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Think back for a moment over your last several large-group worship times. Recall the times student leaders got up in front of the large group, toting instruments, wanting to masterfully engage the chapter in meaningful worship. Recall the reading of Scripture and the prayer times. Think of how the chapter members were preparing to offer their hearts in worship to God. What were those times really like?

All too often, the scenario runs like this: The guitarists grab their picks, the drummer is poised, the overhead is turned on. But at the first musical note, it’s obvious that something is wrong, and the music first stumbles, then crumbles all around the worship team. The songs don’t flow, the music feels sloppy, and the result is devastating. How many times have you experienced this scenario?

Even the most dedicated worshipers can be distracted by poor music, especially when they have to concentrate just to sing along. Organizing a worship team into a coherent sounding group may seem easy, but it rarely happens that way. The reality is that it takes a lot of work and some knowledge about how musical teams play together.

In order to sound good, your team needs to rehearse. But if you’re not rehearsing the right things, your team won’t make any progress. Sometimes we think that the Holy Spirit will make up for our lack of skill, and that we don’t need to practice hard to make the worship team work. In Psalm 33:2-3, we’re encouraged to "Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy." The Holy Spirit will take our music and use it to touch chapter members, but we need to be wise with our gifts and use them to the best of our ability.

In preparing your worship team, here are a few nuts-and-bolts suggestions to help your music sound better:

• Keep songs musically simple. Play intros and endings that don’t require a ton of work. Instead use simple progressions that allow singers to jump into the first verse at almost any time. This will cut down on confusion and allow you more freedom as you play. Fancy musical interludes and chords can make a song sound cool--if you can play them. But most of the time they’re complicated and are easy to trip over during a meeting when the pressure is on.

  Practice intros, endings and bridges more than any other part of the song. The verses and chorus are easy because everyone is singing, and you’ve probably heard those parts a dozen times. But a song will fail to pull singers in if the intro is sloppy. It will confuse the worshipers if the bridging between verses is off. And the song will end on a dissatisfying note if the ending is weak.

• Vary the song style. Too many times, worship teams make all their songs sound exactly the same. Experiment, and vary the way you do each song. When you come across a unique style that everyone seems to like, write down what you did and keep a file. Practice the song that way until you can do it in your sleep. Then you’re ready to whip it out spontaneously.

• Have preset ways to play a song. Once you’ve mastered a song, changing it can mean a lot of work and confusion for less adept musicians. But if the song is played the same way each time, it allows for seemingly spontaneous worship to emerge at a meeting, even if the songs weren’t practiced recently. If the worship team is full of experienced musicians, break the songs down into preset chunks: intro, verse, chorus, bridge, ending. Then a song can be lengthened or shortened spontaneously with just a few preset verbal or musical cues.

• Develop Standard sets. Planning meaningful worship can be very time consuming. Once you have organized a meeting, keep it on file. If you’re stuck for a worship set, or need some ideas for next week’s large-group meeting, just go back to the files as a quick resource. If you plan to play through two or three songs without a musical break, write down how your team did it and use it again for a future meeting. Anything you do now can be a building block for an even stronger worship time in the future.

• Have a strong leader. Professional musicians rely on the drummer to keep the beat and rhythm of the song. That can work for worship teams as well--if you have a strong drummer. Other instruments work just as well for leading as long as that person can keep a strong rhythm that everyone else can follow. Because of the spontaneous style of modern worship, it’s ideal when the worship leader also plays the lead instrument and functions as the lead singer. This allows the leader to sense what is going on with the worshipers and make changes that the whole team can follow. Obviously, it rarely works out that way, so each team needs to find out the best method of leading the group. Maybe it means different musical and worship session leaders. Whatever way works best, make sure you agree as a team on the best way to proceed.