Just wanted to post a little heads up about an album I snagged recently that I’m really growing to appreciate and love. It’s by a guy named David Potter. Unbeknownst to me, Bob Kauflin snagged a copy and already reviewed it, so head here for his thoughts. He seemed to like it, and I know I’m enjoying it. I had never heard of David Potter before I spotted his album on NoiseTrade, where I managed to snag it for free before they took it down. His album is called “Man of Sorrows.” It’s an album of hymns, a few of which are originals, but most of which are older ones that have been reworked to one degree or another.

One of my favorite tracks from his album is his bluesy take on “All Creatures of Our God and King.” Very unique. I find some irony in the fact that another song which stuck out to me (“Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah”) was one that Kauflin wasn’t too fond of. I liked the groove of the blues Potter laid down, it had a nice soul feel to it. Throw in some horns and you could probably walk down a street in New Orleans to the song and start a little parade.

This is less an album review and more a focus on the artist, so I’m not going to cover any more of the album, though I would greatly encourage you to hit up Bandcamp and download it (for any size donation, I believe). You could also check out David Potter on MySpace, Facebook and on his website.

David Potter seems like a very solid, biblically focused worship leader and I would encourage you to try and snag his latest album and keep an eye out for what he does in the future.

Wes Walters is Creative Arts and Pastor of Worship at Restoration Church in Buffalo, New York. Before joining the church in this capacity as it was being planted in 2008, he acquired quite a bit of musical and ministry experience working with churches and ministries in Alabama and Tennessee, as well as touring with a band (artist website). He met and married his wife, Leslie, at Auburn University, and then they moved to Nashville, TN, where they ministered at a church there.

As we get into asking about your call to ministry, how would you define someone’s “call to ministry”? Or what do you think of when you hear that term?

Yeah, it’s kind of a loaded question, or a loaded term, I guess. You know, everyone is called to ministry in a certain aspect, we’re just not all paid professionals. As far as an actual call to vocational ministry, or even bi-vocational ministry, some people say there’s a moment where you know and you knew, and you get all these specific things and a charge. For me there it just wasn’t that. I was in college and just meeting God and really getting into my faith. I was under some really great leadership, a great pastor, and he was just talking about the call to go and do and don’t ask questions. And so for me, as I was looking at my life and praying, I felt like God was saying, “I need you to go for me full-time, but I don’t have any specifics for you. So go!” So for me that was kind of my call to full-time ministry, and I didn’t really put any stipulations on that. I knew I was musically inclined – creatively inclined – and that I liked to speak, and other than that I didn’t have any clue. And it has changed over the last 12 years, it’s been a bunch of different things.

Have you worked at the same church for 12 years?

No, I was at Auburn University down in Alabama. That’s where I met God, that’s where I met the lady who would be my wife, and where I got my call to ministry. I was there for a little while in college and then I went to Nashville and served on staff in a couple of ministries there for a few years. Then I actually went on the road for awhile with one band and then came back after a few years and did another band for a couple of years. So I kind of wasn’t really doing specific vocational ministry for awhile, I was just figuring out who I was.

And then in the summer of ‘08 I got approached by a guy (from our church [now]) who was on staff at our church down there to come back to his hometown, because he was leaving Nashville to go to Buffalo to plant a church. He asked me and my wife to consider coming on. So we prayed and we’ve been here since October of ‘08.

So that was a church plant you were a part of?

It was a church plant. A plant from a bunch of different people who came together and helped out. Several major and different denominational commissioning boards and large churches around the USA as well as the IMB got involved. So every side, from all around, got together and said, “You know, we don’t agree on some things, but we do agree that there needs to be gospel preaching churches in Buffalo.” So they all got together and put efforts into it and got us up here.

Well, that’s awesome!

Yeh, it’s good.

You kind of described your call to ministry as being more of a process than an instant. Is that how you’d explain it?

Yeah. I definitely knew that I was supposed to do it, that year when I felt that call. But it’s really taken this long to define it well. I always knew it was my call to just go and say ‘yes’ and not put any stipulations on God. It’s actually easier that way, to not say, “Well I have this great idea and I wanna write this book and I wanna teach these people and do this thing…” Well, that’s great, but it doesn’t really work as easy that way. We found it much easier to go, “All right…[and agree with and follow God].”

So more of a surrendering?

Right. He [Christ] fills in the blanks. He’s always known every move that we’ve done, from Auburn to Murfreesboro, from Murfreesboro to Nashville, and then Nashville to here. We’ve not chosen any of those things. We would have never sat down and said, “Man, I’d really like to live 20 hours away from family and not be able to afford plane tickets. I’d really like to do that.” We never chose that. That’s just how it works, I think. For the best.

So I guess you would also say that a call to ministry is something that can kind of change over time? Because you said it kind of changed. Has it changed, for you, since 2008 to now?

Yeah, and I would say it never leaves, but it changes. It kind of morphs. And I think that has to do with maturity and also with the context in which you are serving. So, in ‘08 we just said ‘yes,’ and we had no children or anything and it had been at a great breaking point in Nashville and we were at a great place to just go. And we got here and the first six months were, as most church plants in moving that far from your family, really hard. But then getting to know the culture and the people, and what our specific vision was and how we were going to see everyone in western New York experience soul restoration. Once we kinda got our hands in the dirt and started meeting the people, then it did kinda shift. It was less about the actual tasks and it was more about the heart and it was more about figuring out how to facilitate soul restoration rather than just facilitate a new cool place to go worship.

It sounds like God gave you a heart and a call to that specific church as you got into it?

Yeah, it definitely had to develop for me. Because I was the only guy on the leadership team who wasn’t from here. Even though I met Dan, our vision pastor, in Nashville, he’s from here, and so for him it was coming back home, and it was this great, grand thing to come back home to his home town. And Alex, he’s our executive guy and details dude, he’s from here and loves Buffalo. For us [Leslie and I], we’re both from Alabama, and it was just a real adjustment. We had to pray for it, we had to pray, “God, we love your mission and we love what you want us to do. But we don’t love these people yet, we don’t love this city yet. Because we just don’t know it.” And so fortunately we were able to live downtown near all the art and music and all the craziness and all the students and really get submersed in what the city was about. And over time he developed in us this love for the people and a love for the church. And mainly it was just seeing people changed and be restored. Once we saw that start happen we were like, “Oh yeah, this is it. Love this.”

In general, in responding to a call to ministry of any type, what do you think is the wisest initial response?

I would say the first thing, my gut reaction, is to stop and pray. Then spend more time in prayer than even talking about it or getting details about it. For us, we spent prayer at each move, but this specific move was such a big deal. I was in a military family growing up, my family was all over the country, so for me a big move was not as big a deal. But my wife, she grew up in the same town for 18 years, went to college and came right back, and all her family lived within five miles. So she would be the first person to move more than three hours away, anywhere in her genealogy. So it was going to be a big thing that God was going to have to say to both of us, “Go!” So we stopped and we said, “Let’s at least pray and not shut it away.” And so I would definitely say stop and pray and pray and pray and pray.

And, definitely for me, a big deal was listening to my wife. She’s got this incredible gift of discernment and she can kinda tell some things when I want to just charge the gates. So it’s easier to stop and pray and then see what God is saying to her and what God is saying to me and then come together. So definitely stop and pray.

Now, you are a worship pastor? Is that your official title?

That’s one of the things I do. I’m actually the Creative Director and Pastor of Worship, so anything that goes into a creative aspect of the service or an event or anything that happens I’m in charge of. The music of course, and then I also speak as well – all five of us speak at different times. We have a plurality of elders here, instead of a lead pastor model, and so we all function according to our gift sets, but also we all preach. But I do, right now, also do the worship on Sunday mornings as part of my role.

What are some basics that you would suggest to someone who feels called to that type of ministry?

I would say to make sure – it’s funny, this is really fresh on my brain because earlier this year I was writing some articles for some magazines about this specific thing. It was to make sure that it’s not just this cross-centered thing or this God-worship thing or whatever, but that it is Christ-centered. And that doesn’t mean just his words or just his cross or just his resurrection, but all of it. So that means that when you sit down to plan anything, especially a gathering, that, from front to back and beginning to end, is this thing pointing people to the cross? Is it gospel-centered? In the prayers, in the announcements, in the worship music, in the sermon, in the communion – whatever it is. Are each of those elements pointing – is the gospel being said, is it being spoken out? Is there a direction towards the cross?

And actually I’m a songwriter as well, and that’s what I spend a lot of my time doing as well. And I’m still doing that with some people back in Nashville, so for me words are a big deal. I’ve even changed our vernacular when we sit down and talk about this. No longer just like a service order or program, this is a progression, like a gathering progression: we are trying to progress towards the cross. So when people leave they need to have been pointed to the cross, whether they like it or not, whether they agree with it or not is not our responsibility. Our responsibility is to point them there. So if someone is going to sit down and do creative things – paintings, videos, music, skits, whatever they want to do – you just need to make sure that it is Christ-centered, or that it points towards Christ and that the motives are for that. Because he can take care of the ends and we can be the means, and that’s why he gave us the Holy Spirit. [There] definitely needs to be this Christ-centered focus.

Just last year, summer of 2010 is when it kinda came to a head for me. I was looking through books of worship tunes that we do and I’ve done in the past. And I just realized that so many of them were just kind of shallow, kind of vague or empty. And I just thought, “This may be engaging because they’re popular or easy to sing, but at some point that’s gotta shift and you’ve gotta challenge people to move and grow.” So I whittled the whole book down to about 40 songs. I said, “Each one of these songs you can sing and it’s not only lyrically rich, but it actually points towards Christ. It points Christ-ward.” Not that there aren’t lament songs and prayer songs and things like that. But that those songs end with pointing towards Christ in some way. So having that kind of focus on everything has allowed us to build a catalogue of about 80-100 songs that we could pick any single one and you don’t have to worry about it. That’s now transferring into other parts not only of the ministry but the gathering progression. So when a guy gets together and says, “I need to announce these things in the service.” How are we going to tie that to the Gospel and make sure people get it? This isn’t just a rogue thing. Or, “Hey we’re having this art auction deal…” or “We’re doing this thing for the boys and girls club…” How do we tie that to the gospel and make sure people understand it’s not just another program, but there’s a reason behind it. It definitely needs to be Christ-centered. And this is especially for the creative guys, because it’s such a killer if it’s not. Because you can see a very well put on and performed show, and you can have a speaker and have people give money, but I think that’s just a concert, it’s not really an actual worship service unless it’s pointed towards Christ.

Thank you so much! Is there anything else you would like to add?

If I had anything I could say I would just say you need to feel the weight of your position. It’s no joke this thing that we do. And yes it’s joyous and fun to be in the charge and lead people in worship and those things. Of course, that’s the joy that comes with it. But it’s not a toy to be played with and a chance for a spotlight deal. If anything, our whole reason for being in ministry and being here is to point a spotlight towards God. So that needs to be kind of a driving factor behind anybody, especially the creative guys because they can really kill a worship service if they point it towards themselves.

Yeah, I would really just challenge guys to do that because I’ve learned it the hard way.

First off, a slight disclaimer: this worship album is actually one my church just released this summer. That being said, I didn’t write any of the songs on the album and I only played on one of them. When the album was actually released I approached it with some trepidation because I had been involved in another worship album project in a church in the past and the result was…well…let’s just say less than professional. Boy was I ever surprised! The team that did all the work on this did an excellent job. The mixes are tight and everything sounds just plain professional.

If you’d like to take a listen to the album, hit up northwake.bandcamp.com. You can stream and listen (for free!) to the entire album there, and you can even purchase it through that site as well as on iTunes and Amazon. And the sheet music is available on the North Wake website.

Now, with all that linkage out of the way, about the album itself. Why do I like it? First and foremost it has a theological depth which many albums today (including many Christian albums) lack. There is centrality of the gospel which permeates the entire album. Connected to that theme is another which is definitely lacking in this day and age: that of the depravity of man and how man could do nothing to save himself – salvation is only accomplished by the grace of God manifested through Christ and his work on the cross (as well as life, resurrection and ascension).

Highlights on the album? My top three songs (after much deliberation) are “Christ Our Savior”, “Yes in Christ”, and “Children of the Free.” The latter of which is an incredible song which grows to this awesome chorus at the end – just listen to it, you won’t regret it. “Christ Our Savior” is a hymn which was redone and is, quite frankly, incredible. There is rarely a dry eye in the place by the time we finish singing it at church. And “Yes in Christ” is a song about the promises of God and how they were fulfilled in Christ – not a subject matter undertaken by songwriters very often.

Other songs of note are “O Christ What Burdens Bowed Thy Head?” which has a very haunting feel to the verses; “Rescue“, a song about how Christ came to rescue us; and “The Depths of Your Love“, which is about how the love of Christ is greater than anything else.

It’s hard not to talk about every song on the album, but since you can listen for free off Bandcamp, I’d highly suggest you just head that way and check out the album. I’m certain you won’t be disappointed.

The Worship Pastor at my church recently returned from a three month sabbatical. I had the opportunity, along with a couple other guys, to lead a little more frequently in his absence. While getting somewhat back into the groove of leading regularly was a blast, as I reflect on various services I led I was reminded of the danger of the exceptional service. Why? I was given the opportunity to lead roughly once a month, so I would spend the time between services meditating, praying, scheming and mapping out the service coming up next. That’s a lot of prep for a single service. And God really did bless those services (in spite of all my hard work, I might add). It got me thinking, “Wow. I really am a great worship leader – I had almost forgotten. Man I can’t wait to get in a church where I can do this every week!” My first thought was that I would be able to bless whatever congregation God led me to with the most incredible worship services every week. Then God poked my brain with a 2×4 and reminded what a ludicrous thought that was.

What’s wrong with having an exceptional worship service? Nothing, really. Excepting, of course, the ever lurking danger of pride. First, though, let me explain what I mean by ‘exceptional worship service’: a service where everything goes right. Not perfect – just right. It’s not that the musicians don’t make mistakes (or even yourself), but that the mistakes that are made are either overlooked or don’t affect the service. You, as the leader, are tuned into the Spirit and everything just flows – everything you planned and pulled together comes together, not because of your effort but because of the blessing of the Lord.

This is a good thing – this is what you strive for every week. Right? Maybe. Maybe not. When the exceptional becomes the norm, then regular becomes sub-par. So do you only attempt “awesome” services infrequently, or at least spaced out? Wouldn’t it be awesome for your church to be that church that has the most awesome services ever! Every week!

But that’s a lot of pressure. You have to deliver every single week. There’s no let up, no time off. Oh, wait – you can draft a lay leader in every now and then so they get a little experience (and maybe remind the congregation why you’re the best worship leader ever!). Then when you can come back you can do an even awesomer service (yes, by the way, awesomer is a completely valid word, please ignore your spell checker).

Any experienced worship pastor/leader knows that the last seven sentences are ludicrous. Not every service can be a high point, a climactic event in the life of the church. “Why not?” you ask. As unrealistic as the expectation is, the reality would be even more dangerous and unhealthy to your congregation. It’s the greatest danger in the pentecostal and charismatic circles where there is an almost euphoric spiritual ‘high’ sought by many in every service they participate in, and services are often (consciously or unconsciously) graded on how incredibly the Spirit moved within them.

Every denomination, church, even congregant has their own way of grading services though, whether they find them to be exceptional or not. Baptists are as guilty as Methodists or Presbyterians or even those in any of the numerous charismatic/pentecostal alliances or denominations. As worship leaders, we are as guilty as those we lead, though we often grade the services using different standards.

But what should we strive for? Should we seek to make each service more incredible than the last? No. Should we schedule in a ‘tricked out’ service periodically? Say…maybe once a quarter, or something like that? Again, no. So we should seek normalcy in our services? The danger of normalcy is it often turns into drudgery.

My personal solution, my personal perspective is that you take each service on its own. Every church has a liturgy (or pattern) within their worship. This is always a great place to start, as long as you keep in mind the option that things could be changed around. Don’t force it, but rather let what the pastor is teaching guide you in your service prep. Make sure you are regularly spending time in prayer and in the Word, so you are tuned to the Spirit. That way, as you meditate on what the preacher will be sharing on Sunday you can be tuned into the need (or even opportunity) to mix things up, change things around. But never do it for the reason of creating that “exceptional service” but rather so that you can better shore up, emphasize and even apply what is being taught.

God moves differently every week. ‘Exceptional’ services are great, but in reality, they are merely different. What is exceptional is when God moves and touches someone’s heart. That can happen when you use an order of worship you’ve used a thousand times. The danger of exceptional worship services versus normal ones is that the focus shifts from what God is doing to what we are experiencing. Let us shepherd our hearts (and our people) so we do not seek an exceptional service, but rather we seek our exceptional God.