There are big differences in starting a band and building a worship team:

• A band picks members that all fit together. A worship team picks members to represent the body.
• Image is really important in a band. Image is not important on a worship team.
• A band is typically the same people all the time. A worship team should be different people a lot of the time.
• Bands pick songs that make them sound good. Worship teams pick songs that the church needs to sing.
• A band always works toward the better gig. A worship team serves faithfully every week regardless of attendance.
• Bands pick songs that they know will get a response. Worship teams pick songs that sometimes say things we don't want to hear.
• Success to a band is the applause of the crowd. Success to a worship team is the applause of one.

What are you building?

This question was asked at a conference where I was a guest on a panel on worship music. Honestly, at the moment I had a bit of a loss for words. The flow of new worship songs is essentially endless. I chuckle when I hear people say, "There's just not any great new worship songs!" Depending on your definition of great that may be true, but there certainly isn't a shortage of contenders.

So when the guy asked, "Should I be writing songs for my church?", my first impulse was to shout, "No! Please don't! We have plenty already!" But after thinking about it for a few moments, I said, "Maybe."

Non-committal, right? Well, the answer to this question does require some thought and a little self inspection. Here are some probing questions to consider that will help you answer this for yourself:

With any live performance, there's always the possibility of something unexpected happening. I was reminded of this once again last week during worship. The tracks/click we were using went wacky during the first song. I had no option but to kill the tracks and click. After the tracks went down, the whole band was on edge having to adjust. And of course that led to a mistake. Me, the keyboard player, started a song while still transposed a half step down. I didn't realize it until the singer came in. That's the worst feeling in the world - trying to decide between two equally awkward options.

This post first appeared on Chris Vacher's blog, Chris from Canada. It is used here by permission. Please be sure and stop by his blog to say, "Hi!"

Worship leaders, in general, are artists. Artists, in general, tend to be emotionally invested in their own situation. Emotional investment, in general, results in assumptions which have varying degrees of truthiness.

And we all know what happens when we assume.