Worship leaders… team members… pastors… you can thrive with whatever you have… where you are. But, in worship ministry, excellence can be a confusing subject. So, if you want to learn how to be excellent with whatever resources and personnel you have, we have to start here: Why do we pursue excellence? 

I recently came upon a discussion around the topic of spontaneous worship and how to move in that direction while leading in worship. There was a large variety of opinions, and you get to hear (or read) mine now. :) Can you plan for a spontaneous moment? Should you even have spontaneous worship? If you do, are you still leading worship or are you just performing for the congregation?

In your church, do you expect sound and media techs to be there at your worship rehearsals each week?

In my experience, it is extremely helpful for a number of reasons. Those involved in running sound, lights, media projection, etc play a vital role and need to rehearse as much as the band on the stage does.

There are many things that we as worship leaders consider when building our set list from week to week. Of course, we should be praying about it first and foremost! After that, there are many things to consider as we strive to put together something that will be effective in the worship service. As the worship portion of the service should connect as much as possible with the other aspects of the service... and as we should be setting the stage for what the pastor will be sharing to follow... the consideration of the sermon topic or overall theme of the service should be part of your planning process.

It’s the age-old question that perhaps every worship pastor and worship leader wrestles with at some point in their ministry.  A question with no clear-cut answer, no formulaic solution.  It’s up for debate and strong arguments could be made on all sides.

Actually, it’s not just one question.  It’s several questions...