If a musician can't make rehearsal, should they play on Sunday? // Worship Leader Wednesday 

"Don't ever let anyone hold your ministry hostage!" God will provide all your needs. #boom so good!

So in our band, one of our bassists is taking night classes that fall on Wednesdays when we rehearse, but he is still allowed to play on Sundays because he has proven himself as a dedicated musician who practices at home, is on time, and is in sync with the philosophy of our team. Our team is small, so only a couple people get weekends off as only a couple positions have rotations. This is definitely a case-by-case basis for any church. There are a lot of variables to finding the right balance of keeping to a culture of standard of excellence and an attitude of mercy and grace

I play every other Sunday, I'm a (lead) electric guy. I'm a shift mechanic, so the way schedule works out is that I can make only one rehearsal. The team knows I work long hours days and nights. I have also shown that I can be counted on to know my parts and execute them well come Sunday. My thing is, don't be hard on the shift guy. It is what it is. I know a couple guys like me that their team won't let them play, seems harsh in my opinion. If the person can do the job and shows up for the other practice and prepared on Sunday, work with it.

It’s tough dealing with people

I’m a musician for a small church. My attendance is pretty solid when I know that might not make it to practice I’ve asked the worship leader a week or 2 ahead of time if we could reschedule to another day that is convenient for all . Having said that my punctuality is bad mostly due to work. Thank for this video, it will make me more appreciative to my worship leader’s grace and patience and also guide me to get better.

Waiting for this Series Every Wednesday .. Thanks Man. 😊

Thanks guys! It really is a fine line preserving the standard of excellence and yet being graceful and sensitive to the hectic lives of team members! Friendly communication is key!

Two conditions about the member I would first consider. 1) The legitimacy of their unavailability, often constrained to work obligations, family situations, health issues, or other providential impedences outside of the member's control. 2) The member's level of musical ability and material familiarity. If the member can sightread, then I'll quickly draft scores or lead sheets or chord/rhythm charts. Or if the member is already familiar with the music and can be easily instructed about specific arrangement variations. If these two conditions are met, then no problem.

Ha - this was a funny topic to see pop up in my feed. Our entire group could not make our Wednesday practice and we just decided that we would rehearse an hour and a half before the service and it was good. Great topic and discussion.

I would like to see a video for leaders of small churches... no, backup for any musician, no options for moving rehearsal, no one in the community who can run sound... every person wearing 3 hats around a 60 hour workweek

Hello this is my opinion ...its an honor to be up there to praise God ...we are servants and no matter what .. God comes first..!!! If you aint comming to practice and come with your long face to sing and saying your tired...then you need to take it up to god if you are really ready to be commited to serve God .

Usually the way we’ve worked at my church is we always have two rehearsals - one Wednesday at 5pm, and one Sunday morning at 8am (service starts at 9:30am). If someone can’t make it Wednesday, they practice at home (I send out the music and structure of each song before rehearsal) and come Sunday morning for the 8am rehearsal. Not quite as nice as having them at both rehearsals but it does the job. FYI this is for a small church where everyone pretty much is working a full time job or multiple jobs in town, and being a small town, many of our people are coming from an hour away or so. So it does work if you have always have two rehearsals and just have people come to the second one if need be. Just my two cents.

Learned so much with this video. Thank you guys for all your hard work and dedication. God bless you and your families!

Standards and expectations is a big topic with much to consider! We had members of a large church’s worship team come to speak to us about how to take things to the next level. They talked about excellence and commitment and becoming increasingly proficient and technical. But in listening to them i noticed something they didn’t seem to see. They talked a lot about past members of their teams and i realised they have a massive turnover. When I started having kids I struggled to keep my commitment to my church and I found sadly that it can be very one-way sometimes. At times i felt like “If you can’t invest heavily in the church then you aren’t much use to us...” its an interesting topic. Thanks for your videos.

Thank you so much for sharing this video! I'm so grateful to know that you guys are putting out this kind of content. I'm so glad you guys are sharing this with us the viewers because I know that we're struggling with a lot of these issues of punctuality and some other things you guys mentioned! I'll definitely share this video with my worship team. These things are extremely important to know! Again, thank a bunch! May the Almighty God Bless you all! Much Love!

Some people have jobs with rotating schedules, such as food service or retail. Ideally, you don't want to build your team around a majority of people who could be available or not available, but smaller churches have to utilize whoever is willing to serve. I am one of the rotating worship leaders, and the only consistent lead guitarist (our other qualified guitarist who can play lead parts is a busy touring musician who might be home for two months or two days). Unfortunately, I am also in a position of leadership for a pizza restaurant. The schedule works around my church obligations, but sometimes causes me to be late or absent to rehearsal. One of our primary drummer has a two weeks on and two weeks off schedule as far as Sundays go, and he rarely makes rehearsals, because of work. We want and honestly need all hands who are available to serve on Sunday, regardless of work schedules during the week. If we were a larger church with more musicians, more stringent standards would be more appropriate. For now, we have to be super relaxed, but are blessed to have a team of musicians with professional backgrounds. We have done plenty of acoustic Sundays, and leadership doesn't want that to be consistent practice. I just feel that people who work odd schedules are unintentionally lumped in with the demographic of more flaky or undisciplined crowd. You are unintentionally building or encouraging a church culture that panders to a more upper middle class bracket demographic, who might be more likely to have that "normal" Monday to Friday schedule that caps off at 5pm. This does a disservice to the idea of diversity in the body, and possibly sets an unchristlike or heavier standard to what qualifications are necessary for leadership in the body. You did mention having grace, but some of the ideas behind who you should look for in volunteers could severely hamper the opportunities of greatly talented people in your community. This is all just hypothetical sharing of thoughts and I apologize for the long post, but this trend in the church that seems to veer dangerously close to picking over certain specific demographics is a bit disturbing.

For our church it depends. We're lenient and understanding if responsibilities come up, so long as you can show up Sunday morning knowing the songs. If you show that you're not at least practicing at home, then a talk needs to be had. Our church has been blessed with so many volunteer musicians though so we sort of have to have more grace than usual.

In my church the drummer couldn't come to rehearsal, so they recorded something and he practiced at home.

There have been plenty of times when I haven’t been able to make a rehearsal, life happens, but I’ve built such a high level of trust by be always being over prepared and consistently good at my instrument that it’s not a big deal. My leaders, and the band know that come Sunday morning I’m gonna bring me A game because I alway always have and I’m not going to let anyone down.

Very good discussion gentlemen. All bases covered ...always have a basket of back up musicians and singers and be constantly recruiting fresh talent is one way of not compromising the quality of your worship leading. People don’t want the mess , they want the message you and your team are tasked to lead them into.

Great video. Sometimes you have people that are always present and on time, but are almost never prepared / did not even practice at home. And you have those who can’t always be present at rehearsal or are not on time due to other responsibilities, but that always practice at home and are always prepared. In my experience, most worship leader prefer to work with those they can rely on and that are always prepared.

We don't have a rehersal in our church. The expectation is set that you show up on Sunday filled up and prepared. If you can't be disciplined enough to do that, you won't last on the team. Now, for big events like a Night of Worship we will have 1 maybe 2 rehearsals. On Sunday we show early, set up, sound checks, walk through, and then rehearsal. Go connect with people before service, and then actual service. It's usually a 6hr day

The difficult thing is to maintain the discipline for both the "star" musician ( if you have one ... the person really talented and can easily play almost anything) and the regular guy who needs to practice his head off. both need to be held accountable in a similar manner.

This one I definitely agree with, again preparation... We have a lot of this going on right now, a meeting is set for order at the end of the month.. many of these things will be addressed..

Good info. Glad y’all took a companionate and understanding, yet firm stance on this topic. Do y’all have a talk session on musicians doing their “homework” aka learning the material at home? I feel that would tie into this topic. I’ve been to rehearsals that felt like a social club and not everyone learned the songs and I’ve been to rehearsals where we got to experiment a little, and everything flowed, because all the musicians in the group knew the songs.

Great video, gentlemen! I would like you guys to do a video on what you guys do to get out of the rut of always sounding the same. Especially because a lot of worship teams play similar musical styles, I feel like creativity can get squashed at times.

I think this is tough. I work a 2nd shift type job so if my church had a MANDATORY rehearsal during the week, I would NEVER be able to play on Sunday. We rehearse and run through early Sunday morning, with the expectation that we show up 95% prepared and ready to go.

For my team it really comes down to proficiency and familiarity with the song selections. Someone who is a consistent flaker ends up being a question of spiritual maturity and the value they place in the ministry and they might not be a right fit anyway. However we also rehearse for an hour on Sunday morning. But if someone has something come up and they can't make it they are typically allowed to play Sunday as long as they can be trusted with the music and are expected to come prepared

This channel is so great love you guy's God bless you!

Love this! Learned a lot! Thanks!

1. If it is a consistent thing, have a chat to encourage them to join rehearsal. 2. If that doesn't work then yea, not fair for the rest of the team. That's like a worship leader who only goes to church on Sunday.

1 Corinthians 14:40 King James Version (KJV) 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

I always enjoy your videos.....thank you

At our Mass service on Sunday , Denis (piano) usually fills in for another couple of musicians i usually play with when they go on vacation...or other dates they can t make it.....he s there but he can t be at every rehearsal because of his work...... I still see his commitment and attitude to be ``ALL IN``.... TRUE we need to see the attitude of the musicians in the band....but with GRACE ..WE ARE CHRISTIANS!! .Remember the Lord is always watching us and our Hearts....Amen.

Your channel has already helped me. Thank you. I’m new here.

Here’s my story! 4 of our members at our church, who can sort of play instruments, including myself, not particularly well, but enthusiastic. We decided to put a band together & put together an alternative informal modern worship evening on a Monday evening, (let’s face it, not everyone can make it to church on a Sunday) It would have a more modern feel to it, relaxed atmosphere, a nice mix of traditional & modern worship songs played by the band, prayer, testimony & screen projector for a presentation slot, ie Hillsong playing live or whatever, just to keep things interesting & mixed. We practice once a week together, but not everyone can make it, a hard core of 3 are there every week, that includes me, I also practice a lot at home. So anyway, we did 2 evenings, a month apart as intended, it grew so fast that the third evening we did was almost a full house. Now then here is the best part coming up? A retired minister decides to get in on the act, shows up out of the blue for a one hour practice with his acoustic guitar, isn’t seen again all month, then turns up on the worship evening, just before beginning with his guitar & expects to play? My jaw must have hit the floor! I wasn’t happy or comfortable with that, but how could I say no to him? You can’t just turn up & play. But hay ho! We have been preparing, practicing new songs etc, etc over the last month, ready for the next evening, a week on Monday, Guess what? He turned up for a one off practice again, out of the blue & left saying, see you on next worship evening. He didn’t bat an eyelid & left. What do you think? I am totally uncomfortable with that...........but an awkward situation....don’t you think. Show the grace of God? No one said it was easy to follow the Lord...........

Have them sit out unless they are good, practice at home, alot of the songs are so simple, vocals are the thing to focus mainly, don't play instruments if need be, just do a meditation type singing service, easy solution!

What about when the worship team is lead by two leaders and one of the leaders is consistently late? Our scheduled practice time is Wednesday evenings at 7:15. We usually don’t get started til 8, or later! What’s worse is that it’s not just the leader, but also two other family members who are on the worship team. They’re often late because they were eating dinner at home, while others of us come straight from work and don’t get to eat til after practice (after 9!).

I like that Free Your Mind! and the rest will follow haha, But seriously this is good stuff! Thanks!

Im kinda glad that the younger part of my church (up to about 25 years) does its thing (idk the exact word for what you guys do on sunday morning in english cuz im from germany lol) on friday evening so i domt have to get up at 5 am on sunday

We have the standard of "If you havent practiced, you shouldnt rehearse, if you can't rehearse, you shouldnt play." And I hold to that regardless of how "good" the player is. The same standards apply to everyone. The exception is the vocalists because they have an additional rehearsal, so as long as they can hit ONE of their rehearsals they are ok.

If your guys cant rock up its not the end. You change the setting. You dont have to have that guy or you're lost. You make do with what you have on the the day. Always be flexible.

The problem with me is that whenever I don’t make it to the rehearsal For some different reasons I’ll work on songs for all night if the next day is the day of the service even before the service starts I’ll keep on listening 👂 until the service starts

Can you make a video about what to say between songs or how to get rid of any awkward silence between songs? (Like transitions )

Can you guys make a video on how to motivate members of the worship team? Most of our members don't really seem to care, and I want to do everything I can to get them excited about worshipping.

Undistracted Excellence. If that means some musicians get a pass bc they’re dedicated enough and practice at home and are more than ready come Sunday Morning, and they communicate with the team and are on the same page with everyone then they get that pass. Some musicians and leaders are talented and have everything at their disposal, but if they are not present at practice they won’t have any idea what to do come Sunday and trying to fill them in is distracting from the overall goal then trying to work around them not being there is better. It’s also role specific. Drummers can really go on the fly if need be especially if your church uses click tracks via in-ears to keep time. However I would never let my keys or piano player Miss because what they do is too important to not practice with everyone their especially the singers

This is awesome! 530 am is regular call time for me lol I miss the vlogs.

Really good and solid advice. When is the best time to tell them?

I am a professionally trained drummer with over 30 years experience. And I am not involved with the music ministry in my church partially because I cannot make rehearsals. And they have other drummers that can. I just don’t think it’s right to involve myself in an area of ministry if I cannot make the time commitment. So I serve in other areas.

The worship group I’m in, rehearsal is that morning before the service... I’m both sound guy and lead guitarist...

My worship group practice is at 4pm on Friday, during regular business hours. I was on the worship team for a year but had to step down because I need to work until 5pm. The worship leader will not change the time just for me. I have prayed for years for God to let me know my purpose. I was given a confirmation that using my gift is what God is calling me to do. Any advice or suggestions?

I think as part of a team, if there is a rehearsal time scheduled you have to take that into consideration with scheduling. You cant just show up on Sunday. My church has rehearsals set for Thursdays at 7, and twice in a row they were cancelled because certain people couldn't make it. Now we have to go in on Sunday even earlier and rush through. It's all about respect

Also, if you ask, “what’s going on?” Or “what can we do to help you”, you have to be able and ready to listen. Some people may be going thru a lot, as stated, so be ready to listen and willing to listen. Don’t ask that question superficially, trying to be a good worship leader, then act weird or make someone feel like they don’t belong, or you’re stiff and unable to talk to them. Show some concern, and hear them out. Try to understand the situation. Basically be a friend as well as a worship leader. The church is there as a support, and that includes the entire church

I wish we had a weekday practice. The worship leader sends out the written music and a track for each song on Tuesday, and we all practice on our own through the week. Sunday we practice for an hour before the first worship service. In general, it works, but there are occasional hiccups that could be avoided.

Hey guys! I have enjoyed this series very very much. In my youth group, our worship team is me on a guitar and my friend who sings. The youth group is very small and it seems like nothing is happening in terms of worship. I feel like I am sitting up there and no one is even there. How can I help make worship actually feel like worship?

What I hate is when I see a team member have to sit out and they are a person that could play the songs better but also show way more life and charisma about worshipping than most on stage plus they practice at home all week. i rather have them on stage than someone who can make it but just are a warm body and only practice at practice.

Fuller I still have my Rom@10.10 shirt!!!

Also one thing that really drives me nuts is when as an electric guitar player Im trying to setup all my spaceship full of gear , and the other musicians want to lock me into a super in-depth conversation about gear, what they did that week, some child-hood story, etc.. GUYS KEEP THE CHIT-CHAT to a minimum until after practice or the service is over. A lot of people just do not realize how much work it is to set up an electric guitar rig, dial in, tune, etc.. People think Im mean or arrogant sometimes for this, but in reality I am just extremely focused person when Im playing music, and I don’t like to chit-chat until after the service/practice is over, because if I let others lock me into a long drawn out conversation I get distracted and then Im behind, because all they had to do was plug an acoustic straight in!

Tricky issue. Rehearsal is important but there are times when the band is limited to a few people.

Well since we rehearse Sunday morning before the service, this is an easy answer for us... 😂

Cool....... you guys actually have rehearsal other than “hey we’re playing these 5 songs in an hour”

Do you ever just have jam sessions or get to gethers that you allow aspiring players sit in with you.Or are you just allowing elite players ?

I can’t attend rehearsal and we only two of us drummers at my church in a big city. I’m the backup too because the other runs a funeral home. Many churches (from experience) and people in the comments here would instantly reject me without giving me a chance to prove myself. I work second shift for the last five years and haven’t found a morning shift job that can pay me as much as my current job without taking a huge loss in pay to transfer so I’m stuck. My current church I’ve attended for ten years gave me a chance and I prove it to them every week, I know the music and play it to metronome. They never worry about me, never ask if I can’t do it and assume I’ll have it right. They rely on me and trust me because they gave me a chance and I proved I can do it and left it in God’s hands. Many churches just need to realize that they can’t expect a flood of talent to walk in the door. Churches need to work with what they have. If the musicians prove they can do it and be relied on then it’s ok if they miss rehearsal but if they can’t play the music or instruments then don’t let them play. This has happened at my church with brass, saxophonist, strings and vocals (yes vocalists I said it, get over it), we had to ask them to step down and practice more if they want to come back because they couldn’t perform the parts adequately but they ended up leaving because they were upset that we told them they needed to practice. The brass, winds and strings couldn’t stay in tune and they had years of experience supposedly, even after months of rehearsals to get Christmas songs ready still sound horribly out of tune at show, vocalists stopped practicing at home and overtime couldn’t stay in tune and didn’t know parts even at rehearsal. I know I’ll upset worship leaders and vocalist when I say this but you guys need to check yourself to. I don’t know how many times vocalist and leaders stand too high on their box only to be knocked off by criticism because they couldn’t realize that they also can make mistakes and play bad because they didn’t practice even before rehearsal and performance. Certain worship leaders I’ve met over the years would quickly cast out drummer, bass, or guitar for a few bad parts that was just human error or nerves but keep vocals and themselves in when they couldn’t stay in tune or know the parts. So instead of focusing on rehearsal attendance, people need to focus on their ability to play their instruments and parts as best as they can. Rehearsal is best when you can do it (I miss rehearsal and want to be there) but sometimes you have to realize who it is and their abilities to perform.

👍👍👍👍

Case by case basis

We have a rule in our worship team that was set by pastor that failure to come to rehearsal means you don't play on Sunday. It is NEVER enforced. Another thing I find myself in opposition to is that the members of the worship team, if they are Not going to play that week, (due to a visiting worship team taking over), don't come to the service. Your thoughts???

If you have players that are experienced, professional, and prepared to *rehearse* through instead of *practicing* at rehearsal does that change your stance? It seems like a lot of rehearsals are because team members aren't coming fully prepared and it substitutes for practice for some. Your thoughts?

What about rehearsal being canceled and nobody let me know? Drive 20 miles for nothing???

They do not play that week. I will be out of town Thursday and Friday for my 1 year anniversary. Therefore, I won't make rehearsal. I wont be playing on sunday despite being the worship leader.

Make rules and enforce them. Very simple. No double-standards. You can't make it, you either change your schedule or stand down for someone that can. You can't have everything in life all the time.

I love these videos. One thing brought up a question that pops up in my head from time to time; Is a drummer a need? I can see it being a need insofar as it being a requisite to achieve a particular aesthetic. But ultimately, is it REALLY a need? (I realize I’m being pedantic) Perhaps that can be a topic! Haha 🤘🏼⚡️🔥💃🏼

Great video!...dont do drugs, lol!

I've had my fair share of people who flake, and don't tell us if they don't make it. We discussed the guidelines of if you can't make it before time let us know, but they do the exact opposite. What do I do?

So funny! Free Your Mind! lol

I call bs. I’m blessed I have the leader I have. Hey. You gave me a heads up and I know your schedule. You’re good. Not everyone can make it. Which is why we have another practice before service. I never get told. Yeah no. You can’t play. Jesus Christ.

Wow ,Do you ever have people that cop an attitude or something ,No matter how gentle you try to address the problem.

I hate it when people who are spiritually obligated to give me their money don't also give me their free labor in ways that are most convenient for me at all times.

It’s really all common sense.

No practice...No play !!! ...use ur hands to clap for the LORD and rejoice !!!

First off... On Sunday, we don’t take “the stage”. We are there to lead worship, not perform. It’s a congregation, not an audience.

My question is are these people (worship leader, musicians, etc.) on payroll from the church? That makes a big difference on the levels of commitment and punctuality. It's sad to say but it's still the truth. It's easy to say hey I'm here you need to be as well, but only one of you are on payroll. I'm not making it about money or should it be but if your job is to be the worship leader and your getting paid vs unpaid musicians that's not even a fair comparison. Because the paid worship leader is being paid (his job) to be there vs the others who are working separate and then practicing. BIG BIG DIFFERENCE!!!

All good points. But remember, we are volunteers, not being paid to be here like you. Not being disrespectful to you, but that is your job. We have jobs in the real world to pay the bills. So we put in 40 plus hours at our jobs, feel the need to prepare for Sunday at home in our spare time, do our best for God, and do our best to be there for rehearsals and on time. Just keep in mind, we are there for God, not for you. If you need to be an out front superstar, maybe your ministry should be recording and concerts? We want to give our best for the Lord, sometimes life gets in the way.

...so u can bring anybody to play ?...even if he/she is not a Christian ???

why does the guy to the viewers left look like hes gonna cry, are you okay?

Our leader is the one who is consistently late. It's really annoying.

Where's the biblical evidence in these opinions?

If a musician uses a capo, he should probably be sent home. It's the right thing to do.

1. The worship leader should be able to plan and communicate effectively during the week. 2. Professional musicians. 3. No rehearsal needed.

This is pathetic. When people play for the world there are no excuses. But when it comes to playing at a church, people don’t give it their all. My man, if you can’t commit 100% to the ministry, don’t join.

No they should not play. Sorry God is a God of Order

I wouldn’t play for you

Love how you say we start rehearsal at 5:30am. We legally, due to noise, can’t start making sound before 8am. Rehearsal has to finish by 9:30 for start at 10. Not to mention your church has bear that rivals any entertainment centre in Australia let alone a church. Church is such a different world from USA to Australia