When I accepted my first worship leader position over 20 years ago, I thought worship was all about the stage. Pick the right songs. Have the best musicians. Seamless transitions. Dial in your click and track system to perfection. While there’s nothing wrong with those dynamics – there was something I wasn’t considering. Worship culture. Now…culture has become a cliche – a buzzword, so to speak. But culture is the environment you steward. It’s the conditions you create to shape the people who are a part of your team. And that matters a lot.

So today, we’re going to talk about worship team culture. My guest is Michael Bethany. Michael is an award winning songwriter, artist, and worship leader. Michael coaches worship leaders and teams all over the world. We talk about how to build a healthy worship culture in 2026, developing leadership pipelines, spontaneous worship, celebrating diversity in the church, and why we need to bring back rehearsals!

Topics Covered:

• Michael’s journey to faith in Christ
• Michael’s early influences
• The posture of a worship leader
• Developing a leadership pipeline in your church
• What worship leaders are struggling with
• Creating systems in your worship ministry
• Working on your ministry instead of working in it
• How to do spontaneous worship well
• Why we need to bring back rehearsals

Resources Mentioned:

• Show Sponsor: Dwell Bible (Click HERE for up to 50% off)
• Show Sponsor: Planning Center
• Sanctuary by Michael Bethany
• Michael Bethany website

Show Sponsor: Dwell Bible

This episode is brought to you by dwell bible app. In our busy lives finding quiet moments to read the Bible can be challenging. I get it. Traditional, reading focused apps demand undivided attention.

You have to carve out specific time and space in your day but this also means missing opportunities to engage with scripture in your car or during workouts, or while you’re just doing stuff around the house.

And that’s where Dwell Bible app comes in, offering a unique way to engage with Scripture. Unlike reading apps, Dwell is audio-based. It allows the truth of Scripture to be read over you throughout your day.

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The word is with you wherever you are, filling your every day, mundane moments. So give Dwell a shot— it’s a no-brainer.

You’ll get to experience a whole new way to connect with God through the Bible. To get started listening, head to dwellbible.com/beyondsunday for up to 50% off today!

Show Sponsor: Planning Center

This episode is brought to you by Planning Center, helping you sync all your ministry details across your whole church.

Planning Center has become so essential to how I manage a team, that it’s almost impossible to consider local church ministry without it anymore.

Today, I want to leave you with a PCO pro-tip.

Does this sound like a familiar situation? It’s the end of the week. You’re about to leave the office when you suddenly think: Did all of our volunteers confirm for Sunday? You scroll through the schedule and sure enough—there’s a gap.

Instead of allowing yourself to spiral into a  panic, try this:

In Services, Planning Center has gap alerts. Turn them on, and you’ll get a heads-up days before service if positions are still unfilled or unconfirmed. No more end of the week scrambling.

Speaking of less scrambling, did you know you can access everything you need for rehearsals right from the Service media player on your phone? Lyrics, chord charts, arrangement notes—it’s all right there, so you’re not hunting for files in the middle of hitting those power chords.

To see what else you can do to make your Sundays easier, go to planningcenter.com/blog.

The post #390: How To Build A Thriving Worship Culture in 2026 With Michael Bethany appeared first on Beyond Sunday Worship.