Band members who don't go to your church?

[christhee68]

Our previous band would go through some turnover now and then, but our leader never seemed to want to give people from our church the opportunity. If we ever had anyone new, she always brought in someone from another church (denomination).

Our new band is filling in some holes, so we posted an ad in our bulletin and I posted a Craigslist ad looking for Catholic musicians to join us.

A great Catholic bass player responded and he is going to be playing with us.

Another guitarist called and said he plays in the band at a local community church.

I asked him, "Are you Catholic?"

He says, "Well, I used to be--way back when you had to go to a preist and confess your sins and all that other dumb stuff."

I said,"Uhhh...we still do that."

He says that he can't make it to practice this week but he'd like to come the week after.

My preference is that we get someone from our church first, and if we can't, then MAYBE bring in someone from outside.

What do you all think?

[rhoydotp]

We had a few of these before and it didn't really sit particularly well with me. I'd rather work with who's available within the church. If it means an acoustic and a shaker for the next few while, so be it. The feeling of community & togetherness is really important, at least for me. You may get lucky that you have a person with great personality but may be not.

[mrboson]

I WL for at least one service each week, and when I need to fill out positions I pull from outside my church. I regularly use guitar and bass players who are on another church's team, and sometimes I use a drummer from another church. I used to get asked a lot to fill in at other church's, nowadays occasionally. Maybe it is not like this everywhere, but here the feeling of community among musicians extends beyond church walls and even denominations. The pastors don't always get along, but the musicians seem to not worry about that

I do not use musicians who are not plugged into church somehow. Since we are "worship leaders", someone needs to have a foundation in our faith for it to be real, IMO. But differences between denominations do not concern me

[Chance L]

I think it can work just fine. The drummer in our band isn't what you would call a "member" of our church, as he goes to the church he grew up in, but he still comes to several services that we don't play in and it works great and has been for almost four years now.

[christhee68]

I think it kind of threw me when he insulted our traditions during the first 30 seconds of our conversation.

I looked up his church and found a video of his band playing "Maggie May" with a Rod Stewart impersonator at one of their services. The band was great, but that wouldn't really go over too well at our church.

I think we may hold out for a while longer and try to go with someone from our church. It's a big church, so I'm sure we can find someone who can help out. Our old band leader really discouraged a lot of people from our church from participating, so it may be a little while before people are aware of the changes and feel comfortable with offering to contribute.

[SngleCoil]

I would say that the closer the ties to your specific church, the better positioned the person will be in embracing the mission of the ministry. Let's face it. A guest can come in do a wonderful job, but family is family. And this is coming from someone who has filled in as a guest musician frequently in small and growing churches.

Yeah, try to open it up to people within your church. Twice a year we have a heavily promoted period of open enrollment. As a result, we have enough musicians (and very high quality musicians at that) in rotation that we rarely ever come up short on any instument.

[mrboson]

Originally Posted by christhee68

I think it kind of threw me when he insulted our traditions during the first 30 seconds of our conversation.

This guy quickly showed himself to both ignorant and unprofessional. The first isn't really a crime because it is easy to fix with education, but the second is a big warning sign. So that by itself gives enough reason to pass on him.

[goldtopper]

My experiences with musician's playing at several Churches makes me look upon them as mercenaries. I always prefer to pull from within our Church whenever possible.

[SamClemons]

It is an opportunity to witness to someone, possibly even a non-believer.

[Thighbanez]

the keyboardist and drummer at our church aren't saved and the drummer is not from our church. i guess it doesn't help that the keyboardist is the pastors son. we get a rotating menagerie of unsaved skinny-jean wearing hipsters that play at our church at the keyboardist’s request. our church is strict about everything except the music area...i don't get it.

but hey, I'm just a stupid guitarist who doesn't know anything.

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[SngleCoil]

Originally Posted by Thighbanez

the keyboardist and drummer at our church aren't saved and the drummer is not from our church. i guess it doesn't help that the keyboardist is the pastors son. we get a rotating menagerie of unsaved skinny-jean wearing hipsters that play at our church at the keyboardist’s request. our church is strict about everything except the music area...i don't get it.

but hey, I'm just a stupid guitarist who doesn't know anything.

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That's petty surprising. As my worship pastor like to say, "how well can you really lead a person to a place you haven't been yourself?"

[Nub]

Originally Posted by Thighbanez

the keyboardist and drummer at our church aren't saved and the drummer is not from our church. i guess it doesn't help that the keyboardist is the pastors son.

Do they let them preach, too? It amazes me how little thought some pastors give to worship leading. <facepalm>

And SngleCoil hit the nail on the head.

[Thighbanez]

nah, they don't preach lol. don't get me wrong, they are GREAT at playing music. ..it just goes against the supposed church rules. i can deal with it, its just awkward being the odd man out when all their musician buddies show up to play. they're all talking in hipster slang and to each other and laughing all the time to their inside jokes.

meh...

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[christhee68]

Originally Posted by Thighbanez

i can deal with it, its just awkward being the odd man out when all their musician buddies show up to play. they're all talking in hipster slang and to each other and laughing all the time to their inside jokes.

meh...

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How many hipsters does it take to change a lightbulb?

....It's a really obscure number; you've probably never heard of it.

[Jack FFR1846]

Originally Posted by Thighbanez

nah, they don't preach lol. don't get me wrong, they are GREAT at playing music. ..it just goes against the supposed church rules. i can deal with it, its just awkward being the odd man out when all their musician buddies show up to play. they're all talking in hipster slang and to each other and laughing all the time to their inside jokes.

meh...

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Are there actual rules or are you assuming that there are some.

Our worship ministry is all inclusive. We're a Christian church and had a great guitar player who was Jewish. I say "had" because he moved to another state. Nobody is required to be an official church member (I'm not). Leaders have to be members but anyone who wants to serve is welcome. Musicians are encouraged to take religious classes and join small groups but there is no requirement.

However, if band members cause disruptions, they should be invited to not come back. We have a huge pool of musicians, so can do that. If you've only got 2 musicians from your own church and have to import the rest, then I guess you have to put up with more or adapt to a band with 2 musicians (which could certainly be done).

[Ptrallan01]

Interesting perspectives. Thanks

[WideAwake]

We require our musicians to be members, or at the very least, attend the church, and then hope they become members, which they usually do if they are serious. We've been running with just guitar and drums for a couple years, either because nobody has come along, or people just didn't work out. We could outsource (and have had an opportunity) but honestly, it's just not us. We want to grow musically and spiritually with out band members, and if that means a small crew until the right person comes along, so be it.

[sink]

We just recently changed churches. The old church strictly used members and we suffered because of it. Any warm body to fill the positions regardless of talent. Quite frankly it was awful. Our new church has a constant rotating roster of musicians. From what I can tell they are sort of like "mercenaries" in that they play multiple churches. The quality of musicianship is much better (and they are paid) but I really don't think anyone cares or thinks about it. After what happened at our previous church, rotating people seems to help keep the egos in check. Also the new church is pretty strict on who gets to play so that helps, too. There are good and bad sides to either situation.

[christhee68]

Our priest started to notice that the only time he saw some of our old band members was when they were playing music.

When the band was on “hiatus” for several months every summer, some of the members were conspicuously absent.

I think that was starting to really irritate him, so the old band collapsing and a new one forming in its place came at the right time.

Looking at it from that point, I definitely think we should go with our own rag-tag bunch instead of bringing in outsiders.

[Jhengsman]

We have no money to pay and all of the rest of the small churches are in our boat also. I have not run into the person who is giving up their Sunday mornings and early afternoon to play 6 songs. On occasion a junior leader, and drummer from the church which rented space from us would sub or missionaries who also had a band would spell the team.

My first church was mid sized with pros playing I remember setting in a board meeting and hearing the elders bitterly complain that the hired guns just played and then left during the sermon