WORSHIP LEADERS
HOW NOT TO LEAVE THE CONGREGATION GUESSING | Jon Nicol
There are two types of worship leaders with guitars in their hands : singers who play guitar and guitarists who sing . ( There are a few that defy the odds and are killer at both . We call them ‘ overly-blessed-talent-hogs .’ Looking at you , Lincoln Brewster . Looking at you …)
I fall squarely into the second camp — a guitarist who sings . Unless I ' m doing my Marc Cohn , “ Walkin ' In Memphis ” imitation , people aren ' t moved by my voice . ( Even then , it ' s more amused than moved .)
In the world of singers , I ' m entirely average , if not below . However , stacked against a bunch of non-singers in my congregation , I sound pretty good . Even as a ‘ better-than-some ’ singer , I experienced what I can only assume many in my congregation experienced : I was left guessing .
On a Sunday that I was part of the congregation , not too far into the set , my worship leader went off on a vocal acrobatic stunt . It sounded good , but I stopped singing . Why ?
I should have been able to keep singing the melody . But , I became tentative about what to sing when the leader went somewhere I wasn ' t expecting . I had to wonder , if someone like me ( who isn ' t afraid to sing out , who knows the songs , and who actually planned the darn worship set ) gets tripped up , then what ' s happening to others in the congregation with less musicality ?
If I ' m hesitating , you can bet a bunch of the congregation is , too .
TENTATIVE MOMENTS As I had additional opportunities to be in the congregation , I observed four different situations that caused ‘ vocally tentative moments ’ for my gathered church : 1 . The worship leader left the known melody to ad-lib or sings a high harmony . 2 . The worship leader jumped an octave . 3 . The leader didn ’ t lead confidently into a new line or section of the song . 4 . There was a vague lead vocalist transition from one singer to another .
At each of these moments , the congregation was left guessing . If the song wasn ’ t incredibly well-known , I sensed hesitation among the gathered worshipers .
REMOVING THE VOCAL ROADBLOCKS I think we worship leaders often forget the " leader " part of our title when it comes to the congregation . Our job is to model worship , yes . But it ' s more than that . We need to engage the congregation and gently pull them along . And as we ' re leading them , we need to remove the roadblocks and speed bumps that trip them up .
So here are four practical ways to avoid those vocally tentative moments :
1 . Always have a strong melody singer . There are times that it ' s fitting for a worship leader to go off the map — through spontaneous worship or just to add dynamic energy to the song . During those moments , prepare to have at least one strong singer stay on the melody . Also , make sure the sound tech knows to bump their volume so the congregation can still hear the melody .
In my opinion , those off-the-map moments