Do you know which Sunday marks the end of the Church calendar year? (Did you know the church had its own calendar?!)

My pastor was a college professor who had just finished the semester.

• “I guess we’ll go ahead and get started.”

• “Please rise to your feet.”

• “Good morning…um, good MORNing! ...That’s better.”

How can you know if it’s time to form a leadership team for your worship ministry?

Every week, when we make music together as worship teams, we have essential musical decisions to make. So here’s a humorous yet insightful story of what it takes to make music together.

Today, I’m giving you an outline rather than paragraphs. That’s obvious.

But what’s not obvious is how much what you do impacts congregational engagement. I want to challenge us, as leaders, to grow in BEING:

My typical planning schedule…

Why do we gather each week as a church?

When was the last time you took a breath, ready to sing the next line, only to slowly exhale, mumble, or watermelon through the next line because the words weren’t up in time?

We know how to lead a worship set, a meeting, an event, or a moment.

But what about a team, a ministry, a department, an organization, or a decade?

As leaders, we must have the energy and determination to move large initiatives forward, to hold the line, and to shift cultures.

What’s the most important musical part of a song? Melody. It’s the DNA, the unique fingerprint. Which brings up the next question…how do I learn melody, especially if I don’t read music or don’t have the musical notation available?

Why do I need to know how to build a song?

Because knowing how to build songs enables…so many things.

I love what Todd Henry says in his podcast The Accidental Creative: “It is the age of creativity. Cover bands don’t change the world. Don’t be a cover band. You need to find your unique voice.”

Almost every week, I lead a new team of musicians. Sometimes all we have is a Sunday morning rehearsal.

Do you wish that rehearsal would go deeper than just pulling the music together?

I was planning a worship set. Feeling crushing pressure and tension.

So...when was the last time you dove in and really worshiped the Lord?

What REALLY causes the “not enough musicians” syndrome?

Are you trying to figure out how to add more musicians to your teams? “We just don’t have any in our church.” Really?