Worship Blog : leadership and team development
Ten Tough Truths Worship Teams Must Embrace
| May 10, 2012 Here's 10 things we probably all know, but maybe need a reminder about. I know I do...
Is Your Team Full of Renters, Squatters or Stewards?
| April 20, 2012 What a sinking tub and my neighbor's cat taught me about a healthy worship team...
Creating Policy is More Fun Than It Sounds
| March 27, 2012 Steps to creating and implementing a "preparation policy" for the team...sounds like what every musician LOVES to do, huh?
Why I'm Giving In to Policy & Procedure...
| March 9, 2012 Developing policy and procedure sounds almost appealing to me as using corn syrup for shaving cream.
6 Steps to Stop Killing Conversations
| March 1, 2012 What are you not hearing? And how I missed a conversation with a NY Times best-selling author...
12 Steps to a More Prepared Team
| February 8, 2012 Missed the free seminar on Monday night? The playback and notes are available for free...
8 Healthy Steps to Initiate Change, Part 2
| February 7, 2012 Spurring change (without getting bucked off the horse)...
8 Healthy Steps to Initiate Change, Part 1
| February 6, 2012 How to initiate change (without losing your team)...
Develop Your Bench
| January 5, 2012 Developing new techs and musicans takes time. But the time is well invested. In one year, two years, three years, you’ll be happy you did. No. Downright ecstatic...
How to Dump Your Worship Leader [rewind]
![How to Dump Your Worship Leader [rewind]](/upload/images/blogs/dear+john-01.png)
| December 28, 2011 Ask a friend on the team to tell me you quit. I enjoy this one. It gives me that 7th grade feeling all over again – like when I got a Dear John note from my first girlfriend, delivered by her friend to my friend.
6 Lousy Methods to Get More Musicians-#6
| November 3, 2011 Lousy Method #6. Hired Guns. Let’s grow our team by hiring outside musicians. Here’s why: 1. It’s a great way to invest our church’s money. While we’re at it, let’s talk to the treasurer about investing in Powerball Lottery tickets. We could hit the winner and take care of all this silly tithing and stewardship talk once and for all. 2. It will cover the fact that we only have average guitarists in our church who can’t rock the skinny jeans and man-scarves.
3 Tweaks for Leaders
| November 2, 2011 Here are three tweaks from 52 Tweaks to Build a Stronger Team. These are specific tweaks for leaders...
The Lion on the Island [DISC Series]
![The Lion on the Island [DISC Series]](/upload/images/blogs/sleeping-lion.png)
| November 1, 2011 I remember the first time my lion roared. I had just graduated from college and was the co-director of Camp Shamineau’s “Island Camp.” It was “rustic” camp experience for late elementary and jr. high students on a 22-acre island in the middle of Lake Shamineau. The other director was Lance, a college friend. He was the hard-charging, task-oriented “make sure the pontoon boat doesn’t float away in the storm and the kids aren’t making out at the point” kind of guy. I was the fun-loving, people person...
Crack, Nukes and Character Flaws [DISC Series]
![Crack, Nukes and Character Flaws [DISC Series]](/upload/images/blogs/nuclear-explosion-small.png)
| October 31, 2011 Ellen (not her real name) drove me nuts. I mean, "turn in my ministry credentials and go work at White Castle" nuts. I was in my first full-time gig working in a smaller church as a youth pastor, worship leader, small group leader and whatever else I was dumb enough to volunteer to take on. And this woman was my nemesis. Others politely described her as highly structured. The kindest word I ever chose was uptight.
Keywords:disc series, personality types
Six Lousy Methods to Get More Musicians, Part 4
| October 27, 2011 Lousy Method #5: Implement the typical qualification process for new musicians...Pulse? Check. Welcome to the team!
Six Lousy Methods to Get More Musicians, Part 2
September 8, 2011 The third lousy way to get more musicians: Let Your Non-Musical Pastor do the Recruiting.
Six Lousy Methods to Get More Musicians, Part 1
| September 5, 2011One of the most often asked question I get as I talk with pastors, worship leaders and volunteers is "How do I grow my team?" What they usually mean is, "How do we find more musicians?" Here's six ways...
Canceling MySpace
August 30, 2011 I just canceled my MySpace account. Did you feel the earth tremble? No, I didn't either. I hadn't logged in for at least a year. Every so often I'd get an email telling me some doorknob from a "cutting-edge" hip-hop/emo/jazz/metal band wanted to be my friend. Other than that, it was off my radar.
8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 4
| August 25, 2011Part 4 of 4 - 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band. #15 - #17, along with a bonus. #15. Leave them wanting more. Don't expect a weekly band--especially at first. You don't want your band burning out or your youth group growing complacent. 16. Foster Creativity...
8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 3
| August 24, 2011#11 - #14. 11. Make it fun. Recently, I became the subject of the youth band's joking -- actually, my mother did. Somehow "your mom" jokes started flying and stuck to me. Soon a theme song emerged: "Jon's mom is greater, Jon's mom is stronger..."
8th Grade Odor and Sucking Out Loud: 17 Ways to Build a Better Youth Band, 2
August 23, 2011#6 - #10. 6. Create a standard form for each song. And don't deviate from that form (at least until #16 starts to happen). By a standard song form, I mean the order of the verse, chorus, bridge and other parts of the song. Use the original recording arrangement when possible.
Getting Kicked in the Teeth?
| August 12, 2011A month or two ago, I wrote a piece here at WorshipMinistry.com called "How to Dump Your Worship Pastor ." It was my (therapeutic) response to another Dear Jon email I had just received from a team member ( a drummer, no less--it always hurts more when it's a drummer. Amen?).
Whining, Dreaming & Just Dealing With It
August 5, 2011Last week we talked about getting real with our current reality. Jim Collins in his business book, Good to Great illustrates this idea with Admiral Jim Stockdale's story...
RadioShack Sound Systems & Faith-Infused Realism
| July 28, 2011 Most leaders (volunteer or paid) find it easy to think about what they want to do and have and be after their ministry or organization grows. A preferred future is fun to think about. The current reality, especially for those in small churches, well, not so much. Here was reality at my first church...
DOs & DON'Ts of Being Dumped, Part 2
| July 21, 2011 It's inevitable. People leave. Whether they move, get mad, get dead or otherwise decide that the worship team is no longer for them, people eventually exit. Handling this well isn't always easy. Here are some DOs and DON'Ts for when people leave...
