Worship Band Rotation

Have you ever had your pastor or a church leader approach you after a service asking why you have the same people up there every week? Little do they know, the reason everything has been flowing so well lately is because the band finally starting to gel. We all know that leading becomes a whole lot easier when your band knows what it means when you are stomping your foot for a build or throwing your guitar neck up to signal the end of a song.

I've led worship at a wide variety of churches over the years. At some it was consistently the same group, and at others there was an entirely different band and LEADER week-in and week-out. Most of the time though this was dictated by church size, how many players we had and if the pastor  wanted the same person on the platform each week.

We'd like to see how you're handling rotating your team, so here's a few questions for you...

• Are you flooded with talent or putting up audition fliers at the local coffee shop?
• How do to you handle rotating your team? Are there members you can't do without each week?
• How often do you get to step down and be in the congregation?

Comments

[Paul J.]

1) We're flooded with vocalists. We need bass and guitar players...haven't put up fliers yet, though.
2) My OPINION is there are members I'd like to have up there every week, but in the interest of giving everyone the opportunity to lead, I have to let the best chops sit out every once in awhile.
3) In the past twelve months? Once.

[Jason Ingram]

Okay, real quick, I'm not THE Jason Ingram from the Jason Ingram band ... I've been wrestling with this idea of band rotation for a while now, and was wondering if anyone here had good resources on the pros/cons? I think it would benefit my band sometimes (they're great musicians, and want to be on every week, but I don't think that is healthy long-term), but they have soundly rejected the idea when I have suggested it. Thoughts?

[Steve Anderson]

The goal for me is discipleship and spiritual growth rather than "seemless spirit-led" music. It is more important to develop spiritual gifts of those around us than to wow a crowd of worshippers.

The example of Christ was to take ordinary unschooled people and tranform them into tools for ministry. Often, worship teams find talent and quickly become comfortable and exclusive which promptly alientates the general church body.

I have a worship team called "The Backups," which is a free ministry to churches in the Seattle/Eastside area leading worship Sunday mornings. I have sought churches with leadership gaps struggling with the music/worship end of a service. Let me just say there is no end to these type of churches. Seminaries pump out pastors in great numbers, but music/worship leaders are in very short supply. Anybody with any leadership skills can quickly find a place in music ministry simply by approaching these sorts of churches. I'm overbooked (and it probably helps that we are free).

But, I never want to get in the way of a church developing their own team members. Also, the team I have is open to new people whose musical gifts are unrefined. Working to develop these gifts is where the hard work is...as well as the spiritual payoff. Church audiences care more about the spiritual delivery than musical excellence. I feel confident that with the right approach, attitude, and solid rehearsal (including vocal and instrumental layering) a "B" team can consistantly be more inspirational than an "A" team.

[Faia]

First let me say that our church actually started as a group of college kids who started a choir about a decade ago, so, at the risk of sounding arrogant, praise and worship is something we've kind of always been "good" at. Well, anointed is probably the better word. So, yes, we are kind of flooded with talent. At this point, though, a lot of training has been going forth.

My pastor feels that no matter what church you're in, there's always someone who either has the talent or the heart to do the job. It's just a matter of finding them. There's no need to "hire" people to do what someone in your congregation can probably already do.

For the most part, when it comes to singing, we don't really rotate yet. Our musicians (2 drummers, 2 keyboard players) will rotate. Our singers have recently arrived at a point where they've started gelling, so we don't practice as much. But at the same time we're a small church that's growing, so we're starting to add singers. And hopefully more musicians.

As far as stepping down goes, our pastor kind of leaves that up to us. He knows when we're tired and when we need a break, but he leaves it up to our discretion. If things get really out of hand, then he'll step in. But, like he says, we're all grown and we know better than anyone when we need a break. He only asks that we tell him in advance and provide someone to take our place in our absence. It's all about accountability.

[matt singleterry]

I have seen the spectrum it feel like in my 5 years in vocational ministry. I have been through the, its just me and an acoustic, and my wife with a keyboard and our two voices. And now we have a full band that really rocks hard, and leads well. I have two drummers and to some degree I love and hate it. You have to teach a new song twice, so that takes some planning and prep, but it allows them to have a little less stress in feeling like they can NEVER miss. So that is good.

I am not a fan of the rotation on a weekly basis each week of all the members.

It's hard to read each other and play well together if you only play together once a month as that specific group.

(i experienced this growing up in the worship team at my home church)

[John Kim]

In our ministry, we currently have two teams. We're still in the look out for another drummer and electric player. So our drummer is doubling up on both and I lead my team while playing electric for the other.

We rotate on a two week basis. And when there is a special event, I tend to lead because the other guy is still training.

And the last time I was in the congregation was maybe a year ago.

[John Kim]

For Paul J.,

It's all about timing. I think it's a blessing to see that God has provided a ministry with many talents with music. But it's also a curse where egos rise and conflict with others. So I'd say you should do it when it's under control. You need your head pastor to have a say and make decisions together.

[Greg P.]

1) Multitudes of guitar players - as far as the eye can see (with varying degrees of experience/talent). We could use another drummer and another keyboard player.
2) There is the "first string" and the "second string". The second string comes in when one of the first string can't make it.
3) Rarely - maybe 2 or 3 times a year.

As for "regular rotation" :
I've been leading worship for 10+ years and in my experience rotation is NOT a good thing. Our calling is to be conduits of the Holy Spirit - and you can't do that effectively if you are a distraction. Bad music - mistakes - are a distraction. The band has to be TIGHT! And you can't be tight if you don't play together all the time. When we have guest players it's just not as smooth.

Is it more stressful "having" to play (or lead) every week? Maybe, but the gate is narrow! We've been given this calling for a reason. The trouble or work required to give this gift is a very small price to pay.

Blessings to all of your ministries!
Greg

[Cameron Watford]

1) I wouldn't say that we are flooded with talent, but the talent we do have is some of the best I've ever had the privilege of working with. I have flirted with the idea of fliers but then you have really be ready when someone comes to you and wants to play or sing and their idea of good or talented doesn't match up with yours.

2) We have just begun doing some rotating in the last 6 months or so. Right now we rotate out our drummer and bass player (a month on, then a month off) because those are the instruments that we have players for. Our hope in rotating the band is that in doing so, we will be establishing a second band to do some satelliting in and around our area of central PA.
We truly need our drummer each week. Without him the band sound just doesn't happen. If we don't have a bass player then our keyboard player throws in some extra bass notes to fill in that void. If we don't have our keyboard player then my lead guitarist fills in his part (lead ins to songs and fills during transitions). If I don't have my rhythm guitarist then we simply go without and don't have as many extra fills during songs. We really have a good balance and a great working understanding of each other's abilities and that is what helps us to gel and adjust to someone's absence.

3) I actually have a great situation that was already in place before I arrived a year and a 1/2 ago. The band has the last Sunday of the month off each month and we have one or two other worship leaders who lead on that Sunday. This gives me the opportunity to stay and worship with my congregation or to go visit another local congregation to check out what they're doing. This also allows me to take in different worship styles (charismatic, gospel, catholic, etc.) in order to keep me from tunnel visioning my idea of what worship is.

[Bodhi DuLac]

We have had a variety of different needs and and resources but currently it seems like we have 2 of everything except guitarists!! Seems strange to me but its true. I'm praying for more guitarists, bassists and drummers. Everyone wants to sing or play keys. No one seem to want to lead either, or maybe it's just me. I get to be in the congregation maybe 2-3 times a year....no joke.

[Elliott Blount]

We use two different bands. This does two things for us. It allows the bands to gel because they play with pretty much the same people every time they play, but it also gives them two weeks a month that they get to be part of the congregation. I have only been part of the congregation twice in the last year. We are somewhere between an abundance of talent and needing audition posters, finding vocalists and guitarists seem to be the hardest thing for us...

[Kade Young]

I led a youth band for 4 years, and I am now leading for a church and its been about a year. I am not a fan of the rotation thing. To me, its just added frustration. I guess to me, if your called to music, then your called to music. The only reason you would get tired of it is if you are trying to make it something its not, or if your not called to music. So my suggestion is to find those people who are as passionate about music as you are, and form a tight band. Psalm 33:3 says that we should play 'skillfully.' If you have band members who are sold out to the cause, you shouldn't have any problems. If you come up with people who want to play, but you dont really have room on the team for them - first pray. Then speak the truth in love. There is nothing worse than adding someone to the team that is not sold out, it would be better just not to have that instrument or singer.