Introducing New Songs

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‘Show me a church’s songs and I’ll show you their theology.’ - Gordon Fee

Songs are an essential component of what we do as sung corporate worship leaders. They instruct and exhort, give us language to understand and articulate the heart and character of God and respond as His people. When it comes to introducing new songs, I’ll devote a future post to how to determine the kinds of songs to choose for your particular context. For today, I want to think through the mechanics of how and when to introduce new songs to your team, congregation, and in the service.

Introduce the song to your team first. Make sure the team has time to engage with the song. Showing up to a rehearsal and being given a new song with the expectation to learn it, and lead it in a matter of moments can be difficult for even the most competent musicians among us. This kind of last-minute planning does not establish healthy rhythms, culture, and trust among those you lead and serve. Back up the timeline of introducing a song, give your musicians and vocalists - a few weeks with a link to a video, the song, the lyrics, and chord charts. Sending out a song to the whole team allows them to familiarize themselves with the song even on a weekend they are not serving. But you can encourage them to ‘lead from the congregation,’ by engaging and singing along as the congregation begins to learn a new song.

Introducing to the congregation. How long does it take your people to learn a new song? How complex or accessible will this song be? A healthy rhythm for introducing songs is two to three weeks on, one off, and back on the following week. The first week is learning the new song, the next week the chorus is solidified and the verses begin to take shape in the minds and melodies of the people. Giving one week off allows the song to become familiar without feeling played to death. Do not leave too much space in between the rhythm of introducing a new song and folding it into normal rotation in your services.

Introduce in the service. Use this opportunity to shepherd your people. Instead of ‘Here’s a new one for you…,’ help people understand the heart of this song, and why you chose to bring it to your people. Placing a new song in the middle of a set is helpful because it allows the congregation to begin and end with things that will be familiar. With the production and tempo stripped back and lyrics visible to the congregation, sing through the chorus one time, then repeat the chorus inviting the people to singalong. Then start the song from the beginning.

One last thing to consider as you introduce a new song, encourage your people to join in when they are comfortable. But also encourage them to both meditate on the truth in the lyrics, read, and speak them aloud. Our words are powerful, let the truth not just fill our heads, and hearts, but our mouths, and ears as well.

January 19: Tuesday Refocus

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‘Then they believed His words; they sang His praise.’ - Psalm 106:12

We are people always responding.  We engage, interact, entertain, ignore, and are transformed by what we see and experience all around us.  If we cannot help but respond to the created world, how much more are we compelled to respond to the Creator who has revealed Himself?  Matt Redman often says ‘Seeing is singing.’  When we believe His word, our hearts cannot stay silent:

He is the Bread of Life - satisfying our deepest hunger, forever (Jn 6:35)

He is the Light of the World - illuminating the narrow road (Jn 8:1, Matt 7:14)

He is the Door - through whom we have access to the Father (Jn 10:9)

He is the Good Shepherd - He lays down His life to rescue His wayward sheep (Jn 10:11)

He is the Resurrection and the Life - He has died, but is alive forevermore holding the keys of death and hell (Jn 11:25, Rev 1:18)

He is the Way, the Truth and the Life - everything we seek is found in and through Him (Jn 14:6)

He is the True Vine - abiding perfectly in the life and love of the Father, inviting us to abide in Him (Jn 15:4-11)

He is the One who emptied Himself, took on flesh, became sin, offered Himself as the Perfect Sacrifice, died the death we deserved, is raised and is seated at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf (Phil 2:7-8, 2 Cor 5:21, Heb 10:10, Rom 4:25, Acts 13:30, Mark 16:19, Rom 8:34)

And He can always be trusted because His word always proves true (Proverbs 30:5).  Believe and respond.

Lord, give us a greater glimpse of the reality of Who You are, and what You have done.  May we believe and respond with lives of continual worship.  We love you, amen.

Seeing and responding,

AB

Building A Set List

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There is a temptation in leading corporate sung worship to imitate form and flow without understanding intention. Too often we can believe that choosing the correct combination of songs, dynamics, and production will create the desired result. Although I do believe there are best practice principles to leading worship regardless of your particular context, these things do not follow a static formula. If your worship setlists feel more like a string of songs than intentionally shaping the morning to form the people, here are some things to consider:

Start with the Text. What is the primary text in the teaching for the weekend? What does it tell us about God? What does it tell us about mankind? How may God be calling your people to respond this weekend? What themes can you pull from the text in not only your song choice, but in the way you pray, choose Scripture, and plan musical dynamics?

Prayer. Before, during, and after - I am convinced and convicted by how easily I can default to intuition, and experience to determine elements for the gathering. In an earlier post, I wrote about three prayers of preparation, you can read that here.

Follow a framework. This is why I like the Gospel Song Liturgy, intention laid in the foundation of your liturgy when you use a framework, rather than reinventing the wheel every time you plan a service.

Consider the team. Who are the musicians and vocalists serving this weekend? How can you accentuate the strengths of those individuals and the team as a whole, and minimize weakness? Do you need to begin communicating parts or specific pieces further in advance?

This week, this month, this year. Our weekend services stand-alone, but build one on another week after week, month after month, year after year. Are you holding the bigger picture of where your people are, and where you’re leading as you plan the service this weekend?

Find the gaps. Songs don’t always communicate or give the language needed for every aspect of our time. What other aspects are needed to fully connect and ground your time? Scripture, liturgical elements like readings, prayers, confessions, silence, and response, as well as verbal transitions, can all be used to direct and focus the flow of the morning.

When your elements for the service are gathered, consider the flow of the story you are telling in your lead through the liturgy. We can inadvertently create a disconnected story when we do things like sing about the resurrection and then sing about our sin and need for a Savior. Songs, rhythm, and keys should move in a structure flowing naturally one to the next as you move the people through your setlist, the morning, and the vision of where you are headed.

January 12: Tuesday Refocus

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‘Listen to me you who are poor: what is lacking to you if you have God?  Listen you who are rich: what do you possess if you do not have God?’ - Augustine

God’s economy does not work like the economy of the world:

You must lose your life to find your life (Matt 10:39).

The first will be last (Matt 20:16).

Humble yourself and He will exalt you (Jam 4:10).

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all of these things will be added (Matt 6:33).

Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you (Matt 5:44).

Outdo one another in showing honor (Rom 12:10).

When our world feels upside down, may it serve as a reminder that we are citizens of an upside-down Kingdom (Phil 3:20).  When we find ourselves lacking practically or financially, may it serve as a reminder of the One who was rich, but for our sake became poor, so that we through His poverty might become rich (2 Cor 8:9).  When things go well, may it serve as a reminder that all is grace, and lift our eyes to the Giver of every good and perfect gift (Jam 1:17).

A few days into this new year, have already been overwhelming and anxiety-producing.  May our prayer echo the Psalmist: ‘Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (Ps 73:25-26).’  Amen.

Let it be,

AB

Developing A Team: Without Musicians

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After high school I served a worship leader as a part of a church plant. It was new and exciting, getting to choose the songs that would make up the catalogue of our services, think through our structure and liturgy, casting vision about who we were and what our gathering would look like. The only problem? My mother and I were the only two musicians committed to serving as a part of the launch team for the church. Often people have a hard time envisioning what you are going to do until they see it. So trying to gather people and musicians before the launch was often met with, ‘sounds great, let me know when you start…’ It was the first (but not the last) time I had struggled to find other musicians to serve as we led corporate sung worship.

It can feel overwhelming simply to accomplish a weekly service when you are struggling to find Godly, gifted, and consistent musicians for your worship team. Like everything, we must start where we are: who do you have? If you are the only musicians willing and available to serve, that is still a good place to start. Here are other things to consider as you try and develop a team:

Make it a hospitable place to serve. Early communication with set lists, keys, chord charts and lyrics, and rehearsal times are essential. You have to establish a healthy, stable culture even if you’re the only team member. Showing up early and prepared, being considerate of those serving, being gracious and appreciative are small things that can make your team a more hospitable environment - a place where people would delight to serve.

Have conversations. Do you know other musicians and worship leaders in the area? Ask if anyone would be willing to help you out on a consistent basis, maybe once a month, or for a few months at a time. What seems like an obstacle to overcome could actually birth opportunity for co-laboring, partnership, and seeing the Kingdom continue to advance in your context.

Hidden musicians. I have often been surprised how many people sing or play instruments that do not put themselves forward to serve on the worship team. Maybe it is their season of life, they are already committed to a specific area of ministry within the Church, or simply because they have not been asked. Raise the question, be specific: ‘We are looking for guitar players, piano players, vocalists who can help us not only sing, but worship God through song, are there those a part of our community already that have the gifts and the desire to serve in this way?’

Pray. In one church where I served, as our team grew, one of our pastors asked me, ‘what does the team need, what do we need to pray for?’ For many months we prayed for more worship leaders, to my surprise, what God brought was not more people like myself (young guys playing guitar/piano who sang), but many gifted female leaders who could lead the band through rehearsal, and the congregation through the service, but did not play instruments.

Be creative. Pray specifically, but be attentive and aware of the ways God may be answering your prayer in a different way than you had anticipated. God answered my prayer for more worship leaders, but what a blessing to the team and the congregation I would have missed had my specific pray request required my specific answer.

If you are struggling to find Godly, consistent, and gifted musicians, take heart. I am often comforted by the reality that God does not need us to accomplish what He desires, but He chooses to use us. The worship of God does not start or stop based on our team - or lack thereof. Because of Christ, all of our broken offerings are perfected before the Father.

Well Done

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New beginnings are often accompanied by anticipation, excitement, and anxiety. We welcome 2021 from a different place than we did in 2020. Looking back a year ago, no one could have imagined what the new year would hold. Many of our most earnest plans, our prayed over desires, spirit-led goals, and personal resolutions had to be adjusted, or completely abandoned. Maybe 2021 finds you unsure of how to lead and cast vision for the team you serve. What I hope and pray for you, and for me, is that we are people who live what we have known to be true all along:

“Many are the plans in the mind of a man,

    but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” - Proverbs 19:21

‘Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”’ - James 4:13-15

Set goals, make plans, or dream of what could be, but live surrendered to the Lord. Open-handed, and attentive to what He wants to do in you and through you. Because our value and worth are not measured by what we accomplish, but by the ‘well done,’ already spoken to us in Christ. As Keith Green reminds us:

'The only music ministers to whom the Lord will say, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant,' are the ones whose lives prove what their lyrics are saying and the ones to whom music is the least important part of their life. Glorifying the only worthy One should be most important!'

Walk with God in this new year, wherever He may lead.

December 29: Tuesday Refocus

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‘It is the process not the outcome that is glorifying to God.  God’s training is for now, not later.  His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future.  We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it.  What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.’  - Oswald Chambers

In a year like no other I pray that you have turned obstacles into ebeneezers – reminders of the Lord’s help, provision, and sustaining faithfulness toward you (1 Sam 7:12).  Whatever goes before or behind, take heart, ‘…it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil 2:13).’   

There is purpose in the present not just in the future because God is working all things to conform us to the image of His Son (Rom 8:28-29, 1 Thess 5:18).  We can be people who count trials as joy for we know that ‘the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).’ 

We will find Him faithful in 2021.  May He find us faithful as well.

Remembering,

AB

25 December: Luke 2:22-40

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And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord  (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”)  and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.  And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law,  he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
    

according to your word;

for my eyes have seen your salvation

    that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and for glory to your people Israel.”

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.  And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin,  and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

To download a complete PDF of the O Antiphon Advent Devotional, click here.

24 December: Luke 2:1-21

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In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.  This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.  And all went to be registered, each to his own town.  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,  to be registered with Mary, his betrothed,  who was with child.  And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.  And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
    

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”  And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.  And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.  And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

To download a complete PDF of the O Antiphon Advent Devotional, click here.

23 December: Luke 1:39-80

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In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 

    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
    

and holy is his name.

And his mercy is for those who fear him
    

from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;
    

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    

and exalted those of humble estate;

he has filled the hungry with good things,
    

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,
    

in remembrance of his mercy,

as he spoke to our fathers,
    

to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father,  but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.”  And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered.  And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.  And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.

And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
    

for he has visited and redeemed his people

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
    

in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

that we should be saved from our enemies
    

and from the hand of all who hate us;

to show the mercy promised to our fathers
    

and to remember his holy covenant,

the oath that he swore to our father Abraham,

to grant us

    that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,


might serve him without fear,

    in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
    

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    

in the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the tender mercy of our God,
    

whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    

to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

To download a complete PDF of the O Antiphon Advent Devotional, click here.