Rather humorously lately, even though I’ve been making a big push for our pastor to have his own blog on our new church website (which is coming VERY soon, by the way), I’ve been a bit burned out about blogging myself..hence the lack of posts.  However, I’m ready to go again and a couple search phrases have motivated me.

I want to address burnout in worship ministry, and address how to raise up new worship leaders, two things that I think go hand in hand.  So, beginning next Monday, I will do a series of posts on these two topics.  But in the meantime, a question: how do you deal with burnout in your ministry?  How do you deal with keeping yourself from getting exhausted and how do you deal with keeping your volunteers from getting exhausted?

Remember to always pray.  Pray that God would provide, and pray that you would have the wisdom to rest in Him when He might not.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an occasion of a church with no piano player, but I’m sure it has happened.  Here are some ideas:

• Find great songs that work accapella.  Sometimes there is nothing more glorious than listening to God’s people sing without anything else accompanying them.  A great many hymns work extremely well for this.  There are also several newer songs that work well.
• If you have a guitarist, teach them to play melodically.  Most guitarists are rhythm guitarists, not lead guitarists, so we (myself included) have a hard time playing melodically.  Teach them to finger pick, teach them to be able to play a solo line as an intro or outro.
• Help the bass player be confident.  The piano covers all the octaves, so when there is no piano and perhaps you have a guitar and bass, if the bass isn’t confident on the low end it will stand out and be distracting.  Even if it’s being able to play whole notes with confidence, teach them to play confidently.
• Help your singers be able to hear.  The singers will have to tune themselves to the guitar, since there is no piano, so help them get used to that.  Spend time in practice without the bass and drums.  Make sure that the bass and drums are not overpowering the guitar, so the singers can hear it.
• Enjoy your organ!  Perhaps you don’t have a piano because the church isn’t ready for that transition yet.  Pray that God would give you patience and that He would give you great joy in worshiping in a traditional style.  If we rely on style to be able to worship God, our foundations of what worship is have not been laid properly, and will crack and crumble when styles change.

Have you ever been a part of a church with no piano or keyboard?  What did you do to fill in the “piano” texture that was missing?

One thing I should have mentioned at the beginning of the week, to do in all of these cases is pray.  Pray for these players to show up.  God will provide.

Here are some ideas for what to do when you don’t have a guitar player:

• Ask your youth leader.  More than likely one of the youth is learning how to play.  Invest time in that youth.  See if the church will help you financially invest in getting lessons for the youth.
• Teach your piano player to play rhythmically.  Often times piano players play only by note and play way too many notes.  Teach them to drive the music with the chords instead of the notes.  There are times when many notes are important, but with the faster songs that you would want a guitarist for, the piano player can drive the rhythm if taught how to do it.
• Don’t pick guitar-driven songs.  Songs such as “God of Wonders” and “Everlasting God” have a very distinct sound that is created by a specific strumming pattern from the guitar.  Avoid picking songs that have a definite and prominent guitar strum.  It is nearly impossible to re-create certain guitar strums on the piano.

If you do more modern songs in your congregation, how have you made them work without using a guitar player?

Building off of that excellent video from Paul Baloche, let’s continue with our thoughts on what to do when you’re missing certain instruments: what happens when you have no drummer? Here are some of my ideas:

• As I mentioned yesterday, the drums and bass carry the groove of the music.  If you have a bass player, teach that person to play very rhthmically and to be able to create a groove without a drummer.  If you have no bass player, teach the instruments you do have to create a groove and play tightly together.  Teach people how to play with steady tempos and practice it all the time!
• Use drum loops.  You can purchase a loop generator at a music store.  While these will not give the personality and creativity as a real drummer (as they are a set pattern that repeats over and over) they can still be very effective in creating a bit of extra rhythm to drive the music.  Be careful, though because in order to play with drum loops your steady tempos have to be very good.
• Use percussion.  Tambourines, shakers, congas, and bongos, djembe, and the fantastic cajon can add a lot of color and rhythm and aren’t too difficult to play.  Make sure you do some research on how to play them correctly so you can teach people how to play them and be sure you know how to care for these instruments as well.  Sometimes there can be nothing worse than someone playing the tambourine or congas who doesn’t know how.
• Use percussion.  Yes, I just repeated myself.  Perhaps you have a drummer in your congregation, but either your church doesn’t want you to use a full kit or the drummer can’t haul the kit back and forth all the time.  Good drummers are good percussionists as well and will know how to play the more easily-transportable instruments.  Pastor Wade said yesterday, “The djembe is the most important percussion instrument in God’s kingdom.”  He was half-joking, but I think he’s got a great point.  The djembe is probably one of the most versatile, least expensive percussion instruments you can find.  Invest in one.  Don’t just invest money though, invest time in learning how to play it and how to teach it.
• Teach your guitarists to play very rhythmically and drive the rhythm.
• Be okay with not having a drummer.  Use it as an opportunity to use piano-driven, intimate songs and teach people to worship intimately.

What are some things you’ve done to make the music more rhythmic without a drummer in the mix?