WORSHIP LEADERS
ARE YOU ON THE WORSHIP MINISTRY CRAZY CYCLE ? | Jon Nicol
[ The following is an excerpt from Jon ’ s new book , Exceptional Every Sunday : Build a Worship Team That ’ s Consistently Excellent Week after Week ( No Matter Who ’ s on the Platform ). It ’ s been modified to fit as an article .]
You , worship leader … worship pastor … music minister – whatever your title – face a unique challenge . Your Sunday work happens every ... single … week . Over and over , Sunday arrives every seven days with alarming regularity . And as soon as one service is in the can , you gotta start working on another .
Also , the most significant part of your job performance is judged on a 20-minute set of music once a week :
• The quality depends on volunteers – all of which are a mixed bag of talent , experience , commitment , and maturity .
• Also , your job is critiqued by 100 , 200 , 700 , 1500 , or however many people attend your church . And every single one of them has opinions about what worship and church music should sound like .
• Those opinions are typically based on watching celebrity church services online . You know , the churches whose weekly production costs exceed your annual ministry budget . Heck , maybe even your entire church ’ s annual budget .
• Few ( if no one ) can do what you do . Regardless , some are willing to share their opinions freely through notes or postservice comments .
• After you get through Sunday , you know your work will be dissected and picked apart in the Tuesday post-mortem – er , staff meeting .
• Meanwhile , you ’ re already knee-deep in getting ready for this coming Sunday .
Over and over goes this wash , rinse , repeat pattern of churning out worship services . And amid those recurring weekly demands , you know that making Sunday special isn ’ t just accomplished with planning and rehearsals .
To maintain and improve Sunday standards , you have to somehow get that team of volunteers to look better ( platform presence and expression ), sound better ( musicianship and skill ), and love better ( God , each other , the congregation ).
This is not easy . You ’ re dealing with a mixed
bag of volunteer musicians :
• Most are extremely busy ( and like to remind you just how busy they are ).
• They also demonstrate various levels of commitment ( and it ’ s rarely the level you desire ).
• Some are untrained in critical areas of musicianship or technical skills .
• Some are newer and still need to get up to speed . They ’ re a bit of an anchor for you , but you love their enthusiasm .
• Some are older and stuck in their ways . They ’ re also an anchor , but without the enthusiasm .
Besides their vastly different skill , commitment , and maturity levels , you also have to deal with varying personality types .
• Some are amiable and ‘ go along to get along .’
• Some are task-oriented . They just want to get down to business and get home .
• Some are direct and assertive . You feel like they might be challenging your authority .
• And some just want to make every rehearsal and soundcheck a party – with themselves at the center of attention .
And the tension doesn ’ t stop there . You ’ re not