Women In Worship: Rachel Storment

I have been the worship pastor at my church for a little over two years now with a predominantly male volunteer and staff base. Previous to being the worship pastor  at Destiny Christian Church in Rocklin, CA, I served as an associate worship pastor, a college group worship leader, and before that…. a worship intern (basically, I served as the stage vacuumer, coffee runner, and music organizer.) Worship ministry has been a huge part of my life for a little over 8 years now, so as I look back on my journey as a woman in worship ministry from intern to  worship pastor, I have reflected on some of the struggles and lessons learned along the way:

1.    I don’t have anything to prove.

            This was a HUGE struggle for me. When I moved away to college, I was struck for the first time how much assumption was placed into the idea that women were musically incompetent. As someone who had studied music her entire life, you can imagine my struggle when I walked into settings where my competence was questioned  MERELY because of my gender; it was a grace-growing opportunity to learn how to navigate having a tough skin but maintaining a tender spirit, not lashing out in anger, but instead approaching the situation with a meek and gentle demeanor. I did not let people walk all over me, or speak down to me, but I also had to learn that I am accountable to Christ alone: I have nothing to prove. I am responsible to be a good steward of the gifts God has given me, lead in GRACE, and walk out a life of integrity, love, peace, and gentleness.

2. Being a woman does not give me a ‘free pass’ to be ignorant of Theology.

           

            Women tend to be very emotionally-charged beings—we are very in-touch with who we are, and the world around us. We feel very deeply, and tend to base our ‘reality’ (or what we perceive to be the reality of God) on how we are feeling. Now don’t get me wrong… our feelings and emotional intimacy with the world around us is an amazing GIFT from God. However, if ‘feelings’ are not coupled with proper orthodoxy, we can easily be led astray.  The Scriptures say to TEST all things (including our own emotions or even perceptions of what we believe to be the ‘voice’ of the Holy Spirit) and approve it by the Scriptures  before accepting it as God’s Truth.   (1 Thessalonians 5:21, 1 John 4:1). It is dangerous territory to NOT know the Word, and yet attempt to lead people into the Presence of God. If we do not KNOW God, or the Christian perspective of the world, how are we expected to lead people in the charge of pursuing right relationship with Him? Study the Word, and KNOW the God you serve.

3. Do not isolate yourself from other women, and do not forget to INVEST in the Kingdom.

            Being that most worship teams are predominantly male, it is so easy as a female worship leader (or worship pastor) to begin to just ‘spend time with the guys’ and forget to invest in the other females around you. This can happen for many reasons, the most common being jealousy. If you are the ONLY female on your team, you can begin to feel extremely territorial: You feel like you are so incredibly needed… one of a kind, even! This can lead to you shutting out opportunities for other women to become involved in worship ministry. Oftentimes, you will nit-pick other females’ abilities simply because you are insecure about your place in ministry. Continue to remind yourself of this not-so-fun fact: YOU ARE NOT INDISPENSABLE (nor SHOULD you be.) YOU are replaceable. It is unhealthy to create an environment that rises and falls solely around your presence.

            As leaders, we need to be investing in other leaders… as FEMALES, we need to be investing, mentoring, and walking with OTHER females. We also need to remember to ALWAYS have people in our lives who have the permission to speak into us, hold us accountable, and challenge us. It would be my greatest downfall as a leader to have a  ministry which was dependent solely on my own abilities: I should continuously be multiplying and developing those around me.

4. It is less about ‘Being a Woman in Ministry’ and MORE about ‘Being a Christ-Follower’

            We can spend so much time getting hung up on ‘what it means’ to be a woman in ministry that we forget our ultimate calling in life: To love God, love others, serve Him faithfully, and live a life WORHTY of the calling marked out for us. Spend time in the Word. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Surround yourself with people who hold you accountable. Be a good steward. KNOW who God created you to be…. and then be that person on PURPOSE. 

Be sure to follow Rachel's journey on Instagram. Make sure you get over to iTunes and download Destiny Christian Church's new EP Our Great King. My favorite song is Halleluiah, What A Savior. Rachel adds a modern touch to a song I already love so dearly. Make sure you give it a listen! 

Also! If you are a woman in worship ministry, I would to love to share your heart and perspective! If that sounds like something you would be interested in, please email me at ParrishTheThoughtBlog@gmail.com 

See you soon!

Faith Is The Assurance of Things Hoped For... And Other Summer Plans

Hello there! 

I have very exciting news. The recording process is over. The mastering process is over. The CD Baby process is over. PARRISH EP is coming out next month, for reals! Nathan's and my labor of love over the past 6-8 months is coming to fruition

Nathan and I have a love for Americana, old country, and the Gospel plain and simple. I feel like our release is a good representation of that.

We got to record half of our EP in Topanga Canyon at Jackknife Lee's studio "The Garage". If you look closely, you can see Jackknife's Grammy for Album of the Year for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb...yep. U2. My youngest brother works for Jackknife, and it was very kind of him to let us use his beautiful space.

Actually, my brother, Matt (Insta: MathBishop) helped us through the entire process, and for sure without him none of this could have been possible. It was such a great thing to see him truly in his element. He has such a huge talent production-wise, and such a great professional persona about him. 

A lot of love and caffeine went into this project... A lot.

So, what are my summer plans?! This is it. Play music, make music, lead worship, read, read at the beach, drink coffee, drink coffee at the beach... all with Nathan, or the Abina's, or the girls from Life (our college ministry). It's going to be glorious.

and now, I sit here pondering my school year. If you follow me on Instagram (ParrishTheThoughtBlog), you will see that I'm in sentimental mode. The first class I ever taught Bible 10 for is graduating, and they have voted for me to speak at their graduation ceremony. There are so many things I could say about this group of students, but I'll just say this. This is the class that taught me to teach, so I've grown attached. 

It never ceases to amaze and humble me; the goodness of God. His over abundant grace, and how much I do not deserve any of this. This school-year has impacted me in a major way. I had breakthrough many times over, I fasted for the first time, The Lord used me to bring a student to Him, and now I am giving the big speech at graduation. He is good, all the time. All the time, He is good.

See you soon.