I love leading praise and worship. I’m not the world’s greatest musician by any stretch of the imagination, but I started playing piano when I was 4. Somewhere in the teens I picked up a few other instruments including guitar. I’ve had lots of opportunity to use my musical abilities (as a school teacher, community orchestra member, etc.) but there’s no place I’d rather use what God gave me than leading worship. I suppose my love for that really grew when I was leading worship at West Coast Camp and in my youth group in Seattle. While I know I’m no virtuoso, I do believe (and was taught at an early age) that you ought to use whatever ability you have for the Lord. And so I try…. You might be way ahead of me on this stuff and I welcome your comments and suggestions. But if my tips can help you, take them for what they’re worth and run with it. Here are three essential tools I use:
(As a side note, I do strongly believe that worship is more than just music. But for the sake of discussion and so that everyone knows what I’m talking about here, I am referring to leading music.)
Easy Worship
I know, the name is a little revolting. Should worship be easy? NO! But while they may not be great theologians, Softouch’s Easy Worship software is Awesome. A lot of people try and put all the words for their music up on a screen with Power Point resulting in a huge power point file riddled with typos. Using Power Point isn’t horrible(some people still print everything out on paper), but it locks you into one way of doing the song forever(at least without significant editing). I don’t always lead every song the same way every time. I try to arrange my songs so they fit into the funnel effect. For this, there is nothing better than Easy worship. It does cost some pennies, but is SOOOOOO worth it. Your tech guy can easily hop between whatever verses you want even if you’re changing them on the fly (like I do…. mostly because I forget what we rehearsed). Also, with a link to CCLI’s Song Select database (CCLI is the company that legally allows you to put the words up on screen or copy them), you can import songs automatically without having to type anything…..NO MORE TYPOS! That’s worth the price of the software by itself. And, you can get a 30 day free trial!
Wireless Mics
This may sound a little frivolous. Wireless mics for the worship leader? I think part of leading worship is not just mechanically singing through songs. You have to ENGAGE the crowd. To do this, just like when I speak, I have to walk around. I have to look people in the guy, get close, move about, etc. You just can’t do that with wires. For the same reason the preacher uses a lavaliere instead of a podium mic, I like to use wireless mics (for both my voice and my guitar) when leading worship. The mics I use are Sennheiser EW 100 wireless beltpacks. They sell an attachment that plugs right into your electric acoustic guitar . For my headset, I use a Countryman E6. This is a magic combo that has never failed me. It costs money, but if you use it 3 times a week, it’s worth it.
A Good Guitar
A lot of people think, “I’ll get a cheap guitar now and a better one later when I’m good.” Problem is, cheap guitars are hard to play and sound nasty. This leads to discouragement and most people never get better. Buy a good guitar. It will help you get better as a player. Also, I cannot tell you how many places I walk into and when I plug up they say, “Wow that guitar sounds awesome. Our guitars don’t sound like that.” That’s because I have a Martin. I nearly had to sell my children to get it, but man it sounds great. If you go for the DX1, it will be a bit cheaper and more durable in places like youthgroup and camp. If you take leading worship seriously, don’t buy a cheap guitar.
So what do you think? What are your favorite tools for leading worship?
