I’ve been leading worship at my church in some degree or another for about 8 years. Eight. And yet this past week, it occurred to me to make the following improvements in the lives of worship band members:
 - offer to reimburse band members for ‘expendable supplies’ like sticks and strings. But not like Marshall stacks.

- document and label equipment that is owned by band members, but which stays at the church most of the time, in the event of damage or theft to said equipment.

- have a bunch of pencils and paper clips stored at the rehearsal site. I know. The mind reels at such innovation.

The best part of all of this was the rapid-fire email trail inspired by the news of the first two. You want to get band guys communicating? Write something to them that includes the words ‘reimburse’ and ‘band gear’.

While I have no explanation for why I haven’t thought of these things before, it gives me great joy to support our worship team this way. I am truly blessed to work with lots of talented, generous musicians who have great attitudes. I learn from them every single week.
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Jumping to current day… the worship band has grown, our facility has grown, and now we have a few more necessities:

- Planning Center Online , an invaluable tool for planning worship, scheduling and communicating with team members, as well as distributing resources for songs. I know it’s not magical… but I still call it that.

- Rehearsal cart that rolls out on stage for every rehearsal which contains: chord charts & cue sheets for the week, pencils, markers, highlighters, paper clips, three hole punch, gaff tape, an extra capo, water bottles, AND the special water pitcher for adding water to the piano. The piano humidifier, I should say.

- Organized space for gear in a locked closet.  Organized like… shelves and plastic bins. With labels. (Because label makers are, really, the best tool ever.) Helps everyone find what they need when they need it.

This isn’t high level innovation, but it just helps things run more smoothly on a weekly basis which allows us to concentrate on the music and the heart of what we’re doing. Love that.

If you’re short on time, start watching at 1:37. 

(a big thank you to my friend Stephen Humber for sharing this)

It’s crazy how we all have certain eras of songs burned into our brains.  Throughout rehearsal, our B3 player kept being reminded of songs & artists that he used to cover ‘back in the day’ when he played bars every night in the 70′s. Most of his references were lost on me, but I’m sure if I heard the songs I’d get it.

However. The winning song reference of the night….. we were practicing a new song, ‘Glorified’ by Jared Anderson.  My good friend who’s a great keyboard player, not even playing this week, walked in the auditorium and said, “Fast Car !!!”

Yeah. 

Fast Car (Tracy Chapman) [iTunes link]

Glorified (Jared Anderson) [iTunes link]

What era of songs are part of your ongoing soundtrack?

THE BIG DEAL
Before: 8:30 & 9:45 identical, ‘blended’ worship.  11:15 ‘contemporary’ worship.
Now: 8:30 classic worship.  9:45 & 11:15 identical ‘contemporary’ worship. 

While I’m not a fan of these incredibly non-descriptive words like ‘blended’ and ‘contemporary’, there has to be some way to talk about what’s happening in the room.  So this is where we’ve landed.  Our new ‘classic’ service is truly traditional in nature, and has been very well received across the generations. My long-time co-worker in the worship ministry is doing a great job of planning this service very thoughtfully and including a variety of accomplished musicians. The ‘contemporary’ service will vary from week to week… the music sometimes being very band-driven, sometimes including a worship choir, but the overall atmosphere informal.  

ATTENDANCE  PATTERNS & SEATING
Before:  Attendance in 8:30 + 9:45 = attendance in 11:15, give or take 20-30 people, with the 8:30 service always the least attended.  Room had to be set up to accommodate the 11:15 attendance, so we had 3 huge sections of chairs with 2 long aisles.  With limited ability to rope off parts of the room, the 8:30 service always felt a bit cavernous.

Now: We anticipated a more evenly dispersed attendance across the three hours, which has proven to be true. The room has been set up in a pattern of smaller sections, which allows for some areas to be roped off for the 8:30. So far, none of the worship services feel too empty, and none feel too full.  I realize attendance patterns will change in the fall, but still believe this configuration will accommodate people more effectively.

MUSICIANS
Before: two different worship bands each week, one in each style of service.  Two different groups of vocalists rotated with these bands. Our adult choir sang nearly every week in the blended services.  Once a month, an orchestra was a part of the blended services.

Now: Two different core bands, and one pool of vocalists,  rotate week to week playing in the contemporary services.  We now have two distinct choirs: one will sing in the classic service 2 times a month, and one will sing in the contemporary service 2 times a month along with the worship team vocalists.  Once every 2-3 months, the orchestra and combined choirs will be a part of all worship services.

REHEARSALS & SOUND CHECKS
Before: 
Wed pm:  6:45-8:00 choir
                8:00-9:00 blended service band
Thur pm:  7:30-9:30ish contemporary service band
Sun am:   7:30 sound check band #1
                8:00 choir
                8:30 1st service
                9:45 2nd service
               10:45 stage re-set: move 2 rows of choir chairs, 3 large platforms, move drums & all other instruments, sound check band #2, talk through set
               11:15 3rd service

Now:
Wed pm: 6:45-8:00 classic choir
               8:00-9:00 contemporary choir
               7:30-9:30ish worship band

Sun am:  8:00 classic service rehearsals
               8:30 1st service
               9:00 band meets in separate room to talk through set, run through songs
               9:15 contemporary choir meets in separate room (if singing)        
               9:30 band moves to stage with minimal re-set, sound check
               9:45 & 11:15 worship services

It’s probably not immediately obvious, but the schedule we’re now keeping is waaaaay more tolerable and sustainable than the previous plan. We used to have 30 minutes to re-set the stage between services,  plug in, talk through the set, and sound check.  This always felt harried to me, although we usually made it.  Now, we have 15 minutes.  But.  The band meets ahead of that time to get our heads into the music and the flow of the set.  We have very little to re-set on the stage, so the 15 minutes can be all about plugging in instruments and doing a quick sound check. Somehow, in the end, it all feels more relaxed.

So??
In quite a lot of words, that is how this transition has affected us so far. What I didn’t write about is what I see happening every week in our church family. I see people gathering to worship, some in the same manner they have for years, some with greater freedom than they have had for a while.  We set out to solve a few logistical issues, knowing that we also had a chance to provide more effective worship environments for our entire congregation, which is no small thing.  I believe God has led us to a great solution for this time, for this church… and for that I am grateful.

[immediately out of song #2. keyboard player noodling a bit on keys, slides into a recognizable ditty]
me: (shaking head) can’t believe you’re playing that.
vocal: is that Amy Grant?
me: no that’s ‘Musical Instruments’ by Michael W. Smith.  It came out in like 1984. I owned the book in high school, and worked and worked to be able to play it.  And look, he’s over there pounding it out with no problem.
drums: well at least he’s not playing ‘Friends’
keys: (starts a moving rendition of the ‘Friends’ introduction.)
me: (unable to stop myself… in a bit of a ‘lounge-y’ voice) ‘Packing up the dreams God planted….’
drums: NOOOO!!!!!! (covers ears, dramatic display of disdain) This is NOT a high school graduation.
me: hey, that song came out when I was in high school.  So we were allowed to use it at graduation.  It should not be showing up at graduations now.
drums: by the time I graduated, it was all about ‘Good Riddance’.
electric: oh yeah! That Green Day song?
me: ah, and after that it was that whole ‘five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes’ song. vocal: from Rent? I used to like that song until choirs started singing it.
me: (realizing we have a larger purpose) hey, how about we move on to song #3?

[near end of rehearsal]

me: how about we do ‘Love the Lord’ one more time before we go?
drums: I’m pretty sure I’m going to screw it up, but sure let’s go ahead.
me: you’re speaking bad things into existence.  Say “I’m going to kill this song”.
drums: This song is going to kill me. (we do the song.  perfectly)
me: see? you did great!
drums: yes, but I was singing along wrong.

Set list

• Love the Lord (Lincoln Brewster)
• Holy is the Lord (Chris Tomlin)
• Lord We Pray (Billy Foote)
• Son of God (Starfield)

If I were to delegate this to someone, or to an automated system, there would be no ‘just handing over the contact list’. Because one has to remember that the drummer has 3 email addresses, but really only checks this one. And the two high school guitar players never check their email, but are constantly on Facebook. But the high school drummer…. send a message on facebook, but to be safe, email the mom. Those who have desk/computer jobs will email back within 5 minutes, but the stay-at-home parent might need a phone call to remind her to check email for the new schedule. And there are those who always needs a ‘face-to-face’ conversation to walk through whatever was in the email. Some say they would check a blog, but I’m not convinced that most would. At this point, none are Twitterers.

Complicated? Yes. Somehow I find it exhilarating to try to get it all right. The differences don’t all follow generational lines, but there are trends. Maybe it’s a complex formula of generation and personality and whether one is an ‘immigrant’ or a ‘native’ of the current technology. Regardless, this is the world we live in. To do my role well in my context, I must participate in the various systems so that I am accessible. If I were to refuse to step into one of them, I would be eliminating some of the very talented people I am blessed to work with. And I also believe that if I were to delegate all of the communication (realizing that I should probably delegate some of it) I would lose the opportunity to respond to the personal updates people sometimes send along with team info.

So what about you? How do people on your team reach you?

This post is a part of Watercooler Wednesday, a collection of posts about Arts & Culture.