I was so busy getting ready to lead worship in the new venue I forgot to bring my camera on Sunday. I was going to have someone take some pictures from the floor this time to show you what it was like.
It was a great experience. We had three vocalists, Ronnie (alto), George(tenor) and me(lead). And for our instrumentalists we had a bass guitar, Joe, 2 acoustic guitars, Bill and Phil and I played the keyboard. Our percussionist Gary could not make it last week.
Eric scheduled a team for each venue for each week. So, Ronnie, George, Joe, Phil, Gary and me will always be playing together. Bill was playing this week to help Phil out. This was Phil's first time playing with a worship team. Although he does lead and play for our CR groups on Friday nights. I feel that this is going to make a good tight team. The more we play (and sing) together the tighter we will become.
Everyone on the team enjoyed playing together. I am looking forward to being with them every 4th week.
Right now George and his whole family is in China, so please lift them up in your prayers. I believe he said it was a family outing........
TEAMS
One way you can set up teams is to set them up like we have. Create different teams and keep them playing together. It helps them become close to each other. You can look at it like a small group also. In fact this may be one way you can start small groups within your ministry. It's a small group with a purpose. Every small group should have a purpose, but this particular group was created with worship leading in mind. That's the purpose I had in mind. The small group-worship team set up has the advantage of each person getting to know the others n the group better. I've played with Joe and Gary for several years now. I've sung with Ronnie for awhile, she has also been in choir with me. But Phil and George are relatively new to me, so it will be good to get to know them better when we play together.
The whole, Caring, Sharing, Teaching, Learning, Praying thing happens in groups set up like this. This was the way I set the teams up when I first got here back in '99. Each vocal team was also it's own small group. They met every week whether or not they were on for the coming weekend. They got together to practice and to care for one another. That made for some very strong vocal teams and some very strong bonds that have carried through till this day.
Another way to put teams together is line up your singers by parts and then to just schedule them as you need that part for that particular Sunday. This may not look as strong as the first one, but it does give every a chance to sing and play with everyone else. Everyone gets to meet everyone in the worship team. Now you can treat your worship ministry people as one small/large group. With everyone meeting everyone else a larger fellowship can happen. This is also important. You need to be able to get everyone in your ministry together at some point in the year. They all need to be able to just hang out with each other. Just have some fun and enjoy each others company. Some 'down time' together. We have a Christmas party, an open house for our ministry people (vocal, instrumental, techs, everyone in the Worship Arts Ministry). We also have a banquet for them once a year. It's a special time for us, the staff to tell them how much we appreciate them as volunteers in this ministry. This ministry, the Worship Arts Ministry would not exist without all of them.
There are not individual teams like silos around, but groups of team players that make up one ministry. And then even our ministry is not a 'stand alone' a silo by it's self. We are one of many ministries that make up Mountain Christian Church. And at this level we are not a 'stand alone' church by it's self, we are one church within the whole body of churches, Christ's Bride trying to make a difference not only in Joppa, Harford county, Maryland, USA, but also through the world with our mission outreach ministries.
Wow, from a venue to how to set up a worship team schedule to reaching the world for Christ. Hey isn't that what it's all about anyway!!!!!!!
John
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Great post. I find myself thinking that this metaphor of worship band might be a useful way tot think about healthy intra-church interaction. It is okay (and probably even beneficial) to have different churches and even ones that very distinct, just like it is okay to have different distinct worship bands that may develop different instrumentation and different styles. They may have different leadership structures and even different favorite songs. But if one band were to decide it was the only true band, that would be a problem.
I could ramble on, but I think that you get the idea. There is something potentially very fruitful here for a way to talk about church relations.
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