The first thing you should do before introducing praise music in your church is to make certain this change is God's leading and not simply your desire to be cool or to get your way in what style music is used. Even if it is of God, it may get very messy. You need to hear and accept that if your services have been driven by a piano, organ, and choir in an established congregation, once you introduce a praise band, some people will leave. Pastors cringe at such statements. However, if you don't try to blend the old with the new, some people are going to leave anyway.

For some, the piano and organ are sacred. Any other instruments are "worldly." For others, sacred music cannot have a foot tapping beat. It must be solemn. For some, the problem will be that the hymnals were bought in remembrance of a loved one. These issues can be addressed with lots of solid teaching, preaching, prayer, patience, and love. It is possible to gain their acceptance, but it will be very slow going.

Get a Leader
When you begin leading the music portion of the service, it is important you first get your pastor's public blessing. This is critical.

After getting leadership's blessing, the next most important item is for the church to recognize one person as the worship music leader, otherwise known as the Minister of Music. This person being recognized as the music authority in the church will take the complaints away from the pastor. It is important for the praise team to recognize a single authority as well. That way, there is no question about who gets the final say on song selection, rehearsal, team members, style issues, and any number of other things that come up in a group. Team dynamics will simply function better with a clear chain of command. As long as this person holding the position is doing a competent job, neither the church nor the team should be allowed to usurp their authority. If the chain of command is broken, chaos will result.

Practical Help
When you first bring guitars into the sanctuary, see to it that they are acoustic guitars. You can add the electrics later after the initial shock is over. Acoustics just seem to be less intimidating to the traditionalist, who equates electric guitars with rock and roll. Most praise music sounds great on an acoustic guitar anyway.

Unless your sanctuary is very small, you will probably need some sort of amplification. Depending on the instrument, you will either need to set up a microphone near the guitar or, if it has a built in pick-up system, run it directly through your church sound system. Do not allow your guitarist to bring an amplifier into the sanctuary no matter how much they complain. This will escalate the complaints in a traditional church tenfold. You could use a decibel meter and prove to the complainers the guitar is not as loud as the organ and they still won't accept it as the truth. They don't need some fancy gadget to tell them it's too loud. Perception is everything.

The only exception to the amplifier rule is if your sound system is so bad it can't support a praise band. My guess is that, in an older piano/organ church, this will probably be true. If you find yourself with inadequate equipment, you will have to resort to guitar amplifiers. Start immediately to work towards upgrading the sound system. Hire a professional, who will know about monitors and speaker placement, microphones, and sub-woofers. It may be more expensive upfront, but it is worth it in the long run to hire someone with experience.

The bass guitarist also gets an exclusion from the amp ban unless the sound system can handle the bass frequencies without turning the instrument's sound into a tiny little toy.

Concerning the sound system, good monitors become critical with a praise band. Vocalists need to hear themselves and the other vocals in order to harmonize. This becomes more difficult the more instruments there are on the platform. The instruments must also be able to hear themselves. The mix people hear in the pews is not even close to what is needed on the stage. Your system needs the ability to support multiple monitor mixes. Consult the professional to better understand what you are going to need.

When you do finally bring electric guitars into the service, I suggest keeping the signal fairly clean, at least at first. Guitar players love their distortion and effects, but some of the pew sitters do not. You will have to deal with more than the guitar player's ego if you tell him he has to tone down the effects. Remember that you are dealing with the heart of an artist. The electric guitarist will be the most vocal about wanting an amplifier. A lot of the tone comes from the amplifier. The trouble is, so does all the volume.

The electric guitarist should have a multi-effects processor, such as a POD. This will give him plenty of sound options, though he will argue not all the tone of an amp. He will know the difference, but the person in the pew will not. In order to get the electric guitar into the sound system, you will probably only need a 1/4" to XLR converter. Those who are more demanding will want a DI unit (direct box), which ranges in cost, depending on what one is willing to pay. The bass player is more likely to actually need a DI than the electric guitarist, for the wider frequency response. Likewise, an acoustic guitar with a piezo pickup should be fed into a DI. Use one with a ground lift to stop annoying hum from a poorly grounded system.

We have a trumpet in our group, which creates some interesting sound problems. Our sanctuary is small enough that we do not need to mike the horn. In fact it has been too loud at times. We worked with positioning the horn until we found a location where it was not overwhelming. We tried using a baffle on it, but apparently this made it much more difficult to play.

We have four vocalists, and each of them has a microphone. Whether you do this or put multiple singers on one microphone will depend on what works for you to get the best sound out of them. We had six singers with microphones for a while. A lot of groups have one or two main singers with microphones and the rest singing as a miked choir behind them.

Drums are tricky to introduce in a traditional church. The big problem is volume. An acoustic drum kit is loud. Well, it doesn't have to be, but that depends on your drummer. If he is bent on rocking out, you are going to have problems. If people are complaining, it is probably the volume.

There are lots of other percussion ideas that can be used in a worship service: bongos, congas, tambourines and lots of others. You might consider getting your percussionist to forget the drum kit for a while and try something a little different.

Another drum option is electronic drums. They feed into your sound system, so volume is controlled at the board. There are a few potential downsides to this approach. Electronic drums are expensive. A cheap set will sound cheap. Some drummers tend to object to them just like electric guitarists object to not having an amp. Apparently, they feel different to play than an acoustic set, and drummers say they do not reproduce all the sounds electronically that they can make acoustically. Yet, lots of churches and drummers use them and love them.

Finally, you need a dedicated sound person or, better yet, a crew to run the soundboard. Pretty much anyone can run sound in a traditional service with a song leader and an organ. It takes real dedication and work to mix several channels together for a praise band. The sound person can make or break the sound. Never underestimate the importance of a talented, hardworking sound person.

Ultimately, you should approach this experience as an opportunity to teach the importance of family, of love, of tradition, of change, and of sharing as we grow in Christian maturity and unity.

Kevin Sluder has a bachelor of science degree in vocational education and mechanical technology. He plays rhythm guitar at Woodville Baptist Church in Indiana.

Sidebar
5 Synergies of a Praise & Worship Team
By Branon Dempsey

1. Relationships
Our first priority begins with the Triune God, who is worthy of our worship. In every breath and pulse of a ministry, it is about people. Love, acceptance and joy must be cultivated for spiritual and biblical health; without them, a ministry cannot function effectively. A calling to worship leading needs to be present in the heart of team members, where there is an understanding and a response that is breathed by God, just as we see Samuel's response in I. Sam. 3:10.

2. Leadership
Leadership is defined by the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible. The DNA of a ministry is found in the development and empowerment of people, which means mentoring, defining and equipping people for a journey of purpose. Having a vision, common goals, clear communication and the visibility of your values will help spur on teams towards missional purpose with fruitful results. Vision without execution is simply illusion.

3. Resources
These are essential building blocks to nurture spiritual, personal and professional development. The integral blocks of formation are found in the following:
* Spiritual - worship, prayer, study, support groups and testimonies
* Personal - identification of gifting and right placement, training and teaching opportunities, acts of celebrations and esteeming team members
* Professional - private and group skill instruction, educational/training books, Internet sites, podcasts and other development material as well as a helpful listing of other resource recommendations

4. Tools of Worship
A plethora of technology and devices are employed to help the facilitation of worship services, including a/v, films, dramas, dance, musical instruments and computers. Tools in worship are essential for productivity, but only as they remain tools and not the object of our worship; they are a means and not an end. Worship teams need to have a rhythm that matches and speaks to the church's surrounding community. Musically speaking, the worship team's No. 1 job is to facilitate congregational song. The band supports the singing and not vice versa; simply, we help the congregation worship. Concerning bands, it was said before that the most we can do is the least we can do. Worship needs to be full of breath and space, while offering tangible and organic invitations for people to participate in the splendor and response to God.

5. Dreams
A ministry needs an atmosphere where people are freed-up, influenced, challenged and released to live their dreams, as they enable individuals to create new possibilities within your ministry. Biblical freedom enables people to be who they are in Christ as they pursue ministry endeavors for the Gospel. "If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen." – 1Pt. 4.11

Branon Dempsey is a worship leader, clinician and singer/song writer in Houston/Cypress, Texas. Serving in local church and abroad worship ministries for more than 15 years, he is owner of For His Music, www.clinics.forhismusic.com, a music service company.