Building a Multi Site Worship Team from Scratch – Update II
Our next multi-site campus is coming along nicely in Alice, Tx which is approx. 35 miles away from our central campus (Bay Area Fellowship-Corpus Christi). It looks like we should be in there around mid – July. Fortunately, I’ve met some great people out there who have a worship band and are interested in sharing their talents with us @ B.A.F.A. There are also others, who aren’t in that band, who are interested as well so I will begin auditions during the 1st week of services. Man, what a relief! I seriously didn’t know what I was gonna do and was kinda stressed, but God has provided (just like He promises He will). I’ve always said, this is God’s work and He’s gonna get it done with or without us. So, why stress about it.
We are going to have to do some of the build out of the new facility. Sometimes this can be a huge undertaking but thankfully, we’ve got a great core group in Alice that’s willing to help with the rest (floor, temporary walls, etc.). As far as audio/video goes, we will most likely begin the install next week.
The auditorium part of the facility is not very big so the audio/video install will be minimal. We’ll be using a couple of 15″ JBL EON’s that will be flown, a couple of JBL 12″ monitors, Crown Pwr Amp, dbx eq’s, Allen & Heath MixWizard 16 & a dbx driverack. Video is through a Panasonic projector that will be shot on the wall behind the stage. It will be in an area of the wall that will be painted with screen paint. Media will be handled through an iMac via ProPresenter.
Because of the small space and high ceilings, my plan is to do all music unplugged with a couple of acoustics, percussion, bass and 2 or 3 vocalists. This is of course until we move into the bigger facility next door, at which time we will go with a full band and full instrumentation. I’m very excited to see everything come together and I know it’s gonna be awesome.
Worship Leader Tip: Know Your Vocalists
A good worship leader knows exactly what his/her vocalists are capable of musically. Matching a song to the appropriate singer can have a tremendous affect on your singer, the band and the congregation. If it’s not done correctly, your singer will feel like a failure, your band will be very frustrated, and the phrase “oh, bless your heart” will be echoed throughout the congregation. If you haven’t focused on this to much, I suggest that you start paying attention to what your vocalists do well and what they don’t. Here are some things to look for.
- Range. You can always transpose a song if you need to but it’s easier to pick a song that fits nicely in their range. Using my guitar, I’ve found that most females sing between 3rd string G (open) and 1st string A (5th fret). So, when picking a song, make sure the vocal line is in that range.
- Style. Is their style soulful (r&b), rocker or traditional style (choir). I’d think twice about giving someone who sounds like Rebecca St. James a Joss Stone song. Or, vice versa.
- Speech. When they talk are they monotone? Do they project? Do they have a twang in their speech? Think about this, because if you’re doing “Hosanna”, you might end up hearing “Hosan-ner” instead. But, the good thing is that this kinda thing is an easy fix and shouldn’t keep you from booking someone.
- Pitch. If a singer frequently goes just a little flat on long notes, then don’t give them songs with long notes. Give them the faster songs, in which the original track has some pitchy vocals in it already. These are usually the “jump and shout” songs that everyone knows and loves.
You can really make or break a singer by the songs you choose, so please choose wisely. After months of assigning the right songs to your vocalists they will become confident enough to try songs that are out of their comfort zone and before you know it, you’ll have a singer that’s awesome. Remember, it’s up to you to Know Your Vocalists.
How Good Does A Musician Have To Be To Play In Your Band?
How good do they have to be? Well, the musicians have to be as good as you want your worship music to be. 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 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.
Worship Leader Tip: Scheduling Musicians
If you’re booking your band a week at a time, you’ve probably got a headache every Monday. This is assuming of course that you’re jumping on the phone & scheduling your band early in the week. If you’re waiting ’till Friday to book them, you might want to hand off that part of your job to a responsible person. Or, step down from the position of Worship Leader and just play in the band. I know, that’s kinda harsh right? Well, God does everything with excellence and we should too.
There are several software programs on the market right now that make this task easy for a small fee. But there’s also Google Calendar. You do not need to have a gmail account (although it makes things a little easier) and its free. I schedule our musicians by quarter. The 3rd quarter is coming up soon, so what I’ll do is call, email and text all of the musicians and ask them to send me their availablility for the next quarter. I remind them to consider plans that they might have already before sending their schedule to me. Things like birthdays, trips, graduations, weddings, holidays etc. Once you have everyone’s schedule, you plan out your band every week for the next twelve weeks and put it in your google calendar. You just click on a date and start writing, ex. (D-Cheryl, B-Houston, EG-Jeremy, AcG-Brandon, Keys-Willie, Vocals-Barb, Tashsa, Willie). Once you’re done for the quarter, email/text/call everyone in the band and have them check the schedule for any conflicts. If there are some, then make the necessary changes. Otherwise, put your stamp on it and make it official.
The instructions for making the calendar visible to the public are available online and are simple to follow. You can also post a link on your band’s webpage or blog so that they can just go there to check the schedule. Something will almost always come up and you’ll have to make adjustments, but at least you have a master plan and you’re free to use that part of your brain for something else besides scheduling. As I mentioned earlier, it is easier when you have a gmail account because you can use that as your official band email address. You can import all of the contact info of your band members and set it up to where reminders are sent to those playing that weekend. You can even link a map to your rehearsal building which is great for auditions and 1st time players. Actually, this is really beneficial in the Multi Site Music Ministry because you might audition someone in your office but have them play at another campus on any given weekend.
I hope you’ve found this information helpful. If you have your own ideas about this subject, please feel free to comment. Google Calendar is free and has worked for me so check it out and let me know what you think.
About
About Me. Hmmm? Well, I am married to my beautiful wife Gloria and we have an awesome 6yr. old son named Jaden who has Down Syndrome. I’m a guitarist at heart with a passion for singing and songwriting. I’ve played guitar for almost 30 years now and I’ve been in a lot of bands in various genres. I’ve had the pleasure of opening shows for Kansas, Steppenwolf, Blue Oyster Cult, Nazareth, The Outfield, Chris Duarte, Edgar Winter, Building 429 and others. I’ve performed with the Corpus Christi Symphony and The Platters as a session guitarist.
Presently, I am the Multi Site Worship Pastor @ Bay Area Fellowship, which is a huge blessing. It’s allowed me to use my Music Ed. degree to the fullest and has become a real calling for my life. I am currently working with the worship leaders at 6 of our campuses by helping them create and maintain great worship teams at each campus. Above all, my relationship with God is the most important thing in my life and I pray that He would use the gifts He’s given me to reach the lost through engaging worship.
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