OK, today begins my “12 Days Of Weekend Service New Year’s Resolutions!” I took off some time from posting over Christmas, but I’m back in force, lol.
Today’s resolution is to MEMORIZE! I am a firm believer that a lack of music stands on the church platform is a good thing. Yes, it looks cleaner and less cluttered. However, that’s not the main reason. The fact is that you really don’t know a song until you’ve internalized it. It easy – especially for trained musicians – to put in just enough effort to do a passable job, perhaps even to the point that the average person would not know the difference. But a passable job is not what God asks of us…
To get there, build the memorization process into your practice. I suggest that you chart out the structure of the song – for example, “intro verse chorus verse chorus chorus bridge chorus” – so that you have somewhere to start. Once you have that in place, work on memorizing the key signature and the chord progression, eventually building until you have the whole song. Notice that this is a process. That means that you will have to practice more than once. Set aside some time daily, even if it’s just a few minutes – the repetition is much more effective than trying to jam it all in your brain in one marathon sitting. A bit each day will help it to stick.
Hmmm - well, let's see...
I'm a Christian, a husband, a dad, a son, a pastor, a consultant, a musician, a writer, and bits and pieces of a bunch of other things. My work life has followed three main phases - business to teaching to church. I was the Weekend Services Pastor for nine years at Northview Church, an awesome church in the Indianapolis suburbs. I used to work for Willow Creek, another awesome church in the Chicago area. Plus I've written for various magazines and websites, and other freelancy sorts of things... My life mission is to help the church be as excellent as it can be.
Oh yeah - the name's Greg. Greg Wallace. But not the race car driver or the major league pitcher or the British celebrity chef. Just the creative worship guy. Hi.
It's my hope that these ideas, musings, rants, raves, etc... will inspire you. They're just my opinions - but again, I hope that they'll help to inspire you. Because the church really, really needs inspired creative types. If you're a creative type (and most people are, deep-down), ask God for help. Then take any ideas that are useful to you - borrow them, nab them, use them, adapt them - and make them into something greater...
You can head over to my Instagram site for an abundance of shorter posts: creativeworshipideas. If you're looking for consulting - especially on weekend services, team leadership or multi-site strategies - I'd love to help. Just message me here, and I'll be in touch - Greg
View all posts by creativeworshipideas
creativeworshipideas 