Worship Pastor

WORSHIP PASTOR

Highest Praise Church | Shallotte, North Carolina | 1000+

GENERAL JOB DESCRIPTION

The Worship Pastor is responsible for providing spiritual leadership, vision, development, direction, and pastoral oversight for the worship ministry of Highest Praise Church.

This individual will lead and develop staff and volunteers involved in worship and will oversee the processes and experiences surrounding worship services at Highest Praise Church and Southeastern Christian Academy.

The Worship Pastor should possess both **spiritual depth and musical excellence**.

This person must be capable of leading worship skillfully while also building teams, developing leaders, discipling volunteers, creating healthy ministry culture, and working cooperatively with pastors, media, production, and creative teams.

The Worship Pastor is expected to recognize that worship ministry is first a **ministry to God and people**, not simply a musical or production position.

WORSHIP LEADERSHIP

The Worship Pastor will:

* Lead weekly worship experiences.

* Plan and lead weekly worship rehearsals.

* Develop worship experiences that encourage celebration, participation, intimacy, and response to God.

* Select songs that support the spiritual direction and vision of the church.

* Work closely with pastoral leadership when planning services, sermon series, special services, and ministry events.

* Communicate worship direction clearly to musicians, vocalists, production teams, and ministry leadership.

* Prepare worship teams spiritually and musically.

* Maintain a high standard of musical excellence without allowing excellence to replace authentic worship.

* Lead occasional worship nights and special worship experiences as directed by church administration.

* Coordinate guest worship leaders, musicians, vocalists, and other worship participants when necessary.

* Remain spiritually sensitive and flexible during worship services while also honoring service leadership and direction.

TEAM DEVELOPMENT

A major responsibility of this position is **building people and teams rather than doing everything personally.**

The Worship Pastor will develop a strategy to:

* Identify potential worship leaders.

* Recruit musicians and vocalists.

* Recruit and develop worship ministry volunteers.

* Disciple team members.

* Train musicians and vocalists.

* Develop additional worship leaders.

* Mentor emerging leaders.

* Create opportunities for younger musicians and worship leaders to grow.

* Provide feedback and coaching.

* Create healthy pathways for people to join the worship ministry.

* Build sufficient team depth so the ministry does not depend upon one person.

* Develop leaders capable of leading services and ministry responsibilities when the Worship Pastor is unavailable.

SERVICE PLANNING & COLLABORATION

The Worship Pastor will work closely and cooperatively with:

* Senior and Associate Pastors

* Production Teams

* Youth Ministry

* Southeastern Christian Academy

* Other ministry departments

The Worship Pastor is responsible for communicating the vision and direction of worship experiences so that worship, production, media, lighting, video, and other creative elements work together effectively.

SOUTHEASTERN CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

The Worship Pastor will also help serve the worship and music needs of Southeastern Christian Academy.

Responsibilities include:

* Overseeing weekly chapel worship services.

* Developing students who demonstrate musical and worship leadership potential.

* Helping oversee the growth and development of the school's music department.

* Working cooperatively with school administration.

* Helping establish a culture of worship among students.

ADMINISTRATION & STEWARDSHIP

The Worship Pastor will:

* Schedule worship leaders, musicians, vocalists, and volunteers.

* Maintain appropriate communication with team members.

* Utilize Planning Center or other church-approved scheduling systems.

* Maintain worship ministry calendars.

* Help establish annual ministry goals.

* Work with the Associate Pastor to prepare and manage the worship department budget.

* Demonstrate good stewardship of church finances and resources.

* Maintain and oversee the use, care, organization, and operation of instruments, equipment, rooms, stages, and other materials associated with the worship ministry.

* Communicate equipment and maintenance needs to appropriate leadership.

* Attend required staff meetings and ministry planning meetings.

* Dress neatly and professionally according to the Highest Praise Church staff manual.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Candidates must:

* Be a committed follower of Jesus Christ.

* Demonstrate a genuine calling to worship ministry.

* Have experience leading worship in a Spirit-filled church environment.

* Be able to sing and lead worship skillfully.

* Demonstrate biblical characteristics of Christian leadership.

* Possess strong interpersonal and communication skills.

* Be capable of leading both musicians and volunteers.

* Demonstrate humility, teachability, dependability, and spiritual maturity.

* Understand contemporary worship culture and music.

* Have working knowledge of modern worship tools including multitracks, click tracks, and in-ear monitoring.

* Embrace the doctrine, philosophy, vision, values, and staff culture of Highest Praise Church.

* Successfully complete all required background checks.

* Be willing to participate fully in the spiritual and community life of Highest Praise Church, including biblical generosity and tithing.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Preference may be given to candidates who:

* Play an instrument, preferably keyboard.

* Are married.

* Have previous full-time ministry experience.

* Have experience using Planning Center.

* Have working knowledge of at least one professional DAW such as Ableton Live, Logic Pro, or Pro Tools.

* Have experience with multitracks and modern worship production.

* Have experience developing worship teams and leaders.

* Have experience with songwriting and/or recording.

* Have experience developing student musicians.

WHO WE ARE

Highest Praise Church is a non-denominational, Spirit-filled Christian church located in Shallotte, North Carolina, between Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC.

Our mission is simple:

**See Lives Changed and God’s Kingdom Advanced.**

Highest Praise Church is known in our community for dynamic contemporary worship, powerful preaching of the Word of God, a commitment to the moving of the Holy Spirit, and maintaining a high degree of excellence in ministry.

Our church family has a deep desire to experience both powerful and intimate worship and to create an atmosphere where people can genuinely encounter the presence of God.

Highest Praise is an non-denominational church which simply means we are a fellowship of ordinary people who come from many backgrounds.We exist to see lives changed and God's Kingdom advanced.