Read the Manual!

A lot of music and worship ministry is about the condition of our hearts, and the way we use our music skills in God's service to lead our brothers and sisters in his praise and adoration.

Something that we don't often talk about is the necessity of knowing how our equipment works. I realised this in a big way last Sunday morning, when I was left to lead the final hymn with a dead guitar, owing to my ignorance about how my guitar worked.

During the 3rd song, I noticed I was out of tune. During the reading, I hit the Tuner/Mute button on my guitar's preamp, in order to tune silently during the reading. As I did so, I noticed a light flashing green on the display. I've used plenty of preamps before, so my first thought was, "The battery's dying! But the good news is that I came prepared with a spare in my guitar case."

I opted to change the battery during the collection to be ready for the final hymn. When I did so, the battery connector fell down inside the guitar body, and I was stuck.

After the service, I used my Leatherman (vital for any church muso!) to unscrew the whole battery compartment, find the connector and put it all back together with a fresh battery. Now here's the joke - the light still flashed green.

You see, dear reader, what I didn't know was that the light flashes green to let you know that you're in Tuner/Mute mode, and the battery is in fact healthy as a young stallion.

I would have known this had I actually read the manual that B-Band supplied with my guitar, instead of confining it my 'guitar stuff drawer' at home.

So the moral of the story is this: in order to serve well, read your manuals. Make sure you know exactly how that stage piano/synthesizer/bass amp/preamp/wireless mic, etc. works, so you aren't caught by surprise when it throws you a curve ball. If you're looking for a manual for a piece of church equipment, ask your music director or your sound guy. If no-one knows where the manuals are, start Googling...

Leading Songs

Too easily our song leading in church can become mechanical. The service leader announces the next song, the musicians play the intro, the singing starts the singing ends, and then the service moves on. Box ticked.

Here are a few principles to think about as we lead songs.

• Because we worship in song in response to God's revelation of himself in his Word, the leader should 'lead' the gathered church into the song from God's Word.
• The musical introduction should be part of the journey, setting the appropriate feel and atmosphere, as well as leading into the song musically. Think about the length, musical complexity, and instruments involved in order to do this.
• Mean the words we sing! Communicate this to the gathered church in our facial expressions and body language as we lead.
• Grasp the opportunity provided by musical interludes in songs to reflect on what you're singing, and enjoy praising God.
• Lead out of the song appropriately. Ensure that you put it down gently, and don't drop it! Note that you can even drop an uptempo rocker - you need to bring it to good end in order to move on in the flow of the service.
• After the song, leave space to breathe before moving on in the service.
• Perhaps it is appropriate to pray to God about something the song has raised.

These ideas all serve to ensure that the main thing is kept the main thing - God's people gathered to hear God speak and to worship him together. A good exercise if you are a muso or a service leader is to grab a song from your reportoire and go through these points with that song and see what you come up with. It might change the way you approach your church service!