#354: Leading Teams and Leading Worship in a Mega Church with Jordan Howerton

Today’s conversation is an interesting juxtaposition to last week’s podcast with Jason Houtsma. Jason leads worship in a church of less than 100 people. Today’s guest – Jordan Howerton – is the Worship Pastor for one of the largest churches in the country – Christ’s Church of the Valley in Phoenix, AZ.

If you’ve listened to the my podcast for a while, you’ll know I don’t believe bigger is better. There is beauty in small. There is dignity in serving and pastoring a small church with incremental or slow growth year after year. But for today, I want us to dive into the mega church dynamic.

• What does it take to lead a staff of 70 people in worship and production?
• How can you care for and pastor hundreds of volunteers?
• How do you develop a unified worship culture across 18 campuses?
• We dive into all of that here. My conversation with Jordan Howerton 

Topics Covered:

• Growing up in a small church + small church dynamics
• The challenge of being a worship leader today
• Why we need to make local church ministry great again
• Why God is moving in mega churches
• Dysfunction in both small and large churches
• Discipleship for your worship team
• What resources CCV uses to support their worship teams
• Why CCV doesn’t provide chord charts to their teams

Resources Mentioned:

• Show Sponsor: Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies (use promo code BEYOND2025)
• Show Sponsor: Planning Center
• CCV Music

Show Sponsor #1: Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies

This episode is brought to you by the Robert E Webber Institute for Worship Studies. 

One of the questions I hear often is what are the best ways to further your training as a worship leader? Many worship pastors jump right into full time ministry out of college or ministry school. While practical ministry experience is necessary, it is often incomplete. You need a theological, historical, and biblical framework to sustain a healthy worship ministry today. Otherwise, it becomes a game of chasing fads and maintaining the status quo. 

I can’t recommend the Robert E Webber Institute for Worship Studies enough.

IWS offers academically and spiritually rich doctoral and master’s programs in worship studies, designed to transform you as a leader and deepen your connection to God’s purpose for worship. The focus is all about discipling worship leaders to disciple worshipers, which we need more of in the church today. If you’re searching for something truly unique, IWS is the place for you.

Visit IWS.edu and use the code BEYOND2025 for a discount. Now is the time to start your journey toward a more meaningful and impactful worship ministry. 

Show Sponsor #2: Planning Center

My goal in this podcast is to help you grow as a worship leader. Of course that includes your formation, but it isn’t limited to that—it’s also with practical tools to help you in your ministry.

It’s hard to talk about being a worship leader without mentioning Planning Center. As you know, I’m a huge fan. A lot of you are already using Planning Center Services to schedule your volunteers, plan your worship services, and give your team the tools they need to learn their music. But with Planning Center People, you can stay even more engaged with your volunteers and anyone looking for how to get plugged in.

First, some good news: People is completely free with any Planning Center subscription. No, you didn’t hear me wrong—it’s free. Second, some better news: you can use People to add new volunteers to your teams quickly and automatically.

In People, you can make forms for anyone interested in volunteering, put them in a step-by-step training workflow, and then automatically add them to Services to schedule them for the right team. And that’s just one way you can use People. From sending automated emails and seeing church-wide engagement to organizing your member database and keeping information up-to-date, there’s tons you can do.

So go to planningcenter.com to use People for free.

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