One of the ways worship leaders can better serve their congregation and their pastor is by choosing songs intentionally and purposefully to underline and respond to the preaching of God\u2019s word. Not every song has to line up perfectly with the theme of the sermon, or be based on the same passage of Scripture, but when all of the songs during a service are completely unrelated to each other and the message, it can result in no single message standing out at the end of the day.<\/p>\n
In most of the weekend services at my church, the sermon comes toward the end of the service. Because of this, I\u2019m usually most concerned that the closing song, which comes directly after the sermon, is carefully chosen.<\/p>\n
For years I tried to do this mostly by guessing. If the pastor thought to mention something to me about what kind of song would work, then that would be great. But most weeks I was just hoping I got it right. Sometimes I would. But other times I would find myself sitting in the service thinking, \u201cI wish I knew he was going to say that<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n So in recent years I\u2019ve become more diligent about hounding the preacher in the week leading up to his sermon, to get as much information as I can to help me pick songs, particularly the closing song, that both underline and help people respond to the message.<\/p>\n Here are some ways you might be able to do the same:<\/p>\n If he writes it out word-for-word, get a full transcript<\/strong> If he preaches from an outline, ask to see that outline<\/strong> If he hasn\u2019t yet finished either a transcript or outline, ask him what he\u2019s thinking<\/strong>
\nWhenever John Yates, our senior pastor, is preaching on a weekend, I will get a word-for-word transcript of his sermon on the Thursday leading up to it. This is invaluable. I take time to read it, chew on it, and then prayerfully discern what songs would help people respond to this most effectively.<\/p>\n
\nSome of the other pastors at my church don\u2019t write their sermons out word-for-word. So I\u2019ll just ask for their outline, or any notes they have. Sometimes I get a lot, and sometimes I get a little. Either way, it\u2019s still something.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ll oftentimes email whatever pastor is preaching and say something like: \u201cI\u2019d love to have any crumbs you can throw my way to help me pick a closing song that works well with your sermon. Any ideas? Specific songs? Themes? Anything?\u201d I\u2019ll almost always get a helpful response. I don\u2019t need an awful lot of information \u2013 just some sort of indication of the direction of the sermon.<\/p>\n