Multi-Site Worship

To say that it’s going pretty slow in Alice is an understatement. I haven’t had any solid leads yet, but I have come across a few possibilities. I guess I’m doing ok seeing as how we don’t even have a facility yet. I can’t let this bogg me down. This is where I have to fight off the stress and believe that everything will come together.
Well, nobody bit on the questions of “how good do the band members have to be” and, “do they have to be saved”. So, I’ll just ramble on till I get a bite.
How good do they have to be? Well, the musicians have to be as good as you’ll tolerate on stage. If they’re bad, then the worship music will be bad. And everyone knows that right or wrong, the quality of worship music has a lot to do with attendance. I frequently use a scale of 1 – 10 as far as musical aptitude goes, so lets use that in this situation. When starting your worship team, it’s best to set the bar at 5′s & 6′s (on a scale of 1 – 10). Set it and stick to it. Even if it means it’s just you up there with an acoustic or piano. This is where you need to start. It’s much better than starting with 2′s & 3′s. If you do get some 2′s & 3′s, you’re gonna have to really think about how much time you have to get your music to the next level. So, you might want to talk to them about helping in Audio/Video or Stage Production. Anyway, starting with 5′s & 6′s is great because that’s what it takes to get the 7′s & 8′s and eventually the 9′s & 10′s. It’s going to be difficult to pull in a player that is a 10 when your band is in the “5″ stage (mid level). This is where the team building begins. You have to give it time to build slowly while working with them. The 5′s & 6′s have to know that you believe that they can eventually get to the point where they’re not the weakest players in a group of 10′s. This type of encouragement and investing is priceless and usually results in members who are totally sold out to the ministry. The flip side is, you have to also love them enough to tell them when they aren’t keeping up and encourage them to honestly look at their commitment level.
I heard a lead pastor tell his worship team “no one gets by on their talent alone.” This is very true. I’ll add to that by saying that no one gets by on relationship alone either. There has to be a balance. If your guitarist (who is also your best friend) isn’t keeping up because his skill level has maxed out at a 5 and your band is a 10, then you have to ask him/her to take a different role in the ministry. Whether it be in sound, lights, coordinating, etc. You don’t want to send them packing, but they have to know that the band has graduated to the next level. They normally understand, and are willing to make the move. It’s like this, each weekend service is like the Super Bowl, you want to play your 1st string, not the 3rd right?
So, what is a 2? What’s a 5? What’s a 10? That’s totally up to you! We all have a different idea of what’s good, what’s great & what’s awesome. So, that’s where your expertise comes in.
I’ll talk about whether or not a musician needs to be saved to be on the worship team in a later post. Check back soon.

It looks like we’re a go for our next Multi Site Campus in Alice, Tx and my head is spinning. I’m going to post everything that happens along the way, so if you are about to add another campus or begin your first, check back often for details.

I’d like to start by saying that I am believing that God will provide the people we need for this campus, and realize that stressing over it will not do anything but make me stressed. Of course we have to do our part, but we all know that God is going to get His agenda done with or without us.
Ok, with that said, here’s the information I have on the campus. Alice is approximately an hour away and we don’t have a building yet (how’s that for faith). There’s a core group of about 40 people that come to the main campus and they will be the leaders of the new Alice campus.
The first thing I did when I heard that we were a go was to call a friend who grew up in Alice but didn’t live there anymore. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any leads. He did suggest that I call the local music store in Corpus Christi that supplies the schools in this region with band instruments. I figured that they could put me in touch with the band directors in Alice, and that they could give me some referrals to good musicians in the area. I have not made the call yet but will jump on it this week. Like I said, these are the beginning steps to putting together a worship team from scratch in a town where nobody knows your name (Cheers?)
I’ve also called a lot of people that I know personally to get the word out. There have been a few referrals, but they don’t live in Alice. Now, this is very important. You have to get musicians from the town that the campus is in. You don’t want them driving 1 hour to Thursday rehearsals and Sunday service every week. They will burn out quickly and you’ll be looking for someone in town eventually. Besides that, you want it to be their church home and not just where they go to play. The “all in” factor has to be there and it’s easier to attain when they live in the same community.
As soon as I get some names, I will be making some “cold calls” to see who’s interested.
You may be asking, what’s your criteria? How good do they have to be? Do they have to be believers? Before I give you my answers, I’d love to hear yours. How would you answer these questions?