This interview was emailed to me and I thought I would share it. There is some good insight here from two guys who are serving in churches in Ontario with worship & creative arts as their main ministry focus. Both of these guys are great at what they do and their churches and communities are benefitting because of that.

LEE BRUBACHER graduated from Heritage with a Bachelor of Church Music Degree in 1999. In September 2001, he joined the staff at West Highland Baptist Church in Hamilton, Ontario. Initially his title was “Pastor of Music & Christian Education.” As things progressed, his role was changed to “Director of Worship Arts Ministries.” He is currently working toward a Master of Arts in Worship Studies through Liberty University. Lee is married to Cheryl and they have three delightful children – Sierra (age 8), Kyle (age 5), and Carter (age 2).

JEFF KENDRICK graduated from Heritage with a Bachelor of Church Music Degree in 2000. Prior to coming to Heritage, Jeff had seven years of camp work experience. He is currently the Pastor Of Worship at West Park Church, London Ontario. He has been married to Ellie for 11 years, and they have four children: Caleb(9), Moriah(7), Jadyn(5), Kaelyn(2), and a BIG golden retriever named Smudge.

eQ: Lee and Jeff, what are the key roles you currently fill as Worship Leaders?

Lee: My general role is to provide direction to the various ministries that are involved in our worship services. These include leadership of our music and choir ministries, oversight of our drama ministry, and interaction with our technology and service support ministries. Specifically, as the main worship leader, I plan the worship services including music, order of program, and other creative elements. My main goal is to help the people of West Highland (of various ages, nations, classes, and backgrounds) connect with God through the arts. Striking a healthy balance in worship is not easy. However, the challenge is well worth it when we see lives changed for God’s glory!

Jeff: I currently have many responsibilities, but to name a few things that I do on a regular basis: I plan most of our services, lead four adult bands, oversee the leadership of our three youth bands, direct our Worship Choir, mentor young men who are praying about full-time ministry, and lead a weekly small group in our home. My role is to equip others to do Kingdom work, so much of my time is spent with other people. We have a lot of technical needs at our church so I have a lot to do with that also. Some of the things we are planning are: the release of a CD/DVD in the coming year, as well as Christmas and Easter Productions.

eQ: How do you build up/connect the members of the worship team “ musically and spiritually?

Lee: Musically. Over time, as people consistently participate together in music, skills are deepened and musical unity is formed. I have certainly seen this happen in my seven years at West Highland. As music conferences and seminars are brought to my attention, we offer them as training opportunities for our players and singers. Every couple of years, we plan our own training work-shops for our artists.

Spiritually. It has been my joy through the ministry of West Highland, in seeing many people won to Christ, baptized, brought into church membership, and involved in ministry service. This “spiritual journey” has been tremendous in our Worship Arts Ministries. Many people have used our adult choir ministry, for instance, as a way of getting to know the church and as a way of making friendship connections. We are intent in making the Word of God fully known in our people and community. A regular part of our artistic ministries is prayer and the study of God’s word. This September, we will be launching a new opportunity for spiritual growth in our Worship Arts Ministries. I will be leading an on-line blog book study using Blackaby’s “Worship “ Believer’s Experiencing God.” I’m praying that this on-line discussion board will allow many, who otherwise could not commit to another weeknight out, to deepen their relationship with Christ and their understanding of biblical worship.

Jeff: I believe that the first thing we must do with our teams is to be Worshippers. For us to be effective Lead Worshippers, we must first be Worshippers, and then lead by example. We focus on prayer, Bible reading, and worshipping together. Sometimes this is with us all playing and singing, sometimes just I play… it depends…

After this is taking place, we focus on becoming better at what we do (Psalm 33:3). Play skillfully… We have weekly rehearsals in which we learn music and group technique. From there we move to a five-week rotation of breakout sessions where we work more in depth on skills of a particular discipline – Drums, Keys, Bass, Guitars [Acoustic and Electric], and Vocals. For example, week #1 is our Drum week. After our regular rehearsal of an hour and a half, I let everyone else go and get all of our drummers together to work through a course of some sort. There are a lot of great resources that you can work through with your teams.