Todd Fields is a worship leader and founder of Worship Circle, an online training and coaching community for worship leaders. Recently our Director of Products, Will Doggett sat down with Todd to learn more about his history leading worship, what advice he has for worship leaders, and how Playback and RehearsalMix have benefited his team.
Tell us a bit about your experience leading worship?
I’ve been leading worship for 25 years. I started working with Andy Stanley at First Baptist Church Atlanta in the early days. From there I partnered with Louie Giglio and other leaders with a ministry called 7:22 to singles in the city of Atlanta. My friends Steve Fee, Kristian Stanfill, Candi Pearson Shelton and others were involved with that ministry as well for a 10 year period. In tandem with that, North Point Community Church started and I led at North Point for 21 years. About 8 years ago at North Point, I continued to lead, but also worked toward training and pastoring our worship leaders for our various campuses. In 2014 after I had been training leaders for a while at North Point and also online using Skype, I partnered with a company called the Rocket Company to create a training resource for worship leaders called “Worship Rocket”. At the same time, we started a ministry for worship leaders called Worship Circle and it’s been going for 3 and 1/2 years now. The beginning of 2018, my wife Carrie and I moved to San Francisco, CA with our two youngest boys where I took a position as worship pastor for a church in the city called Epic Church.
How has the move to Epic Church stretched you as a leader?
At North Point, from day one we had access to a lot of professional musicians in the area and region. Worship leaders were springing up from all over and it started becoming a thing more than a typical Music of Minister might have been years ago. I think I’ve been stretched in the sense that I’m having to take everything I’ve known and believed about worship and music community in the local church and work it through the context of an all-volunteer community in a city where people can come and go….but a community where God is obviously at work and great things are happening. It’s a very different thing to come into a new place and start from the ground up building relationships and trust…but it’s been a great thing for me.
Tell us a bit about Worship Circle and what your Purpose is?
It’s an online training and discipleship community for worship leaders led by Christy Nockels, Kim Walker-Smith, Paul Baloche, Meredith Andrews, and Jeremy Riddle. Our main purpose is for leaders to know that they are loved and not alone. Our mission is for leaders to be fully alive in their identity, truly known in authentic community and sharpened in their skills. We’ve seen God use this vehicle to do just that over and over again with worship leaders from around the world.
Why is community so important for Worship Leaders?
I think for any leader it can be a lonely place. By saying yes to the role you’re setting yourself up for a life where everyone sees and hears you week after week from a stage, but may not necessarily know the real you. Of course, the goal is for the real you to be the one that leads….but we all struggle with how much of our realness we want known. In the same way that dads have being a dad in common, or moms have being a mom in common…when worship leaders get together there’s usually an immediate understanding with everyone because we all know what it’s like to do what we are charged with doing. We see that over and over again in Worship Circle. Oftentimes we don’t feel like we can ask the hard questions or tell our real struggles to people who could fire us. Having a safe place is extremely important and having someone down the road to shepherd that space is so helpful.
Do you have any suggestions on how to manage life as a Worship Leader/Pastor and a Father and Husband?
This is a shameless plug for a friend, but this morning I just began listening to my friend Carey Nieuwhof’s High Impact Leader Course and I love Carey’s passion for helping leaders avoid burnout and get the things done that are top priority. I haven’t mastered it by any means. I guess speaking from my mistakes, I’d say that neither your family nor the people you lead at church will ever be led to a place you haven’t already made space for. I’m learning that good intentions and even what my heart wants for my wife and kids don’t matter unless it’s lived out and calendared out and unless I’m leading the way. It’s a huge responsibility and I think as artists and creatives we can sometimes live a “whatever will be will be” life…but I say no to that….and I’m beginning to wake up to the reality that I’m oftentimes my biggest barrier to accomplishing all that God has for me with these remaining heartbeats than anyone else is.
What would you say to a Worship Leader that is burned out, and ready to give up?
Look at the landscape of your life and time. Look at and assess what you’re saying yes to and try to prioritize your life in a way that you have time for being still first of all…being in relationship with our Heavenly Father is the main thing. I’ve gotten this out of order many times…and it never goes well and ultimately it impacts everything in my life and my family’s life. Learn to say no to the things that are killing your passion for why you started leading in the first place. Don’t be afraid to go to your pastor and work together toward a pace and a job load that isn’t wearing you out. The high production culture of the modern church is taking out so many leaders…and if we aren’t careful…getting the job done or playing the songs down correctly can take the place of relationship and the source of it all which is abiding in Christ.
I know you recently started using Playback as you transitioned to Epic Church. How has Playback helped you in this new season at Epic Church?
Having played music in church, in the studio, on projects for years…I remember the first time I was ever in the studio recording. It felt so good…but was almost foreign in a way because I was rushing everything. Music sounds best when we all listen to each other and are going after a common end goal. In order for that to happen there has to be thought about arrangement, parts, dynamics. Having the Playback app has helped us all know what it’s supposed to feel like and with Rehearsal Mix, we also have the actual parts to play. Over time…the team expects this quality and it rubs off on the culture. It really does help lay people hear and understand the difference between a free for all chart run down and a well thought out, dynamic approach to songs.
What has the response from your team been to using RehearsalMix?
Rehearsal mix is extremely helpful for our musicians. I think sometimes the biggest hurdle of understanding for any musician is knowing when to play and what to play. By having the up mix integrated into Planning Center, it really helps musicians understand how important their piece is. I remember back in elementary school when we would learn harmonies for a choral arrangement. We wouldn’t learn all together…each section would only know their part as it relates to the song…then we’d all come together and it sounded amazing. This is the same concept for prepping for worship…and it’s a game changer.
If you’re interested in growing in your skill and finding community with other Worship Leaders, check out Worship Circle today. Enrollment in the program is now open. We also encourage you to check out Worship Circle's latest podcast, in which Will talks with Todd about his journey and how to use technology as a worship leader.
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