Rick Muchow offers tips for smaller gatherings.

Over the years I have led worship for many small groups. I love it! Almost every small group I have led worship for has been grateful for the music as if they had a deep hunger to worship together in their intimate setting. One thing I have found in common with vibrant Small Groups is that they worship together. These groups find a way to sit together during most weekend worship services, attend Nights Of Worship, talk about worship, include worship in their group time and more. However many groups, sadly, have yet to discover or incorporate this missing jewel.

The two most significant barriers to having meaningful worship in the small group are musical leadership and the misconception that worship is synonymous with music. Biblical Worship is, of coarse, more than music and is not synonymous with it (see Romans 12). The essence of worship is faith not the soundtrack! Biblical Worship is Faith Expressed! There are many ways to worship God without music. However, one of the most common, most beautiful, most effective ways to express faith corporately involves music.

“Music is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.” Martin Luther

Here are some practical tips for leading worship with music in the small group gathering.

1. CALM FEARS.

If public speaking is the number one fear of most adults then public singing was overlooked in the survey! Most people like to sing but prefer to vocalize privately or in a setting where their individual voice will not be noticed. Getting people to sing in a small group can be a challenge. An affable worship leader encourages participation by intentionally gaining the group’s trust.

Being friendly, relaxed and likable will help calm fears about the “singing” part of the worship time.

Worship leaders should avoid making direct eye contact with the group members while singing words directed to God. Staring in general makes people nervous but during singing it can be particularly weird. Picture singing the words “I love you, Lord” while staring directly at someone just five feet away from you. Direct eye contact is important when you are speaking to the group but will feel awkward to others while singing in a small setting.
Simple Rule: be caring without staring

2. CHOOSE FRIENDLY

Use songs that are group friendly: familiar, well liked and in sing-able keys. Singing gets better with confidence. Confidence grows with familiarity. Avoid using songs that are unfamiliar, hard to learn and difficult to sing. Another way to be friendly is to put the song in the right key. Most groups stop singing when the key is too high. This is because many people have to sing louder when they sing higher. Some can’t reach the high notes and most people become self-conscious if they hear their voices above the rest and will stop singing. Simple Rule: Use familiar songs and friendly keys.

Continue reading.

Michelle Weger gives guidelines for a great resume.

Recently, I have had several recent college grads and friends contact me as they are looking for new ministry opportunities. I’ve spent time tailoring many of their resumes and candidate packages and thought I would offer some streamlined advice on these things. I have never candidated for a position that I wasn’t offered.

I also don’t apply/candidate for a position unless I have a strong belief and conviction that it is the right direction. When it comes to ministry jobs, don’t just throw your hat in the ring to see what happens. Take time to get to know and understand the church you are considering and the people who lead it.

1. NO TYPOS

Not in the body of the email you send, not in your cover letter, not in your resume. I would even go as far as to say, proof read your letters of recommendation and reference as they are a reflection of your knowledge and experience. As nit picky as that may sound, your typos show a lack of attention to detail. When I am hiring, I throw out candidates immediately for stuff like that. I don’t even make it to their resume most of the time. Find a friend who has stellar grammar and put them to work. Offer them $25 or something. It will be money well spent. Pay attention to your punctuation, your tenses, to everything.

2. MAKE IT PERSONAL

Make the body of the email very personal, so it doesn’t look like you just changed the name of the church from the last app you sent out. Show that you’ve spent time on their website and gotten acquainted with them. Refer to something that you saw that kept your attention. If you can’t think of anything, you probably shouldn’t be applying.

3. MAKE IT EASY

With your attachments, merge them into one PDF. Never send editable versions. Most people won’t take the time to download a slew of attachments, or they’ll be annoyed by the time they do. You always want to make it easy for them. Just put it all in one PDF with the cover letter on page one, resume on page two, and then everything else following. Alternatively, make your cover letter your email and then attach the rest with the resume on top.

Merging PDF’s on a Mac
Merging PDF’s on a PC

When including links in your email or package, write them out don’t title them. Like for example:

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/blah blah
https://www.vimeo.com/blah

Audio:

https://www.mymusic.com/asdafk/askda

Again, this is all about making it easy. Many churches print these packages off and hand them to their search team. In that moment, “click HERE” doesn’t help. You do the work – don’t ask them to do the work.

Another thought for whatever it is worth: I have never asked for a response. If my submission doesn’t stand on its own and demand an inquiry, I have nothing else to say.

Here’s a few bonus tips:

Cover Letter

Stop attaching a stand alone photo of yourself. It looks silly and pretentious when you send someone your picture. There is one exception: if they ask for a photo, but even then, proceed with caution. Most of the time, just putting your pic as part of your resume or cover letter, will do the job.

Don’t force the cover letter to do the resume’s job. You’re just introducing yourself. If when you meet someone new you stand there and rattle off your total life’s experiences, eventually someone is going to shoot you. So, please stop doing that. Share your heart, share what caught your attention with this particular ministry. Bottom line, introduce yourself.

Resume

So often resumes are waaaayyyy too long. Keep it one page, two pages max. Share the essentials. Trim the fat. This is a snapshot of your experience, not a diary. Also, name your files appropriately… sending “ministry resume FINALLY DONE.doc” isn’t helping you. I suggest: {LAST NAME}, {FIRST NAME} Resume.PDF.

Michelle Weger is a singer, songwriter, worship leader and recording artist who currently works as the Director of Worship and Youth ministries at the Shores campus of Grace Church. Her latest EP King of All Creation is Available on itunes.

 

Joe Thorn says celebrity pastors have now become “a thing.”

The “celebrity pastor” is now a thing. Maybe it’s always been a thing (1 Cor. 1:10-17), but over the past few years it has become a source of concern and consternation for many. On the one hand I do see a problem, and on the other hand I can’t help but feel that some speak against popular preachers out of a sense of jealousy. I do not think that a pastor whose “platform” is large, influence is broad, and following is numerous is a celebrity pastor. At least, not in a bad way. The real problem is leadership that loses sight of the glory of Christ and focuses on the glory of man. Or, at least one man.

But Celebrity Pastors do not simply build themselves. They are built with the help of fans. It’s not wrong or idolatrous to get a photo with a person you admire. Nor is it dangerous to love the preaching or teaching of a particular leader. But at some point admiration turns into allegiance, and allegiance gives birth to adoration, and adoration, when it is full grown, produces idolatry. I am not sure exactly when the line is crossed–maybe when we start asking well-known pastors to sign our Bibles. Maybe. But the line is well behind us when a leader’s word is more valuable to us than God’s word and when they become our authority.

Continue reading.

Gangai Victor’s guide to getting better at using words in worship.

Speaking is probably the no. 1 pet peeve people have against worship leaders.

More specifically—what we speak, when we speak, how we speak, and above all—how long we speak!

Now, this doesn’t mean we should stop speaking all together! But, a greater focus on speaking well, will help us add value to the worship with our words, instead of them becoming a hollow distraction.

Singing songs is only one component of our worship—speaking the right things at the right time matters too in the interest of building a positive connect with the congregation.

Here’s a simple 7-tip guide to get better at using words in worship

1. Plan ahead
When planning worship, don’t stop with just creating great set-lists. Visualize the moments in the set when it would be appropriate to speak. Prepare for those moments with scripture verses, an inspirational insight, or maybe even something about the song.

You don’t need an airtight memorized script; but don’t leave everything to the last moment either. Plan the content (brief points) around which you will be speaking, in advance. This will shield you from nervous random rambling.

2. Look
Think of it as any other conversation—how would anyone feel if you close your eyes and talk to them? Not cool, right?! So, open those eyes and look at your people. If that scares you, here’s a public speaking trick: start by looking at the heads of people (their hair basically!) instead of their faces. People will still feel like you are looking at them.

And smile too while you’re at it.

3. Invite
Let’s say you want the congregation to experience worshipping with uplifted hands. “C’mon people, lift those hands” would sound a bit instructional, and may put off some people.

Instead, we could try something like, “You know, the Bible tells us in Psalm 134:2 to raise our hands and bless the Lord. Can we try that now and use our hands to praise Him as we continue to sing to Him?” You see, ‘we’ and ‘us’, are better than ‘you’ and ‘do’.

I loved how Paul Baloche did it during a concert—“The Bible tells us to praise the Lord by lifting up our hands. For those who are comfortable with this posture, why don’t we raise our hands…” (I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the idea).

Be invitational, conversational, and one-of-the-congregation instead of using ‘me’ vs. ‘you’ language. There are not too many people out there who like an aloof megastar.

4. Pick your moments
Don’t speak between every song in the set—that would make us annoying one-trick ponies. If a lyric needs more explanation, do it at the beginning of the song on top of the musical transitions. You could say a few words during an instrumental solo too.

And btw, stop calling out every line in the song when people have it on the screen anyways—not clever! If need be, call out only the first line of the next song section (verse, chorus, bridge etc.), so that the person managing the slides, the band, and the people are all in sync with you.

5. Include emotions
People connect better when we rope in emotions and feelings, so feel free to use emotionally descriptive language.

Examples: “Let’s experience the joy of singing to the Lord freely!” Or “How amazing, friends, that we are able to join with Heaven now as we worship the Lord!”

6. King of the content is… the King!
Like the songs that we sing, our words also need to point to God—nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. Talk more about the Lord, and less about ourselves. For e.g., suppose we are singing “You Alone Can Rescue”, we could say something like this:

“Friends, this song is a wonderful reminder that no matter how great the divide, the grace of Christ is far greater; it’s more than enough for all us! Maybe some of us are feeling frustrated at not being able to beat a particular habit, or a sin. Instead, let’s lift our eyes to the grace that has already rescued us! This grace will surely lead us home! Trusting this grace, let’s sing the chorus again with joyful and thankful hearts!”

To sum up—let’s choose words that glorify God, and draw people to Him.

7. Watch the clock
No matter how wonderful a speaker you are, the worship leader’s speaking can only make passive listeners out of the congregation. One of our more important goals is active participation. So consciously practice brevity and limit yourself to 30-45 seconds. If you want to speak longer, you better be super-led by the Spirit! Also, to maintain clarity and focus, it helps to share just one thought or scripture verse at a time.

Phil Cooke explains why it’s a mistake for the congregation to watch the rehearsal.

Worship leaders are an incredibly important part of today’s church. But from time to time I take them to task, like in this post on What Katy Perry and Taylor Swift Can Teach Church Worship Leaders. Today I have a different issue. I’ve visited a number of churches this year that on Sunday mornings allow the worship team to continue rehearsals after the doors are open for the congregation. As a television director, I understand the need to tweak rehearsals until you get it right. But here’s why – for most churches – it’s a mistake for the congregation to watch the rehearsal.

The difference in attitude. During rehearsal, your attitude isn’t on worship, it’s on getting the music right. As a result, you’re thinking about audio levels, the mix, the band, the monitor levels, and more. You’re fine tuning the music so once the real worship service starts, you can focus on God.

But most of the congregation doesn’t understand this. So when they watch rehearsal and see you stop and start, walking around, and adjusting things they assume your attitude about worship is flippant and shallow. Plus, when they see the dramatic difference between your rehearsal attitude and your worship service attitude they think it’s hypocritical.

Continue reading.

Stephen Miller offers tips for helping your band play like a team.

Every musician has his or her particular style preferences and bents. It’s what makes us who we are.

Funk bassists.

Jam Band acoustic guitar players.

Gospel drummers.

Arena Pop Rock electric guitarists.

And yet, in the midst of our own unique stylistic identities, there is a greater, overarching force that determines the precise stylistic parameters that we ought play within. This force is called “the song.”

By song, I mean the arrangement, instrumentation and feel that a comprehensive group of musicians is going for – not necessarily the composition of melody and lyrics.

For example, a U2 song is generally known for 3 things: Simplicity. Massiveness. Transcendence.

There isn’t a lot going on in most U2 songs, yet they feel gigantic because of the spacey wall of sound the guitarist is producing. The simplicity of the bass and drums makes room for soaring vocal melodies to shine.

They are listening to each other and working together to produce a desired sound.

However, if their bassist decided he really loved to play slap bass and insisted on incessantly playing lead lines that competed for the listener’s ear, the song would lose its potency and integrity.

If the drummer refused to listen to what the other players were doing, but rather stubbornly defended his preference of playing funk beats over the entire song, it would lose its graceful elegance.

The same is true with playing music for congregational worship.

Continue reading.