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Worship Leader Pitfalls #2 – New Music
Posted on February 1st, 2008 in Worship Leader Pitfalls by Fred McKinnon
Hey Everyone -
Welcome to Worship Leader Pitfalls Series, Article #2 – “New Music”. The last WL Pitfalls was posted ages ago, “Lack of CT“, and can be found here. I hope to be a bit more consistent on posting in this series. I apologize in advance for the length of this blog entry – I considered breaking it up into Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 but really want to keep the comments/discussion consolidated into one entry. (you ARE doing to comment and discuss this, right?)
“New Music”
This has been on my mind as a topic for quite a while but I was inspired to blog about this after reading some of the comments on a great post about “New Music” over at MilestoneWorship.Com. Jeremy’s post had to do with the frequency of introducing new music.
A few of disclaimers here:
1. I realize that this topic varies based on congregation, demographic, church, location, and availability/access to great worship music.
2. I don’t pretend to be a super-authority, I can only speak from my personal experience from being involved in worship leadership since I was a teenager (let’s say 20+ years or so!).
3. I absolutely LOVE new worship music!
OK, so now that I’ve given my disclaimers, let me just say this and get it over with. I feel that one of the biggest pitfalls for Worship Leaders is flooding a congregation with too much “new material”. Although there is no set rule for what the frequency of new songs should be (as I said in Disclaimer #1, this will vary on many factors), it’s been my experience that many worship leaders (especially younger ones) have unintentionally overwhelmed their congregations with new music.
Why would we do this?
1. Overwhelming Resources
The record labels, indie artists, worship magazines, radio, iTunes, blogs, etc … all of these great resources are pumping out great new worship music at a pace that would make anyone nearly faint. The larger churches and denominations are also pumping out records, many surpassing the units sold by some record labels. On top of that, there has been a huge trend among CCM artists to sing and record “worship music” so that even your CCM-format radio stations are playing music that could easily be used in a local, corporate worship setting.
2. Peer Pressure
Yep, that’s right. C’mon … let’s be real here. Even if you’re mature enough to not submit to the temptation of “peer pressure”, there becomes a bit of presssure when all your blog buddies, worship leader buddies and the churches across town are already doing the latest, greatest song by the current “famous” worship leader.
3. Boredom
With so much new music coming out, it’s easy to get bored with the songs from last quarter (or even last month). Our playlists on iTunes change frequently, and instead of having your “song for the year”, it’s more like a “song of the week”.
So .. what is the problem?
I think the biggest problem is caused by presumption.
Presumption #1: Everyone will be familiar with the music
As Worship Leaders, we love music … we love worship … we love the artists and the songs. But what we forget is that the average person in our congregation isn’t listening to “worship music” at home, in the car, or on their computers with new the frequency that we are. Sure, there will be a few people out there who are just as crazy about worship music as we are .. but for the most part, they are living normal, everyday lives .. they are rushed in the AM, go to work, come home exhausted, pay the bills, go to bed, and start the cycle all over again.
Presumption #2: Everyone is just as tired of the other songs as you are
This is a biggie. After having the same worship song in rotation for about 6 months, we feel like we’ve worn that song out. We don’t care if we ever sing it again. And guess what? We presume that the congregation is tired of that song, too.
Checkout this concept:
Pre-Band:
Worship Leader: hears song for first time … downloads it, buys it on iTunes, etc … they love it.
Worship Leader: loves this song, listens to it every day .. plays it during their devotional time, shows their friends, blogs it, etc.
Worship Leader: charts the song, makes an arrangement and presents it to the band/team.
Pre-Congregation:
Band/Team: rehearses the song … depending on skill of the band, this could be playing the song anywhere from 1-2 times at a single rehearsal, or working on it consistently for 1+ hour for 2-3 weeks in a row before every playing it at church.
Congregation
Band/Team: continues rehearsing the song, and plays through it once during soundcheck.
Band/Team/Church: hears the song for the FIRST TIME. Since this is probably the first time they’ve ever heard this song they probably listen more than they participate. (remember, the folks in your congregation don’t subscribe to 10+ worship leader blogs, 4 worship podcasts, and they don’t subscribe to SongDISCovery, WorshipTogether, Integrity Direct, or the Vineyard club)
I think you get the idea. Before the congregation hears the song, the WL and Band have already experienced the song at least 5-10 times. Then, assuming the WL/Band plays through the song during sound check, etc., prior to a Sunday, they actually double or triple their exposure to the song compared to the congregation.
Finally, let’s say that you may only have 4-6 songs per week in your lineup (I realize this could vary greatly!), and you don’t repeat the “new song” every week. I suggest that your congregation may never really “learn” the song and get comfortable enough with the melody and lyrics that they can “enter in” to worship without focusing so hard on the musical aspect of the song. Keep in mind … MOST of the people in your congregation are NOT singers or musicians on the same level as you are … or else they’d probably be serving on the team!
I often hear of young worship leaders who boast about introducing “at least one new song” every week. Can you imagine trying to keep up with 52 new songs over the year, including the extra 4-5 songs in the set, some of which were probably “new” a few weeks ago?
There is always the argument that you need “fresh material”. Some insist that if the music is too familiar, people will just sing it out of memory and repetition without thinking of the words. Although this can eventually be true, I think there is no reason to just assume this. On the contrary, I’ve found that it takes an average person in our church at least 5-6 times of hearing a song before they “own it”. Once they “own it” … I see them engaging MORE. I see them closing their eyes, instead of staring at the screen. I seem then physically engaged in expressions of worship instead of focusing intently on the worship leader’s mouth, cues, and lyrics to try and keep up. On the contrary, I find that being FAMILIAR with the song actually HELPS them in their worship.
I don’t judge a corporate worship service by how well the band sounded, or how “cool” the music was. I judge a corporate worship by how engaged the congregation is. Are they singing? Are they engaged? Can I hear their voices loud and strong, or are they just listening to the band?
My Challenge to Worship Leaders:
I am now living what I’m preaching. A few years ago, I radically cut my master songlist. I resisted the temptation to try and keep up with everyone else. Sure, I do plenty of new songs each year – but I do my best to space them out. I committed myself to including “standards” that seemed “old and overdone” to me because I knew the congregation still “owned” those songs and loved them. As a result, I promise that I saw an IMMEDIATE, DRASTIC increase in corporate participation. All of a sudden – it was worth it!
I do hereby CHALLENGE YOU to …
Resist the temptation to introduce too much new music. Furthermore, take up this challenge. I’d like to challenge you over the next few weeks to create a setlist with NO NEW MUSIC. As a matter of fact, go back 6 mos to 1 year and pull out some “old favorites” … “classics”. Pull out some of the greats, such as “How Great is our God”, “Shout to the Lord”, “Holy is the Lord”, and depending on the age of your congregation, you may want to go further back than that. I realize that even songs like “Everlasting God” and “Marvelous Light” may be considered “old” to some congregations … if they were staples a year ago .. come back to them.
After doing so – I want you to observe the corporate participation. See if they are more engaged. Most importantly, on the Chorus … back off the mic for a line or two … and listen … do you hear them? Are they lifting their voices loud and strong? If not … I’d be so bold as to say you’re not serving them as you should.
Try it. Report back. In the meantime … what is YOUR schedule of new music and the rationale behind it. If you are one of those “once every week” worship leaders, don’t be afraid to say so … this isn’t a bashing blog … it’s for discussion.
For the Kingdom,
Fred
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32 Responses to “Worship Leader Pitfalls #2 – New Music”
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As a pastor I agree with your observation. I can watch the congregation readily worship singing songs that are 10-15 years old and often struggle with newer, more unfamiliar songs. Your suggestions are right on. If the object is to lead the people into worship, then use what best sets the atmosphere for worship for that congregation.
Blessings!
I love this. This is such good material, I think I’m going to share it with my praise team. As a worship leader, the problem I’m having is not with finding new music or even feeding it to the congregation too fast. The congregation for the most part hates anything new. “How Great Is Our God” and “Shout To The Lord” are still considered “new” to these people. I even write a lot of our music which many accept, many more do not. The younger, on-fire generation (the minority group at our church) loves it. They can’t get enough and they openly embrace change. It’s the older generation, that is stuck on songs from the hymnal, that gives me so much grief. My take on it is they want a song leader to sing songs that make them feel good, not a worship leader that seeks to enter God’s presence and take others there with him. How do people handle this and make everyone happy? Any suggestions?
Fred, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I have been a worship leader , like you for almost thirty years. There were choruses back then, that I still like to use today. “He is Lord”, ” Because He Lives”….etc. These songs will live on and rightly so. But I too love the new choruses. I refuse to sing a choruses because of it’s popularity. I choose choruses that have been proven to have a real anointing on them. Like “How Great is our God” “Above All” etc. The congregation fully entering into the presence of God is our goal. Amen? Sometimes pressure from Senior Pastors to do new music can take it’s toll on a Worship Leader/ MInister of Music. Once you are in a pressure situation it always seems there is a downward spiral. I feel like you also that comfort with a chorus is the key to losing yourself in the presence of God. And that only comes with repitition. I am really feeling that simpler is better also. I think we are becoming too wordy in our writing. Too many verses and melodies that don’t make sense musically. It jars the worshipper out of their concentration of the Lord, and makes it like a roller coaster for them. Well, I’m just getting a few thoughts off my chest. I’m sure plenty will disagree with me but this is just something that my experince has brought to the surface. Blessings All!
Good post, Fred.
To add a little to Presumption #2, I’ve occasionally found it reversed, particularly among our High-school Youth: songs that I’m NOT at all tired of, and so suspect no one else is, have already – thought at one time a favorite – well outlived their regularly usability and need to be shelved for a long while. Two examples of this: our kids demanded that we stop playing “Everlasting God” almost a year ago, and are just now interested in hearing it again, and more recently, “Happy Day” – at one time a favorite which was even grabbed up by the GP band last Summer – which now the kids don’t want to hear again for a VERY LONG TIME, even though we haven’t used it all THAT often. Several of the kids are also growing bored with “My Savior Lives”, too. I love all 3 of those songs, but I guess our youth may need a bit more variety than I do with some of our core ‘popular’ songs.
p.s. – I’ve also been a member at a church where new songs were introduced so rarely that I felt like we might as well have done the same set every week. It was painful, and the only people pleased by this seemed to be the 50+ crowd. I’m not surprised to see that such is quickly becoming their ‘demographic’. Your post is a good call to balance, though.
Looking forward to Sunday morning!
Wow – I just re-read your blog, and found one more thing to respond to. Very sorry for hogging your site.
As you know, I usually introduce recordings of newer songs that have potential (which either I have found, or were suggested by other musicians or youth from Inside Out) to our whole INSIDE OUT & RUSH HOUR worship teams, and led them pick their favorites fairly democratically. I then set up a loose schedule to introduce those songs so we won’t introduce more than 2 songs a month. I also burn a c.d. of those songs to give to Chris, our sound guy, to play during our fellowship time after youth group, so the songs will slowly become familiar to our youth before we ever introduce them. My introduction schedule, at it’s most aggressive, introduces a new song every 2 weeks, playing the new song for 2 weeks, dropping it for one week (during which another new song is introduced, following the same schedule), then bringing it back the following week, at which point I consider it ‘part of our repertoire’. Also, I find it helpful, if it’s an upbeat song, to first introduce it as ‘Walk-in’ music, or if it’s a ballad, to introduce it first as ‘response music’, neither of which are necessarily times of ‘corporate singing’, and give them at least one more opportunity to get familiar with, and hopefully ‘own’, the song.
Bingo, Fred.
When I first came on staff here at WLCC, they had just completed a CCLI report and found that they did over 200 different songs in a 6-month period. Last CCLI report we did around 80. We adjusted so that each team (5 teams/leaders) draws from the same list of 35 songs for a 4-month period, which still only repeats most songs 3-4 times during that stretch. While the congregation enjoys variety, when they know the song better, they more quickly shift out of observation/learning mode and into participation/embracing mode.
We’re also changing how we teach new songs. Each of our teams taught songs here and there as desired, with often large time gaps between repetitions, disallowing the congregation to really learn the song. We now share responsibility for teaching the congregation each song so that the congregation will have opportunity to learn & engage with each new song for 3 weeks in a row. We’re only adding 1 new song a month. We also select the new songs together and plan when to introduce them in a timely way.
None of what we’re doing is anything new, but we just haven’t gotten on the same page between the teams until now.
-Tim
Wow Fred! Amazing post!
To comment on what Shannon said since I am the youth. I think part of it is the youth listen to every genre of music and have songs from all those genres memorized. We love to listen to a different style of music. That being said I do agree we change what music is “cool” every few weeks.
Looking forward to reading the comments
Fred I hear what you’re saying – I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone who tried to introduce a new song EVERY week! That sounds like overkill!
I try to do 3 new songs every quarter – about once a month but not locked in. We’ll do the new song 3 weeks in a row, give it a week off, bring it back and then it becomes part of our repertoire. Also means we kill a song about every month, too. Got to be fair
Not sure I agree with the “older is better” vibe that I’m getting from the comments. I agree that familiarity is important but that can quickly turn to mundane routine. Doesn’t mean old songs aren’t important – we use songs that span the last 200 years or so of church history here – but there is also a very strong desire to be writing songs for the next generation.
It’s important to value history, it’s also important to create history!
EXCELLENT POST!
I just came out of a situation where the worship leader wanted a new song just about ever week. It was really, really tough on the crowd. I also used a technique described above with playing it in my pre-service mix (though most only here the last song as we’re the only folks there 3 hours early
).
I usually did a new song two week in a row, then every other week for 6 weeks.
Can’t get much more practical than this! FANTASTIC POST!
Sorry, not the worship pastor (that was me), the senior pastor wanted new songs frequently.
We tend to introduce no more than one new song a month, and then we include it for 2 or 3 weeks to nurture familiarity. The rest of the songs likely vary significantly from great hymns of ages gone by as well as contemporary familiar songs.
I am not the song selector, but I have noticed that some new songs are gone after the third week, but some come back a month or two later and fit well with the message or the worship set.
Thanks Fred. That’s really thought provoking. We’ve been trying to introduce about one new song a week lately. Many of them are offering songs (listen only), but it’s still a lot.
I emailed the entire band, and some of the church staff, encouraging them to read the blog and send me their thoughts.
I’m curious to hear the responses. Especially from our “bored” lead guitar player. He practices every song for hours on his own and is constantly wanting to learn new stuff.
We are in the slow process of introducing older songs. Although I will on occasion introduce a brand new recording (David Regier’s All Glory, from Song Disc 64) we just introduced Everlasting God, and Word of God Speak was several weeks ago. When we do a brand new song, we often do it as an opening and then in the worship set, and then the following week. Then we skip a week and do it again. By this time everyone has picked it up and is going for it. This is how we have done it since starting our congregation 7 years ago. We had a diverse mix of people, and this has worked very well for everyone.
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i think you have hit the nail on the head fred, constant change can rob a congregation of it’s touchstone songs. one of our congregations favorite songs is Amazing Grace sung to the tune of the Eagle’s Peaceful Easy Feeling in a medley kind of way. it’s from the 1980’s i believe, at least thats when i became familiar with it. we do it about once every couple months, usually as our offering song and walk out. they sing like mad! and the band loves it too. i hope we never give it up… …something we did last year was really productive and fun was what we called Band Jam. we let everyone in the band and praise team bring a song as long as there was sheet music and something to listen to and we worship planners had a list of songs we had set aside as something we wanted and then we pared down the list to 10 songs and gave everyone a cd of those 10 about 2 weeks before the date of the Jam. we had a great evening of fellowship, food, music and fun. we actually learned 9 of the 10 that evening, had a great time together with no pressure or time constraint as we have at a regular practice session. we then had 9 new songs to put in services where they fit the theme and we spaced them out about 1 or 2 a month with a couple repetitions each before adding them to the regular play list. when we gave the cd’s to the band and praise team to start listening to we also put one in the booth and used it regularly for pre/post service music. it worked beautifully on every level.
Cha-ching! You hit it Fred. I had someone comment recently on my blog for doing a song that is two years old for the first time. My goal isn’t to keep up with all the other “cool” worship guys out there, but identify with what is working in my local church.
Excellent thoughts man! Thanks!
I try to introduce one new song every month. About one half of the congregation are seniors so I try to put 3 songs on the list that they would relate to and two more contemporary songs. I also do a lot of originals during the offertory.
Hey Everyone,
This is some GREAT discussion about new songs in our set lists!
I love hearing you all talk about how you do it .. the frequency, how many times you do it, when you bring it back, etc.
ChrisfromCanada – love that line about making history …. Amen to that! I’d say a song like “How Great is our God” has done that, for sure!
Older isn’t necessarily better – we need the new stuff, for sure … it’s just when we get so overloaded with the “new” that nothing is comfortable or familiar anymore … we can’t get past the surface.
Keep the discussion rocking!
Fred
Ronnie -
Once a week – yeah, I can imagine that being fun for the band, but not for the congregation .. I’d be willing to bet if you slack off so much new stuff, you’ve got enough to get you through the next 6 months .. .and you’ll see an increase in corporate participation, which should be your goal for a corporate worship service.
God bless,
Fred
[...] McKinnon wrote a great blog column recently. This is an unprecedented time in the history of songs written for worship. Digital [...]
fred,
can you give us an idea of how many songs to have in a master list? say we do five or six songs each sunday. how many should we have in a six-month rotation?
Ok, first I must shamefully admit that I did not read the entire post, but here are my thoughts (those being the thoughts of a rather inexperience worship leader.) When I lead worship I have three goals; 1. to Worship God, 2. to help the congregation connect with God, and 3. to prepare the congregation to recieve the message. So my goal each week is to find music that does that.
So, that being said how do I feel about new music. I think that introducing new music at a pace that the congregation can handle is important. I think that it bring new perspective to the worship. It also keeps the worship team from burning out on the old stuff too. As much as we would like it to be so, many of the people in our worship teams may not have the a relationship with God that can allow them to put their own needs aside and do what is best for the congregation, so they will get board.
So, how to introduce new music. Well, my thought would be to start it as a special. Anytime I do specials, I always have the lyrics up on the MediaShout so that they can read or sing along if they desire. This gives you the chance to introduce the song to the people without any pressure on them to sing along. It also gives you a chance to gauge the resonce to help determine if you should try to add it to the set list. From there I think you do it each week for 2 or 3 weeks so that the congregation really has a chance to learn it. From there you make it a regular part of you routine until it seems not to do what it should do for those people in the service.
Ok, so I say all of that from the perspective of someone who has only been leading worship since like september. So consider that as you respond….be kind.
Matt -
No shame in just beginning. Although I can relate to your 3rd goal .. and I’ve heard it all my life – I’ve always kinda disliked it .. since when is worship the “pregame show” to the sermon? I often think worship gets minimized because people view it as a “process to prepare for the sermon”.
Although we are much more receptive and prone to hearing God’s voice when we’ve spent time in worship (so that COMPLETELY validates your Goal #3) … I dunno .. it always just rubs me the wrong way for some reason.
Anyway – when those worship team members start getting bored .. true, we can (and should) bring forth new music – but just remind them that they’ll often be bored of a song WAY before the congregation.
I had a similar conversation with one of my players the other day .. not so much about being bored with the music, but having to play with some “less-than-skillful” other musicians … his comment was that he just didn’t really enjoy it and didn’t want to play if the other musicians weren’t good .. .my response was “guess what .. it’s not about you”!.
Merciless, huh!?
Fred
Mandy -
I’d be crazy to actually suggest a number, haha .. it varies from church to church. But from my experience, with a demographic that is mixed from teenage to old age … traditional to seeker to charismatic … on a rotation of 5-6 songs/Sunday … I’d probably limit a “brand new song” to no more than 3-4 per quarter.
Now – that being said, if the sole purpose of a “new song” is to be a “special music” – to be performed, and not necessarily designed for corporate singing … I wouldn’t include that type of songs in this mix … those could be done more frequently, as one of your 5-6 songs … and don’t need to be repeated ever again, necessarily.
Just my own $.02 … some other churches may vary greatly!
Fred
fred – thanks for taking the time to answer. but, let me rephrase: i was asking in terms of total songs (not just total new songs), but the master list to pull from. say, 50 songs? 75 songs? how many should we have as our total song database to pull from in a six month period?
Aaah … well, I decided to login to our PlanningCenterOnline.Com database … and I got tired of counting already – I was in the “L” songs and got to 100.
That means there is probably 250+ songs in our database right now. They would’ve all been added over the last year since I came on board .. into PlanningCenter, that is … not added as new songs.
Harriet is leading this week with me, and I’ve got to add 3-4 more to PCO from the “Harriet Archives” …
So, when you look at a total # of master songs, it can be misleading – because some of them may NOT have been used very often in the last year or so.
That master list either bulges and grows, or someone has to prune it.
Let’s say regardless – we want a total # of songs that we consistently “pull from” .. whether that’s called a master songlist or not … I’d say that 100 would be a good number. I get that by saying 5 songs for 26 weeks … would be 130 songs .. and granted, we want plenty of repeats … and room for new songs … so this gives room for plenty of repeats.
I’m not quite smart enough to calculate “if you have 130 songs and 26 weeks, with 5 songs used each week – how many times would a song repeat … I guess it depends on the song!
FM
Fred. I understand what you are saying about worship preparing people for the sermon. I completely believe that there are times when God works on individuals through the worship time rather and there are times when He works on people through the message. And, there are times when he uses the worship to prepare peoples hearts to recieve the message. That is why my number 2 goal came before the number 3 goal. I did list the in order of importance, at least as I see it.
I also saw some remarks about us not catering to the worship team, and reminding them that it is not about them, or us, or ultimately even about the people in the congregation. It was this realization that led to me first getting the chance to lead worship. It was transformational moment for me. I am truly a different person since realizing that and making it a part of who I am. I remind my team often that it is not about me, and it is not about them. In fact I have even been known to tell the congregation that it was not about them either…….
> probably 250+ songs in our database right now
I have chord charts for over 1200 different songs that I’ve collected over the years! Four years ago our congregation did over 200 different songs. Last year we narrowed it down to under 100. We still have people in learning mode on many of the songs.
A lot depends upon how many songs you include in a given Sunday. Decide how long you want to go without repeating a song. (Keep in mind that if you
don’t repeat a song every so often, most people have to go into learning mode instead of engaging mode when you do pull it out – which isn’t all bad.) Then do the math.
We’re now selecting from a list of only 35 songs. Our typical service has 5-7 songs depending upon the main music block and whether we repeat our intro song or do a different one while the congregation exits. We also add a new song as special music during the offertory then include it 2-3 more weeks as part of the regular set. Including the new song, we can go about 6 weeks without repeating anything but the new song. We do end up doing some more often and some less often.
We’ll stick to the 35 songs for 4 months, then pick a new list, including some from the previous list to add continuity.
Part of this is our priority to connect with new people “guesting” our congregation. Many come from backgrounds unfamiliar with contemporize music, so all of this is new. It’s important to us that these folks can engage during their first few weeks with us rather than just observe. Throwing all new songs at them every week can get in the way. It would be different for us if we seldom had new folks and had the same old crowd who knew all the good old songs. Then we could blow the dust off whatever we want and everyone would jump right in.
Besides content and style choices, I try to include at least one song that’s pretty recent, a fun and inviting song, an established standard, and one that’s hymnlike.
It’s a musician’s twist to the adage: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blues…
My 16 cents…
-Tim Miller
Walloon Lake Community Church
Fred,
Thanks so much for this post! I have a tendency to want to do new songs more often than I should – especially where I am currently. I’m in a church plant that usually sings songs from the mid 80’s or early 90’s and they have just recently started to sing more current songs. I tend to want to “hurry people up” and get them to sing the newer songs, so this post was a great challenge and reminder to me that I need to chill a bit and enjoy the classics so that people are worshiping distraction-free. Thanks so much for this!
Ryans last blog post..Extensive Interview with Bob Kauflin and Mars Hill’s Tim Smith
One other thing that could be very helpful: If you have a thriving small group ministry it would be great to introduce new songs at small groups for a couple weeks before bringing them into the congregation. That way a core group of people know the song a little bit and can help the rest of the people along with the worship team.
Ryans last blog post..Extensive Interview with Bob Kauflin and Mars Hill’s Tim Smith
This is great because I totally relate to the pressure to “keep up”, but also feel a pull to do great songs that may not be the latest…..
One thing I do is keep an updated cd for pre-service and post-service music that contains all the upcoming new songs that will be introduced for the coming months. This allows the congregation to hear the songs but it is sort of subliminal… they know it is familiar when we actually do it but they can’t put their finger on how they know it…..
Another plus is that I lead worship for a women’s Bible study so I have the chance to pre-teach them the new songs before they are introduced to the entire body. Giving song/cd info. prior to a new song introduction is good too… some are putting links to ITunes on their sites so people can go buy the music before it is introduced.
I too have the struggle of singers and musicians who feel like we drive songs into the ground; however, we do about one new song a month and rotate it in and out much like I have read the rest of you do. It is nice to know it isn’t just my team feeling this way! I remind them regularly that we have to make these lyrics fresh to us each time we sing them. One way I have suggested they do that, is to be intentional about praying through what they mean to us when related to our own individual circumstances. When we have taken the time each week to apply to our present situations what these songs are saying in an intentional way, then when we actually are on stage, it brings new life and authentic emotion to some songs we feel we have heard a million times.
We have a bank of about 70 but only do 4 per week. There is another bank that I pull from but pretty infrequently, so it isn’t included in that count. The only time where we exceed the typical one-new-song-per-month guideline is at Christmas time….we are doing new Christmas arrangements weekly, but that is a whole different can of worms now isn’t it…..:0)