Disclaimer: A little something I sent to all of our worship team members this morning. Already I’ve gotten a handful of beautiful responses.

This guide will help you traverse the stormy waters known as the worship team. Little known to most outsiders this volunteer ministry could possibly be one of the most grueling adventures known to mankind. Comparable to climbing Mt. Everest, running the Iron Man, or swimming the English Channel, finding yourself within the ranks of other die-hard singers and musicians presents one of the most rugged challenges known to mankind.

Lest you be offended by the title, the word Idiot refers to the person who compiled this detailed summary, not the participants of the worship team. But this work is so titled to remind us all that we are ordinarys in a radical way. We are everydays used by God in a revolutionary manner.

Top 5 tips for making your volunteer worship team role a gratifying and meaningful experience:

5) Punctuality: if you never miss an episode of American Idolatry, So Your Pants Can Dance, or that one crazy island show, but you can’t make it to rehearsal on time it might be time to do a priority check.

Think about this: we begin our rehearsal at 6:45 and go to about 8:30. That’s almost 2 hours. Consider that 2 hours Kingdom time. Even when we’re together rehearsing, we’re doing it for the Kingdom of God. People’s lives are impacted because of what we do on Wednesday nights.
If a person is late even by 10-15 minutes, not only is that 10-15 minutes wasted but so is everyone else’s on the team.

If, on average, there are 10 other people there waiting on the late person to show up that’s 10 minutes x 10 people’s time = 100 minutes of wasted time. That’s almost 2 hours of wasted Kingdom time. Not only
should we respect the the start time, but we should respect each other’s time as well.

4) Practice: Also known as listening to and singing or playing through your parts BEFORE Wednesday night. As the world’s biggest and most famous shoe producer says, “Just Do It!” Come prepared and our rehearsal times will be oh so much more effective.

3) The Collective: We all are born with individual personalities that make us who we are. Part of the beautiful thing about volunteering on the worship team is that a person’s personality is fused with the others’ on the team to make one mega personality. We’re all in this together. Remember that, not unlike the Borg, we all come as individuals with individual voices and instruments, but we are all to be assimilated into ONE HEART, ONE MIND, and ONE VOICE of worship to God.

Seriously. It’s not about You. It’s not about me. It’s about the Church. And people make up the Church. So it’s about our Church family. You might really get a kick out of being on the team, but if it scratches some weird itch, or if it’s your weekly “fix” than it might be time for a priority check. It’s not about You.

We exist to bring glory and honor to God, and to create an atmosphere where people can learn and grow in their expression of praise to Him.

2) Follow the Leader: Jesus is our Leader. He leads us by His Holy Spirit. Just as Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Jesus,” I have the wonderful privilege of coordinating this ministry. There may be times when you don’t agree with a decision I’ve made, or a note I’ve given you to sing, or even the way I spike my mohawk. But just remember that private conversation is the best way to handle disagreement. Our Wednesday and Sunday rehearsals are neither the time nor place to get into petty arguments. Any other day of the week is just fine

Seriously. I love coordinating this ministry. I love it because it involves all of you wonderful people. Let’s make it the best we can by being sensitive to each other’s feelings and by being respectful to those that are leading. It’s not an easy role to fill sometimes.

1) Give it Your Best! Every note that is played, every word that is sung, can be considered a gift to God and to His church. Regardless of how bad your day has been, or how disgusted you are with the leader’s tee shirt choice, or even if you can’t hear yourself in the monitor exactly the way you love it…IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVING GOD AND LOVING PEOPLE!

Because of the “up front” nature of our ministry, it’s very easy to fall into the “my way” trap. It’s easy to think more highly of ourselves than we should. It’s easy to be tripped up by pride. Let’s remember that our stage is NOT American Idol. It’s not a performance for performance’s sake.

It’s performing to the best of our ability to an audience of ONE + an audience of how ever many people are with us. Contrary to popular belief, we ARE performers. There’s nothing wrong with that. Our “show”, our “gig”, our “concert” is one of worship, of service, and of outward focus. We’re not performing for us. We’re doing it for others.

So have fun! Let your face reflect Jesus. Work hard. Do your best. Give it your all. At the end of the day your paycheck isn’t made payable to you on a nice crisp, bank check, but instead is deposited into your heavenly storehouse where God puts all your uber unearthly rewards!

Love you guys.
Russ