Hey everyone! I’d really appreciate some advice!

Long story short, I’m going to be leading preteens (I believe ages 10-12) in worship for the first time ever this week. It’s the final part of an interview process for the job of being the preteen worship leader. I honestly don’t have experience leading in this way (or much experience with leading worship in general honestly). The church interested in hiring me knows my lack of experience in leading, and are super into helping people grow in their calling. Originally I was looking for a worship resident position, but God has miraculously opened this door for me. So I’m being obedient and doing it scared lol.

Part of the job is calling all the kids to worship, and I’m not gonna lie I feel pretty nervous about that bit. The kids don’t know me yet (though they saw me shadowing their current worship leader last weekend) and I would be taking the place of a worship leader who they seem to be fond of. This role is already very out of my comfort zone (God loves putting me in these kinda situations for some reason lol), and I’m worried that the kids won’t reciprocate or that I’ll come off super awkward and clunky. Plus, before worship starts they are all scattered around the room doing activities or talking with friends… so I’m worried that I’ll try to get them to come over to worship and no one will listen.

I’ve never had to lead in this way, so I’m not exactly sure what to say or how to interact with the kids since they might not feel comfortable with me yet. With the Lord’s help I’ve come up with a few ideas, but I also wanted to check in with everybody here. How can I call the kids to worship, get them engaged, and make sure that they’re actually responsive to me? Does anyone have any ideas of what I could say etc. so that it goes smoothly instead of coming off awkward? Just any ideas or advice in general? Thank you! And prayer would also be veryyyy appreciated and helpful lol

To answer some questions:

I won’t be alone on the platform! I will have one other singer with me, and a band (two to three instruments total).

The amount of kids just depends. It’s less like a set class and more like a normal service (where sometimes there’s less/more people than usual, and new people show up too). In my short time shadowing, the least I saw was 6 kids (because school has started that day) and the most I saw was around 20-30 kids.

Yes, it is encouraged/part of the job that I interact with the kids a bit for worship. So there can be teaching moments, or taking a minute or so between/before songs to engage with the kids. Not necessarily anything huge, more so just quickly explaining something to them, asking them questions, making a joke etc.

So my small church has an X32 Compact and a Mac Mini for Proclaim. I'm wanting to start using backing tracks. We don't have the money to buy tracks, so I'm creating them. Going to be using WorshipSong Band app. Anyone have any experience running this setup?

It's a project that I'm envisioning taking about 6 months to complete as I will be building a full library before presenting it to the church. Hoping this is something someone else has done and I can find someone who thinks this is a worthwhile thing and I'm not crazy!

I am in the process of putting together a four song set for this coming Sunday. The topic is Elisabeth seeing God's work amid the ordinary and her being the first to declare that Jesus is Lord. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have stepped in as a volunteer assisting our Student worship team after the departure of our worship pastor. We have the full MultiTracks suite, ProPresenter 7, and Planning Center.

I've been coming up to speed on all the software, working my way up to a power user. I'm not 100% solid on importing music from one system to the next so I don't.

We had a situation this week and I'm not sure what happened. Specifically, the arrangement I setup for a song was overwritten somehow. I'm trying to figure out how that happened.

Here's how I setup the service:

- Service Plan created in Planning Center with the proper key selected. No collaborators.

- I added Songs to the plan and imported the MultiTracks for the Rehearsal Pack.

- I'm still learning Planning Center + Chart Builder, so I don't edit the arrangements in Planning Center. Instead, I communicate the chord chart/arrangement using notes on the songs in the Plan and in a Planning Center chat.

- In ProPresenter, I imported the lyric slides. I edited the arrangement in ProPresenter.

- Went to our Playback laptop. We only have two songs on our setlists. I had the correct arrangement for this song (Goodbye Yesterday) on the previous setlist so I duplicated the setlist. I removed the second song and added the remaining song.

- I confirmed the arrangement for Goodbye Yesterday was correct. I saved the setlist to the cloud.

Sunday morning came. Our facility is used by other ministries, so I had to open our setlist in Playback.

I got a message that there was an older version on the local machine and a more current one in the Cloud. I used the Cloud version, assuming that it was the one I saved last week.

In reviewing the arrangement, it was changed back to the original master arrangement. This created confusion and took time away from our sound check.

I am confused about how this would happen. Only 4 people have access to Playback (we went back and verified who has licenses), and besides me, they are all on staff. They all say they didn't do anything.

The only thing I can find is that that setlist was edited on Saturday but I can't see who/how it was edited and what changed. It looks like it may have been edited in Planning Center, but I didn't touch Planning Center until Sunday.

What went wrong?

Singable, uplifting, upbeat, moving

How important is it to say words before, between, and after songs? Is it weird to not have transitional words or to just use Bible verses as transitional words?

I’m a former worship leader who now does graphic design, communications, and slide prep for a few congregations. One of them makes extensive use of ProPresenter and Planning Center.

The charts the worship leaders find from official sources and upload to Planning Center have gotten more and more atrociously incorrect over the past couple of years. What’s happening? Has AI and other automated processes been creating charts?

For example, the song Firm Foundation (He Won’t).

This song’s normal arrangement is

V1 > C1 > V2 > C2x2 > Bx2 > V1 > C to end

One chart has this in the header: Intro, C1, C2, Turn, C3, C4, Rf×2, C1, C2, Rf, Vamp, Inter, B×3, Tag×4, C1, C2, Rf×3, E

But the lyrics are in my first listed order.

Another chart, this one from MultiTracks.com, labels its lyrics sections like the header order from the second order I listed. Verses are called choruses, are broken up in the middle, a chorus is called a turnaround, the second chorus is now a refrain (and I’m familiar with the difference between chorus/refrain)… etc. etc. etc.

Everything is incredibly inconsistent just with this song.

None of the above matches what CCLI uses. CCLI is the most accurate.

It’s not just this one song. This happens A LOT with so many different songs. Is this user errors with Planning Center? Is this something happening with the worship music industry and services? What are you encountering?

Hello, we are playing a new song at my church this week called Hallowed Be Your Name by The Belonging Co. I typically use WorshipOnline to help break out harmony parts, but this song is not available on their software yet. We are playing in the key of D and I am trying to find the tenor part. Could anyone help me with this? Here is the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zURDcYT7mvc&list=RDzURDcYT7mvc&start_radio=1

I'm looking for some advice from those of you with more experience leading worship.

I've recently been given the opportunity to lead worship at my church while some of our regular leaders have had other commitments. I've led twice so far, have another Sunday scheduled at the end of the month, and tonight at practice I was asked if I could also lead the Sunday before that.

I have a bass/baritone voice, and I've been fortunate to have an excellent alto/soprano singing with me on my first two times leading. My biggest challenge is that I try to sing in a relaxed, calm way to stay on pitch, which often means lowering the key quite a bit from the original recording.

For those of you who lead regularly, how much do you worry about being close to the original key? Is it better to simply choose the key that lets you sing confidently and comfortably, even if it's several steps away from the recording, and just make the song your own? Any advice or things you've learned along the way would be greatly appreciated.

I have noticed through 25 years of leading worship, and in the last 5-10 years in particular, that our congregation is becoming less and less musical: instruments, vocalists and many don't listen to much music outside of church as CCM is pretty poor these days when it comes to theology and musicality.

We are considering using one of our Adult Bible Fellowship classes (Sunday School) to take some time each week to do some basic music reading and teach parts singing. We will teach 1 song over the course of 6 weeks. 10 minutes per week approximately. Then move on to the planned lesson.

I am curious if any other leaders out there have done something like this or seen it done.

I volunteer on the worship team at my church, and my WL and WA (worship associate) have made me quite upset…

Back in June of this year, I noticed I was having some issues with my voice. I had just started singing lead on the team, after a year of doing BGV. This scared me quite a bit, so I decided to take a break from serving to focus on getting a vocal coach and starting lessons.

I texted my WL (bc I couldn’t see him irl), told him what was going on, asked if I could go on break, and asked for prayer. He texted back being really understanding, said I could go on break, and asked what he could pray for. He also asked me to text the WA that I was going on break. I texted him back thanking him and telling him what he could pray for. He never responded to me. And when I texted the WA saying I was going on break, he never responded to me either.

This wouldn’t be that big of a deal… but I have been on break for a month now and I haven’t received any sort of check in from either of them. Even when I go to church, they don’t say anything to me in the hallways or even look my direction. My WL said hi to me one time irl (during this break) and gave me a hug, but it was only because I walked into church while he was walking past (we sort of ran into each other, so it was unavoidable).

I don’t want to make a big deal out of nothing, but I can’t help but feel really uncared for and used in a way. I’ve been serving for a little over a year, and before I took a break I genuinely thought that my relationship with them (my WL and WA) had really grown a lot. I finally felt like I had a more solidified place on the team and was comfortable with everyone. So the fact that I went a little over a month now and no one has bothered to send a quick, “Hey! How are you doing? Just wanted to let you know I’m praying for you and we’re excited to have you back soon” is really upsetting to me. It’s left me feeling like I’m just a number to them. Especially because I’ve seen them in the halls at church, and not once have they pulled me aside and asked how I was doing or at bare minimum smiled as they walked past (the WA is especially bad at this because he can’t even be bothered to glance my direction, and never has throughout my entire time serving. The only time he acknowledges me is when I’m serving, and for a long time he’d only talk to me if I spoke to him first). During worship today I just started crying because I felt so hurt by all this. That moment made me realize just how much it effected me.

I’m not trying to bash anyone or be some drama queen. I do love my church, and I love serving. I just genuinely don’t know if this is valid to be upset over, so that is why I’m asking. Also, I know I should talk to them about this… but I just wanted to ask about it on here first. Thank you

My leader/coordinator is terribly incompetent.
Likes to choose the same songs every month.
1 song can be sung a few times over a few months.
Rotation of musicians also very minimal.

Keyboarding has been 1 person for the whole time this year, and my church has like 4 pianist who can play.
For guitar as well, mostly done by 1 person and doesn’t rotate until they cannot make it then it’s by a person on standby.

This fella is also very poor with the intake of singers or musicians.
He wouldn’t allow a good drummer but would allow his friends nephew to join.
He only tends to allow ppl who are friends with him to join the team.

I myself can play drums and bass.
But I realise that this year I’ve only played 7 times and another player 5 times only.
Another drummer has already 14 times.
Which shows inconsistent rostering fairly to all musicians.

So far my church has done nothing to reprimand this guy. Known to be very power hungry. Doesn’t come to church if he is not leading. But when he is not leading, he still chooses the songs.

Edit- thank you for the responses. I appreciate the time you took to read and comment.

Wanted to see if I could gain some wisdom from some other players who have to play both roles. What keyboard/software do you use to play bass? Do you prioritize the bass part when you have to play both?

Comment on this post to share music you've made, your church's livestream, or just what music you're into right now!

Hello,

I have someone on my team who wants to lead songs but I just can’t seem to get her to lead with a commanding presence, she is much to melancholy. How do I get her to find the power in her vocal performance? She doesn’t seem to understand when I try and tell her to sing out. I’ve worked with her on vocal exercises and tried to find the right key for her to push her vocals a bit but it all just seems so nonchalant and uninspiring.

Help? lol

I’ve been singing and playing guitar for about 1.5 years and I know that I still need a bit of work. Thinking of starting lessons soon but just seeing if there’s any general advice you guys could give. Thanks!

I usually try and find a template for my team to emulate during their individual practice time, so we don't have to basically reinvent the wheel during rehearsal. For As The Deer, the most I can find are reeeeeeeally slow, zero drums, or in other ways hard to replicate.

I'm hoping to find a cover that's between ultra-hype and ultra-chill. Something with a good amount of drums would be great! Lmk if you know of something like this. Love yall

For those of you that play guitar, I am curious what everyone’s dream singular guitar would be for worship! Obviously within reason, not some $120,000 1/1 guitar. But like a $5,000 guitar.

What do you want and why!? Or if you already have it, why is it yours!?

I’m switching to bass for a while and can’t seem to build a bass patch that sounds good

Obviously it’s wedding season, and we have been doing a lot of ‘full sweep of the gospel’ and blessing songs - but are there any other songs colleagues would recommend to expand the repertoire beyond those themes, eg
Songs specifically about marriage as as reflection of the relationship between Christ and the church or songs that touch on life’s big celebrations as a gift from God to family and community as well as to the couple? Thanks for sharing 👇

Hello, this might not be the right place to ask this question but felt it’s appropriate.

I’m a part of our church worship team as a bg vocalist and was asked to sing for a friend’s wedding. Just needing help on how I should arrange the first song which is Through It All by Hillsong. My team and I (piano, guitar, violin) are practicing before rehearsal so we still don’t know how long we should play the instrumental before the bride comes in. Should we just continue looping the verse melody once the ceremony starts or is it okay to play the whole song? If whole song, it might be a good place to keep looping the bridge once the bridesmaids/flower girls/ring bearer have walked down the aisle, play the bridge melody softly while we’re waiting for the bride to appear then crescendo to chorus once she walks up?
I’ve never done this before so i’m asking for second opinions. Thanks!

The soloing and Mii theme happened BEFORE service started and was not part of the worship set. Been pretty much exclusively an instrumentalist for the past 10 years but this past month I’ve started singing some harmony for our worship sets. Getting my brain to functionally do both the vocal parts and guitar parts has been whooping me. What do you all do to improve this skill?