In this video, I expose my techniques for sounding more open and modern on a piano in a modern worship team.
In this video, I expose my techniques for sounding more open and modern on a piano in a modern worship team.
This post is part of a series of posts summarizing five priceless principles from Joe Pace’s book “From Performance to Praise.” These concepts apply to every member of the worship team. For more information – read the book!
Priceless Principle #4
Those involved in Music Ministry are faithful.
“Faithfulness is a moment by moment, day by day, circumstance by circumstance decision to do one word – stay. To stay committed when you can leave is faithfulness. To remain steadfast when you are continually passed over is faithfulness. There is nothing holding you to this place you are in, and you feel looked over anyway, so just leave. It’s not that simple – you’ve made a commitment to stay in your place until it’s your turn to be moved into the next position.” –Joe Pace
“Faithfulness is continual. It is coming to choir rehearsal prepared because you rehearsed at home. It is playing the same chords repeatedly until you have them right. It is forsaking the quick, easy way out, refusing to give up after disagreements, or giving your all even after you way of things was not adopted. God needs to know that you are there for the long haul. Being faithful simply means that you will stay in your place doing the same thing continually until God moves you into another position.”
If God has called you here, then stay here until he calls you away. This is only between you, God, and sometimes a person in spiritual authority.
To the right of this post (only viewable on cmiworship.com site – not RSS), you can see a link for asking a question. One such question was asked about policies regarding Special Music, and this post is written to answer that question – but hopefully it will help many of us.
The Use of Special Music
Special music (outside of choir and regular worship songs) can be a valuable part of the service. It could also be a massive distraction. The difference is good planning and leadership.
For example, a good use of special music uses the song to help the flow of the service. Special Music should never be a time filler – it should be purposeful. If the song is worshipful and helps people focus on God – maybe use it as a call to worship. If its about serving or giving, maybe use it during offering. If the song is a challenge to live a specific way, consider using it to introduce or close out a Sermon (if the message is coordinated with the special song). For example, if the Pastor preached on taking Christ out to the people around us, maybe the special song could be Casting Crown’s “If We Are The Body” (Why aren’t His arms reaching…). That would tie everything together.
Most Pastors are great at connecting to our minds – but its the artistic touch (i.e. special music) that touches our hearts. Touch the mind and heart for the fullest influence – it can create a transformational moment in lives. To coordinate special music with the sermon – that does require active planning! I can’t figure out why so many churches have opposition to the notion of planning. This concept is expected for Christmas and Easter – but for some reason some get offended when artists suggest we continue planning efforts to make every service special. (I’m suggesting we ask God what he wants, and head in that direction until God prompts us otherwise; I’m not suggesting we plan the Holy Spirit’s direction out of our service).
Planning ahead is a challenge for many busy pastors that struggle to perfect their notes until Saturday night, but if they understand all we need is a general theme (i.e. “Love your neighbor” or “Being devoted to God”) rather than their entire manuscript, they may have an easier time giving artists the fuel they need to serve. I encourage all artists to consistently ask their pastor for service direction ahead of time. I took the liberty of writing a letter to your pastor already that might be helpful. Click here to read it.
Now the bad use of Special Music is very common as well. Two things can make special music really bad. First, if its just done really poorly. If someone wants to sing on a stage, they need to be gifted at singing. That’s what the Bible says anyhow. (There’s room for some grace – I’ll get to that, keep reading…). Secondly, bad use of special music is if it causes disjoint in the service. Imagine a special song placed right before the sermon. The special song is about sharing Christ with others – great theme, great song. As soon as the powerful song is finished, and everyone is moved emotionally about sharing Christ with others, the Pastor takes the pulpit and says, “This morning, I want to share 5 ways we can hear God’s voice more clearly.” … WHAT?! … At the very least the pastor should have prayed for the congregation to have boldness to be evangelistic before transitioning to his message on a different topic. At the very least each “service element” needs to pass the baton from one idea to the next — but personally I think its better to keep all elements along the same vein. There are a million systems we can use to carry this out.
Special Music Systems (Structure)
I believe that the system used to do special music isn’t nearly as important as the attitude behind it. It’s easy to create a good system for Special Music (SO MANY have merit and could be considered “good” in the right setting). It’s also very very very easy to get a wrong/bad attitude about Special Music. What I’m saying is that all the systems we come up with must be about and focused on RELATIONSHIP. Systems are an institutional construct, but the biblical understanding of Church isn’t an institution – it’s PEOPLE (the gathering of those who are “called out”). The institutional constructs (systems) should serve and respond to the needs of the Church (people), not the other way around. The people’s needs should dictate the leader’s systems and structures. (That does NOT mean that the people dictate the leader). That perspective pervades all the following answers to the asker’s specific issues:
Auditions. I absolutely believe in doing auditions, but I’ve never asked anyone to audition for me – ever. At least I never used the word “Audition.” I think that word — at least in my setting — has a lot of bad connotation with it. It just makes things sound stuffy, impersonal, and rather institutionalized. I don’t think Jesus ever meant for that stigma, so I tend to avoid it. If someone who I’m not familiar with asks if they can sing on a stage, I don’t say, “I need you to do an audition.” But I will say, “Can we meet up after church so I can hear you sing?” This vocabulary will shape an arts department.
Schedules. There’s a million ways to schedule special music – and I’m pretty sure I’ve used most of them. I don’t think any of them are wrong, figure out what helps you with your goals. Set goals and vision first.
Rehearsing the special song in front of a review team for constructive criticism? Great question. I think this one just depends. Unless your inbox is overflowing with people begging to sing special songs, I don’t think this needs to be a policy. A leader must be more focused on the people he’s leading than the institutional constructs (policies) that help him lead. If you have a veteran vocalist that sings fantastic and has great stage presence – I wouldn’t suggest you worry too much about a review team. If you have a newbie, I would invite them to come in a week ahead for some feedback and maybe to have a try with the Sound System (I’ve found “feedback” is a much more welcomed term than “constructive criticism.” The latter just makes people feel insecure). I think the healthiest review process revolves around discipleship principles and interpersonal relationships.
I used to struggle much more with proper structures. I was challenged by my worship leading mentor, “Do you truly love the people you’re leading?” Of course I said yes. But he challenged me, saying that he didn’t love his church for several years. So I kept asking myself the question over and over – “Do I love the people I’m leading?” The more I asked myself that, the more I saw (in practical situations) that I didn’t truly love them. I had no amnosity, and I liked everyone — but I didn’t truly love them. They weren’t my focus. Maintaining my precious structures and systems were my focus. If I don’t truly love the people I’m leading, I’m probably not going to bother considering what would help each individual. <– Reflect on that.
What about guidelines for memorizing music and using cheat sheets? This totally depends. Was the singer asked to sing a song three days ago? For crying out loud them them use some words! Under general circumstances, I think special songs should be memorized – that will of course help them communicate the point more clearly. But there are a million factors that can effect this. Maybe the singer couldn’t memorize because of some family emergency or they had to work overtime the past week . . . I try to show grace because I never know when I’ll need it shown to me! (Quick Tip: My favorite is a cheat sheet that has the first couple words of each line on a paper. I once had to memorize a solo in college in about 30 minutes notice. I was familiar with the words, so I just wrote the first words to each line with a permanent marker and placed the paper on the front of the stage. The solo went on without a hitch!)
What about the regulation of quality of the song selection? This is a fantastic question. I already wrote about how the song selection should flow with what is going on. If you’re worried about people writing their own music and wanting to do that for a special song – THAT is a situation for which I would use a review team. Songwriters must understand that just because they wrote a song doesn’t mean it was for the radio or the church. God gives some songs for our personal expression, others for a group, others for a church, others for a region, and others for radio and beyond. If people in your church are writing music (AWESOME), I would definitely recommend a review team (for support) to analyze its musicality, lyric, and theological soundness.
This post is part of a series of posts summarizing five priceless principles from Joe Pace’s book “From Performance to Praise.” These concepts apply to every member of the worship team. For more information – read the book!
Priceless Principle #3
Those involved in Music Ministry are anointed and skillful.
First, let’s look at the word “anointed.”
Second, let’s look at the word “skillful.”
Bottom line – pull your weight on the team. If one person is unprepared and did not do their part, it will hold the team back from giving God their very best collective effort.