I did my first worship team audition ever last night. I was so nervous that when the guitarist told me to change key, my mind went blank and I couldn’t remember the lyrics to Beautiful Saviour’! And I went flat during some harmonies. Good thing the judges were nice.
Of course I’ve done lots of auditions before.
But last night was the first time I was the one being judged and evaluated. It was a scary thought actually.
I started in worship ministry 19 years ago. When I first joined, standards were much lower. If you could broadly hold a pitch, you were probably good enough to join the team. The ‘audition’ usually took the form of singing loud enough during congregational worship for the worship director to take notice! Things have changed a lot since then.
The whole audition thing was really humbling. I’ve had to practise hard in the last couple of weeks. I’ve tried singing the songs in different keys and in different ways.
And I think for me, it was a good process to go through.
Sometimes when you’ve been in ministry a long time, you get a sense of entitlement that ultimately leads to complacency. You stop learning, growing and upskilling because you feel you’ve already made it. When your place in the team is less assured, you try a lot harder.
Maybe worship teams should periodically audition existing team members regularly. That way we can give honest feedback to see where we can each improve and challenge each other to grow.
As for my audition, I’m waiting nervously for the result. At least the ‘judges’ didn’t give me three crosses – yet.
The Worship Revolution 