Self-confidence in P&W

I'm one of those women who love self help books. I like to grow. learn and reflect on my personal development. One of the books I'm currently reading is about self-confidence. For the most part, I think I'm rather confident, but as a P&W leader I would say I'm anything but.

It is easy to know good P&W when you hear it. When you hear the masterful musicians playing, when you hear good harmony, when everyone is on key, when the leader draws the congregation in with their wise choice of words, your spirit feels connected and your worship experience is elevated. But what if you don't have a musician or band? What if you don't have a team? What if the team you have is off key? These things can bruise your confidence as a P&W leader.

Little by little I feel like I'm starting to pick up the knack of drawing people deeper into worship. Now no one ever says to me "P&W was great today," but from the self-confidence book I've learned that part of being confident is not relying on others to validate what you're doing, but rather to do whatever it is you need to do and learn from the experience - even if its a failure. (And I've had plenty of those.) It's about doing something even when you feel it's slightly out of your comfort zone.

As I lead our team and congregation Sunday to Sunday, my goal is to be able to tap into God's presence and move others into that special place where they feel like it's just them and God. I think that's what being a P&W leader is about. It's about finding your niche, your way of leading and being comfortable sharing it with others. I may not have a lot to say, I may not have the most deep or insightful thoughts, I don't have one of those strong, preacher-type voices, but I know that God wants to hear from each and every one of us and that's what I encourage others to do - sing out and praise God. And you don't need a band or a team to do that.

I am sure that one day, when we have a band or even just a keyboard player, my self-confidence will skyrocket. As we all know, music helps sets the mood. Until then, I choose to look at this time as the building blocks of me becoming an awesome P&W leader with just my voice, sometimes 1 or 2 others, and our humble cd player playing an assortment of worship tracks.

Blessings

So much more to come

On a flight to NYC, I took some time to think about the direction I want this blog to go. Thus far, it's been me venting and journaling about my personal experiences - both directly as a leader and indirectly as an audience member experiencing P&W. I will likely keep that going, but thought of a few other things that might add value for you, the reader.

Stay tuned for:

• info on P&W workshops, special services, conferences, concerts, etc., with a focus on the Chicagoland area
• reviews of music and/or books relevant to a P&W leader/team member
• clips of artists and/or songs that I'm digging
• general P&W resources

One day, I even hope to interview some folks and really make this blog more interesting. (Speaking things that are not as though they were! *cue the shouting music*)

I think the P&W circuit is a unique niche and I hope to be able to offer some visibility and positivity to it. As P&W leaders and team members, we put out to so much and I hope this blog will be a place for you to fill up.

Here's to the future...

P.S. Please leave a comment if you have other ideas that I should consider adding to the blog. I want to hear from you!

It starts with the leader

For the second week in a row, it was just my dad and I leading praise and worship. When you've got a small team, you really feel it when someone is not able to attend. But what can you do?


What I think I know about worship is that as a leader, sometimes you've got to lead many and sometimes you won't have hardly anyone to lead. Both come with their specific challenges. When you're leading many people, there are more ideas to consider, attitudes to adjust, situations and excuses to excuse or reprove and therefore you've got to work hard to get everyone on one accord. The good part is that when one person is missing, it's not as big of a deal and when everyone is on the same page, the results are glorious. On the other hand, a small team leaves you with the problems I'm currently experiencing. In either scenario, the leader's role remains the same.

Whether you have a team of none or 20, the ministry of praise and worship starts with the leader. It starts in our prayer lives and in our individual worship, long before the Sunday service. The music, the other voices, even the audience's participation all emanate from the leader's vision and command of the spirit.

Like my mom (the pastor) says, sometimes you've got to be a committee of one. Hopefully she did not mean this literally because if I lose anyone else on my team, I'll be flying solo.

Blessings

What I learned about P&W while attending a funeral

I love to sit back and learn in all types of scenarios and last night was no different. I attended a homegoing service for a friend's husband and it was the most beautiful service I've been to. I won't go into all the lovely things that were said since this is a praise and worship blog, but suffice it to say that I hope to be half of what he was and an ounce of the wife my friend was to him. Now, on to the music.

The P&W team consisted of about 10 people. They sang one worship song that I didn't know, For Every Mountain, Order My Steps, and then during the procession they sang Lift Him Up by Byron Cage. They sounded very good. I love a choir or praise team where no one is screaming or where it sounds like they're trying real hard to hit the notes. I liked the song selections too. I also liked that they didn't drag the songs out with an extended reprise. You know black churches can take a 4 minute song and turn it into 10 easily! The timing of everything was just right.

Music is such a big part of the church experience and at a funeral or homegoing service, it really helps to set the tone of the service. People's hearts are more tender during this time so it's important that the music is moving and authentic. You want people to feel uplifted, comforted, and you want to usher in God's love.

On my out the door, one of my coworkers noted that she thought the music was excellent. This is what you want to hear as a P&W leader. Well done Covenant Faith Church of God Praise Team!

Blessings

Turning around

This Sunday, we had more people at church than we've had for weeks. And for once (ok maybe that's being dramatic), people actually listened to me when I instructed them to raise their hands or give God praise. In the words of the black church national anthem "I won't complain!"

I think I've expressed that our church is made up of quite the mix - people who've been in church all their lives and are mature Christians and people who don't seem to be quite as mature in their Christian journey. It can be difficult to get everyone on one accord. The latter half typically are bystanders during P&W and don't get involved much. Perhaps they might sing in a soft whisper, but they usually don't give God the fruit of their lips, or wave their hands, etc.

I believe that my job as the leader is to try to get the congregants to offer praise and adoration to God and to invoke the presence of God into the service. It's a tough job when you're outnumbered by those who aren't worshipers, but alas, onward and upward.


Sunday's Playlist
Welcome into this place
God is here
I give myself away
Emmanuel, we worship you

What I learned about P&W while attending a youth retreat

We had our district youth retreat this past weekend and it went exceptionally well, given the rain, tight living quarters, and the typical bad eggs who were sent home :)

Praise and Worship was also really good. Friday night, a girl that I sang with a couple of years ago did 1 song and really got the kids involved. (pic below) I can see that I need to be a little more creative with my style. Getting the audience involved is key. Saturday, the P&W team picked an upbeat song that also went over well. I was impressed.

The P&W experience at the youth retreat taught me that I need to add more songs to my arsenal and be more creative. In order to facilitate this, I think I'm going to listen to a P&W station on Pandora and flag all the songs that I like. I admit that I don't listen to a lot of new stuff. I stick the people I like and that's about it. Time to change.

Hit me up with your favorite songs or artists so that I can check them out as well. Would love to hear from you!

Blessings!

Status quo

After 2 Sundays with decent praise and worship, Sunday's experience seemed back to the status quo. I've lost a team member to a new job and another was absent. At least my 2 year old didn't shoot to the front of the church and run amok this time.

We're having rehearsal this Sunday so hopefully we can get these new (now kind of old) songs into our playlist. Will keep you posted on how that goes.

I'm gonna keep this post short, because I might something new to report after this weekend at our district youth retreat. While we won't have a true P&W team, I'm sure we'll do some singing. Stay tuned.

Blessings!

P.S. Once again, I missed the iLead Escape monthly front liners call. Dangit!