Choir or No Choir

[chrismoncus]

Choir where appropriate. Bagpipes where appropriate. Piano where appropriate. God didn't write in the 231st Psalm "Maketh thou music always with __________."

Do only what sounds good and best brings glory to God.

[worshiptrench]

That is the beauty of our system...every other week. So if we want to do a acoustic/perc/vibraphone and bass week...it happens naturally whereby i don't have to stack that up against a big choir. On the next week we can go to "power anthem town."

[twc_admin]

Originally Posted by chrisfromcanada

No choir ever.

Thinking about putting together a performance choir for a few times/year.

Chris,
You may be surprised how excited that may get some folks in your congregation! It was really fun for us, although I only intend to do it 3-4 times per year, max ... probably more like 2-3.

[montehorton]

Well practically speaking we got to a point in our church where it was impossible to mic everybody. At that point I broke them up into teams. Then the teams got to big to mic everybody and now we have 3 front line vocalists and singers mic'd as a group as well. Last night we had 20 background vocalists and the 3 frontline singers. You should have heard When I Think About the Lord, Revelation Song and Friend of God! WOW! Talk about a wall of sound! We have 40 singers now and they are assigned two groups and we rotate the groups 3 out of the 4 weeks per month. That's effectively 2/3 of them each of the 3 weeks. The 4th weekend we do more of a Passion-styled set with a lot less people. Our church is running about 2400 on Sunday's. We've been in hyper-growth mode for the last 5 years. It started with 120 people 4 1/2 years ago. What we have in attendance at Easter is pretty much where we'll be by Christmas in regular attenders. When you grow that fast you constantly have to make space for people to participate. So from that standpoint, we're probably more of a VERY LARGE worship team. Plus most people on our team are only on the platform twice a month leaving the other two weeks to be with their families in worship or serve in other areas. They love it because singing is not the only thing they have the opportunity to do.

Monte

[twc_admin]

Monte ...
Holy smokes - could this be the Monte Horton I met YEARS ago and used to be in touch with, from the Tulsa area (I think?) who was at Liberty in Birmingham?

Great post, btw - and welcome to TWC ... didn't mean to hijack the thread, but saw your name and couldn't believe it - what a small world - hope it's you!

Fred McKinnon

[montehorton]

Yes sir Mr. Fred McKinnon it is I... And I hope you guys are doing well. Thanks for providing yet another place to find helpful advice from peers. You are and always have been a blessing to your generation my brother. Keep up the work. I'm on the downhill side of the journey now and having more fun than a person should be allowed. I'm surrounded by terrific worship leaders and pastors. We have a great worship team that I get to lead, although I'm much more coach now than quarterback. I'm very focused on helping the younger worship leaders develop in their calling. It has been a great joy for me to be used to encourage God's people in worship response for almost 40 years now. Who would have thunk it!? At the ripe old age of 6 in the kids choir I certainly had no concept that I would have done all that the Father has allowed me to do. Now at 46 I'm enjoying just being part of a healthy, vibrant team, knowing that shortly I'm going to probably be put out to pastor... HA HA HA! No honestly I hope to get to do this for many more years should the Lord allow it. Keep the faith, Fred, and keep on loving people into the Kingdom. The time is short as you know.

Your friend,
Monte

p.s. If you want to hear some great worship tunes check out www.worshipsong.com and search for Robin McCollum. She's great... I'm singing tenor on some of them.

[manasotakey41]

...a choir, praise team, and monthly kid's choir.