Laura Blankenship offers excellent advice on how to start that new WL position:

Your dream job has arrived! Long hours, little pay, no benefits, weekly critiques from your customers…welcome to worship leading!

Okay, I promise it’s not that bad. It’s great actually. Even though you have just begun your Worship Leader journey, you know as well as I do that we don’t do it for the money. And the rewards are tremendous. Watching someone raise their hand to accept Christ, baptizing your friend whose life has been forever changed, feeling that family sense of camaraderie with your band mates; it never gets old.

But maybe right now you are feeling overwhelmed by the newness of the job. I know I was! I had all these IDEAS and I was ready to solve all of the PROBLEMS and I couldn’t wait to CHANGE everything. I came it like a bulldozer.

Let me tell you how that worked out for me. Not great.

I am so grateful to God that He so patiently and lovingly taught me several things along they way. Hopefully, you can take a few of these tips and save yourself some WL heartache.

1. Build relationships. Build relationships. Build relationships.

My first week as a Worship Leader I had 10ish volunteer musicians. Six weeks later I had four. Yikes. Coming into this position, I should have spent most of my time building relationships with those 10 volunteers. Think about it. Those volunteers were used to serving under someone completely different than me. They didn’t know me or trust me.
Put in the time to get to know the volunteers that have been around longer than you. Grab coffee, hang out after church, whatever it takes. Build a relationship so they know that you care and they learn that they can count on you. You are more than just their band leader, you are their spiritual leader and friend.
I cannot stress this enough. Even if this were all you did, at least you would have a loyal, devoted team.

2. Change one thing at a time.
All those great ideas you have? All those problems you know how to solve? Write them down and save them for later. You only need to look at one at a time. Change is hard for most people. And you yourself are something that has changed for your church already. Don’t overwhelm them with change all at once. I’m talking about your volunteer team AND your congregation. Maybe you have plans to completely change the worship music and never use those “old” songs again. Make it a slow process or watch a mass exodus happen.

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Jim Tomberlin says church models are shifting to better support today’s church-goer.

The multisite strategy has become the “new normal” for healthy and growing churches in urban, suburban and rural communities. leadership network reports that an estimated 5 million people attend one of the more than 8,000 multisite churches across North America. Going multisite changes how church leaders think and do church. So how is the “new normal” of multisite changing how we do church in America?

Multisite Multiplication.
The number of multisite churches is growing at a faster rate than megachurches. When I proposed the multisite idea to my Colorado Springs church elders in 1995, they responded skeptically, “Who would go to a multisite church?” Today nearly 10 percent of all Protestant churchgoers attend a church with multiple campuses. If multisite churches were a denomination they would be the 4th largest denomination in America.

Gigachurches.
Megachurches are getting bigger through multisiting because they are no longer limited to one location. According to Leadership Network’s Warren Bird, today there are 78 “gigachurches” with more than 10,000 in weekend attendance. Most of them are multisite churches. The smallest megachurch on Outreach magazine’s 100 Largest Churches list is nearly 6,000 in weekend attendance, a threshold that gets larger with each passing year.

Church Buildings.
The new economic realities, technological breakthroughs and shifting cultural attitudes towards churches and multisiting has changed the church facility conversation. New church buildings today are smaller, multipurpose, multivenue, community-centric and environmentally friendly buildings.

Denominational Strategy.
Denominations are being dragged into the multisite world by their leading churches doing it and their declining congregations in need of revitalization. Progressive denominational leaders are seeing the opportunities to grow their strong churches through multisite and salvage their struggling churches through mission-driven mergers.

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Nancy Beach warns against embellishment:

I have been a fan and faithful viewer of NBC News Anchor Brian Williams for the last decade. Throughout the recent controversy, I continue to hope that some new revelations will explain his actions and even exonerate him. But I am also sobered by the tragic downfall that has resulted from Williams’ apparent violation of God’s commandment not to lie. I think all pastors and teachers – all of us who traffic in a lot of words and story telling – should be shaking in our shoes. The wisdom of the Proverbs tells us:

When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. (Proverbs 10:19)

Whenever we are given the privilege of speaking, a temptation lurks with every illustration and story we tell.

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Tim Adams offers a checklist for your equipment maintenance:

One of the oft forgotten realities of using technical equipment is that it will break, fail or otherwise develop issues and will need to be repaired.

The question is, what are your next steps?

Here’s what I recommend:

Check Your Warranty

First, you will want to find out if the equipment is still under any kind of warranty. These warranties can save you a lot of money, but it’s important to read through the warranty thoroughly so you understand what it covers and what it doesn’t.

Check the Manufacturer’s Website

If you are out of warranty, the next best thing is to log onto the manufacturer’s website and look for their process for servicing their equipment. Most manufacturers will have “service centers” located strategically around the country to help keep shipping costs down. A typical scenario is that you will be responsible for shipping the equipment to the service center where they will repair it or replace it and they will cover the costs of shipping it back to you.

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