MULTITRACKS
5 THINGS TO HELP YOU PREP FOR CHRISTMAS | Jesse Schaefer
If you ’ re a worship leader , you know all too well how different your Christmastime experience is to the rest of the world . More services with more people , extra planning , and it ’ s all happening in some of the most largely attended services of your year . We ’ ve made a short list of ways to help bring peace to your prep , joy to your world , and give you back some time to focus on what matters this Christmas season .
THE THING THAT ’ LL MAKE EM RING ARE THE CAROLS THAT YOU SING
Christmas services come with some inherent contrary factors . “ Everyone ” knows the classic Christmas songs and your seats may be filled with people who don ’ t visit church on a regular basis . So how do you introduce newer songs that may communicate the Christmas message perfectly without alienating those who are more familiar with the classics ? Consider leading with a more well-known classic or two . Maybe you can set up a song acknowledging that its intent is to communicate a certain thing . However you do it , always keep in mind the guests and visitors that may be experiencing church for the first time , or even more plausible , someone who came out of a feeling of obligation or duty to a member of their family . If the medium is the message , it is our responsibility to ensure that message is received as positively as possible .
Explore our list of classic and contemporary song recommendations here !
CHARTS OF WONDER , CHARTS OF LIGHT
Let ’ s face it , Christmas classics include chord progressions , key modulations , and even time signatures that the majority of modern worship does not . Ensuring that your charts and resources are not only accurate but also delivered to your team as early as possible will help everyone be more comfortable when
Christmas Eve rolls around . At MultiTracks . com , our charts are made to perfectly match the track , so you not only don ’ t need to worry about correcting charts , but when you change the song arrangement in our tracks app
Playback , your charts in
ChartBuilder will update automatically . And with
Playback Sync , Playback can even navigate through your charts and setlist for every musician on stage so they don ’ t have to worry about swiping pages or tapping pedals . Resource your team with accurate charts and equip them to be fully engaged in the moment .
MAKE SURE YOU ’ RE ON SANTA ’ S NICE SETLIST
Every church is different , but the Christmas season can mean there are exponentially more services to plan than a typical month . Before equipping your team at all , you first need to plan your setlists . But what if changes are made later ? With
Playback Rentals , you can build all of your setlist with click , guide , and pads for every song without using a Rental . Then when you ’ re ready , rent those songs in the exact timeframe you need them . This way you can equip your team with charts and resources but be flexible to change without having unnecessarily using an additional Rental .
ON DASHER , ON DANCER , ON PRANCER , AND AUTOMATION
Along with an increased number of services often comes a higher level of production . For those of us who want our production to go above and beyond in Christmas services , automation is key .
Playback makes it simple to send MIDI notes from the app to control lights , patches , and anything that receives MIDI . Program your lights ahead of time with your exact tracks and ensure your setup is not only built and tested but was built without having to learn new software or confusing setups . What that looks like for your church is up to you . It can also free up your volunteers to be able to engage in the services more !
ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS PERFECT LYRIC SLIDES
Nothing is more distracting than a spelling error on lyric slide . Or even worse , not being on the correct slide in the first place ! Christmas is a season when not only is the importance of accurate slides is heightened , but we also need more skilled volunteers to cover the additional services .
MultiTracks . com has partnered with
ProPresenter to import customizable and accurate lyric slides directly from inside ProPresenter .
And not only that , but Playback can control your lyric slide changes for you with pre-made Production Cues to control each set of lyric slides . While this doesn ’ t eliminate the need for a person controlling slides in the booth for other service elements like the message and announcements , we have found that it frees up that volunteer to actually engage in worship . No more stressfully clicking through the whole service .
All of these tips and resources were created to help give you time back to focus on what matters this Christmas season ; to be able to experience the joy of Christmas instead of being exhausted by it . We hope these are a blessing to you and your church , and we wish you a very merry Christmas .
Jesse Schaefer Jesse Schaefer is the Junior Product Marketing Manager at MultiTracks . com , where he is passionate about connecting worship leaders with resources that improve their services and give them time back to focus on what matters . To learn more about an entire system of connected resources , visit
MultiTracks . com .