Blending in vs Staying Unique
November 18th, 2005 by Jeff | Posted in Ministry Philosophy
Ok, here’s the deal. I grew up through highschool etc leading the worship team, I’ve been doing Ministry for about 10 years and Leading worship for about 6. As of this year I have completely stepped down from leading worship for the high school and college age ministries to make room for the younger kids I have been building up and have been rotating in for the past few years. So with stepping down I was talking to our location’s Worship Director/Pastor (Guy that’s actually on staff for this stuff) about wanting to still offer my musical talents to the church. He said he’d like to work me into the regular rotation of worship leaders going into the fall. All sounds good, and things have been going well for the most part, but here’s my issue which i would love feedback or thoughts on.
Though I am not new to leading worship at all and have actually doing it longer than all of these guys except one, but I am new to working with them as a team that they have established and at 23 I am easily 10-20 years younger than all of them. After discussing this with my mentor he thought it would be good to try and mix things up and keep my style rather than just stepping in and doing it like they do it (nothing against the other guys but for the most part they are kind of clones of our head guy, probably cause that’s all the know of a worship leader) So with my youth and my diverse experience with different worship leaders I have a lot of different views on how things should work with the band, the sound, the flow, etc. Not only am I working with a whole new group of people to help lead a ministry I’m also working with all new people in the band, sound guys etc. I don’t want to step on too many toes too quickly I do want to keep my style, personality, & flavor on the Weekends and mid-week services I’m leading at.
I’ve already gotten some questionable comments on things… for example,
I was leading a couple weekends ago and I was going through the parts with the singes spelling out how I pictured things working… Through our conversation I found that this was completely foreign to them. They are used to one taking high harmony, one taking low and they sing every word with the worship leader. how I’ve always lead is I’ve used the people singing harmonies as another instrument (like a lead guitar or percussion) who comes in and out and does parts to add to the song rather than just being a constant (like an acoustic guitar or lead singer) Because this obviously can beautifully build dynamics and ad the sweetest touches to songs (i.e. “Nothing but the Blood” by Matt Redman, Christy Nockels ad libs make that song ya know?)
Another example is that they are used to just playing the song like the cd, where I come from more of a “make it your own” kind of deal, I have brought that in with a lot of good comments from others, but a lot of questionable band members.
A way my friend Aaron explained it at lunch today is that I lead in such a way that things come together very “organically” rather than “produced”. I have always done things where we are more of a band that works on songs together and does thing unique to us rather than being 5-8 seperate musicians coming in to try to play together. With that kind of analogy it does make sense that I am (using another analogy) trying to put a square peg into a round hole with my style.
There are other issues such as how we interact with the congregation and stuff that I sometimes completely disagree with and other things like that too but what I’m looking for from you guys is just thoughts on ways to be assertive with keeping my style while still being pleasant to work with and agreeable to the team yet consistently pushing the envelope.
I hope I haven’t painted a negative picture of my ministry, they are all wonderful people and I really do enjoy serving with them, hence this post looking for feedback on how to do so genuinely
This entry was posted on Friday, November 18th, 2005 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Ministry Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
dude. definitely teach your singers how to NOT sing the whole time.
I know that as an electric guitar player it’s tempting just to always be playing because I’m up on stage … I’m sure they feel the same way.
make sure they know that just because they’re on stage, doesn’t mean they have to be singing.
and that singing every word doesn’t necessarily sound better.
but I’m preaching to the choir.
my point is definitely stick with your own style. there are people in your church who will connect with it, and if you were to blend in with the other bands, the people in your “musical demographic” are going to be missing out.
obviously, be honoring, but stick to your guns.
SEAN
I’ve had experience like you, going from leading the Rock service to leading the Sunday morning “big church” service – it takes a lot of creativity and energy reaching a different demographic, but once you do, and win their respect, you can pretty much do whatever you want – band and congregation alike.
My $0.02: Be as authentic and real as you can, stick to your guns, but be yeilded to the overall vision for the service as set out by your pastor. He’s the one ultimately responsible to God for the service, and even if you must drag the vision out of him, that’s where you need to be. In all humility, do your best to yeild to God and from there lead the congregation into worship.
I think you are on the right track with your approach. The ideal is not so much making things a production but creating the experience in such a way that allows room for the holy spirit to move. I generally try to keep the singers engaged as much as possible but do have times where I like them to step out briefly. Dynamics are important but it is a delicate balance. Remember if they are standing idle out in front with you for any extended period of time could leave them to begin feeling awkward which then tends to slowly seep itself into the environment. It’s a bit easier as part of the band behind the singers in the background to not play for awhile then for a singer not to sing. The other fine line is not makng yourself the focal point while you’re the focal point if you know what I mean. All worhsip is to glorify God and the congregation’s thoughts are directed to that end. As Travis says “Yield to God”…
I agree with all that’s been said. It is good to expose other worship band members with different styles and methods of leading in worship. In my experience, I’ve learned from observation that it’s not always good to spring an entire new philosophy of worship onto a group all at once; rather, introduce it at a moderate rate. It sounds like you’re not with this group every Sunday (you’re rotating in, right?), so this group will have time to let your style sink in rather than being inundated with it. Teach in love, brother, and be understanding of those who are hvaing a difficulty with adapting.