Talking on Stage (4 of 4): Ask the Right Questions

This has more to do with the content of what you’re going to say than anything. No matter how short or long you talk, be intentional with your words in every service:

*You’re not a cheerleader – sometimes you have to be, but mostly, let the cheers be a response to worship rather than trying to work people into a frenzy.
*Ask the right questions – without boring you with Kirpatrick’s levels of evaluations, let me just say there are two extremes: reaction and results. I’d rather the words I say have results than get reactions. Don’t use your questions to get yes/no answers from people. “Are you glad to be here today? YEAH!” It maybe appropriate once, but we tend to fall back on those kinds of questions over and over. I’d rather ask a question that stimulates results and pushes people to worship, like “So what makes you want to sing this morning.” Both questions have their place, just take some time to think about when you want to use which question.
*Communicate one message. If it’s possible, work towards the message that’s being brought that day. Most people only walk away from our 1.5 hr services with one to two points that they remember. Let the point they remember be the ONE message that the church leadership is communicating that day. Use your questions/talk to set up the pastor’s message.
*Practice your prayer just like you practice your mini-messages – it won’t make it any less sincere – I promise. God knew it when it was just in your head before it came out of your mouth anyway.

One final thought – own the moment. If you’re going to talk and you’ve been released to do so, be confident on the front of the stage. How you talk WILL set the atmosphere for the rest of the worship service.

mjd

Set List: 03/08/09

Here’s Oasis Church’s (formerly known as Oasis Worship Centre’s) set list for 03/08/09. This is posted in participation with Fred McKinnon’s Sunday Setlist feature.

Great God – Ricardo Sanchez/Israel Houghton. Those guys are both altos, so we had to bring it down a step for Kurtis. That guy gets more solid as a leader every time I watch him. He does a GREAT job and we’re crazy blessed to have him at the Oasis. Our church come alive every time we do this one. If you haven’t listened to it yet – DO!

Rejoice – This is the one made popular by Lakewood, but we did the Promise Keeper’s version which has a better groove.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eylgfDI3VYo

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus – We did the Michael W. Smith version and it was beautiful. Dale Shuler does an amazing job on violin (for those of you reading from Arkansas – we call it the fiddle).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uPGqH3EEhM

Holy, Holy, Holy – We did this hymn on Wednesday too and we got NO response, but it really lit up this morning. I’m glad we didn’t change directions on that! I think Pastor Ashley’s talk during the 1st service really made the difference. As much as I love music, it can’t do it on it’s own!

Troubled By Burnout

No, no – not me… I’m tired, but nowhere close burn out. I’m troubled by burnout. It’s not that I’m upset with the people who are burned out, but I’m confused with it.

In recent months, I’ve had the chance to work with numerous folks who are amazing – absolutely amazing at their jobs, and great with people – but they’re all trying to avoid leadership roles because of they’re tired of the trials of people.

I want to avoid it. I see it more in the business world than in ministry, but I don’t want to become that. I enjoy working with the folks because they’re brilliant and don’t want credit – so they pass it on to me. That’s nice of them, but it’s just got me thinking…

How do I keep from hitting that point? I like people, and I really want to keep liking people…

Talking on Stage (3 of 4): Get Prepared Technically

A couple of bullet point thoughts for you on talking as the worship leader during a worship service:

*Let people know when it’s going to happen. By people, I mean the band, the lighting folks, presentation folks, and sound folks.
*Not only should you practice what you’re going to say “out loud,” you should practice it during rehearsal if you can (sometimes there’s just a right-now message that you feel you’ve got to share, not much you can do then, but many time you know these things will come up) This gives everyone a chance to know how to respond and even to give you some feedback if necessary.
*Speak clearly in your microphone – talk slowly so everyone can understand, no matter how excited you are.
*Band – pick a spot in the song that lends itself to you talking – avoid solos, avoid hard intros, avoid dead silence behind you during the talk.
*Lighting – Double-check that people will be able to see you while you speak. Are you visible and in good light so it can be caught on video if that’s necessary, or so at minimum, people can see your eyes when you’re look at them.
*Sound – The sound guy/chick (that’s for you @chels_53) will likely have your voice at the same level or close to the mix of the other vocals, and may have some effects on your voice. For people to understand, that has to be turned off. Make sure your sound engineer know when you’re going to speak and they make a note of it on their set list. Nothing worse than missing 30 secs of a worship leader talking but to you they sound like the teacher from Peanuts (woh, woh, woh, woh, woh)
*Presentation – Since you’re trying to base your short talk on the Word rather than your opinion, if you’re going to reference scripture, let your presentation folks know so they’re not scrambling mid-service, then you burn time and get frustrated, so the cycle goes…

Talking on the Stage (2 of 4): Get Prepared Physically

In addition to coming on stage having spent a diligent amount of time spiritually preparing with prayer and study, prepare yourself physically to lead the church talking between songs.

*Practice saying it out loud. OUT LOUD! I know it sounds good in your head, but almost everything does before it comes out of your mouth (not so loud on the amens @chels_53). It can even look good on paper without making sense when it comes out. Bounce it off of someone who will be honest with you if they don’t understand or if they don’t think its delivered well. The best audience is probably your pastor, but you probably don’t want to practice on him because he might say no, but that’s a problem by itself.
*Take a few deep breaths and catch your breath – if we can’t understand what you’re saying, we’ve missed the amazing message that you could have for us this morning.
*Stand towards the front of the stage (I know it sounds stupid, but it makes a difference in how connected the people are with you)
*Look at people. Don’t stare at the back wall or ceiling. Be conversational with the people in the room. If you have to stare at the back wall or look away, you probably lack the confidence you need to talk at that moment.

Talking on the Stage (1 of 4): Get Prepared Spiritually

Oh the irony of me writing this series of posts, but if doing it wrong leads to learning, I should have a Ph.D. Worship Leaders, I’m going to try and keep these posts super-short. In this series:

-Get Prepared Spiritually
-Get Prepared Physically
-Get Prepared Technically
-Ask the Right Questions

First things first, stay under cover. If your pastor hasn’t freed speak between/during songs, then don’t act in rebellion – yep, you heard me – rebellion. If you’re new or young, do be surprised that they don’t want you to speak. Lee McDerment said it most accurately – if a pastor prepares 1 hr for every minute he speaks, then what gives you the right to wing it for 3 minutes.
When you hold the microphone, know the weight of that responsibility.

*Your pastor has given you a voice to speak because they trust you – be a good steward of that trust.
*Center whatever you’re going to say on scripture, not your opinion.
*Only talk about what draws people into worship, not how rough your week was. How often does the pastor get up and belly ache about how tough life is – not often – we do it because we’re “artists.”
*Through worship, burdens should be lifted, not transposed from you to the worshipers.
*If you’re going to tell a story, make it a personal one. Own it!

mjd

Lesson’s Learned: 02/26/09

Here are a few observations I have for the world:

-The customer isn’t always right unless I’m the customer.
-It’s not about being really good at your job, it’s about being confident in who you are and your abilities to tackle any problem.
-My talents in the workplace have a lot more to do with how I make the customer feel instead of anything I actually produce. My job these days seems to be restoring confidence.
-The best tools in the world are only good if they’re used.
-We always want the easy solution – example, a bailout with monopoly money.
-I can operate on reduced sleep for a few nights in a row, and then I feel like I’m going to have an emotional breakdown.
-I don’t say “no” when I should – that has a lot to do with the pressure that I feel right now. I’ve got to delegate more.
-Most people don’t work with the goal of excellence. I just don’t understand that… how do you get so lazy that you throw crap together and give it to people?
-I’m tired, but I have to stay awake to wait for my programmers from India to confirm that they understand my notes… sigh…

Worship Leader Tools: Winning in Worship

I’ll start by being completely honest, I’ve never used this product – but I know these men and their work.

During my trip to C3 this week, I had a great opportunity to get to know Tim Ranson. Tim owns Delta Stage Lighting and for nearly two years, he’s donated his time and resources to do the lighting for Oasis Church in Nashville, TN. Our set design is amazing. With every new series, I’m amazed at the quality the this man produces week-in and week-out. Go here to take a look. Jayme Braun has created an amazing sound at Oasis Church – not only at Oasis, but he’s also done work for Israel and New Breed and other major Christian acts.

Now to the point. These guys have put together an amazing tool that they call “Winning in Worship.” Both of these guys have the heart of a teacher. I wish I would have had this tool when we launched UpRising. This is a tool that can be used over and over to train new and intermediate sound/lighting designers/engineers on the basic operations of using technology. Go to Winninginworship.com and take a look at their resources (extremely reasonably priced)! I believe these resources could have a profound impact on your teams!

mjd

C3: My Impressions

I’d like to start this post by saying that I’ve changed a lot since my last trip to the Creative Church Conference in Dallas, TX. However, the changes in the feel of the conference, and even the House itself is dramatic and evident.

I’ve been blown away the past three days. I went to C3 in 2003, I went to their regional conference at Long Hollow in 2007, and I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Dallas this year with some of the staff from Oasis. Fellowship Church/Ed Young has been a pioneer in the creative presentation of the Gospel. 6 years ago when I attended this conference with my dad and the staff from FC, I picked up a ton of great ideas, but I remember remarking on how shallow everything seemed. It seemed like everything was focused on the technology, not the message. I’m sure that Ed’s vision is probably about the same, but the packaging was completely different.

This week, I’ve heard nothing about technology except for “don’t let it steal from your message.” Make no mistake, Fellowship is still on the cutting edge of technology, but all of the technology and gadgets seem to blend seamlessly into their presentation of the message. The worship is life-giving – 6 years ago, everyone just stared at the leader who stood motionless. The worship breakout today started with a 15 minute talk on the spiritual motivators. I’ve heard Pace speak on worship 4 times, and today’s talk started with a completely different spin – and it was phenomenal.

I hope a video is released soon with some of the sound bytes from this conference. The speakers were out of this world. The mix of speakers was so diverse – they included Tommy Barnett, Christine Caine, Bill Cornelius, Ed Young, Ben Young, Craig Groschel, Steven Furtick, and TD Jakes. Speakers ranged from 29 to 71, black and white, international, east coast to west coast – the perspectives added so much to the message.

I can’t wait for the opportunity to attend again…once again, Ed Young has proven why his ministry has found so much success – the Gospel. I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to attend this year, and I encourage all those involved in ministry to get here in 2010 if they can!!!

Proving Who You Are

It’s amazing that those of us who “feel” a call on our lives feel like we have so much to “prove” to those around us. In the moments when we get a chance to learn from the more experienced, we feel a need to talk about our experiences or the way we do things. We dress to the “T” at our church conferences and we talk about our stories of what’s happening with us rather than listening. We’re just itchin’ to “plug” ourselves at every turn.

Tonight was the first night that I’ve gotten to just follow Pastor Danny (Chambers) around during a band rehearsal and just listen. For some reason, I still had the urge to finish his sentences, predict his answers to my questions, and prove that I knew the answer before he answered. How pathetic! I think I caught it while it was all in my head, but it got me thinking…

I wonder when I’ll be secure enough, and a good enough listener, that I can turn off the noise (comments/answers) in my head and just receive…