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The Magazine
July 2010
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July 2010
'Rise up & sing'
Interview with Lex Buckley
We caught up with our old Aussie friend and worship leader Lex Buckley to find out what's been going on over the last few years since she left sunny Watford...
Hey Lex, we hear you’ve been busy recently – what’s been going on?!
About 3 months ago I gave birth to my gorgeous and very chilled boy called Finn. It’s been amazing and exhausting! I’m so thrilled and love him to pieces but life is a bit crazy as I also have a cheeky toddler to take care of! I’m back at work after maternity leave now and getting stuck in to leading worship again. Because I’m only there part time, I’m trying to focus on the things I’m really passionate about which is writing songs and investing in female worship leaders.
We also hear you’ve written a book, tell us more about that……..
It’s called ‘Rise up and sing’ and it’s written for female worship leaders. It basically came about after I was chatting to my friend Simon. I’d just given birth to my daughter Bella and was saying to Simon how I was still longing to invest in girls who want to lead worship but there weren’t that many around me who wanted to lead. He just said, “Why don’t you write a book about it?” I hadn’t thought about that before – I always hated writing essays at school but I’m so passionate about the topic that I started to get excited about the idea of writing it.
What’s the book about?
I basically wrote the book that I wish someone had given to me when I was starting out leading when I was 19! I was fortunate in that I was at Soul Survivor at the time and Mike P and Tim Hughes were really encouraging of me and gave me opportunities to learn and grow.
That said I still felt like I wanted to hear from a woman who had been through the same process because I think men and women lead quite differently. I also wanted advice from someone who was further down the road from me and so this book is basically for anyone in that position.
It covers loads of the practicalities of leading worship (everything from how to prepare for a band practice to song-writing) as well as elements like how we can embrace all that we are created to be in God. Plus there’s also some stuff for the guys in there about how they can work with female worship leaders!
Sounds great! How did you find the process of writing the book?
I had no idea how long the process was going to be! These days you can get music out pretty quickly but with the book it took about a year from having the idea to getting it written, then there was a long editing process of re-writing and re-writing again to get it right. All in all it’s taken almost two years but it’s been an amazing learning process for me and such a different experience from any I’ve had before.
I also asked some amazing women to be involved like Beth Redman, Christy Nockels and Kathryn Scott. I like to lead worship on guitar but I know lots of girls want to lead on keys or just with their voices so I wanted to get other people involved who have different experience to mine so they could pass on their wisdom.
What’s your hope for people who read it?
I hope that girls will pick up some really practically tips about leading worship and pastoring a team so that it gives them confidence as they lead. I’m also desperate that women who are passionate about leading will be confident in what they bring to worship leading as women. We will be different from the guys and the church needs us both to contribute what we can. I want women to feel encouraged in the way they lead and in the songs they choose; I want them to have a healthy confidence and boldness so they can go for it in their worship.
Brilliant! Any other news for us?
On the same day the book launches there will be a new website up and running at www.femaleworshipleader.com (coming soon).
I wanted there to be an ongoing resource alongside the book that would give female worship leaders a chance to connect with each other because I know so many people feel like they’re walking their journey on their own. There will be loads of practical stuff on there as well as blogs and articles by me and lots of others. The focus will be on worship but I also want to cover other issues we face as women such as identity, motherhood, singleness – basically anything that we battle with and could do with some encouragement in!
Will we be hearing any new songs from you soon?
Song-writing has taken a bit of a back seat recently because of having Finn and writing the book but I’ve been trying to carve out some time to write and get a few things down. Nothing is finished yet though! I’d love the website to be a way for loads of female worship leaders from around the world to share their songs so we can all be encouraged and inspired by each other.
About the author
Lex and her husband Paul live in Jacksonville, Florida where they pastor the worship team of River City Church. They have two children Bella and Finn. ‘Rise up and Sing’ will be available over summer from
shop.soulsurvivor.com
Soul Survivor is a Christian charity that puts on events for young people. Our registered charity no. is 1080720. We are also a company limited by guarantee in England & Wales. Our company registered number is 03991111, which is nice. Thanks for caring.
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