Archive for month: July, 2011

“We’re just not on the same page.”

Ever said that about your relationship with your Pastor or Worship Pastor?

I hear Pastors and Worship Pastors say that oftentimes when it comes to Worship Planning. “We want to work together, but we’re just not on the same page.”

You know the problem with this statement right? You guessed it:

The problem is the page doesn’t exist!

Most Pastors and Worship Pastors who struggle to “get on the same page” do so because they have never had a conversation about two important things:

#1 – How they view worship planning.

#2 – How the other person views worship planning.

They aren’t clear on what they think the process should look like. They aren’t clear on their responsibility. And most of all, they aren’t clear about how the other person’s responsibility looks like.

Let me give you a quick exercise to try and explain:

Of the four choices below, which set of words best describes your current Pastor / Worship Pastor relationship when it comes to worship planning?

1. You do your thing and I’ll do mine. I’ll see you on Sunday morning.

2. We’re not against planning life-transforming worship services together, we just don’t have the structure, system, time and/or resources to do it.

3. We are working together to implement some creative elements, but it’s not always consistent and it’s not as smooth as we want.

4. We are working together in a structured way to plan in advance, and create relevant, God-honoring, life-transforming worship services every week.

Ok – so what number did you choose?

I’ve found that most pastors and worship pastors THINK they are doing better in the area of worship planning than they really are. But when asked to answer the question above they gain some new clarity about both where they are and where they want to go.

Believe it or not, getting honest on the answer to that question is the starting point for maximizing the Pastor / Worship Pastor relationship.

As you might imagine, #4 is the goal, and what I refer to as an Actively Engaged Pastor / Worship Pastor relationship.

In this scenario the pastor and worship pastor are hands on in creating the worship service from start to finish (not just their respective parts). They are both giving and receiving ideas and feedback on the service. There is a true synergy to the worship planning process.

So, if the Actively Engaged Relationship is the goal, how do you get there. That is the question I will answer in the next two posts.

For now, here are two questions for you to answer:

1. Which of those four scenarios represents my outlook on planning worship services?

2. Which of those four scenarios represents my pastors/worship pastors outlook on planning services?

The key is getting on the same page. Next week, we’ll talk about exactly what page that is!
Your partner in ministry,

PS – I hope you’re enjoying this series on how to Maximize the Pastor / Worship Pastor Relationship and plan your worship services together.

I receive questions about these two things constantly from worship pastors all over . . . thus the 5 part post on the topic 🙂

But the truth is, there is WAY too much to talk about in these two areas for 50 blog posts, much less 50.

Things like:

• How do we start?
• What are our values of advance worship planning?
• How can we maximize the worship time we have each weekend
• What meetings do we need to have to make this happen?
• How can we make our worship services more dynamic and create more effective worship order?
• What are the best ways to use media, drama and testimony to capture the heart of our people?
• What role does weekly feedback play in making our worship services better and just how do we do it?
• How can we break the Sunday to Sunday tyranny and start planning ahead?
• And much more!

If you are serious about working together, making your services more creative and impactful, reducing your weekly stress and getting your entire team on the “same page”, then thePlanning Worship Services for Life Transformation Workshop can help you get ahead and stay ahead!

This 6-hour workshop will teach you proven principles and practices to increase your worship planning effectiveness.

Recorded LIVE, Planning Worship Services for Life Transformation Workshop also includes more than 15 additional resource files, including:

• Fill in the blank workshop notes
• Sample worship orders
• Sample band notes
• Sample message transcript
• Sample planning notes, calendars and assignments
• Sample ideas and resources
• And much more!

This is a nuts and bolts resource that will teach you to make the most of your weekly worship times through effective, God honoring planning.

And if you aren’t absolutely satisfied with this resource (or any of my resources for that matter) simply return your product within 365 days for a prompt and courteous refund.
Immediately download the complete mp3 audio files and full resources and SAVE $100.00!

OR

Secure your 6-CD set here
www.worshipleaderinsights.com

www.jasonhatley.wordpress.com
TUESDAY MORNING INSIGHTS is Jason Hatley’s free weekly training resource specifically designed to provide you as a worship leader with proven principles, tips and practices to help you lead a healthy and thriving Worship Arts Team.

About Jason Hatley and Worship Leader Insights

In 2002, Jason Hatley helped launch The Journey Church in New York City, directing the programming of their worship services. He serves as the Pastor of Worship Arts and built from scratch The Journey’s worship arts team, a group of over 200 artists and technicians who develop and implement the creative and technical elements at weekly Sunday services. The Journey has been recognized as one of Outreach Magazines fastest growing and most creative churches.

Jason has been a worship leader since 1996. He invests in Worship Pastors around the country through interactive coaching networks and worship planning resources. He has been a featured break-out speaker at the Willow Creek Arts Conference, The Purpose Drive Worship Conference, as well as seminars around the country. He has a B.M. in Sacred Music Performance from Appalachian State University.

Jason and his family currently live in Boca Raton, FL where he serves as the Pastor of Worship Arts at The Journey’s newest campus in South Florida.

Recently on a phone call with my Tele-Coaching network one of the worship leaders in our network began to ask my thoughts on how to overcome what has become (I think) a CENTRAL issue for Worship Leaders serving in the local church.

It has nothing to do with where you find new music, or even how to grow your team.

It’s the challenge of how to work effectively with your pastor to plan your worship services.

After completing a session on some proven strategies to plan worship services months (even a year) in advance through a great tool called the One Year Preaching Calendar, my friend asked a question that many worship leaders struggle with. “This is great. It would be a huge help to our planning process, BUT I don’t know if my pastor will want to plan in advance like this.”

By the way, the shoe fits the other foot as well. Pastors who are working hard to keep their teams planned ahead and it’s the worship pastor who just can’t find the time or organization to lead the effort for advanced planning and seems to fall behind.

The BIG issue behind this is really not as much the planning itself, but the relationship between the Pastor and Worship Pastor. And that’s what I have found through coaching nearly 200 worship pastors personally and training thousands of others, is the true hard work of advanced planning. Read more