Whining, Dreaming, and Just Dealing With It

[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]

Is Your Left Door Locked?

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

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]

Forget Excellence...

...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!

Fire Your Worship Committee

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.

Taco Bell vs. Chipotle

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

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.

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

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.

Small Church/Big Worship - Numbers Matter...

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.

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

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.

Small Church/Big Worship, an Introduction

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.