Worship Team Auditions - Why Have Them?

I came across this blog post recently on when should you leave your mega-church.

And the first point on the list just HAD to be about worship ministry! Mr Wheeler said it is time to leave your mega-church when they start holding auditions for the worship ministry. To him, worship ministry is something to be open to pretty much everyone.

“Why even bother to answer that point?” you may ask. To people who have actual worship ministry experience, the whole idea is laughable. But I have the nagging feeling that somewhere, sooner or later, a young, sincere and inexperienced pastor planting a church is going to be inspired by Mr. Wheeler’s reasoning, tell his long-suffering worship pastor (or volunteer leader) that they were going to stop all worship team auditions, and then have that other pastor fix the problems and clear up the mess.

Not that those problems can be cleared, mind you, if they come. Even if they doesn’t come immediately, just remember that any church following that idea is at best 2-3 musician resignations away from problems. Believe me, you don’t want to be in such a position!

Here is his reasoning, in his own words.

"I always used to think the “worship audition” phenomenon was just an urban myth, but I am sad to report I now have confirmation of it. Still, I can’t wrap my mind around how it happens. How, for example, do you tell a prospective worship team member her joyful noise was for another time? Her rejection probably gets prefaced by, “We have prayed about who should join our team and I am sorry but we have not chosen you.” In other words, “Jesus told us you suck.”"

Let me begin with the basics. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you (Sorry, Paul!). The purpose of a worship ministry, worship team, worship leader or worship musician, is to unify the praises of the people. When they succeed, as the priests and Levites did at Solomon’s dedication of the Temple, the glory of the LORD will again fill the Temple (2 Chronicles 5:12-14).

In other words, good things happen!

I’ll be the first to admit that many churches (mega- or otherwise) do NOT have this vision or direction for their worship ministry. They may have some goals such as leading the people to an authentic encounter with God or having music appealing enough to attract pre-believers.  Or maybe just excellence for excellence sake.

Whatever it is, when you don’t have this basic direction for your worship ministry, you can end up with problems from two extremes. You can end up with musicians and singers who do excellent music that wows the audience but do not draw the people into singing their praises to God. Lead singers (not worship leaders) who choose songs based on what showcases their abilities rather than invites the congregation to participate. Things like that.

OR you swing to the other extreme and have a free-for-all. A “drummer” who only has two settings on his playing, slow and very fast (nothing in between), and soft and bleeding-from-the-ears loud (again, nothing in between).  A guitarist who goes out of time or strums erratically, which is guaranteed to mess up the efforts of everyone else who tries to unify the singing of the congregation. Back-up vocals who do their own stuff, who drown out the unfortunate worship leader, and refuse to take direction from the worship leader because they think that quenching the Spirit means not being allowed to be anything they want, anyway they want, anytime they want.

Having worship team auditions may not prevent the first extreme, but done correctly by a worship leader who knows what he is doing can certainly prevent the second. And the second problem is far more likely to occur in a regular (not mega-) church. Since regular churches are far more common than mega-churches, shouldn’t auditions or some other kind of screening process be even more necessary?

Mr Wheeler again:

"Can you imagine Jesus telling someone who loves Him and loves to worship Him that he or she is not good enough? Are we now in the dispensation of “the MegaCool Church”? Can you recall some biblical text that has eluded me that says: “All ye talented sing unto me, those who suck be quiet. Thus sayeth the Lord.”"

1 Chronicles 15:22 (NIV) - Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it.

The purpose of the worship team is to unify the praises of the people, and unity does NOT happen without any form of leadership. The worship team (musicians, singers) plays that leadership role. The biblical text above is the relevant passage that eluded Mr Wheeler. That verse shows us that leading the singing was Kenaniah’s job because he had the skills for it. Wanna lead? Better have the right skills!

We are not saying that the tone-deaf are not allowed to worship God in church. But there is a world of difference between singing away in the crowd (at best irritating only those immediately around you) and being put in the front, leading everyone else. Of course this truth is really obvious to people who are actually running worship ministries. But for the sake of that newbie pastor mentioned earlier (and for the sake of his/her long-suffering worship pastor), it still needs to be said!  

Mr Wheeler's final paragraph on this topic:

"I have watched the first baby steps of withdrawn, church-abused friends who begin to venture into the world with courage. I remember the first time I saw them with their heads up and the first time they made eye contact during a conversation. I get a little weepy when I imagine their monumental bravery in accepting an invitation to join a real worship team. I can only imagine the crushing blow of their earlier rejection by those who were their “brothers and sisters in Christ.”"

We all have our horror stories to share. I have a few of my own about musicians or singers who are ego-driven and disruptive. Here’s one of them.

I had a drummer quit her church because I told her how she went against my clear directions as the worship leader. And it wasn’t only on small points, such as giving me more snare (though that would have been much appreciated). It was also on how we were going to shift from the faster songs to the slower ones. She did not turn up for the rehearsal earlier in the week, so I took the special effort on Sunday sound check to guide her through that transition (I knew it was crucial).

On during the actual set itself she did not give me more snare. She ignored my verbal cues for the song transitions. She kept her eyes turned away when I tried to signal her after she messed up my cues and I had to re-do the transition. Didn’t help, she ignored me and let the whole thing peter out HER way. And when I asked her about all those things after the service, she ignored my questions and refused to answer me.

Can such a person help unify the praises of the people when they can’t even cooperate with the worship leader?

Problems that make a musician a disruption rather than a help can be picked up easily within 5-10 minutes in a simple audition. Why was such a person allowed to serve in the first place? And if you want to give such a wounded soul the opportunity to serve, why was there no pastoral oversight, feeding, nurturing or ministry of any sort given to her?

Yes, I know that “worship” ministries based on performance rather than participation cause loads of problems. But those who indiscriminately let all and sundry participate based on their preferences and likings rather than their abilities and gifting are also wrong. Really wrong.

1 Timothy 3:10 (NIV) - They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.

“Huh? I thought we are talking about worship ministry? Why are you suddenly talking about deacons?”

Deacons, in New Testament Greek, are servers. Our modern equivalent is administrators and ushers. Why not include musicians and singers under this? They should be tested too, right? I would suspect that the extent of testing in the early church was far wider than a 5-10 minute audition. If I were the one testing, I’d look at their lifestyle, their speech and their family life.

But if people won’t even take 5-10 minutes to audition a singer or musician…   

Look, I know that some people have seen the problems created by a performance-based worship ministry, and think that swinging to the other extreme is the way to go. I can continue to give reason upon reason, going deep into the reasons why there is yet another way to do worship ministry, one that best edifies all concerned. But this post is getting way too long already!

So if you or your pastor is trying to access practical wisdom in how to make worship ministry work, don’t make try to re-invent the wheel and do it alone. Join worship forums, interact with worship leaders from around the world, and discover what works, from small, homely churches to mega-church in the next state. I would highly recommend the two forums:

Worship the Rock

Developing Worship http://www.developingworship.com/forum/

You’ll get ideas, opinions and suggestions from people who have been there and done that. Some will probably disagree with me, and that is fine. If they have a track record of making things work, I’d say they are worth paying some attention to, wouldn’t you? 

Be blessed!