Episode 1: A Decade of Mistakes / Meet Daniel Tsubota

Catch the first article at danieltsubota.com

“Don’t Rock the Boat”

If a mission statement could be formed from the strategies of current worship leadership thought, this is it. When it comes to content for leaders in worship ministry, you’ve probably heard it all before. And that’s a problem. Our current system of regurgitating the same worship platitudes and talking points is perfectly designed for our current results: bland, recycled, and—let’s be honest–-mostly unhelpful content.

The reason I feel I can provide answers is because I spent years making mistakes. If you have found yourself with any amount of recognized leadership over or within a worship team, I have got lessons to offer you from my mistakes. Maybe you’re aspiring to more team leadership. Consider the tools I offer as research to start building your tools before you find yourself in that spot.

Transcript

Welcome to episode ONE of the BotaCast — where it’s my mission to level up your local worship team. This is a Different Kind of Worship Podcast. That’s right: It’s lessons from over a decade of mistakes! Bad habits I had to discover and break in my own leadership that hopefully you can learn from my failures and avoid them for yourself. I like to think of this as an irreverent podcast: where we discuss the real answers in worship ministry. Irreverent: because only God is to be revered, and every other aspect of our lives must be evaluated. More on that in Episode 2.

I’m Daniel Tsubota - with a T. That’s right. I’ll be honest I was little apprehensive about no one being able to remember how to spell my last name, but I figure if someone with a name like Carey Neuiwhof can do it, the world might just be  ready for Tsubota with a T. Shoutout to you Carey.

So this podcast will primarily be a discussion around the articles I publish over on my blog at danieltsubota.com (with a T). I’ll have at least one new article up every month and then a corresponding podcast here: sometimes just me, but also with some friends because… well that’s what a discussion is, and I always think group podcasts are way easier to listen to than a monologue like uh… like this one.

This podcast is about breaking bad habits in worship leadership: everything from team leadership down to the practicals: I’m talking about leading difficult team members all the way down to breaking bad habits in your monitor mix.

Like I said at the top, these articles are lessons from from over a decade of behind the scenes worship leadership. I am not your stereo-typical worship pastor who stands in the middle of the stage and leads the songs. So people usually recognize me as that guy onstage with _(fill in the blank)_.” In addition to band leading, most of my time in leadership has been as the one who leads worship team cultures offstage. The time you will find me center stage is leading team nights or kicking off rehearsals. 

1. So… Who is this Podcast For:

Anyone with any amount of leadership in a worship team. Maybe you’re just getting into ministry and you’re facing certain situations for the first time. Or maybe you’ve been doing this a long time and you’re just not satisfied with the results you’re getting from the current answers. I want to offer some thoughts from over a decade of full time worship ministry experience to help challenge the status quo, doubt the default, and be able to offer some alternative viewpoints to this wild ride of worship ministry. I also hope that this can be a fun time where we can laugh at ourselves in the church sphere and a lot of the bad habits we’ve gotten into that if we just take a step back, are actually pretty silly.

So. Irreverent: I love what Pastor Willie George back at Church on the Move said about this: he said anything that can’t be changed, that is beyond being questioned, has been elevated to the status of the divine. And when we do that, we’re actually worshiping our methods. Or worshiping our expectations. Only God does not change, only his divinity should not be questioned. That means everything else is on the table. This will be where we question the general consensus, doubt the default answer, and consider alternatives that Challenge status quo.

I don’t believe there are one-size-fits-all answers anywhere. This is also a time where hopefully we can take a step back from the weekend grind and laugh at, let’s be honest, a LOT of what happens in church that is comical at best, dangerous at worst. There are so many things I have done that eventually I’ve had to ask myself, WHY do I do these things? And also, is this working? My hope is that you can save time by beginning to question things early without you having to go through the same years of bad practices. 

I want to emphasize that there are no such things as one size fits all answers, and the insights I provide might not be for you. That’s okay. But I would encourage you to question how your leadership and ministry might be different if you considered them. The core problem I hope to help remedy is the current echo chamber of vague worship ministry answers.

The reason I feel I can provide answers is because I spent years making mistakes. I saw post yesterday scrolling through social media, I happened upon a post from Adam Grant, it says this:
"Hiding weaknesses doesn't project strength. It reflects insecurity. No matter how hard you try, people who know you well will see your flaws. You might as well get credit for having the humility to look for them, the self-awareness to spot them, and the integrity to admit them."

I couldn’t agree more.

Here’s the thing, I didn’t start writing these articles or recording podcasts because I have achievements to brag about. My goal for everything you read or hear is for you to be able to identify pitfalls and mistakes early on that I crashed and burned on (and hopefully you can avoid!). So for example, the next article is about dealing with difficult team members. My suggestions are formed from years of tolerating, and consequently suffering the effects, of not appropriately dealing with these kinds of characters. When you listen to the podcast episode about Bad Bosses, it won’t be a tell all about my employers but rather more a confessional of how I have led my direct reports poorly.

If you’re looking for advice on how to sell platinum records or improve your vocal technique, I will happily point you to other sources. But if you have found yourself with any amount of recognized leadership over or within a worship team, I have got lessons to offer you from my mistakes. Maybe you’re aspiring to more team leadership. Consider the tools I offer as research to start building your tools before you find yourself in that spot.

In addition to leadership, I’m also passionate about the practicals. Articles and podcasts will range from worship philosophy to producing or even just how to run a good rehearsal.

So that’s the what, I guess I can tell you about the “who”

1. WHO AM I:

A. I’m Daniel Tsubota. I live in beautiful Northern Colorado. I’m a son, husband, father of two, and I’ve been in full time ministry for over a decade. I started as a youth volunteer at my church in California, eventually became youth worship leader. Once I could drive, I started serving at a second church in the larger town half an hour away. After high school I attended an International School of Worship in India. And after that found my way to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma where I would eventually become the Worship Coordinator, Interim Assistant Director, then Assistant Director, Interim Director, and then co-Director. During my time at ORU, I found myself onstage with some amazing artists and churches including Church on the Move, Desperation Student Ministry at New Life Church, Empowered21 Global Conferences, Victory Church, BattleCreek Church and artists like Don Moen, Jared Anderson, Ricardo Sanchez, and so many more. So almost 20 years of leading worship and then full time ministry since 2011. In recent years, I’ve been on staff at the local church level: almost seven years at my church in Illinois before moving here to Northern Colorado.

So if I were you, I might be thinking:  

“Daniel, I don’t seem to remember seeing you host any worship conference? You think you’ve got it all figured out?” No, not at all. In fact, I believe that my greatest qualification for this podcast is that I have made more mistakes and have had to learn from failure after failure. My hope is not that you try to glean wisdom from my accomplishments, but rather that you would learn from my blunders and mistakes, without having to pay the price yourself. I honestly believe that you can be spared the frustration and wasted time of running around in circles with the right answer, when you can make real progress with a real answer.

And then depending on how cynical you are, your follow up might be:

“Got it, so you’re gonna call out those mega-ministry heretics!” Definitely not. My goal for this podcast is not to pick fights or stir up controversy against any other worship leaders out there. No no, my Hope is that you will be able to find yourself in this podcast. If you’re still listening here in Episode 1 and you’re already feeling a bit defensive, know this: I’m not here to pick fights with you. I’ve probably never worked with you, but I have seen enough worship teams to notice some common bad habits and practices. I’m here to help you question your own leadership, and invite you to honestly evaluate your own blindspots.

GUESTS - I’ve made quite a few friends over the years with a vast breadth of specialization, and I am super excited to bring their perspective on issues that they think could benefit from their real answers. Some familiar names, but also some brand new voices to the church creative Podcastsphere. My wife has also been leading worship for decades, so you can expect to hear from her a lot (yay!), especially since it should hopefully be easy to schedule her for recording those episodes.

Teaser of some of the upcoming topics: Difficult Team Members, The Casualties of Spontaneous Worship, Get Off The Stage, “My Church Doesn’t Worship,” Micromanagement, Restraint, Worship Lies, and Leadership transitions

Now what? Join in with me as we dive into irreverence, doubt the default, questions the status quo, and maybe get some new tools in your tool belt to help you lead tomorrow better than today. I’ll have a new episode up every month, and the best way to make sure you get that is to subscribe. If there’s a challenge you’re facing, or a topic you’d like addressed, shoot me a message: daniel@danieltsubota.com or hit me up on Facebook. Looking forward to this journey together.