Angry, Dangerous, Murderous Worship Leader

by Tim H. Swanson

Who is your favorite worship leader? I've asked a lot of people that question. The most common answers are Paul Baloche, Chris Tomlin, and Lincoln Brewster. People like those guys because of their amazing perspectives on connecting people with God through music, but there's another worship leader who doesn't get nearly enough credit for his amazingness - Johann Sebastian Bach.  

Bach was a worship leader who wrote and led the music for the services at his church in Leipzig, Germany. There are volumes of lessons to be learned from Bach's long career. Biographies herald him as a loving father and devout man of God. But he also had a temper. There is a story that draws a picture of one of his flare-ups.

Bach worked his musicians pretty hard.  One day the tension was thick while he was in a rehearsal with his orchestra . As Bach walked up and down the aisles of musicians, an angry cello player whipped him on the back of his legs with his bow. Outraged, Bach turned on his heels and drew his sword to vanquish the disrespectful cello player.

Bach didn’t kill his cello player that day. He'd probably have a different reputation if he did. Today he is honored as one of the greatest musicians in all time, but he was still human. At times His temper got the best of him.

Has this ever been you? Maybe you need a Snickers.

Has that ever happened to you? You've probably never threatened to murder one of your musicians, but have you ever said or done something regrettable without thinking? When it comes to our leadership, anger is one of our worst enemies. Even if you don't totally lose your temper, acting out in even a little frustration can be enough to cause you to say something that’ll damage your relationships with your team members. If we are going to be great leaders and influence people to do great things, we can't let anger take control and derail us. These 4 practices will help you keep anger from coming out at the wrong time in the wrong way.

1. Thankfulness wins. The apostle Paul typically starts out his New Testament letters by confessing his thankfulness for Christians. There's a reason for that. Consistent thankfulness is powerful. Among the great things it does, it keeps our attention focused on people's positive attributes.  So when you pray, include specific thanksgivings for your team members. Then when you’re in a meeting or a rehearsal and someone pushes your buttons, you’ll be able to respond from a better place.

2. Know your buttons. Most of us become aware of our buttons when they get pushed, but that's too late. In order to effectively overcome frustration we have to know where our buttons are, and what we are going to do about it before they get pushed. The best way to do this is take inventory of times in the past when you've lost your cool. And then think about how you'd have liked to have handled those. That will give you a game plan for the next time somebody pushes your buttons.

3. Bite your tongue, if you taste blood you know you're doing it right. If a team member is pushing hard, and you cannot respond with the respect you'd like to receive, say nothing. Wait until you are calmed down enough to respond well, then go to your team member in love.

4. Confront privately. In front of your whole team is never the time to confront an individual. Look for a time to speak with the person one on one. It’s as inappropriate to confront a team member in front of the group as it is for your team member to disrespectfully push you in front of the rest of the team. Remember, when you confront people, you’re showing them how you want them to treat you. So do it privately and respectfully.

It’s a good thing we don’t carry swords around anymore, or we’d certainly have this sort of thing happen more of the time. It’s easy to lose your cool on team members. They’re human after all. But if we want to influence them to accomplish great things, we have to keep our heads on straight. Not only does an out of control temper cost us trust and influence with our team members, but it keep us from doing our job: showing Jesus’ love to people. There’s even a convenient Bible verse to prove my point, “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20). To fulfill the God’s calling on our lives, we have to learn self control. If you’ve had trouble with your temper, practice these simple steps, and transform your leadership for the best.