Yesterday, I talked about the dangers of getting into a rut. Let’s discuss the dangers of too much variety.
Variety is the spice of life, but – as I’ve heard it said recently – spices are not meant to be the main course. A steak with a dash of salt? Awesome. A pile of salt with a little piece of steak in the middle? Not so much…
Sometimes we kill things that really are working well – simply because we’re bored. We kill worship songs because we’ve “done them a million times,” forgetting the fact that the congregation only sings them once for every 15+ times the team does [including practice & rehearsals].
In my early years overseeing weekend services, I probably pushed variety too much [as in almost every week]. If the drum set was on the left side of the platform one week, I wanted it on the right side the next, and in the center the week after that. Too much variety simply turns into a “new norm” – demanding lots of additional effort with little discernable effect on the congregation and guests. Save some oomph for big services like Easter and Christmas Eve. Then, every so often [quarterly to once a month, depending on the vibe of your church], do something unexpected or out of the norm. “Moments” are memorable because they are unique.
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
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