Direction, Part 1

During our first year of marriage, Christin and I began watching the show Alias. Several episodes into the first season, we were hooked. The characters, the story, the action all had us staying up way too late, talking about what would happen next. Then, just when you think Sydney Bristow is close to solving all the show’s presented problems, Michael Vaughn, the agent she’s working with, pulls out a map that reveals the terrorist branch she’s battling is one miniscule part of a worldwide organization. Which sums up 2008 for me.

Admittedly, that’s a bit dramatic. And definitely not a one-to-one correlation- we’re not a terrorist organization, and I’m not a female super-agent. I bring it up for this reason: after six years of leading worship on Sundays and working with musicians, it seemed I had a pretty good grasp on things. We had twenty talented and humble musicians, two albums of original songs, a diverse library of music, and three growing services. Then I heard Pastor Tim Smith and Joel Brown of Mars Hill Church talk about the Missional Band Model, and felt like Vaughn had pulled the map out to show just how deep this could go. After several years of operating from the only model that seemed feasible, this new model presented a healthy and much-needed change. There was a ton to think about.

Like the vast majority of church plants, we operated out of the Worship Team model for the first five years. In this model, musicians volunteer and audition for an overall “church band”. There is one primary leader, with numerous instrumentalists and vocalists who rotate each week. As a worship pastor who was merely trying to make sure we had enough musicians, this was the reality.

Advantages of a Worship Team Model

Diversity
Different musicians from week to week means different styles coming together. At times, this results in some amazing musical moments.

Growth
Musicians are stretched and learn new things as they play with musicians of different tastes, style, and ability.

Leadership
The Worship Team model has a Worship Pastor leading the majority of weeks, allowing an element of pastoral leadership.

Familiarity
Most of the congregation only notices the person leading the singing. There is comfort to being led by the same person, who has a consistent style and manner of leading.

Disadvantages of a Worship Team Model

Limiting
The ability and vision of the primary leader drives the music ministry, and thus is limited greatly to one person.

Less Ownership
Musicians are in a big pool -  if you miss a week, not a big deal because you’ll probably be asked to fill in for someone soon. There’s also a lack of ownership when you’re learning the songs on Wednesday, because there’s not a lot of time to make changes to arrangements.

Lack of Familiarity
Often, musicians are unsure of the tendencies and style of other musicians, and two rehearsals is not enough to become comfortable before Sunday, resulting in a lack of musical trust on Sundays.

“Week of” basis
There are roughly 50 active songs in the Vintage21 catalog. When we add a new song, we usually take one away. On any given week, musicians could be playing songs for the first time in 6 months, or the first time ever. In addition, songs and arrangements are learned, written and performed in four days- hardly enough time to adequately prepare. There isn’t time to craft or learn songs, but basically “cram” for the final exam- playing on Sunday.

Scheduling
This mainly affects the worship pastor or leader, but it’s worth mentioning. A great deal of time over the years has been devoted to scheduling people and songs! Songs are chosen not only on the basis of prayer and scripture but also who is playing. For example- Joshua owns the beats to “Heartsong”. All of our drummers are talented, but style comes into it as well. If another drummer replaces Joshua, the songs may change a bit to compensate for style.
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Tomorrow on worship.vintage21.com we’ll look at the Band Model Vintage21 currently operates from, and Thursday we’ll check out the Missional Band Model for 2009. Comments and feedback are welcome- if you have any input on this, we’d like to know!