How to Pick a Sunday Set List!

How do worship leaders choose the songs they sing each Sunday? In this episode of Protect the Altar, Deborah Hong & Tim Rice dive into the heart behind building a Sunday set list! Whether you're a worship leader, pastor, musician, or volunteer, this conversation offers practical insight and biblical perspective for leading worship with purpose and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Don't neglect the old. There are some things that are just sacred. Like when God breathes on something and there's oil on something, we don't need to just be like, Oh, that's old. Man, some things stand the test of time because they capture the heart of God.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Because they're biblical, yeah, and it has a spirit 100%.

SPEAKER_05 0:14

And it's most of those songs, like you said, they're biblical, and the spirit of God is on them because of that. The word the spirit of God never violates the word of God, it never contradicts the word of God. They they they come together, and so like just because a song is old, be careful that you don't just throw it out the window because it might be the very thing that touches the heart of God.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Welcome back to another episode of Protect the Altar Podcast. And we are here today to talk to you about the 10 worst songs that you should not implement in your set list on a Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_04 0:56

That is not what we're here. Number one. Just kidding. Oh, but we could. We could, y'all. Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

And so we got to talking and we realized one of the things that we often really have learned the hard way. And we would like to share with you so you don't learn the hard way, is how to pick good sets for your Sunday morning, or maybe you have been asked to do like a small event at your church or like a men's retreat or a youth service, any of those situations, this applies too.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

So we want to talk about like how to pick a good set list for your congregation and the people that are coming together to worship. And so without further ado, Timothy, we've been picking set lists now for how many years would you say?

SPEAKER_05 1:48

For me, I've been doing it with you for like three years, like on a regular, but you've been doing it a lot longer than that. Um so yeah, but set lists are massively important. Um the order of the songs, uh, the type of song, you know, and there's always a lot for us that goes behind that. There's a lot of thinking, there's a lot of um, you know, theological thought process that kind of goes into this. Does this lead to this? Does this you know, because we wanna we wanna worship is this is like this expression, this artistic expression that we get to paint a picture to glorify God. But we want to paint a picture that is ultimately like reflecting Him rightly and doing justice.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:34

So yeah, it's that's really good. Yeah, it's uh that's kind of the way I've always thought about it personally. Exactly, you know.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

And I I think when you have all different types of people on the worship team, you're gonna have people who are naturally drawn to like the slower, intimate prayer set songs.

SPEAKER_05 2:50

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

And then you're gonna have the people who are here for a good time, and they're gonna be drawn to the hype, like nothing wrong with hype. That's the celebratory. I don't mean that derogatory. Yeah, I mean like the really exciting songs, absolutely, but maybe the throne room songs aren't, you know, there where they're they shine, you know, or where they're able to like bring people into. And so we like to curate sets where we have four different singers at any given point. They all have different giftings, yes, and we like to pick according to the the person's gifting, but then we also we like to kind of have like a flow, um, not formula, but like we kind of have like guardrails so that we know like kind of how on a Sunday morning what has worked best for our congregation.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

So what we tend to do is we pick four songs. We have the worship team already selected, we have many different singers and they have many different giftings. And so we do ask our, you know, our teams like submit songs, let us know what God's speaking to you. And then we have a whole review team who like listens through those songs. And let me tell you, there are some times where we get some songs where we absolutely know that they will not work on a Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_05 4:13

Shout out to this to the Tuesday crew, CG.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Yes, our our Tuesday team. We listen through the songs and they sometimes they do not work on a Sunday morning. And the reason is because they are more so like a personal, intimate worship, yeah, and it's not corporate. And when we're saying corporate, we got to think of the entire body. Yeah, we got to think about not only people who have your same preferences, but people who have opposite preferences as you, yeah, you know, not only people who have similar callings and giftings, but people who have opposite callings and giftings in you. That's very true. So we have to keep that all in mind, and you know, also you know, what kind of congregation do you have? Like if everybody is pretty much the same, you know, in your congregation and there's not a lot of diversity, yeah, you're it's gonna it's not that difficult. Just go with, you know, what you know works. But if you have a lot of diversity, then you you have to surround yourself with different thinking. You have to surround yourself with people who represent the congregation. Yeah. And so we have campuses in more rural areas, and what works for our main campus may not work for that campus.

SPEAKER_05 5:29

That's very true.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

And so, and then what works for that campus may not work for main campus.

SPEAKER_05 5:35

So they are not doing campfire coritos, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Yes, yes, yes. So our rural campus, sorry, I have a hard time with that word.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Rural, I have to really think about it. The real read.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

But they're yeah, they're not gonna be doing coritos, sadly, unless the congregation changes.

SPEAKER_04 5:56

Right, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

You know, if all of a sudden the congregation becomes 50% Latino, we're gonna be putting some coritos in there, you know, and so we have you have to know your congregation, and you can't know your congregation by staying in the green room. You have to know your congregation by getting out there, talking with everybody and knowing and loving them.

SPEAKER_05 6:15

Whoa, say that again for the people in the back, you know. You know, yeah. That's real. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

There's nothing that we can do in the green room that's more important than like going out before service starts and talking with the congregation and getting to know like where where they're from, what they're you know, God's doing in their life, what's their name, you know. And you may not be able to know every single person, but the fact that you're out there and you're trying is true. That is important.

SPEAKER_05 6:40

That's so important. Like, how will you know your congregation if you're not mixing and mingling with them? You know, like it's crazy because as as as a worship team, as a as a Levite, as what we call it, um, you know, uh there's a lot going on. You know, there's there is um responsibility, there's there's timing, there's rehearsal, there's you know, there's a lot. It's constantly going on. And so you're you're you're ministering, you have responsibility that keeps you in a specific position, but then there's sets and times where you're not there, you know, you're not like on the team that Sunday or something of that nature, and you need to be able to not just be like this, you know, this person that's like the only time you really ever see me is if I'm up there on stage, man. Like get out there, mix and mingle.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Like exactly.

SPEAKER_05 7:32

I remember there was a season where we were growing so much, um, and we're still growing like crazy, but there was a season specifically where I was thinking to myself, man, there's so many new faces that I don't know. And so I just made it very purposeful that when I wasn't on pulpit ministry on the team that day, that I was like, bro, I'm going, I'm going to shake hands, I'm gonna act like a greeter today because I'm gonna get to know some of these people. Yeah, I'm tired of like people saying, Hey, do you know so and so? And I'm like, no, you know, right, right. We we need to know our people, and it's important because you know, sometimes just growing and and building those relationships and community uh will unlock a lot of things for you.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

So that's good. And so I know some people they don't like fast songs. Sometimes I've I've heard some people they say, like, can we just get to like the throne room? Can we just get and I'm like, hmm, I don't think Jesus only wants us to sing one type of song. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I think he loves the variety and he loves the joy and he loves the celebratory, like the revelation that we even get to enter into the presence of God corporately, and the fact that the manifest presence of God comes in ways that only it comes corporately, that should make us want to sing celebratory songs. And so I want to read Psalm 100, uh bits and pieces of uh verse one through four. It says, Make a joyful noise. Now, this is one of your favorite scriptures.

SPEAKER_05 8:55

You know it.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

SPEAKER_05 8:58

Because it don't say one that's on pitch, it just says joyful.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

That's right. What is it? Make a joyful noise to the Lord. Yeah, is that a is that a song?

SPEAKER_05 9:06

Uh it is now.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Okay, never mind. All ye land, serve the Lord with gladness, come before his presence with singing, enter his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Yeah. So it it paints a picture of us like being exuberant. Yeah, it paints a picture of us dancing, singing, praising. And we we need honestly, that expression is really important.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

I I think it's really important because there's something about when we sing and we dance, and it it I truly believe it breaks stuff off of us, heaviness that we came in with heaviness, and we put on a garment of praise. It changes our whole like the way we vi um envision our life or we're interpreting situations. We get like a new exuberance and a new joy when we enter into God's presence like that. And so we always make sure the first song of the set has like some celebratory factor.

SPEAKER_05 10:07

Absolutely, and I love the dancing part of that, right? Yeah, because I just I'm just going right here off the top. We're just this isn't, I haven't really thought necessarily about this, but like I I think that the dancing factor, like to be able to do that, like you know, it's like breaking the fear of man and like the care and the worry of like what everybody else thinks. Because a lot of people nowadays, they're especially if you're not like into dancing, you know, right? Right. You're not dancing in front of a bunch of people, but right all together, and it's not even supposed to be about that. It's not even supposed to be about all of this, like literally, man, like dancing does something, you know, making this joyful noise, it does something to move the heart of the father. Now, let your dancing move the heart of the father. Let's not do something, let's not be crazy and lose our minds here. If we're doing it to get attention, like if you're drawing more attention to you than you are the father, there's a problem, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:59

But we got to be careful too not to judge that because you know, David danced in it was distracting his wife, but she fell some type of way there.

SPEAKER_05 11:11

Notice, notice she's the only one.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

She's the only one, though. Yeah, you're right, you're right.

SPEAKER_05 11:16

So who's whose fault whether it was it? You know, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

It was on her for sure. Yeah, so but the thing was that like David was so free, yeah, because the his whole purpose of dancing was because he was so excited that the presence of God was re-entering the city. Yeah, that's the purpose. It's like when we have the revelation that the presence of God, like we get to come close to God. And he told us to come together. And when we come together, that there's something else that happens. There's a measure of his glory that we're able to get together. And so when we're picking set lists for our congregation, do not exclude the celebration. That's right. Even if you have to teach your congregation, even if you have to stir us up, stir us up in faith, stir us up that hey, like we get to enter in together, let's dance. Let's, this is why we worship like this. That is so important. And then usually um in a four-song set, the second song, we end up, you know, something a little more mid-tempo. So we're looking at BPMs, we're looking at keys, we're looking at who's singing what song, we're looking at what songs are really like the Holy Spirit highlighting to our congregation. And so we implement like a good second song. Um, there, I mean, there's a plethora of them, you know, but the BPM is not too slow, it's not too fast. Um, and so, and then the third song, we're starting to get more vertical, we're starting to focus more on the Lord, we're slowing down a little bit, and then that last song is completely vertical. That's the most important part.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Is that we're getting to this place of we're thanking the Lord, we're celebrating all of that stuff, but by the time we get to the end of the set, we should be all eyes on God. Yeah, we shouldn't be talking about us.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:58

That scripture that you read earlier in Psalm 104, I actually have it pulled up here. Um, uh or excuse me, 100 verse 4. Right. Um, you know, it's the enter into the gates with Thanksgiving and in the courts with praise. Uh I'd I'd heard it said, like, you know, like when we do orders of songs once, um, where it's like you start out at the gates, you go to the outer courts, the inner courts, and the holy of holies. Right. You know, and like that's why the gates is like that thing. It's that's why it's this exuberant, like expressive praise, that first song, you know, and then it comes into like this thing of praise from thank from Thanksgiving into this thing of praise. And then praise takes you into that place of like worship that just makes everything you're just constantly going down this line of like I'm thankful for everything you've done, and and you're so good. And and now I can't even do anything but think about you, and I just gotta sing straight to you from just about what you did and your history with me, the Bible, whatever, into this place where it's like I'm like so vertically focused on you and to that holy of holies. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

So this is a the last song, we're talking about stuff like holy forever. Oh, yeah. You know, if we're talking about originals, I'd say to him on the throne. Yeah, you know, and so we wanna we wanna get to that place of like holy, you are holy. We want to get to that place of of vertical worship, and and and you kind of have to take people there, especially you have all different people, what whatever service, whatever you're pulling set list for, you're gonna have different people and different levels of their walk with the Lord. And we have to be so good as worshi worship leaders, people who are leading in worship is to teach worship not only by how we worship, but also what how we're leading the song.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

How we're leading in between the songs.

SPEAKER_05 14:53

What I'm just thinking about like, how could you be singing like how grateful and thankful you are with a face just like this? You know, like exactly. Yeah, yeah. Like you need to sing it like you believe it.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

And some worship leaders, you may need to shake off the heaviness of the week. You may need to put your eyes back on the Lord. Maybe you need to turn on some Fred Hammond and start worshiping and dancing, you know what I'm saying? And break the stronghold off of your life before you get on the stage to lead people in worship because we should be leading from freedom. And that is that's a choice in Christ. Yeah. When we choose to put our set our minds on Christ, then we fix our eyes, we fix our mind, and then all of a sudden the joy flows. That doesn't mean everything in our life is easy. That doesn't mean every answer to our question, you know, we don't have every answer to our question.

SPEAKER_05 15:41

Or that your problems disappear.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Or that our problems disappear, or that our emotions disappear. Right. None of those things. But the truth is the truth, and we build our life on that. And so when we're singing, we we should be believing what we're singing in faith, because that is the type of worship that God is looking for, is a faith-filled worship. Because without faith, it's impossible to please the Lord. Yeah. Because you're not really meaning it.

SPEAKER_05 16:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

So if we have faith and we're singing these songs in faith, like you are good all the time.

SPEAKER_05 16:07

Spirit and in truth, right? That's what he's looking for.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Yes. So that is kind of like our roadmap and our what we do to curate sets. And so we would encourage each person, yeah, as you are picking sets, just to remember that maybe you only have three songs, maybe it's a shorter worship time. But think about that a journey. You're taking somebody on a journey. And when you first start a journey, a lot of times, you know, you want to be excited about it. You want to be excited about wherever you're going. Let's say, you know, you're going to Disney World, right? Right. The beginning of that drive, if you're taking a road trip to Disney World, is so exciting because you're like, ah, you're finally going.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

You know, and then, you know, midway, you know, it's it's almost like that. You're taking them on a journey, and then the destination is the presence of God, is Jesus, is the is the revelation to hit God's people that whoa, He is good, He is holy, you are holy. And so you're teaching people through your worship set. So you want to make sure you're reading lyrics. That's something that we talk about. And we'll try some songs, some popular worship songs. We've tried some. And then we decided we won't try that again. Yeah, I don't think that was for us. That's not for us. Yeah. Because what were we saying? Whoa, what was the point of that song? We ain't gonna name any names. We're not gonna name any names. But but it's easy to ride a wave, you know, of like a popular worship song. And then you you you start thinking, like, what are we saying?

SPEAKER_05 17:35

Yeah, but I mean that's and I'm not trying to be crazy because we all have artistic expression. Like God gives us that. Like the Bible is this beautiful design, and then there's freedom in the design, right? Right. So you can still color things in a manner that that is like you because God made you and He didn't make a mistake. You're fearfully and wonderfully made. But like the reality is like when we're writing songs, you know, it's like, man, don't let your artistic expression like step over like rightful theology, like rightful. We kind of lost the plot there. Yeah, like you know, I mean, sometimes songs can do that, and you're like, wait a second, what like that was that sounded cool, but it is not biblical, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:13

It's not biblical, and it also makes no sense. And so it's just like remember the most important thing as a worship set leader, or even like someone who's helping choose songs, is the Bible. Yeah, anchoring by the word of God. So know your Bible. Please, know your Bible because your Levites in the Old Testament, one of my favorite things that I always reflect on is the Levites were the teachers, they were supposed to know the law better than anybody else. So, worship leaders, we should know the word of God very, very well. And when we're picking songs, we're picking, we're shaping people's theology of the Lord. Come on, let's go. And so this is so important. So we're making sure even our celebratory songs, like they're biblical, yeah, and they are cause for rejoicing because the gospel is good news. And then, you know, even down to the throne room song, like it's still biblical. It's not just it's just not talking about ourselves. Like there are some songs that they look, they sound really holy. They have like all of the elements of like, you know, the the pad, the the drone pad, you know, they have all of the like, you know, the elements of holiness, you know, the minor chords. But then they're talking about ourselves. And my mind is not on the Lord, it's on me. I'm like, I don't want to think about me any more than I already think about me. I want to think about Jesus more and more every day.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

So don't be just don't be taken by like the elements that could appear as throne room and really dissect the song and the lyrics.

SPEAKER_05 19:44

Yeah, think through it. Um I uh I I know we're we're gonna be cutting in in a second, but I just had this idea, just out of curiosity, if if you had 60 seconds to form a four-song set, 60 seconds, it doesn't key because we think about keys flowing into songs and our different singers. It doesn't matter right now. Just if you had four songs that you're like, man, from start to finish, like what would that look like for you? Okay, well putting her on the spot, putting her on the spot.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

First of all, I would start with something like Taste It and Seen by North Palm Worship.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

It's a testimony song, it's it stirs our congregation up. We get excited when we think about we taste it and we've seen that the Lord is good. And then secondly, here, hold on, let me pull up Planning Center, y'all. He's putting me on the spot. See, because another thing that we like to do is we like to tie the new and the old.

SPEAKER_05 20:40

Yes. So then this is kind of the reason why uh this I wanted to say this, because I do think that like songs that are timeless, there are classic songs, there are songs that like you know they matter still today, just because they were written in the 80s and the 90s or even later than that. Sometimes people just throw them away, but they matter, man. Like those songs carry something, and um, you know, like we we blend that a lot because we're multicultural, multi-generational, and that may not be everybody's thing, but man, I'm telling you, there's so maybe then the second song should be something like the medley of ancient of days into open the eyes of my heart that we like, like called out music, and and and Paul Vlad.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 21:23

Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

So called Out Music did a version that we love and we've done several times. Yes, and so maybe that would be like a good second one, tying in the new and the old, and then uh maybe third. I I I might like pop in another original, like always worthy, kind of gets our eyes on the Lord, and then maybe ending with like holy forever, or like um last Sunday we did Alpha and Omega. Yeah, um or him to him on the throne, or to him on the throne, right? Yeah, that gets us vertical. Yeah, so yeah, that I would I would say something like that, you know, trying for our congregation to. Trying to merge multi, like multiple sounds, multiple genres, but also multiple languages and then also um generationally.

SPEAKER_05 22:13

Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

While also incorporating the sound of our own body.

SPEAKER_05 22:17

Great pics.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

I mean, I love all those songs.

SPEAKER_05 22:21

Me too. I mean, there's there's so many ways to slice it. And it's uh it's just amazing, I think, that we get the opportunity to do that. And glory to God, that we have all of these different options.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Yeah, and last Sunday, you know, you went into um in the presence of Jehovah.

SPEAKER_05 22:38

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

Why don't you give us a taste of that? Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, just a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 22:42

Not even warm.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Come on, come on, just do it low, do it low, do it low. Come on, come on, come on.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

No, come on, before we go to praise or pass in the presence of Jehovah, God Almighty, Prince of Peace, troubles feness, heart in the presence of the king.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

That thing was so beautiful. That that you killed that thing. And like bringing in the old, I'm telling you guys, don't neglect the old. Yeah, there's put it with the new, get it, give it your new spin. Let me just put some new cords under it.

SPEAKER_05 23:34

Something the Lord told me a long time ago. And it's just kind of like in me right now. You're saying, don't neglect the old. Don't don't confuse the old for sacred. There are some things that are just sacred. Like when God breathes on something and there's oil on something, we don't need to just be like, oh, that's old. Man, some things stand the test of time because they capture the heart of God.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Because they're biblical?

SPEAKER_05 23:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

And it has a spirit.

SPEAKER_05 23:58

100%. And it's most of those songs, like you said, they're biblical and the spirit of God is on them because of that. The word the spirit of God never violates the word of God, it never contradicts the word of God. They they they come together. And so, like, just because a song is old, be careful that you don't just throw it out the window because it might be the very thing that touches the heart of God.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 24:18

So we got it, we need to be real careful with that.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Exactly, exactly. And just because it's new doesn't mean it's best to do. So make sure you're reading those lyrics and make sure they're biblical. Just tying it all together. All right, now we're gonna move into praise or pass where we're gonna react to a viral video on the internet and see if we would praise or pass it.

SPEAKER_05 24:33

Lego.

SPEAKER_06 24:36

I want you to declare right now my hair is going back. Hallelujah. We're gonna sing it. Just keep playing with your plan. I can feel my hair growing back. My strength is coming now because you're good. Come on. Because you're good. Come on, say it right now. I can feel my hand growing back. My strength is coming now. Because God is good. Come on. Because the Lord is good. I can feel my hair. I can feel my hair. My strength is coming now. Because God's good. Show not good. Show up good. Show up. That's my favorite. I can feel my hair growing back. My truth is coming down. It's coming down. Because God is good. So good. My truth is coming so coming back. Because God is good. One more time. One more time. I can feel my head growing back. My strips is coming back.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

They fighting for that melody. They're trying to find it.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

Let's stay hard. Let's stay hard.

unknown 26:10

After all these years that have to come.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

There we go.

SPEAKER_05 26:22

I'm gonna keep it strong right there.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Because that's the song we supposed to be singing right there. I can feel my hair growing back. Okay. So praise a pass.

SPEAKER_05 26:40

I'm praising it.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

You praising that?

SPEAKER_05 26:42

I'm praising it.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

That's a hard pass for me. Why are you praising that? You you're a little gracious today.

SPEAKER_05 26:48

I'm being gracious, you know. You're abounding in mercy. Love hopes all things.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Okay. And I'm hoping I do need context.

SPEAKER_05 26:55

Well, I mean, uh in my personal thoughts of what he was saying, I have no clue about anything else in the service.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Yeah, but we're talking about Samson.

SPEAKER_05 27:03

That's that's what I'm going, right? Right? So obviously, this may be the altar maybe we just preached about Samson, right? I'm praising that part, right? Because my man's like, you know, maybe it's a situation where like somebody done, you done made a mistake, you know. You done, you done messed up and gave somebody the wrong kind of information, and you done let them boys come in and and and remove the strength from you or something. I don't know what the message was, you know? And and so now it's like the Lala. Yeah, you know, you might have done lied with the Lala.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Exactly. But but the thing is, did we have to say that? I feel my hair growing back.

SPEAKER_05 27:39

You know, at first I was like, man, I'm like, check, you know, but my strength is coming now. Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm not mad at it. It's a it's a biblical song. I bet every bald brother in there was like, yes, Lord, thank you, Father. You know, not me.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Yeah, there has to be more meaning to that. There has to be a story, there has to be a message behind that to give it context, but I still think we could have beat that. Well, you know, if we would like thank you, God, for your mercy. Thank you, God for your mercy. That applies to all situations. Yeah, thank you, God, for your grace.

SPEAKER_05 28:12

That boy might be in the Samson study right now. I don't know what's going on at that church. But you know, what we can say is when we that girl was fighting for her life though in the back. She finally when they went to whatever song that was, oh yeah, he's good. Oh, I believe that. Let me say it like I believe in Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 28:29

She went in and that harmony came in.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Exactly. Yeah, and you know, another thing was they were struggling to like settle into what is the melody of this.

SPEAKER_05 28:38

It almost sounded almost like I don't know if that was the worship leader, if that was Rev. I don't know. Yeah, that's true. That's true. You know, but it almost just sounded like you know, it was like he was writing his own verse, and then they went to a song that everybody knew. Right, right. So, so yeah, like I mean, situal situation can I say that word?

SPEAKER_04 28:55

Situationally, that's the word, thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_05 28:58

Uh I I praise it in the if it's that kind of a situation, if if it had no context at all, and we just out of the blue.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

I'm gonna wait a second, man. Hold on. Where are we right now? We just jumped in. Random just been Jesus, where are you? Yeah, so yeah, that's my thought.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Yeah, I still passed.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

I still passed because I feel like we could beat that even if we were talking about Samson. I do think we could have beat that spontaneous part, and I feel like we could have established a melody everybody could cling to a little easier, and so I think and I think the singers were fighting for their life. Someone, someone in the comments said this is my affirmation song.

SPEAKER_04 29:41

Guarantee he bowled or she bowled. I don't know. I don't know. I'm just saying, whoever that someone is.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

I could feel my hair growing back. Man, that's gonna be stuck in my head the rest of the day. Ooh, I know those backup singers were fighting for their life. I know they were fighting for their life.

SPEAKER_05 30:00

And some people was in there fighting for a hairline, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

I would have lost it. If you made me sing that, I would have lost it. My composure would be.

SPEAKER_05 30:09

Between that and dangerous loaf of bread. I'm just, you know.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

No, give me that over dangerous loaf of loaf of bread.

SPEAKER_04 30:15

That's what I'm saying. It wasn't that. Y'all remember that, praise the past? Yeah. Yeah. You were dangerous loaf of bread.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

That's a hard note. And so I think it will make you sing. I would rather sing that any day of the world. Yeah, yeah. All right, so moving on to frequently asked questions from worship teams. All right, frequently asked questions from worship teams today. Let's let's go to an OG question that a lot of people tend to cyclically struggle with. How do I stay passionate about worship when I feel spiritually dry?

SPEAKER_05 30:58

Get spiritually wet.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Right. So, like, what are you feeding yourself? I would say.

SPEAKER_05 31:03

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

If you're feeling spiritually dry, it's because you haven't been in the flow of the living water.

SPEAKER_05 31:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Get in the water, get in the river, you know, and you will overflow with gladness.

SPEAKER_05 31:14

That's the truth. Like, literally, you know, you can sometimes you feel dry because you you know, you know how you know how to do church, you gotta be the church, and it ain't just on a Sunday. Right. You gotta be that every day. You got to steward your relationship with the Lord, grow, build the intimacy. Yeah, read your Bible, pray worship on a regular basis, you know, like it's a natural thing. It's it shouldn't just be a Sunday thing, and honestly, you know, worship becomes an overflow of that place. That being a um worship minister should be an overflow from from that place, it shouldn't just be like uh, oh well, that's a good song, so I think I'll sing it. Like there's your history with God, you know, because that's important. I think so. Like that's how you stay passionate. And but also let's let's be clear about passion, real quick. Passion is not like this little thing that I just like to do because I just feel bubbly when I do it. Passion is also, by definition, go look it up, uh, the willingness to suffer, right? Like, it is the willingness to to suffer, um, to be able to go through some things, to lose some sleep. So, you know, like literally, man, your passion has to be for God before it is for your ministry because that's who and what you're administering is your history with him.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

And so that's really, really good. All right, one last question, then we wrap this episode up. How can I grow as a worship leader if I'm not given many opportunities?

SPEAKER_05 32:44

Um, one um I'm not trying to be weird or funny here, but there there may be a reason why you're not getting many opportunities. And that question you might want to ask rather than assume. Why aren't I getting opportunities? And be ready for that level of conversation. You know, I'm not saying go, why aren't I getting nope, your attitude's already wrong, your heart's not in the right place. I'm saying, hey, I've noticed that I'm not really getting a lot of opportunities. Is there a reason for that? Where can I grow? Whatever the case may be. Uh, be ready, you know, and ask that in the right places. Don't go around talking to everybody else about it. Go to your worship leader, your worship pastor, apostle, however that works in your church, in your community. And I would say ask that question. And then things you can do also with that too, is um you know, stay ready, you know, because if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. So be working on your vocals. Like think about like vocal lessons, make sure you're doing vocal warmups, take care of those things, continue to grow in your history with God, find other places to serve, you know, that serve the the Levite or the worship ministry. It's not all about, you know, do I get to be on a stage in front of everybody? In fact, if that's the motive, if that's the point of it all, you're really missing it. You know, um, most people that are in that place on a regular basis, uh this is maybe personal speaking, I don't want to just do it with a broad brush, but most people that are in those places, meaning on a stage in a pulpit, on a Sunday morning or multiple times, the the truth of the matter is they've had to beat themselves into the place where it's not like, hey, I I want to be here. I know that I'm supposed to be here because God has called me to it. And I've gotten to a I'm growing and staying in a place of humility with the Lord that like if this disappeared and it was just me and God in a room, it would be perfectly fine. You know, it it's like the ones that crave that that thing so much. Like if you're not careful, you can find yourself where it's like a motive. Now I think that you know, knowing that God has called you to that place is one thing, it's very important. But you know, it's the combination of things. I I don't know that it's just really like a let's just you know put it here. It might be a comma, you know.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

And I would say on the other end of that, worship leaders, be prepared to share in loving kindness maybe some things, maybe concerns you're having as to why they're not getting more opportunities, or maybe you just didn't even know they wanted opportunities. That's true too. You can share with them. I didn't even know that was something on your heart. We'll definitely keep that in mind going forward, you know. But be prepared to share, you know, real practical things to help your team grow. That's really important.

SPEAKER_05 35:37

Just don't assume. That's the thing I would say. Like, don't assume, oh, I'm not uh don't beat around the bush. Yeah, don't do it.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Just have conversations, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:44

Be clear because the assumptions create a bunch of garbage there. Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

And all of these they they create all these ideas in our mind, and then they can become strongholds and divide us, and that's not even necessarily not what we want at all. Yeah. So thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Protect the Altar podcast. Would you help us by liking, commenting, subscribing, sharing? Send this to maybe some worship teams that you know, some worship leaders, anybody who this would be a helpful conversation who are picking sets. And so we hope that this has been a blessing and encouragement to you. And remember to protect the altar.