How to take the next step

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Permalink Reply by ICFworship on May 16, 2009 at 12:58am

Let me start by giving the disclaimer. At times it still feels like I'm at the same point you've reached all over again. I have just recently journeyed through this particular territory, and am thankful that God is trusting me now to possibly help someone else. For our team, the transformation had to start from the top. Passion, Passion, Passion, Passion! I got so tired of hearing this from my pastor. The truth is though, that it was God through him emphasizing this. Your team may be completely satisfied with the technical level of your worship service. The songs are cool, everyone hits their mark, and people enjoy the music. Why should you practice any more than you are now? I've heard this too. The first step is to accept that you have been telling your team for a while that change was coming, but it hasn't. You have to decide that you are dedicated to the new system before they will. Next,and this was crucial, God moved me to create a Culture of Responsibility. Depending on the various ages and maturity levels of your team, they may have different views of you as a leader, and may question your authority accordingly. They cannot, however, question God's authority and be a healthy part of your team. Begin to emphasize the awesome responsibility that God has trusted your team with, to impact people's eternity. Worship is their chance to point to the awesomeness of a head first relationship with Jesus Christ and the impact it can have on an individuals life. 180 minutes a month. 3 hours. 1/8 of a day. is the amount of time currently being dedicated by your team to this awesome responsibility. I know the amount of time that you personally dedicate is much higher than this, but they may not. Let them in. Become transparent. Now, back to Passion. Let God set you on fire with an obvious passion for what you do for him. Let Holy Passion transform your program into something contagious that people want to be a part of. You mentioned wanting them to still do this for God. Well I say He is calling them to more. Also, don't allow happy-go-lucky to be mistaken for the real, consuming joy that will come from everyone being obedient. www.icfworship.wordpress.com icfworship@yahoo.com

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Permalink Reply by Brenda Hannah on May 16, 2009 at 2:00am

Scott, how big is your church, just wondering? And how many people do you have on your team? And how long have you been the worship pastor? All of these things play a significant role in some of the things that you are talking about. Are you the only leader? Big One!

A couple years ago we had a church that called us for the same problem, and 80% of the problem was the worship pastor and the rest of it was the old church mentality that you practice once a month, and then rehearse the songs 30 minute before church. BAD IDEA!

The problem that this particular church, was they were creating an environment that did not have the best interest of the team or the church in mind. The worship pastor was not interested in introducing new songs, and then the team moral was really low, and also, they had people that were exclusive, and so their team was not able to grow because of that, they made it too hard for anyone to be able to get on the team, and that played a huge role in their level of execution of worship, it just stayed old. The Lord would like for us to be excellent, but you can't have excellency with proper rehearsal. Then this church got stuck going back to old songs that they knew because they only had rehearsal once a month and more than half the time it was canceled because some people could not show up. And most of the time it was the leader himself canceling because of whatever. and because the worship leader did not show commitment it comes back to haunt you and therefore it shows. And so in turn, the team was not committed to the worship pastor. And learning new songs became a chore, and some of the people were so stuck in old church mentality that they did not want to do the work that it would take, they wanted a fast fix to everything. But if we go through life wanted a quick fix, what do we get? Just like in the old days, most machinery would last forever and you just repaired it if need be because they were committed to excellence and quality not quantity, and now today it is cheaper just to go buy new, because by the time your machinery breaks, it is no longer fixable it is garbage.

So you have to think long term, and think about what DNA you want your team to be, then you have to start small with structure and go from there.

In my experience, our responsibility to the worship team goes deeper than leading and leadership, it is about relationship, and if you are not connected to your team, then it will be very obvious when you want to give instruction the respect will not be there. I tell my worship leaders, it is vital to know your team outside of the leadership role that you play, and being a friend is more important than the position that you hold, do not try and pastor them 24/7, you become a good pastor when your team can not tell the difference. Now saying that, your team will then be able to connect with your vision and connect with you on a personal level and then be able to receive leadership from you. And that is what we call, Relational Leadership.

You probably know all of this already, but sometimes a little encouragement is what you need. What I would suggest to you is to start your weekly rehearsals weekly on a Thursday if you can. Is a really good day, because it is closer to the weekend. Of course if your church is not available that is different, but try out that day. Take the next two weeks to plan your plan and work your plan. Your team needs to see effectiveness and commitment on your part.

One good way for you to begin this is to gather all of the media, musicians and vocalists and have about a 15 to 30 minute chat about DNA. Talk to your team about what God has been talking to you about, talk to your team about the plans that the Lord has been laying out for you to do, and also, talk to them about vision, about challenges, and about how you feel the Lord wants to be able to work through the team to accomplish His many goals. And put a packet together for them with a compilation CD and Music for them to take home with an application for ministry, and on application to give to someone that they know in the church that might be interested in being apart of the team. Obviously there are some other protocols that your church may require for them to be on the worship team, but it will get you started on the process. The ministry application that you would have your team fill out, if you do not have one already, gives the opportunity to tell you about themselves and also share any concerns or things that they feel should be apart of the worship team. And the biggest thing is scheduling and communication protocol, if that needs to be redefined.

I feel that there does not need to be many rules, with the exception of a few, but I think encouragement to do the right things are the most important things, and you have the motivation and excitement about what you do will flow to your team.

Let me know what you decide to do and how it goes, I am anxious to hear about what you decide to do next.

Brenda:)

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Permalink Reply by Scott Lathrop on May 16, 2009 at 4:30am

Thanks....the encouragement has been as valuable as the suggestions. We're about 300 on Sunday morning...6 musicians and 6 vocalists including myself. I'm the only leader but I have some members on the team that are great at helping and have the same passion I do. I'm a volunteer worship leader so not actually a staff worship pastor. We practice twice a month now and it's fairly well attended. We try to roll out one new song per practice and have a fairly fresh set of songs. I think both suggestions have helped reinforce what I have planned so that's been great. I appreciate your time and I'll keep you updated. Blessings!!

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Permalink Reply by Bizzy Bender on May 17, 2009 at 4:38pm

I think if you start enforcing rules it would be a good idea to balance that out with some perks to those who are faithful in showing up for rehearsal and church regularly and in a timely fashion. I think that churches should budget for training and equipping worship teams. It says that they are truly valued and appreciated and it will make them better worship leaders at the same time. Take your whole team to a conference, preferably one that doesn't require that you fly there. The church should pick up the cost of the conference and possibly the hotel too.

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