HOW TO PICK THE RIGHT SONGS

HOW TO PICK THE RIGHT SONGS

By not choosing the right songs, we can create a disengaging worship experience. You have one shot each week to get it right. We can t afford disconnection. For the past 21 years as a worship leader, I can say that some of the greatest highlights have been in those moments where a room grabs a song and connects so well in singing that I could back away from the microphone and let them take it. You ve probably had those same moments. The flip side, though, is that some of the worst times have been trying everything I could to get people to jump on board and sometimes it s just doesn t happen. I really believe that song selection has so much to do with how we engage people. Choosing the right songs is extremely important. Music is so subjective and sometimes it s hard to know what songs you need to lead your church. CHOOSING THE RIGHT SONGS I think we have some assumptions when it comes to choosing the right songs. 1. PEOPLE LIVE IN WORSHIP MUSIC LAND LIKE WE DO. When you work at a church or on a music staff, you re used to listening to worship songs to try to figure out what you re going to sing. You may have the latest hit worship record playing in your car but you have to remember that the people that you re leading every week, they re listening to Lady Antebellum and what s on the radio. They re not living in the same world we are when it comes to songs. 2. PEOPLE LISTEN TO WORSHIP MUSIC OUTSIDE THE DOORS OF CHURCH. It s easy to assume that the people we lead are driving around with the songs we sing blaring in their car. It s a great thing if they are, but we have to be honest and realize that most people don t. We don t need to blame them for that, we just need to acknowledge that it s true. 3. IF A SONG IS ON A POPULAR WORSHIP PROJECT IT WILL WORK FOR OUR CHURCH.. After my years of experience with songs and songwriting and seeing hit songs come and go, you never know when a song s going to work. Just because a song is on a project put out by somebody that you respect, does not necessarily mean it s going to be a great song that your people are going to engage with. 4. IF WE LIKE IT THEY WILL LIKE IT. I ve been listening to worship projects before and been moved in a major way by a song, and thought, We ve got to do this song. This song s going to work great for our people. Then, I get up to lead it, we sing it and it doesn t work. It falls flat. HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT SONGS By not choosing the right songs, I believe we can create a disengaging worship experience. I want you to remember that you have one shot each week to get it right. We can t afford disconnection. It s super important to choose the right songs. But, how do we make sense of all the songs that are out there? More than any time in history we have access to more music, first of all, but especially in the worship realm we have access to so many songs. We ve developed a solution for you that is a process 2

Involving others allows it to be about we and not me. called SONG SIFTING. Song sifting is a lot like panning for gold. In Georgia we have a river up in a town called Dahlonega. When I was little we would go to it and you would get a pan, you d go down to the river and you d pick up some sand and you d pan for gold and you d try to find those nuggets that you could take back and say, Look, I found gold. Song sifting is much like that. By sifting songs, we want to ultimately end up with a powerful, lean song bank to choose from. I ve noticed in my work with churches through the years that so many churches have song banks that are just too big. Maybe you have had that same experience. You get out a list of what songs you re going to do and you re looking at a list of 50-100 songs and you think Well, okay. How do I make sense of all this? Song sifting will help you narrow down your list so that you have a powerful song bank to choose from. We re going to give you an overview of the song sifting process, and we ve provided a step-by-step guide for you and your team to have a song sifting meeting. The song sifting process has so many benefits for you and your team. I ve discovered that by involving outside voices and getting input into the songs that I ve put together, it helps so much. You re getting real-life commentary and real-life input on what songs are really working at your church and which songs aren t. Involving others allows it to be about we and not me. In doing a song sifting meeting you may get more than just great songs. It s an opportunity to build unity with your team and get outside perspective from people who attend that will help you put together a really powerful song bank. THE SONG SIFTING PROCESS We ve put together some memorable phrases for you and your team to remember the song sifting process. 1. HOLD THE HITS The first thing we want to do is Hold the Hits. First, you need to ask, What is a hit? There are a few ways to identify a hit: People sing and respond to hits. When you sing a hit, volume goes up, hands go up, people s eyes are closed, they re clapping, they re getting into the song. People ask for the song and they ask about the song. I ve oftentimes led a song and had people come up after church and say, Hey, what was that new song? That s usually a good sign that you re onto something. People want to own it. They ll come up and ask you or someone in the band, Hey, where can we get that song? I want to own that. That s a really good sign of a hit. It becomes part of their story. I ve seen this at Northpoint played out over and over again. Sometimes in a baptism testimony or hearing someone share their story and they say, I remember the Sunday and we were singing this song, blank. Songs that God used to stir their heart and move them toward Him, are a great sign of a hit. A song that other churches have already latched onto. Look in Planning Center or CCLI for songs are making traction and rising to the cream of the crop. Songs that give voice to what your 3

New songs breathe fresh life into our singing time in church. It says in Psalms to sing a new song to the Lord. people want and need to say to God. A song that evokes emotion, and really, really importantly, a song that s theologically correct. Memorable. Songs that are easy to recall because of the melody and the lyrics. Proven itself in the past. Hymns usually are always winners and they re always hits, especially the ones that everybody knows. Another thing that hymns do, which is great, is they have an emotional tie to someone s past, usually. I heard this song with my grandparents when I was five in church. They may be coming back to church for the first time and they hear this hymn that s been a hit through the generations and it connects them to God. 2. JAIL THE STALE The second thing we want to do in our song sifting process is we want to Jail the Stale. I call it worship detention. This is when we need to give a song a timeout because we ve been doing it so much. I never will forget when Our God came out. I love Our God, it s a great song. It was so great that we wanted to do it every week. What happened though, and what happens for all of us, is we do these songs so much, that like a piece of Wrigley Spearmint Gum, over time it begins to lose a little bit of its flavor and power because we re doing it so much. We want to take those songs that have gotten stale and we want to move them to the side. 3. OUT THE OLD The next part of the song sifting process we want to talk about is we want to Out the Old. Old songs are the ones that aren t working or haven t been used in a while. They ve got to go. If they re not a hit, then there s no need for them to stay. People aren t connecting to them so we don t need to waste an opportunity to try to connect people to God trying to use songs that aren t really great. It feels good to clean house. Clean your song bank house by getting rid of the old songs 4. REVIEW THE NEW Lastly, we want to Review the New. We all love new songs. New songs breathe fresh life into our singing time in church. It says in Psalms to sing a new song to the Lord. Part of it is a command. It does something to us as believers when we sing. It is like fresh wind in our sails. It helps us to say something new that we desire to say to God, but with a new melody and a new feel. It s so important to be teaching these new songs. This step is a great way to involve different team members. Before your song sifting meeting, assign each member to bring in a couple of new songs. You can either email those to a central location where you all have access to them to review them, or you can bring them in and have a listening party. Let them know that this is not a competition. They don t get some special award or a bell rung because the worship pastor chose their song. Have lunch or coffee and bagels. Make it fun for your team. 4

Choosing the right songs will make you more effective as a worship leader and create a more engaging experience for people to sing. FINAL THOUGHTS After you have gone through the process, you will craft a master list. Remember the goal is a lean song bank not a big song bank. You want songs that will connect with people. Choosing the right songs is so important. Remember that the people we re leading week after week, aren t living in a worship world like we are. The song sifting process is a great way to build people and your team. Choosing the right songs will make you more effective as a worship leader and create a more engaging experience for people to sing. 5