Worship Team Help
Welcome to Worship Team Help
I hope the information on this site can give assistance to Pastors, Church Leaders, Worship Leaders and Worshipers who may be looking for a Worship Leader, a Guest Leader, fill in help or connections that will be mutually beneficial to all parties.
But...I preface EVERYTHING on this site with this….
I am not a pastor. an educator or a classically trained musician (Alas...I am but a lowly guitar player)...I do not have all the answers... but that said…. I have been involved in the professional side of Christian music and on staff at churches as a worship leader over the years.
A musical community.
The most successful churches (only in terms of talent longevity and ability to find new people) will encourage a “community” of musicians and value that community.
Pat Boylan
My heart goes out to those in worship ministry because I have been there and continue to be there on occasion, leading and supporting at various local churches as a guest or fill in leader.
In my "Day job" I am a Director of Human Resources and that combined with my background in music has helped me in my leadership especially when it comes to mentoring others in the worship ministry and well as how to communicate to pastors and lay leaders.
There are multiple sites and blogs that are awesome resources for all sorts of worship questions, thoughts and ideas.
Musicians are different. (Surprise!)
Just like plumbers, Doctors & mechanics, musicians like talking shop with their counterparts.
They like being creative and having an outlet for that creativity. They like being able to use their talent that God has gifted them to serve.
That is different than someone just wanting to be on stage or in front of people for the attention.
I have found that the most talented musicians do what they do for the love of the craft that God has put in their heart.
Sometimes people get a little confused on how that is manifested, but they have been given a gift that they know needs to be used.
So encourage that community, no matter how small!
Look for ways they can use those talents not only on a Sunday morning but in other areas as well. If you are successful at developing that type of community of musicians new ones will seek you out.
Some ideas....
- Encourage your worship team to get together on more than just rehearsal night and Sunday mornings.
- Look for ways to engage them on on one.
- Let them know you value them, take them to coffee and find out what's happening in their lives.
- Do you have outreach opportunities like convalescent homes or retirement home opportunities for them to play?
- What about street ministries?
A word about “Service”.
Some will be linked here and I would encourage you to seek out answers and opinions from various qualified individuals as it will help you grow in your understanding and appreciation of the world of a worship leader.
My hope is this becomes a resource that can help you get and stay organized in your search for a worship leader/pastor or musicians for your church.
The goal of this site it to give churches, pastors, worship leaders, musicians and organizers help with their worship needs and to help equip individuals with the tools, advice, information or recommendations they may need to be successful.
Specifically, the site can be used if you...
- Need to find a permanent worship leader.
- Need some tips on how to recruit a worship leader/pastor.
- Need to find a temporary worship leader/pastor or (To fill the interim search time. or as a guest)
- Need tips on how to find musicians.
- Need help on writing a help wanted ad.
- Need some ideas on how to modernize your services.
The first question...
Are you a Large....
Being called to ministry is a blessing to be sure. It would help if it came all wrapped up in a bow and a users guide (I know, the Bible is the ultimate user guide) but working in ministry is not always that clear and easy. Working for God may be easier in some ways than working for a board, or a pastor or a worship leader/pastor.
With God, we always know where we stand. With men (or women) it can get a little fuzzy.
Many times in life we tend to look at others who perform the same or similar task we perform, either at church or at work and fall into the “comparison trap”. We compare our journey with their journey and feel what was good enough for us should be good enough for them.
In any other job, this can lead to unrealistic performance and dedication expectations of individuals and what they are willing to do for a job.
While dedication is important, you need to be careful about putting the cart before the horse. Sometimes you need to allow God to develop others into the servants he needs and not demand that they should follow your career path or demonstrate the exact same work ethic.
That can be hard for people to do, but God has called each of us in a unique way so it would make sense that each of us serves in a unique way.
Or....Small church?
While you may find the information on this site helpful, to be honest small to medium sized churches will find it most useful.
Why?
By nature, a large church has a larger weekly attendance and probably a larger group of regular members. The odds of having multiple musicians in that larger group of people are higher than a small to medium sized church. Simple math. The odds are even better if a large church has a good to very good worship team already in place. Like athletes, most good musicians like to play with other good musicians and will gravitate to where those folks are.
Smaller churches have a harder time with attracting, growing and retaining good musicians since often times people will feel they have met the limit of their abilities in a small church after a while.
Keep this in mind if you are a small to medium church. Your support of the worship leader/pastor and knowing that they have a difficult job in this area is critical in retaining them! If you don’t empathize with their challenge they may feel that you just don’t “get it” and eventually move on themselves.
Knowing that your small to medium sized church may have this issue can help in how creative you get in attracting talented people who also have a heart for service.