Virginia Beach Community Chapel

Ministry Position Description

Worship Pastor*

Position: Full Time, Salaried; Apply at

Summary: Provides dynamic leadership to VBCC’s overall worship endeavors including shepherding, planning, coordination, direction to volunteers who are likewise passionately committed to directing others into shared, life-changing encounters with God and His people.

Justification of the Position:

Biblically, worship of God is a holy activity found from beginning (Gn 22:5) to end (Rv 22:9) in Scripture. God’s people are commanded “worship the Lord your God” (Lk 4:8) “in spirit and truth” (Jn 4:24; cf. Ps 96:9). We’re even told God is actively seeking such worshippers (Jn 4:23), a fact not surprising when one notes that our eternal destiny is to worship and glorify the Lord (Rv 7:9-12). Worship, which takes on as many timely forms as there are cultures in the world, is a universal and timeless function of the New Testament church (Acts 2:42-47). It is by no means limited to the sanctuary or the corporate gatherings, but is to occur on “the streets” of our lives—in our businesses, in our homes, with our families, in small groups, during private moments with God, etc. Indeed, worship is to be a thoroughly integrated spiritual discipline and lifestyle as it brings honor to and an increased capacity to know, love and obey God—the Fuel and Focus of our worship. The position of Worship Pastor, or one who coordinates, leads and facilitates the worship of God by His people, may be said to have biblical roots all the way back in the time of the Levitical priests. This position is intended to direct Christ-followers into God’s presence—both corporately and individually—in order to fulfill the primary reason for our existence (Eccl 12:13).

Strategically, since one of VBCC’s core values is Lifestyle Worship...

“We desire to express God’s supreme value and worth

in our personal lives and in the corporate worship of our church

(Rm 12:1-2; Jn 4:23-24).”

...since a key component of our Vision is to be a biblical community of worshippers where we see people passionately connecting to God through inspiring worship services and small group worship experiences, since we dream of directing others into life-changing encounters with God through worship, where a variety of worship styles are used, God is honored and celebration is genuine, winsome and attractive, and since we see worshipping as a united family—reaching across racial, socio-economic and generational divides as we gather together to worship and serve our great King and enjoy one another, a staff position is warranted that focuses solely on this need.

Essential Qualifications:

  1. Spiritual
  1. Must be a faithful, growing Christ-follower who is deepening in his personal relationship with Jesus Christ, modeling this to others, and meeting the biblical qualifications of eldership (1 Tm 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-16; 1 Pt 5:1-4).
  2. A passionate desire to see people come to know, love and follow Christ in the context of real community.
  3. Primary Spiritual Gifts: Leadership & Administration (also preferred: preaching, planning, service).
  4. In agreement with VBCC’s Doctrinal Statement, Values, Mission, Vision and Strategy.
  1. Personal
  1. Availability to give the position and ministry the time and attention it needs to be optimally successful.
  2. Dedicated to the development of God’s people in their roles of discipleship, outreach, and gifts-based leadership.
  3. Highly organized. Teachable. Self-starter.
  4. A gifts-based team builder and team player who sees the need to take others with him in the journey of leadership and leadership development.
  5. Strong social, personal skills that enable him to be an effective, creative communicator (oral & written).
  6. Exhibits in his own individual life and in his family life a passion to experience and encourage lifestyle worship.
  1. Professional
  1. Ideally, a seminary degree with an emphasis in worship and music.
  2. An innovative, strategic thinker who sees creative ways to draw people into an authentic worship experience.
  3. A sophisticated understanding of the difference between music programming and worship leadership.
  4. A sophisticated understanding of the difference between having a Worship Ministry that takes either a generalist (please everyone with blended styles) or a specialist (pursue a certain target group) approach and the ramifications of either decision for the growth of a church and the methodologies of its Worship Ministry.
  5. A mature perspective and ability to handle worship style preferences from the inevitably disgruntled member.
  6. A highly relational person with deep social skills (i.e., high emotional intelligence).
  7. Adequate qualitative experience leading worship in a large church that demonstrates proven competence.
  8. Takes seriously his pastoral responsibility to shepherd those in his care (i.e., each volunteer in every area of his ministry).

General Responsibilities:

The Worship Pastor’s (WP) primary purpose is “to DIRECT people into a shared, life-changing encounter with God and His people” in both corporate and small group settings, to shepherd those under his care, and to coordinate the various facets necessary to create high quality worship experiences (perhaps including music, multimedia, sound, drama, creative arts, etc.). In each worship event, he will seek to be Directive—consistently focusing on and pointing to God, Intentional—making every facet deliberate and purpose-driven, Relevant—ensuring timeless Truth meets contemporary life, Excellent—honoring God and inspiring people by doing our best with what God has given us, Creative—seeking to be unique, innovative and artistic like our Creator, and Theologically Accurate—remaining true to God’s character and God’s Word.

The WP will give general oversight to the various aspects of VBCC’s worship ministry, supervise all corresponding staff and volunteers, and—as a loving shepherd—provide general spiritual and emotional care to the various leaders and individuals involved. This position requires someone who can understand the immediate VBCC culture as well as the broader Virginia Beach culture. It calls for a person who can champion and instill the value of Lifestyle Worship into others, build teams to support the various areas of the Worship Ministry (WM) (i.e., praise band, orchestra, choir, drama, sound, multimedia, etc.), recruit and train gifted volunteers, plan and execute relevant corporate worship events, and be available to assist staff leaders and small group leaders in enhancing the worship experiences of their community-building gatherings.

Specific Responsibilities:

The following areas of the WP’s responsibilities encapsulate a five-phase process for building a church of lifestyle worshippers.

1. Own and Model the Value of Lifestyle Worship

  1. Truly and consistently live out the value of Lifestyle Worship. His teaching/belief-system is matched by his behavior. His enthusiasm for building a church in which everyone experiences authentic worship is unparalleled.
  2. Motivate and encourage people in the congregation with a personal example that is fully engaged in a lifestyle of worship and actively fight the tendencies to either give way to life’s distractions or focus on ourselves and not God.
  3. Communicate regularly with staff regarding personal development, ministry needs and ministry progress.
  4. Properly manage the WM’s resources—including maintaining records and preparing and submitting an annual budget bold enough to keep and show Lifestyle Worship is an important piece of VBCC’s Vision.

2. Instill the Value of Lifestyle Worship in Others

  1. Identify Core Values, determine the Mission, discover the Vision, and plan the Strategy of the WM in such a way as to complement and bolster VBCC’s overall Vision.
  2. Communicate with the Elder Leadership Team and congregation regarding the Values, Mission, Vision and Strategy of the WM.
  3. Build teams to accomplish various aspects of the WM with gifts-based excellence, broad ownership and creativity.
  4. Understand the best way to instill the value of Lifestyle Worship into other’s hearts is to live it out with passion.
  5. Take advantage of opportunities to teach from the Scriptures why and how we are to be lifestyle worshippers.
  6. Share inspiring stories of life-changing experiences of lifestyle worship from his own and others’ lives.
  7. Work hand-in-hand with the Lead Pastor or Pastoral Team member who is preaching during upcoming services to seek ways to maximize the worship experience for those in attendance.
  8. Engineer regular and strategic opportunities for Christ-followers to bring their unchurched friends to VBCC in order to set them up for a life-changing encounter with God.
  9. Design worship services/experiences—in close partnership with the Pastoral Team—that are consistently fresh and D-I-R-E-C-T.

3. Empower Various Worship Ministry Team Leaders

  1. Enlist and train emerging leaders with specific relevant abilities, leadership gifting, and talent for cultivating authentic, Christocentric relationships and building various worship ministry teams (i.e., praise band, orchestra, choir, drama, sound, multimedia, etc.) to help realize the WM Vision.
  2. Shepherd, pray regularly for, support, assist and coach these new leaders with regular one-on-one meetings.
  3. Provide abundant opportunities for team leaders and apprentices to lead certain worship oriented initiatives that would simultaneously serve to develop their own individual leadership skills.
  4. Pray regularly for the WM including its staff, volunteer lay leaders, team members, Mission and Vision.

4. Develop a Diversified Worship Leadership Team

  1. Recruit a primary team of diverse volunteer lay leaders (the WM Team) for the purpose of accomplishing Worship Ministry who represent an accurate cross-section of VBCC’s congregation and surrounding community.
  2. Coordinate regular planning meetings for leadership team members that include long range planning, goal setting, training, evaluation, environmental analysis, and opportunities for spiritual growth and community building.
  3. Shepherd, observe, evaluate and affirm leaders and volunteers—noting strengths, areas of possible improvement, opportunities and potential problems—in order to encourage and develop those under your leadership.
  4. Express appreciation and affirmation to team members through various creative means.

5. Remain a Student of Worship as it relates to VBCC’s Internal & External Cultures

  1. Help others to break free from the typical hindrances or personal barriers to experiencing lifestyle worship (i.e., misunderstandings, busyness, over-commitment, lack of commitment, etc.).
  2. Design flexible worship patterns that protect VBCC from developing rigid styles, sacred cows or outdated forms.
  3. Understand what musical styles and worship methodologies would engage the mind and heart of the unchurched person in our particular Virginia Beach culture and seek to intrigue and attract them while still providing Christ-followers with rich and abundant opportunities for deep, vibrant and unwatered-down worship of our Lord.
  4. Develop a sophisticated understanding of where area churches fall on the following continuum. And be able to provide biblical, Values-, Mission-, Vision- and Strategy-grounded reasoning for where VBCC currently exists, where it may need to go, and, if so, how it will get there:

______

Seeker-Driven Seeker-Friendly Seeker-Sensitive Seeker-Unfriendly Seeker-Hostile

  1. Continually learn from, evaluate and, if needed, redesign the existing Worship Ministry strategy—in league with the Pastoral Staff Team and Elder Leadership Team—to best achieve the VBCC Vision.

Relation to the Staff:

The Worship Pastor, as a key part of the Pastoral Team, will be in constant contact with, learn from, interact with and depend upon the unique expertise of each Pastoral Team member. The WP will be directly responsible to the Lead Pastor and Elder Leadership Team who will provide general oversight and supervision to ensure that the Worship Ministry’s Values, Mission, Vision and Strategy are aligned with VBCC’s overall Vision and direction. The WP will oversee other staff members assigned to the Worship Ministry including any interns.

*Addendum: VBCC is committed to pursing the Vintage or Convergent worship style.

What is “Vintage” or “Convergent” worship?It is the artistic blending of multiple music styles and worship practices from ancient and modern times. This highly participatory and often multi-sensory form of worship—where the rich history of our Christian heritage converges with present day—utilizes choruses, hymns, responsive readings, corporate prayers, creeds, the arts, the sacraments, and liturgy. As a multigenerational church, VBCC is committed to this style in order to best engage the mind, heart, & soul of every generation in our Body as well as to attract today’s younger, unchurched, postmodern generations. For more information on this style, see Robert Webber’s Ancient-Future Faith(Baker, 1999), Dan Kimball’s Emerging Worship(Zondervan, 2004), or email Marcus at .

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VBCC Worship Pastor Position Description: Approved by the VBCC Elder Leadership Team, 2004