Christianity & Culture with Kierstyn St. John

The five biggest mistakes worship teams make

• Kierstyn St. John of Zoetic • Season 1 • Episode 1

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While I appreciate any church worship team who makes an honest and sincere effort to worship the Lord, these are some common mistakes that I've noticed both worship leaders and teams making over the years. 

This episode is not meant to blast any particular worship leader or church, but rather to observe the reasons behind why people in a congregation may not be singing or worshipping. Sometimes it is simply a lack of congregational enthusiasm, but more often than not, various small things on the worship team's end could be fixed to get more participation. As a professional musician who has both played on and led teams, I've made many of these mistakes myself as well. 

I also talk about some worship songs that I believe are less than ideal for a church to sing and specifically the discuss the worship music of Kari Jobe, Hillsong, Elevation Worship, Bethel, Phil Wickham, etc. 

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Kierstyn St. John:

This video today is about the five biggest mistakes that I see worship teams making, and the first thing I want to say is that I appreciate and love any worship team that is leading a congregation to worship the Lord. I think it is awesome anytime we worship the Lord. I hope that these things are just broad principles. I'm not going to call out really any specific churches or anything like that. These are just things that I've seen and I have some experience with this. This isn't to say to brag, but I am a professional musician. I have played on so many worship teams probably uncountable at this point. I have led worship at churches. I've been the accompanist for more traditional churches. I played keys for a gospel church for a couple years. I play for my church now and obviously I do music as my job, and so I have a little bit of experience, kind of, with worship teams and this type of stuff, and so here we go, let's get right into it, okay. So the first mistake that I see worship teams making is that there are too many new songs. Okay, and once you've introduced a new song, you should do it a few weeks in a row. Put it in the rotation, don't introduce too much too soon, because when the congregation is focused on learning a new song, it's hard for them to focus on worshiping, right? That's obvious. If you're learning a new thing, it's very hard to just kind of let go and worship, right? And so that's the first mistake, and it's again just introducing too many new songs, in my opinion. I think you should probably only introduce one new song per month. Okay, we have a lot of songs to pick from. Introduce one new song per month. We have a lot of songs to pick from. You do not need to be introducing two to three new songs a week or even a month. It's a lot for a congregation Sing things that the congregation is familiar with. We have a lot of songs like that. So that would be my first point.

Kierstyn St. John:

The second mistake that I see worship teams making is that they're putting songs in a bad key for the congregation to sing in. So most worship leaders are tenors, like if they're men. I've noticed that most worship leaders are tenors. Okay, tenors have a bad range for congregational singing. So most men sing in a baritone range, right, and most women, like your average woman who's not a musician sings in an alto range. So when you have a worship leader who's singing in a tenor range, they're singing between the range of a normal man and a normal woman, and what you get when you have these, really these male singers who are leading, who sing really high, you get a problem for both men and women. The problem for men is that they just can't sing as high as the worship leader. Right, they're struggling to sing as high as the worship leader. And for women, you get a similar problem because if women sing in the same octave as the tenor worship leader, it's too low for them, it goes too low out of their range. But if women try to jump the octave which is what you hear people trying to do so they sing an octave above the tenor worship leader. It's far too high, because an octave above a tenor range is a soprano range and most women are not sopranos and they can't sing that high.

Kierstyn St. John:

So for me I'll use myself as an example I am not a very good singer and I'm an alto, right. So if we're talking about voice types, right, it goes bass, baritone, tenor, alto, soprano. I'm an alto, like most women. Okay, when we have a tenor worship singer, it's really tough for me because if I sing with him it's too low, right. But if I jump the octave and now I'm singing in the soprano range and that's too high for me, so I'm constantly jumping the octave between the lower one and the higher one to be able to sing the melody with a tenor worship leader, so really be conscientious of the keys that you're putting songs in.

Kierstyn St. John:

If I had to kind of give a range that is good for people, I would say if you're a man, don't have songs, go lower like don't have melodies of songs go lower than like A in the bass clef. Yeah, a to A basically. So I guess that would be A2 to A3. And that's actually kind of a good range for women, maybe a little bit higher too If you're talking about women, a3 to C5, that's probably the highest and lowest I would go. If your melody is going a lot out of that range, you're going to have women and men struggling in your congregation because the men can't sing high enough to match the worship leader and the women either are going to be singing too low or too high. So if you're a tenor and you are a worship leader, please try to lead in a baritone range. Try to lead in a range that is comfortable for the congregation, because a baritone range. Try to lead in a range that is comfortable for the congregation, because a baritone range is common for most men who are untrained, and an octave up from a baritone range is an alto range, which is what is the most common thing for most women. So all that to say that was a lot of complicated music stuff.

Kierstyn St. John:

The best thing don't sing too high. I guess Usually there isn't a ton of problem with male worship leaders singing too low that doesn't happen very often but there is a big problem with male worship leaders in particular singing too high. Be conscientious of the key that you are putting things in, because untrained people in the congregation have to sing along with you. Okay, this is a little part two to number two, which is don't elaborate too much on the melody. If you're a worship leader, don't do extra things with the melody. It's confusing for the congregation, right? It isn't about hearing you sing fancy, it's about you leading people to be able to sing simply along with you. So that's mistake number two is that the songs are in bad keys for the congregation.

Kierstyn St. John:

Mistake number three it's too much of a concert and so, depending on the church and, depending on the budget, I've seen a bunch of lights. It can be extremely dark and then there's just like lights. I've seen smoke machines in churches. Sometimes worship teams are like super loud so you can't hear the congregational singing, and so it's just this like almost concert type of experience. Right, I tend to be of the opinion that that can actually be more distracting than worshipful. I think I really like it when it's this is a personal preference, right but when it's not super dark in the church where you can hear, if you're in the congregation, you can hear the people singing around you, so they're not all drowned out. Right, where the instruments aren't too loud, it really isn't a performance so much as you're leading the congregation, and so that would be like on the congregational side, just be aware of not like giving too much of a concert vibe, because that isn't really like what you should be going for in worship.

Kierstyn St. John:

And on the musician side because I've been on both, right, I've been in the congregation and I've been on teams and I've led teams I tend to think, okay, it's okay on the musician side, if you want to use a click track, I guess that's okay. We use in-ears and we use a click track. But some churches also have this guide voice in the musicians' in-ears that will say verse or chorus or whatever. I'm not a big fan of that as a musician because when I have a voice in my ears, right like telling me what section to go into, it's very hard for me to worship. It's very hard for me as a musician to worship when I have a verse in or a voice in my ear going verse, chorus, bridge. So I'm pretty much against that. Your musicians should be able to read the lead sheets well enough to where they don't need a voice in their ears telling them which section to go to.

Kierstyn St. John:

That's distracting and I think even a click track can be distracting to your musicians. I understand the reasoning for using it. I think we need to get back to this true, authentic worship. That maybe isn't the most polished thing. Maybe you don't even have a click, maybe you don't even use in-ears, but you are worshiping for the Lord and the congregation, I think, will appreciate that. I don't know if they expect a big production every week. Again, I don't think it's sinful to use click, but once you start using that guide track, that can be distracting for the musicians who are leading worship.

Kierstyn St. John:

Okay, mistake number four. So I think this is going to probably be the most controversial mistake that I'm going to say. This is mistake number four, which is that you either don't pay your trained musicians and you overschedule them for rehearsals Okay. So the reason why this is controversial is that in every church there is a wide range of skill on a worship team, especially in small churches. In mega churches they hire a lot of professionals, to be honest with you, but in small churches you're going to have some people who've been playing their instrument for maybe only a couple months, a few months. They're beginners and then you have some people coming in with an immense amount of training and skill, and so this is kind of tough because it's like, are you asking, am I saying that you should treat people differently? Well, kind of a little bit, because you're asking your trained musicians, like people who have a lot of skill, especially if they do it professionally to drive out to the church on their dime multiple times per week to do what they do like for free for you. And it's like you probably wouldn't do that if somebody in your church, like, was an electrician or did roofing work, like, imagine if the church's roof, kind of you know, had issues or holes in it and you knew that somebody in your church was a roofer, would you expect them to do it for free? No, you would probably pay them.

Kierstyn St. John:

And am I saying that you should pay trained musicians and not amateur ones? I kind of am, because I think they are in two different camps. Okay, but if you're not, if you are a volunteer only, you don't want to pay everybody. I understand that. Or maybe you don't have the ability to pay anybody you know as a church other than the worship leader. Right, you should obviously pay them because they're on staff. But you know, if you don't have the ability to pay trained musicians, maybe if you have two or three rehearsals per week, make some of those optional for the musicians who are trained, because, especially if they're a professional musician, they don't need all those rehearsals. And so when you are not paying here's what I'm saying when you are not paying your skilled or professional musicians and you're expecting them to go to multiple rehearsals a week that they really don't need, that can cause resentment and that can cause burnout. And for people who are not professional musicians, or even just highly skilled musicians, more amateur beginning musicians. They may need that many rehearsals and that's okay for them, but not everybody on your team is going to need the same thing.

Kierstyn St. John:

And there are Bible verses that are about kind of paying your skilled musicians, right. First Chronicles, 9.33, says and these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites who, remaining in the chambers, were free, for they were employed in that work day and night. So this insinuates employment, right, and obviously people playing on a worship team are not employed day and night. But this insinuates that Nehemiah 11. 22b through 23 says the son of Asaph, the singers were over the business of the house of God, for it was the king's commandment concerning them that a certain portion, meaning money, should be for the singers, due for every day.

Kierstyn St. John:

Okay, so again, I understand that not every church has the budget to pay their skilled or professional musicians. If you do, I kind of think that you should offer that to them and if they say no, thank you, I'm good, I'll do it, volunteer, I would love to volunteer, you know, thank your lucky stars for that. But you should offer if you have the means. And if you don't have the means to pay them and they can't make every rehearsal or they don't feel that they need every rehearsal. As a skilled musician, you don't require that from them because it's just not needed. And I understand this idea of, well, we need to treat everybody equally on the worship team. Well, when you have a massive range of skill, like I, actually am not sure if that is the way to go right. So that would be my fourth thing is just kind of be discerning about the skill level of who is on your worship team and how much to schedule them and if you should pay them, and you know that's something to think about. So that would be mistake.

Kierstyn St. John:

Number four is basically, if I had to sum it up, treating every single person, like each situation, equally when there is a massive range of skill between people. That might be the most controversial one, but that's okay. I think mistake number five everybody can agree with. Mistake number five is that the songs that you are choosing for your congregation are unbiblical or theologically shallow. Okay. So be discerning. Make sure the lyrics align with scripture, okay, so there are kind of three different types of unbiblical or you know, I don't want to say bad songs to choose, but yeah, I guess I'll put it that way.

Kierstyn St. John:

There are three types of bad songs to choose for a congregation. So the first is songs that have bad or weak theology. I mean obviously like borderline, heretical, heretical songs. So I'll use some examples. This one to me really does cross the line over into heretical the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God. Reckless love, right, is the name of the song. The word reckless means without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action. God is omniscient. So to imply that he's omniscient and he also is not thinking about the consequences, that's theologically wrong, like it's just incorrect. And that's the name of the song. Like I know people are like well, you're picking nits. I really don't think I am. I think we need to be careful what we are singing and if we are singing bad theology, that really should not be happening.

Kierstyn St. John:

This next song it grieves me because I love this song, but in the song Above All, like a rose trampled on the ground, you took the fall and thought of me above all, right? I really don't want to attribute what Jesus Christ is thinking on the cross, right? And it's a little bit narcissistic to say that he was thinking of me on the cross. I just think that that lyric is really odd. There are some versions of that song that go you took the fall and I think, and were glorified above all. I much prefer that type of version. I think above all is a beautiful song and so I'm fine with singing it, but maybe think about changing that line. The other one that's kind of iffy is you didn't. So. This is an what a beautiful name, what a beautiful name. So you didn't want heaven without us. So Jesus, you brought heaven down. So God did not want heaven without us.

Kierstyn St. John:

This isn't necessarily horrible theology, but it's more of just implying that God is needy, that he would not be satisfied within himself, within the own trinity. That's kind of odd to me. It's a little bit again people-centered and not as much God-centered. So these are examples of bad theology or strange theology, weak theology.

Kierstyn St. John:

So that's the first type of not great song to sing in a congregation song is what we call Jesus is my boyfriend songs, or songs that are kind of like almost weirdly romantic, romantic or sexual or sensual. Rather, I don't think any of these are like overtly sexual but romantic or sensual in nature. So obviously we know the heaven meets earth like a sloppy, wet kiss, how he loves right, like that weird line, and just, you know the beginning of it. He is jealous for me, which is true, right, that's true. God is loves like a hurricane. I am a tree bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy. It's just again. It can devolve a little bit into romantic too much the other examples but I've heard the tender whisper of love in the dead of night. So that line is from Good Good Father by Chris Tomlin. That's just like a very romantic line and the funny thing about that line is that the song is about God being our father. So that's just like a strange mixed metaphor for me. Personally it makes me a little bit uncomfortable. There was that song back.

Kierstyn St. John:

I don't think people sing it very much now, but in the early 2000s I Want to Know you. That is in the secret, in the hiding place, in the stillness. You are there. I want to touch you, I want to see your face. It's just kind of a little bit romantic.

Kierstyn St. John:

The More I Seek you by Kerry Jobe. I've sung all of these in church, by the way. I want to sit at your feet, drink from the cup in your hands, lay back against you and breathe, feel your heartbeat. This love is so deep it's more than I can stand. I melt in your peace. It's overwhelming, it's I mean, I would be uncomfortable, like, saying that to my husbands Like it's just, it's mixing agape love, which is the unconditional love that God has for us, right, that we try to have for him but we can't because we're imperfect, right, but it's the love, the agape, unconditional, sacrificial love that God has for us, the deepest type of love. It's mixing that in with eros, which is the romantic, sexual type of love.

Kierstyn St. John:

Another one Divine Romance, by Phil Wickham. So, like, literally, the name of the song is Divine Romance. A deep, deep flood, an ocean flows from you Of deep, deep love. It's filling up the room For you. I sing, I dance, rejoice in this divine romance.

Kierstyn St. John:

Yeah, there's a little bit of confusion here. So again, yes, paul uses a comparison between a bride and the groom when he's comparing it to Christ and the church. Right, we know that that happens in scripture, right, but notice, it's about Christ and the church in entirety. It's not Christ and you, like you, specifically, like Jesus is not your husband, like Jesus is the husband, metaphorically, of the church. Again, that even is a metaphor. And if we get too much into the, jesus is my boyfriend. Jesus is my husband. I just don't. I think that's odd and it's also difficult for men. I mean, it's difficult for me as a woman. I can't even imagine how difficult it is for men to sing some of these songs Like it's it's awkward for them to do.

Kierstyn St. John:

And the issue, let me clarify, it's not quantity of love for Jesus. Okay, I love Jesus more than I love my husband. I love Jesus more than I love my family. I love Jesus more than I love my family. I love Jesus more than I love my best friends, like Americans, believe that the height of love, the absolute height of love, is romance and that the height of love is sex, and I think that that part of the culture has seeped into some of these songs. But that isn't true. Like, the height of love, the most you can love and the height of love for Jesus is obedience and sacrifice. That's what love for your Lord looks like Obedience to his word and sacrifice, laying down your wants, your needs, your desires for Christ. That is more loving than any sort of flowery language or romantic language that you could ever say. So I think I've said enough about the Jesus is my boyfriend type stuff, the last type of like kind of bad songs to sing in church are just songs that are.

Kierstyn St. John:

They're not heretical. They're not heretical and they're not like overly sensual or romantic necessarily, but they're just more shallow and meaningless. So they don't present like a rich or deep gospel message or like rich any sort of rich theology and the Bible is the most is the richest and deepest book written in history and these songs don't really scratch even the surface of that. So songs I'm thinking of Oceans by Hillsong Waymaker, set a Fire by Jesus Culture, raise a Hallelujah by Bethel, these songs I wouldn't necessarily say they're heretical, but it's like we have better choices than these songs. We have songs we have so many old hymns and there are contemporary songs even that present a much richer gospel message that we should be using All that to say that.

Kierstyn St. John:

Fifth point, again with the three sub points the bad, weak theology, the Jesus is my boyfriend songs, and the shallow and meaningless stuff. That fifth big point is try to stay away from songs that are not ideal. I guess Be careful with your song choice, right, and I think the final point that I would this is more of a question than a point is I've been wondering if churches should sing hill song, jesus culture, bethel and elevation worship songs in general. I think it's tough because there are a variety of writers for those songs. I think some of those songs are heretical. I think some of those songs are weak or shallow. But I do think that some of those songs are heretical. I think some of those songs are weak or shallow, but I do think that some of those songs are actually pretty good lyrically. Right, I do. I do think that there are examples of songs by these churches that are pretty solid lyrically.

Kierstyn St. John:

I'm not sure if we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. Maybe we should. A lot of these churches have had massive scandals. That that's beyond the scope of this video to talk about. But I want to kind of hear what you guys think. Like, should we be singing songs from these churches? You know, uh, hillsong, jesus Culture, bethel, elevation Worship like, should we be? Should we be just avoiding them entirely? And I think that there's a compelling argument to be made for yes. Um also think that not everybody who has written these songs is not a Christian. I think there are some genuine Christians who have wanted to glorify the Lord that have written some of these songs, and so should we just be discerning about which songs we use, or should we just stop using their music altogether?

Kierstyn St. John:

I'm going to summarize the five mistakes one more time. The five biggest mistakes in my opinion not the only ones, but the biggest ones that a worship team can make would be too many new songs every week. That's mistake number one. The songs are in bad keys for the congregation. Mistake number two. Mistake number three it's too much of a concert. Mistake number four you either don't pay your trained musicians or you overschedule them for rehearsals if they're a volunteer. And mistake number five the songs you're choosing are bad or weak or unbiblical or theologically shallow. So those are the five biggest mistakes. Thank you everybody and God bless.