Leading a congregation – Page 22

Some Services Feel Weirder Than Others

Don’t ask me why – or maybe if you know you can tell me why – but some weekends and some services just feel weirder than others.

There’s no way to predict it, and sometimes no way to avoid it. Due to factors outside your control, or just an unfortunate confluence of events, sometimes you leave a service scratching your head, thinking “what was that all about?”

This past weekend was one of those weekends for me.

First, I couldn’t decide what songs we should sing at our services. For some reason, I was hit with a severe case of indecisiveness and I couldn’t get over it. Up until (and through) rehearsal on Saturday, I wasn’t crazy about how it all felt. On their own, I liked the songs. But put together, it just didn’t seem like the right fit. I made changes after the Saturday service and before the Sunday service, but even after that, the songs still felt a little weird.

Secondly, after the opening song on Saturday night (“All Creatures of Our God and King”), our drummer accidentally counted off and started playing Matt Redman’s “The Glory of Our King” all by himself for about two measures before stopping. The problem was that we weren’t doing that song on Saturday. It was supposed to be on Sunday only. So we stopped and I made a quick joke about it before we moved on, but it was still a bit awkward. And weird.

Third, I think I emailed about seven or eight singers to see if they could sing this past weekend since the one who was scheduled couldn’t make it. None of them could for various good reasons. So I was the only singer. I like having some back-up when I’m leading with a band, and especially leading a service of 800-900 people. Without anyone singing with me, it felt weird.

Overall, in addition to these three things, the services felt a bit flat. I felt flat too.

Some services everything seems to fall together really well. Some services are just normal, good, and average (in a good way). And then some services make you wish you could just go back in time and start from scratch.

I honestly don’t know what I would do differently this past weekend (other than make sure the drummer knew we weren’t doing “The Glory of Our King” on Saturday). And that’s just fine. This coming weekend is a fresh opportunity to choose songs and lead people to magnify the greatness of God through song.

When you have great services, it’s important to stay humble and resist temptation to remember in your mind all the things you did really well. But when you have “weird” services, it’s important to keep a healthy perspective: it’s not the end of the world. There’s always next week. Also, just because I felt “weird” about a service, it doesn’t mean anyone else felt the same way.

Was I prayerful? Yes. Did I try to be faithful and humble? Yes. Were we well prepared? Yes. Where there things I could have done differently? Always.

While it’s impossible to know why some services really click and others really don’t, it is possible to let both kinds make you a better worship leader. They’re both reminders that it’s not about you, your worth as a person isn’t wrapped up in your abilities but instead in Jesus Christ, and any hope you have at lasting in ministry will require you to get used to the roller coaster that is not only normal, but can also be kind of fun.

Just Because You’re Tired of a Song…

For every one time you lead a song during a service, you probably sing it two other times during rehearsal.

Them: 1. You: 3.

For every one time you lead a song during a service, then lead it a few weeks later a second time, chances are that a quarter (or so) of your congregation isn’t there to sing it.

Them: 1 – 2. You: 6.

And then for every time you lead a song during a service, then lead it a few weeks later a second time, and everyone in your congregation happens to be there all at the same time, you’re probably also leading that same song in some other context.

Them: 2. You: 7.

It’s understandable that you get tired of certain songs when you’re leading worship. Between rehearsals, multiple services, and different events, odds are that there are particular songs you sing quite frequently.

But it’s important to keep in mind that just because you’re tired of a song, it doesn’t mean people in your congregation are tired of it too. You get tired of songs more quickly than your congregation does.

Sometimes it’s the opposite problem. You just love a certain song and could sing it every week, but people in your congregation are sick of it. It takes growing in discernment, wisdom, and observational sharpness to be able to spot this.

However, it’s more likely that you’re the one who’s going to be getting tired of a song first. Be encouraged that it takes much longer for the congregation to get sick of it than you think it might.

Here’s the main reason why this should be encouraging to you:

It isn’t necessary to introduce new songs as often as you’re tempted.

There’s probably a song you did a few months ago that people would be quite happy to sing again. Maybe you did a song just last week that people really seemed to enjoy. Then do it again this week. You know that song you think people don’t want to sing again? Maybe they wouldn’t mind so much.

So keep in mind that for every 7 times you sing a song – the average person in the congregation is singing it twice. Don’t be so quick to put that song on the bench.

Sermonizing Harmonizing

One of the ways worship leaders can better serve their congregation and their pastor is by choosing songs intentionally and purposefully to underline and respond to the preaching of God’s word. Not every song has to line up perfectly with the theme of the sermon, or be based on the same passage of Scripture, but when all of the songs during a service are completely unrelated to each other and the message, it can result in no single message standing out at the end of the day.

In most of the weekend services at my church, the sermon comes toward the end of the service. Because of this, I’m usually most concerned that the closing song, which comes directly after the sermon, is carefully chosen.

For years I tried to do this mostly by guessing. If the pastor thought to mention something to me about what kind of song would work, then that would be great. But most weeks I was just hoping I got it right. Sometimes I would. But other times I would find myself sitting in the service thinking, “I wish I knew he was going to say that!”

So in recent years I’ve become more diligent about hounding the preacher in the week leading up to his sermon, to get as much information as I can to help me pick songs, particularly the closing song, that both underline and help people respond to the message.

Here are some ways you might be able to do the same:

If he writes it out word-for-word, get a full transcript
Whenever John Yates, our senior pastor, is preaching on a weekend, I will get a word-for-word transcript of his sermon on the Thursday leading up to it. This is invaluable. I take time to read it, chew on it, and then prayerfully discern what songs would help people respond to this most effectively.

If he preaches from an outline, ask to see that outline
Some of the other pastors at my church don’t write their sermons out word-for-word. So I’ll just ask for their outline, or any notes they have. Sometimes I get a lot, and sometimes I get a little. Either way, it’s still something.

If he hasn’t yet finished either a transcript or outline, ask him what he’s thinking
I’ll oftentimes email whatever pastor is preaching and say something like: “I’d love to have any crumbs you can throw my way to help me pick a closing song that works well with your sermon. Any ideas? Specific songs? Themes? Anything?” I’ll almost always get a helpful response. I don’t need an awful lot of information – just some sort of indication of the direction of the sermon.

The key question to ask yourself and the preacher is: how would you envision people responding to this message through a song?

Don’t try to summarize the entire message in a song. You probably won’t be able to, and even if you are, it might be information overload. Just help them respond. It will look different every Sunday, but by asking yourself this question, you’re helping to avoid a mishmash of messages. Say that five times fast.

Stay On the Melody (Please)

One simple thing that many worship leaders could do that would immediately increase their effectiveness by leaps and bounds would be to stay on the melody. By resisting the urge to break off of the melody and sing higher, or sing harmony, or sing a cool little blues run, they would instantaneously be easier to follow, less distracting, less annoying, and more confidence-building.

The average person in the congregation is an average singer. You have some who are really good and some who are really bad, but most people are just average. They can carry a tune, enjoy singing, and while they wouldn’t want to sing in front of people with a microphone in front of their face, are generally willing to give most songs a try.

If you’re leading worship it means that, for the most part, you’re somewhat comfortable singing in front of people. You might have a great voice, you might have an average voice, and you might have a below average voice. But that doesn’t matter. Whatever kind of voice you have – you should be singing as averagely as possible. Nothing exciting, nothing special, and nothing noteworthy except for it’s averageness. Sing the melody, sing it confidently, sing it clearly, and sing it only.

I know, I know. There are occasions when it works to go off the melody a little bit. But those occasions are (or at least, should be) so rare, that your general rule of thumb should be to sing the melody and only deviate from it when it won’t throw anybody off. Anybody.

Most of the time when a worship leader sings anything other than the melody, it throws people off. Maybe not everyone – but someone. This is why it’s usually (always?) a bad idea. Control yourself, keep it together, and sing so Felix the dishwasher repairman can follow you.

I think there are several worship-leading vocal myths that can get into our head and make us distracting singers. See if you recognize any of these:

The higher you sing the harder you worship
The more you emote the more they’ll emote
You should sound like the guy/girl on the recording
You should be able to sing as high as Chris Tomlin
The level of your anointing directly corresponds to the highest note you can hit. If you can break an E – you’re really anointed
You can make people get into it if you sing really intensely (and maybe even growl)

None of these are true. But we can start to believe them and before we realize it we’ve developed some bad habits.

Really – worship leaders should be singing the melody 99% of the time. If this isn’t a big problem for you, that’s great. If this sounds impossible, then I’ve got a fun challenge for you: the next time you lead worship – sing only the melody on every single song. Your congregation will thank you – probably quietly – but trust me, they’ll be thanking you. They’re the ones who asked me to say something to you about this. I’m kidding. Or am I?

The Importance of Your Example in Worship

Whether you realize it or not, you are being studied by your congregation during the course of the entire worship service. Not just during the music – but during the sermon, the prayers, and the announcements.

And you’re not only being studied during the entire worship service – but before and after.

No pressure.

You might not think you’re all that interesting. You look at yourself in the mirror every day and are quite aware that you’re not a perfect person. Certainly there must be other, more interesting, more important people that are worth studying.

Maybe so. But the worship leader, however average he or she may be in real life, is one of the most-studied people in leadership at a church. Yes, I’m talking about you.

You are leading worship long before and long after the four or five songs during a service. Fair or not, and whether they realize it or not, people in the congregation have their eyes on you to see if you’re genuine, if you’re consistent, if you’re someone they can trust, and if you practice what you preach. If you’re expressive and engaged during the songs – but then doing a crossword puzzle during the sermon – people will notice the disconnect.

The solution isn’t to put on an act, to perfect the art of putting on a church face, or pretend to be someone you’re not. Rather, it’s to be aware that when you’re a worship leader, you don’t have the luxury of taking on and off that hat as you wish. Being aware of this will (or should) change how you view your role.

This isn’t something to be anxious about. Saying that people are “studying you” is different than saying people are coming to church solely to watch you. (If that is the case, you have another set of concerns…) People are coming, by and large, to worship God. When you stand to lead them, they’re understandably curious about whether or not that’s why you’re there too.