By Tim Foot
A worship service, without divine intervention, is going to be some nice music, maybe some creative elements, and a feel-good message at best! It”s only when we surrender to God”s presence and his ultimate plan that amazing moments happen. So while I like to see the creative process of service planning as a partnership with God, it”s certainly weighted heavily in the heavenly direction!
As worship leaders our role, as I see it, is to facilitate a connection with God through worship. It is to do what we can to help folks discover grace, grow, and be inspired to live a life of worship outside the walls of the church.
Comments like “That service, from start to finish, just spoke directly to me” or “I was profoundly challenged today and felt the presence of Christ right there with me” let you know God was truly in the process.
THE PROCESS BEGINS
That process for us at LifeBridge Christian Church, Longmont, Colorado, begins months in advance when senior minister Rick Rusaw and the teaching team plan the message series schedule, including monthly themes and passages. Proverbs 16:9 says: “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” We pray for God”s guidance as we plan.
Out of that brainstorming session a document is created that becomes our blueprint for subsequent planning meetings. Chris, our programming director, meets weekly with his creative team to talk through ideas for creative elements based on upcoming themes. These elements might include such things as short drama scripts, multimedia elements, dramatic readings (both live and recorded), movie excerpts, and congregational response pieces (e.g., posting the name of someone to forgive in a giant mailbox, writing a secret sin on a stone and washing it in a fountain, or simply serving Communion to each other). The creative team is always looking for ways to help folks experience the faith journey in different ways.
Our song selection team (consisting of staff and volunteers) also meets and considers the blueprint. We take the next series on the calendar and come up with a playlist of songs (including secular) that fit those themes. Some of these will be used in congregational worship, others will be featured songs that we hope will “recast” a certain theme or issue for people.
PURPOSE-FILLED MOMENTS
About a month before a weekend of worship services, I create a draft worship service order. First I pray for God”s guidance and direction as I embark on this important phase. He alone knows what needs to happen that weekend (“Please direct and use us to create a seamless worship experience that points people toward you”). I also pray that my personal agenda and preferences don”t get in the way and that we don”t overprogram the experience. Lastly, I pray, “May the Holy Spirit move in all the planning stages as much as he will move in the actual worship service.”
We like to think of it in terms of “the whole hour.” We want each minute to be “on purpose,” containing connection points that draw people in, high-energy praise moments and reflective worship moments, even entertainment moments that relax people and prepare them to be challenged. As worship minister I want to successfully set the stage for the message, then allow people the opportunity to respond.
The first thing I plug into the spreadsheet is the theme, followed by a feature song and creative element from the preplanning lists. These tend to determine where the message sits in the order, and also elements like Communion and offering.
I then look for anchor praise and worship songs. These come either from the playlist for the series or our online database that provides information needed to determine song choice (i.e., frequency of use, the key, feel, and tempo). After I plug in obvious song choices, I base other choices around those anchor songs using criteria like balance of familiar vs. unknown, energy vs. reflective worship, personal worship songs vs. externally focused songs, flow of song keys, etc.
This draft service order then is scrutinized at our weekly worship department staff meeting. Opinions are shared, suggestions are made, changes are negotiated, personnel are discussed, and all of it is prayed over once again.
Rick, Chris, and I then discuss key creative elements and moments in the service that directly affect Rick”s message. Rick may also suggest certain creative support he needs.
THIS WEEK”S WORSHIP
Each week on Tuesday morning we meet with our extension campus pastors, worship leaders, and tech team to preview the upcoming weekend. This solidifies things going into weekly rehearsals. Then I, in conjunction with the other worship leaders, outline our song “roadmaps” in the notes column of the worship order spreadsheet. This guides rehearsals and gives direction for the creation of media support (i.e., words on screen, backgrounds, and visual effects that are created by Chris and his team).
Later that day Chris and I meet with Rick to preview the upcoming weekend and discuss additional ideas Rick has had in refining his message.
Rehearsals for all our bands happen on Wednesday and Thursday nights, and nuances unique to each campus develop. It”s fun to see how each team interprets the same set of songs (equally amazing is when similar decisions are made).
My favorite mo-ment in the creation and implementation of a worship service is after Saturday sound check and before our first service at 5 pm. My prayer is different versions of the same thing: “Lord we”ve done all we can do! Please breathe life into this, because without you this is nothing. We surrender to your ultimate plan this weekend that will be played out in ways we could never imagine (Ephesians 3:20) and sometimes will never know about. May we be your instruments, obediently offering our sacrifice of worship.”
Then we go out and offer our worship, hopefully in the way Jesus himself invites us to: “The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23, 24).
Postservice Saturday is the next part of the process as Rick, Chris, and I review the service, what worked really well and what didn”t. We decide what needs to be tweaked for the next morning and what needs to be communicated to the extension campus teams on a conference call Chris makes later that evening.
Sunday happens as we surrender our plan to his ultimate plan, and before we know it we”re reviewing the weekend that was and previewing the weekend to come. It comes with surprising regularity as the heavenly weighted partnership begins all over again!
Tim Foot is worship minister with LifeBridge Christian Church, Longmont, Colorado.
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