The Worship Swing-Vote Principle: Maximizing Engagement

• Spend some time coaching at the top of the set. This is what worship is—we minister to God, we express our thanks, love and adoration. It’s about him, not us.
• Provide a musical prelude underneath, asking people to think and/or voice their thanks for things that God has done in the past week, overall in his work.
• Teach them a new song (with just the guitar or keys and leader), talking to the congregation, making eye contact, teaching a harmony, repeating a tougher melody line or phrase, laughing, engaging. Don’t just play it and assume people will jump aboard. Actively teaching migrates people out of their self-consciousness into an us-consciousness. Get them outside themselves.
• Look them in the eyes at the beginning of the welcome … all of them. In a sense, you’re saying, “I see you. I’m glad you’re here. You’re coming with me.”
• Find songs that are peak songs (strong and engaging) and build your set around them.
• Make sure there are simpler songs mixed into the set that are not overly wordy.
• Teach them that when we repeat a phrase or verse or chorus, we are learning to engage the theme a little deeper each time around. For many that will be an “Aha!” moment.
• Make sure the sound mix is loud enough or the musical dynamic can become flat. The sound person is actually one of the musicians, enhancing the musical transportation we are providing.
• Make sure the worship players are servants. Nothing can kill a worship time quicker than a player/singer with a “look at me” attitude being expressed.
• Verbally let the church know where the song is going by telegraphing what’s next: “Sing, ‘You are the everlasting God,’” before going into the chorus, etc. People feel more comfortable when they know where the song is going—and, again, no one wants to be heard singing when no one else is singing!
• Make sure the projected words are on time. If they are not, the Middle 60 will stay out. Guaranteed.
• Vary the linear dynamics within a song. If the song is “full-tilt” the entire time, people will get worn out after two songs. If the song is lighter during the verse, growing in intensity during the pre-chorus, and full-bore in the chorus, the song will breathe and people will stay engaged.
• Call people to raise their hands during a song: “Let’s raise our hands to him and sing it out …”
• Call people to sing loudly within a song: “Sing it loud! Hallelujah! He reigns!” This invites people to expand their sphere of comfort within worship and helps them grow as worshippers.
• Get people clapping … on time, if possible! Start with something very rhythmic and get them clapping together (before the music starts). Make sure your backup singers clap expressively and the church will follow. Oddly enough, clapping gives people a feeling of us-ness very quickly.
• Have someone read a Psalm or passage with music underneath it during the set. This can set the tone of a worship set, and help people focus on a point outside themselves. Ensure that the reader can eloquently convey the passage.
• Have the church read a passage or Psalm aloud together. This can be very powerful, and once again, will help focus them on Jesus and not themselves.
• Get some Top-20 people in the front rows to model full engagement for the rest, or intersperse them to infect the larger group. Modeling fully engaged worship is powerful and necessary. When our younger folks engage fully, it helps the adult Middle 60 engage. We’ve actually coached our teens to strategically seat themselves for greater worship impact.
• Make sure the worship-team singers are fully engaged and expressive. They can set the tone or drain the life out of it. They have two main jobs: Sing and harmonize well, and model worship for the church.
• Make sure the leader sings enthusiastically and owns the songs he or she leads. If you don’t have good song ownership, neither will the church.
• Don’t talk too much between songs, or they will get off the train and may not get back on.
• Pay close attention to all your transitions between songs. If there is awkward space in between songs, the Middle 60 will jump off the train. Chain a set of songs together in a medley. If you have to change a capo on the guitar between songs, make sure the keyboard player is playing some kind of synth texture to move from one song to the next. This is probably the most common problem I’ve seen. People will be fully engaged in worship. The song will end in a full stop. The leader will move his song sheet to the next song, change his capo on his guitar and then start the next song. The Middle 60 are now counting ceiling tiles in the room and thinking about lunch.
• Don’t be afraid of silence, but coach people of what to do in silence: “We’re going to be silent before God right now. Don’t get anxious. Let’s take a deep breath. We’re in God’s presence, and we’re dearly loved. Be still. Shhhh. Be still.” Be careful, however, to keep the time of silence on the shorter side. If you take it too long, people will be anxious next time you do it and it will be harder to get them to engage God in silence.

There are many other people dynamics that can help in leading more effectively. Hopefully these get your imagination going.

Many Off-ramps

The Middle 60 are more susceptible to distractions. Thus, there are many off-ramps during a church service—that is, times when they are distracted and lose focus. If these are minimized, they will typically stay engaged longer. If there are too many, or there is one glaring distraction, they will take the off-ramp and never get back on.

[10 things worship leaders need to stop saying]

Off-ramps can include:

• A cute baby cooing in the row in front of you. Goo goo!
• A crying baby whose parent doesn’t have the social sense to remove them. Wah!
• An awkward pause between songs, like I mentioned above.
• A loud popping sound from an instrument being muted in the sound system.
• A mic feedback screech or any overt mic misbehavior.
• The team not introducing the song together, or not finishing the song together—like the drummer going this way and the leader another. We call this “landing the plane.” We may be on the ground at the end with everyone relatively safe, but the wings were scraped off in the rough and jittery landing.
• A worship leader talking or praying too much during the song set (either between or during the songs).
• The worship leader’s mic volume is too low … or too loud! “Is this guy trying to be a rock star?”
  The music volume is too soft or too loud.
• An instrument is badly out of tune. The Middle-60 person could not tell you why it is distracting, but they are distracted nonetheless.
• An electric guitar player playing leads while everyone is singing (instead of between lines being sung). The electric guitar can be a lightning rod for distraction. Too loud, too many notes, too big an ego, too many special effects—the list goes on … and I play electric guitar!
• Any “look at me” from a worship-team player.
• It’s goofy to say, but inappropriately dressed players and singers can be distracting. Too grungy. Too formal. Too out of sync. Too fashionable. Too much cleavage. Too short a skirt. You know what I mean.
• A lack of talent or practice from a player—that is, they don’t play their instrument well enough or have not put in the time to learn the notes that need to be played.
• Playing a song too long. This is common among younger generations. The song can start slow, build to the chorus, build bigger through the bridge, come waaaay down, quieter chorus building up again and again … rinse and repeat! As I watch the Middle 60 during these times, they take the exit ramp earlier, and the second half of the song is strictly Top 20.

I could go on and on, but I hope this gets you thinking about minimizing distractions, and the consciousness of this will usually help you to see it and make necessary corrections.

In my next post, we will go into time periods and the common mistakes made during anointed worship.