Missed Opportunities - Pt. 2
When they finally began their fourth song, I had seen enough. I decided to leave the main stage of the festival, head to the bus and go to bed early.
Many of today’s modern churches model their worship after some of the biggest names known around the world. It may be fine to sing their songs but not mimic HOW they worship. The first reason is simply because that’s the calling the Lord has for those churches. It’s alright to be inspired by them, but you can’t chase after someone else’s calling. Be true to who you are and to the calling God has placed on your life!
In one of my very first posts, I talked about how, growing up, we have to be taught how to walk and talk. We start out saying things exactly like our parents, and to this day, we probably still do. As we get older, though, we develop our own personalities. When building your live show, it’s great to draw inspiration from the performance of others and incorporate some things from their show into yours, but you can’t stop there. You need to develop your own style.
Some of the household names in worship have great songs that connect with music listeners, but when it comes to a live worship set, they have no connection with the congregation. Or they at least have a lot of room for improvement. These groups play the songs exactly like they were recorded, which is a huge lapse in judgment. The live setting is completely different than recorded music. There are rules for radio, and there are, in fact, rules for the stage. And those rules are polar opposites.
My heart sank when a singer of one of these groups came out on the catwalk during a music festival. Using a handheld midi keyboard, he began playing a very recognizable opening riff to a highly popular song of theirs. But after playing only two notes of it, he immediately turned and walked all the way back to the stage as the backing tracks kicked in and the song started.
Such a huge opportunity missed!
The entire audience knew the song. He could have given them a fun experience by “toying” with them a bit. He could have hit a few of the samples and paused in between, to give the audience a chance to respond. I am fairly certain that, if the worship artist had done that correctly, the audience would have erupted between each note he would’ve hit.
On a different occasion at a music festival, another big-name worship group ended their first song, and I thought, Man that was a long song. So, I set the stopwatch on my phone and timed their second song, which was 13 minutes long! Song three was 12 minutes! When they finally started into their fourth song, I had seen enough and decided to head to the bus and go to bed early.
Songs can be long in a live setting, but they have to be long with a purpose. This group just kept repeating the chorus, hoping people would worship more. As it turned out, I witnessed more and more of the audience become disengaged with worship as the songs lingered on. The group focused so much on playing their songs, they didn’t really try to connect with the audience and nothing they physically did onstage ever changed visually!
As a worship team, it’s even more important to connect with the congregation and lead them in worship.
Whether you’re a performing artist or church worship team, your focus must be on providing an experience for your audience or delivering a worship experience to the congregation. Don’t miss the little opportunities to connect with them like these two examples did.
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Songs made for streaming or radio are fast-paced, designed to grab attention quickly. But a live show is a different experience—it’s about connection, depth, and immersion.
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Imagine the energy of a sudden, dramatic shift that takes the crowd’s breath away, or the quiet, intimate vibe of a stripped-down section that feels like it’s just for them—those are the moments that resonate long after the music fades.
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