This was an interesting weekend. Darcy and I attended a wedding down in Fredonia, NY on Saturday and as such I did not lead (or even attend) the 7pm service. This is certainly not a catastrophe by any means – on the contrary it’s great to be able to get away now and then – but I found that I’ve grown very used to Saturday worship as part of preparation for Sunday mornings. I felt a little disconnected this morning as we got ready for the worship service.
Jason‘s topic this weekend was “Helping Yourself,” and it was a great follow up to Pastor’s message last week. Very practical teaching and very well delivered. My notes on worship are below:
Saturday, 9/27 – 7:00pm: (I spoke to Matt briefly this morning (Sunday) and got some of his thoughts from this service – he was leading)
- On the whole, Matt felt things went pretty well. At least they were better than the last time he led. Of course, the last time was covering for me with about 8-hours notice when I was out with pneumonia and he had only been at the church for two weeks. So, there’s really no where to go from there but up!
- Feedback from Jason was that Matt was speaking too fast at one point.
- Matt noted some tempo problems on one or two of the songs.
- If you were at this service, can you tell me what you observed and heard?
- The wedding was nice. The groom was a former member of Darcy’s youth group and several others from that group were there. It was fun to see them again, and there was a bit of regression back to our youth group days…which is a story for another time!
Sunday, 9/28 – 11:15am:
- I could really hear the congregation singing this morning. I love to hear the congregation sing. It shows we are connecting and coming into worship together.
- My monitor mix was off this morning. It’s really difficult to focus when you do not hear things the way you are used to.
- As a result of the monitor mix, I did not feel smooth in my leadership of the service. The good news is, the days I feel off are the days I get the most positive feedback on other people’s worship experience. God works through our weakness!
- From what I could hear, the band was playing pretty well this week.
- Jason did a masterful job of weaving all his plugs seamlessly into the message this week.
As always, I would love your feedback. You can share a comment about how the band did, how the service flowed…or not, or you can share about something God spoke to you about in worship. Whatever’s on your heart and mind, leave it in the comments below.
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Journey to Worship 
Thanks for the feedback, Barb! It’s amazing how many factors can play into a service each week – many we have control over, and some we don’t!
Yeah…starting on time is always a good thing. I tend to be rather detail oriented, when I’m not playing guitar! 🙂 I get in to worship and I don’t track time as strictly. It’s something I need to be more aware of, so thanks!
I understand the frustration about the range (I have it too, sometimes – about my range, that is). Let’s work on some ways to use your voice in the range that you have.
Thanks again – I’ll talk to you soon!
I thought that Matt did a good job with the service. I have so much appreciation for how challenging it must be to lead, play and sing. We started on time and the service was over by 7:50. I know that this can’t always happen and can be dependent on many different factors, but I have always felt that this service shouldn’t be longer than an hour. I think making an effort to start on time would help.
We did have some tempo issues come up. During our warm up, some of the songs were dragging. I think we did better during the service as we tried to be more mindful of it. I did feel that some of the songs didn’t have the same energy level. But I also don’t feel the congregation was too responsive on Sat. People seemed a little tired. I’m not sure if Here is our God (I think that’s right) is the best opening song. I think it might fit better as a second song or during the offering (end of service). Not upbeat enough for the opening?
I always enjoy singing with Elisa. I especially like when we sing in unison. I think our voices fit nice this way. I found myself being frustrated that my range is not bigger, wishing I could sing higher and still sound good. But this is an on going “thing” with me.
Oh yeah…since Jason’s voice projects differently than Pastor’s, he was a little loud during the sermon.
-Barb