“White guy with acoustic guitar” is about all I’ll ever achieve. And that’s OK. God put more talented and interesting people on the earth for a reason.
A song should feel comfortable and authentic to who you are. Don’t try to be someone else when leading worship. People are super perceptive. They can pick up when you’re trying to be someone you’re not.
So select songs with which you can be yourself.
7. SELECT A SONG YOU CAN SING.
There is a growing trend among high-level worship song writers to write songs that jump octaves.
They start out really low then jump an octave on verse two.
That’s great for these artists. The reason they’re famous is that they have incredible voices.
Unfortunately, not all of us are so blessed.
There are things you can do to a song when they require too wide a vocal range, to make them more singable for you and the congregation. But often, nothing can be done, so these songs must be put into the “won’t do” bucket for church.
Keep in mind that the church congregation probably has about 50 percent of your vocal ability. So if you struggle with it, church members won’t even try.
Pick songs where the lowest and highest notes are only about one octave apart. And don’t be afraid to change the original key to make it singable.
I rarely do a song in the same key as the original.
Remember that worship isn’t a performance, and it’s not a spectator sport. You want to make it easy for 99 percent of the congregation to join in.
8. CHOOSE WORSHIP SONGS THAT ARE NOT PERFORMANCE PIECES.
Speaking of spectator-ism, choose songs that lend themselves to participation. That doesn’t mean just putting it in an easy key as mentioned above.
There are certain songs where people just tune out and watch. It could be because it’s too artsy, there are too many lyrics, it’s hard to sing or a number of other reasons.
For the most part, I avoid long instrumental solos, vocal riffs, choreography and such performance-based elements.
There’s a time and a place for those, and I love them. But I’m doing a disservice to the church by indulging in such things for my own pleasure.
Some worship songs just make people want to sit down, sip their coffee and watch. Choose songs that make them want to stand and sing.
9. CHOOSE WORSHIP SONGS WITHOUT LYRIC OVERLOAD.
Today’s worship song writers are no slouches when it comes to lyric writing.
I remember when worship songs fit on one page. Now I’m lucky to get a two-pager.
Here’s a common sequence for today’s worship songs:
- Verse 1
- Verse 2
- Prechorus
- Chorus
- Verse 3
- Prechorus
- Chorus
- Bridge
- Verse 4
- Prechorus
- Prechorus
- Chorus
I love the effort demonstrated here, and I love these songs. But I wonder if the church will ever learn more than 25 percent of the words.
Most churchgoers come three of eight Sundays. So they may only hear a particular song a few times per year, even if we play it a lot.
I remember plenty of times where I’m totally sick of a song because I feel that we had played it too much.
Next thing you know, a member of the church asks what that new song was that we played.
The point is, at least have a selection of songs in your repertoire that are really basic and have few lyrics. Make sure they’re not all the Encyclopedia Britannica of worship music.
10. CHOOSE WORSHIP SONGS THAT PASS THE WHISTLE TEST.
Can your church members whistle the tune of a new song after hearing it once? That’s the test of a good song. I heard this advice from worship leader and songwriter Bob Kilpatrick. He says the best songs are memorable and not that complicated.
So if you hear a song and are whistling it or singing it immediately, that’s probably a good sign that it’s a good candidate for your church.
11. CHOOSE A SONG THAT FITS WITH MANY THEMES.
You want your worship songs to fit thematically with the service.
What does that mean? For instance, if your pastor is preaching on the resurrection of Christ, maybe you want to do “Resurrecting” by Elevation, which tells the post-crucifixion story.
The thing is, you don’t want to try to teach your congregation a song that only fits with one Sunday’s message. You want to use that song again sometime.
For example, this Sunday’s sermon is about taming the tongue as James talks about.
You probably wouldn’t want to find a song called “Taming the Tongue.” That’s too specific to use again.
Instead, find a song that talks about surrender to Christ’s commands in general. You could use that in a variety of ways in the future.
12. THE SONG CAN FIT INTO ANY WORSHIP SETLIST.
Also, think about how a song will fit with other songs.
Typically, you don’t play a worship song by itself. It’s part of a larger set of songs that all blend together.
