Dave, have you ever heard anyone categorize their songs between Horizontal and Vertical worship? I love your method but was wondering. I got to pick Chris Tomlin's brain when he was still doing youth camps back in the early 2000's and he discussed arranging songs so the worship set flowed from vertical (singing about God) to horizontal (singing too God). This would have to do more with the lyrics of the song rather than key or speed. Just curious to hear your thoughts. Love you videos!
There's something similar to what you described that I know a lot of worship leaders use, which is to divide your song library by which aspect of the gospel the song addresses. So each song fits into these categories: Creation (adoring God for His holiness and sovereignty), the Fall (confessing our sin and acknowledging our need for atonement), Redemption (declaring His death, burial, and resurrection), and Consummation (professing our faith, calling to action, proclaiming His future promises). That way, you can pretty easily craft a four-song worship set that communicates the full truth of the gospel.
do you try to pick songs that tie in with the sermon? do you know the sermon topics that far in advance? do you just pick one song that fits and the rest are more just about key and tempo?
I’ve served for many senior pastors, and none of them really knew what the sermon would be that far in advance. Nothing wrong with that. It really comes down to personality and style. So, I’ve never really had the chance to pick songs that fit the theme very often. With that said, the theme is “Jesus.” That sentence has served me well for many years. And the beautiful thing is how many times the music and the message have lined up so perfectly..
but does this leave room for the holy spirit to flow: cause it seem like everything is plan but where is GOD in this whole process? To me this is planning all the sounds in advance for a whole month is like planing how you want God to move.
Juannel, that's a great question! I actually answered that question in this video (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DXH9XObbeAQ.html) in a long-form kind of way, but the short answer is I believe the Holy Spirit is just as much at work on a Tuesday afternoon when you're planning as He is on a Sunday when you're executing the service. If we're seeking God during the planning stages, the "plan" will not be ours but His.
It's not the songs that you chose to sing every Sunday that "move" God brother, It's the hearts of the worshipers who do. A song is a tool for us as worship leaders to lead (hence the title "worship leader") the congregation into an environment where their hearts will indeed move God to manifest among the congregation. God definitely plans, he absolutely made a plan for your life and didn't just wake up one day and say, well I'm Going to make Juanmar Tempro today and see where the spirit leads me and whatever happens happens. Absolutely NOT, he planned you since before the foundations of the earth were set. When you take time to practice and actually learn to do all these technical details, you will be unstoppable during worship when you combine that with the power of the Holy Spirit. One last thing, always try to do your best during your worship set because you're doing it for the Lord, if you're tell me you don't plan your services before hand, then you're saying that the outcome of the service doesn't really matter to you. Nothing that is not planned ever turns out the way you want it.
Typically, the song planning team meets the Monday going into the last already planned Sunday. So if we're planning the first four weeks of August, we'll meet the last Monday of July.
