Worship Leaders Network | Worship Leader Forum | Worship Leader Resources & Jobs
Auditions
OK, I'm known for opening cans of worms, but here goes: Picture: You are the worship leader in a fairly new church. As scripture tells us, your desire is to play "skillfully"; New attendees come up to you after service and want to know how they can get on the worship team and how soon can they play. Your response is: (fill in the blank)(I have my own opinions but will reserve them for now!)
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Rick Cogbill on
-
Sarcasm or not, this second scenario happens way too often!
-
Permalink Reply by Junjie on -
I'll tell them if they wanna get in, buy my book read it over and over again, and they'll be ready to clear the audition without a hitch.
So should I add that they have to FOLLOW what's written inside?
As for how quickly can they start playing, it's really simple too. If they clear the audition and fit my general profile (in other words, able to work as a member in a Christ-honoring team), they can start as soon as they can handle about 30-40 of the songs that are heavily used in church this season.
I'm sure I'm missing some important things, but this is my off-the-top-of-my-head reply. :)
-
Permalink Reply by David Smith on -
Are they saved? Do they put into practice what they believe? Are they ready to place membership in the church they are saying they want to represent? What are their reasons for wanting to play? These are a few of the non-musical questions I would have. Musical questions? What do they play? How long have they played? Have they played in front of an audience before?
CS has some excellent thoughts on building a band, and based on my personal experience (20 + years at this), CS is right. Junjie...instead of buying YOUR book, how about they buy into whats in THE book?
Smitty
-
Permalink Reply by Junjie on
-
Good question, Smitty.
Because sometimes we get so used to stuff being done the way it's always been done, and we don't ask ourselves if that's what THE book would have us do. The sure weight of social proof can often quench the simple "Hey, wait a minute..." that might just fix worship ministry problems in a jiffy, if it starts us looking into THE book.
So that's where MY book comes in. I do the 'Wait-a-minute' stuff in there, explaining what I see in THE book and giving my opinion, my take, on how it applies in worship ministry. Do I think it covers everything? Naw, but it's a great place to start. It gives us simple principles to handle worship situations, like
1) dance in worship (what was it like?),
2) what IS music skill in the worship ministry context,
3) hand signals vs vocal cues (we actually have vocal cues in worship demonstrated twice in the Bible, how many newbies see that?),
4) what does it take to musically support prophecy (where did they find the harpist for Elisha anyway?)
5) the leading of the Holy Spirit in worship,
And so forth.
I unashamedly believe in my book, that it's got useful insights and help for people in the scenario JT described. As CS said, it's easier to start a culture than to change one. Well, the culture that I'd like to create is all in there. Thanks for the question, it gave me the room for a blatantly shameless plug! :)
Junjie
-
-
This is hitting very close to home. I've just been given the leadership of the music in our church, and I am the realitively new guy (year and a half). This is a 100-year old church, with multiple worship teams, each with their own leader. My job? To assist them and to bring a level of continuity to the worship times. Are we scared yet?
A few months ago I did something that had never been done here before - I held an audition for someone who wanted to sing on my team. I had three other people there to listen and write down comments while I first interviewed the person and then listened to them sing a few numbers. It went well, and I hope to make this the standard for all the teams. The problem is that for the moment we don't do a central process of auditions (meaning the other worship leaders can do what they want) - hopefully that will come down the road.
What I look for in an audition is
1) Charactor - are they walking with the Lord; what is their motivation for being on the team; do they portray a servant heart, etc
2) Competency - do they know how to play at least at an intermediate level, or do they at least handle the basics well; can they actually sing or are they tone-deaf.
3) Chemistry - how will they fit in with the rest of the team; how do they come across on stage; will they draw others into worship or distract; etc
Lots more could be said, but I'll stop here for now!
-
Permalink Reply by Dan on
-
Do people actually visit a church and ask to be on stage right away? Would you show up at a McDonald's and ask "how soon could I start flipping burgers in the back". You would just say, sure here's your apron show up next week? You would go through some kind of interview process for something like a job. Why would it be any different in the worship team case? It is a job serving for the LORD. A sensible person would understand that you may have some kind of audition or need time to play with them and see where their heart is, correct? I would say: What instrument do you play? Them: Guitar. OK cool, can you come to our next rehearsal and jam with us? Or, I would say, we normally go through an informal audition process, etc. During this time, you will get an idea what they are wanting to do, their motivation etc. You wouldn't just say, sure, come on in and play next week. Now, if you know for a fact they are a great worshipper from somewhere else or by referral, you would most likely say, come to rehearsal next week and we'll see about putting you on rotation, etc.
The hard part might be if you find out they are horrible or have a horrible attitude and are in it for the wrong reasons and then you have to tell them no. That's the hard part.
D
-
-
Yes, some people actually do ask the minute they start attending. Those are usually the ones you need to be careful of, and ask God for great wisdom in dealing with.
Finding out that they're horrible is one reason why I would have more than just myself at the audition. Then it is a team of evaluators saying "you need to work on this" instead of just yourself, the big bad worship leader saying you don't like what they do.
Also, don't say "yes" right away; let them know you'll talk it over with the others and get back to them shortly. You'll find that the other people with you will spot things that you didn't see - both positive and negative.
-
Permalink Reply by Pete Brower on -
I thank them enthusiastically, make a little small talk to find out what they play or sing, a little background, and get a quick feel for their attitude. If I'm happy with how things feel I usually invite them to a rehearsal with the team. At the rehearsal I keep an eye and ear on how they do with their gift and also how they interact with the other team members. I give the team a heads up early in the week that we may have company for rehearsal. At the end of rehearsal as we are break down I make a few quiet inquiries with some key team members.
Things split here:
1) If everything seems to shake out OK I ask them if they would like to join us on Sunday to see how that goes. If they agree then after church on Sunday I check with them on how they felt about the experience. If they enjoyed it then I talk to them about including them in our rotation.
2) If not so good. I'll talk to them after rehearsal about the areas that we need to work on in a friendly way. Skill, attitude, spirituality, etc. I offer to help them work on those areas if they want to continue rehearsing with us. They either back out, take me up on it and we work on things, or they come to a few more rehearsals and get bored and drop out. If they take me up on it then I make an extra effort to give them my time in a friendly casual way.
Our pastor feels strongly that our worship team is a ministry and I agree with that. It makes it hard because leading well is important, but bringing new people to Christ through our team is important too. I was brought to Christ through our praise team by the leader at the time. So I'm trying to continue that. I was not a mature Christian, was not a gifted guitar player, could not sing a note, and had horrible stage fright. That worship leader treated me like an old friend, spent a lot of time with me outside of church talking about Christ, music, etc. over milk shakes at DQ, coffee at Starbucks, and anywhere else we could casually hook up. Now I'm that worship leader and I'm trying to continue that same approach. So far it's working.
-
Permalink Reply by Pete Brower on
-
Sorry, somehow I missed the "new" part of that. When our church was first started the Methodist district gave us enough funding to hire the core supporting band members (Drums, Bass, keyboard) to back up the worship leader. They were very restrictive of allowing new volunteers back then.
-
Permalink Reply by Kevin Riner on -
This is where I am at now. I had two women come to me and ask to sing. Being new I went straight to the Pastor and asked him about their credible spirituality. One was off limits so I told her no. The other came to try out at practice and she wasn't that great, but with a church of about a hundred, you can't ask for professionals. So I gave her a shot. Long story short it didn't work out.
My first recommendation is to check their maturity level in Christ. then check their musical ability. But when you have a church that has a low numbers in the congregation, you kinda have to take what you can get. But lately my main concern is if they want to be part of your team, I wanna know if they are coming to worship or just be part of a band.
Sticky situation but you take each case separately.
-
Permalink Reply by Justin Kirkendall on -
I say something to the affect of "Thanks for showing an interest in joining the worship team. I'll share with Pastor about your interest in the team and get back with you. IN the meantime, How about we meet for coffee and we'll just talk abit about all kinds of things so that I can get to know you and your family- I'll give you a copy of our worship guidelines/information packet- you can look at it and just see if it is something you are still interested in. Then, We'll go through an instrument or vocal audition to see where you can best serve on the team"
or i say
"Thanks for showing an interest in joining this ministry. Since you've just started attending, I'd like to see you get more involved/get to know the church from a non-ministry standpoint for the benefit of you and your family before putting you in a ministry role- I would also like to get to know you- talk with you"
I don't like the word "audition" it seems too showy
-
Permalink Reply by Judah Community on -
I think that other factors may influence this. Have you been praying for God to send you spiritually mature musicians / singers with a calling for corporate worship leading? If so, doesn't that change things in a positive way?
I find it interesting that many of us interpreted your scenario as an unsolicited volunteer that you did not ask for nor expect. It may be the case that God is sending you just what you need, whether you know it or not.
I guess my point is just because things are slow or structured doesn't mean that God is in them (although He can be - He can do what He wants, and Scripture is loaded with God-ordained patterns). Likewise, just because things move quickly or opportunities are presented unexpectedly doesn't mean that God is not in them (just that we did not expect it). If we always expect His actions to line up with our agendas, we may miss what He is doing (or wants to do). Back on topic, though...
I would say my response would depend on other factors. I think it is wise to approach each situation individually, and flex our standard 'rules' when it makes sense. While we can develop a pattern or standardization (I don't think those things are bad), I find that Jesus always finds a way to break out of any box I might be able to create -- even in ministry.
Welcome to
Worship The Rock - Worship Leader Forum & Social Network
Providing worship leaders with a worship leader social networking community of worship pastors, worship leaders and team members. Worship leader resources on WTR include worship set lists, worship leader forum, worship groups, worship leader jobs, popular worship songs, worship blogs from worship pastors, worship events, festivals and conference listings, a place to chat about all things worship related, videos and photos. WTR aims to resource worship leaders in the best possible way - by providing free worship leader tips and training resources.
© 2013 Created by Phil Williams.
