Did you catch the Olympic Opening Ceremony over the weekend?
It was hard to miss (at nearly 5 hours long), but I think the ceremony actually holds a great lesson for you and I.
If you watched the Opening Ceremony you know the work, effort, creativity, and planning that went into the show. It didn’t come together in a day, much less a week, a month, or even a year (they started planning the London Opening Ceremony in 2007 – wow!).
The show was written by a group of skilled writers. The music was composed and sung by British legends. When the show was finally written, the most talented singers, actors and dancers were cast.
After months (even years) of rehearsal and technical planning finally that one show is performed, and if it’s great, it will be talked about for years to come.
Now – contrast that to what you and I do every week.
In most churches, the worship order is written not months, but days before the service (sometimes hours – ha!). The best talent isn’t available when the volunteer positions are assigned. The budget of the church is nowhere near the deep pockets of the Opening Ceremony (they spent $42 million). When the service is finished, you put it to rest and start all over again.
Seems a little unfair doesn’t it? Here’s the rub . . .
Most churches live in a world where they wake up on Monday and it occurs to them, “Hey, we have a worship service this Sunday! We should start planning.”
I call that the Week-to-Week Mindset. You know you have it when you just can’t see past this Sunday to plan for next Sunday, or the next month of Sundays.
It’s a terrible place to be in ministry, constantly battling to bring the service to life this week, feeling the frustration of not being able to relieve the stress and get ahead. It leads to burn-out, stale services, and missed opportunities.
If I may, I believe this is an area where the church NEEDS to learn from the entertainment world – be it the Olympics, Hollywood, or Broadway.
Now – I know that the worship services in our churches are not the same as these shows. In fact, our services are more important. The decisions that people make to follow Christ in our churches every week far outweigh the entertainment value of a show or concert.
But because of the importance of the work we do, we need strong systems for planning our services, just as our counterparts in show business do.
What would it look like if you had a preaching calendar that laid out what you would teach on each Sunday over the course of the next year? Think of the freedom that comes with that kind of prayer-soaked planning.
What would you be able to do to teach God’s word more effectively if you knew exactly the types of creative elements in a service 4-6 weeks from now? Would you find a great testimony? Find new media to use? Empower the creative people on your team to brainstorm ideas for how to make each Sunday life transformational?
Too many of us have a “what do we NEED to do” mentality of Sunday, as opposed to a “what COULD we do” mentality?
The first says, “As long as we have some songs and a sermon, we’ll be fine.”
The latter says, “What could we do with what God has given us to make this Sunday something special?”
To do that requires time, prayer and planning . . . it requires a desire to break the Week-to-Week mentality and get to work on not just this Sunday, but the next month or even year ahead.
Here are 3 things you can do to get started breaking the Week-to-Week mentality:
#1 – Hold a 30-minute (or less) meeting with your Pastor this week to discuss this Sunday’s service.
#2 – Plan a time in the next 7 days to plan for the next 2-3 Sundays. Put it on your calendar. Prayerfully plan worship orders, song selection, creative elements, etc. Discuss it with your pastor.
#3 – Create a system that will allow you to plan your services weeks, months, even a year in advance.
A good system is the key to breaking the Week-to-Week Mentality.
In my new book, Engage: A Guide to Creating Life-Transforming Worship Services, which I co-authored with my Lead Pastor, Nelson and I teach you the fundamentals for developing a worship planning system that will keep you planned in advance and relieve the stress of weekly thinking. We wrote this book to help you plan, implement and evaluate effective, life-changing worship services.
Engage is based on 9 years of planning and evaluating these systems at The Journey and in hundreds of churches around the country.
I encourage you to pick up a copy for yourself and anyone on your staff who is involved in the worship planning process.
Engage is available in bookstores everywhere. But, the best price is on Amazon.com:
* Engage – Paperback Link
* Engage – Kindle Link
This small investment in your team can make a big difference in your Sunday service.
Your partner in ministry,
PS – You can create life transformational moments EVERY Sunday with thePlanning 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 have made The Journey Church one of the most innovative and effective churches in America.
In this resource you will learn:
- How to maximize the worship time you have each weekend
- How the pastor and worship leader can effectively work together
- How to plan dynamic and effective worship orders
- How to use media, drama and testimony that captures the heart of your people
- How to create a healthy and focused team environment
- How to use feedback that ‘‘builds up’’ and makes every service better
- How to plan ahead so you can break the Sunday to Sunday tyranny
- How to build all the elements of the service around the message
- And much more!
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.
Secure your 6-CD set here:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/go/planworship_boxed/wli/
Download your copy here and save $100.00:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/go/planworship_dl/wli/
Avoid these Top 3 Worship Planning Mistakes
/in Events, Worship Planning/by adminI’ll shoot straight with you . . . I don’t like it when someone tells me that I’m making a mistake.
Call it foolish pride I suppose. Can you relate?
After all, no one’s perfect and I know I make mistakes (just ask my wife and she’ll tell you all about it :-).
But, usually after I get over my bruised ego and damaged pride and I realize that the person telling me about a mistake I’m making really has my best interest at heart, my grumblings are replaced with gratitude. After all, I’ve been in ministry long enough to know that I don’t know it all and I need people to help along the way.
What if I told you that you are making a BIG mistake in your worship planning that was keeping you from: Read more
Three Ways to Thank Your Worship Team Volunteers
/in Leadership, Ministry/by adminHave you ever wondered what your service would look like on Sunday if NONE of your volunteers showed up to serve?
No band… no sound team… no media or tech crew…
It would be a disaster (seriously, I have this nightmare some Saturday nights)!
Your volunteers are vital to the mission of your church. As you’ve heard me say many times before, “As goes your worship team, so go your worship services.”
They are at the very heart of what you do in ministry and that’s why it’s important that you learn to thank them for their investment in your church and the kingdom.
Thanking your volunteers is one of the most important ways you can celebrate them . . . and one of the best ways to ensure that they “want” to come back and serve again next time.
Read more
You are Called to More than Music
/in Leadership, Tuesday Morning Insights/by adminAre you a worship leader or a worship pastor?
That’s a question I ask the men and women that are part of the Worship Pastor Tele-Coaching networks I lead.
And it’s an important question for us to answer if we are going to fulfill the calling that God has given us.
On the surface, the two seem to be the same. But as you might imagine, there’s a little more to it than just a matter of semantics.
Let me explain . . . Read more
Ready for the storm?
/in Events/by adminWith all of the news about Hurricane Isaac the last few days (and a close call here in South Florida) it seems that everywhere I turn I hear people saying, “You need to have a plan.”
I agree . . . after 10 years of living in NYC and now living in South Florida, my family and I are big believers in having an emergency plan. 🙂
And that started me thinking . . . The best way to ride out the storms of life (and ministry) is to have a plan for how to deal with them BEFORE they come.
Chances are you are in a storm right now. I dare say that many worship leaders are in the midst of a hurricane of their own.
Read more
How a Worship Arts Reception Can Help You Find New Volunteers
/in Auditions, Tuesday Morning Insights/by adminThis Sunday I have the privilege of hosting a Worship Arts Overview Reception at our newest Journey campus here in South Florida.
If you are familiar with the How to Double Your Worship Team in a Day resource, you know that the Worship Arts Reception is one of the KEY STRATEGIES that I use to involve new people in ministry on our Worship Arts Team.
It’s basically a short, 30-minute party that I host twice a year after the service and invite people who are interested in serving on the Worship Arts Team to attend. Read more
Experience is NOT the Best Teacher – Leadership Lessons for Worship Leaders
/in Leadership, Tuesday Morning Insights/by adminContrary to popular belief, “Experience is NOT the best teacher.”
This is a lesson I was taught early on in ministry.
Simply going through a difficult challenge doesn’t mean that you learn from it. Doesn’t make you a better leader. Doesn’t prevent you from going through the same difficult experience again.
Like Wile E. Coyote, we’re destined to fall over the cliff again if we haven’t learned from difficult challenges.
No, experience is not the best teacher, but … Read more
What Can Your Church learn from the Olympic Opening Ceremony
/in Tuesday Morning Insights, Worship Planning/by adminDid you catch the Olympic Opening Ceremony over the weekend?
It was hard to miss (at nearly 5 hours long), but I think the ceremony actually holds a great lesson for you and I.
If you watched the Opening Ceremony you know the work, effort, creativity, and planning that went into the show. It didn’t come together in a day, much less a week, a month, or even a year (they started planning the London Opening Ceremony in 2007 – wow!).
The show was written by a group of skilled writers. The music was composed and sung by British legends. When the show was finally written, the most talented singers, actors and dancers were cast.
After months (even years) of rehearsal and technical planning finally that one show is performed, and if it’s great, it will be talked about for years to come.
Now – contrast that to what you and I do every week.
In most churches, the worship order is written not months, but days before the service (sometimes hours – ha!). The best talent isn’t available when the volunteer positions are assigned. The budget of the church is nowhere near the deep pockets of the Opening Ceremony (they spent $42 million). When the service is finished, you put it to rest and start all over again.
Seems a little unfair doesn’t it? Here’s the rub . . .
Most churches live in a world where they wake up on Monday and it occurs to them, “Hey, we have a worship service this Sunday! We should start planning.”
I call that the Week-to-Week Mindset. You know you have it when you just can’t see past this Sunday to plan for next Sunday, or the next month of Sundays.
It’s a terrible place to be in ministry, constantly battling to bring the service to life this week, feeling the frustration of not being able to relieve the stress and get ahead. It leads to burn-out, stale services, and missed opportunities.
If I may, I believe this is an area where the church NEEDS to learn from the entertainment world – be it the Olympics, Hollywood, or Broadway.
Now – I know that the worship services in our churches are not the same as these shows. In fact, our services are more important. The decisions that people make to follow Christ in our churches every week far outweigh the entertainment value of a show or concert.
But because of the importance of the work we do, we need strong systems for planning our services, just as our counterparts in show business do.
What would it look like if you had a preaching calendar that laid out what you would teach on each Sunday over the course of the next year? Think of the freedom that comes with that kind of prayer-soaked planning.
What would you be able to do to teach God’s word more effectively if you knew exactly the types of creative elements in a service 4-6 weeks from now? Would you find a great testimony? Find new media to use? Empower the creative people on your team to brainstorm ideas for how to make each Sunday life transformational?
Too many of us have a “what do we NEED to do” mentality of Sunday, as opposed to a “what COULD we do” mentality?
The first says, “As long as we have some songs and a sermon, we’ll be fine.”
The latter says, “What could we do with what God has given us to make this Sunday something special?”
To do that requires time, prayer and planning . . . it requires a desire to break the Week-to-Week mentality and get to work on not just this Sunday, but the next month or even year ahead.
Here are 3 things you can do to get started breaking the Week-to-Week mentality:
#1 – Hold a 30-minute (or less) meeting with your Pastor this week to discuss this Sunday’s service.
#2 – Plan a time in the next 7 days to plan for the next 2-3 Sundays. Put it on your calendar. Prayerfully plan worship orders, song selection, creative elements, etc. Discuss it with your pastor.
#3 – Create a system that will allow you to plan your services weeks, months, even a year in advance.
A good system is the key to breaking the Week-to-Week Mentality.
In my new book, Engage: A Guide to Creating Life-Transforming Worship Services, which I co-authored with my Lead Pastor, Nelson and I teach you the fundamentals for developing a worship planning system that will keep you planned in advance and relieve the stress of weekly thinking. We wrote this book to help you plan, implement and evaluate effective, life-changing worship services.
Engage is based on 9 years of planning and evaluating these systems at The Journey and in hundreds of churches around the country.
I encourage you to pick up a copy for yourself and anyone on your staff who is involved in the worship planning process.
Engage is available in bookstores everywhere. But, the best price is on Amazon.com:
* Engage – Paperback Link
* Engage – Kindle Link
This small investment in your team can make a big difference in your Sunday service.
Your partner in ministry,
PS – You can create life transformational moments EVERY Sunday with thePlanning 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 have made The Journey Church one of the most innovative and effective churches in America.
In this resource you will learn:
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:
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.
Secure your 6-CD set here:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/go/planworship_boxed/wli/
Download your copy here and save $100.00:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/go/planworship_dl/wli/
Your Worship Team Can Grow . . . and Here’s How!
/in Auditions, Leadership, Ministry, Tuesday Morning Insights/by adminDid you know . . . This summer is the perfect time for your team to grow?
That’s the question I’ve been asking in Part 1 and Part 2 of this new series on How to Grow Yourself and Your Worship Team this summer.
The last two weeks I’ve challenged you to have a Passion for growth this summer and to partner with God in Praying for growth this summer. . . two very important parts of your growth plan.
But without this 3rd and final element in your Growth Plan for the summer, the first two will soon fade.
#3 – You Must have a Process for Growth.
You see, good intentions and spiritual inspiration will soon return to old habits if you don’t create a process for growth this summer.
This summer is the perfect time for your team to grow!
I know what you’re saying. “Jason, a lot of our church members are gone for the summer.” Or, “Our team struggles just to fill all of our serving positions in the summer. How could we possibly add new people when even my current team is out?”
I hear you. But the truth is that the work you do to help your team grow in the summer will determine the strength of your team in the fall.
Here’s what I mean . . .
I grew up on a farm in North Carolina (I know – that’s a long way from NYC). To this day my dad is a farmer.
Farmers don’t plant or harvest in the summer, but the work they do in summer determines how strong their crop will be in the Fall.
#1 – Farmers guard they’re crop in the summer. In the summer farmers guard their growing crops by ensuring they have enough water and are protected from anything that could harm them.
What are you doing this summer to ensure your current team doesn’t dry out . . .
. . . Spiritually?
. . . Creatively?
. . . In their desire to serve?
#2 – Farmers fertilize their crop in the summer. One of the key ingredients to the size of the harvest in fall is how farmers fertilize the fields in the summer.
The same is true for you. You may not add a lot of new people to your team in the summer, but by planning and preparing now you will ensure that your team grows exponentially this Fall.
In fact, the Fall is almost always the biggest time of year for team growth. Last Fall our team in NYC added over 75 new people to the team. . . in one day through a BIG DAY OF AUDITIONS.
And not only at The Journey, but the members of my coaching networks who ran audition systems last Fall experienced dramatic growth as well.
And so can you . . . if you have a Process to Grow Your Team.
I believe the best process is to hold a BIG DAY of auditions.
I teach this system in my coaching networks and in the How to Double Your Worship Team in a Day resource.
It’s a powerful system that has been implemented by hundreds of churches of all shapes and sizes who have told me that the system worked for them as well, helping them deepen the commitment of their team members and involve more people in their life-changing worship arts ministry.
The truth is . . . the audition system is WAY more than I could give you in this post (it’s over 3 hours of practical teaching and a ton of bonuses to boot!).
But I believe so strongly that this system will help your worship team can grow, that I’ll make you a BIG GUARANTEE:
If you secure the “How to Double Your Worship Team in a Day” resource by this Friday, July 27, study it and sincerely implement the biblical and practical ideas presented in it this Fall, and you do not see an increase in the Health and Growth of your team through a big day of auditions, I will give you DOUBLE YOUR INVESTMENT back (how’s that for a guarantee on your investment).
Yep, I’m basically willing to pay you to listen to the resource.
And the reason why is because I am confident that with the right system and your passionate and prayerful leadership you can see more new people than ever before step out of their seats and start serving on your team.
So, here’s HOW TO SECURE your How to Double Your Worship Team in a Day resource today.
Click Here to Download NOW:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/go/double_wt_dl/wli/
Click Here for the Resource on CD:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/go/double_wt_boxed/wli/
I hope you’ll take me up on this challenge, and I hope that you will share with me all that you see God do in your team through the process.
Your partner in ministry,
PS – See below for more details on the How to Double Your Worship Team in a Day resource.
In this 3-hour workshop, I will teach you the nuts-and-bolts principles of:
You also receive includes more than 65 additional resource files, including:
Plus much more!
Secure your 3-CD set here:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/go/double_wt_boxed/wli/
Download your copy here and save $30.00:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/go/double_wt_dl/wli/
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.
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.
What’s Keeping Your Worship Team from Growing this Summer
/in Auditions, Leadership, Ministry/by adminRecently we started a 3-part series on How to Grow Yourself and Your Worship Team this Summer.
As you know, many worship leaders look at the summer as a time to GLIDE . . .
to just get through the summer months and pick up where they left off in the fall.
But I believe the summer is a time for GROWTH – both for you personally as well as for your team.
It’s starts with developing a Passion for Growth. But that’s not all . . .
To see yourself and your team grow this summer, you also need to:
#2 – PRAY FOR GROWTH.
An important factor in your personal growth and team growth this summer is asking God to bless your team.
Now – there are 2 extremes that you can fall into here.
FIRST, you can live by the motto “Prayer, and Prayer Alone”. Some worship leaders will say, “I’m praying for the growth and health of my team, but that’s all I’m doing. As long as I pray God will do the rest.” There’s no system or process for growth that goes with it.
OR, you can live by the motto, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me!” That is, you may have a passion for growth and even systems for growth, but somehow you have forgotten that there’s an important spiritual element to personal and team growth.
The truth is . . . it takes both! It’s Prayer + Action.
Look at this passage from Proverbs 21:31:
“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.”
Look to the end of that verse and notice who brings the victory. God does. At the end of the day, God will be the one who brings victory in your service, team, rehearsal, personal growth, family, etc.
But also notice the first part of that verse. Someone has to get the horse ready for battle. And that someone is you and I.
You see, God could do it all by himself, but he decides to give us a role as well.
So, jumpstart your growth this summer through Prayer and building growth Processes (more on that next week).
For now, focus on prayer, but don’t do it alone.
Get your pastor to pray with you for the growth of your team. After all, he knows all too well that, “As goes the Worship Team, so goes the Worship Service.”
Also, ask your Worship Team to pray with you. Want to transform the culture of your team from inwardly focused to outwardly focused? Inspire your team members to pray along with you for their growth and the growth of your team.
And remember . . .
“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”
~ St. Augustine
Your partner in ministry,
PS – Did you know that you gain full access to the EXACT strategy that we use at The Journey that has produced 10 years of exponential growth and health on our team? That has taken our team from 2 people to over 200 volunteers? That has created a culture of healthy discipleship growth as well as team growth?
It’s available in “How to Double Your Worship Team in a Day” resource.
In this 3-hour workshop, I will teach you the nuts-and-bolts principles of:
You also receive includes more than 65 additional resource files, including:
Plus much more!
Secure your 3-CD set here:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/go/double_wt_boxed/wli/
Download your copy here and save $30.00:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/go/double_wt_dl/wli/
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.
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.
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.
Beat the Summer Slump
/in Leadership, Ministry, Tuesday Morning Insights/by adminA worship leader told me once that the summer was the worst time of year for him and his team to grow. He went on to explain that because of this, he took it easy during the summer, didn’t challenge his team (or himself) to grow and just coasted through until fall arrived.
What I told him next was hard for him to swallow, but absolutely true. Read more