for his worship team. One year it was “Play with a standard of excellence,” from Psalm 33:3. Another year it was “Becoming a Community of Worshippers.”

“Deuteronomy 10:8 has a call that we can’t miss- to bless in His name. This is where we bless and affirm others around us in the love, hope, and grace of Jesus Christ. I believe worship is a gift to God, but for people. We need to make sure there’s a healthy balance of songs that honor God and minister to Him as well as songs that declare to the church who we are in Christ.”

“We often confuse a platform with a pedestal. God will give us a platform, but people will put us on a pedestal. Pride is the very opposite nature of a servant. One way to overcome the desire of the spotlight is by being unseen. You might take a week and serve on the other side of the mixing board with the production team…We need to always point to Christ in everything we do. We must remember that, at the end of the day, we are all only servants.”

Regarding casting vision, Parks shows the importance of writing down the vision.

“When you write something down, you can literally say ‘I have it in writing’ and hold yourself accountable to the things God has spoken to you. Vision is a great filter to run all of your big decisions through. It’s a lens to help you see clearer. If there’s an idea that doesn’t line up with the vision, don’t do it. Simple as that.”

Check Your Priorities

“When all of your comforts disappear and things that you set up to succeed wind up failing, whatever comes from what’s left, that’s who you are. That’s the authentic representation of worship that I believe we sometimes miss out on when we’re more concerned with putting on a good show than experiencing God’s presence.”

“To be authentic worship leaders, we must desire more of the Holy Spirit in our lives instead of getting caught up in the latest fads, searching for the coolest songs, and chasing after the best musicians in our cities. God has everything you’ll ever need to carry out your calling, and the Holy Spirit is the biggest helper you could ever have…God’s presence is the only thing that can satisfy your every need. If we don’t run to God for our satisfaction, we start to experience an exhausting form of faith in which our output is greater than our input. That leads to stress, anger, and making lots of mistakes, both on stage and off stage.”

The author admonishes that we should know God’s Word and His Voice.

“A sound check is pointless if there’s no one tuned in, listening to make sure the levels are set right. We have become a culture that is great at hearing but awful at listening.”

“We need to make sure we’re hearing the right parts and muting the voices that aren’t bringing life. We need to tune in to God’s voice and tune out the chaos that so often distract us from living devoted lives. When we hear His voice, we’ll know how to speak, and sing, His truth.”

Check Your Attitude

“I know that if I always look for words of affirmation from people, I’ll never have enough. However, I’ll never feel empty if I can find my strength and worth in the Lord and in who He says I am…We can’t live and lead authentic lives of worship until we step into the role that God has given us. And we will find that only if we know who he says we are.”

Check Your Gratitude

“One authentic way to show thanksgiving is by discipling others. When we take what we’ve learned and pour it out in others, it shows that we’re not hoarding the knowledge and direction that the Lord has revealed to us. Every leader needs a mentor, and in turn we need someone to invest in. We’re all called to be disciples and to make disciples…The tough thing about being a mentor is recognizing that your disciples see you in every situation- the highs, the lows, when worship sets go great, and when they crash. Having a protégé is the constant reminder that you can’t fake a life of worship.”

Check Your Sauce

For Parks’ team, they created an acronym for their values which they called SAUCE, “which stands for service, authenticity, unity, creativity, and excellence. It’s a bonus that as musicians, we often used the phrase ‘bring the sauce’ to mean ‘play your very best.’”

Service- “My good friend and mentor Simon Dixon likens worship leaders to waiters. He says good waiters or hosts will serve you without drawing attention to themselves. It takes skill, maturity, and humility.”

Authenticity- “We have an epidemic of fakeness in our generation, and we’ve allowed ourselves to muddy the lines so much that we sometimes struggle to identify what is true and what is false.”

“Community equals chemistry. Every band will tell you that what makes the music work is chemistry between the musicians. You can’t manufacture it. You just have it- or you don’t! When you care for the people on your team and the people in your church, you start to see community forming. And community offstage becomes chemistry onstage. Get out of the green room and into the church pews, or theater seats, of folding chairs- whatever seating your church has.”

“Worship is warfare, and just like any soldier would say, you want to know that the people you’re going into battle with have your back.”

Unity- “Is your worship team united, is your church staff united, and finally, is your congregation united? ...I’ve heard many say that a pastor’s first church is his or her own family. If you don’t lead your family well, your church will soon be in disarray.”

Creativity- “One of the hardest disciplines with creativity is operating within limits. That’s why I often say that creativity is ‘freedom within a framework.’…Spontaneous, improvisational worship can be a powerful and life-changing experience. But it doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of hard work on our part, coupled with trust in the Spirit’s moving. Worship improvisation, or following the leading of the Spirit, is the crossroads of discipline and freedom. The greatest freedom comes out of constraints. Creativity is always best enjoyed and expressed within a proper framework; otherwise it is just chaos.”

Excellence- “We are a sight-based culture. We love all things visual. Think of the hundreds of movies released every year, the fashion industry, and pretty much everything this world says is attractive- it’s all centered on catching our eye. I’m concerned that as Christ followers, we’ve neglected to keep ourselves from listening to 1 John 2:16, which says, ‘For everything in the world- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life- comes not from the Father but from the world.’ We get so preoccupied with reaching our culture that we adapt to it rather than influence it. In all of our attempts to reach people with the visual, let’s not miss our calling to connect people to the spiritual. We can capture people’s eyes and still completely miss their hearts. As worship leaders, we face a very present danger of getting caught up in the visual world. We see the Instagram uploads every Sunday of churches across the globe with stunning stages…”

“Genuine worship leaders know that you don’t pursue excellence in music just to sound like a well-oiled machine. You do it because the God of the universe, and King above all, deserves nothing less.”

Check Your Purpose

“We can minister to the people out of our own strength, or we can focus first on being in the presence of God and allow our ministry to the people to flow out of that…Authenticity happens when worship becomes a lifestyle and not just a set of songs that you lead for a half hour once a week The world doesn’t need more great messages, more great bands, or even more great church services. We need more of God’s presence.”

“One of the earliest worship leader ‘job descriptions’ I heard as a teenager was ‘someone who ushers people into God’s presence.’ Think of that for a second. Have you ever ushered at a wedding? The usher isn’t the one sitting in on the wedding to enjoy the ceremony. Rather, the usher takes people to where they are supposed to be seated. The usher helps people find their place!”

“You can’t live off someone else’s authenticity, just like you can’t live off another’s faith. As my drummer friend Rico Allen once told me, ‘God doesn’t have any grandchildren.’”

“In many of our church services, music is the introductory piece. For a person who is walking into church for the very first time, it could be his or her first idea of why the church exists and who God is. If that doesn’t put a responsibility on us, I don’t know what will. This demands that we show up with our best- our best abilities and our best selves- every time. The songs we sing in a worship service become the soundtrack to our church’s conversation with the Father.”

Coming back to ‘authenticity’ Parks declares, “Love is at the core of authenticity. Jesus was the epitome of love and authenticity. He lived a life of sacrifice and service, leading and loving others in a way the world had never seen before.”

As worship leaders we must fight against becoming too busy. “As Corrie ten Boom once said, ‘If the Devil can’t make us bad, he’ll make us busy.”

“It’s not just about adding great disciplines to our routine- reading the Bible, going to church, attending small groups, singing worship songs. It’s also about what we are subtracting. Are we getting rid of those things that don’t add value to our relationship with Christ? Authentic worship leaders know the things they must add to and subtract from their lives to be the genuine article.”

“Know your blind spots as a leader. And if you find yourself continuously falling into the same traps, have other people you can trust tell you the truth when everyone else around you feeds you lies. You need people who will tell you what you need to hear, which won’t always be what you want to hear.”

“The dictionary defines the word true as ‘real, genuine, or authentic.’ To be true worship leaders and real followers of Christ, we need to go after the truth. As Jesus says, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6).

Conclusion: This was a sincerely written book, based on experience. I appreciate the author’s transparency about his own life and his willingness to share his struggles together with his successes. He had many good points.

LH 2019-07-30