The Worship Leader Toolbox

Today we talk about some helpful ways to play background music during the service, and hear a bit of Tim's recordings that he uses for this purpose.

1. The whole band doesn’t have to go up

2. Have a copy of the message or outline

3. Use pad sounds from the sound board

4. Don’t play intentional melody lines from familiar songs

5. Use the key you’re going into for the next song

6. Rehearse those times

7. If it’s acoustic only – learn some picking patterns and new chords

8. Stay ambient – don’t get rhthmic

Today we sit down with guitarist and singer, Stephen Fox, who shares his story and special calling of being a "Hired Gun" worship leader. Stephen has a home church, but feels called to also serve the needs of struggling churches in his area.

My favorite quote from Stephen is "God makes the praise. We get to play the notes."

Christmas can get busy for worship leaders. And especially this year because Christmas is on a Monday. Which means a really full Sunday and Christmas Eve! Here are some fun ideas for celebrating the season with your worship team:

1. Solos

2. Open House

3. Christmas Carol

4. Ugly Sweater Day

5. Group Gift

6. Take a Break

7. Serve Together

Today we sit down with Judy Redlich, host of "Encounter" show at Tuesdays at 2:00pm on Bott Radio Network. Judy is the worship leader at her church, Trinity Assembly Of God in St. Louis, MO. But one thing really sets her apart from most worship leaders: Judy is visually impaired. But that doesn't stop her in the least.

Join us in our 100th Episode as we ask a few questions and hear from some previous members.

1. How did you get involved in worship leadership?

2. How did you get involved in music?

3. What is your typical rhythm for ministry roles?

4. Have you written any songs?

Join us again today in our interview with Hadassah Bell and Moriah Nepstad from FC Music. They are the worship leaders from Fellowship Church in Antioch, CA.

Today's featured songs are "What Does Heaven Look Like?" and "Oh My Heart" are from their Live album, "Abide" recorded last year. You can find their music on all the streaming platforms. The church website is: https://www.tfcpeople.com/

This is part one of a two-part interview with Hadassah Bell and Moriah Nepstad from FC Music. They are the worship leaders from Fellowship Church in Antioch, CA.

Today's featured songs "In The Valley" and "Worthy Of" are from their live album, "Abide" recorded last year. You can find their music on all the streaming platforms. The church website is: https://www.tfcpeople.com/

Today we'll discuss eight things you can do to help your worship team regroup after the summer:

1. Send Communication

2. Plan And Schedule

3. Schedule A Community-Building Event

4. Time Of Training

5. Vision For The Fall

6. Long Term Planning

7. Meeting With Pastor

8. Prayer

Today we visit with my cousin Anthony Barajas, worship leader at Dothan Messianic Fellowship in Dothan, Alabama.

A podcast recorded while leading worship at Summer Church Camp

Rehearsals are the contract for the weekend. You're setting up a plan that everyone agrees upon, a plan to execute this week, with the team for the church. Today we’re going to have a quick conversation about leading worship team rehearsals.

1. Prepare for rehearsal

2. Arrive early

3. Greet you team

4. Obvious beginning

5. Prayer

6. Let the sound team take control

7. Start the song rehearsal

8. Put people at ease

9. Critical "after rehearsal" time

10. Sunday morning sound check and double-check

Great interview today with worship director, Blake Goss, from NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC! NewSpring has a new album out called Alters EP, featuring Blake, who's been in ministry for 20 years serving the church through teaching, leading worship, and personal discipleship.

Find the album everywhere, including:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3LbMy9S2eix3r8agUkhYIJ?si=ob-mlQWoRemK-T3vUvYfVA

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/altars-ep/1680098338

Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_koWPqLdvOuBRxwb1QttJGxTizyamY6NRo

How does the habit of "scripture first" play into the life of a worship leader?

1. Scripture should be first in The Day

2. Scripture should be first in Planning

3. Scripture should be first in Response

Here are five aspects of the life of a worship leader on a day-to-day basis:

1. Discipleship – self, others, team, church, prayer, scripture

2. Communication – with pastors and staff, team, tech ministry, and volunteers

3. Music – planning, finding, charting, files, creativity

4. Organizing – rehearsals, staging, teams, flow, Sundays

5. Recruiting – praying for new people, raising up the next generation, discovering volunteers

It's great to learn from other churches, to be inspired by bigger and better, but what about the smaller settings? What if you are leading in a smaller church? What if your stage area is more traditional, without grand lighting or state of the art tech?

You may not have a huge budget, a large talent pool, incredible production, but Jesus is still the ultimate worship leader, the Holy Spirit is still present and you have these three advantages:

1. Relationally Driven

2. Less Commotion

3. Opportunities for Involvement

Now is a great time to start thinking about the summer. You can use it to your advantage to strengthen, boost and recharge your ministry worship ministry. Here are some ideas for your life and ministry this summer…

1. Create a social event

2. Plan with your pastor

3. Plan your own ministry

4. Keep the music simple

5. Include others in leadership

6. Music themed Sundays

7. Highlight team members

8. Schedule your home time (and stick to it)

9. Serve at a kids event or outreach

10. Get the big blocks in for the fall

This you can do it all?

You can't, and you shouldn't.

Here are some random thoughts to encourage you, the leader, to invite, ask, and otherwise pull people into serving in ministry with you:

ASKING OTHERS TO SERVE

1. Don’t say “no” for others before asking.
2. Don’t rob people of the joy of using their gifts.
3. Don’t think you’re supposed to do all the ministry.
4. Work at getting over your perfectionist tendencies to allow others to begin, learn and grow into it.
5. Set up a small advisory board to work toward (and give you confidence) to ask others to serve.
6. There may some frontloaded time investment, but make a plan and get it rolling knowing of the time you’ll save in the future (and the way others will grow in it)!

WHAT DO WE ASK

1. Ask people to join you?
2. Ask people to take on responsibility.
3. Ask people to assist you in roles in which you are weak. Someone is gifted for the role. Too often, we think if we don’t like doing something, no one would, so we just buckle down doing things we don’t enjoy while someone else who would love to do it is missing out. I think about putting furniture together, creating certain chord charts, setting up the stage, etc. Don’t begrudgingly take on the burden, pray about the right person who may find it fulfilling and rewarding. Ask them to do it or join you in learning to do it.
4. Invite people to use their gifts in one time projects – like season stage design, painting, a video, sending thank you notes, writing music, etc. I have found that when people can see the light at the end of the tunnel for a project it’s much easier to be a part of it and jump in.
5. Ask your team to respond the kinds of things they would love to do. But most often, it’s the personal invitation that will make a difference in how a person responds. You ask a specific person to consider taking on a role of some kind, etc.
6. Ask people to join you in thinking of new ideas. Incorporating people into leadership is more fun, more effective and more clearly accomplishes your mission of equipping the saints.

EXAMPLES OF ASKING

1. put all the lyrics and graphics into the computer, operate it for rehearsals and services in each of our worship spaces and in many of our traveling events.
2. operate the sound board for services and well as set all the stuff up in advance
3. lead some of the songs and lead the whole service at times
4. take care of loading all the tracks, clicks and pads into the workstation
5. help come up with new songs for worship
6. take care of welcoming, greeting, prayers, etc.
7. welcome people into worship as a guest service team
8. take care of all the coffee and other hospitaly details on sundays
9. edit blog posts
10. send blog posts, emails and more

Place your focus on edifying the church, helping the congregation connect with God, and pointing toward Jesus in all you do and sing. As we do this, we will be focused on leading the church in worship. And you know what? Great performance will follow.

To lead is to be a servant. Here are some of the ways we serve from an angle of leading worship:

1. Invite and Involve Others To Develop Their Gifts

2. Care For Your Volunteer Team

3. Do The Hard Work Of Organizing

4. Humbly Assist And Partner With Your Pastor

5. Pray For Your Church

6. Sing The Songs That Connect With and Help The Congregation Engage

7. Stretch And Challenge Your People To Grow

The question is for a great worship flow is, "What's Next?"

Today we talk about how to instill this question:

1. Write out the order with details

2. Teach them to ask the question

3. Remind them to ask the question

Part of the role of the worship leader is to help develop the church to grow in their ministry skills! Each of these ideas will help you as the leader equip others to grow in their own skill as leaders of worship:

1. Increase Expectation

2. Provide Resources

3. Plan In Advance

4. Instill Encouragement As A Culture

5. Generate Inspiration

6. Include Guests In Worship

7. Model Growth In Skill

In this episode we'll be discussing ten simple tools we use for worship leading each weekend:

1. Guitar

2. Capo and Tuner

3. Bible

4. Phone

5. Planning Center

6. "Slack" software

7. Pro-Presenter

8. Songselect (CCLI)

9. iPad

10. Ableton

worshipleadertoolbox.com

Sharing dreams and visions with your worship team is important, and here are some benefits:

1. Builds A Culture Of Vision

2. Allows Other People To Add Their Gifts

3. Helps Uncover Passion In People

4. Helps Draw People To The Team

5. Gives Your Team And Leaders Hope

6. Helps You Stop Doing So Much Of The Ministry Yourself

worshipleadertoolbox.com

Tim and Dave talk about five things great team members do!  

worshipleadertoolbox.com/five-things-great-worship-team-members-do

Surprise, snags and situations are always a reality when you have so many moving parts in your worship ministry. How you handle the chaos will help your team move on! 

Worship Leaders should be actively praying for these six things. Without the leadership of the Holy Spirit, there will be no power or depth in your congregation or ministry. 

Tim shares four ways to trust your team members more. It's the best way to grow leadership in your team members. 

Visit WorshipLeaderToolbox.com to view the blogposts. 

In this episode, Tim shares thoughts about getting kids involved in proclaiming God's glory in worship. It makes a difference in the life of the next generation, but also in the hearts of the worshipping congregation! Seeing children involved in various ways is always fun and inspiring!

Tim shares six foundational components for congregational worship.... every worship leader and every church can implement these. worshipleadertoolbox.com

The idea of being a sacrificial worship team means that we are humble investing our gifts, using up our time and talent, serving in the unnoticed ways so that the church can grow closer to Christ through worship. Here are eight ideas to build into your team.