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

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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. 
5. 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

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

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 - 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.

Dangerously Competent

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

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.

200 Words [or Less] About Being a Worship Musician: Key Elements >> Teachable, Part 1

(Read the other Six Key Elements articles:
Intro; Talent; Surrendered Part 1; Surrendered Part 2; Passionate)

200 Words [or Less] About Being a Worship Musician:

Key Elements >> Teachable, Part 1

A few years ago I joined a national songwriting organization and attended the local chapter. At the first meeting, I feel bad for the other writers getting picked apart during the critiques. They’ll probably feel even worse when they hear my song. My turn. The scratch demo ends. The silence is something between hushed awe and quiet reverence. Yeah…no: it was starving jackals waiting to ravage a gimp antelope. Entrails everywhere.

I was at a crossroads: chalk it up as a gaggle of bitter songwriters, or conclude that they DID know something about songwriting. I chose the latter. I “psyched up” before every meeting with: “Be humble. Learn. Be humble. Learn.” Repeat.

Direct feedback is oxygen for anyone needing to grow. Worship musicians are no exceptions. As participants in “upfront” ministry, we need to be extra open to breathing it in.

A segue: I went home from the meeting--still stinging--and told my wife about it (looking for validation). Her reply was, “You took in that song?!” Owww…. Looking back, I guess I ignored the polite applause and blank stares at every coffeehouse performance of it. We also need to be teachable students of indirect feedback. That’s part two.

[ SIDE NOTE: While there’s always an exception or two, my sense is that most of our team members are more open to feedback than we think. It’s us insecure, people-pleasing leaders who often miss the chance to breathe life via speaking truth in love. Btw, these last 42 words are for free. :) ]

Recruiting on Craigslist

Recruiting on Craigslist:

Using Craigslist to Find More Musicians

If you’ve never heard of Craigslist, you either live near my parents in Iowa, or you’re living under a rock. It’s a place where anyone can post any ad to buy, sell, barter, trade, giveaway, meet, greet, scheme, scam, and so on. Good, bad and ugly all come with Craigslist. But if you can maneuver through the bad and around the ugly, Craigslist can be a useful tool in recruiting musicians. In two different ministries, in two different areas, I’ve found several instrumentalists using Craigslist. (yes, including drummers.)

There are several things to consider when using Craigslist to recruit musicians.

Two Big Questions:

First, is your leadership OK with non-attendees playing on your team?

Some churches ask people to attend a certain amount of time before they can serve in certain ministries. If there are policies like that at your church, you and your leadership will need to wrestle through the implications of allowing outside players in.

Another related issue to wrestle with is the idea that you might be “sheep stealing” from another church. Two of the musicians that I’ve recruited from Craigslist were from other churches. I asked a lot of questions to make sure I wasn’t hindering another ministry. In one case, the musician was involved in a church that had a closed worship team. They didn’t rotate in other musicians other than to sub for their regular players. [Their loss: he plays drums, keys, guitar and bass AND prepares before rehearsals!]

If you work through the first issue, the second is this:

Is your leadership open to unsaved people on your team?

In the ministries I’ve been involved with, the conclusion was this:

• We don’t want non Christ-followers serving as worship team singers. Their primary role is to model worship.
• While the band members can also model worship, theirs is more of a supporting role. So we adopted a mindset of what Bill Hybels calls “radical inclusion.” We don’t get too many opportunities to build relationships with lost people inside our church buildings. So if there’s a chance, let’s take it.

Please understand that this decision isn’t right for every church and every ministry. If your leadership is opposed to an unsaved person on your team, you need to submit to that decision. And just so you know, the majority of the musicians I’ve recruited from Craigslist are believers, just in church situations that didn’t have worship bands.

Writing the Ad

Once approval is in place, it’s time to write the post. Use these questions guide you.

What do you want?

A drummer? Bassist? Lincoln Brewster? (yeah, me too.) When you post, be specific. If you’re like most smaller and mid-side churches, you probably need multiple musicians to round out a solid rotation. So you could post…“NEEDED: Acoustic Guitarists, Electric Guitarists, Keyboard Players, Drummers and Percussionists needed for church worship band.”

This shotgun approach could likely communicate two things. At best, it says you are working with very little. At worst, you and your church look desperate. A solid musician likely does NOT want to walk into that situation.

So post for a specific instrument. Wanted: An electric guitar player… 

What do you want from the musician?

There’s no need to go into every detail, but give the Craigslist-perusing musician some idea of the gig.

Where your church is located?

Craigslist is centered around cities/areas. It helps keeps things local, but it can still cover a large chunk of geography. 35 miles to the other side of the county could be a deal-breaker. It’s better to note your location upfront and save everyone the hassle.

How often will they play?

Is this a one-time "fill-in" gig, or are you looking someone to play every-week? 

What kind of skill is required?

Give an idea of what your minimum need is. 

When are rehearsals?

Are they expected to be at rehearsals? I usually mention in the ad what night rehearsals are scheduled. To most musicians, that insinuates the requirement to be there. By the way, I’ve found it way easier to get my “outside” musicians to come to rehearsals than I do my own church volunteers. They’re itching to play and aren’t bogged down with small groups on Wednesday, nursery duty on Sunday, and board meeting on Tuesday.

Is there pay?

This is important. I say up front in my posts that this is an unpaid gig. Here’s the good news: a majority of musicians have never gotten paid. Again, most are just happy to play music.

How should they contact you?

While I like being open and accessible as possible, Craigslist gets tons of scammers. I usually opt to use Craigslist’s built-in anonymous reply system rather than showing my e-mail address. You’ll still get the scam replies, but they stop once the post is gone.

Another related point. Let the person know how soon they should expect a reply. Believe it or not, they're looking forward to hearing back from you. Otherwise, they wouldn't have bothered to reply.

So let's spell this all out:

Wanted: An electric guitar player to play in two services a month at Trendy Metaphor Community Church just outside Ourtown. You’ll need to be able to read chord charts, play some by ear, and be able to play simple leads. Rehearsals are Thursdays at 7pm. This isn’t a paid gig, but it is a chance to connect with a group of musicians and play music. If you’re interested or have questions, please reply to this post. We should be able to get back to you within 24 hours.

Going Public
The ad is written. Now it’s time to post. You’ve got a few options:

1. There’s a section called COMMUNITY. Under that you’ll find MUSICIANS. This is where the local Whitesnake tribute band looks for a new drummer. This is a decent place to post.

2. Another section is GIGS. The logical place here is TALENT GIGS. Even though you’re looking for adult musicians, the ADULT GIGS is NOT the place to post.

3. The best place I’ve found is actually in the MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS in the FOR SALE section. I’m sure Craig and his List people in San Francisco might frown upon me posting an ad like that in a section intended to sell instruments, but that seems to be where a lot of musicians look. Most are just perusing for a good deal on a used guitar.

And note, I’ve only ever had one person reply and give me a Craigslist-rebuke for posting in the “for sale” section. But I’m always clear with my heading – I don’t try to trick people into opening the ad with something like: ’69 Les Paul, must sell. $100 obo. (It is tempting, but “bait and switch” isn’t a great way to introduce people to your church, or Jesus.)

4. You could post in all three (I’ve tried), but Craigslist is set up to catch duplicate or similar postings in multiple categories (and it did). The good news, it will allow duplicate postings after 48 hours.

"Craigslist Musician, Meet the Team."

When you’ve posted the ad, you’ll want to have a game plan in place for connecting with musicians.

Since neither of you know each other, it’s good to build in a little time to get acquainted. Before I invite them into the interview process that we use, I like to e-mail or talk on the phone a time or two. If they seem like their interested, I send out a packet of information to them. Here’s what it contains:

• Interview Process Explanation. (This explains the..., well, the interview process. I know…that title’s a little vague.) And by the way, I use ‘interview’ because some church people tend to freak out at the idea of auditioning for a ministry.That's another article.

• The Values and Expectations of Our Worship Ministry

• Non-Attending Musician Expectations. This is a list of expectations I have for our “outside” musicians. I’ve landed on the term “non-attending” in order to stay away from the connotations of “outside.” Check out the one we use at Heartland.

• Non-Attending Musician Application. Most of the info is similar to our regular application. We ask about spiritual beliefs in a way that doesn't assume any Christian background.

At Heartland, we've adopted a 3-step interview process. 1) Informal interview with worship pastor. 2) play/sing for worship pastor and a few other musicians 3) invitation to sit in on a rehearsal. By the 2nd step, I usually know if the person is right for the team. But the third step allows them to get to know the band and vice-versa. I go one step further with non-attending musicians. I let them know that they’re welcome to play for at least one or two services without committing to being on the schedule.

One last important point. You may have already seen this if you looked at the sample “expectations” page. I feel it’s important to clarify to the musician that this arrangement is temporary. I spell out clearly that I hope one of the following things happen: The musician…

…connects within his own church and uses his talents and gifts there.

…uses his experience here at Heartland to help him commit and serve in a different church

…finds that our church is a good fit for him, and he commits to being a part of the ministry here.

I can tell you not to expect a high percentage of success for every posting. I've posted at times and had zero bites. After one round of posting, I was talking with four different musicians and only one worked out. But that's still not bad odds. So instead of clicking on Craigslist to find a used Bowflex or minivan, you might just try to find that bass player your team needs.

200 Words [or Less] About Being a Worship Musician: Key Elements >> Surrendered, Part 1

(Read the other Six Key Elements articles: Intro; Talent)

Surrendered To God

No doubt you’ve heard about the challenge given to D.L. Moody: "It remains to be seen what God will do with a man who gives himself up wholly unto Him." (or some variation of…) And Moody’s answer was basically “I’ll be that man.” And he was. We usually hear this exchange in a sermon about surrender. The problem is the preacher doesn’t tell us that this falls in the category of “WAY easier said than done.”

A mentor once said to me, “one of the beautiful things about following Christ is that it’s daily. And one of the most frustrating things about following Christ is that it’s daily.” The new mercies (Lam. 3) of God can’t be experienced fully without a new day’s surrender. (1 Cor 15:31/Rom 12:1) Sure, there are a few things that I’ve surrender once for all (by God’s grace), but I have to give up my pride, agenda, sin, etc. every day.

This isn’t exclusive for worship musicians. But consider that the responsibility of worship musician as a leader/teacher. But it’s ultimately about loving Jesus more than music or ministry. And the surrender into Jesus’ arms each day is a real good start.

Next installment: Surrendered, Part 2

28 Ways to Make Great Segues During Worship: An Introduction

The worship team ends the song.

A smattering of applause from the congregation.

Singers are smiling.

The band looks at the acoustic guitar player.

The acoustic guitar player looks at the keyboard player.

The keyboard player gives him a twitch of the head that says, “you’re playing the intro, not me.”

The singers continue smiling, but now are glancing over their shoulder to see who’s starting the next song.

The guitarist shuffles his charts around and gives the worship leader the universal “just one moment” sign with his right index finger.

The worship leader wants to give him back a universal sign of his own, but instead says to the congregation, “let’s move into a time of prayer.”

That took far longer to read than it did to take place. But if you’ve ever been a part of a moment like that, especially as a worship leader, it felt like you could have clocked it with a sundial.

Transitions happen. Song to song. Music to preaching. Prayer to offering, etc. They happen. And they can happen just how they happen, or they can happen according to a plan. An unplanned transition is at best a speed bump; at its worst it’s a train wreck. When we don’t plan a transition, we put a period in where a comma should be. Or a gasp where a gentle inhaled breath should be. Or a fence instead of a gate. Or a…well, you get the picture.

The Unplanned Transition: “And Now, Let’s Take the Offering…”
An unplanned transition can cause a screeching halt to your service. But more often, the unplanned transition will result in an off-the-cuff attempt at continued forward motion. Frequently it’s just a verbal cue from the pastor or worship leader: “And at this time, we are going to collect offering.” Sure, it gets the job done, but I’m wondering if there’s a better way to move people through the experiences of a worship gathering.

The Unplanned Transition: A Bone
Look at it this way: I’ve got a great skeleton. It’s held me up for over 30 years. It’s been broken a half a dozen times or so, but those were pretty much all my fault. (Skateboards, jungle gyms, bike meets curb—by sixth grade the ER staff knew my name.) So my skeleton is a good one, but I don’t want to see it. If I do see it, other than through an x-ray, something’s really wrong. And you can bet that I will be a little pre-occupied with that particular bone sticking out of my body. That’s what a poorly-planned transition does: it distracts people with an exposed bone (albeit much less gross and icky). It abruptly calls attention to how we are moving to a new element, versus focusing on what the element is. It plucks us out of the moment created by the previous element and plops into a new one. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want “plucked” or “plopped” to be action verbs of my worship service. (Unless it’s Jesus doing the plucking and plopping—in that case, just hold on.)

So transitions happen, but intentional planning helps us create a seamless movement from experience to experience. I refer to planned transitions as segues. You can still create a “bad” segue, but the odds for a smoother transition exponentially increase when some thought is put into it.

In this article series, we’ll be looking at several different segues that cover various elements of the service. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but hopefully it’ll get your wheels turning about different methods to make great transitions in your worship service. See you at Part One .

(Wanna know when the next installment is coming out? The best way to be updated is become a follower of this blog. I also update people through my e-update.)

200 Words (or Less) About Being a Worship Musician: The Worship Musician as Teacher

As worship musicians—vocalists and instrumentalists—part of our ministry is teaching. We teach the congregation what it is to participate in corporate worship:

• If we clap or raise our hands, that encourages and gives permission to others to so the same.
• If we sing and play with joyous abandon, that will spill out.
• If we worship every bit as fervently “offstage” as we do “onstage,” that teaches.

And if we offer an unprepared set of music with our heads buried in the music stands, we are also teaching: our actions tell congregation that offering second-rate sacrifices to God is OK.

As a worship musician who has, too often, walked on stage unprepared, apathetic, and/or distracted, I swallow pretty hard when I read James’ admonishment to the twelve tribes:
Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1)

What would our ministry look like if we were prepared spiritually and musically to say to congregation the same thing that Paul told the Corinthians:

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. (1 Cor. 11:1)