Dedicated or not?

[quabit]

Just found this site and read almost everything since the beginning. Wish I would have found it earlier, some of you post would have been very helpful.

I do have a issue about dedication. The worship team I play with is small as is the church but that doesn't matter. The issue is dedication of members on the team. A couple of us are dedicated (one being the leader)showing up to every practice and service however some are not and show up when moved. It has been frustrating as I play both guitar and drums and do not know from on week to the next what I will play. The leader and I have discussed it but nothing was done. I took the lead once to confront a member once and it worked but only for a short time. It wouldn't be as bad if they would give notice they weren't going to show but they don't.

I have prayed about this and thus far am learning the lesson of patience. Recently I signed up for program to send reminders/schedule and confirmation to everyone hoping that it will motivate them but honestly I don't think it will matter. I'm asking if anyone else has experienced this in anyway, and has worked through it. Is been going on a long time and I getting the the point of dropping out.

again this site is great wish I would have found it awhile ago.

[ravindave_3600]

Nice to meet you, Brer Quabit! Welcome.

Off the top of my head I think there are two reasons people aren't committed. One is they don't really enjoy it. The second is they think it's not important. For example, if it's not fun maybe it's because they don't like song choices or they have a problem with the leader (that power hungry egomaniac!). If they don't think it's important maybe they haven't had good teaching (pastoral support?) on why we sing and play, or maybe they're too into their kids' Sunday morning soccer games. If you can define which of these is true of your people, you'll have a shot at overcoming it.

Oh, and don't you quit. Remember Who YOU are playing for and WHY.

[quabit]

I suppose you are correct, there has to be a reason. While I have read some post here about power hungry leadership this is not the case. As a matter of fact I wish our leader was more of a leader. I feel he should approach these guys and ask what their plans are but he won't. If they come and go and whenever even without notifying him he says its fine, he'll just use them when they are. Last nights practice only the 2 of us again. We now lack a bass and another guitar causing a ripple effect and the two of us play other instruments when everyone is there. We have become an acoustic/electric duo now.

I'm getting the feeling that 1 guy is just ready to call it quits but can't bring himself to do it because he enjoys it but I think he is catching flack at home. The other is a new christian and I think the newness and drive to serve is wearing off. He is even missing services quit allot now. For him it may be more important just keeping him from straying as to playing with the worship team. He came from a rough background and some of his old running mates have started dropping by to see him more often.

I spoke to the leader at practice to see if we could run a note in the bulletin requesting volunteers "who want to serve the Lord"and he said that would be fine as long as it doesn't come across as a slap in the face. I agree so I'm going to try and run one . I mean even a voice singing with us would be nice.

[franchelB]

welcome to the tdrpi "quabit"!
Now, for my "duh" thoughts: IMO, finding "dedicated" people in church IS hard, let alone getting them into some kind of ministry...IT IS A "CALLING"!
YOU seem to be pretty dedicated to your music ministry, and that's GREAT! But not everyone can be as dedicated as you, including your music minister (leader)...who seems to have a laid-back attitude, which is cool too! The main is too keep focus on what's REALLY important: GOD...and giving Him praise!
And if you have God "in control", who cares if you are the only music minister singing and playing your guitar "unplugged" in a small country-side church or you have a 100 choir and a full-piece orchestra playing at the Cathedral in St. Louis?

[Saxguitar]

You know I was about to post a thread about this same topic. Been there and still am doing that. Our praise team has about 10-15 people on a regular basis and the only people we know are dedicated are the praise band (four of the members) and two singers. The others tend to come and go as they please. Then on Sunday morning they stroll into the sanctuary with a big smile on their face and ask "Do you want me to sing today?" This is a everyweek problem so I feel with you, the best thing to do is what ravindave 3600 and franchelB said. Just remember that you are praising the Father and know that no matter what all music is good to his ears. I have played on my praise team for five years and we have played services with everything from 5 members total to almost a twenty person praise team. It is His way of keepinng you on your toes. Good luck with it your Praise Team will be in my thoughts, it is hard having a small congregation(we have 180 average so we are small) and getting people to be dedicated.

By the way welcome to TDPRI!

[quabit]

Thanks everyone its good to be smacked every now and then to regain focus. Your post has done that but in a good way. You are 100% correct in that I should be focusing more on serving God and giving him praise no matter who shows up to play. In my heart I know this but the flesh gets in the way sometimes and starts feeling that everyone should give 100%, and by this I mean the worship team as a whole. We all fall short as the scripture says and sometimes I feel "I" am not giving my all when not everyone shows even though individually I am. Serving the Lord by serving his people no matter the circumstance may be the lesson he is teaching.

This may sound self serving as it felt so good to see but last weeks service during the song service even though it was just the 2 of us, I notice for the first time since doing this that the most of the congregation had closed their eyes and was praying the words of the some of the songs. Usually they are prim and proper. That was the best feeling to see them do that. So maybe this is Gods way. I know earlier I said I felt like dropping out but your words of encouragement got me to rethinking why I actually do this in the first place. I'll let you guys know how Sunday goes.

Do any of you record the worship service. I was thinking about having it done this Sunday in order to improve the sound/vocals.

[GoldieLocks]

I don't think this is a Church problem or a musician problem...its a people problem. And it ain't going to get any better.

It seems the majority of people nowadays are irresponsible and kinda lazy. I've just gotten used to it and expect a below average level from most people. It sounds depressing...and it is.

If you come across any good musicians with a great work ethic: Never let them out of your sight.

[777Brad]

What I also don't get is we have some good players/singers in our congregation that we have asked to join us. We're friends with them & all, but they don't want to commit. They'll play secular gigs, but not Sunday morning.

I've turned down secular gigs if it conflicts with my gig with the Father.

[GoldieLocks]

I met a famous Christian musician many years ago. I asked him if he played in a Church band...He laughed and said "NO".

It took me a few years to figure out why. Now I totally understand. The better you get and the more dedicated you are the harder it is to put up with Church politics and lazy musicians.
You really do have to lower your musical dedication and ambition to put up with what normally happens when working with volunteer unprofessional musicians. Spoon feeding some of these people just to get them to tune their instruments or learn a scale or complex chord. Some times they don't even show up with their instruments???

[Nub]

Having some firm guidelines (I hate the word "rules") in place for the worship team can eliminate a lot of those problems. It keeps the playing field level & lets everyone know where they stand. In this case, folks should be at rehearsal (on time & ready to play), or they do not play on Sunday. It eliminates a lot of unnecessary drama, but you have to be willing to stick to it, and play with a "short team", once in a while.

[quabit]

Well I told you I'd let you know how Sunday went and it was a disaster. Nothing went right from mic's not turned on (except mine and I don't sing songs that I have add lead parts), to someone messed the sound board up and we couldn't fix it in time. The sound was very very loud and very muddied. I tried to adjust using my volume knob and pedal but couldn't get it right. Our video equipment for the slides got jacked up. So yesterday is being scrapped as as just one of those days.

There is good news though, we got together sound techs and band and decided to go back to the basics and new player stepped up, unfortunately he's only here for about 8 months, but we are going to use him until then. It's time to rebuild and I think that came out in our meeting. We are going to build the team around the original 2 of us and add if we can and only if they are dedicated. The guy playing with us for a short time knows this as it was discussed with him however I have heard him play keys and he's good and his heart is right with god.

So anyway it's back to ground one. I think yesterday mess finally got the leader, sound guys rethinking that everything was ok. Guess we will see. Keep us in your prayers in that we built this team on the foundation of the Lord.

[Saxguitar]

Well it's nice to hear that you guys are in a sense learning from the past and now that you guys are going to rebuild the praise team from the ground up. Bad weeks happen, they happen to my PT everyweek but you do what you can do with people who volunteer. My praise team has yet to have what I would call a good week in ages, most the time it has to do with mics not turned on or instruments not put through the main speaker but eventually you learn to just role with it as God gives it to you.

Good luck with the rebuild hopefully it works out, what am I saying it will work out just never loose sight of what you were put there for, to praise the Lord and to help others priase him through music. You are always in good hands.

[Detman101]

Originally Posted by GoldieLocks

I don't think this is a Church problem or a musician problem...its a people problem. And it ain't going to get any better.

It seems the majority of people nowadays are irresponsible and kinda lazy. I've just gotten used to it and expect a below average level from most people. It sounds depressing...and it is.

If you come across any good musicians with a great work ethic: Never let them out of your sight.

I agree...it's affecting my church too. People no longer participate in almost anything. But the bible said there would be a great falling away...

This is just the word being fulfilled...



Dm

[dale_c]

The team I am on also has a few people that don't play for weeks at a time but our team leader made a rule some time back that if you miss rehearsal, you don't play Sunday which I think is pretty fair. Now if we could only get everyone to show up for rehearsals on time...

[Detman101]

Originally Posted by dale_c

The team I am on also has a few people that don't play for weeks at a time but our team leader made a rule some time back that if you miss rehearsal, you don't play Sunday which I think is pretty fair. Now if we could only get everyone to show up for rehearsals on time...

Lol...I wish we had that rule...
But then again it wouldn't work since they cancel rehearsal 3 out of 4 times a month at our church. Then for the last one they cancel it for some church event...

So WE effectively NEVER PRACTICE!!!


=p
Dm

[spencer31st]

I am sad to hear that my church is not the only one having this problem. We have two bands, one for the morning services and one for the evening services. I play in the morning band which has dedicated members who are almost always there and play their heart out. We have 3 guitars, bass, drums, keyboard, and 7 singers. The evening band was 3 guitars, bass, drums, and 5 singers. Everything was great.... I normally do not go to the night service but there was a speaker there this past sunday night that I wanted to hear. I was shocked when I arrived and only saw 1 acoustic gutar player and 4 singers. I am friends with the guitar player so I asked him "where is everyone?", to my surprise he stated that over the last 2 months everyone but him had quit because they did not have enough time! Well long story short - I was asked to play with him and I gladly accecpted. I will now play three services in the morning, pratice at 3:00, and play again from 6:00-8:00. I belive that the best way to get people to be dedicated is to set the example yourself. In time I belive that we can fill the holes missing from our band and continue the Lord's work.

[Parma_TeleMon]

Originally Posted by spencer31st

I will now play three services in the morning, pratice at 3:00, and play again from 6:00-8:00.

DUDE! I used to play on a team like that, but it was only 2 on Sunday morning, one Sunday night and one Wednesday night.

And we had a rule - no practice, no play. But, as has been mentioned, you have to enforce a rule like that and play shorthanded sometimes.

And never, EVER forget - it's all about the King's glory!

[spencer31st]

Originally Posted by Parma_TeleMon

DUDE! I used to play on a team like that, but it was only 2 on Sunday morning, one Sunday night and one Wednesday night.

And we had a rule - no practice, no play. But, as has been mentioned, you have to enforce a rule like that and play shorthanded sometimes.

And never, EVER forget - it's all about the King's glory!

Oh yea, I forgot that we also pratice on tuesday and thursday nights from 7:00 - 9:00 (most weeks).

[dale_c]

I have to admit that I have let what I have perceived as others lack of dedication get to me sometimes but I am really doing my best to overcome that character defect. I might think that someone is not dedicated having no idea what is going on in their personal lives that could be the real root of the problem. I am just honored to be able to get up on stage every Sunday and make music.

[scooteraz]

Sometimes we just have to help dedication and commitment with enforced rules like "no practice no play". It at least filters out the folks that sort of think it might be fun to sing or play with the P&W team vs. those that are willing to make some commitment.

Wow, not tuning, or showing up to practice without instruments. I will freely admit that my musicianship needs help, and that my practice routine needs to be better. But that seems over the top. They would be gone from our P&W team. Singers, OTOH.....