Being Still in God’s Presence in the Midst of Chaotic Schedules w/ Andrea Olson

Alex |

Welcome to the Worship Ministry Training Podcast, a monthly podcast for worship leaders who are serious about growing in their craft and calling. My name is Alex, fellow worship leader, super stoked you’re here. And if you’re new listener, I’m going to encourage you to hit that subscribe button because every single month I’m gonna give you helpful practical guidance that you can immediately supplement into your ministry. Hit that subscribe button and then go back through the past nine years of episodes and binge listen your way to a healthier ministry. If you’re someone who is really serious about growing as a worship leader, I’m going to point you to the Worship Ministry Training Academy. What is the Academy? It’s an online training platform that will give you everything you need to build a thriving worship ministry. You’ll get ten indepth courses on topics like set buildings, team building, musical excellence, vocal techniques, and more. You’ll get live monthly training workshops on topics that are relevant to you. You’ll get exclusive expert interviews with some of the best worship leaders in the world. You’ll get done for you ministry admin systems and audition process, onboarding documents, team training materials, and even team discipleship materials.

Alex |

We will take care of you so you can focus on leading your team. If that sounds like something that would be of help to you, you can try the Worship Ministry Training Academy for just $1 by going to Worship Ministrytraining.com. Sign up today for your $1 trial and I hope to see you inside of the academy. All right, let’s get into today’s episode. Today I am thrilled to have back on the podcast Andrea Olsen, who runs the Overflow Worship Conference and has a whole bunch of resources at Overflow Worship.com. And Andrea was actually on the podcast maybe a year or two ago where we talked about excellence in a small church context. So I would encourage you to check out that episode and I’ll link it in the show notes. But let’s start by welcoming Andrea. Andrea, welcome to the podcast.

Andrea Olson |

Hello. Thanks so much for having me.

Alex |

I’m glad you’re here. Glad to have you back.

Andrea Olson |

So glad to be back. I remember our conversation a little bit ago and it was such a fun one. So thanks for inviting me back.

Alex |

Awesome. And just so our listeners have a little bit of context of who you are, maybe give us like the 62nd summary version of your whole life in 1 minute. No, I’m just kidding. But just let us know who you are.

Andrea Olson |

Yes, born on the cold November night. That version. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Well, I’m a worship leader and a songwriter and I live in Minnesota, married to my husband Gabe for 17 years, and we have three girls. And through the ministry that I started called Overflow Worship, I get to serve and support worship leaders in volunteer supported contexts. And so what that means is usually those small and mediumsized churches and just kind of focusing on the unique challenges that they face. And so that’s something that I love to get to do. And we have a conference every October, and so that’s what we’re gearing up for just this next week, the Overflow Worship Conference, where all of the people that I get to serve and support in local churches throughout the year, we come together and we get together for a conference in person every October. So that’s coming up. And I guess that’s just the quick short version of me and my family and what I get to do through Overflow Worship.

Alex |

You are a hero for doing a podcast interview the week before your conference. And so I would encourage everybody to if you’re watching live after the fact, this will probably be too late, but you can plan it for next year. But if you’re watching it live, check out the conference if you’re out in the Midwest. So today we’re talking about this very important topic, about being still in God’s presence. Like, we live in a noisy, busy, distracting, chaotic world, constantly distracted by some sort of device or some task that we have to accomplish. And some of that’s normal part of life and some of that’s, just like the world we live in now. But I think it’s so important because Psalm 131 says, I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother, like a weed child within me, I quieted my soul. And I just think at that. Andrea and so I think at it. Probably many of our listeners stink at it, even though our listeners are amazing. No offense, guys, but, like, tell us, why did you because you gave me a list of topics that we could talk about and this was one of them.

Alex |

Why did you think, I want to teach on this or I want to create a teaching that I can kind of share? I’m sure you’ve shared this elsewhere as well, but why this?

Andrea Olson |

Yeah, it’s because it’s a journey that I’ve been on and I’m continually on, but I feel like especially in the last few years, the Lord has just been, like, heightening my awareness to the need for this in my own life, but also for all of us as followers of Christ. And I think that because, like you mentioned, because of social media, because of news, because of all of the things that we have at our fingertips at any given moment, life is noisier than it has ever been. And honestly, I don’t think that we were meant to carry, so to speak, the weight of the world on our shoulders. You know, I think that we were, like, designed for that. And of course, we need to be aware and, you know, all of those things. It’s not that we just stick our head in the sand and we ignore everything that’s going on around us, but I really think that there is a heaviness of that weight. And so I’ve been on a journey. And with all of the different churches and worship leaders and people that I work with and rub shoulders with. I see that in them as well.

Andrea Olson |

That there is this struggle and this depletion of our resources and our reserve to be able to pour out. Because we’re not pouring in. We’re not taking that time to pause and be still because just life doesn’t life doesn’t allow it. And so I think it’s really twofold. It’s because I see it around me, but I also am on that journey in my own life.

Alex |

That word depletion of our reserves, I think, is so, like, it resonates with me. And I’m just like, man, I feel that. I think so many people in the world feel that. And it’s like you said, the world doesn’t allow us to rest. And it seems like the whole world is bent against us being able to be still in God’s presence and just being real. I would love to hear how you do it, because you’re launching a conference or, like, you’re like a week out from your conference, and you have a team that you lead. You have all these resources online that you’re creating. You’re constantly making content on social media. With all that you’re going through right now, how do you pause and be still in the midst of probably a massive to do list of, I got to check in with this. So what does that look like for you?

Andrea Olson |

Yeah, honestly, it’s getting harder. You’d think that the more you do it, it gets easier, but it’s like, I don’t know. We go through seasons, right? Our seasons in life have been flow, and right now I am in a sprint season, and honestly, I’ll get to my exact house in a moment. But honestly, this is one of the things that my husband and I have really been intentional about, because we’ve learned it the hard way, unfortunately. But now putting an end date on our sprint, right, we have to do that because otherwise life just lives us. We’re just kind of being jerked around by life. And I know that with ministering and different things that we’re launching, that I am in a sprint, but we also know that there is an end date to it, and there has to be. And then we have to schedule rest, like schedule a family vacation or if we can’t do that, then it’s like we schedule time where we’re just home and we’re not running. We’re saying no to things like I’m saying no to that planning center invite to volunteer on the worship team because it just would take away from that week of rest.

Andrea Olson |

And so that’s kind of a broad scope thing that has been really valuable for us as a family to implement. Because, like, you, I have a family who needs me, right, and they need my presence and mentally being with them, not constantly distracted. So to the specific, how to the specific, what that I do? A few years ago I read a book by Mark Batterson called Whisper, and it really just rocked me in the best way because he talked about these practices of quieting our hearts before the Lord and just listening because a lot of times I would go to the Lord and be like, okay, here’s my just like my todo list. I had my to pray list and like, I’ve got all these things I’m interceding for and praying for and that’s good, right? But I was never still and he talks about this whisper spot and I’ll let listeners read the book because it’s fantastic. But he talks about this whisper spot and basically what it is, it’s like an intentional spot, whether it’s a time of day or actually a physical spot where you go and you sit with no other agenda than to just be like, it’s like, Lord, I am here and I don’t have an agenda.

Andrea Olson |

And you know, sometimes the Holy Spirit would speak things to me and I would just write them down. Sometimes I just sit there and feel like he’s refreshing my soul. And so I have put that practice in place where right before I go to bed, everything’s quiet, the kids are sleeping, I go around to each one of their rooms and I pray over them and then I sit in the hallway or on the stairs outside of their rooms and that’s my whisper spot. And that’s one small thing, you know, sometimes it’s two minutes, sometimes I dose off, sometimes it’s 20 minutes. But it’s been a really practical practice that has been a powerful foundation and a starting spot for me.

Alex |

Yeah, I love that. I think that’s important is that there’s kind of a habit queue. Like if you’ve read some of those habit books, they talk about there’s a queue and the queue for you is like after I put all my kids in bed and pray for them, I go sit at the staircase and that’s my place and that’s my time and that’s what happens right before all that. And that causes me to do it every day or whatever. And I think that’s a really tactical and practical helpful tip that you just gave is having that place in that time and that routine of this is my quiet spot with the Lord. My struggle is I can read the Word, and I do read the Word every day, but I can’t pray, I just get distracted. And honestly, I think it’s idolatry. I have a todo list, I have goals, I have things I want to accomplish and it’s like vain ambition, right? And it’s like I want to do all these things and I want to do all these things first. So as soon as I read my Bible and I get up, I’ll say one sentence prayer lord, be with me as I go without you kind of thing.

Alex |

You know what I mean? It’s just like, wow, that’s so backwards. Because what if God wants to reset my priorities and my tasks and even give me a better way of doing something. And I wonder how many things I repeat or have to redo because I didn’t just sit in the presence of the Lord first. I think it was Martin Luther who said it might have been, don’t judge me if I’m wrong everybody, but I think Martin Luther said I have so much to do today that I think I shall spend the first 4 hours in prayer. And it’s like, wow, now that’s the perspective I need to have. But my perspective is I have so much to do today, God, here’s my one sentence prayer and I’m just going to fly after these tasks. And so for some people I think it’s tasks, some people it’s probably just like they don’t have a vision for their life so they’re just like wasting it on social media or distracted. But I don’t know. Do you have any thoughts about any of that?

Andrea Olson |

Yeah, absolutely. I think that the moment that we get out of bed, from the moment that we get out of bed, we’re bombarded by those our thoughts. The todo list of things, like whether it’s running kids here for us, we home school, so it’s like all the home school things and all the things and it’s so difficult to combat that. And really what it comes down to for me is just like that routine and just making sure that I push myself to stick to it. So like in the morning, checking email, checking social media, checking those things is like you want to do it because you want to get a grasp on what your day is going to look like. Are there urgent emails, are there things that I have to address? And for me it’s been forcing myself to just not do that and not allow myself to do it until after breakfast or whatever. Because I think that it jump starts my brain too quickly. And even I’ll catch myself in the morning when I’m reading the Bible or sitting trying to be still and I’m like, oh, it’s so quiet, no one’s bugging me, maybe I should check my email, maybe I should get ahead, oh, I could return this, I could do that.

Andrea Olson |

And like you said, it’s almost counterproductive. We don’t think that it is, but it is because we need to like flush out our minds and flesh out all the things that are going to bombard later our residual from yesterday so that we can take a breath and start anew.

Alex |

Yeah, and I wonder if our desire to get a text message or get an email or see who wrote to us or see who liked or whatever online, I wonder if that is just like us trying to feed our ego and our own self importance, and our whole life centers around, like, does somebody reach out to me because I’m valuable? Or like, I don’t know. Sorry I’m getting all deep and, like, having a counseling session with you. Yeah, there’s something there. There’s something idolatrous about going to whether it’s checking your bank account or checking the stock market or checking your email or checking for me, worship ministry, training academy sign ups or podcast downloads, or it’s like, what is the idol in all of our lives? What are we running to first? And I think Isaiah says, those who make them will become like them. They’re dumb and stupid, and we will become dumb and stupid. And it’s like, really valuing God most of all, I think, is what I need to do more. And I think we all probably do.

Andrea Olson |

Amen. Oh, yeah, me too. And I think that because of I’ll use social media as an example, because of the world of social media, it’s like, people may think we think we know each other through social media, and really, it’s like 10% or 1%, probably, of the reality of people’s lives, and yet we judge other people’s lives based on that 1% that we see. And then, therefore, like, for me personally, my response is, like, wow, I’m failing at life. Like, you know, I’m failing at whatever I’m putting my hands to, because look at what this person is accomplishing or whatever, but we don’t know even behalf of it. And I think that it’s so important for us to make sure that we and I know for me personally, to make sure that I don’t fix my eyes on that we can learn from each other and celebrate one another. And I think that’s powerful in community, but to have that comparison is so hard because it’s deflating, it’s disappointing, kind of all the things. But then, like you said, to your point also, when we have those feelings, it reveals where our idols are, and it reveals maybe where our hearts really are at.

Andrea Olson |

And that’s not always easy to see and accept, but I think if we don’t look at where we are, honestly, there’s no way we can get to where we want to go. We’re not honest about where we are, even if it’s icky, if it’s like, I don’t like that we can’t get to where we want to go and where we feel like God has called us to be if we’re not honest about where we are now.

Alex |

Totally. And going back to the idea of early mornings and being without our phones or without checking things, have you set up any barriers or boundaries that have helped you in that, besides just trying not to check?

Andrea Olson |

Yeah, I use the Do Not Disturb settings, and I use kind of those specific what they call now an iPhone focus. I changed that focus time. I actually set those up so I have kind of customized ones and so it doesn’t my phone doesn’t really wake up until 08:00 A.m., which is really nice because all my notifications are silent till then. And that really, really helps. I started putting I turned on the time limits on my email and social media so that at least I mean, I can bypass it, but at least I have that, like, look what I’m doing, accountability. And more recently I’ve just practically speaking, then working on filters in my email. And that’s really helping because it sends only like current conversations to my inbox. And so then I’m not you know, the first time I do check my email, I’m not bombarded unless I dig to kind of those other folders. So those are kind of just like little practical things. I also stopped charging my phone next to my bed. So that is a huge one. So now my phone is never right within reach to just sit there and do something quick before bed.

Alex |

Yeah, all of those are amazing tips and also for me, sadly revealing about how far I will go to bypass the stuff, you know what I mean? Because I actually have the same thing set up. My phone officially doesn’t wake up until 732, but I can always get an extra minute on certain apps. And so when I wake up in the morning and I’m like super groggy and I also charge my phone away from my bed so I have to get up and turn the alarm off and actually get out of bed. That’s how I get out of bed. But then I’m like while I’m groggy, I’m like, well, before my brain wakes up, I’ll just check for 1 minute my email, my text, and the worship ministry training academy. And it’s like, what are you doing, Alex? Like you literally stink. And so I guess I’m just sharing all my failures today so that the academy members in the podcast listeners feel better about themselves.

Andrea Olson |

Well, I mean, me too, because like I said, I am on a journey. So it’s definitely when we have conversations like this, we have to make sure like you’re doing to be real because otherwise it seems like all these people have it all figured out. No, we don’t and I don’t. And I mess it up all the time. But I know that when I do put these things in place and I do follow them, it makes a noticeable difference even in my responses to my kids. And the way that I feel just throughout the day is so much better because I didn’t start my day off with like, oh great, so and so is upset about such and such and I got to put this fire out.

Alex |

Totally. Yeah, it’s so important. You and I wrestle with it. Our listeners are wrestling with it. But even maybe more important, as Shepherds, our team members are also living in the same world and I don’t know if I put this question in the questions I sent to you, but just off the top of your head, how can the academy members or the listeners listening or watching shepherd their teams to be able to be still in God’s presence? Like, what are some tactical ways they can shepherd and encourage their people to also fight this good fight of faith?

Andrea Olson |

Yeah, it makes me think of like, the journey of parenting where we lead by example. We lead by doing it because we can say and say and say until we’re blue in the face, but if we’re not doing it, our kids notice, like, well, yeah, but you don’t do it. You tell me that I need to do it, but you don’t do it. And so I think leading by example is huge. And some of the really practical ways are like, just taking time in rehearsal to pray together, taking time in rehearsal to connect and making sure that even though it’s like, you got to run that song one more time or you got to fix that lighting queue or whatever the case may be, making sure that you take the time to pause together. And I was amazed. It was just a few weeks ago, I was leading a rehearsal for our worship team at our church because our worship pastor was gone and everybody was ready to be done with practice and they were ready to go. But they have this rhythm where they connect and they pray together at the end. And it’s not just like, okay, huddle up, pray, go.

Andrea Olson |

It’s like, no, we’re going to talk about what’s going on in your life. We’re going to talk about how we can pray for you. I’m going to share scripture. Let’s pray together. And they all were like, they weren’t wait because it was this connection time. So there’s that community building aspect as well. But I would say that’s the first one is to do it together as a team. A second one would be maybe there’s a way so that this doesn’t all fall on you as the worship leader, but maybe there’s a way that you could send out like weekly encouragement emails and maybe there are like two or three other people in your worship team who would want to do it as well. So then it’s only once a month, or maybe you start with once a month so that it’s not a heavy load, but sending out like a devotional email just through planning center. It doesn’t have to be long. It could be behind a song or scripture or whatever, but just kind of there’s that again, maybe a habit trigger of like, oh yeah. And then it’s also encouraging for your team because they feel like they’re being poured into by you.

Andrea Olson |

And the third one would be I know that the question is the comment rather, is always, we’re so busy, we don’t have time to do like extra things and I get that. But maybe there’s a way that you could do a Bible reading plan together on the Bible app or something like that. That is not another thing to drive to and attend, but it’s a way there’s just that trigger of like, oh yeah, I’m going to sit down, I’m going to read this and then I’m going to pause for a few minutes and I know that my team is doing it too.

Alex |

Yeah, I think that’s great. I think there’s a built in accountability to that. Like if the team knows that, hey, we’re all going to read this plan together on our you version Bible app and it’s individual like you do it at home but we’re going to text each other and talk about it. It’s like it puts a little bit of pressure, like a healthy pressure accountability on them to actually sit down and make time in the word of God. This has been really, really helpful. You know, most of our listeners and most of the academy members and I’m sure a lot of the people that you train through overflow worship are by vocational, so they have a full time job, a full time ministry, family usually and just a lot of people on the team that they need to disciple. So that’s a pretty heavy load and I’m sure they’ve got a lot to do and so just speak to those people who are carrying very full plates and just what kind of encouragement would you give to the bivocational worship leaders listening yes.

Andrea Olson |

Well. My heart is with bivocational worship leaders because I was a full time volunteer staff at a church for 15 years and I had another job and had kids and all that and so I just. I feel it so deeply because it is hard. It’s a heavy load and to those of you out there who are in that spot. I just want to encourage you that it is not worth sacrificing your relationship with the Lord and your quiet time with the Lord on the altar of what I like to call ministry busy. Because a lot of times, most of the time in ministry our yeses are good, right? Like we have this filter of like I say yes to good things and no to bad things, but what about ministry? Because it all feels good, right? Like, oh, this would be helpful, this would be a good thing to do, this would be helpful to this ministry and that kind of thing. And so I want to encourage you just to be mindful of your yes and just really think about being mindful of your yes so that you’re not saying yes to everything and then there’s nothing left for your time with the Lord.

Andrea Olson |

The thing is, neither Alex or I would say shame on you for that because I’ve lived it and I fight it and it’s a hard thing, it’s a hard balance, but putting that time with the Lord as priority and saying no to things until that’s done is actually okay. So I just give you permission to say no to that thing that’s going to take you away from that. So if you set a time of, like, man at 630, this is when I am quiet before the Lord or 08:00 P.m. Or whatever, obviously life happens. There’s things that come up. But do what you got to do to fight for that time. Because here’s the thing. I know that there’s a lot of people that I’ve heard in various ministry roles say this, but I’m going to say it here, too, that we can’t lead people to a place that we don’t go regularly and we can’t point them that way if we don’t know the way. We’re not foraging that path frequently, and we can’t just do it on Sunday mornings and find our way and fumble our way there. We need to be there regularly so that you’re filled to the overflowing, so that you can lead from that overflow.

Andrea Olson |

And so I just encourage you to think about what you’re saying yes to and making sure that you’re not saying yes and then saying no to that quiet time with the Lord.

Alex |

Yeah, so good. The most important thing we can do every day is spend time with God. And yet we have a list of priorities that are like, no, that’s not the most important thing. Spending time with the Lord is the most important thing. And it’s very much the Mary Martha conundrum. Like, Martha, you’re doing a lot of really good things, but Mary has chosen the best thing. And it’s like, okay, Lord, please convict us, please help us. Please help us be still in your presence and help us to realize that if we do that, then he’ll take care of everything else and we can actually stop and we can actually cease. And I actually want to do a podcast episode or video training in the academy on Sabbath, because Sabbath is actually about trusting God that he can continue to rule the universe while you take a break. And I think all these things are tied together. This has been super encouraging and helpful. We’re going to be going into our live Q and A time. I know there are a few people watching and typing, jeremy ICU and Monica ICU. So we’re going to move into a live Q and A session here.

Alex |

But I would love for you, Andrea, to tell us where people can find you online. You’re doing a great job on social media. You have your conference, you have other resources on your website, so where can they go to keep in touch with you?

Andrea Olson |

Yeah, well, I would say probably the best place to start would just be my website@andreaulsonmusic.com. From there, you can listen to my music or you can get pushed over to overflow worship, which is. Like all the resources and trainings or whatever you want to check out, conference, that kind of thing for overflow worship. But yeah, if you just start@andreaolsonmusic.com, that will shoot you wherever you want to go.

Alex |

All right. Thank you, Andrea, for being here.

Andrea Olson |

Thank you so much for having me. It’s an honor to be here.

Alex |

Thanks for tuning in today. I hope this episode encouraged you, helped you, and pushed you forward in your ministry. If it helped you, can you take a second to help us by sending it to just one person that you think needs to hear this? And if you’re feeling extra nice, leave us a nice, shiny five star review on Apple podcasts or like this video if you’re watching it on YouTube. If you want to discuss this episode or ask questions, we do have a free section in our academy where you can post comments and questions and chat with other worship leaders just like you and also sample some of our courses. And you can go to worshipministrytraining.com free to join us inside the free portion of the academy. If you’re looking for more, check out the full access academy. You can get 15 days for just $1 to start and try things out again. You can try all of it for 15 for just $1 by going to worshipministrytraining.com. Hope to see you inside the academy, or else I’ll see you next month for another helpful episode.