Now that we have addressed the importance of the heart, I want to talk about a few external aspects we as drummers bring to the table in worship. The main thing to remember is that we are also and always WORSHIP LEADERS (which pertains to any musician on the team). Other than the theological reasoning behind this concept, another simple factor to remind you that you are leading in worship is that you are the loudest instrument on the platform. (At our church we call it a platform, not a stage. We believe a platform is for influence and the stage is for performance.)

Your ability to translate to the congregation where the song is going in terms of dynamics, rhythmic phrasing and tone, as well as being a lead worshipper in your expression (singing & nonverbal communication) plays a major role in worship. Your passion makes a difference. Something we tell our team often is that in worship, we are all communicators and everything we do verbally and nonverbally is communicating. If we want our church to passionately worship with their body and their voice, we too must be singing and worshipping as we play.

Another area we are leading in as worship drummers is always being aware of what is going on around you, as well as where the Spirit is leading. With that being said, let me make this statement as well: God is not a God of confusion. So, make sure you are submitting to the worship leader and pastor and not heading somewhere the leader doesn’t feel the song/service needs to go. You can’t be a good leader if you do not know first how to follow. Again, because you are the loudest instrument, people will automatically notice when you are making good leadership choices and when you are not. Learn to set the example. You will make your leader’s job a lot easier.

The worship leader needs to trust that you have their back, and the little things do matter. For example, when we take too long transitioning from one song to the next, the congregation doesn’t look at the drummer, they look at the worship leader. What in reality may only be 2 or 3 extra seconds of getting the next song started, feels like an eternity to the worship leader who has to cover for the delay. Being aware of what you are doing and where you are going next during a set will help keep these moments to a minimum and will build trust with you, your team and your leader.

Making sure as a drummer that you are well prepared (knowing the songs, transitions and the leader’s signals) allows your worship leader and pastor to relax and just do their job of leading. If you as the drummer set the bar for excellence in these areas, the rest of the team will likely follow and you will grow not only as a musician, but also as a leader. Check back next week as we talk about spiritual warfare: the how and the why.

In the mean time:
Keep worshipping. Keep warring. Keep pursuing. Keep drumming.

-Caleb Miller

At a very young age I began to realize that my ability to play drums was way beyond myself, and I embraced that. In worship, my desire and role has always been different than simply playing and enjoying what I do. My desire is beyond being excellent in craft and beyond being recognized for talent. To me, it is spiritual warfare.

Growing up in a Pentecostal church in Southern California, I was raised in an environment that was very focused on the leading of the Spirit in worship. I was fortunate to have great leaders and drummers in the faith that took me under their wing and developed me in the area of worship and drumming. Being exposed to this type of worship at a young age allowed me to grow beyond learning the songs and playing them with excellence. I began to understand how to lead a team on drums and still submit to the worship leader. I learned how to decipher the moments in worship for example, where the entire band knows exactly where to go without saying a word to each other. These skills and type of sensitivity to the Spirit is something that has to be learned and it is something that needs to be taught to this next generation.

I have learned a lot of things over the years when it comes to worship drumming, some easy and some not so easy. For this reason, or the next two weeks or so, I want to share with you my thoughts on the subject of worship drumming, that you may be encouraged to take action in your local church or develop the drummers around you. We have all been in those places where the drumming has caused “exit ramps” as we call them (distraction) for the congregation to disengage in worship. My desire is to see drummers in the church not only support the worship musically, but start to realize that they themselves ARE WORSHIP LEADERS.

I remember my parents saying as a kid “Caleb, it’s not about the talent, but it is about your heart.” This is something that is shown in scripture in 1 Samuel 16:7, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Therefore, I can’t talk about worship drumming and not talk about heart first.

Your heart is what comes before anything you do on the drums. One saying that helped me put this concept into context was, “Heart before Beat.” The Word of God says in Psalms 24:3-4, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.” Approaching worship with cleans hands a pure heart is our goal first and foremost, which means motive is important. Who wants to ascend the mountain of the Lord? I know I do!

I have truly come to believe that your heart will either limit you or allow you to go into those deep places of worship. As the saying goes “You can’t lead people where you haven’t been yourself.” This means that your personal times in worship (whether that be on the drums or on your face) will dictate your ability to lead people into worship as well as your ability to follow the leading of the Spirit. Some of my greatest times of worship and warfare have come from my personal time of worship on the kit. I can remember spending hours upon hours in my parents garage in high school just worshiping and crying out to God. I would ask God to bring people to my mind or situations in my life that I could do warfare for. Hear me, it does make a difference in your personal life and in the lives of the people in your congregation when you put heart first.

As worship drummers, heart has to be our passion before we are ready for warfare on the drums. However, I won’t be the first to throw a stone, because I can think of plenty of times when I wasn’t spiritually ready to lead people into the presence of God on Sunday morning. The day-to-day stress, care, concern, rut and routine of life can often bring the mental fog of distraction. However, the pursuance of pure motive must be in the forefront of your mind, even if you aren’t there yet emotionally & physically.

We should all desire to have a heart like King David, who was a man in which no matter how many times he messed up, he still pursued having a pure heart and right standing with God. He wasn’t concerned with independence, but always remained dependent on the Lord. When approaching our talents, we must have the mind-set of dependance on God and a heart of gratitude for the opportunity to lead people into His presence no matter how big or small that opportunity may be.

Now that we’ve touched on our heart as worship drummers, stay tuned for next week’s post where  I will unpack more of the external aspects of worship drumming along with digging deeper into what spiritual warfare on the drums looks like, the how and why.

In the mean time:
Keep worshipping. Keep warring. Keep pursuing. Keep drumming.

-Caleb Miller