And now for some good news.

I've seen a lot of threads about politics and issues with church leadership and worship bands that were real downers. I'm not knocking the people who posted seeking advice or anything like that - I've been there myself! However, I thought it would be good to share how well things are going at my church and see who else has positive things happening with their worship bands.
A little over a year ago we got a new worship leader. This was 2 weeks after I started playing acoustic guitar with the band. He has been a real great leader and he "forced" me to put away my acoustic and pick up the electric and I haven't looked back. After years of just playing chords and simple hammer-on type stuff on the first 5 frets I'm now doing improvised solos all up and down the neck. Downside: I'm now a hopeless gearhound :smile:
For the team in general - we've gotten much tighter and are better at responding to his signals.
Here's the best part: Church attendance is way up, with teens in the front row, excited about being in church! That wasn't the case when I was their age, for sure! We've even started doing Friday night worship concerts every 6 months with great turnout!
So who else is stoked about playing for the Lord?

Things are going well over where I'm at. I actually was the sound man for about a year and a half, and got to play maybe once every month or two. My worship leader recently got someone good to do sound full-time to free me up to play guitar. My worship leader leads from electric and does mostly chords. I've gotten good at playing on the upper part of the fretboard and complementing what he's doing. In a couple weeks, we're going to be playing for a conference and, later, doing a live recording. I'm pretty excited.

Glad to hear it. We're thinking of doing a worship cd also (not for mass production, just for our church) of our original songs.

I'm really enjoying our night church band at the moment - it's mainly teenagers playing and it's a bit of a mish-mash of talent, but we're learning that less is more - our keyboard player is loving the blues organ sound, just holding chords and stuff. We've got a young-gun guitarist (14 year old) who is loving having the freedom to play some nice fills here and there. Our drummer is solid but never turns up on time which is frustrating ... and we have some learner bass players who are just starting to get into it.

We could do with more guys on the singing roster though ... and a sound person who knows about sound. But other than that, I really love playing with them.

DABABY - what part of NEOH are you in? We're opening a satellite in Lakewood on Easter and hope to have our own worship team formed by summer. Until then, the three teams from our main campus will be taking turns leading worship for us.

GIANTSLAYER - I, too, am a sound guy and have been serving as such for several years. Finally made it onto one of our teams as a lead player and continue to lead worship in a small group.

DABABY - what part of NEOH are you in? We're opening a satellite in Lakewood on Easter and hope to have our own worship team formed by summer. Until then, the three teams from our main campus will be taking turns leading worship for us.

I'm about 45 minutes south of you in Wooster. Hope everything comes off without a hitch when you guys start up the satellite church.

Thanks! We had our first setup and "dry run" on Sunday. We're meeting in the gym of a brand new elementary school. There's plenty of acoustic tile on the walls so it doesn't sound like a gym. I think it's going to work out pretty well.

That is fantastic news. The cool part is all the youth. To me that is a tell-tale sign of a truly growing church.

Yeah - I wish I had been interested in church when my parents used to drag me there as a kid. Our high school kids actually have their own worship services as well (with a better stage and room acoustics than we have! We're in a gym :roll:). Their band is really good - it's just more of a post-punk style that I'm too old to appreciate fully:razz:

We have a good thing going on too. Our leader has become a great friend to me. Our drummer is one of my best friends. We mix up the tunes and learn new material constantly. Our attendance is growing steadily and everyone is enjoying the services. The youth have their own building and stage set up. We started a classic rock band last year that puts on Fri. night shows every couple of months. And playing for the Lord HAS to be why I have been dragging guitars around everywhere I went for the last forty + years. I like this good news thread.

Lately my praise band has been able to get alot closer like you said yours has, it has been great and I have even began to feel more relaxed while playing. Recently I have began doing some lead work (still not good but will come in time) and I have even began taking my little Line 6 modeling amp to get a fuller more round sounded tone. We are beginning to break away from just doing a praise set and introducing the audience to more contemporary sounds through musical offerings, which is hard since we don't have a lot of youth but slowly but surely I am seeing the heads of those who are "traditionalists"(they only like hymns) bobbing a little and their feet are a tapping. I have never felt so alive while playing. It is like I am playing a concert only everyone sings the song and if the congregation wasn't there clapping along and singing it would not feel the same. It is awsome!!!

I am also happy to report that our praise team is doing great things. I have only been a part of the team for about 10 months but have grown as a player tremendously in that short time. I always look forward to rehearsals and especially to playing for Sunday services. It seems that even when it looks like we are going to have an "off" day things always work out in the end.