high rotation to ensure the congregation knew them . If we put too many tunes in the pipeline to teach , we ' d be singing too many new songs or not rotating them enough .
GUIDELINE # 2 NEW SONG FIT It wasn ' t enough for a song to be catchy or moving . It needed to meet specific criteria :
• Is it singable for the average person in our church ?
• Does it fit the theology / doctrine of our church ?
• Is it a musical style that fits our church ?
• Can our musicians play it well ?
• Is the theme and / or feel of the song one that we need more of ?
For example , I was always looking for a solid , upbeat call to worship tune to add to our rotation . But at any given time , we usually had a glut of big , mid-tempo worship anthems . It didn ' t mean I never introduced the latter , but I usually purged a similar song to make room for the new one .
So with those two guidelines in place , I created my New Song Suggestion System . Here ' s what it looked like .
It was a simple web form that had the following required fields :
• Contact Info : Name / Email / Phone
• Single-line text field : Song Title & Artist or Church
• Single-line text field : Link to the lyrics
• Single-line text field : Link to the song ( on Youtube preferably )
• Paragraph text field ( with 200-word limit ): Why do you think this song ' s message will fit our church ?
• Paragraph text field ( with 200-word limit ): How will the music of this song fit our church ?
Above those fields was a short message : Please take a moment to complete this form . It helps us make sure we listen to every song request that is submitted .
Then , this message appeared after the song was submitted :
Thanks for taking the time to thoughtfully suggest a new song for our church . We value your input , so we wanted you to understand our process .
As a church , we value the participation of the congregation in our Sunday morning musical worship times . Using a limited song rotation , we ensure our church family knows most of our songs and can sing them from the heart . Because of that , we are highly selective about which ones we choose and are limited to introducing only about one new tune a month .
Please understand we cannot implement every song that is submitted . The music we choose needs to be singable for the average person , fit our church ' s beliefs , and fit the themes we need currently .
Just like you , there are songs we would love to sing together with our church family . But there just isn ' t time and space for everyone ' s favorite . For those personal favorites , we listen to them in our own private worship times , and we encourage you to do the same with your favorite worship songs .
Yours In Christ , The Worship Ministry Leadership Team
Now that you know what I asked for and the reply I gave , let ' s talk about why each element is essential :
1 . I asked for their contact info , so I could follow up with a personal thanks . ( Note : I choose not to let them know if we were considering their song — primarily because of time constraints . But you can do that if you want . If a person cared enough , they would often follow up with me .)
2 . Song title , artist / church , and links to the lyrics and recorded version of the song make it easy for me or another leader to review it .
3 . The required fields asking about the musical and lyrical fit with our church helped scare away those who might suggest songs indiscriminately . And , these questions communicated that we take this process seriously .
4 . The limited word count in the paragraph fields was to keep these entries quick to review . ( Let ' s face it , some people will write a book if given a chance .)
5 . The explanation of our process is included at the end because people more readily accept NO when they KNOW WHY .
If it seems like a lot of work to set this up , consider it an investment . Not only will it save you time in the long run , but it also honors the person submitting it .
And here ' s another killer benefit .
I had a bass player who texted me new songs four to five times per month . I could barely keep up . In fact , I dreaded seeing his name pop up on my phone . After implementing this form , I graciously replied to his latest text with a genuine , " Thanks , buddy ! Here ' s a song suggestion form I created so I wouldn ' t lose track of all the great songs you send me ."
Guess who stopped sending me every catchy song he heard on K-LOVE ?
Now , this kind of system may feel impersonal to you . But what was really impersonal was when I forgot ( or ignored ) someone ' s request . So , as you lead your growing worship ministry , you may find that a system like this is a solution to honoring your church family while still meeting the high demands of Sunday after Sunday .
Here ' s to no longer being the Sunday Morning Jukebox ! Can I get an amen ?
Jon Nicol Jon ’ s the founder of WorshipWorkshop . com and WorshipTeamCoach . com , two sites that help worship leaders build strong teams and lead engaging worship . He lives and serves in Lexington , Ohio with his wife Shannon and their four kids . WorshipWorkshop . com WorshipTeamCoach . com