Raising up Multiple Teams

[twc_admin]

Hey Everybody -

I think this has been discussed before, but I wanted to get some fresh perspective.

I'm planning to meet with the core members of my main rhythm section in the praise band here at SSCC. Since my arrival in March, I've added a few musicians into the rotation, but usually try to keep the original rhythm section together as often as possible.

I've been encouraged to create a "culture of worship" .... to raise up multiple teams, give access to this ministry to other singers and musicians, etc. I think this is a great idea, but I've found that rotating a single musician in/out of the existing band isn't so easy ... especially for musicians who have been playing together for a while.

So my question is about raising up multiple teams ... the roadblocks, the good things, the bad, etc.

Do you find it better to have multiple, separate teams that always play together? If so ... how do you schedule them.

Look forward to your input. I've got enough musicians to easily staff 2-3 separate full praise bands, including drums, bass, elec guitar, acoustic guitar, and keys.

One of the problems is .. my main team ... they love to play ... and I can't imagine they'd be excited about giving up Sundays ... but we'll have to see how it all plays out.

For the Kingdom,
Fred

[milepost13]

Here is our basic setup:

2 drummers - 1 drummer plays drums every Sunday and 2 drummer plays percussion every Sunday because they both want to play every Sunday. 1 drummer can't play percussion, and 2 drummer plays drums once every couple of months to stay fresh with our repretoire.

2 bass guitars - rotate every other week or as their schedules permits. 1 bass is an EMT, which means he works every third Sunday.

2 keys - rotate every other week or as schedules permits.

2 electric guitars - 1 electric guitar is in college, and he plays about once a month when he's home for a weekend or on breaks. 2 electric guitar plays all of the other Sundays.

2 female vocalists - rotate every other week or as their schedules permit. both are solid altos and sing lead and BGV's depending.

2 male vocals/acoustic guitars - me and another guy play together just about every week. I've been conditioning the other guy to take a leadership role for either when I'm OOT or to form a completely seperate team/event. We both sing lead and BGV's depending, and we play seperate tunings and parts depending.

1 harmonica - he's also an EMT, to he only plays 2/3 Sundays.

We originally tried to have two sepearte teams, but schedules just wouldn't permit that to happen. Everybody is solid at what they do and can play/sing well with anyone else. Just about every week looks different: see our YouTube Page (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=milepost13) for examples of this. Everyone would love to lead every week, but they are comfortable with allowing another person to play/sing because they understand the bigger picture.

We also experimented with a young adult service last summer (and will again this spring)...I invited the younger members of our band to participate in that as well as a youth drummer.

I think the real key is having a group of people who understand the bigger picture - that it's not about me playing/singing as much as I can...it's about me playing/singing in a way that best glorifies God and encourages others. That may mean playing different styles, with different people, and less or more than I would be comfortable with were it up to my own desires. If you've got that as a foundation, then everything else becomes so much easier.

Nate

[milepost13]

BTW, ideally I would have everyone playing no more than every other week. Those who do play every week put in an average of 7 hours/week...for most people, that will lead to burnout, with families and full-time jobs and everything else going on. The few people who do play for us every/most weeks do so because they are that in love with it (our drummer used to be pro, and our percussion is on full-time staff at the church)...and we've got an aggreement that we'll cut they're hours if either of us see a need to.

Nate

[Stevie Nature]

We were thinking about having two teams at our church and the only problem I saw with that is that you might run into the "good team, bad team" situation. No matter how you try to divide the talent between all the team you'll still probably have one team that's better than the other two. The problem with that it is messes with the congregation's as well as your own expectation for the worship service. You may run into people coming in late for the service because the team playing that week isn't as good as the others. Of course we all know this shouldn't really matter, but I don't think everyone in our churches is there yet. Also, this might mess with your own expectations as well.

[AD(J)]

We have two teams, but it's still a very new thing for us.

We used to meet at 5 & 7pm only, now we had to add an 11 am service to handle the recent growth.

So our "new" team is for the 11 am service, since many of the old school Corner Church people's entire reason for loving the place was that they could sleep in. Plus, three services a day is a lto to ask of all volunteers.


The main drawback I've noticed it getting a shared vision going throughout the teams. All musicians do meet once a month and we all have a bible study/rehearsal thing then. This is good, but it's slow going, you know. Both teams practice once a week already, the hour before the service. Our monthly meetup is Sunday afternoon at 2pm.

I'd like to have a weekly all-worship-team rehearsal, but the coffee shop is open Monday-Saturday, so right now this really is the best set up. No one is going to want to rehearse at 9pm after the shop is closed and we really can't rehearse during business hours, you know.

But it's all good. Growth is good! God is Good.



Oh, side note! I am actually paid staff now! How cool is that?

[milepost13]

Plus, three services a day is a lto to ask of all volunteers.



see, we found that it was much easier to ask the same team to do all services on the same day/weekend (we used to have 4/weekend) and rotate every other weekend than ask two teams to serve every weekend. Just goes to show that you have to figure this stuff out for your own church.

Nate

[AD(J)]

see, we found that it was much easier to ask the same team to do all services on the same day/weekend (we used to have 4/weekend) and rotate every other weekend than ask two teams to serve every weekend. Just goes to show that you have to figure this stuff out for your own church.

Nate

Totally!

I think half our team would quit if they had to show up at (oh no) TEN AM!

:D

[garyhodges]

I recall going through this exact thing a number of years back and a few things stuck with me about it.

In short, we created an entirely new team and had a week-on/week-off schedule for the two bands.

Those who had been in the band every week for years didn't think they wanted to give up leading every other week, but in practice found that they actually enjoyed having the time off. They could actually ride to church with the rest of their family and have a much more relaxed Sunday or Wednesday.

Second, it helped to break any prima donna attitudes that existed.

Third, it took the worship ministry out of the "unattainable" realm and made it something in which more people could be involved -- some of them great musicians.

Finally, It enriched the ministry by bringing in new personalities and new approaches to the music.

[AD(J)]

...

Third, it took the worship ministry out of the "unattainable" realm and made it something in which more people could be involved -- some of them great musicians.


...

This is so necessary. We have to think of worship teams as an open community of musicians rather than 'the band.'

So many musicians think that a guitarist would have to essentially die or move away before they'll get a chance to be involved.

[Alison]

I don't think there is any one right answer - you have to do what is right for the situation you are in.

I've been a part of several types of scheduling situations:

* Large pool of musicians and singers that are scheduled out week by week according to availability, trying to avoid burnout, the music for that week, etc.

* Large pool of musicians divided into smaller groups, and scheduling is pulled from those groups

* Completely separate teams that rotate

There are advantages and disadvantages to all, but I don't think any one way is right or wrong.

In all cases, it's my opinion that lead worshippers lead better together when they are in community together outside of the music - in small groups, through community building efforts of the leadership, monthly gatherings of just the band, or just the vocalists...share a meal, talk a little team business, pray together, maybe make plans to take in a game or a movie together. Opportunities to serve the community together, or other areas of the church.

It's also my opinion that while there needs to be a standard set for each situation, there also needs to be opportunity for new people to come in. If you have team members that will be disgruntled about 'giving up' a Sunday, then you have the responsibility of casting a vision for them. If they are truly there to serve, they will get it and jump on board.

[russhutto]

Great points Allison.

We just established a monthly "mixer" for our community of musicians/singers this month. With it we're approaching several issues with one gathering.

1) Creative input. We had been inviting any and everyone that was willing to come to our monthly planning sessions. These were set up so that basically all of our team members could come and help with song selection, new songs, message/song correlation, etc. What we found was that the group was too big, and it always ended up coming back to the lead pastor (who does most of the messages) and myself (the music guy) who has the best overall grasp on the intricacies of each song...so having the group there was counterproductive.

We decided to change the planning meetings so that only the lead pastor and myself are present. We sit with the messages for the upcoming month, the master song list, and any new music and we go to town.

To keep the creative input for ALL of our team members we are encouraging each team member to bring their favorite worship tune to our gathering each month. They can physically bring it, or email the title to me beforehand to download. But we'll take a listen to the new tunes (snippets) and have a good time and get everyone's input.

2) Relational growth. I really wanted to see us grow as a life group. But we weren't spending enough time outside of rehearsal/service gatherings. Our monthly gatherings will be a time to just hang out while getting to know each other better through discussion/games/food/etc...

3) Vision casting. I (or our other leaders) will bring a short encouragement each month about vision. It won't be a sermon, but just a "pep" talk more or less about the purpose and vision of our family.

***

About multiple teams, it might come to that in the future. We're growing in leaps and bounds. For now our group is big enough to be a large, small group, but too small to split up into separate subgroups (musicians, singers, media, a/v, etc.) When we do grow that large, we'll eventually split everything up, and probably have quarterly gatherings where the entire media/music group meets...

[worshiptrench]

Our model is built on the premise that I ain't ever switching horses mid-stream. We use the same team throughout our Sat night and 3 Sunday morning...Here's how:

BAND
I always program for dummies (sounds a lot like drummers??? i kid). We have an Odd Band and an Even Band. If it is an odd Sunday (1,3, or the rare 5), band Odd is up and plays all 4 weekend services including the Wed rehearsal. With that said, our guys are always switching with each other and then letting us know, "Hey, me and mark switched." Because of the quality of musicians we've been able to raise up and their length of tenure (most for 5+ years), I don't notice the switch much. It keeps me out of the loop of subbing, etc. as they handle it. They all know each other so well that who is in what band socially is kind of blurred.

VOCAL
We have 4 teams (S.A.T + WL) who sing once a month and they also have to sing a week on bridge team (sort of choir). This totals two weekends a month for them, once on mic and once on the risers. Keeps anyone from getting prima dona on us.

TECHS
In the new room we're moving to the same Odd/Even System as the band.

[russhutto]

How do you work in new band members, trench?

[milepost13]

How do you work in new band members, trench?

I Blogged (http://practicalworship.blogspot.com/2007/08/discussion-1-new-team-members.html) about this a while back.

Nate

[russhutto]

Thanks Nate, I'll check it out. I was specifically curious as to how Jordan and crew does it over at NW.

[milepost13]

I know...I'm just a shameless self-promoter, and since you opened the door... :)

Nate

[worshiptrench]

That is a challenge. We are pretty picky as to who plays in the main room and I REWARD the long-term faithfulness of our guys who have given me Wed + Sat and 4 Sunday services for 5+ years. But occasionally one of them will move, etc. and we'll have a spot to fill. (ex. right now I need another bassist. we only have one fully main room stage ready). (This is in contrast to our vocalists whom we want tons of and add new bridge team members monthly if not weekly).

That is NOT to say that we don't let new people play at NorthWood. We have multiple kids bands that alternate weeks. There are many spots to fill.

As to including them. I invite them to a rehearsal to sit in on some tunes. The children's worship pastor casually enters the worship center and she visits with other people in the room but she is listening, too. They'll hang out at our prayer time after rehearsal where we begin to get a feel for the social chemistry. Finally, I'll call them that week and get their life/salvation/worship story.

Then Caryn and I assess where we should place them. Of course, some people come straight to her and she simply places them. In the main room, we could always go to a three band rotation but that would ruin or odd/even symmetry of course.

[maydavidj]

It would be really nice for us to have multiple bands, but we don't have that many people yet. Our band plays two Sunday morning services, all the Sunday night services that have a normal music/sermon (sometimes they do movies and different thigns SunPM), and the Wednesday night youth service. The worship pastor and I switch places and we become the youth band. The good thing is that we all play almost everything, so if the bassist can't come or something, we can do without the electric guitar or something and one of us will play bass instead.

[patdryburgh]

Currently I lead a team of 37 musicians and vocalists spread amongst 4 environments each Sunday morning, as well as serving 2 additional environments (1 weekly, 1 monthly).

We approach our music ministry with a "one team" mentality. Those who led the team before I came worked diligently at building a team of very talented musicians, to which I have added several additional musicians. Even though we do have a "one team" mentality, there are musicians who do not play in particular environments, based on skill level or personal preference of the musician.

Each month I schedule people together, trying my best to keep teams as balanced as possible. We really have very few holes talent wise, however with our expansion to two campuses this past month, we are in need of several more musicians in order to keep our musicians from burning out.

Pat

[Johnny B.]

"One of the problems is .. my main team ... they love to play ... and I can't imagine they'd be excited about giving up Sundays ... but we'll have to see how it all plays out."
What do you think of this...
Maybe you could ask your main team members to help the newer teams, thereby giving the main members another type of ministry(a servants ministry so to speak)along with their occasional playing of live worship ministry. In this way they could gain satisfaction through the development of the newby teams under their direction as well as the satisfaction of the newbies as they find success at worship...Its sort of a change of focus and everyone wins to some degree. But they all are in effect worshipping because all of the main team will be pulling for the newer teams and vice versa..

Helpful hopefully... Johnny B.

[twc_admin]

That's a fine idea, Pat ... one of my good friends at a larger network of churches in FL has it setup that way - if you are on the main team, you HAVE to be mentoring and leading a younger person on your instrument.

[Johnny B.]

Its funny because I have been the only guitar player at our church(for the last two yrs) and now we are adding another. I was over last night at his home to go over some songs and how we do them and I realized(its a God thing actually) that my anxieties would be short lived as he was asking me to help him learn scales and techniques that he had always wanted to know how to do. I knew that God had put him here for the benefit of MY learning how to help someone else be successful at becoming a worship leader as well as his learning process. In effect I am going to become a better servant through relinquishing part of something I love dearly. I see how much more important keeping an eye on the bigger picture really is and not getting caught up with what is directly in front of me so to speak..
I am looking forward to serving and watching how this man(through Gods guidance) develops his personal ministry.

blessings to you and I hope you are successful with what you are trying to achieve. Johnny B.

[blschreiner]

I've been involved with the praise team at my church for 7yrs now. We've worked this problem in two different ways:

First time we were starting with a single team that had been together for years & years without any change in membership. About half of those folks were at the point where they were a little burned out & wanted a break. We had enough interest and talent to spin out a second team. The vocalists split, half to one team, half to the other. All of the new instrumentalists went to the new team, however our director (also our keyboardist at the time) served in both teams. Vocals on both teams were filled out with new members. Teams operated completely independently, on a 3 week rotation, though both teams continued to rehearse every week.

This approach had several advantages. Since each team included a number of members already familiar with a sizeable repertoire, it helped accelerate the training of new members. Second, continuing to rehearse during the "off" weeks provided lots of time to work up new material. Disadvantages were that our keyboardist, involved in both groups, was now committed 2 nights per week. Since the teams were completely independent, repertoire diverged after the split. This made it difficult for members from one team to step in to fill a hole in the other team at last minute. Lastly, we lost a couple of instrumentalists in one of the teams. We tried to integrate the two teams back together until we could expand again, however by that point the two teams really had developed fundamentally different "personalities", and the integration never really worked. The fragments of the broken team gradually left, until we were left with just the single remaining team.

The second approach began with that remaining team, and is ongoing. Over the last few years we've slowly been building up a pool of team members. The team leading worship on any given week is a subset drawn from the total pool. We've also added a non-auditioned praise choir that provides backup vocals and a pool from which to grow new praise team vocalists over time. The advantages here are that it is more flexible; we have at least two people that could fill each role, so there are rarely times where we have a hole. Also, we function as a single team. We all operate from the same repertoire, and we have a single style & vision. One downside is that scheduling has become a lot more complicated. Another is that it is more difficult to improve the overall quality of the group, because the mix of individuals involved changes from week to week.

Having experienced both, I prefer the pool-based approach.

[NLoomis]

We've done the pool-based thing in my last 2 churches. It is a little more complicated to schedule, but we created a pretty simple system where each month each member of the team gives us their availability and then we publish a rotation with volunteers and a setlist. I think it would be preferable to having separate teams, unless they were for separate programs.

Nathan