{"id":1297,"date":"2019-05-30T18:28:06","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T18:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/?p=1297"},"modified":"2019-06-11T15:33:15","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T15:33:15","slug":"all-things-worship-leading-with-jeff-deyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/all-things-worship-leading-with-jeff-deyo\/","title":{"rendered":"All things worship leading with Jeff Deyo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeff Deyo<\/a>, North Central faculty member and former lead singer of Sonicflood, has years of experience in leading worship, songwriting, music production, and serving as a worship arts professor.<\/p>\n

Deyo works with students to train and equip them to be professionals in their fields through our Worship Live traveling worship teams, leading regularly in chapel, and with hands-on experience in the classroom as part of our worship leading degree program<\/a>. He writes about some of his revelations and studies in his latest published book, Awakening Pure Worship.<\/p>\n

We were able to steal a bit of Deyo\u2019s time and ask him all about his philosophies of worship leading and his recently published book.<\/p>\n

Philosophies of worship leading with Jeff Deyo<\/h2>\n

Songs to God vs. songs about God<\/h3>\n

As early as middle school, Deyo described coming to an understanding of the difference between worship songs that are sung directly to God, and worship songs that are sung about God. He recalled discovering “to-God” songs.<\/p>\n

“This was new for me… I realized these are songs to<\/em> God. I can sing directly to Him and tell Him how awesome He is or say ‘thank you for what you’ve done. That really changed my life.” Deyo went on to explain that this was the start of his understanding of vertical versus horizontal worship.<\/p>\n

Jeff explains that in the church he grew up in as a kid, there were song directors rather than worship leaders every Sunday that would get up on stage (not musically trained) and instruct the congregation to turn to a specific page in a hymnal. He says that this is what he defines as horizontal worship-all theologically based but lacking a relational connection with God. It wasn’t until later in life that he realized he could have a vertical, more personal musical experience with God,\u00a0either while singing hymns or while singing more modern songs.<\/p>\n

“At the end of the day, worship is about fellowship with God,” he concluded.<\/p>\n

Work yourself out of your worship leader job<\/h3>\n

Deyo teaches all of his students to \u201cwork themselves out of a job.\u201d As a worship leader, Deyo believes that you are supposed to equip the congregation to \u201ctake the ball and run\u201d and empower people in their worship. Oftentimes he does this through encouraging the congregation to sing their own song to God rather than singing along with the worship leader.<\/p>\n

If you’re interested in learning more about what it takes to become a worship leader, check out these helpful articles:<\/h4>\n