Everything is Backwards

John G. Stackhouse, Jr. at Christianity Today has made an interesting comparison. He says that many worship bands in contemporary churches actually have a lot in common with the Catholic church before the Reformation: the music was sung by professionals and the congregants sat and watched but didn’t participate. Luther used tavern melodies to write hymns because they were singable. Contemporary worship bands often “perform” their church music in such a way as to make them unsingable to the everyday person. I have made the same argument here. Good worship songs should be (1) singable, (2) playable by the musicians, and (3) have good content.

Stackhouse then argues that the best thing for worship bands to do is to turn the volume down. He offers these five reasons.

1. Cranking up the volume is just a cheap trick to add energy to a room.

2. Turning up the volume on an out of tune singer doesn’t cover up the problem but actually makes it sound even worse.

3. Cheap church speakers can’t handle the pressure!

4. Older people are marginalized.

5. Most people can’t sing along.

Read the whole thing here, it’s pretty funny.

HT: Peter Smith at the Courier-Journal.

Bob Kauflin gives his list (as summarized on Between Two Worlds).

1. Aim to write the next worldwide worship hit.
2. Spend all your time working on the music, not the words.
3. Spend all your time working on the words, not the music.
4. Don’t consider the range and capabilities of the average human voice.
5. Never let anyone alter the way God originally gave your song to you.
6. Make sure the majority of your songs talk about what we do and feel rather than who God is and what he’s done.
7. Try to use as many Scriptural phrases as you can, and don’t worry about how they fit together.
8. Cover as many themes as possible.
9. Use phrases and words that are included in 95% of all worship songs.
10. Forget about Jesus and what he accomplished at the cross.

When your church gathers for worship, what are you really doing? If you truly want to worship, then you should be giving ascent to the things God says are important.

What, then, are the things God really wants to see from you when you gather for worship? Does he want to see good musicians and a talented vocalists? Does he want to hear skillful arrangements and prayers laced with tender piano music, led by an up and coming worship leader with diving board hair?

If you have a kick-butt worship band, and everybody comes and raises their hands and sings out really loud, and the offering plate is overflowing, and everybody is having a great time… if you have all of this but your church does not have any sort of outreach to the poor, needy, broken, psychologically troubled, physically handicapped, or the otherwise down-and-out, and your church favors the affluent, pretty, smart, creative, educated, white, sophisticated, and/or the otherwise resourceful and well-to-do…

Your worship music will suck.

Amos 5:23-24

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Worship is primarily theological and secondarily musical. If you have great music but a man-centered, do it yourself, I’m OK and you’re OK bankrupt theology, God doesn’t want to hear it.

The advice of this series is intended to make leading worship a joy. Once you come to the Sunday morning (or whenever you meet) worship service, you should be confident and well prepared spiritually and musically.

A worship leader needs to be able to think of a lot of things all at the same time: playing the right chords and rhythms, singing the right notes and words, upcoming changes and dynamics, transitions, reading the response of the congregation, and giving yourself the freedom and flexibility to make changes on the fly as the situation warrants.

Oh yeah, and you need to attuned to the Spirit of God and the meaning of the songs you are leading!

This is a lot to keep track of at the same time, but being organized and having a plan can make a big difference.

There are a few other random notes I want to squeeze in here at the end, since they don’t really fit anywhere else.

1. Your voice is an instrument. Self-centered worship leaders want to lead worship in ways that best suit their own musical preferences. If you’re a gifted vocalist, then you’ll be constantly faced with the temptation to throw in your own pop-inspired ad-libs and runs.

If you try to do some acrobatic vocal tricks in the microphone, then the congregation will probably just drop out, stop participating and start watching you. This is an eclipse of God’s glory, because their gaze is directed towards the skillful musician rather than the God who gave him that skill.

Stick to the simple melody, and you’ll be a better worship leader.

2. Check the PowerPoint.

One obvious facet of worship leading that I have not addressed here, is the fact that one of the worship leader’s biggest responsibilities is to make sure that the words to the songs are reproduced in PowerPoint.

I recently led a new song for three weeks in a row when I was finally told that the words were wrong on the screen. For 3 weeks! I dropped the ball here. If the words on the screen are wrong, then all your hard work in practice goes down the drain.

3. Scripture during musical breaks.

I’m not a fan of musical breaks or guitar solos during worship. It shines the spotlight of the congregation’s attention on something other than God. But some songs need a break because it makes sense musically.

I suggest a compromise, which has worked very well in our church. During musical breaks, have a scripture reading that fits the worship theme to display. This keeps the congregation’s focus in the right place but allows you to keep the musical break.

4. Always be prepared to break a guitar string.

I always break my G-string.

[I'll pause while you finish giggling like a 3rd grader]

If you always break the same string, like I do, then try this. Take a used, unbroken string off your guitar that you normally break, and keep it in your guitar case. When you lead worship, have this string in your back pocket. If you break a string, then you will have a pre-stretched string that you can put on quickly.

If you break a lot of strings, practice changing it while standing up and see how fast you can do it.

Also, it may help to have an in-case-of-emergency backup plan. Have the band learn a 2 minute, instrumental song that can be played on a moment’s notice without you. If you break a string, ask the congregation to continue in prayer or reflection for a moment while you change the string (with the one in your pocket) and the band plays softly. This will be a lot less awkward than you abruptly stopping the service.

5. Conclude the set with a meaningful prayer.

This signals to the congregation that the musical set is over and you’re moving to the next element in the worship service. When you do this, talk to God like a man. You don’t want to sound like the guy who is more comfortable singing to God than talking to God.

If you have to, write out a prayer that captures your desire for the worship service and pray that. Public prayers are different from private prayers. You don’t want to nervously ramble on about whatever pops into your head on the spur of the moment. Save that for your devotion time.

Prepared prayers are no less spiritual than impromptu prayers.

God bless, and to God be all the glory!

If you want to have a solid, contemporary worship band, you’ll need the right combination of instruments from different categories.

1. Lead Instrument: acoustic guitar or piano. A lead instrument is a stand alone instrument that can be used to lead worship with or without the presence of other instruments. Acoustic guitar is most common and much easier to play and so most bands will be built around it. You can lead contemporary worship songs with just a guitar or a piano; I’ve done it many times. You can lead worship with an electric guitar, but not without other instruments present.

2. Rhythm Section: it is best to have both percussion and bass guitar or none at all. The kick drum and the bass need to synchronize timing for a tight sound. Essentially, the bass guitar and drums are married.

The rhythm and cadence of a song is critical because it tells people when to sing and when not to sing. In my opinion, I would not have a bass player in a band without percussion, nor would I have percussion without bass. They need to be together. They can even hold hands during the sermon. The rhythm section is the skeleton that you hang the flesh of guitars and vocals on. Master this and you will solve 80% of your musical issues in worship leading.

3. Variety Instruments: depending on what style you’re after, you can add electric guitar(s), keys, an auxiliary percussionist, and so on.

The most basic setup for most songs you know: Drums, bass, and acoustic guitar. If you have electric guitar and/or keyboard available to add to this, even better. Since most contemporary worship songs sound like radio singles, this is the combination of instruments to get you there.

Pitfalls to avoid

1. Having too many instruments. I have been to Campus Crusade’s bi-annual staff conference three times, and the same band leads the worship every time. The last time I was there, the worship band consisted of 21 people! I am not making this up. There is simply no possible way to have every instrument in the mix without being muddy.

My advice: one or two acoustic guitars maximum, but playing complementary parts. Never have more than three guitars (not counting bass). For example, two acoustics and one electric; or two electrics and one acoustic. Never three electrics or acoustics.

2. Having too many vocalists. This is a pet peeve. Many good sounding worship bands ruin their sound by having 3 part harmonies that sound like the Gaithers. One male lead is just fine. Your best bet is to find instrumentalists who can sing harmonies when necessary. Never have more than one dedicated vocalist unless for special occasions. It simply isn’t necessary.

3. Trying to sound like the CD. Face it: your band isn’t as good as the CD. Don’t try to be. Find a way to make the song your own and play it with your band’s own style.

4. Solos and musical breaks. This is rarely appropriate in a congregational setting. Everybody stops singing so they can watch the guitar guy play a flashy lead. This doesn’t contribute to worship. If a song calls for a musical break, then find a selection of scripture that fits the theme of the song and display that scripture during the break. This way no one is being spotlighted in the band and people’s focus is still on the Lord.

5. Allowing musicians to become entrenched. I have been in many situations where the best musicians in the church were not the ones playing in the band because someone else already had dibs on the spot and nobody was willing to ask that person to yield to the more gifted musician. This self-imposed mediocrity doesn’t benefit anyone. I have 4 month terms for band members and we reevaluate at the end of each term. If someone isn’t a good fit or if someone else wants to give it a shot, this is the ideal time to make adjustments without hurting feelings needlessly.

6. The American Idol Syndrome. Some people just can’t sing but somehow they have convinced themselves that they belong on the stage in Hollywood’s Kodak Theater. If you have musicians that are consistently not pulling their weight, perhaps its time for you to have a Simon Cowell conversation with them.

7. Hijacking your style. Once you have determined what the style of music is that you will use in your congregation, make sure you recruit instruments that fit that style. You may have a great mandolin player, but that instrument works better with a folk style. Harmonica doesn’t really work for worship at all. And so on.

This series will now take an undoubted turn into the more practical elements of worship leading. Upcoming topics include leading a contemporary band, instrumentation, managing worship practices, developing your musicians, and the art of leading a worship service.

One of my favorite things to do is to breathe fresh new life into old hymns. Many have attempted to do this and about half as many butcher the classics.

A word of caution: just because it’s old doesn’t make it good. Many old hymns are just as trite as contemporary music; they just used bigger words while doing it.

The number one way to butcher an old hymn is this: screwing up the rhythm.

It sounds simple enough, but there’s actually a complicated reason for this phenomena. It will require a little history.

Music has two basic elements: meter (rhythm) and melody. European classical music heavily emphasized melody. The timing of a song could speed up or slow down at the whims of the conductor. S/he directs the musicians and they follow his or her timing.

African music, on the other hand, emphasizes rhythm. Drums and percussive instruments provide the foundation for layers of singing and chanting.

Since dancing requires a steady rhythm to keep dancing partners together, and since dancing was considered sinful, church music ministers were prone to resist rhythmic developments taking place in the larger musical world.

Jazz music, for example, successfully blended European and African styles to create a whole swath of new inventions: big band, fusion, jazz proper, and rock and roll.

If you listen to 90% of contemporary worship music, you can count 1,2,3,4 (4/4 time) over and over with the beat. Hymns, however, were written with entire lyrical lines in mind and matching numbers of syllables. This works fine with an organ, not with a drumset. Charles Wesley’s hymn “Christ the Lord is Ris’n Today,” for example, is based on 7 syllable lines (Ris’n is one syllable).

Rhythmic instruments simply don’t mesh well with strange meter, but the majority of worship leading instruments are rhythmic: guitars and drums. Piano and bass fit much better with a melodic style of music, but most worship leaders don’t lead from these instruments.

As a result, you will see many odd time signatures in a hymnal: 12/9, 2/2, and so on. These simply are not pleasing meters to the modern ear.

What many worship leaders will do is to try to have the best of both worlds; they’ll sing the old hymn but try to play it with a contemporary worship band. At the end of the line, some people will continue singing the next line like they’re used to, but the band waits until the next measure. Awkward glances ensue, the worship leader tried to hide his sheepish grin.

It simply feels weird. Ask Passion; they did a hymn CD and it was by far their worst recording to date.

You have three possible solutions: (1) lead it as it was originally sung with a piano or organ, not a guitar. The guitar simply does not work with this style of meter. (2) Totally rewrite the music and keep the old lyrics. Don’t try to force the old melody into a new genre, it will frustrate everyone trying to sing along. (3) Don’t sing that song.

Successful radio stations have implemented the set list principle for decades. The basic idea is this: people like to hear songs that they know. Likewise, people have a limited tolerance level for hearing and becoming familiar with music they don’t know. Thus, radio stations have gone to a “top 40″ format or even a “top 20″ format.

These stations do this because if you tune in to their station for 10 or 15 minutes in the car, you’re going to hear a song that you know and will likely continue to listen. New songs are introduced incrementally.

This is a great principle for worship music. A classic worship leader mistake is to hear a new song, love it, and lead it that Sunday in church. Good worship leaders have more discipline than this.

Here’s my formula: have 2 months worth of music in your set list.

If you normally sing three songs every Sunday, multiply that by 8 (weeks) and have a set list of 24 songs. In my church, we sing about 6 songs per week, which makes our set list about 48 songs.

Your set list also needs balance. You’ll need both faster and slower songs, theologically complex as well as theologically simple songs (basic truths, not simple minded), older songs and new songs, hymns and contemporary songs, and so on. Be mindful of your congregation: don’t force them to sing a musical style that doesn’t fit their preference.

Your congregation will be able to appreciate and be edified by worship when they are familiar with the songs. Familiarity is key.

Once your set list is established, you can rotate songs in and out of the set list. I have a list of several new songs that I would like to do at my church, but I never introduce more than 1 or 2 new songs per month. So I take these new songs that are in queue to be taught at my church and patiently teach them one at a time over a period of months. Whenever I teach a new song, another song gets bumped from the rotation.

To build familiarity, whenever I teach a new song at my church, we do it for three consecutive weeks. The band my get sick of practicing it, but your church has only heard it once per week for three weeks. They may forget they even heard it until the third time around when it sinks in.

Of course, there are always classics that can be summoned for duty at any time, such as Amazing Grace or Great is Thy Faithfulness. But your congregation most likely will not know anywhere near the amount of music you know and so we, as worship leaders, need to think of their needs and desires over our own.

In this post, I’m going to make some recommendations for CDs and songwriters that I respect and appreciate.

Good worship songs are hard to find. When I was first learning to lead worship with Campus Crusade for Christ, I was given this hint for choosing songs: they had to be (1) singable, (2) playable, meaning that you had to be able to play it on the guitar, and (3) have good content.

But worship music is becoming more and more sophisticated and worship leaders are discovering that people have a high threshold for musical complexity in worship music. This is great, because you can only go so far with 3 guitar chords.

Let me begin with a disclaimer: the recommendations in this post are not exhaustive, but they are road ready, having been tested on my own congregation. Every worship set is like a meal: you need to have the main course, but also veggies and possibly dessert. This list is the Prime Rib.

1. Valley of Vision, Sovereign Grace Music. Bar none, this is the best worship CD that I have heard in 10 years. I’m not kidding. Sovereign Grace is committed to theological depth in their songs, but the music flat out rocks. We’ve sung many of these in my church, such as Let Your Kingdom Come, It Was Your Grace, Heavenly Father Beautiful Son, and more on the way. If you are hard pressed to find good musical expressions of the trinity, check out Heavenly Father Beautiful Son on I-tunes.

2. Stuart Townend and Keith Getty. I don’t own any of their CDs, but I have led a few of their songs and they continue to feed the give-us-some-music-we-can-chew-on movement. Some of their best known songs are In Christ Alone, How Deep the Father’s Love for Us, and Beautiful Savior.

If you’ve been reading this series up to this point, then you can probably anticipate what the primary responsibility of the worship leader is. Since worship music will always be bad theology’s back-door, then unquestionably and confidently the worship leader’s top job is song selection.

This is a big job and not quite as easy as it sounds. For this reason, I will outline my method in several forthcoming posts some practical guidelines for song selection.

I am assuming, of course, that the 5 criteria of choosing a worship leader are followed and can be assumed.

Since worship music is largely considered the fastest growing segment of music sales, there’s a lot of it out there. And there’s a lot of tripe out there.

Personal vs. Corporate Worship Songs

There are two basic types of contemporary worship music: personal and corporate. The worship songs of the personal variety are the personal expressions to God in prayer of an individual worshiper. They are often sappy songs where the star-crossed lover/songwriter just got hit by Cupid’s arrow and the first thing he saw was an effeminate Jesus sweetly beckoning him to come and fall in love with him.

We, the voyeuristic audience, are invited to listen in as the singer deals with his or her personal issues relating to faith, doubt, perfume, etc. The key to identifying these songs is this: does this song contain sentiments that are true of all worshipers, all the time? If not, its probably not going to edify the congregation.

Take David Crowder’s Intoxicating, for example.

Intoxicating You are to me
Illuminating You are to see
Truly breathtaking You are to breathe
Sending my head spinning You are, You see

And I’ve lost my mind, I’m sure to find
Need to apologize for my
Lack of inhibition, for my belligerent condition
But with You this near I’m dizzy

Inebriating You are to me
Completely captivating You are yo see
Sending my world spinning You are, You see

Ummmm, right. Are we singing about Jesus or crack?

When I was in college, I can’t count the number of worship leading gigs I was asked to do. There were at least several dozen different opportunities to lead worship in different venues from churches to college ministries to youth camps to bar mitzvahs. I did it all.

But I wasn’t qualified for much other than to play Guitar Hero.

No one asked me about my character or theology (except for Campus Crusade, for whom I am deeply grateful). Before Passion came around, the only contemporary songs to choose from were the I-love-Jesus-like-I-love-my-girlfriend variety. I didn’t care what the song said, as long as it had a cool sound and interesting melody. I should have been fired.

Most churches just want a guitar guy, not a worship leader, because that’s what the polls and magazines tell them they have to have to survive as a church these days. The problem is, most guitar guys people know are college kids with little interest in theology, just music. But as I argued previously here and here, worship is another tool God uses for the instruction of his people. Worship music is sung theology; it is theology felt. Music is memorable, repetitive, participatory, portable, and reductionistic. It takes complex themes and distills them to their pithy essence for effective internalization.

Why would any church that is serious about instructing its congregation outsource this sober task to a 20-year old guitar guy without any theological training (like I was)?

My point: the worship leader is the chief of musical theology. He should be held accountable for the content of the songs no less than the pastor should be held accountable for the content of his sermons. He is a musical preacher. And his content is more memorable than the preacher’s, usually. While the pastor spends years in seminary to learn to handle languages, church history, biblical and systematic theology, ecclesiology, homiletics (and on and on), most worship leaders earn their mettle from Green Day, John Mayer, Nickelback, or worse yet, Audio Adrenaline and DC Talk.

Yet both are given enormous opportunity to influence God’s people.

So then, the question: What qualifies a person to be a worship leader? There are 5 things a responsible church should consider when choosing their worship leader:

1. He should be a committed student of scripture. This is a lifelong commitment, but should be a commitment nonetheless. He should care more about meaning than music. He should focus more on content than chords. The biblical basis for each song should be unquestionably clear.