The first of my Worship Leading Conversastions podcast series started this week. I sat down with my friend Jason Huffman, a youth director in Palestine, Texas. As part of his youth director duties, he leads the youth praise band. I asked him to share some of his thoughts about working with youth and how to go about teaching them, and encouraging them to become worship leaders.

Download “Starting a Youth Worship Band From The Ground Up” by Jason Huffman

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Movie ticket and drink

10 Dollar menu items

2 Packs of ornaments at walmart

Starbucks Venti Egnog Latte or two

2 $5 Footlongs from Subway

Mosquito Net that saves the life of a child in Africa

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Each year I have an end of year evaluation with my pastor and other church leaders. This is a great time to look back on the previous year, talk about goals and identify areas in need of attention.

This year I decided to go a step further. I sent a short survey out to my worship team. After all, these are the guys who are in rehearsals and leading worship with me week in and week out, and I really wanted to know what they were thinking. I will admit I was apprehensive about doing so at first, however now that we have gone through the process it is one that I plan to do every year.

The set up was simple:

1. I used google to create a form

2. I emailed the link out to the team members

3. As they filled in the sheet the answers were collected for me

Here were my questions:

1. Rate the overall musical quality of the worship Team (1-5)

2.  How much do rehearsals prepare you for leading worship Sunday morning (1-5)

3. Rate the variety of music presented (1-5)

4. List up to three things you think the band has definately improved on in 2009

5. What are three things you would have liked us to have improved on but we did not?

6. If you were in charge, could do anything you want, what one major change would you make?

7. Give me your idea of something new we should try to do?

8. Can you commit to the worship team for 2010? Why or Why Not?

9. What else would you like to say?

Through providing this opportunity for feedback I was able to hear things that I might not otherwise and address them before problems arise. I am excited too about new suggestions that were given and am looking forward to implementing them in the new year.

I encourage you to find some way where you can receive honest feedback from those you work with on a weekly basis. Not only will it help you to stop possible problems, but it gives your team members ownership.

So.. how do you give opportunities for feedback?

Your comments are appreciated.

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I was reading through various friends facebook updates when this one by Chuck Harris caught my attention:

“The church does not prize originality, but rather cloning, it does not prize freedom, but control.” Leonard Sweet.

It got me to thinking about how we approach worship music in the church. Do we foster an atmosphere of  creativity and unleash our members to use their talent in unique and creative ways, or do we throttle creativity by insisting on playing a piece just as it was recorded by the latest worship band? I admit it is much easier to do the second. I also think that we are encouraged to do so by artists and publishing companies because they make it so easy. You can find now an extensive library of resources where the worship tunes have been charted out to mimic their recording. It is easier to learn the music when CD’s can be listened to and are available for easy reference. I wonder though if it has not just made us a praise and worship cover band. Although it is easier, is it best?

I had been thinking on this topic even before I read  the quote above. One of our band members, who had been thinking along the same lines, asked if we could try an experiment. He said that we should pass out a chord chart to a song, and let us come up with the arrangement before listening to it on the CD.

I really want to get your thoughts.

What are the benefits of using CDs and pre-written charts?

What are the benefits of doing your own thing?

Which do you use more often? Why?

What are other ways you can foster creativity with your band?

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For about a year now I have been using Dropbox as a way to share files between my various computers. It simply works like this. Install dropbox on whatever computers you want and folder called “My Dropbox” is put into My Documents. Whenever you add or take away files from that “My Dropbox” folder, it is syncronized on each computer on which it is installed. I use this often to put files I am working on so I can open them at home and work, such as publications for church, or photos for this blog.

My dropbox is making an offer for more free space. For everyone one of you who sign up for My Dropbox, I get 250 mb of more space, up to 3 gig. But wait there is more. If you sign up you also get not only the 1G of space that comes with the free version, but an additional 250 mb also. So I would like to ask for you to try My Dropbox. Just click “Get My Dropbox” below and it will take you through the short sign up process. I would not ask, or support this if I had not used it myself. I hope you enjoy.

Get My Dropbox

I found “My Dropbox” because someone else suggested it to me. What other cool, useful web tools would you suggest?

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One of my jobs at the church is dealing with communication. We are constantly trying to find the best way to communicate with our members and the community. We are always looking for new ways to get information out. It seems like each week we ask ourselves, “What’s the best way to communicate?” Well I finally found the answer. Whatever works best.

I know that’s kind of a weird answer but hear me out. When I took golf lessons a long time ago my instructor showed me how I should swing. He went through the stance, grip of the club, ball placement, back swing and follow through. He said this is how you are supposed to do this and showed me, and I practiced it. I did fairly well taking lessons and eventually my time was up so I began just playing on my own. After a while I noticed that as I had practiced and played over time I had made my own little adjustments to my game. Over time my grip, swing, stance, all had changed to varying degrees. I ran into my instructor later and asked if I needed to go back to the right way of swinging my club etc. His response…”Do you hit the ball straight?.. me “Yes”… him..”There is no right way, there is the way that works for you.” Over time I had found a way to play that fit me, and that gave me the results I was wanting.
I think of this a lot when I watch Major League Baseball. I watch each player go up to bat and each have a different way of standing in the box, holding their bat, and swinging. And those methods have developed over time to give them the results they desire.
So what does this have to do with communication? Find what fits you, church, or organization, and what gives you the results that work. Maybe that means going all electronic in your communication using Facebook, Twitter, and a Blog. Maybe that means you mail out a weekly newsletter to each of your members. Maybe that means a combination of everything.
So what do you do? Here are some suggestions.
1. Find out how your congregation communicates- This can be done by a simple survey question that says “How do you want us to communicate with you?” and then list several ways like email, newsletter, twitter etc…
2. Don’t do something just cause everyone else is- If you spend countless hours updating your church facebook page, but no one uses facebook then you are wasting time. Just because the church down the street does it, doesn’t mean it will be effective for you.
3. Do keep your congregation informed of new ways that you can communicate- Just because your church doesn’t use facebook now, doesn’t mean they won’t in the future. Hold workshops, write articles and talk with people about new ways of communication.
4. Don’t use more methods than you can keep up with- You want to use as many communication tools as you can, however it is better to do fewer things well than a lot of things poorly. If you are a social networking person then find someone else who can take care of your print publications.
5. Create once and deliver different ways- There are several ways you can combine your delivery methods that cut down on your work. If you print your announcements and news in the bulletin do it in such a way that the news sheet can be mailed out. Have your blog automatically post to twitter and facebook. Anytime you can do this, you multiply the eyes that see your information.
Those are my five ways.. what do you suggest?

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This past year I was introduced to Animoto, a service that takes your photos and turns them into a slide show. I really hadn’t done more than a few attempts at videos. However earlier Animoto released an app for the iphone. I began wondering if it would be possible use this app to create a slideshow of an event without ever using a computer. This last weekend I led a group of adults and Jr. High youth at a BIG HOUSE camp and I used the opportunity to try it out.
Each day I began by taking about 90-95 photos from morning till night. After that I selected the ones I wanted to use and uploaded them to the animoto app. After choosing my music I set it to render. It took between 5-15 minutes depending on my connection. I never had Wi-Fi but generally had the 3G network. Once the photos were uploaded and it began rendering I could close it out. Animoto sent me an email when my video was ready.

I ended up making one video per day including one the last day of camp. Usually we show our overall camp slide show on Saturday night, and then pack up on Sunday morning. Doing this completely using the iphone I was able to even take photos on Sunday morning, and on the drive home, (my wife was driving) I was able to upload and render the video.

Click here to see Saturday’s video.

One setback. Right now the videos created on the iphone do not show up on the web version. They say they are working on this and will have it fixed soon.

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When I am a guest worship leader at a camp, or retreat, one of the hardest things I deal with is figuring out what songs I should sing. This seems like a small thing, but I can’t help but think, “Are they going to know these songs?” or “What songs mean the most to them?”
Here are three ideas about how to choose songs in that situation:

1. Talk to leaders and participants ahead of time if possible. When you first are contacted about leading worship, ask about what songs they use. Find out if they use hymns or worship songs, gospel, cutting edge, emerging? Ask what the worship service is like at their church or churches? Do they have a band, or is it more acoustic? This doesn’t mean you have to change your style, but this information can help you to choose songs that are more representative for the group.

2. Have a suggestion box- The first time I tried this I was skeptical about it. I was leading worship for a college work camp and the program director put out a suggestion box in the back. She told the group that if they had any suggestions for worship to put them in and we would try to accommodate them. It turned out working great. The song suggestions they had let me know what they were familiar with, and by their choices told me what they were needing to hear. We were able to use most of the songs, many of which I was already planning on anyway. Some of them were ones I did not know, but learned, and not only used there, but have used many times since and have become a regular part of my repertoire.

3. Well I don’t have a third one.. what would you suggest?

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Are you a worship leader, or serve on a worship team? Do you live near or around the Houston area? Looking for free training for your self and your praise team? Check this out!

Sugar Land First United Methodist Church is pleased to present a series of free workshops designed to help local worship leaders and worship bands achieve their full potential. Led by Dr. Craig Gilbert, Director of Music Ministries and Worship Arts, all vocalists, worship leaders and instrumentalists can attend the workshop that fits their individual needs, or come the full six weeks for a complete in-depth look at playing, singing and leading worship. Each workshop addresses skills needed by everyone, from beginners who would like to start participating, to seasoned members who want to refresh their approach to worship music.

If you are in the area I strongly encourage you to check this out. You can register or get more information on the Refresh Website

Description in italics taken from Texas Conference Website… find out more by visiting the Texas Annual Conference website or following them on twitter @txconferenceumc

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There are many ways to let your worship team know you appreciate them. Some of these include sharing a meal together, or even giving a CD as a gift. One more I way I thought of today is to use social media.

The beauty, and sometimes curse, of social media is that whatever you put up, most anyone can see. Services like twitter and facebook are a great way to get a message out to alot of people at one time. Why not use this means to show your appreciation to your worship team. This morning our youth band led worship and did a great job. As I was getting in my car I just posted a short twitter that said “Couldn’t be more proud of the youth band, they did a great job.” My goal was that when this posted to my facebook account that some of the youth band members would see it. What happened was that other church members who were there also chimed in and left comments like “Yeah they were great.” So my simple twitter/facebook update actually prompted others to show their appreciation too.

Is this the only way to show appreciation… no. But here are some of the benifits I have seen:

1. It is immediate- A handwritten card may be more personal, but by the time you write it, mail it, and they receive it, 3 days could pass by. I was able to send out this message immediately.

2. It is global- Write a note to one person showing your appreciation and that one person will see it. Write it on something public like twitter or facebook and many people can see it, and chime in too.

3. It encourages others- When you share your appreciation on a public site like facebook then it prompts others to share their appreciation too.

4. It’s easy- No pens, envelopes, stationary, or desk was involved.

5. It gets to the point- When I write a letter alot of times I end up rambling not knowing what to say. Using a text or twitter makes me say what I want to quickly and concisely.

If you like this article then consider subscribing to Fork In the Road music by email or using your rss reader. Visit my contact page for more ways to stay in touch. Follow me on twitter.

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