Michael's Notes - Thoughts On Worship, Leadership & Fitness

Become A Leader By Saying Yes

 

As we become older we often fall into the trap of staying in our comfort zone. Doing things that we have always done in the same way we have always done them.

 

In two recent situations I have been reminded by youth how important it is to step out of our comfort zones and say yes to new opportunities.

Whether that step is to help the team I lead or just to give myself a new perspective. 

 

The first reminder came as I heard that my son had volunteered to step into a new role in a worship band that he participates in.  Normally he is one of the acoustic guitar players, but one night he knew they would be without a bass guitarist. Without hesitation he said he would fill-in. Now this is something he has never done, but he was willing to do so for the team.

 

The second was when I witnessed a group of high school students recognize a deteriorating situation and took it upon themselves to approach the adult leader about making some changes.

 

In each of these instances if it had not been for the willingness of youth to say yes to something new there would have been a team lacking a member and a team churning in status quo.

 

Witnessing these events has reminded me that I must ask myself these questions?

 

Am I willing to seek out new things?

Am I too satisfied with my routine?

Am I willing to say yes when opportunity rises?

Reasons Your Followers and Team Leaders are Quitting

In any organization that depends heavily on volunteer workers the great task of the leader is to recruit these volunteers and then motivate them to stay on the team. It often seems that for everyone I find to fill a role on a team, there are one or more ready to jump ship to another team or just stop volunteering.

 

Just recently I had the opportunity to attend a local church’s staff retreat where my pastor and my boss was speaking. The topic he was given to speak on was ‘motivating volunteers.’ During his talk he listed these four reasons people give as the reason they quit our teams:

 

• I don’t make a difference
• I get bored
• I don’t see a chance for personal growth
• I get very little chance to demonstrate creativity and/or initiative

 

As leaders how can we be proactive in making sure these questions do not become a reality in our teams? How about:

 

• Help them clearly understand what they are volunteering for
• Present them with clear expectations of their volunteer role
• Give them opportunity to be active in the decision making process for their role
• Communicate often your appreciation that they are on your team
• Ask often how you can support them in their role.
• Help them see how their role fits into the bigger picture of the organization and how without them fulfilling their role. the team would not function properly.
• Hold them accountable to their commitment.

 

When a team and its volunteers are functioning in a ministry/church role there are some other important points to communicate to the volunteers.

       

• You are not a volunteer but someone called by God to fill a position of ministry.
• When you say ‘yes’ to participating in this ministry your accountability is not just to the team leader but to God.
• Every position in a church/ministry has the same value, therefore your position is important.

 

Finally, there will be persons who say yes to a volunteer/ministry position who cannot fulfill the requirements or expectations. Then it becomes the responsibility of the leader to help the person leave graciously, even support them in finding a way to serve the organization in a role more appropriate for their gifts and talents.

Related Posts

Changing an organization from the inside out?

Called to Serve = Called to Prepare

Leaders Communicating Down-Line

Does the Team You Lead Perform?

Changing an organization from the inside out?

I have had the great opportunity to witness an attitude change for an entire organization, and it all started with some caring teenagers who:

 

• Saw need for change
• Volunteered to invest time for change
• Sought out help
• Studied other organizations for insight
• Helped evaluate present situation
• Asked their leadership to communicate established ‘core values’
• Realized that if change were to happen it had to begin with them
• Spent time deciding what leadership characteristics they had to model
• Begin to set in motion a plan for change
• Implemented change that was based on ‘servant leadership’ and ‘leading by example.’

 

Here are some core facts that helped them get ‘change’ started:

 

• They cared about the organization
• They wanted to make the organization the best it could be
• They were willing to invest time
• They wanted to see results
• They wanted to set a foundation for future success.

 

What can we learn?

• Leadership often comes from the workforce
• Leaders need to be open to ideas of those they lead
• Bottom up leadership ideas need to be encouraged
• If you have made a commitment to an organization, strive to make it the best it can be
• If you are committed to the organization, be willing to accept change

 

The group of students that initiated the change mentioned above are members of the Centennial High School Marching Band Leadership Team. When they started there was no team, just students who cared. They have made a tremendous impact on the organization in one year and I can’t wait to see what legacy they will get to witness when they come back as alumni.

Related Posts:

Leading Through Crisis

Leaders Communicating Down-Line

Does the Team You Lead Perform

Advice for a Young Worship Leader: smile

I can remember as if it were yesterday, when it was actually over thirty years ago. As a high school student my local church asked me to lead worship for the services. I can’t remember if I was given this chance because they recognized some talent or I was their only choice. (It was a very small church.)

 

We were having dinner with some family friends and without fanfare or introduction the lady made a comment about my leading: ‘you need to smile when you lead. Worshiping the Lord is something to smile about.’

 

Today, thirty years later, I am a worship leader at a local church and almost every week I am reminded by that memory the importance of communicating not just through words and melody but with our body language.

 

I know there are songs that don’t call for a smile, but your face and body expression still need to communicate.

 

I am amazed at how many people can make great music and communicate effectively through the words and melody and yet stand motionless without a smile while they sing. Honestly, this is the wrong person to have on stage leading. Being a worship leader means communicating and great communication must include pleasant body language that states I believe what I am singing about and I believe in the God I am singing about.

 

Smiling while singing did not come easy for me, it is something I had to practice. Yes I practiced this. I wanted to make sure that how I presented myself on stage did not hinder someone else from worshipping.

 

Is it time we look at the people who lead or help us lead worship each week? Don’t we need to see how they are communicating? It is more, much more than making beautiful music.

Leading a Worship Choir Rehearsal for a Seasonal Choir

Last week I posted the blueprint I use to construct a worship choir rehearsal each week. Since then I have been asked through Twitter, Facebook and comments to this blog how I would implement this plan for a choir that only meets and prepares for special occasions or seasons.  The questions seem to be raised concerning a choir that meets for six consecutive weeks leading up to a series of identical performances.

 

First let me say that the plan posted in the earlier post is what I utilize each week for a worship choir rehearsal preparing that choir for ministry on a weekly basis. Even though that is the case the basic outline can be adapted to the seasonal choir.

 

The backbone of the worship choir rehearsal blueprint is:

• Begin with something familiar
• Put the hard work in the middle
• End with something familiar.

 

Before I get to the specifics of what that might look like, I think there is a more important issue for a seasonal choir: building “team” in a short period of time. To be successful as a worship leading choir I believe there must be a sense of team and shared common goal. The shared common goal is easily presented, even done so during the recruiting process. However, instilling a sense of ‘team’ within the group is much harder. I meet with my group weekly and ‘team’ is one of the hardest things to accomplish, it is hard for me to imagine the difficulty of this task with a seasonal group. Here are some ways I would try to bring the team together:

• During each rehearsal plan a time of fellowship
• During each rehearsal divide the team into groups for prayer, change those groups each week.
• Once or twice during the season plan an extended fellowship time that might include snacks.
• Each rehearsal share the reason for having the choir, communicating expectations for participation and dreams for final product

 

Now on to the rehearsal of the music, remember the basic plan is: familiar, work hard on new stuff, familiar. To accomplish this when all the songs maybe new you might want to go this direction:

 

Here is how I might rehearse a seasonal choir.

Week 1

1. Begin with a worship time of a familiar song.
2. Progress to getting them to sing parts on that familiar song.
3. Begin to introduce ministry songs for the season.
1. Often I use recordings
2. Find a section that is repeated often, work on this section hard so that there is success
4. If there are 5-6 new songs to introduce do not work on all of them the first week, maybe 3 of them.
5. End rehearsal with something familiar, again this could be a worship song. One way to end would be to sing something without any accompaniment so that the group hears how they sound as a team.
6. Before they leave I would provide some type of rehearsal CD so that they can get some work done before the next rehearsal and the things you have taught are not forgotten.

Week 2

1. Begin with a easy sing-a-long
2. Bring back one song from last week that the most was accomplished on. Hit the familiar sections and then push on to another part of the song that needs work.
3. Introduced 1 or 2 new songs here following the plan outlined from week 1.
4. Work on the other two songs that were introduced last week using the plan item #3
5. finish with something familiar, that could be one of the seasonal songs or just another sing-a-long. Often here I use a worship song and finish the night with a time of worship and prayer.
6. final instructions would be to communicate the need to listen to the provided rehearsal recording. (One note on rehearsal recordings, please make sure you obtain permission from the publishers before making the recordings.)

 

For the remainder of the seasonal choir rehearsals I would use the following plan.

1. use a variation of week 2
1. eventually you will have nothing to introduce but you will find there are sections that need more work than others. It is those songs I would place in the middle of the rehearsal.
2. as the basics of each song are learned move toward polishing each song, paying attention to details that make it music not just notes.
3. each week memorize some part of what has been worked on.
4. finish the rehearsal with one or two of the songs that the choir has ready to sing, or a section of those songs.

Related Posts

Worship Choirs, Past and Future

Who Sings In the Choir

Planning a Choir Rehearsal for a Worship Choir

Planning a Choir Rehearsal
It is a task that comes around once a week and has been that way for over 27 years…planning to lead a worship choir rehearsal.

Over these years I have developed a plan that works effectively most weeks.

Information:
•    Worship choir sings every week except holiday weekends and the month of July.
•    Most Sundays the choir presents an ‘impact’ song
•    Rehearsal Length 1 hour and 10 minutes
•    Rehearse each song at least 6 weeks from ministry time.
•    Two choir rehearsals a week: Wednesday and Sunday evenings.
•    Ministry members choose one of the two rehearsals to attend.
•    As hard as I try I can only rehearse six songs in the allotted time.

The Rehearsal
Warm-up: 5 minutes (Often a familiar chorus or hymn in a medium range. Lately a more formalized set of warm-up exercises.)

Song 1: The two week out song.
    Very familiar to the group
    Working on specific sections for refinement
    Sing through the song 1 time

Song 2: Sunday’s Song
    If there are parts that need attention briefly work them.
    Sing through entire song…no books…with projected words on monitors

Song 3: The new song (Six week out song)
    This is the spot to introduce something new.
    This song is often introduced by playing a recording of the song.
    Teach two sections of the song that can be easily accomplished. This gives confidence that the song is attainable.

Song 4: Five Week Out Song
    Here we work hard on sections of this song. I am not a fan of starting at the beginning of each song in rehearsals, but rather a fan of jumping to a part that needs work.  Also I like teaching a section and showing the choir how that section can repeat throughout the song. (If there are variations during the repeats those are pointed out.) By doing so we accomplish a lot of work in a short amount of time.

Song 5: Four Week Out Song
    Four weeks out is really not that far so I feel it important to start to put some of the pieces together. Before doing so I have found there needs to be time dedicated to some of the sections that might be harder to grasp. I have made note of these sections from previous weeks and know what needs to be worked on.

Song 6: Three Week Out Song
    Here we go back to something familiar. First there will be some time spent on reminding the choir of some of the tougher sections and then there is usually a run through of a major portion of the song. If the above plan works correctly the choir has much of this song learned.

The plan outlined above is the blueprint for most of the large group rehearsals I conduct. I have no hard rule that this plan must be followed, but it sure does give me a starting point.

Leading through multiple crisis demands differing responses

In the span of a few days I found myself dealing with two separate crises, both could have ruined a huge event. Each needed a quick response; however, each needed a different response.

The first event was the failure of a piece of equipment. Our team response needed to be quick and it was important that everyone make this crisis their highest priority.

Here were the steps that helped our team manage this situation:
1.    quickly evaluate the situation
2.    decide on a plan of action
3.    communicate individual responsibilities to process
4.    keep the entire team informed as the action steps were carried out.

As team leader I realized my role was to help:
1.    pull the team together
2.    facilitate the discussion that came up with the action plan
3.    instill in the team the importance of the crisis
4.    follow up with each team member
5.    evaluate the end results
6.    celebrate the accomplishment

The second event was just as significant however as a leader the response had to be completely different. This event was not about equipment but about a person. Here is how I evaluated the situation and responded.
1.    recognized that the circumstance was beyond my control
2.    a personal response was needed, not one of a team.
3.    comfort and support of the individual was the priority
4.    there was a need to stay calm
5.    while offering support, I began to process a plan of action.
6.    continued conversation with the individual while offering support
7.    once we moved from the initial crisis moment, an optional action plan was implemented

Every leader will be faced with crises; however each crisis demands a unique response. Are you ready to respond uniquely for each situation?

Leading a Worship Planning Meeting

I work with an amazing group of people who make up the worship planning team. Each week we, the worship leadership team, meet to review and discuss the worship experiences at ClearView. When these meetings began a few years back, they were about going over every detail of the service. They have now evolved into something bigger and I believe more important: communicating about the why and less about the how and what.

Granted the ‘how’ and ‘what’ are important. We do understand the need to make sure we have the appropriate elements planned and that all the details are covered.

Much more important than the ‘how’ and ‘what’ is the ‘why.’ The ‘why’ list for us would include:
•    ClearView Core Values:
    The authority of God’s Word…it is God’s word
        2 Timothy 3:16
        “It is the substance of our teaching”
        2 Timothy 4:2
    Worship in Spirit and Truth
        John 4:24
    Transformed lives impacting their spheres of influence
        Ephesians 6:19-20
    Taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth starting at home
        Acts 1:8
        Romans 10:14
    Saturate everything in prayer
        Ephesians 6:18
•    Understanding a biblical definition of worship which would include conversations around such words as ‘reverence’ and ‘relevance.’
•    Vision for each worship venue.

It is our role as worship leaders to evaluate everything in our area against the above ‘why’ list. Once we have used the ‘whys’ we then can get to the ‘what’ and ‘how.’

Worship is it rote to us?

Isaiah 29:13  These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. And their worship of me amounts to nothing more than human laws learned by rote.

 

Oh, my, could God be looking down on me and making the same statement. 

 

I have been leading congregations in the Sunday act of Worship for 28 years; if I have led an average of two services a week that puts me somewhere around 3000 services. Yes, there have been times it has become rote.  God could have very easily written Isaiah 29:13 about me.

 

I can put services together.  I can construct a service with songs that flow and challenge us by their content. Just following what I have learned over the years about putting services together doesn’t mean that is what God wants. I can find fun stuff to add, whether that is music, dramas, film clips or creative light displays…but is that what God wanted.  Does putting stuff in a service thrill God or is even that creativity rote; is that mere human elements (laws)?

 

I can easily settle in on the familiar and safe order of the elements of the service, but is that what God wants?

 

The only way I know to avoid worship becoming rote is to make everyday an act of worship…an open conversation with God. When I keep that conversation alive, the blank piece of paper I face each week becomes much easier to fill, and not be filled, with the rote elements of ritual.

Ministry Leadership – ‘by faith’

To begin our worship planning, at ClearView , this week we took the time to read aloud Chapter 11 of Hebrews. (There is something powerful about hearing God’s Word read out loud.) The heading over this section of scripture in the Holman Christian Standard Bible reads: Heroes of Faith. In this chapter of 40 verses, the phrase ‘by faith’ is used seventeen times and the word ‘faith’ another five times.

When all is said and done, will I be counted among the ones who lived those two words?

This week I was reminded how easy it is to rely on our own capabilities to get things done when really there is so much more that can be done by implementing “by faith.” I confessed to my staff this morning that I have been guilty of relying on me.  The potential of ministry is so much greater when ‘by faith’ is applied. That is where I want to be…that is what I want said about me: “he lived ‘by faith.’”

I have served in places where it was the norm to plan to do only what we knew we could manage with our resources, when in the end God provided more than we needed. We took steps knowing because we saw, not because we lived ‘by faith.’

Granted God expects us to use wisdom to make decisions, however, don’t we often limit God by what we can see, not what we trust He can do?

So how do we apply those two words to ministry and ministry leadership? If God has called us to serve he has called us to prepare. Being placed in leadership carries with it the burden to prepare. When we have prepared all we can, we place our faith in Him to accomplish through us more than we could ever imagine. We seek God for His wisdom and ask that we are sensitive and open to His invitation to join Him in ministry. We listen to what God is saying through circumstances and preparation but always willing to follow ‘by faith.’

Living and serving ‘by faith’ is an act of worship. Relying on God ‘by faith’ is a choice now for the strength to put those words into action.