This is when you and your team (vocals, instrumentalists & even techs) invest their personal time into being ready to lead, play, sing, mix, etc. 

Rehearsal brings together the different musical parts and technical roles to shape the songs and sets. When someone fails to learn their part, rehearsal changes from a “putting it all together” event to a “learning the song” effort. 

That’s why it is the idea of “practice is personal; rehearsal is relational”  often is integrated. When team members (and leaders) invest the time into learning the songs before rehearsal, that rehearsal allows the team to focus on more than just the mechanics of the music. They can focus on…

• the dynamics of the songs to help create the journey
• seamless segues to avoid distractions and keep the focus on worshiping  
• what Biblical expressions of worship fit what’s going on in this song or moment
• visual leadership cues and other ways to engage the congregation

…all of which will help create a powerful worship service.

Heart & Mind

Our platform worship will never exceed our private worship. Leaders and team members alike need to prepare for the platform through personal times of pursuing God.

The third part of a powerful service is the people. The more people know their roles (and are ready for them — i.e., prepared), the more likely your worship service will be exceptional. 

The platform team has multiple roles:

• They all are to worship God.
• The band accompanies the sung worship.
• The music leader should make it easy for the worship members to follow.
• The worship leader(s) and other upfront singers model what worship can look like to the congregation. 
• They all invite the congregation to participate in different ways. 

While the production team…

• Supports the platform team, allowing them to sound their best.
• Creates a quality mix that’s inviting and encourages participation.
• Helps create an environment that invites people to focus on worship (graphics, lighting, etc.)

And sometimes, we forget the congregation has a role to play in creating these powerful worship sets. Their job is not to be spectators but to participate and worship.

Of course, not everyone will step into the role of worshiper. But part of the goal of each worship service, Sunday-after-Sunday, is to help build a culture of eager participation in gathered worship. 

(‘Building a worship culture’ goes beyond the scope of what we can talk about here. 

But I wrote about this extensively in my book, Exceptional Every Sunday.)

And the final ‘piece’ (which is also ‘The Whole’) is the Presence. The Holy Spirit. The One who comforts, connects, convicts, empowers, and binds us all together.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t ‘need’ our planning and preparation to create a powerful worship experience. But God has always been about inviting us to partner with him, inviting us to make on earth what is in heaven. 

Because of that, the Presence isn’t something that “shows up” on Sunday if we sing certain songs and get the haze levels set just right.

The Presence of God is already there, inviting us in. Our job in the gathered worship service is to celebrate that, to marvel in God’s greatness, and to experience his love… together.

But the Presence isn’t just about the worship gathering. The Spirit is present and active in all of it — the planning, our personal preparation, the rehearsals, the technology, the people, etc.

So our efforts of planning, practice, rehearsals, and run-throughs aren’t just leading up to a time to a gathering in God’s Presence.

Those efforts and events can be living sacrifices where the Spirit of Christ is every bit as active as Sunday morning.

As we wrap, let me encourage you to do two things.

First, begin viewing your planning and preparation as an act of worship, trusting the Holy Spirit to guide and lead you.

The Holy Spirit is in the administrative and mundane as much as the powerful moment of corporate worship.

Second, encourage those in your worship ministry and congregation to see themselves as partners with God in creating a Sunday gathering.

That’s everyone — from the leader to the sound tech to the parking lot attendant to the person who rushes in five minutes late from dropping off their kids in the children’s ministry.

We’re all part of making Sunday morning a meaningful and powerful gathering of God’s people celebrating Him and his great work.