worshipteamcoach

New Site - New Blog

2011-10-25T20:48:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let you all know that the new WorshipTeamCoach.com is now up and running. That means this is the last post here at Blogger. All future posts will be at WorshipTeamCoach.com. And all the past posts that you've read are there, too. Guitarists, WorshipGuitarWorkshop.com is integrated into that site, too.

You may need to reload/refresh to get rid of the old pages cached in your computer. And some of the past blogs need to be cleaned up, so be patient with some "wonkiness" and cleanup.

See you there...~jon

Blog Reboot: Kind vs. Nice

2011-10-06T06:28:00.001-04:00

Here's a post from a few years ago. Something we all need to be reminded of...

There were two musicians that I worked with in a previous ministry. Because they're both still participating in the ministry, let's call one Pete and the other Paul, and for further anonymity, let's say they both played "instrument x."

Pete is a long-time member of this team (i.e. I inherited him). He's extremely talented on his instrument--and, for awhile, he was the only one that played "instrument x." Pete's a great guy and has a sincere desire to serve on the team. However, he kept the kind of schedule between work and family that would exhaust a Fortune 500 CEO. As a result, he often did not attend rehearsals and more than once called at the last minute to cancel on a Sunday morning.

Paul was a newcomer to our church and a welcome addition to the team: he was a multi-instrumentalist (don't you love having those guys!). He filled in on other instruments for a few months before playing "instrument x." The first rehearsal with him on "instrument x" was rough. His timing and feel were off, and I wondered if I made a mistake letting him play in this position.

I loved both guys (still do) and didn't want to risk either of them leaving the team. But both of these situations warranted some critical input. Looking back, I made two different choices: I chose to protect the feelings of one and speak truth to the other. I chose to "like" one (and really, to have him like me), and to show love to the other, and risked him not liking me.

I chose to be "nice" to one and "kind" to the other. [Read more]

52 Tweaks to a Stronger Team: #18

2011-10-04T07:22:00.000-04:00

#18. Create a true Sunday morning sound check.

I would venture to guess that the average Sunday morning “sound check” is just a re-rehearsal with the sound guys dialing in all the more-me requests in the monitor.

Here are a few suggestions to start steering in a new direction:

Work with your team (techs and musicians) to have a true sound-check. That means your band needs to have a “ready to play” time and stick with it.
Stagger the sound check. Bring your instrumentalists in at 7:45 and your singers in at 8:00. By 8:10, you’re ready to roll with less stopping for monitor adjustments.
When you sound check the band, go without monitors for a song (see #36). This lets the tech get a great FOH mix. Then add into the monitors only what you need to keep the band on time and on pitch.

Is this easy?
No.

Will it frustrate your band?
Oh yeah.

But it will force them to listen to each other in a brand new way?
Yep.

And they just might realize they need less of themselves.

====

52 Tweaks to a Stronger Team is a upcoming ebook releasing on the new WorshipTeamCoach site, which will be launching this Fall. And did I mention the ebook is free? It is. So be watching for the launch of the new site and release of this 52 Tweaks.

Three New Launches...

2011-09-30T10:45:00.000-04:00

If you’ve been coming around WorshipTeamCoach.com for awhile, either to checkout the blogs or you read the newsletter, you maybe have notices a drop infrequency of both. Besides some wild changes at my church where I’m worshippastor, I’ve have three new “births” or launches that have just happened or areabout to. These are in order of occurrence, not necessarily importance:

1. Small Church Big Worship

We just held the first Small Church/Big Worship Seminar in the Columbus, OH area.It was blast. A big shout-out to all you who were there and now on the e-updatelist! I recorded it and hope to make sections, or possibly the whole thingavailable for download.

If you’re interested in bringing a small church/big worship seminarto your area, let me know. 3 – 4 committed churches in an area could createenough buzz to cover the costs.

2. Corbin

This second birth is quite literal. Corbin Benjamin (7lb 10 oz, 22 incheslong) was born yesterday (9/29) around 11:30am. He surprised us by coming 2weeks early (mom was happy about that). So yeah, my world is now sideways andwill be searching for a new normal for quite some time.

3. The new WorshipTeamCoach.com

The new site is designed, coded and ready to launch. I just needto hunker down and create/transfer the content. It will include WorshipGuitarWorkshop.com and also be a place where SmallChurchBigWorship.comis developed until it can be launched into the world on it’s own. (By the way, that big open green spot under the header will have something more interesting than, well, a big open green spot.)

Big. Crazy. Stuff. Over the next few weeks, newcontent will likely be limited, but don’t worry. We’ll be back to new blogs andresources soon enough.

Six Lousy Methods to Get More Musicians, Part 2

2011-09-08T06:15:00.000-04:00

Read part 1

Photo: Kandyjaxx, Flickr

The third lousy way to get more musicians…

3. Let Your Non-Musical Pastor do the Recruiting.
Senior pastor to me, the worship leader: “Say, Jon, there’s a new family that just started attending and I heard that the wife played piano and sang at their last church. Incidentally, they sat behind us last week, and she does sing nicely. During the greeting time I told you REALLY needed people for the team. She acted excited. I told her you’d call her this week.”

Where’s a cliff I can jump off?

[Read more]

Restoration and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

2011-09-07T08:47:00.001-04:00

I've got a 1971 350 Honda motorcycle. It's in relatively decent shape, until I look at the fully restored ones online. Then, not so much. Would I like to restore it? Yes. Wait. No -- I'd like it to be restored.

Mine doesn't look like this...

I don't want to do the restoration. To restore it means tearing it apart. Removing dents. Repainting. Getting intimate with grease that predates my birth and dealing with gunk that remembers Nixon. I'm learning that if one owns a vintage bike, one either needs the skills to fix said bike, or enough money for someone else to do it. I have neither. So it runs, usually. And I smell like gasoline after I ride it.

I got mad at my 6-year old son the other day, madder than the situation warranted. Afterwards, I told my son, "Daddy's sorry." And I meant it. I asked God for forgiveness. And I meant it.

But I stopped there. Confession was easy. Saying 'sorry' is even simpler. But I wasn't restored.

Restoration's expensive. The price is the costly question "why?" Why did I get so mad? And the cost of asking why leads to the tough work of dismantling my heart and finding the broken piece. And the broken piece is a boy not much older than my son Aedan. Wounded by the words and actions of another. And then believing that this broken piece is who he truly is.

But seeing that broken part isn't enough. I need listen as the voice of the Restorer speaks truth into the heart-lie I'm holding. I need to let the hand of the Healer reach in and return that soul-part to its original glory. I need to succomb to the embrace of the Abba Father and, from there, forgive those who wounded me.

I'd like to be restored. But until I'm ready to pay the price of intimacy, I guess I settle for a life that's in relatively decent shape and runs, usually.

Upper and Lowercase Vision

2011-09-06T07:41:00.000-04:00

For an introduction to this series, check out my article The Preferred Future (or Why I Get up at 5am) at WorshipMinistry.com

I want to make a distinction between two kinds of vision. (And this distinction is somewhere between "thinking out loud" and a working hypothesis. So if you don't agree, that's OK. In six months, I may not either.)

When it comes to vision, I think there’s the big, almost "capital-V vision" that gets put in the hearts of people by God. Nehemiah’s vision of rebuilding the wall would be an example of that. That kind of Big-V vision is something that I can’t act on right away or it’d be ruined. It needs be developed and refined. I need be developed and refined. Andy Stanley’s book Visioneering* will help guide you through the process of a Big-V vision.

Then there’s what I would call the "lowercase-v vision" that simply sees a problem and sees a solution to that problem. (And the people without vision see problems to solutions– but that’s an issue for later.) A lot of the building blocks spelled out in Visioneering are the same for little-v vision – just on a smaller scale. And it seems like, for me, operating within this realm of small-v that God starts to instill a Big-V vision.

Vision, big or small, at its most basic definition, is a preferred future. And the path between vision and our current reality is one part strategy and planning, one part “continual course-correction,” and two parts getting off our keisters and moving towards it.

Speaking of keisters, yours might feel like it’s being kicked right now. Some people are not future or vision oriented. That’s OK. Some people are so big-picture/future oriented that they can hardly function in the real world. Some are so tied to the practicality of real world that it’s difficult to see the big picture. The good news is we need all of us to make this work. (Of course, the bad news is, we need all of us to make this work.) If you have a hard time seeing thinking about vision and future and you’re not sure why, spend $15 and buy StrengthsFinder 2.0*book and take the assessment. It will show you your top five strengths and explain them in way that lightbulbs will be going on all over your brain. It will also help you understand what areas are NOT your strengths and how to work with people who have those.

In the next post in this series, we'll use a simple exercise to start developing a vision for our worship team.

*Full disclosure - affiliate links for Amazon.

Six Lousy Methods to Get More Musicians, Part 1

2011-09-05T09:53:00.000-04:00

Photo: Flickr, kanyjaxx//CC

One of the most often asked question I get as I talk with pastors, worship leaders and volunteers is “How do I grow my team?” What they usually mean is, “How do we find more musicians?” Here’s six ways not to do it:

1. Rely only on Sunday morning announcements.
This is the “shot-gun” approach or the “let’s throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks” method of recruiting. It’s OK to use your church’s forms of “mass marketing” – Sunday morning announcements, bulletins, website – but recognize this type of passive promotion works best to just raise awareness or pique curiosity.
Here are a few tips for using mass-market advertisements to grow your team:

An Opportunity versus a Need. Announce the desire for more musicians/techs, etc. as openings or opportunities – avoid the needy plea. More on that in a moment...

[read more]

Canceling MySpace

2011-08-30T21:05:00.000-04:00

Canceling MySpace

I just canceled my MySpace account. Did you feel the earth tremble?

No, I didn’t either.

I hadn’t logged in for at least a year. Every so often I’d get an email telling me some doorknob from a “cutting-edge” hip-hop/emo/jazz/metal band wanted to be my friend. Other than that, it was off my radar. I initially created a Myspace back when it was THE thing for musicians and bands. But since then, I’ve shifted my focus and Myspace tanked - the perfect combination to warrant an exit.

There are a couple good principles here:

1. What’s tanked in your worship ministry that needs to be cut loose?
The choir? Certain songs? Someone’s attitude? Some conference you go to year after year? Every earthly thing will deliver ‘diminishing returns’ eventually. Who’da thought we could ever get sick of Shout to the Lord when it first came out? The diehard proponents of tanking things are emotionally invested, so that makes change tough. But at some point, everything needs to be tweaked, overhauled or dumped.

2. Has your focus shifted right, but your practice still to the left?
To give you an example from my own life: at one point, I tried to focus on pursuing professional songwriting, blogging/writing, teaching and developing seminars/workshops, dabbling in some graphic design, teaching private guitar lessons and being a gigging musician. Oh, and a worship pastor and husband/father.

Outside of my family and ministry job, I decided to shift my focus to only blogging/writing and seminar/workshops. It’s been tough to say ‘no’ to the things I like to do. And when I have a “moment of weak-yes” to the other stuff, I get twitchy in the middle of those projects as I realize how much time I’m robbing from my primary objectives.

So much of being able focus and find success isn’t in working harder. It’s in ruthless eliminating the bottom two-thirds of our “What’s Important” list. Just make sure the right stuff lands in the top third.

(This post first ran in the newsletter. If you'd like to keep up with articles like this and new resources, sign up for the e-updates here.)

8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 4

2011-08-25T06:02:00.000-04:00

Read Part 1
Read Part 2
Read Part 3

15. Leave them wanting more. Don’t expect a weekly band--especially at first. You don’t want your band burning out or your youth group growing complacent.

16. Foster Creativity. As your kids get to know the songs, they may have ideas for new arrangements. Let them run with it. And consider starting a songwriting group for your teens. You might have the next Chris Tomlin sitting on one of your broken couches just waiting to be encouraged.

17. Teach bite-size biblical worship. Don’t force the kids to read Piper’s Desiring God. (You should, though.) Instead, teach as you go with small sound-bites. Use memorable phrases backed up by scripture. E.g. “This is not about us” (Psalm 115:1).

Bonus: Demoting Your Adults. The adult leader’s role should start and end with mentor/teacher. While she’s developing the students, she may need to be the lead musician carrying the band, or even the upfront worship leader. But the goal should always be to move them down the ladder to support musician and eventually cheerleader. I know this seems like a no-brainer. But remember, even though these full-grown musicians may look like adults – they’re still “musicians.” That means there’s an 8th grade ego that can emerge from time to time. Just gently remind them of the goal: STUDENT-led.

8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 3

2011-08-24T05:30:00.000-04:00

Read Part 1
Read Part 2

11. Make it fun.Recently, I became the subject of the youth band’s joking – actually, my mother did. Somehow ‘your mom’ jokes started flying and stuck to me. Soon a theme song emerged: “Jon’s mom is greater, Jon’s mom is stronger…”. I’m not sure if Chris Tomlin intended that song to be used in such a way, but it made for great bonding.

12. Create a community. Beyond 'your mom' jokes and having fun at rehearsal, create a sense of belonging (without malignant exclusivity). Start and maintain a Facebook page, Google+ circle/hangout, etc. Post pics and videos of rehearsals and worship times. Go hear local bands together. Watch a U2 concert DVD some night with lots of junk food on hand.

13. Multiply/subdivide as soon as possible. I know, I just said create a community. But your band can only get so big. And students (like their adult worship team counterparts) will get possessive of their spot. Your team won’t grow if you don’t open it up and shake it out a little. Here are a couple ideas:

Create two or three teams. Combine your best players for a once-a-month, A-team band blow-off-the-doors worship time. Then create one or more teams with less experienced players, supplemented and led by your A team players. But don’t call them your A-team, B-team, etc. Create fun names for them – like “Jon’s Mom’s Band” or something.
Create a middle school farm team. They might not be ready to actually take the stage, but invest time with them. Encourage your high school players to mentor them. Jr. high kids with loud amplifiers and drums? Yeah, it’ll suck at times and you won’t see immediate pay-off. But you’ll be happy you did all this in two or three years.

14. Consider your space. 20 kids singing in the 200-seat sanctuary = crickets. 20 kids crammed in a classroom = awesome energy (and jr.high boy-odor, but you’re gonna have that anyway). And for what it’s worth, electronic drums stink. But when it comes to a youth band and smaller rooms, even a cheap electronic set will make life much more bearable.

Next up - leave them wanting more and demote your adults.

8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 2

2011-08-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

Read Part 1 (#1-5)
6. Create a standard form for each song. And don’t deviate from that form (at least until #16 starts to happen). By a standard song form, I mean the order of the verse, chorus, bridge and other parts of the song. Use the original recording arrangement when possible. (And check out www.Transposr.com for changing mp3s to more student-friendly keys.)

7. Practice to improve.This generation of students has epic amounts of confidence infused from helicopter parents and school-sponsored self-esteem programs. You may have to yank some chains occasionally to help them to realize they are NOT yet the legends they think they are. Create the expectation of personal practice and continual improvement. Encourage and love them, but don’t coddle them.

Photo: Flickr by Josh Delsman

8. Rehearse to relate. I have a mantra with my adult team: “Practice is personal. Rehearsal is relational.” Rehearsal is partly about getting better as band. But for a youth band, it’s the perfect chance to make deeper connections with your kids. It also gives your students a greater sense of belonging to and purpose in your ministry.

9. Let them make mistakes. Stress doing things well, but don’t be that perfectionist youth leader. And you’ll have to keep an eye on your mentors/teachers from the adult team. Remind them the goal isn’t to create Jesus Culture-Cleveland or Hillsong Toledo. Also…

10. Encourage the students to make mistakes. The aforementioned self-esteem and confidence also cuts the other way – some students are paralyzed at the thought of making mistakes. I like tell my musicians: “Suck out loud. It’s the only way you’ll get better."

Cued up for Part 3: Jon's Mom's Band. Stay tuned for that...

8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 1

2011-08-22T05:23:00.000-04:00

I've been working the youth band at our church for last couple years. As a former youth pastor, it's fun to mix it up with the kids and NOT have to plan lessons or participate in lock-ins. Over the next few days, we'll look at some things I've been learning.

Start with who and what you have now. If you’ve got an 8th grader who can play three chords on the guitar, great! Don’t wait till you’ve gathered enough for a full band. Just start. Don’t have drums? Spend 100 bucks on some basic percussion instruments and enlist a kid who plays percussion in the school band.
Aim toward what you want: a student-led band. At first, you might need to supplement the band with adults. But always keep in front of the youth (and adults) the goal to be a band of, by and for the students.
Recruit mentors from the adult worship team. It’s OK to have them participate in the band at first, but don’t let them take over. And move them out of the band as soon as possible. This is about teaching and guiding the students. Not another opportunity for the adult to play.
Enlist lost kids. This can be muddy water, but it’s definitely worth wading into. Here’s my suggestion: the singers’ primary job is to be the lead worshipers. So they need to be Christ followers. But when it comes to instrumentalists, find some pagans and let them play. What a great chance to build bridges into their life. A lot of these types of kids aren’t going to come to your youth ministry without a connection like this. And besides, I find pagans practice more than my church people.
Create an ultra-limited song list. Start with 2 or 3 songs max. Encourage the students to memorize these songs. Their confidence will soar. After the initial 2 or 3 are down cold, introduce songs one at a time, just before they’re completely sick of the other songs. Give time for the students to memorize and internalize before introducing more into your repertoire.

part 2

Blog Post Rewind: Walmart Worship, I

2011-08-18T07:46:00.000-04:00

Over the next few days, we're going to revisit some older posts that you maybe haven't read...

I needed softner salt. My town's water can turn a black t-shirt charcoal gray in a single wash. A musician needs to protect his black t-shirts.

My wife needed some spices for something she was making. Two diverse items + one trip = Walmart.

Crud.

After getting the spices, I made my journey across the retail labyrinth to where I thought the salt should be. First mistake: thinking. I shoulda' asked.

After something that resembled the children of Israel wandering in the desert, I finally found a human with a navy blue shirt and asked him to point me to Sinai, er, softener salt.

Blog Post Rewind: Charts...

2011-08-17T07:16:00.000-04:00

Over the next few days, we're going to revisit some older posts that you likely didn't read. Here's one about 'charts.'

Charts - this is one of those places where the worship leader/pastor/director needs to overdo it. And by "overdo it" -- be all things to to all musicians, if at all possible.

My OCD (obsessive chart development) stems back to a prolonged and silent suffering under a yet-to-be-convicted chart-abuser. Back when I was a volunteer worship guitarist, the worship pastor used those big hairy piano arrangements from Integrity Music or some other source. He'd give that eight page monster to the pianists, lyric sheets to the vocalists, and a chord chart/sheet (words and chords only) to the rest of the band. At best, these charts were copied from the back of the Integrity songbook where the piano arrangement came from. But more often they pulled off the internet. You know - those courier font chord sheets that look and sound like they've been transcribed by a 14-year old. If it was the same in key, that's all that mattered. [Read more]

Getting Kicked in the Teeth?

2011-08-12T06:02:00.001-04:00

A month or two ago, I wrote a piece here at WorshipMinistry.com called How to Dump Your Worship Pastor. It was my (therapeutic) response to another Dear Jon email I had just received from a team member (a drummer, no less – it always hurts more when it’s a drummer. Amen?). Apparently, you’ve had those emails/phone calls too. To date it was the most response I’ve received on a post here at WorshipMinistry.com.

We’ve been talking about current reality these last few posts. The “I’m outta here” email is an example of how, at any moment, our current reality changes–often trying to kick us in the teeth.

We seem to have two responses that naturally occur: complaining or fantasizing...[read more at Jon's WorshipMinistry.com column. This article includes a free download of a Current Reality Assessment Tool.]

Remove

2011-08-10T06:31:00.002-04:00

I'm in the middle of an interesting read: Untitled: Thoughts on the Creative Process* by Blaine Hogan. Blaine is a professional actor and the Creative Director at Willow Creek. I bought the book because, a) I like anything about the creative process and b) it was only a few bucks on my Kindle.**

Early in the book Blaine talks about restraint in art. He says this:

The tendency when trying to explain ourselves (through words or art) is to add instead of subtract. Instead of adding more words, or images, or lines or verses to clear things up, we should be thinking about what can we remove.

Blaine goes on,

Subtract until you have only the pieces necessary to tell your story. Remove everything but the essential bits.

The idea behind restraint confronts the age old phrase, "bigger isn't always better" - a phrase which, for me, is incomplete.

Bigger is what people expect, and bigger doesn't always surprise.
Why? Because it's obvious.

Subtract until you have only the pieces necessary to tell your story. How often do we tell our story on Sunday morning with every instrument playing every beat of every measure of every song?

Try this. At your next rehearsal, pick a song and play the intro with the entire band. Then start removing one instrument at a time. Try different combinations of two instruments. Three instruments. No instruments. Encourage players to vary their rhythms. Play single notes at times instead of chords. Get your team in on suggesting what combination or removal you should try next. And listen. Really listen to the different story each adaptation tells. (By the way, if you get pushback from your team, tell your band it's an exercise you read about from a worship blogger. Blame me. Call me an idiot if it doesn't work.)

Keep going and try it on the verse. Then the chorus. And figure out when to add more. When to get big. When to reign it in after getting big. A phrase I use a lot with my team is "don't give it all away until...". I learned to add the until, because my teams would often hold back the whole time, even in the parts that call for us to let it loose.

The only way for us and our team to learn restraint is to practice it intentionally. Do this with one song each week, and after a while, you'll notice your team is starting to implement it on their own in on other songs.

**From what I can tell, it's only a Kindle release at the moment. But don't let that stop you. Download the Kindle app to your computer and read this book if you don't own a Kindle. Better yet, buy a Kindle.

*Full honest-Abe disclosure: this, and the Kindle link, are affiliate links. That means if you buy it after clicking through this link, I will be able to buy my private island. Of course, you'd need to buy 348,000,000 copies. But I'm ok with that.

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #27

2011-08-08T06:47:00.001-04:00

In these last few installments, we're looking at how to transition to the message. One simple way to segue to the sermon is by using scripture text the pastor's message is based on. I touched on this segue last week by suggesting using video to present the scripture. That's one option.

Another option is a "worship team reader." Don't discount the power of gifted readers. They often will do a better job than the pastor at reading the selected text for that morning. Just like having team of talented vocalists who sing, build a team of talented readers who, well, read.

Here's what to look for:
A good sounding voice. They don't need to sound like the movie trailer announcers (unless you're reading from the book of Revelation). But they do need to have pleasant sounding voices.

Expressiveness in reading. Look for people with acting experience. Or people who enjoy getting up at poetry readings. Just make sure they're not over-the-top and dripping with too much expressiveness.

A love for scripture and a respect for this position. This person might have the ability to read it well even if they see it for the first time that morning. But your congregation will sense it if the reader has been soaking up that scripture during the week.

Here are some ways to facilitate this:

Communicate the passage as early in the week as possible. Be clear on which translation you want. And by the way, pastors: consider using a different translation than what you're preaching from. Especially if the passage is familiar. A paraphrased Bible like the Message can shake people from autopilot listening. But if the Message sounds too wonky ('cuz let's admit, while we love the Message, it does sound wonky in places), try something like the New Living Translation or Contemporary English Version.

Be clear on when the reader is to begin. And give instructions on moving into place before the previous element finishes. The ending of a song can provide a good starting point; the piano or guitar can just continue to underscore the reading. Coming out of this reading, the pastor can simply start his message or pray.

Be clear on where. And which mic. And does he need a music stand? Does the sound tech know this is happening?

Reinforce the scripture with visuals. Many people love having the scripture read to them. They likely are audible learners. Me, I'm checked out within two sentences, unless the reader is especially engaging. I'm a visual learner. And there's a lot of people like me, so put the text on the screen. You can also invite people to follow along from their Bible, unless it's a not-so-common translation for your church. Then people think more about the difference between the two versus what's being said. By the way, kinesthetic learners, I'm not sure what to tell you in order to pay attention. Maybe you need to be the upfront reader and do interpretive movements while you read.

Just a suggestion.

For more ideas for scripture reading, see segue #12 part 1 and part 2.

Whining, Dreaming, and Just Dealing With It

2011-08-05T08:27:00.000-04:00

[Jon's latest article at WorshipMinistry.com]

Last week we talked about getting real with our current reality. Jim Collins in his business book, Good to Great illustrates this idea with Admiral Jim Stockdale’s story. Stockdale was the highest ranking US military officer in the “Hanoi Hilton,” a POW camp during the Vietnam War. He was there from 1965 – 1973 undergoing torture and not knowing if he and his fellow prisoners would ever get out. In a conversation with Stockdale, Collins asked him, “Who didn’t get out?”

His answer: the optimists.

[read more]

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #26

2011-08-05T08:22:00.002-04:00

Connecting to the Message, Part 2

A few segues ago, we talked about the ins and outs, literally, of using videos. In that case, the clip was the service element we were transitioning to and from. But now we’re using a video to get us to the next thing: the message.

Since the decisions for this segue are up to the preaching/teaching pastor, I’m going to direct my comments directly to the him. The rest of you can listen in. (And you may want to remind him of a few things as you’re planning next week’s service. Just a suggestion…) There are a few different kinds of videos you could use to transition:

The Movie Clip – hopefully you’re showing this because it illustrates a main point or application of your message. Remember, only youth pastors have the luxury of showing movie clips that are completely unrelated to their talks. (But at least you get the chance to show movie clips. The only videos worship pastors get to use are swirly motion backgrounds behind the song lyrics.)

For this to be a true segue to the message, you’ll need to run it between your message and the preceding element. You might need to set it up, but sometimes it’s better if you don’t. Keep us guessing while we watch it. It’s creates a little positive tension and anticipation.

The Sermon Illustration Video. You usually have two choices on these kind of videos. The first is a light-hearted, humorous sketch that gets a point across with some laughs. The second, some sort of emotion-tugging vignette that evokes either guilt or tears (or both) and usually has Casting Crowns playing in the background. Go with the laughs. None of us are ready for “Every Man” right out of the chute.

The "Man on the Street" Interview. Just make sure the question being ask actually applies to your message. Even though you like watching Kirk Cameron going all "Ten Commandments" on some pagan, that really won't segue us to a message on tithing. Unless, you promise to never to show Kirk Cameron videos again. Then we'll put more in the offering.

Testimony/Faith Story Video. This could range from some personal stories in your church, stories from the mission fields you support, or even faith stories are resonating around the country/world. That latter you can find on SermonSpice.com, etc.

Scripture Video - This might be something produced by one of the worship video production companies, or you can go homemade. Record the scripture read by a good reader. Add some background music and text for visuals. The video part could easily be accomplished by your projection software. And if you don't have a reader, use a clip from an audio Bible - but just not that version that sounds like Vincent Price read it. There's several audio Bibles out there now that have been read by celebrities. So you could actually have Samuel L. Jackson, Brad Paisley's wife or Bo Duke reading your passage for next Sunday.

As with any videos, apply same good practice of fading in/out and setting up the clip (if needed). Go here and here if you don’t remember.

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #25

2011-08-04T08:20:00.000-04:00

For our last four segues, we'll be looking at elements we've already discussed, but using them to transition to the message. #25 is prayer.

Prayer before the message does a few things: 1) it gives time for people to prepare, both in their hearts and head. 2) It invites the Holy Spirit to work through the text and message. 3) it helps the pastor center in on what he's about to do.

We've used prayer a few times to segue between various elements. And that almost sounds crass -- no, it does sound crass. I'll just admit that writing through a series like this I've had to ask myself more than once, "Am I more concerned about segues or the Savior?" Am I using prayer - communicating with a Holy God - just to connect to the next thing in the service?

And that's something we all have to wrestle with. I go back to what I wrote in the introduction: transitions will happen whether I plan them or not. But good transitions move the congregation along from one segment to the next, hopefully without detracting from what the worshipers just experienced, or are about to experience.

With that considered, prayer (as well as reading scripture, etc) is an act of worship, something that can stand on it's own as an expression of corporate worship. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be woven in to the tapestry of the gathering in such a way that it moves our hearts and carries our attention to another moment of worship. And that's what prayer does here.

Consider a few things as you use prayer to segue to the message:

Who prays? Is it the preaching pastor? Or worship leader? Or does an elder get up to pray? Regardless, have a plan. As the previous element is ending, the person prayer, needs to be getting in place before it concludes.
What is prayed? Is this the lengthier "pastoral prayer" that some churches practice, a time to pray for missionaries and the head deaconess's sick cousin in Akron? Or is it simply an "open the eyes of our heart" kind of prayer to prepare for the message? It's good to define this, especially if you've got someone other than the preaching pastor praying. The pastor will start to get a little twitchy if the prayer starts rambling into the message time.
What else is going on?
- Whenever you move from a musical element, I'd say underscore that prayer with soft keys or acoustic guitar. That adds another layer of connection in the segue.
- Is this a time for the music team to quietly exit the stage? Some churches are into this. Some aren't. But regardless, have a plan to get the team off the stage with minimal distraction.
- If the teaching pastor isn't the one praying, he/she should be moving into place.

This transition to the message might seem like a something that can just be done on the fly. After all, it's a time that everyone knows is coming. But the movement to the message is a turning point in the service. We are deliberately opening God's word to hear what He has to say to us. So a segue of prayer is a fitting preparation for this.

28 Ways to Create Great Segues: #24 - Videos, part 2

2011-08-02T07:15:00.000-04:00

In segue #23 - Videos, part 1, we talked about how to keep the beginning and end of video clips from boogering your service. Part two is a discussion on the DOs and DON'Ts of verbally transitioning the video.

DO: If it is a movie clip, give enough background for people to understand the context.

DON'T explain everything they will see—let the clip do the work. And don’t explain the entire plot of the movie. If they like it, they can get it from Netflix.

DO intentionally create anticipation. If you're going to talk about it, find some way to whet people's appetites for what their about to see.

DON'T set the clip up as the “funniest”, “coolest”, “most incredible”, etc., etc. clip they’ll ever see. Because, it just might not be. And make sure you know if it really is a hip, cutting-edge video before saying so. You might just have discovered the Numa Numa kid five years after it went viral.

DO work hard on the verbal segue into and out of your video. A little thought into our talking transitions goes a long way.

DON'T give away the “tie in” or lesson before you show it. People are smart. Most of the time, they’ll connect with the point you’re trying to make before you make it. And if you have to work that hard to explain the connection, is really the right video? Or just something you like and want to sneak in the service? C'mon, admit it...

DO consider not talking at all. A lot of videos won't need a set up.

DON'T forget to tell your tech that you won't be introducing the video. (This is one of those hand-offs we talked about earlier in the series).

Before we move on to other segues, a few parting thoughts about segues to and from videos:

Lighting - If you have the capability to dim your lighting, do so. Sometimes, that's all the cue you need to get people to look up at a screens. Hopefully the same people that dimmed your lights will bring them back up for you. If you have to ask, you've got some work to do this week.

Sound - If you're sound tech is "muter," make sure he/she unmutes the audio channel for the video BEFORE it starts. (Btw, muters are those that mute every possible channel at every possible moment because of an irrational fear that someone may grab a mic and launch the equivalent of a Red Dawn invasion on our service. Relax, I tell them. They don't.)

Simple Seating Segue - If you're finishing a song and going into a video, say something simple like: "You can be seated now as this clip begins." This does a couple things. It seats our people (who, 6 days a week, know how to sit and stand without being told, but somehow we suck that decision-making process from their prefrontal cortex every Sunday). And it gives a not-so-subtle clue to your tech to start the video.

People know what dead air is. We've been trained by our TVs to squirm after 2 seconds of undefined time. The moment we direct people to the screens and nothing happens, they begin to unconsciously disconnect from the journey we've invited on. And of all the ways we hope to encourage people to express worship to God, squirming is not high on the list.

Is Your Left Door Locked?

2011-08-01T05:38:00.001-04:00

I grew up attending in a typical Mid-west, small-town, L-shaped C&MA church. At least I think it was typical of those kinds of churches in those days. Mostly hymns. A few “Alliance-approved” praise choruses worthy enough to sing in “real church” – you know, like Majesty and most anything from the Gaithers. There was also one thing that I’m not sure was typical, but I have experienced in other churches from time to time: the left door was always locked.

For some reason, the leadership of the church deemed it prudent not to unlock one of the double doors of the main entrance. Always the left side.

Looking back, it was normal. But now I’m wondering--why? I mean, was the trustee who unlocked it on Sunday mornings lazy? Trustees in those days were never lazy. They are chosen because they could work 60 hours at their job and then render unto the Lord nine uncomplaining hours at a “church workday” every other Saturday. God bless them…

Maybe the church had a 70-year plan after they built it in 1965. “Let’s use the right one until the year 2000. Jesus will have surely come back by then– I mean, look at this world! But if he hasn’t, we’ll start using the left one.” I haven’t been back there much since the turn of the century. But I think they forgot their plan.

Maybe it’s theological. You know - goats on the left, sheep on the right.

Whatever the reason, it worked for us: we who were the chosen knew the “left/right” door code. We came and went unhindered. Visitors, on the other hand, were always easy to spot (especially the left-handed ones). And the most fun had to be when the uninitiated - by chance or providence - opened the right door on the way in, but then tried to exit by the left. Those silly goats…

So what’s the locked left door in your church?

Maybe where the bathrooms are. Or that anyone who knows better will NEVER use the women’s bathroom in the old section.

Or maybe it’s the sitting and standing routine in worship.

Or how we celebrate communion: “Did you see that?! He just ate the bread without waiting.”

Ah, those silly goats…

(And the question wasn't rhetorical - I really would like to hear what your "left door" might be, and how you are/have fixing/fixed it. Drop me a comment...)
_______

This was a eUpdate exclusive article last week. eUpdate comes weekly (mostly) and has updates of articles written by Jon for WorshipTeamCoach.com and WorshipMinistry.com, as well as video lessons from WorshipGuitarWorkshop. It also has exclusive offers on resources you won't find on the website. Check out last week's e-update for an offer that's only good till Aug 5 (2011...for those of you finding this post in the future. Tell me, are there hovercrafts, yet? I love hovercrafts...). If you'd like to sign up, scroll to the bottom of the blog page or go here.

RadioShack Sound Systems & Faith-Infused Realism

2011-07-28T05:31:00.000-04:00

Most leaders (volunteer or paid) find it easy to think about what they want to do and have and be after their ministry or organization grows. A preferred future is fun to think about. The current reality, especially for those in small churches, well, not so much. Here was reality at my first church:

My annual worship budget: less than my current Wii bowling average.
My band: Me. And occasionally Lori, a pianist who couldn’t read chord charts or leadsheets. So when she played, we had to do everything from the Maranatha! Green Book.*
My sound system: Two words, squished together–RadioShack.
My video tech: an 80-year old gentleman who sat 3 feet to my left and moved the transparency up and down (quite rapidly) on the overhead projector.

We can dream and scheme and spreadsheet our preferred future all we want. But no plan for future growth will succeed without faith-infused realism. Here’s what faith infused realism is NOT: [Read the rest at WorshipMinistry.com]

28 Ways To Create Great Segues: #23 - Videos, part 1

2011-07-27T06:49:00.004-04:00

At my first full-time ministry job, I was the youth and worship guy at a two-pastor church. By default, that also meant I was the substitute sermon guy. (Have you ever noticed senior pastors aren't into quid pro quo. They never act as the substitute youth-talk guy. Studies show this is actually is a relief 4 out 4 students.)

So when my senior pastor was gone, I'd phone in my youth lessons for a couple weeks while I prepped a message. At that time, only the young, hip preaching pastors used movie clips. I was young and cool, so it was a no-brainer. And since Lord of the Rings was up for canonization just behind the Narnia books, it would have pretty much been a sin NOT to use them. Plus, I figured I had a better chance of escaping church discipline with a title like Return of the King versus Bruce Almighty.

After sermon subbing three or four times, I had an elderly lady approached me and said, "If you keep preaching, I'm going to end up seeing that entire film, aren't I." Point taken. Cue Bruce Almighty.

Fast forward almost a decade and video clips are as common today as bad bulletin clip art was in the 90s. We have video coming out our ears: There are at least a dozen different worship video ministries in the vein of Sermon Spice. Publishers and other ministries crank out promotional clips to hawk everything from Beth Moore Bible studies to building orphanages in Haiti. And don't forget the amateur Spielbergs in our own pews. You might even be one of the churches that have the sermon on video, taped at previous service on a different campus.

Here's one thing to remember: there's nothing so high quality in your service that can't be at least partially ruined by a bad segue.

Videos are no exception. If you ripped the final race scene from Secretariat the moment it hit Netflix, Big Red might as well have lost at Belmont if the transitions in and out booger'd the moment.

If the pictures lurches in or the sound starts at 100 dB, it will take people several seconds to get their mind on what's being shown. The same goes for a poorly executed exit. Whatever point is being made will get bumped from their brains by a bad ending.

So this segue is simple: whenever you pull clips from movies, youtube, or create your own videos, take the extra time and edit a fade to either end of the clip. And make sure you apply it to the audio as well. Windows Movie Maker is about as simple as they come and can get the job done easily. Adobe Premiere Elements will run you the better part of a Benjamin, but it'll give you more editing power than the average church video clip will ever need.

Does video editing freak you out? Here's the best news of the whole post: projection software (like MediaShout, ProPresenter, EasyWorship) can transition your clips to black or crossfade them with the graphics on either side. No editing required. This alone should make it worth upgrading to a projection software. Not to mention that PowerPoint for lyric projection went out with neck-ties for pastors. Just speaking truth in love...

There's one more segue for videos that is worth talking about. And that's talking about them. So that'll be the next installment.

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #22, Pre-Service: A Preparation Time

2011-07-25T08:32:00.000-04:00

I once attended a Sunday evening service at Parkside Church near Cleveland to hear Alistair Begg preach. A Scottish accent always makes a sermon better. It was a typical traditional pre-service time with soft music, dim lights and people chit-chatting with folks they hadn’t seen for at least a week. Pastor Begg got up and said, “It sounds like your voices are in fine shape tonight.” Folks gave the usual polite chuckle. But before the obligatory laughter died down, the Scotsman shot out a firm, “But you'd be better to prepare your hearts before the Lord.” The place got real quiet, real quick.

A quiet preparation time before the service is likely a thing of the past for many churches. But it might not hurt to implement it occasionally. And I say occasionally just because anything that’s done weekly runs the risk of losing its effectiveness.

If you’re church wants to try to create the pre-service preparation time, consider what you need to create that environment.

A sign outside the worship center encouraging people to enter quietly.
Doors closed to foyer/lobby. This will create a feeling of “entering in”. It also cuts the noise from the yakkers in the lobby.
Soft music – it could be canned music or live acoustic guitar/piano playing softly.
Dim lighting – quiet and reflective times aren’t encouraged by bright overhead lighting.
Scriptures or short devotional quotes looping on the screen.

Consider other elements that might help create an environment of quiet preparation: candles, pictures of nature or people in prayer/worship, a written “guide” in the bulletin or on-screen to help people know how to use prepare for worship, etc.

Here are a few things that you should consider with a pre-service preparation time:

You’ll always have the chit-chatters in the foyer, so you’ll still have to figure out how some way to bring them in. (Besides wishful thinking that they're conscientious of the time and care when the service starts.)
This time could be off-putting to guests, especially non-Christians. But it also might be just what they’ve been looking for. You can’t please everyone. Just be clear about what you want. Don’t try to make it conducive for preparation and chit-chatting. People won’t know what to do. My two cents: if you’re not going for quiet preparation, I’d always go for the other end: a bright and celebratory environment.
Your service may need to begin differently. Jumping right in with the typical upbeat opener will be a little jarring to those who have been in there. Consider starting with a quieter slower song, and building up. Or sing the chorus of a faster song in a “worshipful” manner. Then build tempo and volume to move people into the song as usual.

As we wrap up the segues that deal with the pre-service time, here's a last thought as you think through this stuff: Whatever you find that works to bring your people in at the beginning will most likely not work next month or even next week. People will start ignoring that countdown after they’ve seen it a few times and the live music will become background noise. That’s just how it is. So it’s up to us to be creative and segue people into worship.

DOs & DON'Ts of Being Dumped, Part 2

2011-07-21T11:15:00.000-04:00

It’s inevitable. People leave. Whether they move, get mad, get dead or otherwise decide that the worship team is no longer for them, people eventually exit. Handling this well isn’t always easy. Here are some DOs and DON’Ts for when people leave. Let’s pick back up with #4. If you haven’t read the first three, they’re here.

FOUR
DON’T guilt. Is he really leaving the team at the worst possible time? I doubt it. But even if he is, laying on the guilt won’t help—you or him.

DO grace. Acknowledge and thank him for his contribution. If he is leaving the team in a less-than-stellar manner, take the high road.

FIVE
[Read the rest at WorshipMinistry.com...]

Forget Excellence...

2011-07-21T08:40:00.000-04:00

...think "remarkable" instead.

Excellence is subjective and overwhelming.

Remarkable is doable: a small tweak and improvement to the “normal” that surprises people.

The pursuit of excellence feels like a never-ending journey.
     How do we know we've arrived?

The pursuit of remarkable is done in incremental steps.
     Success (and failure) is easily measured.
         Each failed step teaches.
         Each successful step builds momentum and creates a new (and better) normal.

You can pursue excellence and never be remarkable.

A steady pursuit of the right kind of remarkable will always equal excellence.

- - -
Want to know more about being remarkable? Read Purple Cow* by Seth Godin.

Want some practical ideas for pursuing remarkable? Here are ten.**

What's one thing you you've done (or thought about doing) to make your worship gathering more remarkable.

Drop me a note in the comments section or shoot me a quick thought on Twitter (@jonnicol).
Thanks! ~jon

* Full disclosure: this is an affiliate link, meaning that if you buy it through this link, and I make untold riches (about 85 cents). I only endorse a product that I love and think you might too.

**This one is free!

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #21: "The Herding Song"

2011-07-20T07:23:00.000-04:00

Photo from stock.xchng

We've been talking about the "pre-service." I suggested in the last post that the pre-service time is one big transition time - comprised of several of small segues - that moves people into our worship gatherings.

We can try to spiritualize this time, but let’s just be honest: it's sometimes like herding cats to get our people into worship. We're competing with coffee and chit-chat in the foyer, people catching up at the kid check-in and the culture of the chronically late. Often our opening song feels like a sacrificial lamb—it gives its life to bring people into the worship center. And while changing the culture of lateness in our church might be achievable before Jesus returns, it's not the point of this series. We're dealing with current reality at the moment.

So rather than fight it, or get mopey about the fact that our first song is a musical martyr, let's just re-frame our thinking and call it the herding song - as in, it herds people into the worship center. Here are a few options for the herding song:

The Pre-Service Song: Time this song so it ends right at the beginning of the service time. Make it more of a "sit and listen" song for those already in the service. Also, give people something to look at: put the announcement graphics on the screen, or a countdown (or both, if you've got the technology). The one big issue with the Pre-Service Song is that people are still in your parking lot at "start time." So many aren't even there to be "herded."

The Opening Song: Again, get over the fact that this is a sacrificial lamb. But don't overlook that there will be people worshiping with this song. So pour everything you've got into this one, but don't throw your "high impact" song here. You know - that song we don't want people to miss. Save that tune for later.

By the time you’re done with this song most everyone will be in except those with pathological tardiness and your youth pastor. I think Celebrate Recovery is developing a program for them - youth pastors, that is. Nothing can be done for the certifiably tardy.

Photo from stock.xchng

The Hybrid – Use a Pre-Service Song, but begin it about 2 minutes before the posted service start time and let it spill into your service. This means your service will actually start 2 – 3 minutes late. (Which actually might be early for some of you.)

"But," you ask, "isn't this enabling lateness?"

You betcha. But remember, we're dealing with current reality.

And this is my church's reality. At some point, we’ll need a course correction. But it will probably require more than moving our pre-service song back a couple minutes. I'm thinking there'll need to be at least one or two good shunnings. At least that’s what I’m voting for.

Before we wrap up this post, let me throw out a few options for your pre-service (or hybrid) song:

Use a familiar, upbeat song that the worship team can play in its sleep. That way there’s not extra work for the team. Plus they can relax and have fun with it. People will be drawn by that.

Introduce a new song. When I introduce a new song, I'll run it 3 - 4 weeks in a row as a live pre-service song. This sounds like a lot, but the average church attendee will likely hear it twice. At best. And it gives my team the chance to play/sing it at least once, depending on rotation.

"Pre-prise": Use a song that you’ll be doing later in the service, especially if it’s a new one. That will help get it in people’s heads. Just don’t do the opening song, or it will feel really long if you play it twice back to back.

Again, each of these pre-service segues are best used in conjunction with others. Try different combinations. And remember what works now, won't work for long. People can become as conditioned to a pre-service song as they are to Muzak in a department store. When's the last time your heard the music in JCPenney?

They Need Me, They Really Need Me...

2011-07-19T07:01:00.000-04:00

They need me every hour, most gracious Lord
To lose talent like mine, the team can't afford

They need me, O they need me
Every service they need me
I'll bless them with my presence
Until eternity

I think this bastardized hymn sings in the brain of every worship leader - full-time, part-time, volunteer - it doesn't matter.

I tweeted on Saturday: A first - not scheduled to play or lead worship this Sunday. Not sure I remember how to sit still in church...

I had taken two weeks off and decided to schedule myself off at both campuses for the third Sunday as well. I was returning late in the week and didn't want to have to rush back to leading. I figured I'd just jump on electric guitar at our Lex campus. But then this still small voice cut through my inner song of self-delusion: they don't need you.

Sure they do.

No. They don't.

But I'm just going to play electric guitar. I'm not taking over or anything.

Electric guitar would be nice. But do you really think you need to be there?

Aw, crud.

Too often worship leaders, especially us "professionals," only give up leadership when we're on vacation. It's a disorder called LIDs. "Leadership Insecurity Disorder" makes us think we're indispensable. Don't get me wrong, working towards indispensability should be the goal. But am I indispensable because I work to make the team better, stronger and deeper (musically, relationally and spiritually)? Or because I'm the only one who can quarterback? And don't make me mad, because I'll just leave and take the ball with me.

So figure out a way to take a week off without being gone. The perspective from the pew will recalibrate your leadership.

By the way, the team did great without me. And while not leading or playing guitar in a worship service was a little weird, I think I could get used to it. Once a month. Maybe. (I might not be entirely sanctified in this area yet...)

###
What would it take for you to NOT lead/play on in your situation?

What has been your experience when you have delegated leadership?

Leave comments here, or tweet them to me @jonnicol.

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #17 - 20

2011-07-14T13:39:00.001-04:00

Segues #17 - 20: The Pre-Service, Part 1

Photo from stock.xchng

I look at the pre-service time as one big segue: it's a sequence of elements used to transition people into corporate worship. The issue with most churches in American culture is this: the majority of people don’t actually come into the service until right at the start time, or likely a few minutes later. We can use a few segue elements to help move them into the flow of worship. But honestly, none of these techniques will change the culture of lateness in your church, or mine. But these transition elements can help. And while each can be standalone tools, they’ll likely work better when creatively combined with other elements.

#17 - The Countdown Video. This won’t really help if only 15% of that week's attendees are in the worship center when the last 30-seconds tick off. Consider running a feed to a monitor in the foyer or the kid ministry drop-off area. If running video feeds isn’t in the budget right now, just run a countdown off of an independent monitor in the high traffic areas outside the sanctuary.

#18 - Lighting. You know what will get people’s attention? Flipping the foyer lights on and off like they do at the end of intermission at the theater. OK, that's a little crass for our setting. Save the flicking to cue the pray for the potluck or to start the next congregational meeting.

But subtle lighting changes can be an effective way to move people from pre-service chit-chat to worship. Most often, house lights (the lights above the seating area of the worship center) are bright during the pre-service time and then are dimmed noticeably as the service begins. Inversely, the stage lights brighten and bring attention to the beginning of the service. Even if all you have for lighting controls are the switches on the back wall, you’ve got someone in your church who’d love to serve as lighting tech.

# 19 - Pre-service Music. Play a CD or iPod during the pre-service time. Make sure you create a CD mix or playlist that fits the mood you’re trying to create. And don’t be afraid to push up the volume. Just keep it comfortable to talk over. Most people won’t even be thinking about the music, until you fade it down quickly. That will grab people’s ear and help move their attention to the front.

Couple the music fade-down with a lighting change and you’ve got a strong transitional element to draw people’s attention. Some will still ignore it and keep talking. They need to be shunned like a poker-playing Amish woman.

#20 – Video Element. Dropping the lights and starting a video will move people in. Most don’t want to miss a good video. It could be a funny sketch from the Skit Guys, a thought provoking vignette that will tie in with the theme of the opening worship song, or a fun promotional video for a ministry or event.

In the next two installments we'll look at two more pre-service segues.

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #16: Vision & Mission

2011-07-13T12:49:00.001-04:00

Vision and mission are two big buzz words that keep buzzing. They sometimes take on new forms or variation, like "missional" and "purpose". And they all get attached to a "statement." At worst, a church's vision/mission/purpose statement is ripped off from another church and then slapped on a banner or bulletin cover. At their best, these statements offer clarity about and direction towards the heartbeat of the church.

This post won't deal with the differences of mission, vision and all that. What I want to say about it is this: If you got it, flaunt it. And here's a place to flaunt it: segues.

If you're moving towards the offering, say something like, "Here at [insert some trendy metaphor] Community Church, we believe God has called us to [rattle off mission/vision statement, without sounding canned]. The money you give helps us fund [name one or two specific ministries/events/initiatives, etc.]. Thanks for giving to help change lives.

If you're inviting people to stand and worship - something in your statement likely points towards worshiping God with our whole heart and life. At a previous church, we had simple mission statement - "love God, love others, live to serve." So inviting people into our corporate worship would go something like this, "One of our primary missions is to love God. Through worshiping Him and experiencing His love, we are able to love and serve others."

This isn't rocket surgery. But a few extra minutes of prep during your worship serving planning can make a difference. Reread "Talking Transitions" for other ideas on how approach a verbal segue.

Andy Stanley says it best: "Vision leaks." You need to keep repeating and reinforcing vision in multiple ways for people to remember it and engage with it. Your worship segues are a great way to do this.

>>>

What are some ways that you've incorporated vision, mission, purpose, core values, etc. into worship segues? Let me know in the comments here, on Twitter (@jonnicol).

How To Dump Your Worship Pastor

2011-07-01T06:11:00.000-04:00

Six Options for Quitting the Worship Team
the new WorshipMinistry.com article...

How to break up with your worship pastor/leader:

1. Stop showing up. I’ll eventually get the hint. And let all my phone calls go to voice-mail and emails go unanswered. The longer we delay the follow-up conversation, the less awkward it will be. I promise.

2. Ask a friend on the team to let me know that you won’t be playing/singing anymore. I enjoy this one. It gives me that 7th grade feeling all over again – like when I got a Dear John note from my first girlfriend, delivered by her friend to my friend.

[Read all six]

Bigger Than Bono...

2011-06-30T07:42:00.000-04:00

I wrote this article for my own worship team's monthly newsletter. Rather than transfer it to the blog, I kept it a PDF so you can distribute it more easily to your own team. Click on the graphic or download the pdf here.

L.T.W.M. Part 3

2011-06-23T07:54:00.002-04:00

Leave Them Wanting More is dependent on another well-worn axiom: Less is more.

I've perpetrated the opposite - more is more - on several occasions in my ministry:

More is More, Method 1: The Shoehorn
"The senior pastor's only giving me 20 minutes for worship through music? OK, we can fit seven songs in there." The result:

The tempo of each song jumps 18 BPM.
I'm clock-watching instead of worshiping, wondering how soon I should cut a chorus or two.
When it becomes apparent that it's time to bail partway into the last song, I try to signal the team to end after the first chorus. I wonder if railroad workers get the same confused look in their eyes just prior to their train wrecks?

More is More, Method 2: The Way it is on the MP3
"Hey team, we're going to do this Hillsong tune just like they do it in this live recording"

So it's:
v, v, ch, v, ch, ch,
48-bar instrumental/vocal ad lib building to a holy frenzy,
quiet breakdown, bridge, bridge (keep building)
bridge, bridge, (one more, even bigger...) bridge,
breaking into a huge chorus, another huge chorus,
huge tag to the chorus, even huger tag,
and then a tag to bring us down to a quiet instrumental,
begin singing the chorus nearly a cappella,
then we'll start building back in for a repeat of the--

The congregation switched to "comatose screen-gazing" twelve bars into the instrumental. I think one guy passed out.

Is there anything wrong with the way they did it on the recording? No. But it fit their context. Many of our churches just plain haven't learned to worship with music that way yet.

With both methods, the more didn't lead to people wanting more. They just wanted the door.

Here are a few ideas to using "less is more":
1. Use the radio mix. If a popular worship song has made it on the radio, it's likely going to be less than 5 minutes. For example, Hillsong's Forever Reign radio mix is nearly 2 minutes shorter than the live recording. Ask yourself: how do they change the form? What repeats do they leave out? Always err on the side of "too short".

2. Under-plan to your time. Figure out how approximately how long each arrangement is. Add one minute to each song. Then add all the songs together. Do they fit, realistically, in your service? (C'mon now, be honest.) If not, cut a song.

3. Cut-down a song. Can't bring yourself to cut a song? Here's an alternative: just do the chorus and bridge of the song that's most well-known to your congregation. It can be great way to end a set or transition to a different feel.

4. Create an intentional "moment." With four songs planned instead of seven and an extra 3 minutes of margin built into your worship set, you're now able to plan for some lingering. Which song in the set would be best for that? Should you throw in an extra repeat or two? Or an quiet instrumental for scripture and reflection? Whatever it is, plan for it and practice it. That doesn't negate the Holy Spirit. It actually puts us in a better place to redirect if the Spirit leads.

So there's more that we can do to create more with less to leave them wanting more...umm, more or less. But I wanted to leave you wanting more.

L.T.W.M. Part 2

2011-06-22T07:09:00.003-04:00

There are three myths that get in the way of leaving people to want more.

Myth #1. Sunday morning is the only chance we get.
Unfortunately, not all myths are false. Our churches are often structured in a way that makes this myth a reality:

Numeric growth of the service. If growing my church means counting nickles and noses on Sunday morning, then I'm going do what I can to get people to come back. And entertainment becomes the focus. (By the way, I do think our services should be entertaining. But there's a difference...that we don't have time to get into...sorry.)

Discipleship. If my church is structured in such a way that growth in people's lives depends on coming to the Sunday service, then this myth is reality for me. I'm going to try way too hard to force feed people.

Evangelism. If my church's only means for evangelism is the off-chance that a non-believer walks in on a Sunday, then the sermon becomes a hard-sell and the closing song is meant to close the deal.

Myth #2. People know what they want.
I used to try to pack the service with elements I knew people like. But (suprise!) I found out that people are fickle. Take for example people's song suggestions. If I did every song that was suggested to me, I'd be singing 19 mid-tempo, soaring anthems every Sunday. In reality, if the average church does a three-song set in the vein of Mighty to Save or Revelation Song, most people will check out from exhaustion. Those powerful tunes lose their punch. And in the same way, if we do special music every week, it's not so special.

There's nothing wrong with special music, big anthems, illustration videos, testimonies or any other service element that people enjoy. It's about creating the right pace in the story. And the right placement (or non-placement) of great elements is key to establishing pace.

#3. Excellence grows a church.
Excellence grows a gathering, but God grows a church. If we want to leave people wanting more, it can't be more of our programs. Or preaching. Or music. We have to leave them wanting more God. Period.

L.T.W.M. Part 1

2011-06-21T06:58:00.003-04:00

There are two ways a TV show keeps you coming back – characters and story.

Some shows don’t continue a main storyline from one episode to the next. Take any of the abbreviation shows: Law and Order SVU or LA, CSI, CSI:NY, CSI: Miami, NCIS, NCIS LA, OU812 – sorry, that’s a Van Halen album. All those shows have a back story that’s helpful to know, but not necessary. And occasionally they’ll have some thread of a subplot weaving forward, which almost always involves a serial killer nemesis of the main character. (This is helpful to know if you ever become a cop: at some point in your career you’ll have nut job who stalks you. Just giving you a heads-up…) While the stories of these shows are compelling, they wouldn’t have the same draw if viewers hadn’t already connected with the characters.

Parenthood (NBC) is a knockout example of both storyline and character. Ron Howard knows what he’s doing. The writing is awesome and the cast rocks. Not only do you get wrapped up in the storyline from one episode to the next, once you watch more than one episode (and you’re between the ages of 26 and 66) you can personally relate to at least one of the characters. And that’s where the writers and producers have us: they engage us for 43 minutes out of an hour then leave us in a way that we can’t wait till next week.

They leave us wanting more.

I’m wondering, when it comes to planning our worship service, can we use the concept of ‘leave them wanting more’?

I’ve been in churches where it felt like I ordered off the senior citizen menu. I left wanting a whole lot more. And I’ve been in others where there wasn’t room for more, but they kept shoveling it in. But then I’ve been in a few worship gatherings where I left feeling engaged. Filled up. Satisfied. But still wanting more.

What was it about those church services that left me filled, but wanting more. Is that even biblical?

Jesus seemed to practice “LTWM”. In Mark 1, Jesus was healing people left and right starting with Peter’s mother-in-law (he really did like to mess with Peter…). The next morning he got up early to pray, and it says,

Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” (Mark 1:36-38)

He left the crowds wanting more.

And look at his practice of preaching with parables.No bulleted solutions in PowerPoint. No closing KLOVE song to wrap up the message. So guess what the disciples did afterwards? They hounded him for an explanation (Matt 13:36) – they wanted more.

We’re going to explore the path of leave them wanting more over the next few days. But I’m treading lightly. Over one edge of this path is a shallow ravine of entertainment-driven worship. It’s easy to get in, and enjoyable while we stay. But when we exit, there’s no deep longing to return.

On the other side of the path is a dense, overgrown jungle. The inhabitants tell us their service has substance. That’s SO true. But there’s no rhyme or rhythm to all that substance. No decipherable path through it. And when we finally make our way out, we’re both exhausted and elated to have made it to the other side. It will take seven days to even consider entering again.

We have the greatest story (ever told), not to mention the most compelling Lead Character. People should leave wanting more. So what are we doing to mess that up?

The Mess and the Metaphor

2011-05-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

Whenever I go to a large worship conference, there’s always an emerging worship song that dominates. A few years back I went to an integrity conference and Mighty to Save was that song. The early adopters had already been singing it for a year or two, and it was still a year away from those churches that had God of Wonders at the top of their CCLI reports. It was cresting and about to wash over Christendom. Revelation Song was another one a couple years later.

At the CMS conference I went to a few weeks ago at The Chapel in Buffalo, the “it” song was How He Loves. Gungor did it. Kari Jobe did it. All the guys with the acoustic guitars in the lobby did it. And John Mark McMillan was there. So yeah, he did it, too. Sloppy wet kiss and all.

A lot of people have been doing this for a few years and it continues to be picked up by churches. As of this writing, it's number 21 on the CCLI list (still behind Lord I Lift Your Name on High - not lying). But I’m wondering if this song will saturate evangelical churches to the degree that Mighty to Save and Revelation Song has. I hope it does. I think it should. But here’s why I wonder if it will.

The praise chorus became generally acceptable in the 80s/early 90s. So the boundary pushing in worship music in the last 20 years has been more about the musical style of those choruses. The older Boomers and Builders fought against what the Gen Xers and younger Boomers were musically bringing into their churches. Now the Millennials are producing a ton of our worship music. And while their musical styles can still be a sticking point for some, I’m wondering if the real battle will be in lyrical content.

How He Loves is so rich in imagery and metaphor – “I am a tree bending beneath the weight…”. It’s a beautifully vivid lyric, but I’m having a hard time imagining some older folks in my congregation singing that without going, “Huh?” I wouldn’t even want to see what they’d do with “sloppy wet kiss.”

I think this will be a point of conflict between those influenced by the modern era and those who grew up in the highly post-modern world of the last 20 years. Where the Boomers, and even a lot of older Gen-Xers like the neat and clean and literal of the past 20 years of worship songs, the Millennials are so much more at home with the mess and the metaphor. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next few years.

And by the way, there will be one thing that will allow How He Loves to be embraced by the older crowd. Once Phillips, Craig and Dean cover the song, forget about it. Grandma’s singing it.

Linchpin or Liability?

2011-05-24T07:21:00.000-04:00

When it comes to the worship ministry at your church, are you a linchpin or a liability?

A linchpin is indispensable. Wait, I know. The right answer that’s been drilled in our heads, especially in the church, is this: no one’s indispensible. OK, so the earth might not break its orbit of the sun if you quit the worship team. But would there be a gaping hole and would you be missed for a long, long time? If the answer is yes, then you’re a linchpin. And don’t forget that there are two parts to that question. We’ve all seen people depart who leave a big hole, but weren’t particularly missed.

A linchpin not only does the work, but does it in a way that we want to be around them. To use a quote from a Jack Nicholson movie (that ranks only slightly lower than, “You can’t handle the truth!”), linchpins make us “want to be a better man.” Or woman. If that’s your gender.

On the other side of the spectrum there’s the liability. And a liability is someone who brings the team down either musically or emotionally/spiritually. Unless your team is inordinately dysfunctional, rarely do we have a member who’s both a lousy musician and has a terrible attitude. We often get a not-so-great musician because “he’s such a great person.” His heart outweighs his talents. And, depending on where we’re at in our growth as a team, we’re willing to work with that.

The person who is most often a bona fide liability is the one with the attitude. It might be arrogance. Entitlement. Negativity. Harshness. Whatever it is, talent can only trump toxic for so long.

The problem with the original question, “Are you a linchpin or a liability?” is that a person rarely recognizes himself as such. Most people aren’t intentionally toxic. It’s the default they arrive at after being hurt/wounded/disappointed one too many times.

The linchpin, on the other hand, is intentional. If I’m not intentionally trying to create great art within my team, and if I’m not purposely building others up, then I’m probably not a linchpin.

In truth, I’ve been both. And somewhere in the middle. And that’s where most of us are--sitting somewhere on a long line between indispensible and intolerable.

So forget the original question. Here’s a new one: which way are you moving?

*Want to learn more about being indispensible, buy Seth’s Godin’s book, Linchpin. (affiliate link)

Sloppy Wet Kiss

2011-05-14T08:05:00.002-04:00

If you know John Mark McMillan, you know my title.

Last night he performed at Christian Musician Summit in Buffalo. And all of us who knew him were waiting for How He Loves. You've probably heard David Crowder's version, or several other artists who covered him.

The screens projected the words, and when the 2nd verse came up, it said "heaven meets earth like a beautiful kiss." You may have heard "unforeseen" to describe the kiss. But McMillan's original lyrics are "heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss."

One of my team members hates that line. I love it. But I don't fault the other artists or churches for changing that line. I know I'd get quite a few comments at my church if I used that song with those lyrics.

But have you ever been on the receiving end of God's working? A mighty work of God in someone's life sounds great in a "testimony" six months later. Revivals sound almost romantic in the history books. But when the infinite invades the finite, it's not tidy. It's messy. It's sloppy. It's doesn't fit our ideals.

So maybe our worship songs should start to reflect the mess. As long John Mark McMillan is writing them, they will.

Please Practice: 8 Tips to Give Your Team

2011-05-11T07:57:00.001-04:00

Of all the players that I've had in worship teams, the ones that practiced the most came out of the bar band scene. If any of them came to rehearsals unprepared, they apologized before they even pulled out their guitar. The players with church backgrounds, yeah…not so much. Why is this? That’s fodder for a whole new article series. But let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they’ve never received guidance on this subject. Here are some practice tips for your team:

Before rehearsal:

Listen to each song while following the chart. Even if you know the song well, a repeated listening-through will reveal things you missed and further solidify the song in your head.
Listen to the song again, playing along with it (here’s where the correct key & pitch-shifted recordings comes in handy).
Do an initial play-through. Without the recording, play the song completely through one time. If any part causes you to stumble, mark it with a pencil and move on.
Work on bumps. Once you’ve played through and marked the trouble stops, go back and run those spots till you have them down.
Listen again (and again). Instead of just turning on your car or office radio, put the songs in a playlist on your iPod, mp3 player or computer and listen to it passively throughout the week. The songs will sink in more than you know. On the way to rehearsal, listen to the songs again, thinking about your part.

Between rehearsal and Sunday:

Work the problem areas. Mark the spots that gave you trouble during rehearsal. Run those until the hiccups go away.
Focus heavily on any parts that are yours to lead or carry, such as a solo or segues.
Listen again (and again). Did I mention this one already.

Got anymore tips? Love to hear them. Throw them in the comments or tweet them to me @jonnicol.

Charts Smarts - Serving Your Team with the Right Music

2011-04-22T08:18:00.000-04:00

If you're coming across this post without first seeing the WorshipMinistry.com series: Quit Practicing at Rehearsals, you might want to read those first. This post can stand on it's own, but it was designed as a supplemental resource to the WorshipMinistry.com articles.

When it comes to charts and music, what we provide and how we provide it is a huge opportunity to serve our team and set us up for success.

I used to provide only the kind of charts I liked--and I like leadsheets. They have the melody, the chords and the words - all you need. You can see rhythms, but you don’t have all the extra notes and pages of a piano chart. And it’s not a “dumbed-down” chord sheet with no sense of rhythm or "real" musical markings. That was my not-so-humble opinion.

But I began to see that no matter what I preferred, my team has different learning styles and musical backgrounds. So for one, a leadsheet was overly complicated. For another, it was too simple.

So a few years back, I started to provide music for the “wide middle” whenever possible. So here's what that looks like for my team:

CD and/or mp3
This is a must for everyone, regardless if they play by ear or “only” read. Even the readers need to hear the music as part of learning it. There are a few exceptions that I make to this. If the song is a well-known hymn or chorus, and we aren’t using any particular artist’s arrangement, then I don’t bother providing a recording. If a particular recording doesn’t fit the way I want to do a song, I may still use it as a reference for learning the melody, but I make sure I communicate that to the team.

Pitch-shifted CD and/or mp3
We really shouldn’t put our congregation through the excruciating experience of having to sing as high as Chris Tomlin and Lincoln Brewster. While those guys do it well, most of the rest of us don’t. Nowadays, it’s easy with SongSelect/CCLI to get charts in new keys.

But if we change keys from the recording, what about our players who learn parts by ear? You’ll be in for a dirty look (or worse) if your guitarist learns the opening riff for a Hillsong tune (from an mp3 you provided), only to find the rest of the band is playing in a different key.

Pitch shifting your music is a worthwhile investment of time. I used to pitch-shift mp3s with my recording software. Once I figured it out, it wasn’t hard—just time consuming. I was thrilled when PlanningCenterOnline.com began to offer Transposr.com. It’s a great tool (and not to mention free—read more about it here). It’s as simple as uploading the mp3, selecting the original key, the desired key and then waiting a minute or two for it be ready to download.

Lead sheet (or leadsheet)
If you’ve not heard this term before, a “lead sheet” contains a treble clef with the notated melody with lyrics and chords symbols. Lead sheets communicate chord changes, time, rhythm and arrangement without being as cumbersome as a full piano score or as simplified as a chord chart.

Most worship songs fit easily on one or two pages. Some of the more complex songs coming from Hillsong, Tomlin and others end up being 5 – 6 pages from CCLI’s SongSelect. I use Sibelius notation software to pare those down to two pages, three at the most.

Using Sibelius, or Finale, or other notation software programs is another way to serve your team. If your arrangement differs greatly from the one you pulled off SongSelect, consider re-charting it so you don’t have to go through 10 minutes of chart scratching before rehearsing the song.

Chord Charts (or chord sheets)
Chord charts are simply the lyrics with the chord symbols above them. Even though I referred to them as “dumbed-down” – I don’t think players who use them are dumb. In fact, I was the 'dumb' one for not providing them for my team. Here are three reasons why players like to use chord charts:

no formal musical training, so the bars and repeats and rhythms and notes are just gibberish that gets in the way
they’re short – usually only one page
they provide just enough information for the player who has learned much of the song by ear, but doesn’t have it memorized

Guitar Capo Charts
Another advantage of chord charts is the ability to turning them into “guitar charts.” These charts are specifically for guitarists to capo their way out of “guitar-unfriendly” keys.

For example: Let’s say you’re going to play “You Are God Alone” in the key of Bb. After you print out the key of Bb chordsheet on SongSelect, print out the keys G and A as well. Make sure you write on top of the chart in big letters – "GUITAR CHART: CAPO 1" on the key of A sheet and “CAPO 3” for G. I learned the hard way to make sure I differentiated chord charts from guitar charts and make sure my players know the difference. More than once I had a bassist playing in a different key. In fact, on my team site, I now name these charts as GUITAR CAPO 2 (or whatever fret they're capo'ing at).

If you've got static charts from other locations and want to transpose them, you can use Transposr.com, listed above. It will transpose your pdf chord charts that are fixed. There’s also a free download called “Chord Chart Wizard” that works pretty well (especially considering it’s free). But with this you need to remake your chart from scratch.

The biggest disadvantage to the chord chart is the complete lack of rhythm notation. There is nothing that shows bars, beat one, etc. The players need to rely on their ear.

There have been some movement towards a hybrid chord charting system that Brian Steckler introduced an article in one of articles Worship Leader Magazine. He simply added bar lines like this | (shift \). If you go this forum page, you can download in a zip file with his ppt notes and examples from a seminar he taught on it. (His post is the third one down. Look for the Charts 2.0 link.)

Only armed with Steckler's article in Worship Leader magazine (I didn't discover his seminar notes till much later) I took his idea and tweaked it using this Chord Chart Wizard (listed above). Where Steckler puts the bar lines up with chords, I opted to put the bar lines between the words. He also used some in-house symbols to show "holds" and "pushes" etc. that I may adopt/adapt, but haven't yet.

If you want to see an example of this type of chord sheet, download this zip file for the song Holy, Holy, Holy. It contains a leadsheet made with Sibelius, chord chart and guitar capo chart made with Chord Chart Wizard and a lyric sheet, which we'll talk about in a moment.

[This is a good place to mention another great tool - a PDF printer like PrimoPDF and some sort of PDF editor. The best route is probably with Adobe Acrobat, but there are less expensive options out there as well. Google it and get one. It'll keep your charts 1st generation nice (as opposed to reXeroxed to sheer ugliness) and allow you to add capo numbers and other notes.]

Lyric Sheets
Lyric sheets are simply that and are used primarily by vocalists. Occasionally, if I know the music of a song, I’ll just use the lyric sheet because I forget words so easily. (It’s been a running joke that I forget the lyrics even on songs I wrote.)

A couple years, I made a modification to lyric sheets: I added in our “standard” song form (v, ch, v, ch, brdg, etc.) in a text box off to the side. Adopting a standard song form is important. It doesn't mean you never change. It just gives you the baseline from which to modify. Your team (especially those who are more "structured") will appreciate this.

Full Piano Scores
I don't like these, but I'll use them occasionally. I have several reasons why I rarely use full piano arrangements. Here are the top three:

For classically trained note-readers, these charts don’t have too many pages, But for the rest of us, they are ungodly long.
The arrangement is set in stone. This is somewhat true of lead sheets. But to make a change to lead sheet, it requires a little more than drawing a circle here, an X there, and maybe an arrow or two. Making the same pages on a piano chart can be quite involved.
Piano scores are often arranged with the idea that the piano is carrying everything - the opening riff, the bass line, the rhythm, etc. In most band settings, these arrangements step all over the rest of the band.

Here’s why your situation might call for piano charts:

You only have a piano player and few other instruments.
Your pianist is the “glue” that holds together the band, and he/she cannot read chords or lead sheets.
It’s a “piano-driven” tune, and you want it to sound as close as possible to the original recording.

I do use piano scores for this last reason if I have a lead sheet version of it that matches it. By the way, PraiseCharts.com is worth the $6 per song because most of their charts come with both the lead sheet and the full piano score.

_____________

So this sounds like a lot of different charts and forms to keep track of. That's because it is. Honestly, I’d love it if I could simply use only a lead sheet. But my team is made of different types of personalities with diverse musical backgrounds AND I have an administrative assistant that helps out. If you’re a volunteer leader, or a paid staff person in a church with no admin help, you need to draw a line in the sand. In my last church, I had to get myself flowers for Secretary’s Day, so serving the team in this way wasn’t feasible. I simply used lead sheets and mp3s.

Find that balance between serving the needs of the team and what you’re realistically able to do. And make sure you communicate why you can’t give the vocalists a lyric only sheet or why you’re requiring the guitarist to transpose his own capo notes. People will have grace (and they just might offer to help out…).

This Site is Ugly!

2011-04-15T16:22:00.001-04:00

From the start, I’ve wanted Worship Team Coach.com to help pastors, leaders and worship/music teams create great Sunday morning experiences. The only problem: the WorshipTeamCoach.com site is NOT a great experience. There’s plenty of relevant and practical resources there, but it’s spread out over three sites and not easy to navigate. And it’s ugly. I mean, no-date-for-the-prom ugly.

I’m planning a full-out redesign from the ground up. The quality of the container needs to match the quality of the contents. A redesign of this site will bring the Worship Guitar Workshop, the blog and all the resources on the main site together. And all the free articles and resources will be more easily searched (and found). I’ll be able to serve you and your ministries better and expand the reach of WorshipTeamCoach.com.

With this funded through RocketHub, I'll be able to keep 95% of the content free and my live workshops affordable. If we exceed the goal, any extra funds will go into creating more free resources.

If you love what you find here, but aren't in a place to help, just spread the word about www.WorshipTeamCoach.com and www.WorshipGuitarWorkshop.com.

Thanks for stopping by!
~jon

Ox Percussion...

2011-04-09T10:10:00.001-04:00

...is what we get when the aux percussionist forgets he's, well auxiliary. Big. Strong. And way too much. A Shetland pony could pull this cart. It doesn't need two yoked bovine.

Auxiliary is defined by M-W.com as

a : offering or providing help b : functioning in a subsidiary capacity

Unfortunately, who do we usually assign to auxiliary percussion?
1. The drummer who can't cut it on set, either because of inexperience or sub-par talent.
2. The person who wants to be on the team but can't play an instrument. Can you clap in time? You're in.

Chances are, both people will overplay.

I don't want to just pick on percussionists here. There's an inverse relationship between the skill/experience/maturity of any musician and the amount he or she plays. Great musicians know how to make fewer notes count for more.

I remember the first time I paid attention to a great percussionist at work. I was actually sitting behind him in the choir loft during a worship conference breakout session at a large church. During the demonstration of a ballad, he couldn't have hit a drum or a cymbal more than a dozen times in the whole song. He just sat for bars and bars waiting for the perfect moment to plink finger cymbals together. Then a light hit on the djembe rim. Then some chimes.

He knew his place. And he loved it.

Each instrument and voice, at some point, must take a subservient role - be the understated dot of icing on beautiful cake. In most songs, the aux percussionist will need to take that role.

This Worship Director video from Gateway* is a great example of a master percussionist in action.

Did you notice he doesn't even touch the congas until 2 minutes in to the song?

All this less is more stuff is important - but worship leaders, we need to remember one thing:

They still need a chance to rock out and shine.

So look for songs and sections that can be driven by your aux percussionist. It'll carry him through while he's counting the 88 bars till his next finger cymbal hit.

*by the way - this is one of my new favorite songs. It started its pre-service introduction at my church last week.

Fire Your Worship Committee

2011-04-09T08:37:00.000-04:00

Like, now.

If there's no one that can, or really wants to take leadership in the area of worship, we appoint a committee.

If there is someone in charge, but we don't quite trust him or her to lead, we assist them by appointing a committee.

We might call it an "advisory panel" or a "planning team", but it's just a turd-polished committee.

OK, I'm sounding a little harsh. Committees are usually well-intentioned. Most of the people appointed to those teams care deeply about the focus of the committee (or they just can't say no).

But committees give people power with no responsibility.

Committees give permission to point at problems with out searching for a solution.

Committees generate activity instead of creating action.

And who's holding who accountable?

So what's the alternative to a worship committee when we don't have a worship leader or pastor?

1. First, look to the CLW of your church.
The CLW - Chief Lead Worshiper is your senior pastor. His vision and goals will include the corporate worship of the church. (If it doesn't, you have bigger problems than lack of a song leader.) He may not be musical, but leadership for corporate worship starts with him.

2. Create a system for co-leadership.
If there is no 'one person' to head up the worship ministry, create a system that allows for multiple leaders without forming a committee.

Each person is delegated authority and leadership, with a clear job description and accountability structure.
A person is chosen for position because it fits with their gifting and skills.
I've detailed a model for co-leadership in a free ebook, Try [Tri] Leadership on my resource page.

3. Set your leaders loose.
These leaders form a team. But they're a true team, not a committee. There's a quarterback, running back and the left guard. Don't take the football metaphor too far - just know that these people will get knocked down. The coach (the Chief Lead Worshiper) is there to pick them up, pull the sod off their face mask, pat them on the butt and send them back in with the next play.

And, coach, don't take the butt-pat literally - that's grounds for dismissal.

Reverse Sound Check

2011-04-05T21:13:00.000-04:00

Kent Morris is a rock star. Actually, he's the AV genius behind rock stars. And he was in my neighborhood a month or so ago doing a seminar for Peavey's Sanctuary Series line of sound systems. (Ended up having lunch with him, which was fun. But that's for another blog.)

During the seminar, he suggested we do our sound check backwards. At least - it seemed backwards to me. So that meant it was probably right.

Here's what Kent proposed:

Turn off the wedges. Play through your first song as best as you can, which allows the sound tech to dial in a solid mix. After that, the tech asks, "What's missing? What do you need to keep you on-time and on-pitch?" At that point, we add to the monitors only what's necessary to meet the true need: the basic stuff to keep us on-time and on-pitch.

So we tried it. (My sound guy made me tell the band what we were doing. I didn't blame him...) We played our first song sans monitors and few things happened:
1. We listened to each other. For the first time, ever, I think people in the band were really listening for what the other person was doing.
2. We got a great house mix and a lower stage volume. There was less "more me" - which meant less overall monitor volume.
3. We spent far less time "tweaking" monitors than our usual method.

If this scares you, let me throw a few things at you:
If we're trying to approximate the house mix in our wedges, we're asking too much. Strip it down to what's absolutely necessary to keep us together rhythmically and sonically.

When you take more for yourself on stage - more "me," more piano, more whatever - the more your monitor becomes part of the main mix. Ever heard the backside of a wedge? (Just saying backside of a wedge brings up an unpleasant picture for the sound.)

If our role really is to serve the congregation, we need to put that into practice when it comes to our monitors. And didn't Jesus say something about this backwards sound check?

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #15 - The Offering (part 2)

2011-03-31T09:20:00.000-04:00

In part one, we looked at some of the potential pitfalls that can lead up to the offering. And we also looked at ways to prepare our people and flow smoothly into it. Part two is going to give some more suggestions for flowing in, out and through the offering time. Some may work for you, others could get your fired. So as with all my ideas and suggestions - take what works and ignore what doesn't.

What to do during the offering...
I know, this series is about segues, but, if we're honest, what accompanies the offering is, in a sense, a segue. The offering is the main thing--what we're really after. Not a in a greedy way, but in a "let's keep our lights on and feed the youth pastor's kids."

The offering might be the most tangible act of worship for some people: a true sacrifice unto God. But unlike other elements of corporate worship, it's highly individualized and momentary. Once a person chooses to give and prepares his offering (writing a check, putting cash in an envelope - or in many cases now, setting up online bill payment), the actual offering only engages that worshiper for the 6 seconds that he watches the plate arrive on his right and 2 seconds to pass it left.

So it might help us to look at whatever accompanies the offering as a secondary element of worship, and really, one big segue. It's not less important, it's just serving the main thing of the moment. It moves us from the prayer, throughout the passing, and on to the next element.

So let's get back to "what to do during the offering." The usual suspect is the "offertory" - often referred to as "special music." Does that cause anyone else to shudder? I've heard everyone from Bible college professors to armchair theologians rail against the notion of "special" music, i.e. "and our other worship music isn't special?"

That's not my issue with it. The problem with special music is, after awhile, it's not that special. Especially if your soloist line-up isn't too deep.* And let's face it, ever since the Church Lady, the word special isn't what it used to be in our culture.

So to bring the specialness back to specials we should probably 1) up the ante significantly, but that's hard to do week after week. And even excellence gets taken for granted over time. Or 2) limit the number of specials, so they are unique, high-quality moments that bless people.

So without the special, what do we use to segue through the offering?

Can we keep being real here? Few churches struggle with filling time. Most have enough content to fill two services. So is it wrong to look at our offering as a time to accomplish some other things? Like...

...a scripture reading...
Maybe one that tees up the message, or one that leads to the next set of worship songs.

...another set of worship music...
We do this most Sunday's at my church. It's a great place to do a new or newer song. People are sitting and more relaxed. They can just take in the words. And here's a segue within a segue: think about an an appropriate moment in that worship set to invite people to stand, that is, if you're folks aren't spontaneous standers. (Spontaneous standers - that sounds like a medical condition a drug company would make up). A side benefit to this is that it eliminates another hand-off -- it allows the worship leader, or even one of the vocalists, to intro the offering and pray into it.

...faith story/testimony...
We'll talk about transitioning to these in an upcoming post.

...a video element...
A well-done, well placed 3-minute video can move and prepare a person in ways that singing and sermons can't. Google some of these names - Shift Worship, Worship House Media, Sermon Spice, or just search "worship videos".

...begin the sermon...
Really? Why not? The pastor is probably up front already. And the beginning of most sermons is light, so the passing of the plate wouldn't detract from it, or vice-versa.

...dismiss kids....
So the ushers may have to dodge a few ankle-biters on the way to their program. This is a much better spot to let the kids go than stopping the flow between songs.

...announcements...
"As the plate is being passed, grab your bulletin and let's see what's happening this week at our church." OK, now we're stepping in it. The once-sacred moment of tithes and offerings is now used to hawk bake sales and Beth Moore Bible studies. Look at it this way: it's a perfect time to connect the offering to the church's vision being played out week to week: "The reason we can have this incredible outreach this next Saturday is because of your faithful giving." And the plate being passed is a visual reinforcement of that.

We don't want to get too utilitarian with all this. The offering is an act of worship. But we are stewards of the time our congregation has given us on Sunday morning. Let's make the most of it.

###

*My other beef with special music is the sense of entitlement it can breed among the singers. "It's my turn to do a solo," etc. That's another article I hope never to write. Three words: a soprano's wrath.

Taco Bell vs. Chipotle

2011-03-25T09:18:00.001-04:00

A burrito as big as your head for $6 or a three pound box of fast-mex food for $5?

The cheapskate in me usually hits Taco Bell. Couple items off the value menu and a water, and I'm full for $2.50. And I do enjoy Taco Bell - probably a little too much. But Chipotle...mmm...it's like Christmas morning when I lean over that stainless steel counter picking out which salsa(s) will top my burrito bowl. And should I splurge for guacamole? Yes, I should.

A secondary draw for me to choose Chipotle over Taco Bell is the simplicity. Here's Taco Bell's indoor menu board:

Here's what you see at the drive-through:

Ever gotten in line behind the uninitiated at Taco Bell? They stare. And they stare. And they're just about to order, but, oh wait, what's a Chalupa? Mafia wise guys get made in less time then these people's burrito decisions. But honestly, who could blame them? My college catalog had less options to choose from.

Now here's the Chipotle menu:

I marvel at the genius of Chipotle every time I go there. You pick one of 5 meats (or a non-meat...). You pick one of 5 ways to contain that meat. You choose a few toppings, add an extra or two. Done.

There's a place for a myriad of choices. I like having lots of options. And Chipotle's menu allows for a thousand options, but within the confines of a few key selections. It's about giving people something great with less. And that 'less' is the key: they do those few things very, very well.

The music and worship ministries I led in the past resembled Taco Bell's menu:

Lots of choices.
Not so long ago in a church not so far away, I was picking from over a 100 songs for any given week. There was a group of 30 songs that were at the core, but the remaining 70 were fair game. And to accommodate that many songs, I simply pushed as many songs into the service as possible.

Lots of new menu items.
"Everyone's doing this new Hillsong tune. We've got to do it."
"Jon, I just heard this new song on KLOVE - it's SOOOO awesome. Do you think we can pull it off next next Sunday?" Sure.
"Paul Baloche's new album just came out." Enough said.

And cheap.
The new songs I picked weren't thought out for how they would fit with the rest of the 'menu.' Or more important, serve those they were meant to feed.

The amount of time I spent preparing was low.

The cost to be on the team wasn't very high.

In the past several years, I've tried to have more of a Chipotle-menu model for ministry: a few really great choices, well prepared, at a price that's, well, not cheap.

I try to limit the number of songs I choose from. I've created a "Current Rotation System" that, while imperfect, keeps my song choices for any given month around 30-40 songs. This allows both the worship team and the congregation to know and internalize the songs better. It also gives me a system for introducing new songs, and retiring the tired ones.

I could add another song to the service on any given week. But I think we can create a better environment for worship with four well-prepared songs than seven seat-of-my-pants songs. Not longer, but better.

We cheapen our worship fare a number of ways. Choosing songs without considering how they fit the over all 'menu.' Creating song sets without regard for where they are leading people. Expecting too little of ourselves and others in the way of preparation. Those are just a few ways.

Last thing: at Chipotle, ever notice there's no...
...drive thru? Chipotle demands more. Come in and invest.

...meals you can order by number? You have to create it.

...happy meals? They aren't trying to please everyone.

Small Churches are Small Because They’re Doing Something Wrong

2011-03-23T23:15:00.006-04:00

That’s what a college classmate of mine heard when he did a ministry internship in a very large church. No, he didn’t just hear the sentiment. He heard the actual words: “Small churches are small because they’re doing something wrong.”

In some cases, this is absolutely true. But does that mean larger churches are large because they’re doing something right? Sure, sometimes. In the case of the larger church mentioned above, the senior pastor left (with his lover) after a long term affair was exposed. So, maybe not always.

The issue isn’t this over-generalization that small church = dysfunction and big church = health. We can all point to shining (and not-so-shining) examples to refute that.

The issue is that we believe it.

It’s how we’re wired in this culture. We see numbers, we assign value to those numbers. Lower numbers, lower value. A packed house means a great show. A smattering of attendees and forget it--there must be something wrong here.

How do we break this mindset?

I think we each need to relearn that our church is THE CHURCH. Bill Hybels (a mega-church pastor) has said (and keeps saying) that “the local church is the hope of the world…” He doesn’t say Willow Creek or Saddleback or Hillsong. Or even Northpoint. And he doesn’t say when the small church finally grows to 500. He said the local church. And Jesus said something even better, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

This has everything to do with Small Church/Big Worship. We have to stop defining our worship by how many singers we have. Or how big our band is. Or by the songs we sing. Or the songs we don’t sing. Or our doctrinal bent. Or how people express themselves during worship.

Instead, what if we defined ourselves as THE CHURCH, whether 40 or 4000. We are the body of Christ, the indestructible battering ram on the doors of hell. The royal priesthood chosen by God to bear His name for His glory.

We start believing that and our worship starts getting bigger.

Free Music From Praise Charts

2011-03-22T07:44:00.000-04:00

PraiseCharts has another great giveaway. They've got charts and mp3s for several songs from Integrity. At the top of the pack (IMO) is Gateway's O the Blood with Kari Jobe leading. Another is You Gave Your Life Away by Paul Baloche. John Mark McMillan also has a tune in the mix.

These things only last about a week, so hurry over there.

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #15 - The Offering (part 1)

2011-03-18T15:47:00.000-04:00

"We'll be taking the offering in a few moments." [hint to ushers: please come to the front]

Some off the cuff announcements, then, "And now, as the ushers come forward, we'll be giving our tithes and offering." [hint to ushers, PLEASE come to the front].

Pause. The pastor looks back to see the one usher give the sideways head jerk to two other ushers still in their seats.

"Alright, AS THE USHERS COME FORWARD, let's prayer for our tithes and offerings." [a slightly stronger hint.]

Pause. As the ushers come forward.

They've arrived. The pastor's chest starts to untighten just a little. "Let's pray."

For each person a segue depends upon to flow smoothly, the chance for a derailment increases. Exponentially. The segue to the offering is one of those transitions. Here are all the potential people involved:

The music/worship leader ending the song
The pastor or elder stepping up to pray for the offering
The worship tech turning on the pulpit mic or pastor's wireless
The ushers
Whatever element you're using to fill the time as the plates are passed:

video - then you have worship techs to depend on
musical element - soloists, band, accompaniment tracks to cue

With all those moving parts, it's no wonder that, for so many churches, this is the segment that grinds momentum to a halt. Here are some ideas to create smoother movement in and out of the offering:

1. Script out your services.
Don't just make a list of the service elements in the order they occur. Plan out the details of how we're getting there and who is getting us there. A few thoughts about scripts:

The act of writing it out is at least 75% of it. It forces you to think through all the details.
Get other eyes on it before finalizing. Forgot to put in the "dismissal for kids church"? Your kids' ministry leader or a mother of preschoolers would've caught it.
Put it in the hands of everyone involved. And put their names in the area for which they are responsible.

2. Keep a musical bed going throughout.
Rather than stop playing at the end of the song, the guitar or keys can underscore the verbal transition and prayer to the offering. The musical bed, while hardly noticed by most, will be a constant thread from the previous song, throughout the prayer and prep for the offering and into the next element.

3. Keep comments brief and focused on the offering.
Often pastors and lay leaders will use this time to add or augment announcements. If you want to keep a worshipful flow in to and out of the offering, take the advice Red Leader: Cut the chatter, Red Two. (sorry, inner Star Wars geek leaking out.)

4. Prep your ushers.
These are good guys just waiting to be told what to do, and willing to do it. So don't wait till the prayer before the offering to give them instructions. Also, create a "default mode" for them that will work 99% of the time. For instance, instruct them that they should be getting into place during the song (or whatever the element is) before the offering. As the pastor or leader steps up to pray, they walk forward. No verbal cues needed.

5. Cue up whatever is next.
Whether you're watching a video, singing another worship song, having a special number, etc., make sure that element is ready to launch as soon as the prayer finishes. Again, keeping that musical bed up until this next element will further connect the pieces.

In the next post, we'll continue talking about how to make a great segues in and out of the offering, and even ideas on how to "do the offering" in a way the creates flow.

Easter Season Resources

2011-03-17T22:41:00.000-04:00

Check out the Easter Resource page. There's a free ebook that you can use for your Good Friday service or personal devotion. You'll also find a couple classic songs augmented with resurrection-themed verses.

3 Songs I'm Loving for Easter

2011-03-11T15:31:00.002-05:00

One of the things I struggle with each year are finding songs that are focused on the Resurrection and not just on the Cross. Don't get me wrong, we need songs about the Cross of Jesus, but His resurrection is equally as important as the cross (and some would argue more). I'm not trying to start a "tastes great! / less filling!" argument. I just want to point out that the disparity in numbers between cross-focused songs and resurrection-focused songs makes finding fresh Easter/Resurrection Day songs a little tough. But here's three I'm loving for Easter this year:
#1

This is great song of proclamation from Gateway off their latest release, God Be Praised. It's singable and, while the resurrection isn't the complete focus, it's enough to find itself onto one of my set-lists on Resurrection Sunday. I'm looking forward to using it after Easter as a regular rotation song. I can envision using the bridge (a simple repetitive declaration: "sin has no hold on me") as way to corporately declare freedom from specific sins in our church. More on that in another article.

#2

I missed this one last year. It's on Matt Maher's 2009 release, "Alive Again." Christ is Risen is a tad quirky - which I like. It doesn't sound like the typical CastingTomlinMercyCamp radio stuff. Maher thinks a little deeper than the average joe - I like that. Plus his co-writer is Mia Fieldes - whoever gets her for a co-writer is sitting pretty good. Check out this link to download a free chart (you'll need to register with worshiptogether) and watch Matt perform it live. Here's an upload of the record version:

#3

I work with the youth band at my church and the "A" team has been able to get this one down. It's Crowder's Passion 2010 version of Daniel Bashta's "Like a Lion." As I was wrestling through songs to open the Easter service, and I thought of this one. Then wavered. Could I really do this with the adults? Then as I looked read through the lyrics again and I decided yes. It's an awesome way to open the service: "Let love explode...God's NOT dead...let heave roar..." I may get a note or two after the service - but it'll be worth it.

By the way, this is a fun video below with Crowder and Bashta doing the song together unplugged.

Reply to this post and let me know what songs you're doing for Easter. You might help us discover something worth changing our set-lists.

"Good Music--I Just Hate Looking at the Worship Team..."

2011-03-04T15:43:00.001-05:00

I've been talking to my team, especially my vocalists, about stage presence. Team members from secular backgrounds (bar bands, musical theater, etc) bristle at the thought of infusing worship with the kind of "stage presence" they used in performance settings. My thoroughly 'churched' people just give me blank looks.

To find that middle ground, I'm using the terms "worshipful presence" and "worshipful stage presence." There are probably better terms (and I'd love to hear them), but those seems to connect with both the redeemed rock stars and those who cut their teeth on the back of a church pew.

It'd be easy to point to big worship artists and/or cutting edge churches and say, "See it? That's stage presence." But those artists and churches are a bit removed from most of our Sunday-to-Sunday realities.

Let's look instead at our teaching/preaching pastors:

If a pastor delivers great content with no charisma, how engaged are we?

If a pastor seems nervous and/or lacks confidence, it's a long sermon to endure.

If a pastor looks at his notes 85% of the time, we question his preparation (and wonder if he actually cares that we're listening)

If a pastor lacks energy and passion, how convinced are we that he really believes what he's preaching.

Then why is it OK for us musicians to keep our heads buried in our music stands?

Many of us come from backgrounds that relegate emotion and expression to our friends in the charismatic crowd. But if we really cared about what we are singing and playing, shouldn't it be expressed? (Hence, expressive worship.)

So what's the problem? There are several...

#1: Confidence
Remember that test for which you studied your keister off? Something amazing happened: you effortlessly finished it and said to yourself, "I aced this thing!" I remember that feeling well, because I think it only happened once for me. That feeling I had during the test? Confidence. Confidence comes by consciously doing something (badly at first) enough times until I get competent; then I keep doing it till it becomes almost unconscious or effortless. We don't want to sing or play "unconscious" of the what we singing or playing. But when we don't need to concentrate on the execution, we're freer to focus on the Object of our affection.

Fear is also a factor in confidence. If one of your players fears being in front of a crowd, that will diminish her ability to express herself.

#2: Permission.
Team members aren't waiting for a written decree from their leader that says, "Thou shalt show emotion." But they pick up our subtle withholding of permission. In what ways?

We don't model it. Is it our own fear of expressing emotions? Are we just "naturally reserved" people? Maybe we're not putting in the effort that produces confidence. No matter the reasons, if I don't do it my team won't do it. Important caveat: modeling falls short. We can model expressiveness till Jesus returns, but our band and singers will still have the exuberance of tree bark. And here is the more overt way that we withhold permission:

We don't encourage it. In my vocational ministry experience, I've only had one person take "expressiveness" too far. Rather than deal with that person directly, I avoided encouraging others to be expressive for fear of perpetuating this person's over-zealousness. Dumb move. So encourage your team to let their faces and bodies express what their heart feels.

But that may be the real issue:

#3: The Heart
Jesus confronts the Pharisees in Matthew 15:

'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain...'

There are several ways we worship "in vain". Both begin with a heart that is far from God (which is always a result of some sort of sin). One way is that we simply "go through the motions." We sing. We pray (or at least close our eyes and pretend to). We do the actions of worship with little or any emotion attached. This could be why someone on your team is non-expressive. Another, and more insidious way to worship in vain is using emotional expressiveness to mask our "far from God" heart. We could probably all point to examples of this - in my case, it's as close as the nearest mirror. You too?

The fear of hypocritical worship should not deter us from encouraging our team to be expressive. We just need to shepherd (teach/guide/exhort) our people towards a practice of ongoing confession, repentance and surrender. And that is the beginning of the practical steps towards cultivating expressive worship.

During this year of 2011, I've told my team we're looking at improving three "Big Things". One of those things is Expression. So as I continue make progress (or fail miserably), we'll continue to look at ways to cultivate expression in worship (and ways that might not).

Small Church/Big Worship - 2 or 3 More Numbers That Matter...

2011-02-07T23:30:00.002-05:00

In the last SC/BW post, we talked about numbers. Numbers matter. We can't scale NorthWillowBackHillPoint down to 100 people. These large churches have more people on staff than most churches have, well, people.

But there are a few numbers that are common denominators, and no size church gets to claim sole ownership.

The first number is ONE. One God who sent his one (and only) Son. One who died for all. One who was resurrected and ascended, who sent His Spirit to make us one as He and the Father are One.

The other number is two. Or three. Gathered in Jesus' name, that is. He promises he'll be there among us. The trick is the preceding verse - if two or three agree.

Let's start by agreeing on a few things
1. We can't out-megachurch a megachurch.
Kmart couldn't out-Walmart Walmart. It almost died trying. Target didn't try. Target found their own a niche as a trendy discount store with insanely effective marketing. So be unique. You have an amazing mix of talents and gifts in your church that have positioned you to make a unique impact for the Kingdom. We have to quit trying to accomplish another church's mission. Let's tap into the One and figure out what us 2 or 3 (or 120) should be asking for in His name.

2. "Excellence" is nauseating.
I was with a young pastor who was telling me about how "excellence" was one of his church's key values. Even the way people like him say it - "EX-sel-lenz!" (I just threw up a little in my mouth.) The whole excellence thing is important - and I know where he was coming from: smaller churches have been notorious for phoning in many aspects of corporate worship. But excellence is SOOO subjective. And it's so easy to get caught up in trying to "be excellent" and forget to "be His."

I like the word 'remarkable' instead. Remarkable only requires that we go beyond expectations in some way. Your coffee might be Kroger brand and served in white Styrofoam. Your worship center may still have orange carpet (and matching pew cushions). Your band may only have two guitars a keyboard player. But if they can come together as trio (and not try to be the Hillsong-esque rock band), and play fitting arrangements, and draw in the crowd of 75 people to experience true worship of Jesus - now that's remarkable. You might just have someone "exclaiming, 'God is really among you!'"

It won't matter that your coffee sucks.

28 Ways to Make Great Segues - An Intermission

2011-02-07T21:56:00.001-05:00

We’ve just progressed through 14 different segues that can move us between songs. We’re shifting now to look at segues between non-musical parts of the worship service. Many of the transitions we looked at in the first half of the 28 will re-emerge in the second half - only tweaked. The good news is, the 2nd 14 will go much quicker than the first. As we crest this hill for the downward ride home, let’s take a short intermission to prepare for what’s coming next.

Segues from different segments of the worship service are often trickier than song-to-song transitions. Anytime a transition involves shifting responsibility different people, you’ve got a chance for a break in the flow. Or a complete break-down. We almost need to think of our services as a relay race:

The worship leader starts with the baton as the team kicks off the opening song.
The pastor takes baton to make the announcements.
It’s handed back to the worship leader for a “worship through music” set.
Next the baton is passed to an elder for prayer and offering.
The baton is then Hail Mary’d back to the sound booth where the audio tech makes a diving catch to start the accompaniment track for the special music soloist. The baton’s now in her hand.
Solo done, the baton is flung back to the worship leader for a hymn before the message.
Another hand-off to the pastor for his sermon.
30 minutes later the worship leader takes the baton again for a closing song, only to give it back to the pastor for the benediction.

Finish line – everyone leaves for Golden Corral.

There’s at least a half a dozen places in the average worship service to drop the baton. So the remaining 14 segues will focus on the smooth hand-off to and from each segment of the service. We’ll begin in the next post with the offering.

Mangling Our Banner?

2011-02-07T10:27:00.001-05:00

So Christina Aguilera botched the words to the National Anthem last night at the Super Bowl. One news site had a poll asking if "we forgive her?" Forgive her? Sure. I botch words every week when I lead. It's the running joke on my worship team. I even flub up words to the songs I write. I'm just glad it's not in a giant stadium in front of 103,000 people. And on national television. And come on, the Star-Spangled Banner? If most of us were honest, we'd be digging deep to solo the Star-Spangled Banner and hit all the right notes and words.

The issue for me wasn't the missed words or some alleged lack of patriotism.

Have you ever heard someone sing the national anthem and just have a strong sense of patriotism well up? That didn't happen for me last night. As she was singing and after she was done, I pretty much was thinking about her voice and persona. She out-shined the song.

She's a pop star - and for her to be larger than the room she's in or the song she's singing is just part of the game. So no ill feelings for Christina.

But it makes me wonder, "How often do I or my team outshine the song that is being sung to our Banner?"

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #14

2011-02-04T14:24:00.003-05:00

Segue #14: A Talking Transition

Words are very

unnecessary

they can only do harm

~"Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode

From #13 to #14 we swing from silence as a segue to a talking transition. Honestly, after my bumbling beginnings as a young worship leader, I took the Depeche Mode lyrics to heart--better to let my guitar or a scripture carry us from one song to the next.

Some people have the opposite approach. The senior pastors can back me up here--the worst is when you've got a worship leader who wants to be a preacher. He's exegeting Isaiah 6 between a Chris Tomlin tune and a Hillsong chorus while the bass player's nodding off from 10 minutes of inactivity. Can I confess something? I tended to think my golden silence was some sort of holy high road that was much preferable to the over-talker. While it might've been more welcome than a three-point sermon following the opening song, it was just an avoidance of the preparation it takes to make a great verbal segues.

And that's the key to great verbal segues: Preparation.

Think it through. Prayer it through. Let it simmer.

Read the lyrics of the song you're leaving. Ask, "Where have we just been?"

Read the lyrics of the song you're moving to. Ask, "What is the moment we're moving towards?"

Direction
As you craft your verbal segue, pray for clarity of direction. We've got a Point A and a Point B. What should I say to get us there? (Remember the straight-line principle)

Think of your verbal segue as a mini-journey. Every journey has a beginning, middle and end. The beginning needs to move us out of the first song. The end moves us into the second song. The middle is the meat. The meat can tie the two songs together, but it doesn't have to. It can prepare us for the "worship moment" contained in the next song.

Let's say we're going from Tomlin's "Our God" to the "Revelation Song" this Sunday. I might plan to say something like this as Our God ends...

"Our God is greater, amen? No matter what we can imagine or think about God, He's always greater. Whatever we think about His love and grace, his love and grace is always greater than we can imagine. God is always greater. And even when we see His glory with our own eyes, we will never exhaust the praises and honor that can be given to him. John describes in Revelation 4 that those gathered around the throne never stop worshiping Him day and night. Let's worship Him and His greatness with the words that are being sung even now around His throne."

A so-so segue. Given a little more thought, this verbal segue could be improved. But it's a start. As you're preparing and thinking through your transition, consider a few things:

Be Brief.
Follow Rusty's advice. At least the part about brevity: "Don't use 7 words when 4 will do."

Brevity for brevity's sake isn't the point. The point is to be succinct. Merriam-Webster defines succinct, well, succinctly: "marked by compact precise expression without wasted words." Most of us don't have the gift of being succinct on the fly. It takes a little preparation.

Besides the Five Bs (Be brief, baby, be brief.) here are some other Be's:

Be Specific.
"God is great and we should praise him forever" is a true and good statement. But a few specifics gives the congregation something of substance to connect with. Revelation 4, even paraphrased as it was, gave us an event to relate to - the past, present and future worship around the throne of God.

Be Memorable.
And this goes against the Ocean's 11 advice, but we're trying to facilitate worship, not outwit a mark. If we're going to say something, let's say something worth remembering. People aren't going to remember your whole segue. But try to make some part of the the main point, or the meat, easy to remember. Memorable is succinctness coupled with repetition. In the example above:
1st sentence - "greater"
2nd sentence - "...He's always greater."
3rd sentence - "...His love and grace is always greater..."
4th sentence - "God is always greater."

The fourth sentence is, hopefully, the memorable takeaway. As people's voices are pouring out the high praise of Revelation Song, their hearts are bursting with the thought "God is even greater than this!"

Be Accurate.
In the last segue post, I was talking about the Selah in Psalm 77. I attributed the Psalm to David. It wasn't a Psalm of David - Asaph wrote it. (btw-I've fixed it, thank goodness for the grace of the edit button) Authorship didn't change the point I made. But the inaccuracy of a small point can discredited the veracity of the main point.

If I make an inaccurate statement in worship, it has two ill-effects. 1) Those who catch the mistake are immediately taken out of the flow of worship because their BS-alarm just went off. And 2) those who don't catch it might believe it and repeat it, especially if I've done a good job of saying something memorable. So take a minute to check your facts and references.

Be Careful.
Avoid controversial issues. I'm not talking about what people in the world or liberal churches would call controversial: the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the resurrection, etc. We can be bold about what we believe. But I'm talking about the gray-area stuff. The stuff that no matter which side you fall on, it probably won't keep you out of heaven. A worship service segue is probably not the time to bring up the role of women in the church or spark a Calvinism-Arminianism debate.

Be Submissive.
If you're new or haven't yet gained the confidence of your senior pastor, worship pastor, or elder you're serving under, submit your segues in writing to him or her before Sunday. He may not ask you to do this, but it can be good to create a trust and solicit advice for improvement. At some point, if he's not a control freak, he'll probably say, "I trust you" and give you free reign in this area.

Be Confident
A lot of us musicians are great behind the guitar or piano. But the microphone becomes a scary place when you take away our music. Confidence comes from preparation--not just for what you're going to say, but how you're going to say it. So practice it just like you would a song.

Be Conversational
The danger of writing something out is that it could sound too formal. Remember, you're talking to friends. This is especially important if you're telling a personal story. If it sounds like something you wrote out as an assignment for a class, it won't ring authentic. So as you prepare and practice, work at keeping it natural and "you."

Be...Spontaneous?!
I know, that goes against everything I just laid out. But the more we plan and practice our segues, the easier it will be to go off the cuff when we feel the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

So is there a rule for how long and how often when it comes to segues? It's really up to you and what you think connects with your church. I personally wouldn't plan more than one verbal segue per service. In many services, I don't have any spoken transitions between songs. I still have the tendency to err on the side of keeping my mouth shut more often than not. At least during the worship service. If I could learn that in other areas, my life might be a lot simpler.

Ministry, Intimacy and a Disrobed Disco

2011-02-04T10:44:00.001-05:00

I don’t like to admit this, but when the red letters go on for a couple pages in the Gospels, my mind tends to wander. I know--they’re the very words of Jesus. I’m a bad Christian, I get that. My right brain dominance deals better with the stories and quick pace of Mark versus the conversations and teachings contained in John. Fortunately today I found one of my better angels at the helm while reading John 5. The latter half of the chapter finds Jesus dressing down the “Jews” – most likely meaning the Pharisees and their followers. They had been giving him crap for healing on the Sabbath. At one point in the rebuke he said this to them:

³⁹ You studythe Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

You refuse to come to me to have life.

You refuse to come to me to have life.

Usually I skim over those hammerings that Jesus gives the Pharisees – I mean, sure I have my moments, but those guys were head-of-the-class hypocrites. But verse 40 cut me. I kept re-reading and knew that was standing among those Pharisees being indicted.

For the Pharisees it was studying the scripture and keeping the law. For me, it’s doing ministry. I wrap myself in the robe of pastor and musician instead of the arms of Jesus.

I do ministry instead of intimacy.

It’s not even 10AM and I go from that reading that scripture to Mark Batterson’s new book, Soul Print.* In Scene IV “Alter Ego” Mark’s writing about David’s loin cloth disco. Aside from the story of Michal’s disgust and sarcasm, he points out a subplot in this scene that we often miss:

Royal robes double as his status symbol...David doesn’t find his identity or security in his royalty. David finds his true identity and true security as a worshiper of God Almighty.

Disrobing symbolizes his naked dependence on God.

(Soul Print, by Mark Batterson Kindle Location 1261-70)

I think Jesus is trying to tell me something.

* Not an affiliate link - just making it easy to buy a great book.

Great Song/Free Praise Chart

2011-01-13T13:35:00.002-05:00

If you haven't heard People's Church or Natalie Grant's "Your Great Name," you need to. Praise charts is offering the leadsheet/piano/vocal and chord chart for FREE. It'll end soon, so grab it now! UPDATE: it has ended...but check out this song - it's incredible. Also, subscribe to PraiseCharts email - it's worth another piece of inbox mail for the articles/videos and occasional free chart.

Small Church/Big Worship - Numbers Matter...

2011-01-05T07:05:00.001-05:00

No one walks into a church of 100 and expects Hillsong United. But there is a slight disappointment when “Mighty to Save” isn’t that, well, mighty.

Numbers matter. I know I’m not supposed to say that. But when it comes to corporate worship, they do. The number of singers. The number of instruments. The number of hours put into planning and preparing the worship gathering. The number of dollars spent on the worship space – lighting, sound, décor. And the number of people that fill that space – there’s a difference between a group of 60 and 150. Between 225 and 700. Between a 1000 and 20,000.

But it’s more than quantifiable. There’s also a qualitative difference. At the extreme, think Broadway versus a community theater--both performing the same musical.

I was hired to play guitar in the pit orchestra for a local theater’s summer production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Turns out, the director had some connections – he scored a Dreamcoat actually worn by Donny Osmond during several of his 2000 performances in the Toronto production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. We had the same coat. We had the same script. We had the same music. We even had the wireless mics, the make-up, the lighting, the union musicians (except me…long, boring story), the velvet curtains and the glowing marquee. But Broadway (or the Canadian equivalent) still did it better. Broadway will always do it better. Better sets. Better actors. Better direction. Better lighting. Better sound. Better orchestra. Better wardrobe. All of it. Hands-down better.

However.

Only an idiot would sit in the Renaissance Theater in Mansfield, Ohio and say, “Donny Osmond was a way better Joseph.”

We don’t judge a group of volunteer actors and underpaid community theater staff by the same criteria as a Broadway production. But in Western Christianity, we have people holding churches of 50 and 150 up to the standards of a church of 500, 2000, and even 20,000. Wait, let me make a correction: we are the people holding churches to those unrealistic standards. We don’t mean to. It’s just human nature to compare apples to apples – church to church. But the comparison is more like apples to orchards.

And that comparison is strangling the worship in smaller churches.

Smaller church worship ministries can’t be scale models of larger ministries. The lower attendance isn’t just a difference in quantity--there’s a completely different quality to a small church. And by quality, I don’t mean Kmart versus Macy’s. If we look at Merriam-Webster’s definitions, the Kmart versus Macy’s analogy is the 2nd entry for quality: “degree of excellence; superiority in kind.”

But the first definition of quality is: “peculiar and essential character; nature; an inherent feature.”

The smaller church has a peculiar and essential character that sets it apart from a larger church. It’s inherently different. And that’s neither bad nor good. It just is. And it just needs to be understood.

And that’s what this Small Church/Big Worship series* is about. If you’re part of a smaller church--paid or volunteer, pastor or lay-person, worship leader or team member, I want to help free you from trying to be what you can’t be (right now) and embrace who and what you are (right now). We’ll look traps and diversions that smaller churches fall prey to. We’ll explore some practical ways you can develop and thrive with what you already have, and find ways to grow more. And ultimately, I want to help you leverage your “peculiar and essential quality” to create remarkable times of worship that larger churches could only have in their Technicolor dreams.

*this series will be ongoing - no promises on how often or how much. I have a few thoughts written down, but it will largely take shape as I write and think - and get feedback from you. Please feel free to comment and email your thoughts and challenges.

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #13

2011-01-01T10:21:00.001-05:00

Segue #13 - Selah

Selah is one of those words that scholars guess at, kinda like how we guess at what's going on with Donald Trump's hair. I like how the Amplified Bible describes it: pause, and think of that. Selah that is, not the Don's bangs.

Our cultural ADD doesn't do "pause and ponder" well. We pause, but it's usually to turn our attention to something else. Stopping and being quiet--that's tough. But that could be one of the most needed practices in our church. And just like prayer and scripture, the purposeful pause of Selah can be both a segue and it's own element of worship.

One of my favorite Selahs in the Book of Psalms is in chapter 77. Asaph's is in a bad way. God does not seem to be there. Verse after verse he focuses on his present anguish and God's inactivity. Then we have our first Selah.* He's is now digging through his memories of the good days when God was there and songs poured from his heart. This only makes the present pit worse. It takes Asaph to where his heart has rarely gone: Has God forgotten me? (it's even more raw in the Message).

And now we have my favorite Selah. After sinking deep inside himself, Asaph pauses and unfolds himself outward. He begins to think about God, His mighty works, His awesome wonder. At the apex of Asaph's gut-wrenching song he declares:

Your ways, O God, are holy.
What god is so great as our God

Asaph's heart had turned inward on itself. God couldn't be found there. But he turned and acknowledge through the pain that not only is God holy, but His ways are holy. Asaph doesn't understand it. His pain isn't gone. His circumstances haven't changed, but his focus has.

And that might be the power of a Selah -- a pause to allow us to wrestle with our circumstances, our pain, our shame, our sin and idolatry, and see that God is there. Not inside our self-focused heart. But outside. Outside waiting to come in and be our focus, our center. And it's out of a Selah like that we sing not the I, the me and the we songs, but a song that proclaims

Your ways, O God, are holy.
What god is so great as our God

*note: you won't see the Selah markings in the BibleGateway link to NIV - if you want to see them, click on the ESV translation

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #12, pt.2

2010-12-31T16:21:00.000-05:00

Segue #12 - Scripture, part 2

We talked in part 1 about why scripture is a "segue on steroids." Now let's look at how we can use this muscle to carry us between between songs.

A Connector of Themes
This Sunday we're singing Crown Him With Many Crowns and then moving into Hillsong's Hosanna. Hosanna's lyrics are heavily drawn from Psalm 24. As the last chord of Crown Him... is ringing out, the leader will read verses 24:7-10, which connects to the King theme in Crown Him.... As the leader concludes with...

Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory.

the vocalists will begin singing the opening lines of Hosanna: "I see the King of Glory..."

This scripture connects the different--but related--themes between these two songs. It also helps transition us from the big ending of a big anthem to the more subdued beginning of Hosanna. And here's a bonus: we're revisiting the Psalm 24 during the instrumental of Hosanna by using verses 3-6, which is a great set up for the bridge.

Stories
Often we look for verses from Psalms or an epistle, but don't forget about narrative passages of scripture. Once I wanted use John 11:25-26 (where Jesus tells Martha that he is "resurrection and the life") to segue into a song focused on new life. Some wild hair struck and I decided to use the whole passage, starting at verse 17 and concluding with Martha's confession of belief and faith in Jesus as the Messiah. I honestly don't remember what specific songs I was bridging that Sunday, but the power of reading Jesus' (and Martha's) words in context of the story is something I won't forget. As I read Christ's words, "I am the resurrection..." a flood of emotion hit me. I could barely finish. Not only did the story help deepen the experience of verses 25-26, but that scripture then stayed with us as we sang about new life in Christ.

Collage

Don't limit yourself to one passage. Maybe you're singing Redman's Blessed Be the Name and moving to Baloche's Your Name. Try a collage of scriptures that focus on the Name of God. This page contains an example you can download and use (scroll a bit to find it). I have available a few other scripture collages you can swipe: God's "Greatness", "Who is Like You" and the "Love of God."

Multiple Voices
When using longer passages or multiple scriptures (like the collages), consider using more than one reader. Multiple readers can add energy and variety. This could be a whole article in itself, but I'll move on with one admonishment: encourage your readers to use inflection and emotion--and at a pace that doesn't drag.

Great Tool
The links on the scripture references above took you to BibleGateway.com. Outside of personal quiet time, I use this site more than I use a hard copy Bible. Within a couple clicks you can see scores of translations for the passage you're looking up. Can't remember the reference? Just type in the phrase or word you're looking for. The same keyword search also allowed me to easily assemble those scripture collages. As you're planning these segues, having a tool like this gold.

Underscoring
Should we put music under these scripture readings? When it's a short scripture connecting two songs with disparate styles or keys, don't use music. Let the reading do the heavy lifting of the segue. Also, the non-musical moment will cleanse our sonic palette for the next song.

Almost always use a musical bed or underscore during longer scripture. You can allow the reader to fly solo for a few moments after the previous song ends, but ease in some guitar or piano noodling that can easily take us to the intro of the next song.

We'll talk a little more about using scripture as a segue when we look at connecting non-musical elements of the service.

LIDs

2010-11-03T22:01:00.001-04:00

Every new adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem. ~Eric Hoffer

I had the privilege this Sunday to introduce a new worship leader to our congregation. We didn't hire him. Nor did he transfer from another church. He's been here for a while--I just dusted him off and gave him a chance. He's a much better singer than I am. And with his confident yet easy-going stage-presence, I have no doubt that for many in our church he will become a their favorite worship leader.

And I'm stoked about that.

A few years ago it's was easy for me to talk about leadership development. But when faced with it, I found reasons (read: excuses) not to move people beyond a supporting role. I had LIDs. Leadership Insecurity Disorder.* And it does exactly what it spells.

I first heard a worship pastors Nathan LaGrange & Erik Cooper from Lakeview Church (Indianapolis) use the term at a Seminar4Worship at in 2008.

After a self-diagnosis of LIDs (which the Holy Spirit likely had something to do with), I was determined develop leaders. Before I made much headway, the financial axe fell and my full-time position had to be eliminated for the church to survive. The worship ministry there hasn't digressed to where it was when I first started. But in a lot of ways, it's close.

While I raised the bar there, I didn't raise a sustainable future. It was my job to grow leaders. Instead I grew my stock--I built a solid musician team, taught new songs, led good worship gatherings. No one wanted to cut me. They liked me--I did a decent job and worked downright cheap. Just not cheap enough for the early days of a recession. God taught me a tough lesson about the real work of the worship pastor.

Christ-centered leadership is about pouring out and giving up. It's good and right to pour my life into developing others. But eventually I need to give up something so they can take the next step.

Step away from my mic so she can lead a verse.

Watch from sound booth as he leads a rehearsal.

Let them choose the music.

I have to give up leadership more often than just when I go on vacation.

Here's the ugly side of LIDs: The more infected I am with it, the more I relish in their failure. Not in a "laughing fiendishly while rubbing my hands together" kind of way. More understated: "They need me. Now, they know that they need me." Sick, isn't it? But true.

I came across the Eric Hoffer quote around the time I was told by my senior pastor in my current ministry that the services went much better when I wasn't the upfront worship leader. That's not a good thing to hear when your job is to lead worship. Talk about a "crisis in self-esteem." But my pastor was right. God had me in a place where, for a number of reasons, I couldn't hold together the band with my guitar and lead the congregation at the same time. What worked in my last church wasn't working here. So couple that revelation with being the sole worship pastor in a multi-campus church and I needed to tear off my LID quick.

I still lead a couple times a month at one campus, but now there are people at the other campus who probably wonder if all I do is play guitar and occasionally nod my head to stop the band. But I'm in a place where the pouring out and giving up gets me excited.

Did I tell you I just introduced a new worship leader at my church on Sunday?

And I'm stoked about that.

worship planning tip #17

2010-11-03T00:01:00.001-04:00

worship planning tip #17

Unless you have the same band and vocals week after week, always plan your songs with an eye on the musician* schedule. Look at the range the vocalists who may be taking the lead. Look at the strength of your scheduled band and determine if the song you're planning can be played in it's 'default' arrangement. It might need to be simplified or even saved for another week.

A couple months ago I had to yank an instrumental piece out of our order. During rehearsal the band was just not getting it. After too much rehearsal time wasted, I finally had to admit defeat and said, "let's move on." It was my fault, not the team's. Had I been realistic about the strength of the players that week, I would have never pushed for it. I discouraged a few by setting them up to fail.

It's not a bad thing to chuck someone in the deep end from time to time. But when they start at the bottom of the pool wearing a parka and carrying a mini-fridge, the learning potential is lost to frustration.

btw - when I refer to "musicians", I mean instrumentalists and vocalists. It's scary how many vocalists don't consider themselves musicians. Now, when it comes to including drummers in the musician category, that's a different story. (just a joke, my Vic Furth wielding friends)

Small Church/Big Worship - 10 Ways The Senior Pastor Can Make This Sunday Remarkable

2010-11-02T00:18:00.004-04:00

I believe the senior pastor of any church is the CLW: Chief Lead Worshiper. He sets the tone for corporate worship. For the solo pastor of a smaller church, he may be actually leading the worship, or at least doing most of the behind-the-scenes work for Sunday.

Here are ten ideas to reshape your worship experience.

1. Plan your segues.
Let's face it, smaller churches are known for poorly planned, start-and-stop, no-flow services. Small churches can produce a "wow-factor" for guests (and regular attendees) by simply creating intentional transitions from one service element to the next. (see blog series for more on segues)

2. Create a musical bed for scripture and prayer.
Underscore any scripture reading or longer prayer with light guitar or piano, or even soft recorded music. If using a recorded song, instruct the sound tech to avoid the abrupt on/off. Those little plastic "slider-thingys" are called "faders" for a reason.

3. Addition by Subtraction, ONE: Cut the number of worship songs in half.
Inform the team (yes, even the pianist) that since they only have three songs versus six, you're "strongly encouraging" them to memorize the words and music. They may balk, but throw it out as a challenge. If they rise to it, they will find the worship experience to be much deeper because of their ability to sing and play from the heart. And since the team won't have their heads buried in their stands, they will draw in your congregation more than usual. [If they really won't buy it, put a sanctified wager on who looks at their notes more: you during your message or the team during their songs.]

4. Addition by Subtraction, TWO: Get rid of the musical clutter.
Ask the music director/worship leader to encourage the team to play only half of what they normally would during the verses of each song. Less strumming on the guitar, less beats on the drums, fewer fingers on the piano, fewer voices on the mics (the others can sing, just "off mic"), and sing only the melody, no parts. Heck, you might even want to take a few instruments completely out of the mix. Here's why. First fact: verses usually contain more words than the chorus or bridge. Second fact: most worship teams overplay. Couple those facts and you get musical clutter competing with worship.

5. Addition by Subtraction THREE: Cut your announcement time by 75% (or even 100%).
Make announcements that only pertain to 60% or more of the church. While you're at it, script them. That doesn't mean read it word for word; it's just a clearer path to succinctness. And...(file this in "I hate to say it")...you're probably not as good on the fly as you think you are. I know I'm not.

6. Tie each remaining announcement to the vision or mission of your church.
"We're trying to reach the five-square mile neighborhood that surrounds our church building. A significant number of those people drive past our church everyday. What kind of impression do we give them when our paint is peeling, our gutters are sagging and weeds are overtaking the landscape. We're having a massive work day this next Saturday...."

7. Visually connect with emotions versus intellect.
When using PowerPoint for announcements and the message, use pictures to emotionally reinforce the point instead of a written summary of what you just said. People remember pictures and emotions more than bullet points.

8. Stop letting your sound guy play the PromiseKeepers '99 CD before the service.
Create a mix CD of uptempo, fresh songs that will set a great tone as people walk in. Bonus: if possible, use your CD creation software to crossfade the songs. This will eliminate "dead air". You can also create a cross-fading playlist on iTunes and run it straight from your projection computer.

9. Choose one element that occurs each week and scrap it.
Or, at the very least, change it significantly. (Communicate really, really well to those it might affect...)

10. Make prayer during your corporate worship both corporate and worship.
Change your prayer time from being request-driven (Betty's cousin's former classmate is having cataract surgery) to being worship-driven (we seek His face and give Him glory and honor before asking for anything...hint: pray scriptures). And from being pastor-led to pastor-prompted. For example, when praying for those who are sick, invite people to say aloud the first name the person. Then after a moment, pray for those names as group. (Again, a great place to pray scripture.) God doesn't need the details...you know, as an omniscient Being and all that. This works for praying for lost people, people who need jobs, and--be bold on this one--corporate sin to be confessed.

Worship leaders and larger churches, you can try some of this stuff, too. But I want to encourage the senior pastors of smaller churches that transforming their worship services is in their grasp. Small, continuous efforts over time will create a new culture of corporate worship in your church.

Let me know how it goes. And if you have other ideas, post a reply.

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #12, pt.1

2010-10-27T00:01:00.028-04:00

Segue #12 - Scripture

Transitioning from one song to another with scripture is like segue on steroids. (Without the 'roid rage.) Here are several reasons:

ONE - It's a Compass
Using scripture, especially amongst man-written songs, is a compass. Are the songs we choose based in the Bible? We sure try. Are many of them "inspired"? Yes, but "little-i" inspired, not INSPIRED. As in God-breathed, inerrant Word of God, needle-pointing True North.

As we flow from one song to another, a segue through scripture re-centers our heart and re-orients our minds.

TWO - It's Common Ground
As I lead my congregation from the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy into the Revelation Song via a reading from Revelation 5, I'm creating common ground for a diverse crowd. For instance, the older generation in my church have a long history with Holy, Holy, Holy. The younger generations, not nearly as much, if at all. Likewise, the Revelation Song may move many of the us Xers, Millennials, and--thanks to Phillips, Craig and Dean--the Boomers; but our Builders may not connect as well.

So to bring in chapter 5 of John's Revelation, it reflects where we've been (Holy, Holy, Holy) and where we're going (Revelation Song), and is neither "old" or "new." It is ancient and future. The living and active Word becomes a common ground for the generations.

THREE - It Provides a Unique Context
We don't know what God might be doing in people as they encounter a scripture in a different context. Maybe someone slogged through Job a few years ago during a painful "One Year Through the Bible" attempt. Imagine him now seeing chapter 9 as your team moves out of "Indescribable" into another song describing His greatness. His ears are still ringing with "you place the stars in the sky and you call them by name..." and then he encounters:

⁴ His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
       Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
⁵ He moves mountains without their knowing it
       and overturns them in his anger.
⁶ He shakes the earth from its place
       and makes its pillars tremble.
⁷ He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
       he seals off the light of the stars.
⁸ He alone stretches out the heavens
       and treads on the waves of the sea.
⁹ He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion,
       the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
¹⁰ He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
       miracles that cannot be counted.

FOUR - It's a Catalyst
Our well-meant words of encouragement and cajoling from the stage hold nothing compared to THE WORD.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Scripture, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, can stir and convict, rip and tear, melt and move. It puts the responsibility for changing hearts squarely back into the lap of Jesus Christ, where it belongs. It's not our job. That, friends, is very good news.

We'll put a comma here and continue this segue in part two where we'll talk about some practical application. But before I sign off, I gotta get something off my chest: the alliteration with compass, common ground, etc....yeah, well, to all my Boomer friends who like that sort of thing - glad I could give it to you. To my GenX cohorts and younger Millennial brothers and sisters, I apologize. I was three words in when I realized they all started with a hard C and I just couldn't resist...

Small Church/Big Worship, an Introduction

2010-10-26T00:01:00.002-04:00

Small churches. They're everywhere. Check out this excerpt from a great post I just read:

Imagine you are looking down a very, very long street, and all the churches of U.S. are lined up along the left side of the street from smallest to largest. In behind each church are all their Sunday morning attenders.

If you counted the grand total of everyone standing behind each church and then divided this number by the total number of churches that you see on this very long street, you would come up with a “mean” or “average” size of 184. “Mean” is usually what we mean of when we think of “average”. But this number of 184 is a very misleading number.

Lets say you start walking down the street, passing the churches with 5 people on a Sunday morning, 10 people, 15 people, 20 people. You continue walking until you have passed half of all the churches in America. Half of the churches in the U.S. are now behind you, half are still in front. The “average” church that you are standing in front of is called the “median” church. You look to see how many people are lined up behind it, and you see 75 people. That is right, half the churches in the United States have less than 75 people. (Michael Bell, Guest Blogger, Internet Monk, July 13, 2009)

Bell continues to describe walking past these churches: So, you continue walking, past the churches of 80, 90, 100, 110. You walk until you have passed 90% of all the churches. You look to your left and you see 350 people lined up behind this church.

My first post-college experience playing guitar was at on a church worship team was at Church of the Open Door in the Minneapolis area. I think at the time they were running between 5000 and 6000 each weekend. I also led worship for the youth. That youth ministry alone was bigger than 75% of all churches in North America.

As much as it pained me to leave Open Door (a place of significant spiritual changes, and one really cute girl), I moved from there and entered vocational ministry in Ohio. It was at a church averaging 65 - 75 people a Sunday. I was the part-time youth and worship guy. Those poor people. I tried to make it "Church of the Mini Door" every week with just my acoustic guitar and an overhead projector. But they had tremendous grace for me. Thank you, Jesus.

It took me a long time to accept that my experience at Open Door couldn't be duplicated. No matter how much I wanted it. Prayed for it. Fought for it. It wasn't going to happen. Partway through my second ministry experience (again, in the quintessential small church dual-role pastor of youth and worship) I learned a phrase: "current reality."

Current Reality: who I have to work with is who I have to work with; the amount of money in my budget is the amount of money in my budget; the church facility is the church facility. I can whine. Curse the unfairness. Pontificate on the injustices. Or I could get busy and start creating a desired future out of the building blocks of the present that are within my reach.

Up until the last 18 months, the majority of my ministry has been spent in churches under 150 people. Through this God has given me a heart for small churches and the unique challenges they face. Over the next weeks and months I'll be adding to this "Small Church/Big Worship" theme. Please feel free to share about your "current reality" and past experiences in smaller ministries - the good and bad - I'd love to have constant input as I write these posts.

Unless Chris Tomlin's Your Worship Leader...

2010-10-25T00:15:00.001-04:00

...you probably need to lower the key on Chris Tomlin's songs.

You may have one singer who can nail those notes. But most of your team can't. And your congregation REALLY can't.

So you go to Song Select and print out a more congregationally-friendly key. Voila, done! Right?

It's all good till your electric guitarist shows up playing the opening riff of "Our God" in B while the rest of the band is in G.

Go ahead. Be mad at him. Righteous indignation. You gave him the right chart in the right key.

It's just that he's one of those "ear" people who can't read a lick and wouldn't know a key signature from a Florida Key. Would we all like him to know the key by looking at the chart? Yes. Are we setting him up for failure when we hand him a chart in one key and CD in another? YES, and then some. There goes our indignation.

Here's how to solve it: pitch-shift your mp3s.

Pitch what where?

The first time I did this, I used my turn-of-the-century Cakewalk home recording software, imported the mp3 that I wanted to transpose, and then monkeyed with the pitch shift effect till I got it right. After several of times through the process I had it down, but it was still a bit of a pain. Then one day I saw I stumbled upon www.transposr.com. (yes, it's intentionally misspelled - not just he product of a late night blog post).

All you need to do is simply upload your mp3, set the original key and the desired key and, BAM! within a few minutes you're downloading a baritone Tomlin.

Transposr.com is one of my "picks" on at worshipteamcoach.com. Not only does it do the work, but get this - it's FREE. You don't even have to register. So it's easy and free and here's what you get for it:

1. Your "ear" players will love you for giving them the right key. They like learning new songs, but learning the new song in the wrong key - not so much.

2. Your vocalists can 'harmonize' in the right key. That's always a good thing.

3. You can play along with recording during rehearsals and practices.

4. You can make Vicky Beeching sound like Darth Vader.

Last thing - if you're a volunteer or part-time leader with limited time, ask one of your "ear" players to do the work transposing the mp3s at Transposr.com. (Just be sure to write out the original and transposed keys for 'em.) It will give him or her ownership of the ministry and free up your time (and they might learn a little about keys).

So try it out. Now. Before the bean counters over at Planning Center override the marketing geniuses and start charging us.

Brandon Moore...

2010-10-24T23:39:00.000-04:00

You don't know Brandon. Or chances are that you don't, unless you're from northern Morrow County, OH. But he's someone to get to know.

Brandon goes to my church. He does video editing with me and helps out just about any other way he can. And I love it when he tells me his "cop stories."

His actions saved the lives of a mother, father and son who were being shot at by a neighbor. Already wounded, Brandon was able to shoot the man from such a distance that the Morrow County Sheriff, in our church this morning, said had to be aimed by God. His wife told me on Friday that the surgeons were amazed that the bullets went where they did, sparing his life.

Brandon led his own worship service while he laid there, bleeding from gunshot wounds. After taking out the guy with the assault rifle, he used his belt as a tourniquet and laid back and sang Great is Thy Faithfulness. He told my senior pastor that a peace just came over him.

Wow...

worship planning tip #8: Charts - Overdo it

2010-10-23T00:37:00.380-04:00

Charts - this is one of those places where the worship leader/pastor/director needs to overdo it. And by "overdo it" -- be all things to to all musicians, if at all possible.

My OCD (obsessive chart development) stems back to a prolonged and silent suffering under a yet-to-be-convicted chart-abuser. Back when I was a volunteer worship guitarist, the worship pastor used those big hairy piano arrangements from Integrity Music or some other source. He'd give that eight page monster to the pianists, lyric sheets to the vocalists, and a chord chart/sheet (words and chords only) to the rest of the band. At best, these charts were copied from the back of the Integrity songbook where the piano arrangement came from. But more often they pulled off the internet. You know - those courier font chord sheets that look and sound like they've been transcribed by a 14-year old. If it was the same in key, that's all that mattered.

After awhile, I talked my worship leader into giving me the piano charts. I'd use a 3-ring binder and lots of scotch tape to render some sort of flippable song book. Occasionally I'd cut and paste full arrangements down to melody and chords, but that got a little too obsessive, even for me. (Besides, the bass player made fun of me...)

Chord charts bite. There are no rhythms written, no melody notated, no sense of arrangement. I used to hate them, but I've made some peace with these word-processed pieces of...music.

I've come to realize I'm a visual learner and the lead sheet (notated melody on the treble clef and chords) gives me more visual cues. Most of my musician friends learn best audibly (which--I can tell you from experience--is WAY more advantageous than visual learning when it comes to music). They connect and remember rhythmic changes by ear. I can hear those changes, but they don't stay with me well. But if I SEE them on paper, I'm 3/4 the way to memorizing it. That's why I liked the lead sheet.

So fast-forward a few years later. I became a worship pastor in a smaller church. Because I liked lead sheets, that's what I used. That's what my band used. That's what my vocalists used. That's all we used. Because I liked them.

When I moved on to my next church, I had softened a little. I realized my vocalists, especially those who didn't read notes, preferred lyric sheets. And many of my guitarists and bassists got lost in all the standard musical notation. And I even found myself preferring a simple lyric or chord sheet for songs I knew well.

So now each time I introduce a new song, I try my best to create a collection of charts: leadsheet (melody, chords, lyric), chordsheet (chords, lyric) and lyric sheet. And if a song is in a lousy key for guitar, I create a "guitar capo chart" (transposed to reflect "capo chords").

Sample of song folder

A lot of files? Yep. To keep it straight, I create a folder for each song. (Click on pic to enlarge it.) Each folder also contains mp3s (both original and pitch-shifted) and any other files that pertain to the song.

Have you noticed this folder doesn't contain those big hairy piano charts? Most of my other song folders don't either. This is one place I've decided not bend (with one exception). Here are my two big beefs with full piano-accompaniment arrangements for worship songs:

1. The ten fingers of the pianist can cover the bass line, all the chords and rhythm and even emulate a quasi-guitar riff. That's good if you don't have a band. But if you do, the keyboard player is stepping all over the rest of the team.

2. The piano charts aren't easily modified. They're written to play a specific arrangement. While a lot of the lead sheets I used are geared towards a specific arrangement, their simplicity and brevity makes changing easier.

I mentioned an exception. When a song is piano-driven, or the particular arrangement is piano-rich, I'll use a fully arranged piano chart. It's easier to give my note-reading piano players a written chart versus asking them to learn it by ear.

By now, if you're a part-time, volunteer or an otherwise overworked worship leader, you're thinking, this is way too much work. You might be right. Sometimes I feel the same way. But here's how I stay motivated:
1. I remember that I serve the team. My work on the charts can save time for my team members.
2. I like doing it. Don't overlook this. You may hate putting together charts. Find someone on your team or in your church that does like it.
3. I've got a few systems in place. In follow-up article I'll go into the nuts and bolts of collecting, developing and creating charts.

When it comes to charts, overdo it as best as you can. Your team will appreciate it.

Walmart Worship, II

2010-09-01T23:09:00.003-04:00

After my search for salt, I put the bags in my cart and begin to make the long trek back to the grocery side (where, of course, I parked). Out of the corner of my eye, I saw bundles of firewood on the shelf. Walmart is now selling firewood. With my inner cynic already jacked up from wandering the behemoth, I wanted someone with me so I could deliver cultural commentary on this. I couldn't bring myself to be one of those people that just start making random observations to strangers in public. (No. I blog instead.)

Within a few seconds of passing the seasonal outdoor stuff, I realized, gosh, that's pretty smart. People come in for bug spray, tiki-torches, and citronella and [idea] "hey, let's roast marshmallows tonight!" Or for people getting off I-70 heading for a camping trip at Mohican State Park (I like it there). While getting some last minute supplies, the wife says, "Honey, grab some firewood; it'll save us a stop along the way." This goes against the grain of her Grizzly Adams husband. But he's already succumbed to camping in a pop-up trailer, so why not buy firewood at Walmart?

What's a small item that we can "stock" as a worship team to serve our congregation? Something they might not even realize they want. I'm not talking about buffet-styled, consumer-driven church and worship. But something that makes someone's morning a little better.

How about making it a practice to meet guests after the service? It shouldn't mean more that someone who sings or plays on stage talks them. But it does.
Maybe take an extra few minutes of the service to actually teach a new song, versus expecting the congregation to keep up with words and melody they're hearing for the first time.
What if we created a moment for people to just stop? No singing, no announcements, no message, no pastor praying. Just press pause. Take in. Let out. And open up for what's next.
What if we didn't do "special music" every week? So when we did do it, we can make it great. And it would be special.

Think about it. What's the "firewood at Walmart" that you could provide?

[and that last question wasn't so much rhetorical. I'd love to have you post your responses]

Walmart Worship, I

2010-09-01T22:32:00.001-04:00

I needed softner salt. My town's water can turn a black t-shirt charcoal gray in a single wash. A musician needs to protect his black t-shirts.

My wife needed some spices for something she was making. Two diverse items + one trip = Walmart.

Crud.

After getting the spices, I made my journey across the retail labyrinth to where I thought the salt should be. First mistake: thinking. I shoulda' asked.

After something that resembled the children of Israel wandering in the desert, I finally found a human with a navy blue shirt and asked him to point me to Sinai, er, softener salt.

The Garden Center. The Garden Center...of course! Wow, I'm dumb. I actually can see my lawn and garden from the basement window next to my water softener, so I can't believe I missed this one.

But seriously, it makes perfect sense for Walmart to stock their salt in the Garden Center. There's plenty of room for Walmart to maneuver the heavy pallets in and out with fork lifts and pallet jacks. The heavy duty shelving made for mulch and fertilizer are also an ideal place for Walmart to put the salt. It all makes sense. For Walmart.

How much do worship teams do for the worship team?

Let's stick with these songs because we know them.
Let's do a bunch of new songs because we're bored.
Let's keep pushing the monitors hotter and hotter because we all need a bit "more me".
Let's keep these music stands high and center so we can see the music. We just don't have time to learn the song.

More brutal yet...how much do I, as the leader, do for me?

This key is far more comfortable for me.
Let's pursue excellence. (Read: Don't make me look bad)
We need to do this song, it really moves me.
Let's just let her sing, because telling her the truth would make her (actually, me) uncomfortable.

The worship team serves the congregation. The leader serves the team. Anything else and we're putting softener salt in the Garden Center.

emotional energy (i.e. actually caring)

2010-08-31T08:32:00.004-04:00

I had two restaurant experiences lately.

One was at a pizza chain with my wife and kids. My kids are, well, kids. Our server was, well, not there. I waited tables in college, and even had a short stint in my 30s, so I have a tremendous amount of sympathy, empathy, and forbearance for servers. I try to tip 20% even if the service is so-so.

Here's the run-down of that experience: He took forever to greet us. Took forever to get our drinks. Brought the kids (and I have pre-schoolers) drinks in very large glass cups. Didn't get our bread sticks till 30 seconds before the pizza came. When (surprise!) my son spilled his drink, we had no assistance cleaning it up. Didn't refill the drinks (until asked). And I could go on.

Honestly, I've been there as a server: preoccupied; dominated by the high-maintenance party in the corner; just plain "off."

A few weeks later, my wife I were at Cheddar's. I couldn't decide between two items: Philly cheesesteak or fish tacos. (I know, my wife thinks I'm warped, too.) So I asked the server what she thought. To my surprise, she asked me about me: "How hungry are you?" She got my answer and spent a moment describing that, while delicious, the fish tacos may not fill me up. They were both roughly the same price. She didn't have anything to gain in numbers by pushing one over the other. (btw - I went for the Philly...)

You might think this was the start to a stellar service experience. In truth, our drinks didn't get refilled and it took awhile to get the check. But those things weren't as big an issue. Partly because we didn't have crazy kids climbing all over us. But most significantly, she took time to connect. She put some emotional energy into serving us.

During worship services, can the congregation overlook when things aren't stellar?

Do they feel like we are spending emotional energy to connect with them, to serve them, and to ultimately help them to worship Jesus.

Or are they seeing people "fright-reading" with their faces in the music stands. Or maybe it's the other end: a team completely absorbed in their own music and "moments" that they can't bring others along.

Check, please.

The Music Stand & the GPS

2010-07-30T21:50:00.000-04:00

During worship, charts on the music stand are a lot like a GPS. It'll show you where to go, give you instructions, and is easy to keep looking at.

The issue arises when you continue to keep looking at it:

A worship musician with his head stuck in his music stand is like a driver who only uses his GPS screen.

Get your head out of your music stand.

Dangerously Competent

2010-07-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

In my early ministry years (20s) I used to hear these 'old' worship leaders (probably mid 30s, 40 tops) that would talk about how they'd take people with great attitudes over talent. I would think, 'Whatever. Great attitudes don't build a smokin' band.'

I think I got old.

One of the players on my team has just picked up her instrument after 10 years. She can't drive the song, let alone carry the band. She gets off beat at times. I don't know if I could yet call her competent. But she practices. She downloads the tunes each week and listens to them. She bought an mp3 player, in fact. She comes to rehearsals prepared. She calls when she has questions. And she's getting better, little by little.

I've encountered in my ministry another player who could show up, grab the music, and play it. Pretty well, in fact. At one rehearsal, this player arrived 15 minutes late and left 20 minutes later. At the time, this player was needed. This player knew she was needed.

This player was dangerously competent.

The dangerously competent can get the job done, often quite well. The dangerously competent send subtle messages that they are doing the worship ministry a favor by showing up. But it's easy to ignore these subtle messages when we believe this player really is needed.

I'll take the less competent player. Someday soon, she'll be more than competent. And along with her competence will be that same person who listens and practices the songs; that person who comes to rehearsals prepared, not just for her sake, but the sake of the team.

Complacent competency is dangerous. Heart trumps talent.

Try (Tri) Leadership, Part 3

2010-07-18T22:13:00.002-04:00

Try (Tri) Leadership

Developing a Workable Model
for Co-Leadership In Worship, Part 3

Another beam in the co-leadership framework is likely to be the worship planner or service programmer. The planner/programmer role could be as involved as planning the entire service: songs, scripture, prayers, segues, etc.; or it could be as simple as selecting the songs used.

When I started in my current ministry, Heartland Church, I had just come out of another full-time worship leader role. That previous church financially could no longer keep me on staff. We returned to Heartland for a couple of reasons: it was where my wife and I had met before going into ministry and her family is here and 2) there was strong possibility of a becoming the full-time worship pastor. So we took a risk and I began volunteering.

My stint as a volunteer lasted three or four months. During that time, the music was “committee-planned.” Six to eight people, ranging from the senior pastor, another staff pastor or two, one or two administrative assistants and a couple volunteers sat around throwing out song ideas with not much regard for keys, consistency or the overall music and thematic flow. To make it worse, we were choosing from a mammoth list of songs that had been accumulating for five or six years. Was I frustrated? You betcha…

But I learned a few things from that season:

1. Song selection for worship can be learned to a degree, but there’s enough of an art to it to that it requires an artist. They might not be a theologian, musician or pastor, but they have the gift mix and instincts to create meaningful experiences.

2. Music for the worship service CAN be planned by a team, if...

...the team knows who the “worship planning artist” is and takes his/her talents seriously.

...the “worship planning artist” checks his/her ego at the door and becomes open to other’s input.

3. Churches need a plan for introducing new songs and retiring old songs, as well as a limit to the number of songs that are in rotation. (See "What's In Your Play List" resource)

If a ministry has multiple volunteer worship leaders, they likely will choose their own music. One reason: it gets the job done. Another reason: for many it’s more comfortable to pick the songs, keys and arrangements that they know work. That’s how I roll—I found it really difficult to lead those committee planned services. The surprise came when I discovered that none of the three volunteer worship leaders at my church had any real issues when I came on staff and began planning the services. (And a side note: the members of the “planning committee” were elated to be done with an extra meeting in the week.) By the time I took over the reins, I had gotten to know the other leaders, their voices, their range, their likes, etc., so I could create set lists that fit them. And I asked (and still do) for feedback and input on what’s working and what’s not.

Your lead musician or worship leader may indeed be a worship planning artist. Or it could be one of your singers that hardly says a word at rehearsals. You just don’t know. If you’re in a multiple volunteer leader situation, develop a planning team of leaders and musicians to

1) determine a limited repertoire for the current rotation songs (see "What's In Your Play List"),

2) to plan out music for coming weeks. You’ll likely see the “planning artists” emerge. Empower them to make the most of their art:

Recognize and affirm the gifts/talents that you see in them, both privately and publically.

Give them more responsibility in worship planning.

Allow them use their gift freely within defined boundaries that keep them steering towards the vision of the church’s leadership.

Work with them to consider the worship leader, singers and band that will be leading/singing/playing the songs they are selecting. Always plan your roster out before you plan your songs. It’s a must to know voices, ranges, abilities, limitations, etc.

Look for areas they might be weak – doctrine/theology, understanding of keys, creating segues, etc.—and find ways to help them, or help them find the help they need.

I remember the first time I saw a bike with tri-spokes. A cook at the restaurant where I waited tables parked his uber-expensive mountain bike near the walk-in freezer to avoid theft. (He raced downhill – which I thought, geez, that’s easy. Turns out it’s just a way to die on a ski slope during the off-season. But I digress…) The worship leadership wheel has three spokes all working towards one central movement. These roles may be played out by different people, or one person may function as two different spokes. Occasionally, you find someone who is talented enough to do all three. But chances are, he or she excels at one role, does well at another, and is merely competent at the third. And in all likelihood, that’s the role he/she is least passionate about. You can help your worship team leaders and volunteers live out their best by helping them let go of the average.

And when it comes to these three leaders working together, don't forget to look to the ultimate tri-relationship: The three members of the Trinity who serve and exalt each Other.

Like I said in the beginning – like ANY model, this model WON’T work for ANY ministry. Use this tri-leader model as a starting place to discover what worship leadership should look like in your church.

Try (Tri) Leadership, Part 2

2010-07-18T01:04:00.002-04:00

Try (Tri) Leadership

Developing a Workable Model
for Co-Leadership In Worship, Part 2

(read part 1)

So what if you’ve got a good vocalist with a dynamic presence that draws people to worship God, but she can’t lead the band out of a paper bag. That’s OK. This is where the lead musician comes in:

The lead musician works with worship leader to determine form, segues, dynamics and other musical elements of the service. He or she needs to have leadership ability. The lead musicians keeps one eye on the band and the other on the worship leader. In many ministries, the lead musician is called the “music director.” The label doesn’t matter; what does is that the right person is driving the bus.

Don’t confuse the lead musician with the driving instrument. In every song, there is usually a driving instrument. 20 years ago, it was the piano. 10 years ago, the acoustic guitar. Now, you’re more likely to hear the song carried by the electric guitar or the bass and drums (which, if functioning correctly, act as one instrument). In bands with less experienced musicians, the driving instrument will often act as the linchpin. If that instrument drops out, the whole thing comes apart. This is not a good thing – but it’s a subject for another article. If your band is dependent on a linchpin instrumentalist, that person will likely need to serve as the lead musician—but not always.(Btw - don't confuse this negative linchpin metaphor with Seth Godin's Linchpin metaphor. Read it. Twice. Now.)

Currently, I have an instrumentalist that can’t carry the band on his instrument, but he’s a natural leader. Being in a multi-campus church, I can’t rehearse every team. I have found that even in the absence of the campus worship leader, this guy can run the rehearsal. So begin to look at your band members who have leadership ability.

Help your lead musician(s) understand their leadership both on and off stage…

Promptness and preparedness... These two attributes will instill in the team confidence in the lead musician. It also models the kind of behavior expected for the team.

Support for pastor/leaders... Even though I’m the paid worship pastor at my church, I choose to function in a subordinate role of lead musician when one of our vocalists is serving as the worship leader. If he wants to end a song a certain way, add a chorus, insert a scripture, I support him and his vision for the song or that portion of the service.

Development of talents/gifts... The lead musician(s) in a church should be on the lookout for ways to develop the band and other musicians who are emerging. The lead musician should see him/herself as the pastor of the band: shepherd, developer, truth-teller, encourager, etc.

(Concluded in Part 3)

Try (Tri) Leadership, Part 1

2010-07-17T01:02:00.002-04:00

Try (Tri) Leadership

Developing a Workable Model
for Co-Leadership In Worship, Part 1

Co-leaders. Co-managers. Co-captains. You might as well just lead with a Co-mmittee. Anytime you have multiple people in cooperative leadership, you risk…

…the buck doesn’t stop here.

…that’s not MY job.

…sides being chosen among team members.

…take-over by the dominant personality

…resentment (at best) and subversion (at worst) by the less dominant personality.

That’s the behavior of regular church-going people. Add the element of “musician-ego” to the co-leader mix and things get ugly. Real ugly.

Here’s one alternative. Hire someone who has the musical ability to carry the band. The spiritual depth and “up front” skills to lead a congregation in worship. Theological and musical training coupled with the creativity to plan and execute biblically sound, yet emotionally-charged worship experiences. The interpersonal skills to develop, encourage, and exhort a team to musical excellence and relational health. The administrative skills to coordinate schedules, services, and special events. Oh, and a gifted songwriter. If you can’t afford to hire him or her, just recruit that person as a volunteer from your congregation. And while you’re at it, find the deca-millionaire philanthropist sitting in the pew who will single-handedly fund your upcoming building project (and who, incidentally, can play a mean shortstop for your church league softball team).

Another alternative is appoint to leadership someone is truly gifted at one area – probably erring on the side of spiritual depth – and let her or him lead the team. The song selection will be doctrinally solid. The worship will be thoroughly God-centered. The leader will set an example in her pursuit of God that others on the team can follow. But the musicality of the team doesn’t seem to improve. The flow of the service doesn’t, well, flow. And Sunday morning phone calls to find last minute substitutions happen about every Sunday morning.

OK, so go with the musically gifted, but spiritually shallow, guitarist with a good voice: things could get better on the outside, but will crumble from within.

Smaller churches look to larger churches for what a worship leader should look like. The problem is, the larger churches have the budgets to not only hire talent and experience, but give them the administrative and musical resources they need. The smaller and mid-sized church worship leader (volunteer, part-time or full-time) is frustrated by trying to live up to those standards.

Co-leadership of the worship ministry can be an effective solution. But a few caveats before we look at some ideas that might work:

1. Without too many exceptions, there needs to be one leader overseeing the ministry. In smaller ministries, that might be the senior pastor or an elder. This leader needs to recognize that they are to give some vision and direction to the ministry, but also learn to keep their hands out of the details for which others are better equipped (e.g. song selection, service flow, musical direction, etc.).

2. Each person needs to understand and accept their role in the ministry. This requires honest conversations and clearly defined job descriptions.

3. Like ANY model, these models WON’T work for ANY ministry. “Ministry models” are simply tools to jump start the process of determining the best structure and strategy for your ministry. It comes down assessing the talents and gifting of your leader(s) and your team, then developing a realistic structure that works for your situation.

Our default definition for a “worship leader” unfortunately resembles the superhero we described a few paragraphs ago. The problem is, “she” doesn’t exist. (And “he” certainly doesn’t, either.) And if he or she did, we couldn’t afford him or her, nor stand to be around either of them.

So let’s narrow our definitions, beginning with “worship leader.”

The worship leader’s primary responsibility is to lead the congregation in corporate worship. This will include music and possibly prayer, scripture, and segues. Her role is connecting with people and shepherding them to a place where they can enter God’s presence.

Who qualifies for that?

The best vocalist? How about the guy who plays acoustic guitar and can sing at the same time? That’s the call for you and your leadership to determine. Consider these qualities when choosing this person:

Maturity of Heart – does he/she love Jesus more than music, ministry, being “the leader,” etc.? Or, if they struggle with this, is it something they are working on under a godly mentor?

Stage Presence and “Up-Front” Leadership - Does this person have a natural rapport with the congregation? Can they engage in worship without leaving behind the congregation?

The two extremes of a worship leader’s stage presence look like this:

No regard for congregation...this worship leader is completely immersed in his own worship—eyes closed, arms raised, improv singing over the melody, adding additional choruses, tags, (even songs), unaware if people are following at all. The “worship with complete abandon” approach isn’t a bad thing for a vocal team member – but the main worship leader needs to have some connection with the other worshipers in the room.

Focused entirely too much on congregation...this person is a “Song Leader.” They are constantly scanning the congregation, saying things like, “sing out!” and “let’s REALLY worship the Lord”, and might even use their arms to make conducting-like motions. Shoot this person on sight.

An Ability to Sing – don’t presume that your worship leader needs to have the vocal chops that would get them on American Idol or one of the revolving spots in the Gaither Vocal Band.

Personally, I’ve wanted so bad to be that vocalist who could soar and captivate, or at least have that distinct rock star voice. But I basically can sing on key (most of the time) and have mediocre range. In all honesty, I’ve got the kind of voice that people find acceptable because I’m playing a guitar. If I were to try out as a vocalist in a very large church, I doubt I’d make the cut.

Often an average singer with a great “lead worshiper” stage presence will make a better worship leader than a phenomenal vocalist who doesn’t have a worshipful presence.

So, what if you’ve got a good vocalist with a dynamic presence that draws people to worship God, but she can’t lead the band out of a paper bag?. That’s OK. This is where the lead musician comes in.

(Continued in Part 2)

worshipteamcoach

New Site - New Blog

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52 Tweaks to a Stronger Team: #18

Three New Launches...

Six Lousy Methods to Get More Musicians, Part 2

Restoration and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Upper and Lowercase Vision

Six Lousy Methods to Get More Musicians, Part 1

Canceling MySpace

Canceling MySpace

8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 4

8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 3

8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 2

8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 1

Blog Post Rewind: Walmart Worship, I

Blog Post Rewind: Charts...

Getting Kicked in the Teeth?

Remove

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #27

Whining, Dreaming, and Just Dealing With It

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #26

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #25

28 Ways to Create Great Segues: #24 - Videos, part 2

Is Your Left Door Locked?

RadioShack Sound Systems & Faith-Infused Realism

28 Ways To Create Great Segues: #23 - Videos, part 1

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #22, Pre-Service: A Preparation Time

DOs & DON'Ts of Being Dumped, Part 2

Forget Excellence...

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #21: "The Herding Song"

They Need Me, They Really Need Me...

28 Ways to Create Great Segues - #17 - 20

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #16: Vision & Mission

How To Dump Your Worship Pastor

Six Options for Quitting the Worship Teamthe new WorshipMinistry.com article...

How to break up with your worship pastor/leader:

Bigger Than Bono...

L.T.W.M. Part 3

L.T.W.M. Part 2

L.T.W.M. Part 1

The Mess and the Metaphor

Linchpin or Liability?

Sloppy Wet Kiss

Please Practice: 8 Tips to Give Your Team

Charts Smarts - Serving Your Team with the Right Music

This Site is Ugly!

Ox Percussion...

Fire Your Worship Committee

Reverse Sound Check

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #15 - The Offering (part 2)

Taco Bell vs. Chipotle

Small Churches are Small Because They’re Doing Something Wrong

Free Music From Praise Charts

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #15 - The Offering (part 1)

Easter Season Resources

3 Songs I'm Loving for Easter

"Good Music--I Just Hate Looking at the Worship Team..."

Small Church/Big Worship - 2 or 3 More Numbers That Matter...

28 Ways to Make Great Segues - An Intermission

Mangling Our Banner?

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #14

Ministry, Intimacy and a Disrobed Disco

Great Song/Free Praise Chart

Small Church/Big Worship - Numbers Matter...

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #13

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #12, pt.2

LIDs

worship planning tip #17

Small Church/Big Worship - 10 Ways The Senior Pastor Can Make This Sunday Remarkable

28 Ways to Make Great Segues: Segue #12, pt.1

Small Church/Big Worship, an Introduction

Unless Chris Tomlin's Your Worship Leader...

Brandon Moore...

worship planning tip #8: Charts - Overdo it

Walmart Worship, II

Walmart Worship, I

emotional energy (i.e. actually caring)

The Music Stand & the GPS

Dangerously Competent

Six Options for Quitting the Worship Team
the new WorshipMinistry.com article...