Growing As A Communicator

Public speaking consistently tops lists of things people most fear. It is not often I meet a worship leader who feels comfortable or confident when it comes to speaking and communicating non-musically from the platform. Give us an instrument and a room of any size and we are fine, ask us to speak? No thank you.

There is a big difference between a song leader and a worship leader. A song leader will see communication as merely information transfer - a quick welcome, verbal cues for lyrics, prayers to transition from one aspect of the gathering to the next. Worship leaders see communication as a way to continually shepherd people during the gathering. To direct people’s attention and affection to specific aspects of the heart and character of Christ, the beauty of the gospel, the truths being sung, and invite people to respond with their whole lives.

Whether you are comfortable with public speaking, or it makes your skin crawl, we can all grow in our ability to communicate clearly and effectively as worship leaders. I believe what will have the biggest impact on our ability as worship leaders to communicate well is intentionality. This means putting thought and purpose behind when you will speak and what you will say. Where are the holes in the flow of the gathering? How can you help connect the dots for people between what has happened in the week, what is happening in their lives, what they have just heard preached, and the reality of the Gospel?

Whether you are comfortable leading verbally or not, my encouragement is always the same: write it down. This doesn’t mean that you must read something verbatim. But writing down what you will say helps you to formulate more clearly what you are wanting to communicate. It can also ensure that you won’t start down a half-thought-out rabbit trail to nowhere. Once you write it down, practice speaking out loud. You have to get used to the sound of your voice as you speak something that is not off the cuff but planned and purposeful. Practicing it out loud also allows you to fine-tune the rhythm, timing, and clarity of what you are trying to articulate in the first place.

Okay, so maybe you are slowly easing into growing as a verbal communicator. Another form of communication often overlooked as worship leaders is our body language. Making eye contact when leading up front, smiling, having a posture of openness, being available and engaging off the platform, presence without swagger, working to avoid the appearance of frenetic pace which can often accompany before and after service.

Like all skills, the more you practice the more proficient you become. If it feels overwhelming, or scary, take small, intentional steps each time you serve. Honestly evaluate, elicit feedback from people who are strong in this area. Practice, practice, practice. Our people are worth the growing pains.

Identifying and Developing New Leaders

I had been leading worship all of three months when my youth pastor said, ‘Your goal as a leader is to work yourself out of a job.’ Discipleship, that is the goal. As a worship leader we make disciples of those we lead in corporate sung worship, but we also make disciples of our team, and those who carry culture, responsibility, and leadership as a part of the worship team. Whether your team is made up of two, or two hundred, whether you have been leading worship for three months or thirty years, as followers of Christ we are called to make disciples (Matt 28:19).

So what does it look like to make disciples, to raise up leaders, to pass on authority, and responsibility to those under our care? I believe the first step is identifying who you already have in your team. Who are the people who are unintentionally shaping the culture of your team? Who are the people on your team who are naturally servant-hearted, who are showing up early, staying late, arriving prepared, who are teachable, and passionate about Jesus, His Church, and leading His people in worship of Him? Sometimes those individuals will raise their hand in interest of taking on greater leadership roles within the Church. Sometimes you will have to observe, learn, and invite people to step into greater responsibility. Either way, this requires discernment and wisdom. I have often found that these people are not necessarily the ones that the world would peg as the obvious choice for a leadership role. These are often people who are quiet, consensus builders, who are as happy to serve in the background. When you see consistent characteristics in an individual that you would hope to be true of the entire team, these need to be individuals who you cultivate to take on greater responsibility. Call forth these characteristics, heart, and gifting, and invite those people to do what comes naturally to them, intentionally for the service of the team.

Training is ongoing for all of us. But if you are seeking to develop and train a new worship leader, whether someone has never functioned in that role, or is new to your church and team, we must be clear and intentional about explaining the why behind the what. How do you run rehearsals? How do you build teams and set lists? How do you communicate with the pastor through the week? How do you run rehearsals, set up sound, and lyrics? All of those things are important to communicate to a new leader, but just explaining what you do makes them competent to lead worship in your specific environment and culture, but does not train, develop, and equip them to know what motivates the reasons behind your specific context. What is worship? Why do you pick these specific songs, in this particular order for the Sunday gathering? Why do you not use certain songs? Why is it important to plan your liturgies in line with a sermon/series? Why do you work to build relationships with the worship team? Communicate the what, and you will train people for a specific context, communicate the why and equip them to be a leader in any context.

Once you have identified your leader/s, and have found a rhythm of investment, communicating the why, what does it look like to equip them to lead worship as a part of your team, and church? The rhythm I have seen, experienced, and led before that I have found to be the most helpful: new leader watches me (preparation, rehearsal, leading), new leader serves on the platform with me (I am still leading all of the songs), new leader serve on the platform with me, but now they lead a song or two in the service, new leader leads worship (I am on the platform but not vocally leading any songs), new leader leads on their own, I watch. This is not a quick process, but it gives time for a new leader to feel comfortable in the role, as well as the team and the congregation to feel familiar with their presence on the platform.

Be on the lookout for leaders. They are everywhere, but often the best ones need to be called forth to be trained and equipped.

Holy Week

Do you ever have that sense, you blink and a month has gone by?

You blink and it’s the Summer.

You blink and it’s Christmas.

When our lives are filled with responsibilities, relationships, work, goals, dreams, and projects, we can turn around and realize how we have blown through six months of our year. Throw in something as unpredictable as a global pandemic, and our days can creep by as easily as the fly.

This is what I love about the Church calendar - it is a way of marking our time, not by our roles, responsibilities, national holidays, or a school calendar but by the life of Jesus. Easter is the pinnacle of our celebrations as followers of Christ. The resurrection split time in two. The resurrection changed the day that followers of Christ gathered to remember, respond, and worship Him. The resurrection meant that the perfect sacrifice of Christ was sufficient, and we can now be in right relationship with God. But we don’t get to the celebration of Resurrection Sunday without the betrayal of Maundy Thursday, the suffering of Good Friday, and the silence of Holy Saturday. When we lean into the bitterness of these days, Resurrection Sunday is that much sweeter as we celebrate the life of Christ.

If you are serving in a church that is not particularly liturgical or following the rhythms of the church calendar, how can you build in those moments of remembrance for you, your team, and those you serve?

Take your team through a devotional, or daily readings in line with the Holy Week story. Spending time in God’s Word, with God’s Spirit, and God’s people will never be wasted. Allow your heart’s affection, and your mind’s attention to be captivated as you meditate on the truth of the Gospel story, the height, depth, width, and length of the love of God. If you’re looking for a devotional that you could use with your team, you can download my 2021 Lent Devotional for free, here.

Make plans for next year. Spend some time with your pastors, elders, creative team, planning ways that you can help set apart Holy Week, or the Lenten season next year to prepare people’s hearts for the celebration of Easter Sunday. Plan a Maundy Thursday Service, or a Passover Seder Meal, a Good Friday service, a Stations of the Cross, or Guided Prayer Meditations, or even a church-wide devotional for families.

Read and learn about the Church Calendar. Okay, maybe you or your people are not ready to step into every rhythm of the Church calendar, but perhaps there are things that you can take from the Church calendar that will work in your context, and help amplify the celebration and remembrance of the life of Christ. Here are some of my favorite resources in learning about liturgical rhythms:

The Liturgical Year - Joan Chittister

The Worship Sourcebook - Emily Brink, John Witvliet

He/She Reads Truth

Sacred Ordinary Days - Planners, podcasts, and resources for liturgical rhythms

For this week. Easter is typically a time where the local church sees lots of visitors, and there can seem to be pressure to get it right - for every aspect of the gathering to be flawlessly executed and impressive. Do not let the pressure take precedence. The reality is that every Sunday is a mini-Resurrection Sunday - a reminder that Jesus is alive, ruling, and reigning, and seated at the right hand of God. Pray and plan your service well. Communicate the Gospel in the songs you sing, in the Scripture you read, in the prayers you utter. Do it all with excellence, but excellence that points people to the beauty and wonder of Jesus, not amazement at the dust holding His breath and bearing His image.

He is worthy, and He is risen! Let’s remember and respond with joyful hearts and excellent skill.

Connecting Songs and Sermons

There is a critical 90 seconds every Sunday morning. That sliver of time between the end of the sermon, and the song. Part of our role as worship leaders is to connect what happens on a Sunday morning with all of life. To make sense of what we have heard in the Word preached, to fuel our worship in song and response. But many worship leaders struggle to feel competent and capable when it comes to speaking and communicating verbally to the congregation. If you struggle with knowing how to take advantage of those moments to hit home with the pieces of the sermon, and connect them to the songs of response, here are some suggestions:

Listen to the sermon. Be present and engaged, even taking notes of things you want to remember personally, and want to communicate to the congregation following the sermon. Don’t use the sermon as a time to check out mentally, or physically.

Read the text beforehand. Spend time in the particular Scripture passage being taught in your own time of preparation for Sunday morning. What do you see? What do you notice about who God is, what He has done, and how He has called us to live?

Speak with the preacher. Find out where the preacher is headed for the weekend. What are some of the main points? Any additional passages they will be using? How are they wanting to land the sermon? What is the one thing they hope people remember and take away from the weekend?

Connect everything to Jesus. Read the Jesus Storybook Bible. Sally Lloyd Jones does an amazing job of connecting every story to Jesus. How does the sermon/text and the morning point our lives, and lift our eyes to Christ?

Plan beforehand. After speaking with the preacher, and spending time in the text, and considering your final song(s), write down some thoughts about how you could connect the songs and sermon verbally. Practice speaking out loud to get used to hearing yourself connect and communicate in that way.

Write it down. As you continue to grow as a verbal communicator, write everything down. You can manuscript what you want to communicate so that you don’t miss any part of what you intended to say. Reading something that is written, will help to build confidence and familiarity, rather than trying to hold everything in your mind, and stumbling over your words.

Remember there is grace as we grow. Let’s not miss the opportunity to take those critical 90 seconds and point people to Jesus.

Weary Worship Leaders

Have you ever felt weary as you have approached the Sunday gathering? Tired to your bones, apathetic and indifferent toward God and His people? In many ways COVID has turned all of us into endurance athletes, unsure of the course we run, and the direction toward the finish line. For our teams, for ourselves, for those attending - or streaming - this has been a season of soul tiring. And yet, Sunday is coming whether we feel ready, or rested.

Even before COVID seeing people respond in ways different than we had hoped during our preparation, or feeling like the execution of a Sunday service did not accomplish all you had intended, can we discouraging, and disorienting.

So we do we do with our hearts, and minds as we encounter these weekly challenges? First, I believe we need to name the reality. That this is different than we thought, expected, and desired. We must acknowledge and confess how our own sin, pride, and ego are wrapped up in our unmet expectations. We trust that external response is not always an accurate representation of what has happening internally for those we serve. We believe that the Holy Spirit can work regardless of how well we have ‘performed.’ And we rest in the reality that Jesus perfects all of our broken offerings before the Father.

One of my youth pastors growing up told a story that whenever he felt disconnected or dry in his worship, he would hold a specific picture in his mind that would throw kindling on the embers of his heart: he would envision his father, who was not a follower of Christ, falling on his face in worship.

The beautiful reality is that Scripture tells us one day that will be true of everyone, everywhere: ‘…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’ (Phil 2:10-11)

As you lead worship to a camera, or look out on folded arms, and furrowed brows, or feel the team limping toward the end of a set list, remember the reality of Philippians 2. You are looking out on those who one day will in fact be facedown in confession and worship. He is so worthy.

What pictures of the beauty and worth of Christ, can fuel your worship when your heart feels wearied, burdened, or half-hearted?

All Of Life Worship

Although the word ‘worship,’ has been turned into shorthand for describing the music accompanying a service, or a church gathering, I believe many people within our congregations conceptually grasp that ‘worship is more than a song.’ If we pressed the issue, perhaps our people would even agree that ‘all of life is worship.’ Author, Harold Best, moves us even deeper when he says,

‘We were created continuously outpouring. Note that I did not say we were created to be continuous outpourers. Nor can I dare imply that we were created to worship. This would suggest that God is an incomplete person whose need for something outside Himself (worship) completes His sense of Himself. It might not even be safe to say that we were created for worship, because the inference can be drawn that worship is a capacity that can be separated out and eventually relegated to one of several categories of being. I believe it is strategically important, therefore, to say that we were created continuously outpouring.’ (Unceasing Worship)

Worship cannot be compartmentalized to our songs, or our services, it knows no boundary or borderline of our time, or our lives. This continuous outpouring of worship is happening all the time, always, and forever. It includes the most mundane, ordinary, unseen, monotonous, seemingly insignificant moments of our lives.

If we are called to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and do everything to the glory of God (Rom 12:1, 1 Cor 10:31), how do we do that on our commute, or dressing our children, paying our bills, making dinner, watching television, and brushing our teeth? We must begin by recognizing that we are constantly worshiping. There is no on and off switch. That worship is not the exclusive right of song or Sunday service.

Then we focus our attention and intention. When asked what was the greatest commandment, Jesus said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matt 22:37-40).” Worship is the right response to who God is and what He has done. He is the One who loved us first, and we love in response. When we live as people experiencing, and responding to the love of God by loving God, and loving our neighbors, our lives are marked with attentive intentionality true of those who recognize all of life is worship.

It is important we understand this reality as worship leaders because we have a responsibility to connect corporate sung worship and the corporate worship gathering to all of life. To help people understand why what we do, and sing in our churches matters to all of life. Because the worship that happens in the gathering should be the culmination of lives lived in worship throughout the week.

Auditions

We hope and pray that our churches and areas of ministry grow. We desire for growth to not just be represented numerically, but in deep, life-long discipleship. One of the ways we can see evidence of growth and discipleship is when people begin to give their time and talents and invest in areas of ministry within the life of the church.

So when people express interest in serving musically on the worship team, how do we onboard and integrate people in a way that allows for discipleship? In a word, auditions.

When people think of auditions, usually the first thing that comes to mind is American Idol. Don’t auditions make it seem too much about performance, and not very Christian? If your audition is focused exclusively, or primarily on someone’s musical ability, that could be an easy pitfall. But I believe there is a way to set up auditions that are kind, gracious, welcoming, and discipleship-oriented. I like to break my auditions into two parts - musical, and personal.

Musical.

A musical audition is not so much about finding the best musicians as it is gauging an individual’s musical ability and where they will best fit within the team. Helping provide the best opportunity for those new team members to thrive, grow, and offer their gifts to the team and the congregation. I think one of the best ways to gauge someone’s musical ability for a team is to have them prepare two or three songs that are already in use in your team. Some questions to considering during a musical audition:

• Can you sing harmony by ear?

• Can you transpose on the fly?

• Have you served in a team before?

• Where do you see your instrument/style fitting best among the team?

Personal.

Anytime someone stands on the platform, we are communicating trust in their abilities, and their lives. Serving on the worship team is not just about assembling the best musicians, but assembling the people who will model and shepherd the community of faith on and off the platform. So when you break an audition into two parts, it gives you the time to ask people about themselves, their relationship with the Lord, and their desire to serve on the team. Some questions to consider during this part of an audition:

• What does your relationship with the Lord look like these days?

• How would you define worship?

• Why do you desire to serve on the team?

• Are you a member of the church?

• Are you participating in other ways (small group, giving, regular attendance, other areas of ministry, etc)?

Finally, the last piece of auditions is clearly communicating expectations and next steps. Before moving immediately into scheduling a new team member, it is always a good idea to follow up with pastors, elders, or small group leaders - someone who has more awareness of the life and walk of the potential new team member - to see if the individuals involvement on the team gives them pause . If everyone feels confident, then let the new team member know what comes next. Do you want them to attend several rehearsals before serving during a weekend? When can they expect music in hand? Do they need to memorize music? Will you provide lyrics and chord charts for rehearsal, or do they need to bring them along? How frequently will they be scheduled? What is the dress code for a weekend? How can they expect communication to be handled?

Auditions do not have to be an ugly word, or a performance-based interaction. Auditions enable you as a worship leader to continue to shepherd your team well, and see an individual rather than a musical gift.

Creating a Culture of Feedback

In any role, feedback is essential for growth.  If we desire for ourselves and our team members to grow, we must create a consistent, and safe space to give and receive feedback.  Here are some things to consider when trying to establish a consistent and safe feedback environment:

Creating new rhythms.  If your team currently has no opportunity or rhythm to give and receive feedback, recognize that you will have to create new rhythms and patterns.  Creating a new culture, setting a new direction usually takes much longer than you would like or expect.  Don’t get discouraged, stay the course, it will pay off in the long run.

Give the why.  One of the best pieces of feedback I was ever given was ‘you have a reason and intention behind all that you’re doing with the team, but they don’t understand those reasons - walk them through the decisions you make and help them see why.’  People are often more willing to support an idea when they understand the larger purpose and intention driving the decisions.

Remove sarcasm.  Sarcasm is a cowardly way, to tell the truth.  It sets up a dynamic where people don’t understand what is honest and what is joking.  Laugh and enjoy one another, but removing sarcasm from the way you relate and interact will allow times of feedback to not be clouded by misunderstanding.

Set the time and space.  Whether it is immediately following a service, or between services, find the time, place, and time where everyone knows that feedback will occur.  This allows people to expect, and anticipate what is coming.  And avoids situations where feedback is only given when something goes catastrophically wrong.

Go first.  Invite feedback from your leaders, pastors, and the team.  Point out things you wish you would have done better, or changes you’re planning to make for the next time.  As leaders, we need to model what we want to see.

Celebrate.  Part of creating healthy rhythms of feedback is celebrating and honoring the good, not only pointing out the opportunities for improvement.  What can you celebrate in the team as a whole and the individual members?  Not just in their playing but the way they are serving, the heart behind their participation, and what God is doing in them and through them.

The team and the individual.  Some feedback needs to be given in front of the whole team, some feedback needs to be given face-to-face with the individual.  If there is a larger, deeper issue that needs to be addressed, it will always be better to cool your own emotions, and set a time with the individual outside of the regular rhythm of feedback.

Feedback is essential for growth.  Let’s serve our teams well by giving timely, honoring, consistent feedback, and inviting the same from our leaders and team.

Recovering From Chaos

Sound, lighting, volunteers, set-up, rehearsal, technology, relationships are just a few of the elements that go into a weekly gathering. Any one of those things going sideways seems to quickly send the whole of a morning careening into chaos. What do you do when you have that feeling where time is speeding up, and any or all of those elements begin to spin faster and faster?

Assess the situation. Is there something that can be fixed right now? A sound issue, or a conversation with a band member that can be addressed and corrected now? Or is this something that needs to be dealt with later?

Make a decision and communicate. If you are the person responsible for running a rehearsal, leading worship, or executing the production of the morning, the team will be looking to you to decide and direct them about a response. Do you want to pause for five minutes to see if things can be resolved? Do you want to cut a song, or just go acoustic? Do you need to delegate responsibility for another team member, volunteer, or staff member to try and take ownership and try to troubleshoot any potential problem? Like showing your work in math class, communicating your decision making will help build and grow trust among your team.

Watch the clock. How much time do you have left in rehearsal, how much time before service? You have to be aware of the time, and the morale of the team. Don’t allow issues to derail the momentum of the team.

Remain calm. As leaders, we carry and influence culture among our team. The faster things begin to spin, the slower we must move. The more chaotic things seem the more deeply we must be a person of peace. We need to be self-aware enough to recognize how our presence influences the temperature in the room, and when we are increasing or decreasing it for those we serve alongside.

Pray. Pray in your heart, but also stop and pray aloud with and for the team. Let prayer be the stake in the ground, recounting your heart and mind, that regardless of circumstance, you desire the attention and affection of your heart and mind to be on Christ. Pray for things to be resolved quickly. Pray that God would remove distractions for His people to see and respond to Him clearly.

If the wheels come off before or during the service, we can still rest, because Christ perfects our broken offering. And God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. Yes, we want to serve God and His people with excellence, but the pressure is off of us to be the Holy Spirit in the hearts and lives of people. God doesn’t need us to accomplish His purpose and plan, and yet in His kindness, He chooses to use us. And maybe this weekend He has seen fit to use us in spite of the chaos in us and around us. Praise the Lord!

Know Your People

If you would have asked me ten years ago if relationships were important within the role of leading worship I would have said, ‘yes.’ But what I did not understand was the fundamental connection between leading worship and being in relationship with the people you serve. If we see the role of leading worship as primarily musical, relationships will be secondary. If we see the role of leading worship as primarily pastoral, shepherding the people of God, then relationships become inextricably linked to the responsibility of leading worship. If you, like me, struggle to understand the value of relationships to your role as a worship leader, here are some of the things I have learned over the years:

We need relationships to be reminded that we are sheep before shepherds. We must remember before we have a role, exercise any gifts, walk in a God-given calling, we are sheep. When we intentionally create distance by things like staying backstage, being disengaged during the sermon, or staying out of the room our presence communicates what we think is valuable in significant and subtle ways. We too are sheep needing the voice of our shepherd.

Relationship informs the way that we serve because discipleship is rooted in relationship. We are not people-directed, but Holy Spirit led, but knowing the stories, struggles, and experiences of those we lead in song should shape the way we pray, prepare and point them to Jesus. As leaders of sung corporate worship, I believe that we are making disciples through our liturgy, song choice, and leadership on a Sunday morning. But true disciple-makers are those that make disciples as they go, not just when they are wearing the vocation/volunteer hat as a worship leader.

Relationships help us see the individual, not just a crowd. Standing in front of 20 people or 2,000 there is a temptation to see a crowd rather than the individual. But as we begin to enter into personal relationships with people in our church, it adds perspective to the crowd. We can begin to see the individual - made in the image of God, completely loved, completely known, as we stand before the crowd.

What are you learning about relationships and leading worship?

Choosing New Songs

Growing up, my mom had a subscription to a worship resource that regularly mailed physical CDs which included a variety of different worship songs. For many worship leaders, this was the primary way they learned of new songs for the corporate gathering. How things have changed over the past twenty years! Social media, radio, YouTube, conferences, and an industry consisting of writers, publishers, promoters and worship leaders who are seeking to put more and more songs into the hands of the local church - we are not lacking in resources.

But access and quantity does not always me quality. I am convinced with the many resources we have easily available, we should not settle for good songs but introduce only the best songs for our people. Best is relative, and I mean it as such. Introducing new songs to your local congregation has much less to do with the best songs rising to the top of CCLI or radio charts, but what needs to be on the hearts, minds and in the mouths of your people. These are the best songs of which I write.

A handful of questions I ask myself or others when considering new songs to introduce in the corporate gathering:

Does this align with our church theologically? Is this bringing clarity or confusion to who God is, what He has done, and who we are as His people? Can I trace the lyrics and concepts of the songs Scripturally?

Could I hear our people singing this? Each local church is made up a unique mix of people, will this particular song - in style, melody, and lyrical content - be the right fit for those I serve?

Is this what we need to be singing right now? Some songs need to be earmarked for future use, but maybe not in a particular season of the Church. Being aware of the larger story, and movement of the Spirit in your church will help you to be Spirit-led in discerning the right time to introduce a song to the congregation.

Is this song filling a gap in our inventory? Will this song provide a new facet to consider the heart and character of God? What other content and topics do we need to consider for whole life discipleship through our song choice?

Could I hear our team leading this song? No matter how talented the team, or high-end your production, if you are not the band on the recording, you will not sound like the band on the recording. Often, when you strip away the original production and the crowds of people singing in a stadium, many songs can struggle to stand on their own with just a voice and a single instrument.

Choose wisely, choose well, choose the best songs for your people.

Introducing New Songs

‘Show me a church’s songs and I’ll show you their theology.’ - Gordon Fee

Songs are an essential component of what we do as sung corporate worship leaders. They instruct and exhort, give us language to understand and articulate the heart and character of God and respond as His people. When it comes to introducing new songs, I’ll devote a future post to how to determine the kinds of songs to choose for your particular context. For today, I want to think through the mechanics of how and when to introduce new songs to your team, congregation, and in the service.

Introduce the song to your team first. Make sure the team has time to engage with the song. Showing up to a rehearsal and being given a new song with the expectation to learn it, and lead it in a matter of moments can be difficult for even the most competent musicians among us. This kind of last-minute planning does not establish healthy rhythms, culture, and trust among those you lead and serve. Back up the timeline of introducing a song, give your musicians and vocalists - a few weeks with a link to a video, the song, the lyrics, and chord charts. Sending out a song to the whole team allows them to familiarize themselves with the song even on a weekend they are not serving. But you can encourage them to ‘lead from the congregation,’ by engaging and singing along as the congregation begins to learn a new song.

Introducing to the congregation. How long does it take your people to learn a new song? How complex or accessible will this song be? A healthy rhythm for introducing songs is two to three weeks on, one off, and back on the following week. The first week is learning the new song, the next week the chorus is solidified and the verses begin to take shape in the minds and melodies of the people. Giving one week off allows the song to become familiar without feeling played to death. Do not leave too much space in between the rhythm of introducing a new song and folding it into normal rotation in your services.

Introduce in the service. Use this opportunity to shepherd your people. Instead of ‘Here’s a new one for you…,’ help people understand the heart of this song, and why you chose to bring it to your people. Placing a new song in the middle of a set is helpful because it allows the congregation to begin and end with things that will be familiar. With the production and tempo stripped back and lyrics visible to the congregation, sing through the chorus one time, then repeat the chorus inviting the people to singalong. Then start the song from the beginning.

One last thing to consider as you introduce a new song, encourage your people to join in when they are comfortable. But also encourage them to both meditate on the truth in the lyrics, read, and speak them aloud. Our words are powerful, let the truth not just fill our heads, and hearts, but our mouths, and ears as well.