We have been teaching our kids to ride their bikes lately. It’s a bit rough at times, but little by little, we are helping them take off of the training wheels. Of course there are still times they fall off, but they absolutely love not having those two extra appendages sticking off the sides and they beam with proud excitement when they can finally stay up on their own and ride free. I’m glad for it. If they were teenagers still riding with training wheels, they would look a bit off-kilter and would likely be made fun of by their peers.
Leading worship, in many ways, is like learning to ride a bike and there are a variety of training-wheel-like tools that worship leaders have at their disposal to help them as they learn. The music stand is one of those tools. However, as one begins to be more proficient, it is odd to continue clinging to it rather than working to be free of needing it.
The music stand creates a visible barrier between you and the congregation you are leading, while giving off the appearance of a lack of preparation. Oftentimes it can be a hindrance keeping you from being able to effectively engage your people with appropriate levels of eye contact and expressiveness while truly entering into worship yourself. It’s like having a conversation with someone who never looks up at you. You begin to wonder, “Does this person even care that I’m in the room?”
Let me clarify something: This is not about performing or putting on a show. Worship is not a concert and you’re not a rock star. This is about practicing warm, welcoming, courteous, engaging leadership and acting as an example of genuine worship. It’s about serving your people in your preparation and execution.
Here are a four practical ways to help take the training wheels off:
Plan in Advance – Don’t wait until Saturday to plan your order of worship for Sunday. Look at the sermon topic and begin to pray over your song selection weeks in advance. Give yourself time to think over any new songs you may want to do and spend time with those songs for an extended period of time.
Internalize New Songs – Before I ever bring a song before my congregation, I have already spent a few months with it in my personal worship time. Not only does this help me be sure this is a song I want my people singing, but it helps me to internalize the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions so that they are second nature, lessening my need for a music stand.
Rehearse A Ton – If you can’t remember the chords, you didn’t prepare enough, plain and simple. This is different if you’re a violinist or piano player with complexly written melodies, counter melodies and harmonies. But if you’re a four to six chord acoustic guitar-playing worship leader and can’t remember what chords are in the song you’re doing, a stand is not the answer – practice is.
Invest In A Confidence Monitor – Sometimes, no matter how much time you spend with a song in advance, there are so many lyrics that it seems an insurmountable task to memorize them all – particularly if you’re a volunteer with a day job who is just trying to serve your church faithfully. If a cheat sheet is absolutely necessary, try discreetly wiring up a screen on the back wall to help when you or your singers may be in danger of blanking on the lyrics. It can even be the exact same lyric feed your people are seeing. However, beware the temptation to not prepare because you know you will have the lyrics. What happens if the computer freezes, or the lyrics operator doesn’t advance the slides in time? Plus, there is nothing weirder than a worship leader whose wide-eyed gaze is glued to the back wall looking at no one because he or she doesn’t know the words.
Of course this is not scripture. I don’t see music stands in the Bible even one time. But speaking practically, this is one way to help you engage with your people better.