The Story
When I arrived at the church in Ohio for my first full-time worship position, I inherited an amazing team of musicians. Most of them had been playing together for several years. As I became familiar with their abilities and personalities it quickly became apparent that there was one person, Kevin, who was going to be difficult. The most polite word I could use to describe him is dour, an Eeyore personality. A very good player, but he was not good at taking direction or participating in the spiritual discussions of the devotions I initiated with the team.
Let me pause here and say I that when dealing with difficult people I tend to err on the side of grace and patience rather than harsh judgment. I figure they are at least involved in the church, hearing the sermons, and God is in the process of sanctifying them like he is with me. I just needed to give God time to work in Kevin’s life. He stayed on the team for several years, but always seemed to rub people the wrong way.
A few years later another player with a very similar temperament came on the team. Sean was also a very good player, and I also showed grace as he seemed to be growing in his faith.
After a couple more years in mid-November the church elevated a long-time staff pastor to become lead pastor to fill our vacancy in that position. Sean and Kevin were opposed to this move, and began to make their feelings known. They never talked to me about how they felt, but I always heard from others.
We’ve all been there, haven’t we? People say things to us about someone else and expect us to act on the information. We cannot go back to the person involved without betraying the trust of the informant. And we must decide if the informer is gossiping or not. At first I told the informer to go back to the person and help them understand if they’re going to be involved in church leadership on the worship team, they must be able to support the leaders of the church. If they could not, they had a duty to step down. Of course we all know how that goes!!
Fast forward to December, a week before our big Christmas production called WinterSong. Sean and Kevin had come through all the rehearsals and were ready to play next weekend, but their attitudes toward the new lead pastor was spilling over into the rest of the team. I had to act!
At that time I was blessed to have at least two very capable players at each position. I called the two who were not on the WinterSong roster and asked if they would be willing to jump in at the last minute. They both agreed. I ended up releasing Sean and Kevin six days before WinterSong. The two new players jumped in and learned their parts in record time. WinterSong was a beautiful experience with everyone understanding the impact of what just happened, and all pulling together to make it succeed.
The Moral of the Story
When deliberating whether to add a new person to a team, or whether to retain someone already on a team, I consider three levels. This philosophy was actually forged during this incident described above. First, I determine if this person is committed to the church. Not only if they have an active faith, but do they support this church, its leadership and its ministries. Second, I evaluate the chemistry of the person with our team. I never bring on a player or front singer without having them participate in at least two rehearsals. I observe their interactions with other members, their ability to take direction, their comfort on stage. After each rehearsal I’ll ask a couple key team members what they observed in this individual. In this way I avoid being the sole arbiter of whether or not to accept a new person onto the team.
Finally (and lastly) I try to determine whether this position is good for that individual. Will they thrive spiritually on this team? Is their motive for participating proper? Will they improve on their instrument?
Three levels to consider: commitment to the church, chemistry on the team, and benefit for the individual. I thought for a while that Sean and Kevin were okay with these, even though the team chemistry was off. But when they could not get on board with the new lead pastor, they had to be released.
Another moral of the story is that it is better to have fewer people that fulfill those criteria than more that are not on the same page. We often think that in order to achieve the sound we want we have to have so many members. We have to have at least a drummer, bass player, keyboard, one or two guitars, and a couple singers. Yet the friction on your team from having even one difficult person will bring down the whole team and will be observed by the congregation. Better to have three good players and singers who love worshiping Jesus than seven who are there for the wrong reasons.
I admit I am sidestepping the whole discussion on bringing unbelievers onto the team as a way to expose them to the gospel. I’ve experienced that (I’ll write that in another story later). My philosophy is to make sure everyone who is on my church platform under my leadership does so from a place of belief and commitment to Jesus.
As a worship team leader you are responsible for using your gifts of leadership and discernment and your team’s Spirit-given gifts to lead your church before the throne of God. Be sure everyone is on the same page.