The Worship Leader the Church Actually Needs

Each intensive, they trickle in one by one—guitar cases in hand, eyes bright with expectation, ready for hours of jam sessions and song-sharing. But within the first hour or two, they realize this is a different kind of worship school. One that cares less about how well they can play like a rockstar, and more about how well their hands can shepherd people with tenderness and wisdom.

If there is a “problem” with modern worship leadership, it’s that we’ve often passed down techniques—how to craft seamless setlists, flow spontaneously, and lead with confidence—without also training the hearts and minds that will ensure those techniques serve their congregations rather than overshadow them.

Techniques aren’t wrong; they’re tools that help us serve skillfully. But without pastoral wisdom and theological depth, those tools become limiting, like a mechanic who can replace parts but can’t interpret a diagnostic reading, or a builder who can frame walls but can’t read blueprints.

Techniques can teach us how to execute, but they can’t teach us what to execute or when. They can’t teach us to discern what our people need or how God is leading in a moment. It’s like preaching. The goal isn’t simply to deliver a talk packed with well-put-together biblical content— that’s a technique any good communicator can learn. Good preaching involves discerning what to say and what to withhold, learning to pay attention as you speak, and staying in the flow of what God is doing as you deliver the sermon. That can’t be reduced to an executable technique, and neither can faithful worship leading.

Much of what we teach at 10KFAM centers on the theological, emotional, and relational dimensions of vocational worship ministry. That’s why our classes include topics like Biblical Theology of Worship, Disappointment and the Emotionally Healthy Leader, Becoming (Spiritual) Mothers and Fathers, and Pursuing Koinonia.

At 10KFAM, we believe the Church needs worship pastors who know how to love people, who are deeply shaped by Scripture, and who can lead with pastoral presence as they play or sing with musical skill. We’re here to form worship leaders who lead songs into worship pastors who can discern, shepherd, and serve— not just perform.