Worship

There’s a tendency in all of us to want more.  In terms of worship leaders, there comes a time in every leader where there’s a desire for the bigger stage, the better gear, the more seasoned players, record deals, and the unlimited tech budget.

Early on in my worship leadership, I saw the larger stages and farther reaches of other leaders, and that became my “goal.”  It turned each service and traveling worship opportunity into a means to the end.  Before I knew it, the desire for something bigger captivated my attention.  So much so that it affected my attention where God had me at that given time.

Is there something wrong with wanting to be better at what you do?  No, but it’s dangerous when that desire moves your attention away from your present calling.  A truth that I had to understand early on was that if I cannot build a culture of change and excellence where God has me locally, how can I ever expect Him to trust me with anything nationally? Let that understanding take root in every part of your weekly responsibility where you are.  You’ll see your vision for where you are begin to grow and your desire for excellence there change.

Here are a few things that helped me understand that God had me where I was for a reason, and how to be my best there:

* REFLECTING THE GLORY OF GOD IS YOUR GOAL - You fail when your goal becomes a bigger stage.  Nobody I know who has the “larger stage” ever made it their goal to be there.  They went head strong into bringing the glory to God right where they were.  Unfortunately the world of church leadership has been skewed by our innate love for celebrity.  We tend to elevate those leaders who have done big things as if that was their goal.  Their goal was and is to do big things for the glory of God alone.  Make that your goal and be faithful to it.

* FIGHT FOR CREATIVITY – In the world of music, there must be a fight in you for constant creativity.  If carving out a time to write and create music on your own isn’t a habit in your lifestyle now, you can never expect to create on a larger scale.  Where you are right now is the best place to try your hand at creativity.  Who better to try new songs and ideas with than the people who love you and can give you the feedback you need to be better.

* INVEST IN OTHERS – The tendency is to go headstrong into achieving the next best thing, that investing in others is not even on your radar.  This isolation is dangerous and is already a struggle within the character of a lot of creatives.  Fight the urge to go at it alone and bring others into your circle.  Invest in the spiritual growth of others and don’t think that music is your only gift.  You have been given the talent of connecting and reaching people where they are, us it.

* DEFINE YOUR STYLE – It’s simple, be you.  Some of the best advice I ever got from a friend was to be me and not whoever my favorite worship leader was at the time.  There’s a fine line between learning from other leaders and trying to be them.  A time must come where you understand what your gifting’s are and you build upon them to define your unique style in leadership.

* WORK HARD - There’s a tendency in some musicians to cruise.  As long as the music sounds good and everything is prepared, there’s not much to do for some.  To grow and achieve the greatness that you can be apart of at your church, you’ve got to put the hard work in.  The lazy “worship leader” persona has to leave the perception of others, and it’s our job to prove that laziness never wins.

What’s distracting you from “blooming where you’re planted?”  I’d love to hear your stories of overcoming the tendency to want more.  Join the conversation below.

In a day where the people of our church are bombarded with thousands of creative productions and designs, the leaders of the church naturally feel that they have to compete.  However, I’m of the school of thought that the church should be setting the trend.  For those who create in the world, the objective is to display “their” creativity and connect with the viewer.  Yet the church has the responsibility of displaying “His” creativity and connecting others to glorify God for who He is.

I’ve been blessed throughout a large part of my ministry to have a team of creatives around me who brought the worship environments that I was apart of to life.  Whether it was through creative set-design or professional lighting and video elements, it was always taken care of.  However, most worship leaders I communicate with don’t have that resource at their disposal.

The encouraging part is that there’s a lot that you can do to your current environment that doesn’t require a ton of money or knowledge.  Along with adding good washes of color and depth to your stage with lighting (which I’ll try to cover in another post), there’s a lot that can be done when it comes to video and set design.  Below are a few simple resources that can help stimulate the sense of sight during the music portion of your weekly services.

Carlos Whitaker // www.ragamuffinsoul.com

* Video Switcher – Whether you’re doing live video along with lyrics, or simply switching between a number of inputs, you’re going to need a “good” video switcher.  A great starting point is the Roland V-4. With a retail price under $1,200, you’re able to bring smooth transitions and overlay of video to your services.

* Projection or TV’s – I suggest having a simple projection screen, or two, on the outside of the stage.  These screens would run video backgrounds, or live video, with the main lyric and sermon content.  The creative element comes when you’re able to add video as the “backdrop/decor of your stage.”  For some, projection is not an option due to the depth of your stage.  But a viable option would be to mount a few plasma TV’s on the back of the stage.  The placement of these screens are crucial for depth and symmetry, but the beauty is that larger flat panel TV’s are becoming more and more affordable.

* Content - The most vital component in this conversation is good content.  The content needs to be creative and different throughout the service.  But it must also compliment the lighting in the room.  For presentation lyrics and the ambient video screens, I think having moving ambient backgrounds is a great place to start.  A few good places to purchase these elements are: Igniter Media, Big Stuf Media, and Digital Juice.  Another important creative element, when it comes to content, is utilizing live lyrics.  Live lyrics are basically a video file that goes along with you and the band as you lead.  You’ll have to get familiar with splitting off a click track to everyone in the band so that everything stays synced.  One down side to this is that, as a worship leader, you don’t have the freedom to flow however you want within the context of the song.  You only have that freedom after the song is over.  But I’ve found that it adds a strong level professionalism to the “look” of the service.  Some great resources for live lyrics are Igniter Media, Big Stuf Media. If you want to design your own live lyric content to songs that you’ve written or can’t find anywhere else, email me chris@chriskuti.com for a couple great references.  Last but not least, the video portion of your service also needs to carry over to the look and the feel of the sermon.  A good starting point is to have the basic outline on the larger, main screens, and than create a logo look for the ambient video screens.  Great resource for series slide ideas is Creation Swap, Life Church.

* Presentation Software - Without a doubt, this is the portion that is over looked by a lot of people.  Nine times out of ten your video portion of the service is run by volunteers.  In turn, a lot of the presentation softwares out there claim to be “user friendly,” but they end up being annoying and limited in their functions.  By far, the best presentation software I’ve come across is ProPresenter. Their ability to be simple, yet complex hasn’t been matched by anyone.  For those with options for bigger video looks and multi-screen capability, their PVP software is amazing.  Even if you don’t decide to spend a lot of money on content, or a video switcher, the must upgrade has to be ProPresenter and an Apple machine designated for lyrics and video only.

* Other Resources – We all need inspiration and simple tools to make the creative designs come to life.  Two great sites for inspiration when it comes to what other churches are doing are Church Stage Designs, Production Musings. The good thing about these sites is that you’re not seeing designs from just larger churches with huge budgets.  You’ll be amazed what you can do with none, to little budget.  A vital part of good stage design is adding depth with construction and different back drop elements that create depth.  A great place for all of the production design elements, like backdrops and anything else you can think of, is Rose Brand. Another great idea is to watch TV reality and game shows.  They are all a hot bed for creative inspiration that can help move you in a direction.  Although their budgets are unlimited, there are a ton of simple ways that you can implement the same looks with fabrics, wood and metal materials, depth, lighting, and video.

I’ve rewritten the opening paragraphs to this post five times already and each one of them kept rambling on.  So I’m just going to get to the point: as a worship leader, you need to do your best to make room in your budget for a paid FOH (front of house)engineer for your weekly gatherings.

I totally understand the pressure that you’re under to try and create environments that are creative with better looking sets, higher end lighting, creative video design, and the list goes on.  But without a great sounding service, these features will be more like “polishing a turd” (a direct quote from one of my Alabama Pastor friends).  So much is riding on the audio side of the service that mixing can’t fall on an inexperienced volunteer.  As a worship leader you need to know that the mix needs to complement the effort you and the band put in every week, rather than being a distraction for the congregation.  So before moving forward with any other technical investments or hires, take a careful look at your current FOH engineer situation.

Here are a couple of key things to take note of before making a hire for a FOH engineer:

* Doesn’t Have To Be A Full-time Position – For a lot of church’s, a designated salary for someone who handles the audio needs of your church may not be practical or even possible.  But it is important to have someone who can be held responsible for the mixing for each weekend service, even if on a part-time basis.  If you find an experienced mix-engineer in your city, a lot of them would be happy with a contracted day rate for each rehearsal and service that they’re responsible for.

* Listen to His Mix – Doing your research is of utmost importance in this area.  A lot of guys have a knowledge of how to “work” a sound board, but you need someone who can work a mix.  Go listen to him mix somewhere else.  Does he have a great understanding of EQ, compression, and monitoring?  There are so many worship leaders who want to buy the bigger system, or better console.  But a good mix engineer will be able to use what he has, within reason, and make it sound the best that it can.  Therefore, giving you a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to what “really” needs to be upgraded.

* Trust His Recommendation - With the above paragraph in mind, there may be some upgrades that need to be made to get the mix you’re looking for in the end.  Ultimately, you have to trust his opinion on what’s necessary, and what’s just “extra.”  A lot of churches do not have a proper amount of channels of compression or speaker/amp power for the room that they’re in.  Know what the potential engineer recommends before you hire him, so you can make the necessary room in your budget.

* Lead - You have to be able to articulate what your expectations are for this position.  What do you want the mix to sound like each service?  What are his responsibilities during the week?  How’s he supposed to serve you and your musicians each week, and what should he expect of you and your musicians so he can do his job well?  Like any hire, there needs to be proper communication of responsibilities and accountability from you, the worship leader.  Often times worship leaders have a hard time getting their technical staff to serve and stick to their responsibilities.  I’ve found that a lot of the problem areas fall on the lack of leadership from the worship leader in charge and his failure to lead with a servant heart, not from stage, but in rehearsals and day to day.  This has been something I’ve struggled with in the past for sure.

* Focus On Your Monitoring Needs - A lot of the frustration for me in the past was the  monitoring needs of the musicians on stage.  Due to the limitations in aux’s and other things, I could never get the musicians happy with their monitor mix.  So over time, they just got okay with not hearing.  This needs to be something that your mix engineer has a knack for.  In a professional touring situation, you’d have a separate monitor console, but this isn’t the norm in the worship world.  That’s okay if you have someone who has the expertise of simplifying monitor mixes for each musician with the ability of a clean and quality mix.  In keeping with the leadership that you’re responsible for, the FOH engineer has to know that taking special care of your musicians and vocalists monitor mixes are of utmost importance, and will only help their ability to perform their best.

* Special Care - Look for someone who keeps all of your gear in good shape.  With so much money invested into microphones and XLR cables, someone who pays special attention to how all of these things are taken care of is invaluable.  Check his references on how well he maintains gear.  A lot of the stress can be lifted from the technical side of your ministry when everything is clearly labeled, organized, and maintained.  This is a characteristic that is often overlooked but can end up costing a lot of money when things are broken or misplaced.

* Incorporate Your Volunteers - I understand that a lot of people are in a situation where a church member is handling the sound on a volunteer basis.  However, the point of hiring someone to mix is for the purpose of taking a vital part of your weekly services to the next level.  If the person mixing right now isn’t experienced enough to justify being paid and held responsible, how do you handle and respect his service in the ministry?  This is a very important question and a lot of thought must go into every unique situation.  Some ideas might be bringing him alongside the new mixing engineer, and allow that volunteer to learn from him.  Give the volunteer responsibilities under the new hire.  Have him help with set-ups, organizing/installing gear, and any other areas that will make him feel that his service is needed and appreciated.

* Don’t Pile On More Responsibility - Unfortunately when budgets are limited, a lot of positions will become five positions in one.  I could go on for days on how ineffective this is, but for this conversation I’ll just say that the mix engineers responsibility must only be to focus on audio and live mixing for services at the church.  Giving this person responsibility to make videos or oversee lighting for services isn’t going to gain you anything.  Although this person might be gifted in multiple areas, you need him to be his best only at mixing and making your services sound better.

I hope that these notes help you in your search for the right person.  This next step for some of you might be uncharted territory at your church, and that’s okay.  The end goal for this position is to bring a level of expertise that will allow for less distractions in an area that everyone in the service is affected by.  With the right person, you’ll notice the freedom that you’ll have in not having to worry about what it sounds like, and simply focusing on leading people to glorify God through song.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on making this hire before upgrading equipment, or specific struggles that you have with moving forward in your worship context.  Feel free to comment below and get the conversation started.

As a worship leader, there’s something dynamic about having a full band on stage with you.  There’s a strong sense of energy in the room that you strive to get bigger and stronger every week.  But is this full band vibe hindering you from being as good as you can be?

A couple of years ago, Conrad and I had the privilege of going out with Phil Wickham on his “Heaven and Earth” Tour.  I’ve always been a fan of Phil’s and I was excited to be able to just learn from him for a few weeks.  One thing that amazed me was how strong Phil was with just him and an acoustic.  He had the full band and the energy was huge every night, but when he played a couple of songs by himself, a light turned on for me.  The reason he’s as good as he his with the band, is because he’s that much better without one.

There’s a tendency to be sloppy with a full band.  When you have multiple instruments, mistakes can be covered up and playing with dynamics seems to be easier.  You almost feel “naked” when it’s just you and your instrument, especially when your congregation is used to a full band energy.  However, I challenge you to set aside a week every few months where you lead acoustically, and watch your skills get better.

Here are a few specifics to focus on when losing the band that’ll help make you a better leader.

* Play With Dynamics – This is hard with just one instrument, which is why a lot of leaders, when put in this situation, tend to sound the same throughout the set.  Leading acoustically has to include strong finger picking, rhythm, and dynamic techniques.  Just like you plan dynamic air when you play with a band, you have to plan for it even more when it’s just you.

* Sing Great - Seems like a given, but if you lead with a band a lot, you’re probably singing loud all the time and foul notes can be hidden.  Not when it’s just you.  Acoustically, you’ll hear the areas you have pitch problems in.  Memorize what it feels like to try and gain control in these problem areas when you lead.  Over time understanding how to fix your pitch will carry over to muscle memory when singing “full-out” with a band.  Just like your playing, you need to sing with dynamics.  Lighter, airy tones on verses and strong power when needed.

* Plan A “Smart” Set-List - There’s nothing more distracting in a set than bad transitions.  It’s even more noticeable leading acoustically.  The trick is planning songs that flow together in the same key.  Learn to move from the end of one song, smoothly into the chorus or beginning of the next.  When you have to change keys, think of how to get there.  An example of what I do is plan a very familiar chorus right before I change keys, one I know people will sing loudly.  Let the crowd sing it a cappella toward the last few lines and then as the phrase ends, pause and start the rhythm in the new key.

* Interact Well - You are responsible to lead people in understanding the lyrics and making them comfortable in singing out loud.  Interaction is a healthy balance between a coach and a cheerleader.  Trust me, leaning to far on either side of that analogy will hurt.  So be brief and intentional on when you speak, create hype without yelling and being cliche, and cue them on the lyrics occasionally.  This will change the way you interact when leading with a band as well, so take note.

* Introduce Creative Elements - Worship through song should involve all the senses.  To help the set breathe and really feel “corporate” plan elements that fit with the theme of the service.  Is there a video you can use between a song, that is brief, yet helps convey a strong message that relates to the previous song?  Is there a portion where you have scripture on the screens that allows everyone to read out loud together?  An acoustic set is the best place to try new creative things because you’ll be able to gauge the reaction and involvement easier than you would with a loud band behind you.  Try something, and if it doesn’t work, fix what was wrong or scrap it.

* Watch - Your biggest mistake will be to close your eyes the whole set.  It’ll definitely be tempting to do if you’re uncomfortable leading acoustically.  But you have to face the fear of looking into people’s eyes when leading.  You need to be able to gauge where their attentions are.  The best leaders have a blend between the passion they convey on stage and their ability to gauge the audience.

* Edit Songs – Songs tend to drag out at times acoustically, which means they probably do with a full band too.  Editing songs is an art that more leaders need to be able to do.  Editing is ending a song differently than the “record” version and tying in a chorus/bridge from another song, in the same key.  One example I did recently was I ended “Our God” by singing the chorus, while lightly finger picking, and flowed right into the bridge of “The Stand.”  That’s the only part of “The Stand” that I sang, but it brought life into the set at a pivotal moment.

* Take Care of Your Instrument - Nothing’s worse than ruining a set by failing to tune your guitar or breaking a string because you hadn’t changed them in months.  Another key thing is to make sure that you get your guitar set-up by a professional often.  I typically suggest every 4 to 6 months depending on the quality of your guitar.

I hope these pointers help and I’d love to hear how leading by yourself help shapes your skills.

Below is a video of Phil Wickham leading with just an acoustic guitar.  Notice the dynamics that he sings and plays with.  Pay close attention to how he interacts, coaches, and cheers with the audience. Lastly, watch how he edits songs, by pairing together “Cannons” with the chorus of “Agnus Dei.”

Being an effective worship leader has nothing to do with the number of people in your services each week, the gear your church has, or even having the majority of your congregation raising their hands during a dynamic “moment.”  Effectiveness has everything to do with pointing others to what scripture says about who God is and leading them to praise Him.  The goal of healthy habits in your weekly schedule is to avoid distractions that can easily keep others from focusing on the object of worship.

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit”– Aristotle

As worship leaders, through song, we have a huge responsibility to reflect the excellence and creativity of the God that we’re leading others to glorify.  And I’m a firm believer in creating habits that will diminish (notice I didn’t say erase) the chances of distractions from this singular focus in your worship services.  So here’s a list of habits that have helped me gain ground toward effectiveness, both musically and as an overall leader.

1. Hang Out With Your Pastor God is using your Pastor to lead your church somewhere, and picking up on this direction is only going to come by spending time together.  So often Worship leaders get their marching orders and hide till Sunday.  Don’t.  Your effectiveness, in the context God has you in, is in the balance.

2. Practice by Yourself, A Lot Your band sees if you’re prepared or not, and nothing is a bigger momentum changer than having a leader who can’t remember the progression.  So set aside time in your schedule, daily, to freshen up on new and old songs, memorize lyrics and chords. Also, sharpen up on your instrument by learning technique, scales, and exploring different sounds and tones.

3. Encourage Your Musicians Call them, get them gifts, have a monthly fun night. Don’t talk about music when you’re spending time together, get to know them and what interests they have besides music.  Do whatever it takes to let them know they’re appreciated.

4. Write Your Own Music You should be writing at least once a day.  Even if only one song is worth playing in public, sharpen your craft.  Your ability to write original worship music for your worship context will breathe life, not only into your band, but into the church body as a whole.  Chris Tomlin may not know what truth about God your church is struggling with, but you do.

5. Take Vocal Lessons Training yourself how to sing properly and warm-up/cool-down is vital.  Don’t focus on classical training as much as vocal health and breathing techniques.  A lot of times it just takes singing properly for 15 minutes everyday, as opposed to only singing at rehearsals and on Sunday mornings.

6. Encourage Your Tech Team You serve them and they serve you.  This is a team thing, and too often it can become a battle for what each party wants.

7. Plan Ahead In my opinion, your set lists and service flows should be put together at least a month out.  This helps with communication and allowing your team proper “learning time,” which breeds creativity.

8. Fast and Pray I always remind myself that “you can’t worship a God you don’t know.”  This needs to be your most guarded habit of the day.

9. Monthly Rehearsal, Weekly Run-Through I’ve found with good planning, you can have your team learn a months worth of sets (a mixture of familiar songs and new songs) and rehearse them one day a month for an extended period of time (ex. 3 hours).  And then do short weekly run-throughs once a week (other than the day of a service) for the Sunday coming up.   Allow this time for the tech team to run through cues, videos, etc, and to keep your band tight on the set for that week.

10. Start and End on Time Do what you say you’re going to do.  Everyone’s time is important, even yours.

11. “If It Ain’t Done Friday, It Ain’t Happening Sunday” Your weekend is precious, and I’m a firm believer that Sunday isn’t for learning music or running around getting things “finished.”  Don’t do a song or video Sunday that isn’t ready to go by the end of Weekly Run-Through.

12. Go To Concerts Do whatever you have to do to learn from others.  Whether it’s secular or Christian, watch for stage presence and creativity.  You’ll be surprised what you can take for your own.

13. Watch Yourself Record every service and watch yourself back.  You are your best critic.  Don’t just watch yourself, this is a great time to assess your other players and vocalists.

14. Find Out What They Listen To Know the people who go to your church and what kind of music they like.  You can’t please everyone, that’s not what this is about, but you can be sensitive to what they relate to musically.

15. Read Leaders read.  Learn from Scripture and other leaders.

16. Network It’s a shame how competitive worship ministries can be across cities!  “Who’s band is better?!”  This way of thinking should wreck your soul.  Instead, learn from other worship leaders.  Grow from each other’s struggles and celebrate successes.  You never know what musicians you’ll meet along the way who can add to the musicality of your existing team.

17. Play With A Click-Track Live This will take a lot of work at first.  But your band will be all the tighter for it.

18. Get Educated Learn from your sound guy or other audio professionals.  Nothing is worse for a sound guy than to have a worship leader who can’t communicate what he needs to hear in his wedge.  Your ability to communicate effectively with your tech team will also be helpful for your musicians, who may not know how to convey what they need.

19. Delegate You can’t do everything.  Even if you don’t have a support staff, there are tons of people who’d love to volunteer to help send emails to the band, upload songs, print set-lists, and type lyrics into the presentation software.

20. Memorize You cannot lead people effectively staring at a music stand the entire set.  I often use small “cheat sheets” on the ground to help me remember verses to new songs, but I’ve even noticed the negative effect they have on my confidence.

21. Lead Another Leader to Lead Your effectiveness is not measured by how much the music ministry needs you.  Rather, how are you equipping younger worship leaders to do what you do better than you?  Your goal should be to go on vacation and not have to book a guest worship leader if you don’t want to.

22. Rehearse Transitions Spend more time planning how to flow to the next song than on the song itself.  At the end of the day, the progressions for the verse and chorus stay the same throughout a worship song.  After a few times through, you have plenty of time to worry about how you’re going to keep your next transition free of “dead air.”

This list is by no means exhaustive.  I also promise to cover a lot of these habits in further detail in posts to come.

I’d love to hear habits that have helped shape your effectiveness as a worship leader.  Feel free to comment and share.