Leading Worship With Recorded Music

Worship Leaders by John A. White Contributing Writer August 03, 2011

Step 4 - Preparing the Wordsheets

Please take a look at the wordsheet example in Appendix 1 again. Notice that every song has the title, author, copyright information and a CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International) number (CCLI is a licensing administrator for many worship music publishers. Different licensing is available for different fees). Legal permission is required for each wordsheet you create. The example show a CCLI number under each song but one number at the bottom of the page is permissible. This standard copyright information form is:
(

c) Publisher © Copyright Date

Used by Permission CCLI ######

Please verify your church has copyright licensure before printing and distributing materials. If they do not, you can obtain permission by the individual publishers or by calling CCLI at http://www.ccli.com/Index.cfm or (503) 257-2230.

You'll also notice on the sample worship wordsheet in Appendix 1, I put all the songs on one page. I found this is preferable to a book of wordsheets because a single sheet is easier to follow. Also, books require a lot of maintenance and are intimidating to new comers to your group.

Step 5 – How to Lead Worship

Up to this point, all the work to lead worship has been in the preparation of the worship set. Here we will talk about how to be an effective leader. Before your meeting, review the songs being mindful again what you which to accomplish. I save the sets I prepare using the topic and date as a file name (e.g. Holiness – 9-6-03). After reviewing the worship, the best advice I can give you is lead by example. If you want people to raise their hands during worship, you raise your hands during worship. If you want people to sit, kneel or stand during worship, you sit, kneel and stand during worship. In other words, your own worship expression will empower the same expression in your group.

At first, you may feel uncomfortable leading the worship expression you would like to see in the group. It can make you feel overly conspicuous or overly enthusiastic. That is normal. It is a result of breaking from the group's unspoken tendency toward conformity and to resist change. Every leader faces this same pressure and you have probably already sensed it in different ways in leading your group. It therefore takes a conscious decision to act according to your goals rather than according to your comfort. In a short time, the discomfort will diminish.

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