What the books suggests is that we should decide what is most important to impart in the given time that you have, and to focus as much as you can on that. The more we whittle down what we want to teach into what the book calls “irreducible minimums”, the better we will be able to reach our target audiences. This would be like using a precise sniper rifle for a distance shot. You’re going to hit exactly what you want exactly how you want to. The point will come across as it needs to.

I’d like to take this down a different road. I feel like this particular idea of Teaching Less for More plagues the worship/creative community in the context of worship leaders. Most worship leaders don’t want to just sing the songs and get off the stage, however most pastors (and others alike) don’t want a second sermon during a worship service. There has to be a happy balance where the worship leader can actually lead through the songs without digressing into a soliloquy.

I think this is were the worship leader needs to begin to develop these “irreducible minimums”. What are some things about worship that you want to teach during worship in a way that isn’t a speech? We need to learn how we can impart these simple, concise truths into the time of worship that bolsters what the songs are doing rather than distracting the congregation. Anything you say should only spur them further into worship and help develop their posture of worship.

I don’t think that worship leaders should keep their mouths shut. I think that using words to explain/give context to songs or to explain truths about the Bible are worship is an extremely valuable asset for a worship leader. However, we need to learn how to dilute our potential sermonettes into simple phrases that we can use again and again to further teach and lead the congregants in worship. It is a skill that you must work on and pursue. To ask a worship leader to can it and stick to the songs, I believe, is to limit their potential to lead worship as best they can. But like I said, it is a craft that must be worked on.

How else could Teach Less for More be used in the worship/creative context?

One.Love

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The book focuses on the two main reasons so seek out narrowing your focus. The first would be growth; the counterintuitive thought about growth and focus is that “You have to do less if you want to grow more”. If you do more, chances are your ministry will not grow. We can’t confuse action/activity for growth. Secondly, we must narrow our focus so that we can attach ourselves to the mission rather than programs. When we cling to programs, we tend to stick to things that are nostalgic rather than what is working. However, when we focus ourselves on the mission of the creative/worship ministry, we can make better programming choices and be more effective in our decisions. “A good leader is always more passionate about the mission than about the program.”

We are wired to just add things on. To make things more and more complicated because that is what is natural. We have to fight for simplicity. We need to seek out to “choose what potentially works best over what is presently working”. In John 15, Jesus talks about the idea of pruning dead things away so that the whole can benefit. He also makes a very wise point that sometimes you need to prune life-bearing parts so that the whole can bear even more fruit. We need to choose what potentially works best over what is presently working.

The book sites four effects of narrowing your focus. The more we narrow our focus for given ministries or environments, the greater the relevance, the better the connection, the higher the quality, & the stronger the impact. When we narrow our focus, our creative elements become more relevant and connect with the congregation better. Also, when we begin to look more closely at our choices for worship environments, the quality will surely increase and the songs will bear more impact. The right song played in the right place can have a great effect rather than just another tune picked for convenience.

What about when it comes to the world of creative and worship ministries? What do we need to “narrow our focus” on? Are we talking about songs or something larger? I think, for me, it comes down more to the programming aspect for different environments. What songs or elements would work best for this particular service? Just taking time to dig into what works best and being as specific as possible without forcing things is how I see myself narrowing the focus.

How can we “narrow our focus” when it comes to Creative & Worship ministries?

One.Love

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What I mean by programming tricks is this thought process . . .

“People don’t seem to be connecting during worship.”
“People seems to not like our creative elements.”
“We should try something bigger.”
“We need to try what (enter great church here) did.”
“Lets blow their faces off with (enter incredibly over-the-top idea here).”
“Why are people still not responding to creative elements or during worship?”

If we want to encourage people to engage during worship, then we can’t just tell the worship leader to play the “hype man” and hope for the best. We can’t just go bigger, better, & shinier and expect it to work out because “it’s awesome”. Instead, we need to figure out where we want to be (people engaging with the creative elements and during worship) and try and work out steps for people between where they are and where we are headed. The book says that “every step should be Easy, Obvious, & Strategic”. The step should be easy so that people feel comfortable entering into the journey from “A” to “B”. The step should be obvious so that it will feel natural entering into it. Each step should be strategic so that the step leads them in the right direction.

Andy Stanley had a great illustration to help understand this idea. “He walked into his general staff meeting with a handful of construction paper. He place a blue piece on the floor and placed a green piece about thirty feel away on the floor. He then threw out the question, ‘If the blue paper represents groups and the green paper represents our worship service, then how are we going to get people to move from the green paper to the blue paper?’ Andy then selected one of the staff members and asked her to stand on the green paper. He then instructed her to step from the green piece of paper to the blue without touching the floor. She said it was impossible, and he asked her ‘Why’? She said, ‘It’s too big of a step.’” This is why steps are necessary, because to get people from where they are to where we want them to be takes more than one giant step.

In our context, it doesn’t only apply to the congregants, but also to volunteers and people within the ministries. Lets say that we are in a place where we are barely planning for the week at hand. It’s Saturday night and we’re just finishing a set design that we thought of Friday morning because we had been backed up because of the week before. How do we get out of this cycle? How can the people in the ministry maximize their efforts so that we can be planning two weeks out? Four weeks out? Two months out? This is where the steps come in and we begin to see how you can’t just make a giant leap to the end. I also think that the necessary first step for us is to determine the “A” and the “B”. Where are they and where to we want them to be? Only then can we begin to try and map out steps for them.

So, now I ask you,

What is “A” & “B” for your congregants/volunteers/staff?
What are some steps you know are essential to the process?

One.Love

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I’ve been in a big planning/proactive mood recently, so I’ve been revisiting some old favorite books to glean some more insight and thoughts on what’s been on my mind recently. I started reading Stanley/Joiner/Jones’ “Seven Practices of Effective Ministries” again, and something occurred to me. I’ve always read this as something that a head pastor or someone who made big, path-altering decisions in the church to check out, but what about us creative/worship leader types? What if we looked at it through our lens and tried to see what it would look like to implement some of these practices to make our worship/creative ministries more effective in the practical. In the next couple of posts, I want to take a look at these different practices and try and apply it to these realms.

First up, “Clarify the Win”.

The book defines “Clarifying the Win” as “communicating to your team what is really important and what really matters”. Basically, in your ministry, what are the most important and pressing things you need to be doing? The purpose for this is summed up really well with a quote saying, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”. To be able to make progress and see growth from our actions, we have to first find a way to measure what success looks like in a tangible way.

Do I know what an absolute win looks like in a worship setting? No, but we’ll get to that in a moment. I feel like pushing ourselves to define wins in these conventionally undefinable contexts will allow us to increase the impact of our ministry. When we don’t clarify the win, we force our musicians, leaders, or staff members to guess at what it is, which causes miscommunication. I feel like wins are important to establish because at the core, people (whether volunteers or staff) want to have clarity in what they are trying to accomplish and they do not want to do menial tasks. The want their actions and time to have impact.

Clarifying the win keeps everyone on the same page, which can be very difficult to do when you deal with musicians and the like that don’t usually do well with structure or constraints on vision. It also “creates the potential for positive momentum”, which can be paramount in a suffering or young ministry. “When people know what a win looks like, they are much more likely to win”, which translates into people ultimately & hopefully being lead into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

So, what does it look like to have a “win” in a worship environment? What does it looks like to have a “win” in your creative department? This is something I’ll be digging into in the future, but my first thoughts are they for a worship leader, it must be something we can measure and work at, through prayer and practice, to improve upon. For a creative ministry, I feel like a win has to have to do with whatever creative elements we use being clear in their intent, relevant to the congregation, & always pointing back to the cross and Jesus.

So now I ask you guys:
What does a “win” look like for a worship ministry?
What does a “win” look like for a creative ministry?

One.Love

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NeedToBreathe – The Outsiders

I hadn’t heard of these guys before, but I’m so glad I bought this on a whim. They have a really cool thing happening. They are poppy, kinda folkish, with a nice dose of grit thrown in. The title track has some great hooks and a good ole’ boom-chuck goin on. The lyrics are written quite well and with a healthy dose of sincerity. The whole band has got chops, but the singer has got a voice that is the special sauce. Other great tracks include the Alison Krauss-ish Stones Under Rushing Water and Through Smoke, which is driven by a great drum track. From what I hear from guys who know em, these guys are legit and are the real deal. Give them some lovin over at their site.

Imogen Heap – Ellipse

Imogen Heap is brilliant. I’ve always loved her voice and this record is just a continuation of the great work that we’ve all come to expect from her. Her soft melodies play so well against her digital beats and arpeggiated pad sounds. Plus, with the record on iTunes, you get an instrumental version of the album (did someone say Imogen Karaoke?). My fav track is the haunting 2-1, with it’s spacey and erie swells through most of it that moves into a creepy groove, strings, and synths that only she could pull off the way she does. Check her out here.

Phil Wickham – Heaven & Earth

This is quickly become one of my favorite records in the Worship genre. Wickham is one of the best lyricists because he doesn’t think like the rest of the CCM world does. He speaks differently and his poetic voice is so sincere and quite theologically potent. Heaven & Earth is the mature evolution of Wickham as an artist from what he’s done with Cannons and others. Everything is recorded very well, executed beautifully, and seem to be packaged just as he intended. Early favorites are Heaven Song (with strings recorded @ Abbey Road) and a great anthem In Your City. Even the weaker tracks on the record are still quite solid. You can pre-order it on his website, or you can pick it up when it comes out on iTunes Nov. 17th.

Now I wanna know what you guys are listening to.
What’s the best record you’ve gotten in the past month?

One.Love

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