VIDEO: Jeff Mathena is a vocal coach for Kari Jobe, for KING & COUNTRY, Phil Wickham, Elevation Worship and more, he is also founder of The Unhindered Voice.Part 3 of 3: In this video, Jeff discusses the importance of being intentional during the week so that you can be prepared vocally for the weekend service.
Are You Out of Touch With Your Congregation?
Every once in awhile I write an article that hits a nerve. A few years ago the biggie was Why You Shouldn’t Use Secular Songs In Worship. At the time it blew up, was shared a bazillion times and surprisingly drew quite a few nasty comments from disgruntled worship leaders.
Recently the article has sprung to life again, and has been picked up by some of the top Christian news websites on the Internet (one had over 10,500 shares of the article!)
These websites are general Christian websites and, I’m assuming, are visited by typical Christians – i.e. the (non-musical) ones in our congregations (as opposed to WorshipIdeas which is visited mainly by worship leaders – I doubt anyone else would find an article about which hymn verses to use the least bit appealing.) What I find interesting is the comments on these general websites are overwhelmingly supportive. Grateful, even.
So, the same article on this website drew hordes of vicious emails (you seriously would not believe how vicious… lol!) – while the same article on a general Christian website drew hordes of positive comments. This begs the question – are worship leaders out of touch with their congregations?
We artists are sometimes so absorbed in our love for music it’s hard to see outside ourselves. One guitarist friend of mine complains his worship leader is obsessed with Hillsong United, so five out of the six songs they do each week are… Hillsong United. Another worship leader I know is obsessed with Chris Tomlin and will often have six song praise sets with nothing but Tomlin tunes.
Or maybe you’ve gone to the Latest Worship Conference and are pulling your hair out trying to do in your church what’s working at the Famous Megachurch. This phenomenon has caused uproars for years. When I arrived at one ministry, the church had been nearly split after the worship team visited a Famous Conference at a Famous Megachurch and tried to replicate it at home.
Perhaps you’re trying to do the right songs in the wrong style. During one class I was teaching at a worship conference a man asked a question: he was doing all the latest popular praise songs (just like on the recordings) and his congregation simply wasn’t responding. I asked him what he felt was the favorite style of music most people in his church enjoyed. “Bluegrass” he answered – and I saw a light go off in his head. I hope he went home and started creating Bluegrass arrangements of Passion tunes.
The solution is so simple we miss it – use a variety of songs tailored stylistically to your congregation. The pop music style is the language of our culture – it’s what we hear in stores, TV commercials and on the radio. My winning philosophy is to have a solid pop sound using a blend of newish & oldish praise songs and a hymn here and there – then bending that pop sound to the stylistic tastes of your congregation. If you have a majority of older people, you might go a little more acoustic. If you have young families, you might throw in a few more hymns (young couples, after having kids, often start attending church after a long absence – they surprisingly tend to like contemporary versions of hymns, remembering them from years ago.) I know of one deep-south megachurch who has a steady diet of cutting edge hipster music. The pastor forced the worship leader to do a down-home, countrified Gospel song one Sunday. To the worship leader’s abject horror, the church exploded in excitement and jumped to their feet. I think they’d do well to add a steel guitar more often to their mix, don’t you? Worship leader, your congregation isn’t as hip as you think you are.
Bottom Line: This week, take a deep breath and honestly evaluate your congregation. Are you using the proper music and styles to reach them? Warning: this may initiate a job change – you might be in the wrong church.
Unplug – Why You, Your Volunteers Need to Attend a Service
by Carl Barnhill
There are strong spiritual benefits for you and your volunteers to worship in a corporate setting, with other believers and your family.
I grew up in a smaller Baptist church, and have attended churches where there was only one media guy.
Being on the media production staff at two churches, I’ve seen that church media guys rarely attend a worship service with their family.
At this church, this was the guy that usually operated the audio console and recorded the sermons on audiocassette to mail to shut-ins in our church.
He was a one-man band and was there for every service, was the first one there and the last one to leave.
He was rarely not there for a Sunday. If for some reason he wasn’t, the worship service suffered … badly.
In recent years, I’ve experienced some volunteers who others think are on the church staff, because they are around so much. Those volunteers even inherit authority, because they are there all the time.
In looking back, we look on people that serve every time that the doors are open, as being extremely dedicated, loyal and sacrificial.
Hear me clearly – those are true characteristics of a leader. And I’ll be the first in line to thank them for their service to the Kingdom.
Examining this more closely, at times, though, I came to realize that volunteers like this sometimes would rarely actually attend a worship service.
Not the case with all, mind you, but I have experienced this situation on more than a few occasions. This volunteer would use serving as a “worship service is for everyone else” card.
I have also noticed, even in my own experience, being on the media production staff at two churches, that church media guys rarely attend a worship service with their family.
The closest I would come to worshipping in a service with my wife most Sundays, would be by having her save a seat in the back of the booth or in the control room, so that when the message started, I could slide back and sit with her. That would only be until the next fire started, that I had to put out.
Guys, neither one of these scenarios are healthy.
In both cases, for the staff member or the volunteer, you’re setting yourself up for burnout.
There are strong spiritual benefits for you and your volunteers to worship in a corporate setting, with other believers and your family:
1. It strengthens your walk with Christ.
God has structured the local church with pastors that deliver messages, drawing people to His Son and to strengthen believers. Your relationship with Christ will be strengthened when you worship with others, and sit down to listen to the message God has laid on your pastor’s heart.
2. It strengthens your family.
It’s important to worship with your spouse and children. You need to show them that you value corporate worship.
Some of the best moments as the spiritual leader of my family has come with notes, glances, or prayers with my wife during a worship service.
Worshipping together strengthens your family relationships.
3. It constantly reminds them of the experience they are helping to create.
If you’re a participant in the experience that’s being created, you see things from the end user’s perspective. You experience it just like another church attendee would. This gives you fresh perspective, and consistently keeps what the service looks and feels like fresh in your mind.
4. It prevents burnout.
I moved to a model where no volunteer was allowed to serve every week.
Our rotation was changed to once every three weeks on a Sunday, same for Wednesday. A volunteer could serve in other areas and capacities, if they wanted to be involved a little more throughout the month, but we purposefully left some breathing room, so that volunteers would not burn out.
I’ve experienced myself close leaders that were heavily involved in multiple aspects of our ministry team, opting to stop serving cold turkey, because they were so burnt out. I’ve seen volunteers stop attending the church, because they were asked to do too much, for too long.
Being intentional about unplugging, and having your volunteers attend a service helps prevent them from frying to a crisp.
5. It gives other people the opportunity to serve.
We want our church to grow, right?
We want our team to grow, right?
You should constantly be looking for ways to add new serving opportunities for people on your team. Even in production.
Freeing up a volunteer spot from every Sunday to one Sunday a month, creates three new serving spots for other volunteers to jump into that position.
Now think of that model for every position on your team.
You’re now setting yourself up for massive growth. Get ready to train new people! Intimidating? Check out this blog post for some more ideas on how to see massive growth in your teams.
6. It expands your team’s capacity.
Encouraging your volunteers to attend worship with their families and freeing up new serving opportunities, allows your team to expand its capacity.
Now multiple people can do what only one person had been doing. Multiple people can be involved in creating experiences for your church.
Unplugging from the tech booth, actually allows your team to do more, with more people.
You may be thinking, that’s great for my volunteers, but what about me? I’m required to be there as a staff member.
Well, this really depends on your church, and varies based on your culture and environment. I would encourage you to try one of a couple options:
If you can, take one service or portions of a service (the message perhaps) and sit with your family every week. It’s not the best option, but it’s at least a start at being intentional about unplugging.
If you can, don’t schedule yourself on a position once a month. This may take some time to build your team up to a point, to where you can leave them alone (which should be your goal).
If it’s OK with your church leadership, take one Sunday a month where you’re available, but not tied down to a position, and can sit with your family.
I believe we need to find ways to unplug.
We have to find a way to put the Clear-Com intercom down, train other people to put out fires, sit in the pew, and attend a worship service.
8 Social Media Tips To Boost Your Holiday Church Attendance
From the beginning of the promotion, make sure there is enough visual content. Statistics show that on Twitter, tweets with videos are six times more likely to be shared than tweets with photos. Even on Facebook and Instagram, videos are becoming the order of the day.
for KING & COUNTRY & Dolly Parton
In what may be the most interesting mash-up of the year, CCM group for KING & COUNTRY somehow coaxed country legend Dolly Parton to add her vocals to their hit “God Only Knows.” Can you believe she’s 73? I love this song and think their vocals blend surprisingly well. Fun fact: the guys in the group are the little brothers of CCM artist Rebecca St. James.
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The pre-service huddle may not work for every church, but there are more than a few that could benefit.
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VIDEO: Skillet’s John Cooper Reacts to Christian Leaders Renouncing Faith.
Seven Reasons for Optimism in the American Church
New churches are replacing dying churches, and these new churches are truly becoming evangelistic.
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