FredMcKinnon.Com

Ok, I’m starting to feel sorry for my congregation! ; ) We are always doing something new. Generally, we intro 2 new songs a month. We do the new song 3 times in one month so it will be absorbed. (This is Paul Baloche’s idea — do a new song 2 weeks in a row, skip a week and then do it again and add it to the rotation). We do 5-6 songs / Sunday and one MUST be a hymn (usually rocked out a bit). Every couple of weeks we do a “golden oldie” like Everlasting God. Once a song is in our reg. rotation, we probably only sing it once every two months. Why do the same thing for years when we have an infinitely creative God? We finally (after a year of wanting to) added “How He Loves” because God provided an electric guitar . . . the congregtion really sings out! Bottom line, for me, it works best if I pray before I pick songs and ask God to pick the right ones. . .only He knows who will be there and what they need to hear.

I think it just depends on the season you are in. You as a worship leader have to connect with the songs. I am in an interesting situation where I lead blended on Sunday Morning, whatever I’m feeling on Sunday night, Traditional (Piano and Organ) on Wednesday Prayer Meeting and Contemporary with the youth praise band. So, I get a REAL mix every week. Here’s and example – “You’re Worthy of My Praise” wasn’t hitting with the kids. So, I brought it back to Sunday Morning and now they own it there. They were a little tired of “How Great Thou Art” on Sunday morning, so I took it to the youth and played it Charlie Hall/rocked out. They now love it. You can twist so many things and make them new – it just depends where you and your church are. Right now I am loving “Counting on God” New Life Worship but I couldn’t lead it Sunday Morning. They’d pack the Uhaul for me. So we’re adding it tonight in youth. I love “Take It All” but we’ve worn that one out in youth – so it is off for a few weeks and we’ll bring it back in a couple more. There are so many great songs – just make them your own and enjoy the ones the body owns. We’re in a blended culture and it is hard to get everyone on the same page. That being said – Lord I lift Your Name on High dies every time. Sorry.

I think for the most part I don’t do ones I’m really tired of. My bad. Seriously, I do recognize that we get tired of them long before the congregation so it’s a “meet me halfway” thing I suppose. Shout to the Lord is one I’d like to leave behind, but find myself inserting it still some weeks. I introduce at least one new song per month. If I don’t want to repeat older songs towards the end of our “music/worship” time, I make sure the newer ones are those that have a good chance of really leading people into worship. It’s funny, I liked Baloche’s Friend of God, especially as the first or second song, but our fairly conservative congregation seem to be like deer in the headlights on such songs so I’ve avoided it lately.

We typically rotate songs out after about 2-3 years…I can only think of a few on our list that have been there for longer than that. I do get tired of practicing some of the older ones, but as you mentioned, if the church is responding well to them, I rarely get tired of using them in corporate worship and watching/listening to people worship with them.

We also spend some time most weeks trying to re-invent a song or two that might be getting a little old for us. There are several songs in our rotation that we can play 2-3 different ways, which makes it much more interesting for the band.

I would like to die before I ever have to do “Shout To The Lord” again, which is one of the first songs I cut from our list when I got here three years ago…although, I’m pretty sure our people and our guests would be totally wool with us bringing it back.

I don’t get to introduce new songs as often as I (or my team) would like. We usually shoot for one new song per series. Our congregation just doesn’t have the exposure to Christian worship music unless they go looking for it, and I’m not sure many do. It takes a while for us to learn and embrace a new song.

Thus, songs tend to stick around for awhile, especially once they really get it. Two for me would be “Open the Eyes of My Heart” and “How Great Is Our God.” Great content, but… Well, you know.