If You Can’t Think of Songs for Sunday, Stop Thinking About Songs for Sunday

1There are times when choosing songs for corporate worship on Sundays is easy. Themes, keys, grooves, transitions, dynamics, blend of new versus old, etc., all seem to come together in beautiful stream of inspiration, as if the very gates of heaven have been opened and you are guided by God himself which songs to sing.

Then there are times when choosing songs is not so easy. You stare at your song list in a haze of depression, with every option feeling worn-out, too new, too fast, too slow, not right, done too recently, a bad fit, or uninspiring, and you pray that Jesus would either come back between now and Sunday morning, or zap with you a lighting bolt of creativity. That lightning bolt never comes.

And the computer screen stares at you, menacingly, waiting for you to think of a brilliant list of songs.

So what do you do when you can’t think of songs for Sunday?

Stop thinking about songs for Sunday.

You’re not likely to make any huge progress when you’re in that murky haze of song-selection burn-out. Move on to another task, go mow the lawn, play with your kids, sing some worship songs under your breath (or louder) while you wash the dishes, and clear your head as much as you can. Get the song-selection part of your brain completely turned off. You might be surprised how, once you’ve stopped thinking of what songs to sing on Sunday, God finally tells you what songs to sing on Sunday.

Song-selection brain freeze can be brought on by many different factors. Fatigue is the number one factor; when you’ve been picking songs for services for weeks and months with no break. Spiritual dryness is the second factor, when you haven’t been worshipping God in the intimacy of your home or car. And finally, mental ruts keep you going back to the same sources, same routines, and the same favorites. You can’t break through all of these things by thinking really hard and having an “aha!” moment.

So in the short term, when you can’t think of what songs to sing, stop thinking of what songs to sing. Clear your mind, and you’ll find that when you reach for the tupperware bowl in your pantry, you all of the sudden get an idea for your opening song.

But in the long-term, if you’re experiencing this murkiness on a regular basis, you need a vacation. You need at least two Sundays off in a row. You’ll find that you come back refreshed with clearer vision and clarity about things like what songs to sing. Give yourself a break!

Small Annoyances Can Equal Big Resistance

1Many worship leaders unconsciously do little things when they lead worship that annoy the congregation. On their own, these little things might not be such big deals. But added up, and experienced Sunday after Sunday, small annoyances can equal big resistance, as the worship leader can begin to grate on the congregation and cause them to take a more defensive posture so as to not be further annoyed.

Before I list some of the top annoyances I’ve observed, let me say one very important thing: be yourself when you lead worship. There’s nothing more crippling as a worship leader than the fear of what people think about what you’re wearing, how you sound, whether you prayed articulately enough, whether you tied your shoes tightly enough, if you played a G instead of a G2, if they think you look stupid, if you don’t have a good enough voice, etc. Be yourself.

But having said that very important thing, let me continue to make my point. If you do things – consistently – that are annoying to your congregation, they will begin to resist you. Here are few examples:

Unpredictably changing the rhythm and syncopation of the melody
Sing it like the recording. Sing it like people will have heard it if they’ve heard it elsewhere. Don’t add in your own syncopation (or removal of syncopation in some cases) because you want to give the song personality. It throws people off. It makes them want to stop singing.

Adding “and” pre-buttals
“And here I am to worship / and here I am to bow down…” “And how great is our God / and sing with me…” “And our God is greater / and our God is stronger…” Seriously, stop with the “ands”.

Singing with a weird affect
I posted a video on this last year to demonstrate what I mean. Don’t put on a grungy voice when you sing if you don’t naturally use a grungy voice when you talk. Sing like a normal human being and people will feel more at ease trying to sing along.

Using cheerleader phrases
Except for rare (and I mean rare) circumstances, phrases like “come on!”, “let me hear you!”, “you’re sounding good!”, “that’s some good singing!”, and “get on up!” should be banished from your lips.

Breathiness
When you pray, don’t use the kind of voice you’d hear on an R-rated perfume commercial. It makes me blush.

Always repeating
I shared some thoughts on this in previous posts here and here. If you repeat songs too much, two bad things happen: first, people find themselves wanting you to shut up. Secondly, you become the boy who cried wolf, and when you really do (and should) want to repeat something, it doesn’t have the effect it should because the congregation is so tired of repeating everything.

Keeping the intensity level up all the time
Whether it’s your singing or playing, you can’t keep it all intense all the time. Calm down from time to time.

The best ways to discover your little annoyances are: (1) ask your spouse, (2) if you don’t have a spouse, or even if you do, ask a close friend, (3) listen back to yourself without skipping or muting, and (4) watch videos of yourself. Keep in mind my first point about being yourself, but do watch out for little things you might be doing that could equal big resistance.

For more on this, I posted several years ago here on different “ticks” worship leaders should remove. I’m preaching to myself too!

Songs That Echo the Gospel of Grace

1I’m finishing up a seminary class on Paul’s epistles, and came across this really helpful quote from a commentary on Colossians by R.C. Lucas. When he comes to the passage familiar to many worship leaders, from Colossians 3:16, (“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God”), he explains:

What is at issue here is the content of the young church’s hymns. The history of Christian awakening shows that whenever the word of Christ is recovered, it is received with great joy, a joy that can fully express itself only with songs of praise. What the apostle is concerned to see is that these songs are consistent with the word of Christ, or as we are bound to say nowadays, scriptural. A fair test of this is to be found by whether or not they echo a heartfelt spirit of thankfulness: genuine Christian praise is not primarily a vehicle for the expression of spiritual aspirations and experiences, so much as a celebration of God’s mighty acts in Christ… A gospel of grace must be echoed by songs of gratitude for grace.

Our job as worship leaders is not only to serve as guards of the content of the songs our churches sing; but as cultivators of the spirit with which they’re sung. It’s not enough for the content to be solid, although that’s important. We must help our congregations experience and express thankfulness and gratitude for grace. I heard Louie Giglio say in a sermon from his church that “extravagant grace leads to extravagant worship”. Paul would agree!

Songs I Picked for Ash Wednesday

1This Wednesday begins the season of Lent – the season of the Church year when we prepare for Easter. I thought it might be helpful for me to share the songs I picked for our evening Ash Wednesday service.

I intentionally chose songs that put the focus not on me and what I’m doing and how I’m discipling myself (which is too often the tragic focus of Lent) but on the finished work of Jesus on the cross, and his power to rescue and save from sin (which can lead to a Jesus-centered focus during Lent).

Opening:
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Practically, for a mid-week service, when many people are coming directly from long days at home or at the office, I want to start off the service with something they can immediately sing and connect with. Some churches start their Ash Wednesday with obscure dirge-like hymns, and I think it’s a big turn-off to people. Theologically, this song talks about my need for God’s help (“tune my heart to sing thy grace”), God’s pursuit of me in Christ (“Jesus sought me, when a stranger…”), Jesus’ death (“…interposed his precious blood), and how he sanctifies me (“let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee”). We recorded this hymn, with Bob Kauflin’s adapted lyrics, on my church’s recent CD.

Songs of praise:
You Alone Can Rescue
“Who, O Lord, could save themselves, their own soul could heal?” The answer is no one! No one can save themselves. So don’t try to save yourself during Lent. This Matt Redman/Jonas Myrin song helpfully points people to Jesus as the rescuer.

Here is Love (Grace Takes My Sin)
Kate Simmonds’ great version of this hymn with the chorus: “Grace takes my sin, calls me friend, pays my debt completely…” I posted a free download of this song (off of my church’s CD) a few months ago.

After these songs, we have scripture readings, a sermon, an explanation of Lent, and then a chance to come forward for the imposition of ashes as a reminder of our mortality.

Songs during the imposition of ashes:
Come You Sinners
The song I wrote and posted about here.

Before the Throne of God Above
This song continually points upward. A great song to sing anytime, any service, for any reason, but especially when people might be tempted to look elsewhere.

Be Unto Your Name
“We are a moment, You are forever, Lord of the ages, God before time. We are a vapor, You are eternal, Love everlasting, reigning on high…”

Then we have a time of prayer, confession, and absolution (a high church word for assurance of pardon), passing of the peace, an offertory song by our choir, and then communion.

Communion:
Rock of Ages Cleft for Me
A good reminder that the “cure” for or sin isn’t in our trying harder, but in the “…blood, from Thy crimson side that flowed”, and “nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling”.

All to Us
I love the chorus of this song: “Let the glory of Your name be the passion of the Church. Let the righteousness of God be a holy flame that burns. Let the saving love of Christ be the measure of our lives. We believe You’re all to us.” We’re singing this on Ash Wednesday because, again, it lifts our eyes upward to God’s glory, his righteousness, and his saving love – not on our fasting from chocolate or TV for 40 days.

Closing:
Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah
This is a great old hymn for occasions like this. It’s a confession of our weakness of need, but the focus on God’s sufficiency to save, feed, guide, and sustain us.

If you’re choosing songs/leading worship for Ash Wednesday, or for a church that observes Lent, do all that you can to keep people’s eyes on God’s great grace, Jesus’ finished work, and the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence.

For my thoughts on other songs for Ash Wednesday from last year, click here.

Six Avoidable Mistakes When Disciplining (or Correcting) a Worship Team Member

1One of the responsibilities of worship leaders is to build and cultivate a community of fellow musicians to help serve the congregation in leading worship. You can call that community a worship team, worship band, praise team, praise band, band, or whatever term you come up with. Whatever you call it, it can be a great joy to lead this kind of community of fellow-musicians. It can also be really difficult.

Musicians have the infamous artistic temperament that makes them not only opinionated, and not only comfortable sharing those opinions, but turns those opinions into “rights”. Musicians then want to protect their rights and their territories against anyone who would seek to invade. Plus, they’re sinners like everyone else.

From time to time, if you’re a worship leader attempting to lead a healthy worship team, you will be faced with difficult situations when you’ll need to bring correction to one of your fellow musicians, or in more difficult situations, bring discipline. You will lose sleep over these situations, and you will want to avoid them. But sometimes it will be clear to you that you need to address an issue with a member of your team.

Here are six mistakes I’ve made, that you shouldn’t make, when disciplining or correcting a worship team member.

1. Interact Primarily Over Email
If at all possible, avoid the use of email from beginning to end. The more difficult the type of interaction, the more healthy it is. A face to face conversation is crucial. If that’s impossible, then a phone call. Under no circumstances should you interact over email. Emails can be so much more easily misinterpreted, misread, forwarded, blind-copied, and saved forever. Pretend you’re handling this before the invention of the computer.

2. Insist On Meeting On Your Turf
Do not insist that the meeting take place on church property, or in your office. That’s your turf, not theirs, and it will immediately cause their defenses to go up. Not good. Find a neutral place, and a public place, for both of you. A coffee shop or a restaurant. This will level the playing field and increase the odds of a relaxed atmosphere.

3. Handle It All By Yourself
You have people over you. Take advantage of their covering. The single most stupid thing I’ve done when I’ve had to deal with a difficult issue is to keep it from my pastor until it had blown up. Consult him, ask him what you should do, have your pastor in the meeting with you, and keep him totally in the loop. Don’t put yourself in a position to take all the bullets or do/say something unwise. Use the covering God has put over you.

4. Let It Simmer
So a band member has a profanity-laced temper tantrum at rehearsal. The rest of the team is shocked. You’re shocked. They’re all wondering if you’re going to address it. Tension is building. Don’t let it simmer. You might not think stopping rehearsal is wise, but address it before the guy goes home. It might be easier in the short-term to let things slide, but in the long-term it will build tension and pressure in your team that will be unhealthy.

5. Don’t Know What Outcome You Want
On a scale of 1 – 5, 1 being minor correction (i.e. I can tell you didn’t practice one single bit and that’s why you ruined half of the songs) and 5 being major correction (i.e. I need to ask you to step down from the team for a while), you need to know what you want for the person. If you go into a meeting/conversation with the person without an acceptable outcome in mind, then you could very likely get trampled on.

6. Be Unwilling to Apologize
You’re not perfect. You don’t communicate with your team as well as you could. You lead a rehearsal on an empty stomach and say something mean-spirited to your drummer. You ask a singer to sing a song you know he or she can’t pull off. It could be anything. Be the first to apologize, the first to show contrition and humility, and genuinely ask forgiveness for things you’ve done wrong. Even if your apology isn’t reciprocated, you’ve done the right thing and will get a better night’s sleep even if the meeting doesn’t end the way you hoped.

It’s a great joy to lead a worship team. It’s also hard work. If you’re faithful and consistent in the hard things, then the joy, morale, and unity on your team will increase. If you avoid the hard things, then no one will be happy.