Just a couple of Friday nights ago I had the great pleasure of hosting the New Season Kick-off for the Fall season of our Worship Arts Team.
New Season Kick-off is twice-a-year event for everyone on our Worship Arts Team.
We come together before the start of a new season to:
- Communicate the vision and values of our team,
- Commit to the expectations of our team,
- Celebrate the preceding season
- Define the Development process for each person serving on on our team.
It’s a fun event… but it’s also critical to the health and growth of our Worship Arts Team.
In fact, I have hosted over 20 of these events in the last 10 years of ministry at The Journey.
The reason is simple . . .
Agreements prevent Disagreements.
Here’s what I mean:
I’ve found that most problems on a Worship Team are a result of confusion. Over a value, expectation, rehearsal standard . . . you name it.
Oftentimes, however, the problem doesn’t lie in the team member, but in you and I as the leader.
They don’t know what you haven’t clearly communicated.
For example, if becoming a Church Member is important for your team (like it is for mine), then do the members of your team know that?
Do they understand the importance, expectation and timeline for becoming a Church Member?
Do they know that if they decide not to become a member that will hinder their ability to serve on the team (i.e. – they’ll have to take a break until they do become a member)?
For most of us . . . the answer is “I don’t know”.
A member of your team can only be held accountable for those things that you have clearly communicated AND gotten agreement on.
For some worship leaders, clearly communicating values and expectations is the problem. You may have considered some values and expectations, but haven’t written them down in a way that you can clearly share them with your team. Remember – they can’t read your mind!
For others, you may have clarity on your values and expectations and may even communicate them to your team, but you haven’t gotten agreement with everyone on them.
For example, everyone knows it’s important to show up prepared and on time for rehearsal, but some people still never do.
It’s both clear communication and team member agreement that are needed.
And that’s what New Season Kick-off does for our team. Sure it’s a lot of fun getting together with our team, and sure it’s an important time to share vision and inspire them for the next season of ministry, but it is imperative that we regularly communicate and get agreement on the values and expectations of our team so our team members know how to succeed!
In my How to Double Your Worship Team in a Day seminar, I go in-depth about exactly how to plan and hold your own New Season Kick-off (and I even give you my notes and an mp3 of me teaching it to our team at The Journey).
But if you haven’t yet had a chance to download that resource, let me share with you a few quick pointers for how to get started:
#1 – Make it a requirement for your entire team (not just the new people). It doesn’t matter if they have been once or ten times, it’s a requirement for everyone.
#2 – Treat it like Spring Training. Go over the basics, remind your team why you do what you do and help them understand how to succeed on the team.
#3 – Provide a written covenant for them to sign. One of the best ways to get agreement on what it means to serve on your team is to provide a covenant for your team members to sign. By doing so they are saying, “I’m going to do my best to live out these commitments this season.”
(By the way – I give you our Worship Arts Team Covenant in the How To Double Your Worship Team resource, too!).
Hold this training at least twice a year and watch as the commitment of your team members goes up, while your disagreements and problems go down.
Your partner in ministry,
Jason
P.S. There’s a lot more to the New Season Kick-off Strategy than I can write here.
You can learn all the nuts and bolts in my How to Double Your Worship Team in a Day resource.
Click here to read more and secure your copy today
Share This Post
© Nelson Searcy. All Rights Reserved.
About Nelson Searcy
