Worship Planning: My Process
I was born and raised in the church I now serve as the Worship Pastor of and it is the only church I have ever held membership, with my five years in college being the longest I have ever been away. I started singing in the choir when I was two years old and began leading worship when I was around fifteen. Everything I knew came from watching the leaders before me and creating my own style and establishing my own voice. Picking songs that I could sing well, the choir could smash, the band could jam, and the congregation be excited about was the name of the game! Sure, the lyrics should coincide with scripture for the most part, but gospel music automatically does that, or it wouldn’t be called gospel… right? Wrong! While I have much yet to learn, and better habits to establish, I have learned a great deal in the last couple years while serving in an official capacity and studying at CBU. My current worship planning process consists of curating, concentrating, and connecting.
Curating
As of the last year or so, my Pastor has been intentional to plan and preach in a series format. Before the start of the series, he gives me a high level view of what he plans to address, then each week we debrief, check in, and discuss the upcoming week. Based on what we discuss, I center my mind around an idea or theme especially if I have the scripture references already. Then I just start listening. I listen to a lot of music, A LOT. I make note of songs and keywords in the songs that may connect with the theme of the series and what is going on in our community as a church, as well as the church year that will connect us in worship.
Concentrating
After I have a solid list of songs that I still may be going back and forth about, I listen to them repeatedly. Like, so much so that I know them inside and out. In conjunction with prayer and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to me, this allows me to engrain the message in my mind and heart, and after awhile I am clearly able to feel the Holy Spirit guide me to which song I should choose. Without fail, even in the times when I did not know what my Pastor would be preaching, the songs have been intertwined and connected perfectly.
Connecting
I have a total of five different choirs/ensembles; each rehearse every week with the exception of the week immediately following the Sunday in which they sing. This allows them at least three weeks to learn the songs.
- Week one is introduction week; the song is introduced with the focus scripture and we discuss the lyrics and how they connect with us and start learning the most difficult section of the song.
- Week two, we polish what we learned week one and tackle any other parts of the song that we did not get to.
- Week three is our final rehearsal that includes the full band and we rehearse in the sanctuary; the first two weeks are in our designated ‘choir room’. Week three, we are no longer learning, and it is almost like it is Sunday morning. We soundcheck level the mics, and sing full out, rehearse transitions yet allow the Holy Spirit to meet us and we worship like we would on Sunday morning.
The singers and band know that I believe in being well prepared and not having any room for error, but they also know that they have to always be ready to adjust and adapt at any time as I will always follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and our Pastor. I try to communicate any changes well in advance, but that is not always feasible. Whether it be the Pastor asking on Friday or Saturday for a specific song he wants as apart of his sermon or during worship the next day, or even Sunday morning during worship if I give them ‘the look’ and point to myself, they know to just follow me. Freedom to flow and uninhibited worship are very important to me.
