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.