3 Reasons Why You Can't Recruit New Musicians // Worship Leader Wednesday

[@skylemontgomery]

Thank you thank you thank you. I’ve seen too many teams that have the same musicians week in/week out and worship leaders who don’t seem too interested in developing people, opting to recruit the best developed talent they can find. Refreshing to hear your perspective!

[@hotman718]

Great word. I totally agree on stepping back and letting other people shine. Some people are not willing to do that. Takes humility.

[@natejansen3063]

Your comment about the "gut check" and fighting jealousy was exactly what I needed to hear today. So true!

[@misterstratocaster]

In the early 90s, I played in a band that did Christian rock & roll around the area. For 20 years ending in 2016, I played in one of the two worship teams at a church of about 200 (on Sunday morning). We left that church over three years ago and are in a much smaller church (50-ish on Sunday mornings). The congregation is mostly blue hairs. So our worship team consists of a pianist, two female vocalists, and I fill in on guitar, bass, keys, or hand percussion as needed for each song. There's nobody else in the congregation who plays an instrument. We're not about to recruit tavern musicians just to fill out the sound. We do the best we can (and play every Sunday which is not a problem for any of us), but a more full sound would be better. That said, the congregation sings with great gusto. There are many times I have to turn around and give myself a little more volume because they're drowning me out - and that's a great thing.

[@aaroncrawford5638]

I felt the same way because up until about a year ago I was on every week in some role on the praise/media team. I was singing/playing guitar 3 out of 4 Sundays (and on the sound the rest of the time.). I didn’t leave my church but I had health/burnout issues that caused me to step away for a while.

[@brandoncadena08]

I have played, with few exceptions, every week for both the Wednesday night youth team and the Sunday team for the last five years. I've taken vacations and such throughout that time, but for the most part if I'm in town I'm playing. That's by choice I've asked to play as often as possible. I don't think it would be smart to have everyone do that, but there are some people who are called to worship ministry. It doesn't feel like work, and I don't feel even a hint of getting burned out.

[@mathewstudios2410]

Found someone like me

[@wnhlwntk]

@@mathewstudios2410 me too.

[@carlpop2324]

I get so much out of these videos that I bought the Worship Manual and I am glad I did. I have been a worship leader for five months and have much to learn.

[@mikebarthen1270]

Thank you for your input, Im a guitarist at my church and recently backed away from playing. Our worship leader is the keyboardist. The problem we have is the last minute changes to the music without being informed untill sunday morning practice. Since i play by ear and spend the week listening and learning each song ( by the way im new to playing for the church) it makes it difficult for me. When confronted with this issue he just says dont worry about it, play what you can. It doesn't seem like he really wants a team. Most of the time its just him and the drummer. He makes it out like I am struggling to play when infact its not an issue if he reports any changes prior to practice , since we only have one 1hr session before church service.

[@MaxThompsonMusic]

Michael Loughlin I don’t know the situation here but it’s worth considering that the leader’s hands may be tied if the pastor orders changes last minute. Happened to the band I played in at a previous church...our pastor’s demands might even happen right before the service started.

[@92keys524]

Mark, my best advice is don't go to KZbin for good advice.

[@madisoncastillo7250]

You guys are the BEST. Thankful for your advice! And love watching your videos!

[@SeachingShepherd]

Thanks! How about expanding the topic into, How do you manage worship team members who kind of scream when they sing, or sing off pitch just enough to pull others off pitch, or who dress too scantily, or who are trying to draw attention to themselves instead of Jesus, or who kind of live like heathens during the week; lukewarm? What have you discovered about the depth or lack there of, of the spiritual walk of each member of the worship team, and the corresponding effect on the presence of the Holy Spirit in worship? What have you discovered about the sometimes shallowness of lyrics that don't really say anything impactful?

[@rodterrell304]

That’s all nice but in a church of 25 people there is no guitar players or drummers or keyboard players. They just ain’t there. I hav been playing for 8 years and the people there have no musical abilities.im a keyboard player that plays guitar better than my guitar player and trust me I wish it wasn’t like that but he will not practice and has very little ability. We do hav the same people playing every week and if the leave we will still praise God if we just have a guitar or keyboard. That’s when tracks come into play or like I do, I program a bunch of tracks on my keyboard and go from there if I don’t have anyone to play. I’ve been asking people if they play or sing and invite them to tryout but they never come through and often go to the bigger church cause it’s more appealing and more young people. Sorry it’s just not that cut and dry as you all say but thanks for posting.

[@ianhinrichsendrummer2113]

Chuck out ANY attention seekers immedietly - they're there for the wrong reasons. And as for females who go to church dressed like hookers, the church should be addressing this issue, but they wont because in the modern church anything goes, and they're too scared of losing members. Thats why they're powerless.

[@jbfam7208]

Rod Terrell: focus of the youth, cant stress that enough, focus on the youth because adults are flakes. Adults are filled with excuses and lose focus really easily.

[@donovanhill7367]

We have a dress code for our stage presence. No shorts for men, and women must cover their knees (from the TOP, not the bottom!) and wear modest tops. The no shorts rule for men applies year round and we don't have A/C.

[@ianhinrichsendrummer2113]

@@donovanhill7367 thats great and no make up.

[@at4371]

Excellent! A lot of experience and knowledge. You both perfectly delivered the message orderly and meaningful.Thank you ! God is good.

[@soundrat]

Thanks for this very informative and clear explanation of building worship musicians. This is one ministry that has lots of issues on the double standards and favoritism. We must be a family in the Body of Christ that reflects Jesus’s love for each other and people can tell if we really do. That’s my personal observation after serving in several ministries over a few decades on both worship music as a guitarist and vocalist as well as an audio mixer

[@carlpop2324]

By the way, I respect the humility and honesty in these lessons as much as I value the content.

[@andrewtolson2566]

Great insights. I play guitars at a small church in Daytona Beach. Pretty much every Wed. and Sunday. It does get uncomfortable at times, but I do view that as a spiritual and personal defect. I believe that “burn out” is a cop out. In the name of excellence, we create an atmosphere that can wear at people. It’s such a small amount of time I reserve for the team. Many people grew up in mid west churches where that piano or organ lady was there every Sunday for 30 years. Maybe she was burnt out, I don’t know, but she was there. When the mindset is on the love of worship and the changing of lives, it’s really a small price that’s paid.

[@joeypogorelov7201]

Pure wisdom. Thanks guys, that was very refreshing. I needed that. Glory to God ☝️

[@indianrockstrat]

Great stuff guys... one thing you touched on was settling for second-best ....the idea that our sound is good enough, our people are worshipping, we don't need to do anything else , when you can make significant improvements without spending much money......"you talked about bringing in a consultant to train your sound technicians but you don't do it" .. "you agree that there should be at least a brief soundcheck at the beginning of rehearsal so people can get their monitor level set but you don't do it " .... ..things like that

[@jbfam7208]

Amen Brian, what a blessing, love how u brought the Lord into it. Thank you for this, truly a blessing! This opened my eyes and heart to recruit others.

[@matthewwillis7767]

These videos should be MANDATORY for all worship leaders 💯

[@maximum9065]

A struggle in my church is that I have people who don’t understand that it’s more work to teach others to lead songs than it is to sing all of them by myself, and I’ve had people pretty much accuse me of being lazy and getting others to do the job I’m paid to do. Even when I have explained that it’s about equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry and comes from a passion to raise up future leaders.

[@jemsar2]

I've spent countless hours teaching newbies, rather than practicing or rehearsing with a band because of this.

[@michaelwatson2601]

“Your need to be exceeded, must exceed your need to be needed.”

[@ancientpaths7]

Thank you for being authentic and talking about things that otherwise worship teams don't talk about!! :-) A lot of worship teams lose their vibrance and their ability to fulfill their maximum destiny because they allow a lot of interference from feelings of insecurity, pride, jealousy, selfishness and control issues--all of which quench the Holy Spirit.

[@zeejonesy]

"Pray like it all depends on God, work like it all depends on you."

[@brittanykrieger5828]

My home church does this frequently and it is great every time.

[@janenehall5419]

You guys are truly awesome!!! Thanks so much for your insight and wisdom!!!!

[@koreysamuels8586]

Man you guys are so awesome...I learnt a lot of tools. I’m a musician (guitar and wind instruments).....and what captured me about what you said was.....a guy in the crowd sees that the worship team has a guitarist so I can’t join the team, I’ve never played in a worship team or even a band but I’m guitarist and homegroup leader with my wife for families. I do the worship muso side and always offer our family group from church opportunity to grab a guitar or jump on drums,flutes etc etc. because I may not realise that I’m robbing others from an opportunity from god using them. Yes I have tried to go into worship but in all honesty I didn’t feel like I was needed, and tbh that was due to the lack of opportunity to be part of the ministry, I ended up leaving and going into kids ministry....yes I did get discouraged about it coz I felt discouraged or unworthy to be part of worship but then I had to ask Holy Spirit aswell these questions.... Is it in gods timing? Am I called to be with this team? Am I needed? Can I invest into the ministry aswell to others? Will this encourage others to believe they too can be a muso? And the big one.....how’s my heart? It’s been a 2 year goal to be in a team so I’m still praying to one day be used in the ministry to share for others to know that we all are worthy to be in ministry if our heart desires to serve god and strengthen in our own journey of faith and maturity. So blessed to hear this guys thank u so much❤️❤️❤️❤️bless u both❤️ Korey

[@silvermineband2719]

As a team member, not a leader, what I struggle with is the sparse opportunities to play music. If I play one or two Sundays a month, 5 songs over 2 services, that’s very little time actually making music. Certainly not enough to grow my skills or satisfy my desire to make music. I’m not discounting the value of serving God and the Church, but just addressing a practical issue.

[@jasminduncanson2520]

Your videos are awesome and a blessing for me 2 become a better praise and worship guitar 🎸 player

[@christiancanalita6487]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this video....thank you!

[@stupidlyfamous]

I am the lead guitarist in the best worship team EVER (I may be biased). We have a congregation of roughly 150 and use mostly the same musicians.I have served every weekend for a year and a half. Our leader brought to us the thought of each person taking one week off per month. We tried it for a little bit, but realized that for 13 minutes every Sunday, that was our chance to not only praise Him, but to lead others in praising Him. Each Sunday was a chance to reach a new heart, a broken soul, or someone who needed to hear the words in our songs. It rejuvenated our priorities and filled us up again. If you’re feeling burnt out, just know that’s ok, but just know it’s a part of a process. Fight through it, God will soon fill you past the brim!

[@rickybaker7123]

Hey guys, wondering what you would do you do with a very bad musician or vocalist who want to be apart of the team? Your heart says this is a person that wants to worship and you want to let them on the team but you know that because they are not good at singing/playing they will be a distraction to the congregation?

[@BPMChan-nr7ik]

I guess you have to let them know that your team needs to play at a certain level, become familiar with the worship genre, and they need to take lessons to train themselves to an acceptable skill level. If possible you or another misician could offer to train them. Also make them come to worship team practices to observd and become familiar with how a team runs and the responsibilities associated with each position. Make sure you do this nicely and just show them that you value them as humans!

[@renoutlaw8371]

Unless they have like a physical or mental disability, there are very few people who can't be trained to play basic pads or basic acoustic guitar at a decent level relatively quickly. Find something easy for them to do that they can get to an acceptable level at.

[@jacintobanda4114]

I agree that as the music director/ leader, his or her role is not just to coordinate and help people that are musicians grow in their ministry. But lack of full bands or rotations of ppl aren’t necessarily a bad leader. Being desperate could also be, desperately going after Gods heart! Sure, we’re called to take what God has given us and work it (the talents parable) but that’s not only what God wants from us or has for us. I think, as long as you have a full heart, seek what He has for you and your church. Disciple the ppl under your care, and strive always with everything you got to lift a praise and worship that He deserves, then that’ll reach His throne as sweet a fragrance as having multiple ppl serve. Not saying we shouldn’t try and recruit ppl to serve but I also don’t think we are robbing ppl of their opportunities just because they aren’t serving as a musician. The platform and stage isn’t the only way everyone has been called to serve. Everyone has been called to spread the good news in all the earth. Platform or not, instrument or not. Our lifestyle is the biggest and loudest and most orchestrated worship we can offer God. Ministry isn’t just volunteering at church. Please don’t think that you’re dead in the water if you lose a musician on your team. It’s encouraged to have more ppl volunteer but that’s not a must! Musicians aren’t even a must!!! I can worship in my shower just the same as I can on stage. That’s the beauty of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made for us on Calvary. Anyone and everyone can make music with or without instruments, with multiple rotations of volunteers or not.

[@jeremiahthompson5165]

Please do more videos on the HX effects!! I’m thinking of getting one and I’m not sure if I’ll need the amp simulators for the helix. I’m about to get a Fender blues jr. and I don’t know how to connect to the PA system. Love the videos!!! Helped me so much!!

[@cupcake2109]

Dude I'm in a similar situation as yourself. I have a Blues Jr. and its a great amp. I love playing it. However, I don't enjoy hauling it to church. I usually have it on stage behind me pointed away from the crowd and then mic'd so it goes through the board. However, we're going to be upgrading our board to a digital one and running in ear monitors. I'd love to upgrade to an HX Stomp and throw it at the end of my board. It would save stage volume and my back.

[@erikhartley2494]

What kind of questions do you have about the hx effects? I have one and absolutely love it.

[@cupcake2109]

@@erikhartley2494 Can you use it as a standalone amp simulator like how I would want to use it? I've heard good things about it. I'd love to just have my guitar and board.

[@erikhartley2494]

Kyle Miller well it does have IR’s which make up half of your equation but you’ll definitely need at least some sort of preamp pedal as well.

[@davidcook5640]

Guys, What do you do when you only have 5 musicians & 4 vocals and no one else in your congregation plays an instrument?

[@jeyrey3898]

Start training up willing available people to learn!!! And start them playing for the kids ministry, or local convalescent home (that's how I started guitar, playing for people asleep in there wheel chairs what better audience than that when struggling through the same 3 chords) fortunately through lots of prayer and practice the Lord grant me the gift of playng guitar Also, for rhythm... Djembe is an acoustic/no drummer, no bassist, best friend. Find someone available to keep a simple ryhthm on djembe, throw in a shaker have then practice at home with a metronome

[@jbfam7208]

Focus, focus, focus on the youth. Adults are flaky.

[@MaxThompsonMusic]

Don’t be too set on certain song selections. I’ve found that you have to tailor the songs and arrangements to each individual team. It can be really helpful. Don’t be afraid to make your own “version” of a tune to make it work for your team either. If only one or two musicians can play one Sunday, pick music carefully, and it can work great. Also, it’s not always the team that’s most important in leading others in worship; it is the Lord who works through whoever it is to bring the congregation into his presence.

[@calebrains370]

Honestly... this wasn't super helpful. Our church runs less than 50 and we literally have no other musicians in the congregation so I have no choice but to use the same people every week. And you guys are saying that makes me a bad leader? I would LOVE to have a full rotation of people at every position but we simply don't have enough players in our church. I've been at a loss for some time now in finding places outside the church to recruit and that well so far has been pretty dry. I was hoping for some of those tips to grow the team but instead got a rebuke because my church isn't big enough... cool.

[@jeremygalvan6238]

Dont be disheartened. I've led at churches of 30 or less. Its a very real thing when you have all 3 musically inclined people on the stage. Your not a bad leader. One thing they didnt mention in this video is that we need to ensure that our "end goals" are appropriate for the size of the church we serve. So at Fuller and Brians church they have an end goal that you and I will not be able to meet with our teams. And if we strive to meet the same goal we will be faced with incredible stress and probably fewer team members. My point is simply that in a small church we need to set reasonable goals for what we can accomplish. When I served at a church of 30 I realized that my goal was to have an acoustic and light drum, with 1 or maybe 2 vocals. We focused on simple arrangements and congregational singing. Now I work for a church with about 300 on a sunday and while the team is bigger we have only raised our goals a little higher than the smaller church. Now we have a bigger band... but we are still focused on Congregational Singing and supporting the churchs voice. So I am pretty comfortable not having drums one week, or not having a bass for two months. Its ok... because my goal is not having a complete full rock band each week. But rather building a foundation for the church to sing on each week... with... whatever team I have available. Our team is currently growing well... and I believe that is a result of building a healthy culture that doesnt focus on all the things we dont have... but rather being grateful for what we have each week and trying to make the most out of that... for God's Glory alone. Blessings Caleb. Dont be dicouraged. Leading a small church can be a great blessing. Focus on getting the church to sing even if that means its just you up there every so often.

[@lucasmotarealty]

Do you have an Apple podcast?

[@wnhlwntk]

I've wanted to have backup musicians and vocalists for our five member praise band, but some of our members don't want outsiders in. How can I handle this? Also, what is your opinion that musicians for worship should be born again?

[@nimsocproductions]

Hi guys, I serve every week! I definitely get burnt out! Unfortunately people at my church don't understand that I need a break! What do I do? Please let me know! Thanks!

[@audreydelavega8503]

Communicate that to your leader who makes the schedule. Lovingly tell them in a way that they will understand.

[@rebekahmontesdeoca565]

My church doesn't recruit musicians. The worship pastor says that he will just wait on God and God will send the people we need. He's never asked someone to join the team, just waited for them to come forward. It's worked so far.

[@stephaniebailey3621]

Thank you so much. Confirmation. God is so good!

[@Aristarcus86]

We have about 100 or less in our church. The severe lack of people wanting to learn to be musicians is mind blowing. Our congregation is on the younger side with 70% being of college age. There is a general lack of desire by anyone to learn compared to 20 years ago when musicians seemed plentiful.

[@rodterrell304]

It’s just not that simple with small churches. At my church I wear many hats: worship leader, sound guy(not good enough to be called tech), maintenance guy, setup of events and whatever else comes up. In order for me to take off a Sunday, I have to called people that all decline because they are scheduled or doing some business outside of church. We only have maybe 15-20 people on a good day and none of them are musicians and the ones that sing a little don’t want to comment to Saturday rehearsals and then Sunday rehearsals at 7:30. I asked a person to cover for me (4 songs right before his service) and he first said yes then a day later said no because he was busy doing family stuff this week so I had to reach out to another church to see if they have someone, if not my church will have to play videos. My conclusion is that there is a HUGE difference between large and small churches and what you all are saying is only for larger churches with more than 20 -30 people. Thanks for the info though.

[@stephenletner9897]

Rod, I don't discount your experience with a smaller church. My only question to you is, is your church trying to grow? I mean that in a non-condescending way. I've heard many stories of churches that now have thousands in attendance each week that started out in someone's living room! That's even less than 15-20 people! Granted, they didn't just grow to thousands overnight, but they did the hard work of reaching out into their communities and discipling people and went from a living room to a school gymnasium and so on and so forth. So, maybe your church doesn't have any other musicians right now, but think of the possibilities of what CAN be in the future and continue to work with and train and develop the people you have. Like they said, it's all about the mindset and loving people and helping them to find and develop that talents that God has given them to serve the church. Praying for your church to catch a vision of growth and to seek the Lord for His help in giving you guys strategies for how to do that!

[@larriveeman]

I think it also makes sense for different worship leaders to rotate

[@rodterrell304]

larriveeman if they exist, yeah.

[@MaxThompsonMusic]

It can cover a lot of different things. On the other hand there are also advantages to having a core team while rotating other members...it all depends on the church, service layout, and to some extent the music style.

[@Lupaa-]

I needed this! Thank You!

[@MattMacKo]

This is a great conversation

[@actslloydminster399]

The only cycle in every ministry or even in life should DISCIPLESHIP without it you will not bare good quality fruit. This should be the way of life in every ministry. Make it blue if get it!

[@christianthomas2756]

Have y’all ever done any Austin stone worship stuff?

[@WalfridoFraticelli]

I am a guitarist on a 200 people Church, and like you mentioned we are always the 5ish same guys. My approach on this is to train people. Start with their willingness and teach them. It takes time but I believe the payoff is greater. The draw back is that the complexity of the music might have to get lowered. Any thoughts?

[@yennsky]

Great insight for leaders and musicians alike

[@opalivy739]

I enjoyed this topic discussion guys. Great advice by the way

[@zacharthur7499]

Awesome tips and great wisdom guys! I’ve got a question for the more structured leaders out there: how would you guys structure a service if your congregation had a mic up front for the congregation to bring Scriptures or a testimony? It’s a totally different atmosphere and I’m interested to see your takes on it!

[@MaxThompsonMusic]

Zach Arthur Do you mean spontaneous readings/testimonies or known ahead of time?

[@zacharthur7499]

Spontaneous

[@MaxThompsonMusic]

@@zacharthur7499 I've only had that one time but it what I would do would be to have a certain set of songs well practiced ahead of time, and then have someone watching for people coming up, who would signal the band; then have the group drop down to an instrumental backing while the person is speaking (whether full band, part of the band, or even just a light strumming or a keyboard pad or organ depending on the style), then back up to the song when they are finished. It would also be worthwhile to have a "back catalog" of songs that everyone knows to pull out in the event of needing more music. A mic routed only to the monitors for the band could be useful for calling changes too. We're going to be starting another group at my church where it will be sort of "flowing" as opposed to our usual structured service and these are things we are working on. Hope it can help you.

[@georgesuarez1949]

It would have been helpful if you went into HOW you can recruit new musicians. My church has about 50 people. The ONLY musicians amongst us are the keyboard player and myself. We’ve asked every member if they have a relative....neighbor etc that can play or sing. Our drummer left for the military a year ago and we’ve not been able to replace him despite putting adds in local music stores etc. I think this video does little to help churches like ours and minimizes our difficulties.....just saying we are bad leaders and not offering any real solutions is pretty pointless

[@worshiptutorials]

Please understand that this video was not meant to beat up on worship leaders and make them feel bad. We’ve also covered how to build teams quite a bit in the past. Here’s a pretty in depth video I did a while back: kzbin.info/www/bejne/epa5aoaHppaEmKs

[@rodterrell304]

Yeah to say it’s the team leaders fault does not help when on a good Sunday you may have 30 people at service and most all are over 50 and can’t play anything or sing. Sometimes we have to use what we have and that ain’t always much.

[@georgesuarez1949]

@@worshiptutorials Thanks

[@williamhawkins69]

Great insight and wisdom

[@billmiller9763]

Ive applied to be in the worship ministry a few times when my church ask. But ive have not got a call or E mail. Do chutchs red flag musicians or do not like them if they know them ?.

[@blainetrahan2287]

Excellent video!!!!

[@jimbirdmusic]

I absolutely agree with every word you’ve said, but having said that: My church is about 50 people. The average age is 60; I kid you not! They have always done ONLY hymns and the pastor brought me in to establish a blended service, but most of the church hates contemporary worship (and they define “contemporary” as anything that isn’t a hymn). I lead from the keyboard and in 18 months I have recruited one part-time singer. I don’t want to control, but I’d love to see ANYone genuinely worship, even in the hymns, but there seems to be no heart-commitment at all. I would love to have any musicians join me of ANY level. Control? I would LOVE to let someone else lead! Any thoughts?

[@1cmfg]

Brother, what did Jesus say about putting new wine into old wine skins? Many of our elders are just like people who listen to secular music. They don't want or have a feel or need for the new age music. It been like that throughout history. I'm almost 50 years old. But I have a LOVE for almost all music. But I keep my vehicle dialed in on basically one specific station for music. And I know when someone tries to change the station it upsets me...... Does that make since? Add a little clarity for you?

[@JeanGlaude]

I like the color grading in this video. 👌🏼 Great Video too.

[@johnhamilton6454]

Awesome discussion! I found myself guilty as charged! Now it's time to go recruit!

[@jaymelani]

Good stuff. But I would also add that recruiting needs to be part of a larger push from church leadership and not only from the worship leader. Having that recruitment culture set from top down is waaaaaaaaaaaay easier, and all ministry teams will benefit from it. If your leadership doesn’t do this then worship leaders should feel the freedom to voice their desires on this. Many pastors don’t even realize that they have an opportunity to push recruitment from a more top down mentality. Otherwise worship leaders can feel isolated, alone and lost. Also ITS VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE PEOPLE WHO LOOK DIFFERENT in a highly visual role. A giant opportunity to serve different cultures is to have diversity on worship teams.

[@valentinemedina9897]

I wonder If they choose only christian musicians and vocalist???

[@thinkingape7655]

Wow there’s a lot to unpack here. 👀

[@jaycee4203]

Tried to comment a few minutes ago and I think I did something wrong, my apologies for any redundancy. As a volunteer musician maybe you can help clear something up (or perhaps this can be another video?) I don't understand why worship leaders layout a service order a week in advance, then change it Sunday mornings - more specifically they change the song arrangement or worse yet change the key. Day jobs and family time only allow for so much time to rehearse, prepare, and know our parts during the week to support you/your ministry. I would politely suggest that this is being dis-respectful of a volunteers time, and might be considered not "value-ing people". I would bet that most worship team volunteers are not pro-musicians and find it difficult/frustrating to make these last minute changes . I believe word of this gets out, causes people to be apprehensive about using their abilities for God, and affects recruiting. Any thoughts?

[@kevinreichert8997]

Speaking as a worship leader (volunteer at that), sometimes it's a case of continuing to mull over the set and where its inspiration comes from, and deciding that a first choice maybe won't speak to the congregation (or allow them to raise their voice in praise) as well as a different choice. In my previous church, and the one I'm in now, this is less of an issue because I have tremendous confidence in the team to adapt to the change. And, to be fair, that I'll use a song that we're familiar with already probably has a huge mitigating effect on how it's perceived. Another possibility is simply that the song selected before practice may have gone so poorly in practice (or perceived that way) and the decision is made to replace it out of frustration on the part of the worship leader. Been there, done that too. Either way, whenever that has happened with my teams, I've been pretty up-front with them as to why the change has occurred. But the best example was one where I changed the song (for communion) and the team requested we go back to the original medley and change the order up a bit. And taking their suggestion proved to be the right choice.

[@LifeGoerDreamChaser]

Good advice, but how bout when your church is full of older folk, and most of them are not interested in playing an instrument or being in the worship team, that’s basically my case.

[@larriveeman]

if the drummer leaves you do acoustic sets until God provides another drummer

[@MaxThompsonMusic]

larriveeman I have done that before...my church is in a small town and we only have one person who can play drums at all (he is quite good happily); there is one other church in town that has a drummer and he is, naturally, not a possibility for us. So it’s either acoustic sets, non-drum-heavy songs, or occasionally another keyboard running drum tracks. We also are the only church in town with any bass players (two), who both work full time and are regularly unavailable. So the solution has been to play left hand bass when they can’t make it. Not because there are people we are turning away, but because there is a vacuum of musicians in our town in general and we already have most of them here, so if they can’t play there is actually no one else (until more move here 🙂).

[@Agenda-zt6dj]

You can open your mind & get a percussionist instead of a drummer! They can do the job quite well, I know I play drums & percussion myself, & depending on the music, the room, the message of the song lyrics, a good percussionist can fill in for a drummer & do things a drummer couldn't or wouldn't do as they interpret music much differently. Just my 2 cents.

[@MaxThompsonMusic]

@@Agenda-zt6dj It's great if you do have someone who can do that...I am a fan of this. However depending on the church you might not have anyone still. Or in my case we have a lady who can play the djembe but she is somewhat deaf and ends up drowning everyone out unless we have a really high stage volume.

[@Agenda-zt6dj]

@@MaxThompsonMusic Yep! I understand your situation. It's not easy for small churches to do very much, as they don't have a talent pool to draw from. That said prayer is your go-to weapon of choice then. You can pray in some musicians , also you can see if a local music school has young talent that would like a chance to play live, or if there are any youth in the church that have a desire to play an instrument you could raise some money to get lessons/education for the young talent. Also I would love to pray for your djembe player that God would help her play more by feel/vibration than sound. Here is a link to a video of Evelyn Glennie a percussionist from the UK that became profoundly deaf at I think 12 years old. She learned to play percussion by vibrations, and her story is an inspiration to me & many others. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4aWh2mwg6qFask PS: I'll pray for your & your church for God's blessings on your music! John :)

[@MaxThompsonMusic]

@@Agenda-zt6dj Thank you for the suggestions and prayer. Much appreciated.

[@mrsimpson2022]

I dont know any worship leaders or musicians that get paid..I guess mega churches need that huh. So thankful im in the rural country..

[@larriveeman]

The reason why churches grow is because God causes the growth, God doesn't need worship leaders for a successful church, and you have to define what a "successful" church means....I think the biblical definition of a successful church is the book of acts

[@worshiptutorials]

We addressed this at 03:15 in the video.

[@timelwell7002]

Your first point is very interesting. For many years I have been to various churches here in the UK and have offered to become part of the worship team (I am a professional standard musician and music graduate, and am a born-again, baptised in the Holy Spirit believer). I have always waited until I've been attending that church for many months before asking. HOWEVER, the response has almost ALWAYS been as follows: 'Sorry, but we already HAVE our worship team in place here. It's great that you're part of our church, but sorry - there simply is no room for you within the worship team.' This is coded language for: 'This is OUR turf. You're TRESPASSING. Now kindly push off and don't even THINK about asking this again, or we'll get SERIOUSLY hacked off with you. CAPISH?' Thankfully, my current church are a good deal more welcming, but I have to say how disappointing this has been for me. And I'm not alone in this. A good friend of mine, an excellent singer/songwriter (now with The Lord) was seldom if ever allowed to play at the churches he went to either. It's pretty shocking that my brothers and sisters in Christ should have this mentality, but this has been my experience over, and over, and over again. And it's been hurtful, because God has gifted me as a musician. I have played on stage and in recording studios with some of London's top jazz musicians, and yet within Christian music in most churches I've been told just where I can stuff my talent.

[@Angrybogan]

I play guitar for church but my biggest influence is Bob Dylan...

[@truthfirst7974]

The number one priority of a worship leader the team is to spend time in the secret place and intimately know the one they worship it sure has heck isn’t recruiting musicians. Who cares if you have 1000 musicians if they don’t love Jesus it’s all a clanging noise.

[@c_wonder]

I only felt used by worship leaders, that’s why I left church completely

[@renoutlaw8371]

13:00 made me think of "Phyllis, Jim? Phyllis is Santa? Jim: Yeah. Michael: Phyllis? Jim: Yeah I told her a long time ago she could do it. Michael: Take it back. That is absurd."

[@worshiptutorials]

Ren Outlaw 😂

[@nayrbsworld3048]

exactly whats happens to church musicians

[@kingdomofthewesternsahara-2588]

Pay them

[@ryanb1874]

Maybe you cannot recruit musicians at all, because the music is too boring for real musicians to pursue...

[@TheFredfredd]

I enjoy your videos and tutorials, they have been a help, but.....I'm that 80's metal shredder guy, I play worship with a Jackson and I don't fit into the reverbery delayee kind of worship I think you are reverting to when you speak of training musicians.... Worship is from the heart and not any particular musical style.... Just saying....

[@wirajayarustam]

Hi Jeff, i also play guitar in my church. Actually worship music covers a lot of music genre, including rock and metal also. But i believe, in the context of playing worship music at the church, the goal is to lead congregations to worship and engaged with the presence of God using songs and music genre in the setlist. A lot of time, i don't like playing a certain song or a certain kind of genre too. But as God lead me to see the purpose i'm serving Him in this ministry, the more i learn to become a versatile guitar player, because it wasn't about me, it wasn't about music genre, it was all about God and His congregations that i am serving. I'm not trying to teach you or anything, just want to share my experience. Jesus bless you 😊

[@erikhartley2494]

Worship is from the heart and isn’t about style, that’s absolutely correct. However I have been in your situation (being that 80’d shredder type that always tried to find a place to add hi gain). I got away with it for awhile; however looking back, it DID NOT fit very well with the style of the song or everyone else playing. Not saying God didn’t use those songs regardless. Over the past 5 years or so, after having people challenge me to try something new, I’ve adapted and learned to love the reverby and delayee kinda thing and prefer fitting with the style. And I still have plenty of room for creative implementation. In a nutshell. It’s not about a style but if there’s a certain style that the church experts, try to do what’s best for the song and church for that particular culture. It doesn’t mean you need to copy. I don’t like ac style amps with wet fx run in front. I prefer D style amps and use an fx loop. Still works.