{"id":1547,"date":"2011-08-05T11:30:24","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T17:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?p=1547"},"modified":"2011-10-19T11:55:50","modified_gmt":"2011-10-19T16:55:50","slug":"the-worship-choir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2011\/08\/the-worship-choir\/","title":{"rendered":"The Worship Choir"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest post by Jessica Perez, Worship Arts Director at Crossroads Church<\/a> in Loveland, CO.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Crossroads Church is relatively young. We started in January of 1996, and I came on staff in July of 2001. We were in need of a well-crafted audition process for choosing band and singers. As I developed our audition process, while raising the bar of quality, I noticed the need to also have a choir that was open to anyone. I often say, \u201cIf you love singing, have passion for worship and love having fun, then I\u2019d love to have you in our choir.\u201d And as a former middle school music educator, I\u2019m sensitive to people\u2019s fears about singing alone, and I tell them so. I never put anyone on the spot by asking them to sing alone. I like to help these adults to open up, risk and sing better than ever before.<\/p>\n

The worship choir model hasn\u2019t worked perfectly for all 10 years. This past year, I re-launched it after a 2-year break. Some of it was limping so badly that I needed to put it to bed and let it rest, so that in the re-launch, we\u2019d have a chance at success. Because this ministry has been life-giving to so many, I wanted it to work. When it started back up, all of my dedicated choir members were there again.<\/p>\n

Crossroads Worship Choir ESSENTIALS:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s FUN<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

We have fun together. I approach choir understanding that these people have worked all day. They\u2019re stressed. They need community. We laugh so hard that we cry. It\u2019s an absolutely crazy and wild time. We talk often about needing a midweek boost to worship God with all of our hearts. They practice letting go and pouring their hearts into it. It\u2019s loud and fun!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s SUPPORTIVE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re a core part of the music ministry, but choir is also its own ministry and support group. Sometimes I wonder, \u201cWhat\u2019s the best part of choir?\u201d \u2026 a) participating on the weekend or b) doing life together big time on Thursday nights. There\u2019s always someone in choir who is hanging on for dear life. We\u2019ve loved, supported and carried people through painful seasons of life\u2026 for example, praying with the wife of a deployed soldier, or helping move the single mother who had one hour to move from one home to the next, and, currently, with a tenor fighting cancer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s PASSIONATE: <\/strong><\/p>\n

The people who are drawn to sing in a worship choir with a rock band, are bold, courageous, spontaneous leaders. They take the participation of worship in our services to a new level. They are leaders, modeling how to worship. I encourage them to open their hearts, raise their hands, close their eyes, clap and move. Go for it. And if they\u2019re new and a bit scared, I put them in the middle row and tell the to \u201cride the wave.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also passionate about serving God and the church. They\u2019re always available to jump in and help anywhere. Easter weekend this year, they sang all seven services, and went from the stage to children\u2019s ministries to see where they were short children\u2019s volunteers. I\u2019m proud to lead this group of servants.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some Important Changes in the RE-LAUNCH:<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Uniform dress<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have a uniform for dress, which has made a huge difference in the choir package. They dress modestly and wear solids. Black, grey, dark denim, accenting in white or a color I\u2019ll add for them. Visually, they flow and they understand that I\u2019m protecting them from drawing attention to themselves.<\/p>\n

Commit, seasonally<\/strong><\/p>\n

At Crossroads, we have four weekend services. 4:30 on Saturday, 8:30, 10:00 and 11:30 on Sunday, so its quite a commitment for a volunteer choir. It has helped me maintain choir by scheduling them seasonally and asking for a commitment. Each season\u2014they get the rehearsal schedule and the six weekends that we\u2019ll be singing. Then it\u2019s another six weeks off.<\/p>\n

Be strategic and certain about when to sing parts\/unison<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whenever we break down to the congregation voices, we don\u2019t always want harmony. Most of the time, choir raises a big, fat unison. Their voices fill the room as the church and you can feel the participation in the room rise too. Sometimes I\u2019ll hear, \u201cYou can\u2019t hear the choir!\u201d But really, in my approach, choir is supporting church singing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

New choir risers<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really wanted the choir steps to be sharp stage pieces that would look great even when choir is not up singing. These were affectionately named the \u201cstar wars, death star steps.\u201d I. LOVE. THEM.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest post by Jessica Perez, Worship Arts Director at Crossroads Church in Loveland, CO. Crossroads Church is relatively young. We started in January of 1996, and I came on staff in July of 2001. We were in need of a well-crafted audition process for choosing band and singers. As I developed our audition process, while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,90,8,14,16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-choral","category-leadership","category-local-church","category-music","category-style-of-worship"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Worship Choir - Worship Connect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2011\/08\/the-worship-choir\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Worship Choir - Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Guest post by Jessica Perez, Worship Arts Director at Crossroads Church in Loveland, CO. 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