Last week I did something that turned out to be very constructive and I would recommend you try it also with your praise team / choir / chorale / musicians. My pastor and I have been discussing how we may increase the spirituality of our music team and be more demonstrative while we minister. One idea we came up with was to video a few of our Sunday services and use that footage as constructive material. I had our sound man take some video footage from the sound booth (I did not tell our music team we were being filmed) and then I had it prepared into a YouTube video.
Last week we cut our music practice short so we would have time to watch the video and have discussion. Boy was it a learning experience! As singers and musicians, we normally do not have the opportunity or take time to critique ourselves and how we come across to the congregation. While we watched this training video some of our singers and musicians realized they were so focused on hitting the correct notes or playing the correct musical progressions that we were not freely involved in worship. This gave the visual effect to the congregation of us standing on the platform, stock still, hands at our sides, singing and playing instruments. Some of our singers and musicians were embarrassed and even disappointed in themselves as they realized the message they sometimes portray to the congregation. We realized that even though we were singing songs that encouraged the congregation to involve their selves in praise and worship, we weren't doing enough of it ourselves! Now that our team has viewed the video in a group setting once, I am now asking each member to watch it again in the comfort of their home. I ask each team member only to focus on themselves and not worry about what Brother so-and-so or Sister so-and-so is or isn't doing. I asked each member to ask theirself, "Am I praising/worshipping in a manner that represents my God? Would a visitor or church member feel motivated to praise or worship based on my platform behavior?" This is a self-critique exercise that will help us all understand if we are losing sight of the goal in platform music ministry: to usher in the presence of the Lord and help others in the congregation enter into God's presence with us.
I would recommend not alerting your music team when they are being recorded; allow everyone to operate in a normal fashion while you are collecting your video. I could write a whole lot more regarding this exercise and I will in future blogs. My message to you today is this: try this sometime and you will find it really exposes weaknesses in your team as they convey to your congregation. This exercise creates great teaching moments and will help everyone remember we are all one team working towards one goal, and the team needs 100% participation from everyone involved.
