I have yet to find an answer to this question. Should the worship team be a set group of people, who have their hearts set on worshiping the Lord, are talented musicians, who sound tight together, and who are gifted at leading people into worshiping the Lord by using music? Or should the worship team be open to anyone who wants to serve, regardless of heart, skill, the ability to play with a band, or the ability to lead others?
Probably the more appropriate question is, Is the worship team there for the congregation, or for themselves? Now, that sounds a little sarcastic on the ‘there for themselves’ part. I really don’t mean it to be. What I mean is that most ministries in the church do a great job of getting people to ‘help themselves’ by serving. One of the best ways to grow in the Lord is to serve. So I’m not at all saying that having people on the worship music team for them to grow in the Lord or as worship musicians is a bad thing. The question I’m asking is, which purpose is correct? Or is there a balance somewhere?
See……hang on a second……I just totally lost my train of thought. The sweet tremolo throb intro for U2’s ‘Electrical Storm’ just came on. Whoa. I mean, whoa. Keanu Reeves couldn’t say ‘whoa’ good enough to describe this song. Okay, no, I didn’t lose my train of thought! ’Electrical Storm’ type sounds, and sounscapes, and feelings, is the kind of stuff we could accomplish with a set worship team! Imagine a team of worship musicians who played together all the time, were all competent musicians, and who were all worship leaders led by the Spirit on their own instruments. Whoa again. And not for the music’s sake. With this philosophy, we’d be excluding a few musicians, but really giving an amazing worship experience through music to the hundreds (or thousands…but probably nobody reading this blog) in the congregation.
(This is a shot from the music video for Electrical Storm. Ya, I know. I’m the only one who’d ever know that. I love U2 way too much. Nope. No such thing.)
Now, this is where my brain always goes. I always go here…and ‘Electrical Storm’ doesn’t help things. And then I fall back down to earth and remember that the way I got into worship music was by one worship leader taking a chance on me when I was a long-haired, bearded, 19-year-old who looked like he was 35 and barely made it through the ’80’s, playing a BC Rich and a Crate. I mean, if me then were to come up to me now (this is getting Back To the Future-ish), I wouldn’t have let me on the worship team. Wait, confusion. But you know what I mean. So I am the product of the mindset that the worship team is there to grow the team primarily, and to reach the congregation secondarily.
So needless to say, I run things somewhere in between both those mindsets. I do tell people that I think their giftings may be elsewhere, but I also do not run a completely set team each Sunday. In fact, pretty far from it. I see the benefits to running a set team, but I have also seen many lives changed (including my own) due to having an open ministry philosophy. I suppose in a perfect world, we might have a set team, and then also be open for anyone who wanted to serve…but have a training program. But then people’s feelings get hurt…which isn;t necessarily a bad thing. It can be very useful in personal and spiritual growth. But wow, I hate hurting people’s feelings. Some people don’t seem to have a problem with it. But I’m one of those people who, if we’re rehearsing, and I specifically hear the bassist play an F# over our G/B chord, I’ll cut the song before I tell someone they’re screwing up. (Well, not really……but that is my first impulse!)
In a perfect world, everyone would just want to serve the Lord, and if there was another guitarist who helped the worship experience more, they would gladly set down their guitar for him (or her 
) and lead worship by pouring their heart out by sitting in the congregation. And we’d all love to think that we’d do just that, the opportunity has just never presented itself because you know, we don’t want to brag, but there are few who help out the worship experience more than us. Ya, he may have better chops than me, but is he as tasteful as me? Ya, he may have better tone than me, but can he set the mood like this swell does? Ya, his guitar-playing might beat mine like Jodie Foster did Dwight Yoakam’s hand in Panic Room (that was just on…yikes, that was a terrible movie…did they just cgi the cell phone?), but come on now……where’s his heart at? Now, it might just be me that rationalizes things that way, but I’m willing to bet, as the sensitive musicians that we are, that we’ve all done that a time or two.
(I’m gonna go ahead and go out on a limb and say if there’s a movie with this guy as the villain, ya……maybe don’t set your expectations ultra-high. Although that one-eyed gaze from below the cowboy hat is a little creepy. But in a different and much more frightening way.)
So, being that it is not a perfect world, perhaps the answer does lie in a balance of raising people up in both love and honesty as worship leaders, and yet still maintaining a certain level so as to make sure we nail it in creating an atmosphere conducive to the congregation’s worship.
And I’ll be quite honest……I have yet to find that balance. I think it’s somewhere between a worship experience put on by The Listening, one of the best bands I have heard, and between a worship experience put on by the guy with an acoustic guitar sitting on stage after everyone has left, and six people are kneeling, pouring their hearts out.
Maybe I’ll find it someday…not much luck so far. But hey, if Panic Room taught us anything, it taught us to keep searching for the balance between having a worship team for the sake of the members and having a worship team for the sake of the congregation. No. No it didn’t. Not even a little. I was trying, but it’s very hopeless. What Panic Room taught us is that when you have 2 criminals holding your daughter captive, you should definitely lock the cops out of the house, arm yourself with a sledge-hammer, and try to sneak up behind them. Especially if you’re a 5′2 woman.
Splendid.
Karl.
From experience…I played guitar off and on (more off than on) but it wasn’t until I asked about playing at church did my skill take off. There was already a guitarist on that particular team…but he was willing to have me join. At the time, it was a bit comforting because if I lost my place in a song, he was covering up my mistakes!
Later, when he was gone, I did the same with another guy. The wheels on the bus go round and round.
In the case of an inexperienced musician who would be the only player of that instrument (drummer, bassist, etc.) I would have them attend practices until which point i/we deemed them ready to play on a Sunday.
It takes time to build a tight team but it can be done. The congregation may or may not notice it in the same way they would notice a drummer who couldn’t play very well.
I like set teams. I’m not a fan of the “switch up all the time” mindset. However, I think other musicians, whether on a team or just willing volunteers (who are good) can do cameo appearances from time to time.
Obviously I like the set team
However, I was the same as you- got lucky someone thought enough to teach me and train me. I think if someone wanted to play I would train them and then audition them. I know they let me “play with the band” on stage, plugged in, but off in the house sound. At times I had my own monitor so i could hear myself, but that was it. It taught me how to play with the band without screwing the sound up that much. No problem.
Again tho– I have yet to be in a place where we had enough people to rotate a team through. I was able to gather 3 other guitarists once, but barely could 1 of them show each week (kids sick etc…). So a set team is what we get by default.
In fact, I wish we could train more people….
Youth Group worship team. I know a lot of churches use it as a sandbox for teaching musicians how to play together. Youth doesn’t care what it sounds like as long as they can be rowdy!!
@mike: as a sound guy, youth team = nightmare mix. I add a lot of reverb
Chris–awesome stuff. Ya, I had the exact same thing happen to me…I owe that guitarist a lot! And I like set teams, too…it’s just hard for me to put out of my mind all the lives that have been changed by not having set teams. It’s definitely a toss-up for me right now.
Larry–yep, a lot of it is by default. That’s one of the advantages to a set team perhaps…committment. But one of the disadvantages would be maybe not having enough backups. No one likes to get called to play on a whim once every four months. Tough decisions.
Mike–great idea. I’ve thought a lot about that…but then I always come back to like, Desperation Band. They’re the youth band, and they’re better than the main service team. But, then again, that’s at a church a billion times bigger than mine. hehe
Chris–hear hear! hehe
The best quote I’ve ever heard on worship is that “Worship leading is the art of removing distractions”. I filter a lot of decisions through that quote.
For example, I was recently wrestling with whether my priority is creating excellent worship times or creating as many ministry opportunities as possible (don’t say “both. I will slap you.). When I filtered it through that quote, I realized that I can’t create a ministry opportunity for someone if all I’ll be doing is creating a distraction for the congregation.
I work hands-on with the student ministry team and work hard developing their giftedness. They all know that there is a standard for playing on the weekend team. But they also know that if they get there, they’ll be given the chance.
To sum up (something I suck at doing!), I think that the “band” model is too exclusive. There’s a way to be excellent without excluding other gifted musicians and vocalists.
Wow. Thanks, Blogsology. A lot of wisdom there.
I’ve thought about that…creating a system where there’s a ton of ministry opportunites within the worship music ministry, while still keeping closer to to a ’set band.’ Like you said, ‘Excellent without excluding.’ But every time I start it up, someone cancels, and I’m forced to throw a new person in, who hasn’t come up through the system, and people get their feelings hurt. Maybe I’m just too much of a wuss. hehe
It seems like the general concensus here is having a training program in the student ministries. For those of you doing this, how is it working? How many people have actually improved their skills, and become foundational people on the main team?
Our church’s youth has done great. They are giving a youth “rally” type service one Friday a month where they are in charge (kinda a ROCK coffee shop atmosphere) and its a BIGG deal for them. They really learn respect, leadership etc… and how to perform. Its amazing how “real” it gets for them. As they grow (seniors in high school at this point) they are required to “train” the replacement for when they go to college. It really develops a mentorship type program within the youth.
Again I am amazed at how serious they take this. Of course the youth minister monitors to make sure there is no funny business, but most musicians are serious about their art.
We also give them 2 services a year to perform in “big church” and offer them a free “special song” once a quarter. Just so they stay focused and real. And though we ask it be a touch toned down on certain situations, we tend to let them choose the song and style. And even though it rocks a bit toward the metal side (flashbacks of my first electric services..) they do keep it accessible to the main worship.
hope that helps!
we certainly don’t want to hurt other people’s feeling and be a stumbling block to them and their growth. but we also don’t want to create a distraction during corporate worship. its a tough thing. i am more for the specific set of worship teams (doesn’t have to be only 1). i find thru experience that when someone is a little weak, one of the 2 happens. the person sticks with the band and improve. or, the person will just leave without anybody telling him that he doesn’t fit. i think God still works within the ministry, don’t you think?
just like anything, pray about it and trust God with the issue
I always say set team and then my wife reminds me of one of our guitar players who might not have been on the team if we did that who became a staple in the band.
BUT and a big but here, I don’t think you should put anyone up there just because they feel called by God to be a part of the worship team.
I know a few people who are amazing players who don’t “fit” what we are doing and it is distracting away from the worship. So skill level might not be the whole issue, could be that it’s not meant to be.
In the Bible it says to play your instruments skillfully, I think that might be the best answer
Larry–great ideas! And sounds like your guys’ youth program is really happening. Love to have some of that stuff here. Very cool.
Rhoy–good stuff. Yep, I’ve seen that too……people just fading out if it isn’t their gifting…sometimes. hehe
It’s the other times that are hard. And ya, prayer and trust are always the best answers.
Mike–hmmm……very wise. I agree, I also see both sides, especially since my getting into worship teams was from someone taking a chance on me when I was terrible. But I like what you say about not putting someone up there just because they feel called. And great verse reference! That’s Psalm 33, if I’m not mistaken; and that is a great authority for this topic. Great to hear from you, brother!
Hi Karl –
I’ve just started reading your blog recently and am really enjoying your insight and humor.
At my church we rotate a number of people in the band. I can honestly say that it’s different every week which really makes it more exciting in my opinion. Sometimes we’ll have the full band, sometimes it’s two acoustic guitars, Sometimes it’s a djembe, a mandolin, an electric and an acoustic, etc. you get my drift.
As far as addressing who gets to play and who doesn’t – What we do is host “Thursday night Jam” after our practice for Sunday. All who are interested in playing or singing can show up and join in on the jam. Yes – it’s mayhem and sounds horrific. But it’s fun to watch and it’s great fun to see these folks get a chance at playing with “the band” and perhaps even make it onto the stage someday. It’s a great way to audition without making it a solo audition.
So now to address the “you know you’re a gearhead when…” So this last Saturday, I opened up my pedalboard and said, “Hello Gorgeous”.
I couldn’t believe it. It’s official. My name is Tom and I am a gearhead. Pray for me.
God bless!
Thanks for the kind words, Tom!
And great idea on the jam session thing! Informal auditions…very cool. I also love the idea of getting different instruments in the rotation. I’m gonna have to try some of this stuff. Way cool!
And ‘Hello Gorgeous’ to a pedalboard just might be the best thing ever said. Ever.
It’s good to have you here!