WORSHIP LEADERS
THE SEVEN QS OF A SUCCESSFUL AUDITION PROCESS | Jon Nicol
Jim (not his real name) was known around the
community as a killer pianist, and the word was
he wanted to join our worship team. Several
of my team members were wide-eyed, "You
have to get him to play keys on our team. He's
amazing!"
Jim was one of the best amateur piano players I
ever heard. He could move effortlessly from jazz
standards to pop to classical. But I hesitated. I
wasn't sure how he was going to gel with our
band. He seemed more like a soloist.
Ah, but we needed a keyboard player, and
everyone raved on about him. Unfortunately,
I was about to break three cardinal rules of
qualifying new team members:
• I skipped multiple steps of my qualification
system.
• I didn't put on the brakes when I saw red
flags.
• I valued musical skill over spiritual depth
and relational health.
In other words, I let talent trump toxic. Jim was
a nice enough guy just to talk to. But musically,
he was a self-absorbed soloist with no regard
for others in the band. Toxic.
I let myself be swayed by everyone (including
Jim). To others on my team, inviting a
keyboardist this good was a no-brain decision.
Despite my gut telling me to slow down, my
internal people-pleaser opened the doors and
invited him in.
Each service he played at was a train wreck.
He couldn't keep time with the click (I'm not
sure he even tried). I think he just expected
the band to follow him, all while tromping on
every instrument with a heavy left hand and a
hyperactive right.
Mercifully, he only lasted a few months. Jim
accepted a new job out of town, abruptly ending
his overplayed reign of musical mayhem. After
that experience, I worked to create a more rigid
qualification process and vowed not to deviate
from it. For anyone.
After learning how to attract, qualify, and invite
the right people on my team, I started coaching
other worship leaders to do the same. Out of
that came the seven elements that are critical
to a successful audition product. I call them the
7 Qs of Qualification. Here they are:
QUALITIES. As the leader, you must have the
standards defined for your worship ministry.
A healthy worship team qualification process
then is a systematic exploration to ensure
the prospective team member meets those
standards. And it goes without saying that the
qualities you're looking for can't be just skill
related.
QUEUE. An amusement park has an organized
process to move someone from the end of the
line to the end of the ride. In the same way, your
qualification process needs to move someone
systematically from "I'm interested" to "I'm
invested." If you let someone jump the line,
52 July 2020
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