Weekend service planning takes time and effort – it’s not something that you “wing.” Ideally, you’re taking people on a journey, one that focuses their hearts, souls, minds, and spirits on God. To get there, whoever is putting the service together [be it an individual or a team] needs to make sure that:
1] The songs chosen worship and/or point people towards God;
2] The worship fits with the rest of the service elements into a cohesive whole;
2] The songs transition into one another well, and;
2] There’s an accurate plan of how long each element of the service will last.
Preparing and rehearsing a song that gets cut because there’s not enough time is highly demotivating to worship teams. If that happens regularly at your church, something is wrong on the front end. Don’t get me wrong – sometimes you need to react to the moment. Every team should be flexible enough to shift and adapt when there is real need, but a consistent lack of prep on the part of the leader indicates someone who is likely not mature enough to be in the role [regardless of age].
“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” – Philippians 2:4-7
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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