New Vintage Church. Worship Team Handbook. Revised 05/18/17

Transcription

1 ! New Vintage Church Worship Team Handbook Revised 05/18/17

2 INTRODUCTION NVC Worship Team Handbook WE are thrilled you are interested in joining our worship community. Here at New Vintage Church we place high value on expressive worship. We believe God loves it and therefore we never grow tired of giving Him praise! We do so with faith, joy and passion! We will continue to creatively push the limits of what has always been. OUR WORSHIP PHILOSOPHY Worship expressed through song is a critical element of our culture here at New Vintage Church and is important in helping us connect with God's presence. Every song tells a story and we want to choose the right stories to tell. When selecting songs we will hold them to 3 key elements; Christ centered, Vibrant and Engaging. If the song doesn t meet those criteria we simply will not do it. Our desire is to build strong worship teams made up of volunteers from all walks of life, with a musical talent, a passion to grow in their faith and a heart to lead others to Jesus. CHRIST-CENTERED Jesus is why we do what we do. The message through music should not just be about Jesus, but rather for Jesus and toward Jesus. ENGAGING It s about all of us, not you. When we sing songs that are catchy and easy to sing, everyone can participate. Worship is not a spectator sport, everyone from the 1st time visitor to the lead pastor should be able to participate in our worship service. VIBRANT Let s be attractive! Music that is current and relevant to our culture helps us attract people and challenge them to grow spiritually. Smiling faces and movement on stage will connect people to the song and ultimately God. We want our people on stage to be as welcoming and inviting as our front door team. Our songs will be full of life, faith and joy! BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES As music is only a tool in worshipping God, we can conclude that if we violate Biblical principles, music can be destructive and divisive. We must be committed, prepared, orderly, and skilled to avoid obstacles and stumbling blocks in our worship and fellowship. Examine the following principles: MAKE AN OFFERING Worship is an offering to God therefore we should bring our best worship every service, every time! Such an offering requires commitment, preparation and order. This means time on your instrument and vocals, but never neglecting time in the Word, in prayer and in personal worship. BE RELEVANT Paul knew the importance of relevance in the church when he wrote, I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 1 Corinthians 9:2 Pastor Brian Houston describes relevance like this; Relevance is the distance between the life you proclaim to live and the life you actually live, in that gap lies your relevance. If we as worshippers stand on stage proclaiming to be worshippers and only live as such on Sundays our relevance is low thus our influence will follow. We will also do new music in new and creative ways as to stay with current trends in culture. SING TO HIM A NEW SONG Psalm 33:3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy, reminds us that our worship is to be fresh. We are not to fall into non-thinking habit, letting our worship become stagnate. As we worship in our personal time, we are able to take people into new places corporately. Allow the song in you come out! Page 2 of 9

3 DEVELOP A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF WORSHIP It is our desire on the Worship Team for participants to grow and unify as a team in the understanding and Biblical principles of worship. Developing our understanding of Biblical worship will help us be the kind of worshipers He desires. John 4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. We believe He is looking for authentic, passionate worshippers! FOSTER POSITIVE ATTITUDES The Worship Team is a place where we are vulnerable as we give all we are to God as evidenced by Romans 12:1: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship. So we must always seek humility and give praise to Him who enables us. 1 Peter 5:5 instructs All of you, clothe yourself with humility toward one another, because, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Because those involved in a worship team possess different levels of musical expertise and skill, it is important to always foster an atmosphere of positive attitudes whenever we gather. Romans 12:10: Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. GROWTH AND ENCOURAGEMENT As you grow in your skills, spiritual walk, and ministry (individually and as a team), expect to be encouraged and raised-up in new ways and areas. Hebrews 10:24: And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. BE ACCOUNTABLE AS AN EXAMPLE Everyone on the stage is responsibly accountable, which is one of the main reasons we have developed methods to be accountable to God and the body of Christ. Others look to our lives and behavior as examples. Therefore, we have established specific qualifications and guidelines for participation on the worship team. EXPECTATIONS The leadership team at NVC is concerned about both the spiritual development of our volunteers as well as the art form and skills they contribute. Therefore we make no apologies about the expectations we have for our volunteers. If you decide to pursue involvement in our worship team, please do not be surprised by the standards for your spiritual preparation and development as well as the quality of your contribution. 1 Cor 4:2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. INVOLVEMENT You must also be a faithful participant in the life of this congregation as demonstrated by your attendance and involvement, regularly attending Sunday morning services and special all-church events, as well as attending our Worship Team Community events, and Team Nights. WILLINGNESS NVC recognizes that each of us possess multiple gifts and talents that may cover a broad range of ministry opportunities at NVC. While some may feel called to worship ministry, that calling may be for a season so that others are allowed a chance to contribute equally, and we are allowed an opportunity to serve in other areas as needs arise. This means demonstrating a willingness to hold this ministry with an open hand, leaving up to God and the leadership all questions regarding the scope of your involvement. HUMILITY God has given all of us gifts and talents that are intended to be used to bring attention to Jesus, not ourselves. It s important to understand that we have an obligation to be good stewards of the gifts and talents God has given us, and we should seek to use those gifts in humility to be a blessing to the body of Christ and not because we are drawn by the lure of the stage. Page 3 of 9

4 SPIRITUAL PREPARATION The worship ministry is seeking true worshipers as described in John 4:23-24, expecting you to be so during rehearsals and services as well as during the rest of the week. This means carefully preparing your heart for worship through prayer and study. Our spiritual preparation has a direct effect on our effectiveness as a worship and music ministry team. Preparation also means coming to rehearsals and services ready not only to sing, play music, or work the equipment, but to worship Jesus and minister to His people. It cannot be emphasized enough that worship, not music, is our first priority. SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE Excellence is not the same as ability. God isn t looking for perfection, but excellence. Our worship team must pursue God s best through excellence in everything we do. We will strive to honor Him through a whatever it takes work ethic as in 1 Cor 9:24-27 Run in such a way as to get the prize We need to work at our music and technical abilities to become the very best we can be. Colossians 3:23-24 says, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, working for the Lord, not for men. This can mean a great deal of individual practice as well as with the team. Keep in mind that the team will only be as proficient as the individuals that make it up. COOPERATION Worship team members must have a cooperative spirit. Remember Colossians 2:12-13 Therefore, as God s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against each other Encourage and support other members of the team and those with whom you serve. We should build up one another and have the responsibility of eliminating any word or action that is not constructive to our team. Therefore, think twice before speaking. Don t overemphasize skill, but rather total dependence on God. In worship ministry, there is always the specific temptation of the lure of the stage, the fleshly need to be out front. We need to look at our team as not just a collection of separate musicians but as a single unit with a single purpose. You must maintain a teachable spirit, open to insight and constructive criticism from others. Our heart attitude should not be to shine forth our own skills and opinions, but to enhance the team as a whole. This includes maintaining an attitude of positive encouragement and embracing the overall direction and vision of the church as revealed to church leadership. We are to submit to each other and to our leadership, out of respect for each other as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. SPIRITUAL GROWTH As a Christian example, you need to engage a commitment to continued maturing in your spiritual walk by growing in grace and knowledge in God. This is as important on an individual basis as it is with the team. Nurture your growth through the Word, through prayer, through faith, and through fellowship. CHRISTIAN WITNESS & EXAMPLE Have as your highest aim to publicly confess Jesus Christ as your Savior. Be an example for believers in conversation, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity while giving attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine as in 1 Timothy 4: This involves a commitment to being a witness inside and outside the church walls in your attitude, appearance, and behavior. So any time during your worship team involvement, should you feel that your personal life is not reflecting what Christ would have, we ask that you voluntarily step down and pull yourself from the worship team so as to not disgrace the name of Christ. We also encourage you to seek council with a pastor in working to restore your relationship with Christ, the worship team, and the church body. CONTROVERSY Because our volunteers are visible examples to others both on and off stage, we expect your life choices, attitudes and conversations to example traditional Biblical views, steering clear of promoting controversial positions in politics, pop culture, or religion. This includes being cautious in your use of social media, avoiding posting controversial pics, comments, gossip or other drama, that divides instead of unifies. Page 4 of 9

5 SUNDAY TEAMS (NVC) REQUIREMENTS, TIMES & CONTACT REQUIREMENTS - Has attended NVC for at least three months - Is Spiritually mature (Determined by the Worship Pastor) - Is available to be involved without detriment to family, school or work - Has attended Team Night & the New Team member class - Completes and passes our tryout evaluation - Possesses and demonstrates musical ability - Is comfortable playing along with a click track (metronome) - Is comfortable with public performance - Demonstrates appropriate stage presence - Has become a member of NVC - Commits to support NVC financially in addition to giving time and talent - Possesses a passionate worshipful stage presence SERVICE TIMES - Sunday Morning: 9:00 am - Sunday Morning: 11:00 am - Sunday Evening: 7:00 pm REHEARSAL TIMES - Morning Set-Up 7:15-7:30 am - Morning Rehearsal 7:30-8:25 am - Team Huddle 8:30-8:40 am - Evening Set-Up 6:20-6:30 pm - Evening Rehearsal 6:30-6:40 pm - Evening Prayer 6:45-6:50 pm CONTACT INFO Chris Yourdan Worship Pastor Cell: worship@newvintagechurch.com Page 5 of 9

6 WORSHIP TEAM DETAILS PLANNING CENTER ONLINE (PCO) NVC uses Planning Center Online to schedule you for services via and/or text. You can use your own login and password to access PCO to (a) view set lists, (b) print chord sheets, (c) listen to songs, (d) the worship pastor and other team members, and (e) block out future dates for which you will be unavailable. This is where you will receive requests to serve on a weekend team, on a youth team, a special event team or a special service. You must accept your request no later than 7 days before the requested service. Failure to do so will result in your spot being filled, no explanation needed. COMMUNICATION Our ability to communicate as a worship community is crucial, whether it is on a Sunday morning during service or mid week while we are at home preparing for the weekend. As a team we have adopted SLACK as our primary form of communication. Slack is an application that can you can download from the google play store or the apple app store. If you are added to our team you will then be added by to our slack communication channel. We ask that you reply promptly, and check slack regularly as to maintain a culture of clear communication. Failure to communicate may result in removal from the team. COMMITMENT When you receive a service request, please be sure to double check the dates you are confirming (possibly multiple dates). Please respond to service requests as promptly as you can. Once you confirm a service, we ask that you honor that. Last-minute cancellations are inconvenient for everyone. Taking the time to check your schedule before confirming, and using block out dates on PCO will help avoid schedule conflicts. Additionally, worship team members are required to be faithful and punctual in their attendance of rehearsals, services, and other events for which they are scheduled. If you have already confirmed a service and an emergency arises, please inform your team leader as soon as possible so that other arrangements can be made. You will generally not be able to participate in the Sunday service if you cannot make rehearsal unless arrangements have been made beforehand. ON STAGE EXPECTATIONS At New Vintage Church we exist to inspire a VIBRANT faith in Jesus. We will be vibrant in every area: 1. We will be vibrant in the lobby. 2. We are asking our worship teams to be present in the lobby before and after service. 3. We will be vibrant on stage. - To be on stage is an honor, not a privilege. We are not on stage because God or the church owes us anything. Hopefully we are up there in front because of your diligence in serving Jesus. When you're leading a song step forward and own the stage. 4. We will be vibrant in church life - It is not a requirement that you attend a small group but it is strongly encouraged that you are present at most if not all worship events and church wide events. We don t want to create any sort of us and them idea Page 6 of 9

7 DRESS CODE No shorts No flip flops (ladies open toed sandels okay) Clothes must fit properly Skirts and Dresses must be an appropriate length No leggings/yoga pants (worn as pants, under a skirt or dress okay) No tank tops - by themselves, as an undershirt is okay Wear clothing and shoes comfortable enough to move in Hair should be kept and clean Clothes in style, but wrinkled or unclean will still be unacceptable You likely cannot go wrong with all black thats typically Chris go to! - Always feel free to contact Pastor Chris if you need help WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU Each member will have their own access to chord charts via PCO. Please bring the following: Your own instrument or gear as needed. You are allowed an ipad or tablet of your choice on stage for your chord charts, however we do not allow paper copies on stage. Too many messes and quite frankly its hard to navigate! We use Behringer in ear monitor systems that require ear buds or discreet headphones of some kind. a. We recommend as a starter the Shure 215 from Ted Brown. They are $99 and will far out preform your standard ear buds. TEAR DOWN After service is over, please make sure to take home anything that you brought with you. This includes cleaning up all trash such as tissues, water bottles, coffee and communion cups, chord charts, ear buds or other items that were used during the service. Please loosely wind your in ear monitor cable and hang it on the in ear system. Any New Vintage instrument cable you borrowed, please wind up and place neatly at the back of the stage. A failure to clean up after yourself could result in limited scheduling. NOTE: the church does not offer insurance coverage nor assumes any liability for items damaged on or stolen from church property. CHOOSING SONGS AND BAND MEMBERS The process of creating a song set each week is based on our FOCUS points, with the goal of creating and fostering the best worship experience, participation, interaction, and community from everyone in attendance. Each song set will be selected by the worship pastor at least 2 weeks before your scheduled service. Our worship pastor will schedule teams on rotation or by choosing teams or members best suited for a particular service or special event. New music is introduced as needed and included in our PCO library. Team members will be able to learn new music as it is introduced into the library and into weekly song sets. Page 7 of 9

8 BE PREPARED We want to foster a spirit of excellence in what we re doing. This does not mean we expect perfection, but we do expect that our team members are giving their best. This includes spending time practicing your instrument or vocals at home in order to become better musicians, as well as spending time to learn the songs before rehearsal so we are all prepared. There is a difference between practice and rehearsal. Practice at home. Rehearse with the band. Come to rehearsal excited and ready to run through the set. We love rehearsal because We don t practice on people! We owe it to our team members, our church, our pastor and our God to come prepared, excited, full of faith and joy! WORSHIP TEAM COMMUNITY Community among our worship team members is extremely important, we want to foster an atmosphere of fellowship and community between us as friends and colleagues. As such, we host regular Worship Team Community events that you are encouraged to attend. We also encourage everyone to attend our NVC Team Nights. Here Pastor Matt shares great leadership material, we offer free dinner and childcare. It s a great night to meet new people at the church and to grab ahold of our Pastor s heart for the church! COUPLES If you are one of our single members, we want God s plan for your dating life and wish you all the best in your pursuit of Godly romantic companionship. However, if you wish to date another worship team volunteer, we must ask that you first notify the Worship Pastor for discussion. Additionally, married couples who are serving together in the same department can create special scheduling requests or other schedule conflicts that need to be considered. Speaking with the Worship Pastor ahead of time will help set expectations for everyone involved. TEAM HUDDLE Here we will pray for each other, pray for the service, address any special service flow needs and possibly share a bible verse or devotional thought leading into the weekends services. PARKING We ask all our volunteers to please help us reserve some of the best parking spaces near the front of the building for visitors only. Except for volunteers needing special accommodation, please park further away from the front entrance beginning in the third row, or along or near the North end of the building closer to Ted Brown Music. Page 8 of 9

9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHANGES IN POLICY This Handbook supersedes all previous handbooks, manuals or memos that may have been issued. However, since our organization is subject to change, we reserve the right to interpret, change, suspend, cancel, or dispute with or without notice all or any part of our policies or procedures at any time. We will notify all volunteers of these changes. Changes will be effective on the dates determined by NVC, and after those dates all superseded policies will be null. APPLICATION We rely on the accuracy of information contained in the worship team application and the accuracy of other data presented throughout the on boarding process for new volunteers. Any misrepresentation, falsification, or material omissions in any of this information or data may result in the exclusion of the individual from further consideration of service, or, if the volunteer is already serving, termination of service. VOLUNTEER RELATIONSHIP You understand that your involvement is entirely voluntary, and you are free to resign at any time for any reason. Similarly, NVC is free to conclude its relationship with any volunteer at any time for any reason or no reason. SIGNATURE I have read and agree with the information, expectations, requirements and guidelines outlined in this handbook. I also agree to conduct myself in accordance with the same during my tenure as a volunteer on the worship teams: By: (Sign) (Print) (Date) Page 9 of 9