Episode 7

The Interior Life of a Worship Leader | The Leader Nobody Is Pastoring

There is a particular kind of loneliness that comes with the worship leader role. It is not the loneliness of having no one around you. Most worship leaders are surrounded by people.

It is the loneliness of carrying a weight that none of those people are quite positioned to carry with you. Your team looks to you. Your congregation receives from you. Your pastor is often your supervisor as much as your shepherd. And you end up relationally surrounded but pastorally alone.

Barna research found that 65% of pastors now report feelings of loneliness and isolation, up significantly from a decade ago. The structure of ministry creates it. You are always the one people bring things to. You are rarely the one people bring things toward.

In this episode we name that dynamic honestly, push back on the lie that needing to be cared for is a sign of weakness, and sit with one practical question that tends to expose a lot: who is actually pastoring you right now?

This one is for the worship leader who keeps giving and has started to wonder when the last time was that someone showed up for them.

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About the Podcast

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Formation to Transformation | A Worship Devotional

About your host

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Ryan Loche

Dr. Ryan Loche (PhD) is a worship pastor, professor, and theologian helping worship leaders and everyday disciples be formed by Scripture over time. He leads The Church Collective, a training network for worship, creative, and production leaders. Ryan’s work centers on worship as formation before expression and the slow, faithful transformation of becoming like Jesus.