Worship Leader Magazine!
I’m grateful and honored to be a contributor to this season’s issue of Worship Leader Magazine. It’s been a passion of mine to encourage worship leaders in their shepherding, pastoring, and formational callings.
My inclusion in the magazine all started with a surprise phone call from an old friend; David Bunker. I was signed to a record label that David worked with back in the day. We’d had some rich ministry memories over the years, and it was encouraging to hear his voice – a blast from the past! David had been following my work with worship leaders and as a spiritual director, and he challenged me to write about the intersection of those two ministries.
My first step in tackling a writing project like this was to do a quick Google search on “spiritual direction and worship leading” to see what others were saying about the topic. Well, to my utter astonishment, guess who was listed on the front the page of the internet?
Me.
Believe it or not, it seemed I might’ve already been an expert, a primary voice on the matter…and I didn’t even know it!
I set to work right away fleshing out the ideas, concepts, and practical advice floating around in my head, and with David’s continued encouragement, a few articles began to take shape. I was grateful to get rich input and suggestions from colleagues at Biola University who’d studied with me and from other worship leaders in my community. The resulting articles formed three blog posts, available on this site.
David had begun working with Worship Leader Magazine as a guest-editor, and he’d mentioned the possibility of including some of this writing of mine in an upcoming issue. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but one hazy, golden-hour evening, out on a restaurant patio in Ojai with a longtime surfer buddy, a text came through from David with the news… “Justin, I believe you have something important to share. Darlene Zschech, Rory Noland, John Michael Talbot, Carolyn Arends, and Ruth Haley Barton are IN! Are YOU?” I was so overwhelmed by the weight of these well-known names all strung together that it took me several minutes to even realize what he was talking about… Oh, the magazine! Yes! Of course I’m in! *raising-hands emoji*
It truly is a huge honor to be included in this company of leaders, authors, spiritual directors, and musicians. I’m thankful to Chuck Fromm, David Bunker, and Worship Leader Magazine for inviting me in and for believing my experience in practice could contribute to this important conversation. The intersection of spiritual formation and worship is a place of deep soil, the spot where real growth happens. I’m looking forward to all that God can do in and through us as we continue to cultivate the ground here and plant seeds for generations to come!
Log in to read the article HERE
