Cultivating A Deeper Spirituality On Your Worship Team w/ Jeremy Riddle

Alex Enfiedjian 00:12 Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the worship ministry training podcast. This is Alex Enfiedjian. Your host, if you are a new listener, welcome. This is a monthly podcast for worship leaders and worship team members. And we stick to one topic per month, and I tried to be as in depth and helpful and practical as possible on that specific topic. That’s why I only do one episode a month, I could do more. But I feel like the quality would go down. And I wouldn’t have as much time to really be thoughtful with the content. And that’s what I’d rather do is fill up a large bank of helpful practical episodes that really nail the subject. So that’s what we’re trying to do. And I think it’s working because we’ve been getting a lot of great reviews lately. Thank you for all of you who have written five star reviews on iTunes for us, one recently from worship pastor D, who says really appreciate the thought and practicality in each of these episodes very helpful to say some things to my team that I was having trouble vocalizing. So thanks, worship pastor D for the five star review. And thanks to the rest of you who have left reviews really helps a lot. So today’s episode is exciting, I get to talk with Jeremy riddle about cultivating a deeper spirituality on our worship teams. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I worry about the depth of spirituality of my team members and even of myself. And, you know, I don’t know what you guys talk about backstage before service. But sometimes I wish it was a little bit more than gear, and what Star Wars movie just came out. But that’s real life. And so Jeremy helpfully guides us through processing how to keep things on track with Jesus, but also to not take ourselves too seriously. And that’s what we talk about in this episode. And I’m excited to share those thoughts with you. But first, I want to tell you about our recommended product of the month, it’s a new product. Audible is a great way to learn and listen to books while you you know, sweep or wash dishes. I listen to audible books all the time, I have an audible membership. And I want to specifically recommend the book sing by Keith and kristyn Getty, I had Keith Getty on the podcast A while ago, and we talked about congregational singing. Well turns out he released a book about that very topic as well he and his wife together. So really excited about that book, I’m going to pick it up and listen to it on my audible account. If you don’t have an audible account, you can try it for 30 days for free. And you get to keep the book. So go to worship ministry training, comm slash audible and that will take you there, and you can get 30 days for free and download that book. And you get to keep it when you’re all done. Even if you cancel your membership, you still can keep the book and listen to it. So I highly recommend it. And again, it’s worship ministry training, comm slash audible. So that’s our recommended product of the month. And let’s jump into our interview with Jeremy riddle.

Alex Enfiedjian 03:13 Hey, everybody, I am here with the one and only Jeremy riddle. Jeremy, it is an honor to have you on the podcast. So good to be here. Thanks, man. Yeah, thank you. Hey, you know, we talk a lot about on this podcast, you know, musical excellence and administrative excellence and really running a tight ship and a good worship ministry. But something that I really want to grow in myself and just grow in my team is cultivating a deeper spirituality within my worship team. And I think that would be helpful for the worship leaders listening as well, just to really make Jesus the center of our worship teams. And that sounds so dumb, but I just I feel like we could all grow in that. And I feel like you have a lot to say about that topic. Because at least from an outside perspective, like worship is a way of life at Bethel. And everyone on your team seems like so passionate about Jesus and really has this deep, vibrant faith and are genuinely hungry for more of his presence. So yeah, I want to pick your brain about that. So yeah, tell us like, what are some of the contributing factors that like you guys have had in place, you know, to cause this hunger for God on your worship teams? That’s,

Jeremy Riddle 04:20 that’s really that’s really good. I think first and foremost, just speaking to basic leadership principles. Whatever you want to attract, is something you have to cultivate, you know, first, you know, and yourself. So if you want. And I think one of the things that Bethel has done is created a community and your culture that attracts the thing that it’s hungry for, you know, and I think there is leadership there. Sometimes I think the most powerful thing we can do, to not only build something in our teams, but to attract the kind of team members that we want to build with, is simply to cultivate that first within within our own hearts. And, again, there’s all these all the generic things, you know, when it comes to leadership, you can’t take people where you haven’t, you know, you haven’t been and all of that. But you definitely can inspire people in a way that you have not been inspired personally. And you can’t share a hunger and an appetite that you haven’t cultivated, you know, yourself. So, I find that leading people, sometimes it’s as simple as just staying hungry, myself staying inspired myself, staying keeping a fire lit within myself, and I’ve watched this kind of mysterious thing happen over the years is just as I’ve done that one simple thing, people latch on to that, and they’re drawn to that, and they sign up to follow that, and to be led by that. So, first thing I would say is, whatever, whatever you want to attract, you have to cultivate in yourself what everyone inspires, you have to do within yourself. And, um, I mean, just think about worship, you know, it’s become so complex, and it’s got so many nuances and, and areas that we can dive into. But, you know, the art of worship is so incredibly simple. You know, it’s, it is about love, and it’s learning how to love Jesus really, really well. And I think one of the things that we have to do frequently, I think, particularly in our in the context that we find we often find ourselves in is, is we have to clear the table of a lot of excessive agendas, like in one way or the other, most of us are leading, because we successfully navigate all those agendas. But at some level, we all have to find a place before God where there is no other agenda, besides doing something that moves his heart. And, you know, just as I’ve studied scripture, I try and keep the main thing, the main thing and worship and I try not let any other competing agendas or pressures move me away from the heart of what I’m to do, and even misunderstanding, you know, I think some of the most powerful moments of worship that I’ve come into, I’ve had to push into, I really had to lead people into because again, we get accustomed to a program, we get accustomed to the certain parameters of what we’ve known worship to be, which is typically, you know, somewhere between 20 to 30 minutes of songs, and where we just sing, and then when the song is done, we stop and we don’t even know what to do, you know, until the next song starts, and we don’t know what to do, unless there’s words on the screen and, or all those kinds of things. And so I just find, man, there’s so much more to this area of worship, and and there’s such a deeper expression that we’re called to begin to move into and touch on. But it all comes down to something very simple and very natural of people encountering God, the love of God, the knowledge of God, and responding to him. And and doing that very naturally. And I sometimes think sometimes we just need to get out of the way of that. But um, and again, I’m not being, you know, very specific, I could I can dive into that. But

Alex Enfiedjian 08:00 it’s really good. We make it way more complicated than it actually is. It’s just touching the heart of God and telling him we love him. But if we can be that as leaders, like on our own authentically, privately, it’s going to spill out naturally. And that’s, that’s the scary and convicting part. And I’ve been realizing, oh my gosh, like, I’m going to replicate myself in my team, for better or worse. So how do you like, let’s just dig into that, like Jeremy, how do you Jeremy riddle stay fresh and vibrant, and like hungry and passionate for Jesus? Just like maybe a couple of practical things that you make sure are part of your rhythms like, what does that look like for you?

Jeremy Riddle 08:34 Sure. Well, again, I don’t think it’s it’s rocket science. I think it’s all about maintaining connection. And and with the Lord. I mean, particularly for me, I have certain strengths I try and worship personally, like not because I have to lead a set. And you know, it’s amazing how, when we first start out doing this, that’s so natural, it’s so easy, you know, to find those times with the Lord and literally just play and sing to him without thinking about any other agenda. But I think the more that we do this, the harder it is to, to take our brains out of that space, you know, preparing a set or doing doing this. So what I find what I personally do is because I can’t sing, I have the hardest time just singing the songs I’m going to sing on Sunday morning, I do play them, because I want to, I want to find the heart of them. But when I’m looking just to connect with God, oftentimes what I’ll do is I’ll sit on a piano, I’m not that good at piano, but I like the emotion that it creates. So I mess around with it. But I sit on piano and I open up the Psalms, and I literally just start singing the songs. And then I find that that opens up my heart. And I mean, literally, it doesn’t have it’s not pretty, you know, it’s more like talking singing to the Lord. You know, it doesn’t it doesn’t rhyme. It doesn’t come across, you know very well. But for me, I find that I’m able to find my own language sometimes when I just begin to sing and I connect to someone’s the depth of their heart and it will open up Like a space in my heart. And that’s just something you know, I’ve learned to do. And other times, I just listened to stuff that I feel the breath of God on. Like, it’s very basic but, and a lot of times, it’s not necessarily that the most popular CDs are just certain moments. And that opens up my heart. And I think we all have those people that we just kind of connect to that have a way of unlocking our heart to worship before the Lord. I try and listen to those people. The other thing I do is I run, and I never listened to like typical workout music. When I run, I listen to worship music, because I find there’s something about running and listening to worship that opens up, you know, my spirit, and all of a sudden, I will find myself just in a really beautiful place of prayer and intercession, you know, before the Lord. And I read, I read pretty consistently, I mean, and I don’t read a whole lot of fiction until I read a lot of fun stuff. Because I find that you know, I’ve got five kids, I got a crazy life. And I just have found that me prioritizing time and the word every single day, it doesn’t matter if it’s five verses, I don’t know what it is, I do know what it is because it’s the Word of God. And it’s full of his spirit, but it has a way of reorienting my thinking. And as a way of realigning my spiritual backbone. It just has a way of just altering almost immediately. You know, I love this quote by Tozer says, whatever gets in the way of my Bible is my enemy. And there’s something really to that, I think it’s, it’s a really difficulty for people to be in the word sometimes. But it has never really been that. For me, I’ve experienced too much of its power. And I feel it if I go a day without it. And so it’s, it’s, it’s really, it’s basic spirituality, I don’t, you know, I wouldn’t say I’m a loo angle or, but I have learned that this is my lifeline. And then the more that I’ve that I go in ministry, the less I feel I, I go, like, wow, I cannot afford to neglect that I neglect that for a couple days, even on vacation sometimes where you kind of just take it easy or whatever. And I’m like, I am barreling into it. Like I mean, for me, I can battle with a depression or an anxiety and anxiety a lot. That’s something I have to navigate on a pretty consistent basis. And particularly when I’m trying to rest, you know, it’s like the opposite thing happens. And I find that that stuff Holy smokes is just, it’s just reorients me. So I think consistency. And quality is worth everything when it comes to any kind of relational activity. So that’s me

Alex Enfiedjian 12:26 know, that’s really good. And it’s helpful, and it isn’t hard, but it’s just the habits and really being consistent about it. And so then let’s say you get all full, and you go back and you go to lead your team and you guys are backstage? And are you intentional about making sure the conversation is staying somewhat spiritual, or like because I like I’ve observed in my own teams, or like, I know, my friends, churches, they have the same problem or even backstage at conferences, like people are like showing YouTube videos and laughing and they’re scrolling through Instagram. And so it’s like, that’s normal life. And it’s mundane, and we can’t be all like super OCD about it. But Exactly. But I just wonder, you know, cuz then we flip the switch on and we go stand on stage, and we get super spiritual. It’s like, that’s something that you guys wrestle with at Bethel or, like, talk about that a little bit. How do you lead your teams?

Jeremy Riddle 13:16 Of course, of course, it’s always a wrestle. And yes, I definitely like to rally at some point, you know. And whether that’s just reading a verse or sharing, I do carry responsibility, like, I don’t ever want to show up to lead and not have a sense of what the Lord wants to do. You know. And I always want to bring my team first and foremost into that sense of what I feel like the Lord wants us to do. And we could just be an impression, it could be a song, it just could be an idea. Or it could just be a little thing that I felt like the Lord is teaching me but I always try and share that. Because then as a uniting force, and then we always try and have a time of prayer, where we go after some stuff and you know what we have? I know it may be different for for some churches, but we have like three or four intercessors that consistently come and they literally feel like it’s their job to pray, particularly for the worship leaders, and the worshipers as they as they minister. And I know that sounds hyper spiritual, but I tell you what, they’re so powerful. And I I’ve started to invite them into our prayer times and just have them pray over us and share with us what they’ve been feeling. Because when people like take up the call of intercession, and they own that lifestyle, they’re tapping into things that are really, really powerful. And I really, I treasure, the variety of gifts that people have in the body of Christ and what they bring to the table. And that’s just one thing that we’ve started to do I’ve had, I’ve had them start to share with impressions are or that kind of thing and just kind of pulling them into the team. But also, here’s the thing that I want to say is, sometimes when we’re just always trying to be hyper spiritual, I think what’s so important is love being exchanged. Unity being exchanged, Joy being exchanged, life being exchanged and interaction. You know, on a team, and if a team doesn’t know how to have fun together, and know how to laugh together and know how to do that, then you’ll never really get to the true hyper spiritual stuff. Because, you know, it’s not something that is only accessed by super seriousness, you know, and I, I do think there’s a realm of glory that we’re invited to step into that does requires some discipline and some focus, but I think a lot of times someone a personality, like me has had to learn just how to chill out and enjoy people enjoy being around my team, even when they’re being a bunch of goofs, you know, and, and to not feel like, like, we’re disconnected, and even more to feel the joy of God, you know, in the midst of those relational moments. And I, I think we’re the ones that kind of make spirituality super serious, and I don’t, I think obviously, it’s weighty, and there’s moments of it that are weighty, but I don’t think life was Jesus was constantly, just crazy, intense. I know, there had to have been moments of joy and laughter, and, and moments of deep connection and fellowship. And so I’ve learned a prize that and often find that the more connected my team feels to each other, the more the better, they begin to flow together. And the more that we enjoy our times of worship together, and it’s not just, you know, alright, let’s plow, let’s plow, you know, right. It’s, there’s, there’s a delight that begins to come on us, when we experience the richness of each other’s fellowship. So I try and make space for it all, truly, because I think it all is all really important.

Alex Enfiedjian 16:31 I think that’s really wise. It’s a good balance, where like, you’re living life together, you’re staying connected, you’re enjoying each other, but then you’re as the leader, you’re calling them out to what like, like you said, Oh, I have an impression from the Lord that today is supposed to be about this or that. And, okay, guys, let’s rally around that theme. And let’s just prayerfully ask God to guide so you’re still leading spiritually, but you’re leaving room for laughter and joy. So that Oh, that’s awesome. Now, are there any other things that you guys do like outside of Sunday’s with your teams to kind of keep them focused on Jesus? Like, I mean, maybe you guys have small groups, or I know, you guys meet often at the Johnson’s house or stuff like that. So what are some of the habits that you guys have made that have, you know, become very central to keeping Jesus at the center of your ministry?

Jeremy Riddle 17:19 Yeah. Well, obviously, there’s, there’s just the regular getting together, which is both sweet and the more you grow, it’s harder to find that, you know, it’s hard to maintain that level of connection and intimacy. So I think we’re yet again, kind of strategizing of how to maintain that as a team is really, really grown. We absolutely prioritize, we get together once a month, rain or shine, you know, and everybody prioritizes those times, but we’re also looking for deeper moments of connection. And I honestly think one of the best things in any worship team can do. And we you know, and this is something we do in different ways. It’s not always highly structured. But I’ve experienced the power of this is simply worshiping without any of the pressure of a Sunday morning. And just learning how to effortlessly access Jesus together. As you know, there’s something about Sunday morning, you never know who you’re going to be leading, you don’t know where they’re going to be at, you don’t know where their hearts you know, they may be brand new, they may be just coming to faith and they have no grid fourth distinct called worship is really all about, you know, and so you’re leading, you have so many dynamics that you have to navigate, and, and so on and so forth. But man, I tell you, it is utterly freeing to be with a group of people that you don’t have to navigate those dynamics with. And you can just go after Jesus, without any all the other trappings that kind of come along with leading a group of people that aren’t totally on the same page. And man, is it really, really sweet and powerful and freeing and rejuvenating and refreshing to worship with people that you don’t have to work that hard? You know, you don’t have to even really lead that strongly. You know, the last time we met, we let it a community meeting, I just said, Hey, guys, here’s what I want to do. I’m going to open up with just a simple little course we sing this course just praise the Lord on my soul. Praise the Lord. That’s that mean? That’s literally I said, Hey, I’m going to lead out with this. And I said, and I just want to just releases to just sing and minister to the Lord. And then I made some joke, I’m like, and if that’s a total flop, then we’ll just sing 10,000 reasons again, and we’ll get back on the same page. But what was amazing to me, is just like we started singing, Praise the Lord. Oh, my so Praise the Lord. And then I said, Alright, let’s just minister to the Lord. And they just went after it. Like the whole room just began to sing their own songs and crap to Jesus. And I didn’t lead I didn’t do anything, like for the next 30 minutes. And there’s something so so powerful and sweet and precious about those times that fuel our hearts and in this vision again, and it’s kind of like for a mom who’s just parenting young children and is stuck in the house all day. I mean, we know the power of parenting. We know how amazing it is to what a privilege it is to walk our kids through to, you know, maturity. But Wow, when mom gets time to have adult conversation, and just be herself without having to think about, you know how we bring in the two year olds along kind of thing. It’s super rejuvenating and powerful for mom. And I think a lot of times for worshipers, one of the most sweet, beautiful refreshing things for our hearts to just be around other worshipers that we can just connect in a heart and spirit. And we don’t have to work that hard. You know what I’m saying? I don’t know if that’s translating or making any kind of sense. But I know, that’s one of the most powerful things for me. And it gives me strength to hit Sunday morning again, and fills up my tank. So yeah, do you guys do that often that like, absolutely, that’s a regular time, I mean, anytime we get together, that’s gonna happen

Alex Enfiedjian 20:49 is that what you mainly do at your monthly get togethers,

Jeremy Riddle 20:51 it honestly is like, that consumes the bulk of the time, there’s the initial connection, hang out, eat some food, whatever the snacks may be, you know, and then we come together, and we just go off to worship, and then flowing out of that. There may be someone from our leadership team coming to share, or it may just be a couple of announcements or testimonies or, you know, that kind of thing. And it’s definitely not a lot of business. It’s just majoring on connection.

Alex Enfiedjian 21:15 You know, man, that is so cool. So do you guys ever talk about like business? Because one of the questions that I had for you was like, you know, how do you balance musical excellence and authentic spirituality? Because like, for me, a lot of times, I’m like, I want to talk to my teams about this musical issue and work on this. And, you know, but if I just talk about those things, when we get together, then it seems to them that I care more about the music than about the relationship, right? Oh, Jesus, you guys, you have very high musical standards, like really high, beautiful, incredible music they’re putting out on a weekly basis, like, so how do you guys handle conversations with your team members about music without making it the primary thing? Because I’m sure you have conversations with your teams about the music. So what does that look like? To where we do musical excellence? But Jesus is still more important.

Jeremy Riddle 22:03 Yeah, though. I mean, are we all try to try to strike that balance? You know, I, I think it comes in waves Generally, the larger the gathering, the less business focus it is, you know, because, you know, we were talking with multiple campuses and multiple, you know, there’s there’s the twinview campus, and there’s a leadership teams for that. And so, when we get together in a big broad group, it’s pretty general, we’re not going after specific stuff. I think the general this specific stuff really gets addressed and broken down for the leadership teams that run the different sectors, you know, so like, the Sunday morning and Sunday evening teams that are streamed, that’s generally, you know, we’re putting some of our most seasoned leaders, you know, and team players, you know, up in that and a lot of the the practical conversations are growing people in the safer areas where there’s where there’s, they can risk, you know, they can fall on their face a couple times, and it’s not going to be YouTube for the rest of their lives, you know, so, so I didn’t see

Alex Enfiedjian 23:04 rescue a gal one, one of the services, I saw you rescue her, it was amazing. I was like, what a good leader, he totally stepped in and helped her Yeah.

Jeremy Riddle 23:15 Yeah, there’s, there’s a lot of that. And that’s another thing that would really, you know, if we see potential, you know, on, on on a young leader who’s up and coming, we try and pair him with someone who can really cover them and and be a support for them. And I love playing that role. It’s one of my favorite roles.

Alex Enfiedjian 23:32 Yeah, I just did that today. For the very first time for a young guy, it was his very first time leaving and I knocked him and he did great. So yes,

Jeremy Riddle 23:40 it is it is actually, that’s one of my greatest joys, particularly this season is watching someone come up, and and you just provide a little stability, and you give them the space to fly. And if they take a risk, and it doesn’t work out so great. You just cover them and so they don’t live with this haunting, you know, thing of like, you know, this super scarring experience, because that’s what parents do, you know. And so I think that’s a powerful, you know, dynamic, but I think we try and make it like really, really specific so we’ll we’ll break it down. We’ll speak to electric guitar players of like, Hey, this is some things we need to work on. But we try and pair people generally we have point leads for every musician, you know, station, so if it’s bass or keys, or that kind of a thing. And a lot of that it’s it’s more just trying to bring support. You know, I found that most of the people on our team, they have a massive hunger for excellence. Like they want to do their job well. It’s more finding out like hey, how can we best resource you like so for keys players like are musicians like we found out like, hey, it’s really helpful for our teams to get set, believe it or not, like we used to just show up and the team didn’t know are set. And now we’ve got a little bit more organized and we try and get them options. I mean, everyone knows it’s can be subject to change, but we try and get them songs and different things so they can actually prepare because If they’re equipped, and they’re given a shot to be excellent, then most times that mean they knock it out of the park. And if there’s a consistent laziness on a player’s team or consistent tardiness, I mean, we don’t we don’t give big speeches to everybody about that we try and speak to specifically address the problems with the people who are, you know, violating some of the rules and standards. And so again, I think every team has to do it differently. Every one of our services and groups of people have their point leader, who are at the services, and who come back and give feedback to the teams and encourage this as to that. So it’s more like directly speaking into the moments, particularly when the teams are leading. So it’s usually a quick backstage rally of like, Hey, you guys did this is awesome. And most time it majors on encouragement. And sometimes it’ll be like, hey, let’s tighten this up, or, you know, let you know, let’s go after this and that kind of thing. So, but that’s always the balance. And I would say, we’re always erring on one side of the other. You know, I don’t know that we’ve ever struck like a perfect chord or whatever. So I don’t know, I just relate to the struggle and be like, yeah, we’re right there with you.

Alex Enfiedjian 26:08 Well, you extract a lot of perfect chords. You guys do that? Really? No, honestly, I wanted to say like, I love how with the large groups you major on the spiritual side, and then you just raise up and disciple musically, the people one on one, that’s a really good models, the most effective one that we found. Yeah. I love though, let’s, let’s talk a little bit about the congregation because it seems like your church comes locked and loaded, ready to worship every week? And maybe that’s not the case. But what are some of the things that you and Brian and Jen, and maybe some of the teaching pastors have done or said over the years that have contributed to this really passionate, free, expressive worship culture? Yeah.

Jeremy Riddle 26:49 Those are great questions. I think the first thing I would say is you don’t create a culture overnight, it takes takes years, I think, to actually effectively cultivate it, and it takes years of consistency, to actually create a culture does it you know, you can do a series. But you know, once a year as I don’t, I don’t know, that’s how culture gets created. Or it’s, it’s not that effective. I think it needs more consistency. I think anytime you’re trying to really infuse a very specific value, you really got to go after it until it is actually formed, like in a group of people. And I know that, you know, we’re Bethel churches, something Bill’s been cultivating for 20 years in group of people, and, and he lives it out. And he’s lived it out. I’ve never known any senior leader quite like, you know, Bill Johnson to be to be totally honest. I remember times, we’d be hour hour 15 hour and a half into a set. And I’d be exhausted and done and be like, what is this kind of ad and and I look down to the front row, and much to my dismay, he looked like he was just warming up. And it was a really, because his heart truly burns for the presence of God, and the activity of God. And when he felt God was moving, he was not concerned about his sermon, he wasn’t concerned about anything else. And he taught, he has taught a group of people how to be hungry, and how to come with a sense of expectation. And I think sincerely, it’s because people do know that the program is subject to the interruption of God. And I don’t know a better way to actually create. Because again, I think it’s only natural when we get the same thing over and over and over again. But we want to try creating an expectation that anything can happen. I just don’t think it works. Either. You have to press in, and learn how to partner with with some of that, with those things that God is doing in a moment. Like and I do think everyone at Bethel I think one of the biggest things is people do come hungry with an expectation because you never really know what you’re going to get because there’s a way that we’ve learned to flow and we have multiple services that are stacked back to back and we’ve had to learn to to have flex but also have you know a lot more organization than we typically been used to but but still the assignment Well, let me just get practical there’s there’s two main things that happen there’s some that opens worship. I’ve never had someone I used to just be the guy who opened worship and I feel like Good morning church family, you know, kind of a thing. That’s worship today, but it’s been really fun to watch a pastor who’s who’s skilled at you know, reading a song and and awakening people’s hearts to respond to God. I’ve watched bill do that. So skillfully, just getting people into a place where they’re like, wow, isn’t God so good? I don’t know. It’s been so key. And the other thing that he does is he has people just, you know, you ever watched something so simple, but someone do it so skillfully, it’s like, no one appreciates the offering until you have to do the offering or no appreciates announcements until you have to do announcements, and then you realize like, oh, wow, that person was doing it so skillfully, and I’ve watched someone even just leave people greeting each other and that creates such as such a warmth in the room. To the point where like when we go to worship, the I don’t know, there’s this a connection for people to each other that, that enables us to go before the throne so much more quickly and so much more easily than room that stiff and awkward and just waking up, you know? Yeah, I mean, there’s so many things that go into a culture of worship, like it is so nice. But I will say this, I’ve never seen a really beautiful culture of worship created without the whole team, senior pastor, senior leadership, everybody go like this is something we want to see formed in a group of people and we’re going to teach into it, we’re going to hit on it, we are going to make it a priority weekend and week out. I give, it’s just something that a worship leader carries. And it’s not necessarily something that’s reflected in a senior leadership team. I honestly, stuff flows from the top down. And I think one of the most powerful things is a senior leader that gets the value of worship and has it in their heart to see a worshiping people. I really think that’s one of the most powerful tools that united front between worship teams and senior leadership will always be a thing that brings that wall down and really solidifies the value. Wow.

Alex Enfiedjian 31:07 Yeah. Wow. Good leadership, time. And intentionality. I love it. So I want to transition now, I feel like it’s a good transition, actually. Because we’re talking about wanting more of God and our worship teams wanting more of God in our, in our congregations. And now I want to talk about more your new album. So what excites you about this album, Jeremy? Like, what, what are you stoked about?

Jeremy Riddle 31:32 You know, I guess that’s pretty simple. I stoked that I did it. Number one, you know, sincerely, like after you’ve been dormant, or you’ve kind of left that, that kind of artists side of you dormant, I mean, went dormant for probably about seven years. Like I take such great joy in helping other people’s songs and, and helping a worship movement. Really, I think that’s what really given my myself to the past, you know, seven, seven years is really just kind of coming alongside where Bethel is doing what Bethel is majoring on, and, and helping some of their songs take place in working with up and coming worship leaders and working on compilation worship records. So I haven’t really had to dig deep into, you know, what it’s like to write a record. And in some ways, the burden of that it was just, I was so happy to take it off me. And then, and then I had a season where I’m like, No, I really have this in my heart to do except, you know, it was kind of filled with a lot of like, like, Wow, what’s, what’s this gonna look like? Do I still have it in me? And just a lot of questions. And a lot of I had to wrestle with a lot of doubt, to be totally honest. And I just kept, I persevered. And this was honestly a thing, a record is birthed out of perseverance, and going, Okay, for better, for worse, whatever, I’m going to risk and I’m gonna take a swing at this again. And, and so go on the other side of that journey. I’m so glad that I persevered. I’m so glad that I, that I waited through. I made it to the other side, because there was such reward. And that alone, before the record did anything or got out, or I found such a deep sense of satisfaction in just the creative process and finding my heart again, in it and listening to it and being moved by it. And and being like, Well, that was true. That was true to me and my heart and it was true to the season. And we got it to the finish line. And so that was happy. That’s probably the biggest joy that I have. Yeah,

Alex Enfiedjian 33:35 I’m so glad you persevered. Because it’s really, really good. I’ve been listening to you for the last few days. And I really like it like, it’s awesome. And you said it’s kind of an artist’s thing. And I would agree it’s more of an artist album. It’s really getting to hear you and let you you know, be creative and experiment and push the envelope a little bit more than like a totally worship. Exactly. And I love how it stylistically blurs the genres between like rock and Indian pop, as well as worship, it kind of might lazing Chris kilala. His album, it’s kind of that totally blending of genres. So

Alex Enfiedjian 34:05 yes.

Alex Enfiedjian 34:05 What are like maybe two songs from the album that the worship leaders listening could consider introducing to their churches?

Jeremy Riddle 34:12 I mean, everybody has as different capacity. You know, I would say All hail All Hail King Jesus. Yeah. Is is one of the most I’ve seen it, I’ve led it. I’ve seen it done in worshipping the song started with just that chorus. And it was the time I was running bethells young adult ministry. I did that for about two years. And, and one of my favorite things that came out of that was this chorus. And this young guy named Peter Mattis and he was just starting to sing, Oh, hell King Jesus. And he would there was nothing else to the chorus, but he would just sing that over and over and over again, and the room would begin to sing it and it would just had such tremendous power. And I’ve just thought about that statement and the power and the weight of that statement. It’s just stuck with me and so we labored to bring that song to fruit. And I’ve led it, I felt the power of it. I think it’s accessible for girls and guys like, depending on obviously knowing not many people are going to lead it and see most people, I think Peter leaves it in a or, you know, you got it, you got to find your key for it. But I love what that song is saying. And I’ve seen it work, you know, so I know that’s one, I think holy ground has the ability to work as well. And again, depending on what connects with people, I think love on fire, if it’s a youth service, like has the chance to, you know, work and but I’d say probably holy ground and all hail are probably the two ones that that I see myself leading most I think stuff Awesome.

Alex Enfiedjian 35:43 Awesome. Well, I want to be respectful of your time. Jeremy, do you have any final final words for our listeners about cultivating just a worship culture, in their teams and in their churches?

Jeremy Riddle 35:54 Keep the main thing the main thing I keep your heart of love vibrant. Our job first and foremost is love Jesus well and to lead people to love Jesus really, really well not to kill the worship leader game, not to nail coolness or all these other things. But our job is to the end of our life is to leave a legacy of loving Jesus well in life in song and word and action indeed, and to keep that the main thing above all the other things.

Alex Enfiedjian 36:20 So, Jeremy, thank you for your time. Thank you so much. God bless you. You too, my friend. All right, that’s all we have time for today. Thank you so much, Jeremy for the wisdom. And just for being real. I appreciate that. And thanks for leading your local church. Well, I love that you’re in the trenches with us, it’s good to know that there are people like you doing what we do every week. So thanks for sharing. To our listeners. I hope this episode was a challenge to you, and that you feel the need to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus yourself. And also to encourage your teams to go deeper. Let’s move beyond the music right because it’s never really been about the music anyway. So hopefully this episode was helpful to you. If it was please help us by passing it on to a friend. I make that very easy by creating shareable links in the show notes you just click it and it should send it out to your favorite medium to the people that you care about. Also, thanks again to those of you who have left us reviews on iTunes if you want to do that you can go to worship ministry training comm slash review and it’ll show you how to do that. And finally, be sure to check out our recommended product of the month the sing book by Keith and kristyn Getty on Audible and you can get that book for free if you’re not an audible member 30 days free plus keep the book go to worship ministry training comm slash audible alright god bless you guys and have a great month and I will see you next month for another episode.