Team building – Page 3 – Worthily Magnify

Video Clip – Paul Baloche on Choosing a Drummer

Last month I shared a video by Paul Baloche on “choosing a bass player“. Here’s another video with him explaining what he looks for when choosing a drummer. Some quotes that stood out to me:

“It’s better to have no drummer than to have a bad drummer.”

“You’re looking at the heart and you’re looking at the skill… anytime you’re looking to pick a musician.”

“It’s easier to add to a team than to undo a team.”

“I’m amazed by how many people have said ‘oh man, this dude is such a good drummer’ and then I hear them and it’s like they don’t do the number one thing a drummer is created for and that is to keep good time.”

Beware “The Glare”

A few years ago, an electric guitarist on the worship team at my church told me that, from time to time, I would “glare” at him when he messed up. I thought he was crazy.

Then one of the pianists, in good humor, told me that, from time to time, I would “scowl” at him when he made a mistake. I thought he was overly-sensitive. And crazy.

Then my drummer, in love, told me that, from time to time, I would give him “the evil eye” if I didn’t like how he was playing. This drummer also happened to be my older brother.

Maybe there was something to this whole glare-scowl-evil eye thing after all.

Turns out my electric guitarist wasn’t crazy and my pianist wasn’t overly-sensitive. They were right and I was oblivious. I’m grateful that God used them to bring this nasty habit to my attention before I inflicted my “look of doom” on anyone else.

In my mind, I wasn’t doing anything wrong. If I heard sounds emanating from the electric guitarist that more closely resembled a screeching cat, I should shoot him a “what is that horrible sound?” look. If my pianist had forgotten that we were supposed to modulate six measures ago, I should give him an “are you crazy?” glance. If my drummer was speeding up a song to the point of insanity, I should grab his attention with an “I am going to break your arms” scowl.

This would get them to play better. This would make them aware of their mistakes. This would make the worship team not sound as bad. I have to keep them in line. If they don’t like it, tough.

That strategy might work if you’re the “Worship King” and your musicians are your subjects. With one glare you can shake them into submission. But that strategy might not be such a good idea if you’re the worship pastor and your musicians are men and women from your congregation who are there to serve the church. With one glare you can embarrass, confuse, hurt, and belittle them. That’s what I was doing, without even realizing it.

So my encouragement to worship leaders is to beware “the glare”. A furrowed brow, a look of disappointment, an expression of frustration, a “are you nuts?” look of bewilderment, or a stern glare might seem like a relatively minor thing to you, but to a volunteer musician who really is just trying his or her best it will be multiplied a hundred times into a harsh and public rebuke.

Now, if my electric guitarist surprises me with a loud, distorted power chord at the beginning of a quiet and gentle ballad, I’ll look at him and grin. I know he didn’t do it on purpose. He probably feels terrible about it. He hopes I’m not angry. I’m not angry. Just laugh about it and move on.

Or if my pianist suddenly loses all muscle memory and begins to sound more like a toddler banging his hands on the piano in random places, I’ll pat him on the back afterwards and say something like “will you show me how to do that later? It was amazing!” He’ll know I’m joking, we’ll both laugh about it, he’ll know he needs to practice more, and I won’t have made him feel deflated.

And if my drummer tries to do a fancy fill and fails miserably, I’ll just pretend it didn’t happen for a couple of measures, then catch his eye and smile at him. Instead of scowling at him and making him feel small, I want to encourage him and let him know I still love him.

This kind of response helps foster humility, not humiliation.

There is a time and place to address mistakes, especially consistent poor musicianship or lack of preparation. But while you’re leading worship is not the time or place. A good rule of thumb is to encourage publicly and admonish privately. And never break your drummer’s arms.

Video Clip – Paul Baloche on Choosing a Bass Player

Here’s a great video clip of Paul Baloche explaining what he’s looking for in a bass player.

In this clip Paul focuses almost exclusively on the bass player’s skill. More important than the bass player’s skill, of course, would be his or her heart. Do they love the Lord? Are they passionate about God’s glory or their own? Are they humble? Are they committed to the church? if these answers are “yes”, and the bass player is skillful (like Paul talks about), then sign him (or her) up!

Ten Questions for My Worship Team – Pt. 2

growth2 Yesterday I shared the first five questions I asked the worship team at my church in order to challenge all of us to continue growing, stay focused on God’s glory, and not wind up an unhealthy and dry worship team one year from now.

Here are the last five questions I asked:

Am I a foot trying to be a hand?
“For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body” (1 Corinthians 12).

Paul is making the point that every member of the body is equally a part of the body. No part is more or less important than another. But, every member has a different role.

This worship team will get into trouble if we start wanting to play different roles than God has assigned. Play your role as healthily as possible and rejoice at how God has arranged the other members of the body. A healthy body rejoices in the varieties of gifts displayed, all empowered by the “same Spirit”.

Am I more eager to play music than I am to lead the congregation?
In order for us to be a team of worship leaders, and not just musical back-up, we have to share the same passions and priorities when we gather together. I suggest this order:

(1)   God’s glory
(2)   The congregation
(3)   Our skill

When our skill helps the congregation encounter God’s glory, we are an effective worship team. It’s OK to be eager to play music – but make sure your priorities are straight.

Am I at a loss for words when I’m asked to pray before a service begins?
I long for our times of prayer before and after rehearsals and services to be characterized by specific and heartfelt participation by the whole team – not just one or two people. If we are not able to articulate prayer for God’s guidance and anointing, it may be an indicator that we are not aware we need it. These prayers don’t need to be eloquent or verbose. If you’re not comfortable praying out loud, ask God for boldness. No one is forced to pray. Not everyone has to pray. But this is area in which we can and need to grow.

Has my skill improved at all in the last six weeks?
This is an easy one to answer. If your skill as a worship leader and musician doesn’t improve, the worship team won’t improve. Be a good steward of the gifts God has given you and never settle for getting stuck.

Am I relying on my own talent or on the power of the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is passionate about revealing the glory of Jesus Christ. If we’re filled with and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, this will become our passion too. A lack of passion about God’s glory reveals a lack of reliance on the Holy Spirit. Every day, every rehearsal, and every service, we need the Holy Spirit to help us point the congregation to the glory of God. Without the Holy Spirit, our natural and sinful inclination will be to point the congregation to our talent. Not only will we become arrogant, but the worship team will become proud, and our services will become dry. Friends, “…be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

It’s important for anyone in ministry to regularly step back for a period of honest and prayerful evaluation. These questions are not exhaustive, and may not be applicable to every worship team at every church. But there are some good questions here for our church and our worship team as we seek to be a healthy body that exists to serve the congregation by leading them in “worthily magnifying” our glorious God.

“Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.”
(Psalm 145:3)

Ten Questions for My Worship Team – Pt. 1

growth This past Monday night the worship team that I have the privilege and joy to lead at my church gathered for our October “tune-up night”. We typically begin at 7:30pm with pizza, drinks, and snacks, and then around 7:45 move into a time of extended and unhurried singing and prayer. After that, I’ll share some thoughts either on the practicalities or principles of worship leading, and then we’ll close by praying for our ministry together. We’ll wrap up by 9:15 and people will hang out for a while afterwards.

We started these meetings about three or four years ago and they have made a tremendous difference to our effectiveness as a worship team. It’s taken me a while to figure out how best to lead them, what night to have them on, what time they should be, what room to have them in, and how to structure them – and I’m sure they’ll keep evolving – but overall, they’ve been crucial to our growth and maturity as worship leaders.

I’ve learned that only the worship team that worships together is able to lead worship together.

For this reason, I expect every member of the worship team to make these “tune-up nights” a priority. Occasionally, because of work or family commitments, sickness, or travel, people have to miss them, but if someone is committed to serving on the worship team, their regular attendance is the primary way of displaying this commitment.

Last night, after our time of singing and prayer, I asked each member of the worship to share how and when they came to The Falls Church, when they joined the worship team, and why. It was great to hear from everyone, and I expressed my genuine appreciation for their humility and passion for God’s glory, and my gratefulness for the health of this worship team. I meant it! Then I said I wanted to challenge everyone – and I meant that too.

If we’re not intentional about growing in our gifts, dealing with our pride, and prioritizing God’s glory, we will just spin our wheels as a worship team over this coming year, and slowly lose effectiveness. We’ll go through the motions when we lead worship, our services will feel the same, the songs will feel the same, our tune-up nights will feel the same, we’ll eventually burn out, and our worship team will become unhealthy. I don’t want to see that happen, so I posed ten questions for everyone to seriously consider. If a particular question made someone uncomfortable – that’s fantastic. If not, that’s fine too.

Here are the ten questions I asked the team (this is taken from a summary I emailed to the worship team afterwards):

Do I see myself as a worship leader – or backup to Jamie?
I am not interested in leading worship with musical back-up, but with a team of worship leaders. Each member of this worship team should think of him or herself as a worship leader. This will radically change the dynamic of our team and the services in which we lead. Our priority and passion must be, along with the congregation, magnifying and encountering the greatness of God. If you’re on this team just to play music, you’re in the wrong place.

Do I sing?
This is a direct, but loving, challenge for every instrumentalist, every sound engineer, and every lyric operator on the worship team – particularly the men. If you’re consistently not singing, you’re inadvertently sending two messages: First, singing is for girls. Secondly, what we’re singing isn’t important. Shame on us if we’re sending any of those messages. We need to be sending a message, loud and clear, that we are here to proclaim and celebrate the glory of God in Jesus Christ, and that what we’re singing about has changed our lives.

I know it’s hard to sing and play an instrument at the same time. There may be times, during a particular section of a song, when you have to stop singing in order to concentrate. I understand. But try to grow in this area, however incrementally. If it means we are a little less “tight” musically for a time, I’m happy with that.

Ultimately, don’t sing because I’m making you sing. Sing because “(God) has done marvelous things!” (Psalm 98:1)

Are there physical expressions of worship encouraged in scripture that I do not display? Why?
I first heard this question phrased this way by Bob Kauflin in his seminar at the 2008 Worship God conference titled “Praising God with the Psalmist.” It’s a good and necessary question to ask. We don’t want to elevate physical expressiveness to the point where it either becomes an idol or a gauge of whether or not someone is worshipping – since we know God is first and foremost concerned with the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). But we also don’t want to ignore the overwhelming biblical support of expressiveness as being normal, appropriate and healthy as if it doesn’t matter to us at all. It does. Each one of us needs to grow in this area. If we don’t, neither will the congregation we serve.

(For your own personal study, here are some helpful scripture references dealing with different physical expressions of worship.)

Clapping: Psalm 47:1, Psalm 98:9, Isaiah 55:12
Lifting hands: Nehemiah 8:6, Psalm 28:2, Psalm 63:4, Psalm 134:2, Psalm 141:2, Lamentations 3:41, 1 Timothy 2:8
Dancing: 2 Samuel 6:14, Psalm 30:11, Psalm 149:3, Psalm 150:4, Ecclesiastes 3:4
Kneeling/bowing: Genesis 24:26, 48, 52, Nehemiah 8:6, 2 Chronicles 20:18, Psalm 5:7, Psalm 22:27, Psalm 66:4, Psalm 72:11, Psalm 95:6, Matthew 2:11, Revelation 5:8
Lying prostrate: 1 Kings 18:39
Shouting: Joshua 6:20, 2 Samuel 6:15, Ezra 3:11, Psalm 20:5, Psalm 27:6, Psalm 33:1, Psalm 33:3, Psalm 42:4, Psalm 47:1, Psalm 66:1, Psalm 71:23, Psalm 81:1, Psalm 126:2, Psalm 126:5, Psalm 132:9, Isaiah 12:6, Matthew 21:9
Smiling: Psalm 34:5
Jumping: Acts 3:8

Do I base my value as a person on how often I’m scheduled on the team?
If you’re not scheduled to sing over a four week period, do you feel crushed? If you’re scheduled to play an instrument every weekend, do you feel puffed up and validated? If the answer is “yes” or even “sort of” to either of those questions, it might be a sign that your understanding of who you are is frighteningly tied to how often you’re asked to serve on the worship team. Read through Ephesians 2 where Paul tells us how we were once “dead in (our) trespasses and sins”, “children of wrath”, “without God”, and “strangers”, – “but God… rich in mercy… lavished his grace on us.”

Our identity and value has nothing to do with how often we’re asked to serve. It has everything to do with how God gave us Jesus Christ who bore our sins, died our death, and raised us to life, and sealed us with his Spirit.

Am I comfortable (and faithful in) attending services of The Falls Church at which I am not scheduled to be on the team?
When members of a worship team begin to think that they belong on the worship team to the point that they are uncomfortable not being scheduled – or to the point that they won’t attend services unless they are – the worship team ceases to exist to serve the congregation and begins to exist for its members’ personal gratification. A worship team will only remain as humble, Christ-centered, and congregation-focused as its members.

I’ll post the last five questions tomorrow.