Five Steps to Develop Your Music Plan – Part 3
“Don’t just sing songs . . . create moments!” That’s the advice that I received several years ago while attending a Tom Jackson’s Expressive Worship Conference.
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.
This idea — creating moments — is central to the third question that you want to ask in preparing your music plan each week.
Here’s the question:
How can we create a moment of life-transformation in the time that we have?
There’s a misconception when it comes to creating great moments in worship. It goes like this:
“The longer my worship set, the easier it is to create “moments” where people connect with God.”
Trust me, time is NOT the primary factor in discovering great moments of worship. Those moments can be created in a 5 minute set, and just as easily squandered in a 50 minute set.
The question isn’t really, “How much time do we have?”, but “How can we use the time available to help people draw near to God?”
This week as you plan your worship set here are 3 things you can do to bring out those powerful moments:
#1 – Ask God to help you discover the moments of life-transformation in your worship set.
Psalm 33:3 says, “Sing to him a new song…” Note that it doesn’t say, “Sing to him that same old tired song you’ve sung a thousand times…” Sing something fresh!
Maybe it’s a well-placed scripture, testimony, story, or video. Maybe it’s just a new way of singing an old song. Whatever it is, find a way to freshen it up, and watch as it takes on new life and engages your congregation in worship.
#2 – Talk with your Pastor / Worship Pastor and TOGETHER plan how you will creatively draw that moment out of the Worship Order.
As the old Japanese proverb states, “None of us are as smart as all of us.” There’s wisdom in working together to create these moments in your worship set. I can’t tell you how many times my plans were set, and then upon spending a few minutes with Nelson discussing them, he gave me an insight on how we could more clearly draw people into a deeper moment of worship.
#3 – Don’t stop with this Sunday, but work to find those moments every week.
Don’t create a “one-time” moment… take these lessons and begin praying about them, working with your pastor or team on them, and plan these powerful moments of worship every week.
Listen – moments of life-transformation are in EVERY worship order. They just need to be discovered. You do that through prayer and planning. Starting this week, don’t settle for “just another song set” again.
Your partner in ministry,
PS – Want to go deeper on this topic? The Leading with Authority in Rehearsal will teach you how to locate the moments of life transformation in your worship order and make the most of the opportunities you have to lead your congregation in worship ever week.
The quality of your worship service on Sunday is directly determined by your ability to lead an effective rehearsal during the week. After all, poor worship rehearsals mean poor worship sets on Sunday.
The Leading with Authority in Rehearsal resource will teach you a proven system for relieving your stress and maximizing your ability to to lead powerful and effective rehearsals and worship sets.
In this 3-hour resource you will discover the secrets of:
- Removing the fear of how the worship set will go this Sunday
- How to bring the best out of the musicians on your team
- Where your authority comes from in rehearsal, and how to use it to create a culture of excellence
- How to develop your vision for the worship set and inspire your team to embrace it
- The 4-Step process that will radically transform the culture of your team, create accountability and ensure everyone lives up to your expectations
- How to create your Music Plan for maximum impact each week
- How to invest personally into the lives of your Worship Team members at rehearsal and the weekend service
- The Journey’s Nine Core Values for Music Planning and how to begin writing your own
- How to lead a music planning meeting, and the Five Questions you need to be asking every week to get ready for rehearsal!
- Avoiding the #1 mistake that keeps your Sunday worship set from being incredible!
- Building momentum, removing distractions and leading your church into powerful worship this Sunday!
- Cutting your rehearsal time in half and creating more time for personal investment and vision casting
- How to turn “difficult” team members into your biggest allies
- The one rehearsal principle that will dramatically reduce your stress on Sunday (Hint: it’s not what you think!)
- How to guarantee that every team member arrives on-time, prepared and knowing their parts
- Plus much more!
This 3-CD resource also includes a Full Resouce CD complete with:
- A fill-in-the-blank printable notebook
- Expectations of The Journey Music Team
- Real-life examples of emails and communication that Jason uses to prepare his team for rehearsal every week
- Notes from recent Music Planning Meetings with The Journey’s planning team.
- Worship Orders with in-depth notes and instructions to help you communicate with your team.
- The Journey’s “famous” Top 10 list for new team members PLUS The Journey’s Sunday Dress Code for Music Team Members
BONUS RESOURCES
- 2-hour mp3 of Jason teaching values and expectations to The Journey Worship Arts Team that you can use to teach your team as well.
- FREE Download of the “Creating Servants, Not Superstars” audio resource (a $23.95 value)
- FREE Download of “Run to Conflict” audio resource (a $23.95 value)
Immediately download the complete 3-hour training and Bonus Resources and SAVE!
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Jason Hatley
Pastor of Worship Arts
The Journey Church
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.