How to Thank Your Worship Team Volunteers this Christmas

Thanksgiving has come and gone (except for the leftover turkey of course), but “giving thanks” is always in season. Especially when it comes to thanking your worship arts team members.

I don’t have to tell you how valuable the members or your team are to your mission as a church. In fact, I’ve always said, “As goes your worship team, so go your worship services.”

And it’s true . . . imagine what services would be like one Sunday if all the members of your team decided to take a day off. It’s a recurring nightmare for me 🙂

The members of our worship arts teams give above and beyond all year long. By the time a member of your team practices, attends rehearsal, and serves on Sunday they could be giving 20+ hours a week to our churches. Incredible when you think about it!

This Christmas, you and I have a unique opportunity to tell the members of our team “Thank you for a great year of service to our church!”

So in the spirit of the season, here are 3 things that we do at The Journey to thank our volunteers this time of year . . . that you can do as well.

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3 Steps to Creating Transformational Moments this Sunday

A mentor of mine named Tom Jackson says, “Don’t just sing songs . . . create moments!”

I couldn’t agree more. In fact one of our core values here at The Journey has always been to not just ‘execute the service’, but to create moments of life-transformation in our worship services. It’s not enough to just play good music or teach a good message. We need to plan our services so that there are intentional moments where people can connect with God and experience life transformation.

Last week at the journey a moment just like that happened!

We have been in a message series on the 23rd Psalm and last Sunday we were talking about how people hurt us and how God wants us to release that hurt and let Him take it away.

To illustrate this we gave everyone a rock when they entered the service. Some were dirty. Some were jagged. Others were large and heavy.

All of them represented ways that we have been hurt in our past.

Throughout the service the rocks served as a reminder of just how much discomfort they bring to our lives, and how God does not want us to carry those hurts around. Rather he wants us to turn them over to Him.

So at the end of the service we wanted to give everyone a moment to remember.

We placed metal buckets down front by the stage, and during the final song we asked those who wanted to participate to place their rock in the bucket. Correction . . . we had everyone DROP their rock in the bucket! The idea was to make it a loud, resounding moment (both spiritually and audibly). And it was.

(In fact, it was so loud that I could hardly hear myself singing on stage.)

It was a powerful moment where people let go of the hurts that they had carried for years.

One lady told me that she had carried around her hurt for over 15 years. And when she dropped it in the bucket she finally let it go.

I share that story to say this . . .

It would have been easier to just teach the message and sing a song. But the truth is we may have missed out on those powerful moments.

So here’s my question to you . . .

Are you singing songs or creating moments?

Are you preaching messages or preaching for life change?

The truth is – the moments are already in your worship order. They are just waiting to be discovered.

This week as you plan your worship service here are 3 things you can do to bring them out:

#1 – Ask God to help you discover the moments of life-transformation in your worship order.

#2 – Talk with your Pastor / Worship Pastor and TOGETHER plan how you will creatively draw that moment out of the Worship Order.

#3 – Don’t stop with this Sunday, but work to find those moments every week.

Not every Sunday will be a big “come forward and drop it in the bucket” kind of moment. The goal isn’t to “out-do yourself” every week, but to prayerfully plan your services far enough in advance that you have time to discover and draw out the powerful moments of life-transformation, whatever it may be.

Praying for you and your services to life- transformational this Sunday!
Your partner in ministry,

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PS – If you are serious about creating moments of life transformation in your services every week let me encourage you to pick up the Planning Worship Services for Life Transformation Workshop.

In this powerful, six hour workshop, my Lead Pastor Nelson Searcy and I will teach you the proven principles and practices that helped us stay weeks, months, even a year planned in advance, and have given us the time to discover the life-transforming moments in each worship order.

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.

OR

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.
Jason HatleyIn 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 is the author of Engage: A Guide to Creating Life-Transforming Worship Services and Revolve: A New Way to See Worship as well as over a dozen worship leader personal and ministry growth resources.

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.

FREE Planning Your 2012 Preaching Calendar Webinars – This Week Only

I just found out that my Lead Pastor, Nelson Searcy, is leading four FREE webinars this week to help you and your pastor plan your 2012 Preaching Calendar.

Recently you received my article about the importance that planning the preaching in your church (whether you are a pastor or worship leader) has on relieving the stress of week-to-week worship planning. It’s foundational!

And now – you can plan your 2012 Preaching Calendar with Nelson in one of four FREE 75-minute webinars this week.

Here’s the official invitation from Nelson himself as well as the details for how to register . . .

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Keep Your Congregation Engaged in Worship

We have all had them . . . the days where we feel like the people in our churches are completely disengaged during the worship set.

The music may be top notch, you may be enjoying the presence of God personally, but the congregation just isn’t with you.

Our most basic calling as worship leaders is to lead people into worship, but sometimes the old adage holds true . . . you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

In today’s Tuesday Morning Insight, I want to share with you some ideas for how to keep your congregation engaged in the worship set in a brand new, FREE audio training podcast.

Just click here to listen in now.

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