Over-planning... Under-planning... Us worship leaders have been guilty of them both at one time or another. Thankfully, Weston has some great tips on how to make planning for worship simple and effective every time.
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Weston has been a worship leader in the North Florida area for around 15 years. He also works with ChurchTrac, where he gets to talk with and coach ministry leaders all over the world.
Love this podcast. Thank you! I especially enjoyed the comments about Church on the Move, and their 6-hour rehearsals. I actually conduct very short rehearsals. In fact, a good friend of mine was at lunch with another WL that I had never met, and he mentioned my name. His friend asked, "Is that the guy with the really short rehearsals?" Apparently my reputation proceeds me.
Here's my take. I have worked hard over my 8 years as WL to establish a culture of PREPARATION and ACCOUNTABILITY. Our people practice on their own, and we rehearse together. I don't have to teach my team how to play the songs on Thursdays. They already know. So Thursday and Sunday morning become simply "putting it together." It takes time to establish such a culture, but it's worth it. When somebody comes unprepared, everybody knows it because they're the only one. Peer pressure is an amazing thing. It's especially effective if you have one or two people in the group who are well-respected, and THEY are always prepared. Everybody else naturally follows suit.
Great podcast. Thank you!
Totally agree, Bob!
Thank you thank you thank you!!! This was 100% right on. I am a volunteer leader at our church, and I have worked hard to develop things so that 1) volunteers know we value their time and won't waste it and 2) things are planned so that train wrecks rarely happen. Making sure that the people GIVING their time are honored by the people getting paid to be there has made a huge difference!
So true!