Practical help for band rehearsals – part 5

Practical help for band rehearsals – part 5
Practice is personal. Rehearsal is relational. We’ve been focusing on the practice side of the coin, so let’s  flip it and talk about rehearsals. Unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to making rehearsals “relational” is the dreaded team devotional.
OK, maybe yours are great. But for the rest of us, devotionals seem degenerate into a mini-version of the Wednesday-night prayer meeting. And ever notice how the “degrees of separation” theory gets stretched at prayer meeting:
“So we’re praying for your cousin’s friend’s aunt’s former college-roommate’s sister’s mom’s best friend’s pharmacist’s wife? And what was wrong with her again? Chronic gastritis? Thanks. Who’d like to pray for Jeannie’s cousin’s, um…person?” (It’s kinda like the Christian version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon – only we connect to people with gastrointestinal issues.)
I can guarantee that if one of your vocalists starts throwing out prayer requests like that, your ADHD drummer is 14 seconds away from climbing the walls of his Plexiglas cage.
If the worship team devotional doesn’t by some fluke go that direction, there’s a good chance it’ll be shanghaied into another. Call them what your theology allows–high maintenance, EGR (extra grace required), “Oh-dear-God-not-him-again”—but there are those people who will turn any gathering of the saints into a support group. It’s no wonder most worship leaders have ditched the devotional time and just go with an opening prayer (which we announce so quickly that no requests can sneak in).
I’ll be honest. I hear the word devotional and my 10th grade acne comes back. There’s too much baggage there to unpack in this article (plus I’ll start breaking out), but I like to use the concept of centering instead. That’s the whole point of the worship team devotional – to center ourselves on the glory of the Triune God. And that’s the ultimate of “relational.” If we as a team can reaffirm the truth and reality of our place in Christ, that will set the stage for the rest of rehearsal to be relationally-driven. So I’m ready to give the team devotional – centering time for the sake of my complexion – another shot. Here are some practical ideas to make this time work:
Be clear with your team that this isn’t a Bible study, prayer meeting or support group, but a time to center our focus on God’s glory.
Be concise with only one point to chew on.
Be prepared with that one point – nail down your scripture, questions, and takeaway/wrap-up.
Be ruthless about keeping on point. Not rude. But if someone starts to shanghai, gently interrupt her, thank her, and let her know that you’d be happy to talk/pray with her after the rehearsal. (And then sneak out the back when rehearsal’s over. OK, my mansion in heaven just got smaller for that one.)
Be the one who prays, or assign that to another person.
Be aware of the clock. End at the allotted time. If discussion is going great, even better. Finish on a high note and leave your team wanting more. It’s better to go out like Seinfeld than like Happy Days. (Don’t let your devotional jump the shark.)
Be open to left-turns that are truly from the Holy Spirit. If one of your team members lost his job that week, forget the devotional. Gather around him to support him and pray. If that’s not relational, I’m not sure what is.
We’ll finish up this series next week with some other ideas to make our rehearsals relational. (OK, maybe we’ll finish up. I tend wrap-up a series like a fresh-out-of-seminary pastor closes his sermons…)

Acne, shark jumping and team devotionals

Practice is personal. Rehearsal is relational. We’ve been focusing on the practice side of the coin, so let’s  flip it and talk about rehearsals. Unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to making rehearsals “relational” is the dreaded team devotional.

OK, maybe yours are great. But for the rest of us, devotionals seem degenerate into a mini-version of the Wednesday-night prayer meeting. And ever notice how the “degrees of separation” theory gets stretched at prayer meeting:

“So we’re praying for your cousin’s friend’s aunt’s former college-roommate’s sister’s mom’s best friend’s pharmacist’s wife? And what was wrong with her again? Chronic gastritis? Thanks. Who’d like to pray for Jeannie’s cousin’s, um…person?” (It’s kinda like the Christian version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon – only we connect to people with gastrointestinal issues.)

I can guarantee that if one of your vocalists starts throwing out prayer requests like that, your ADHD drummer is 14 seconds away from climbing the walls of his Plexiglas cage.

If the worship team devotional doesn’t by some fluke go that direction, there’s a good chance it’ll be shanghaied into another. Call them what your theology allows–high maintenance, EGR (extra grace required), “Oh-dear-God-not-him-again”—but there are those people who will turn any gathering of the saints into a support group. It’s no wonder most worship leaders have ditched the devotional time and just go with an opening prayer (which we announce so quickly that no requests can sneak in).

I’ll be honest. I hear the word devotional and my 10th grade acne comes back. There’s too much baggage there to unpack in this article (plus I’ll start breaking out), but I like to use the concept of centering instead. That’s the whole point of the worship team devotional – to center ourselves on the glory of the Triune God. And that’s the ultimate of “relational.” If we as a team can reaffirm the truth and reality of our place in Christ, that will set the stage for the rest of rehearsal to be relationally-driven. So I’m ready to give the team devotional – centering time for the sake of my complexion – another shot. Here are some practical ideas to make this time work:

  • Be clear with your team that this isn’t a Bible study, prayer meeting or support group, but a time to center our focus on God’s glory.
  • Be concise with only one point to chew on.
  • Be prepared with that one point – nail down your scripture, questions, and takeaway/wrap-up.
  • Be ruthless about keeping on point. Not rude. But if someone starts to shanghai, gently interrupt her, thank her, and let her know that you’d be happy to talk/pray with her after the rehearsal. (And then sneak out the back when rehearsal’s over. OK, my mansion in heaven just got smaller for that one.)
  • Be the one who prays, or assign that to another person.
  • Be aware of the clock. End at the allotted time. If discussion is going great, even better. Finish on a high note and leave your team wanting more. It’s better to go out like Seinfeld than like Happy Days. (Don’t let your devotional jump the shark.)
  • Be open to left-turns that are truly from the Holy Spirit. If one of your team members lost his job that week, forget the devotional. Gather around him to support him and pray. If that’s not relational, I’m not sure what is.

We’ll finish up this series next with some other ideas to make our rehearsals relational. (OK, maybe we’ll finish up. I tend to wrap-up a series like a fresh-out-of-seminary pastor closes his sermons…)

 

Guest post by Jon Nicol – a worship pastor, guitarist, songwriter and all-around-lover of helping people use their gifts and abilities to worship Jesus. This series first appeared at WorshipMinistry.com and Jon’s site worshipteamcoach.com. Thanks for permission to reproduce.

Other posts you might like:

Practical help for band rehearsals – part 1 and part 2 and part 3 and part 4

 

Tips for working with a band – video clip

Rehearsing tips for worship musicians – video clip

Empowering young people into worship – part 1

Empowering young people into worship – part 2

Empowering young people into worship – part 3